Real tools from a real homestead.
We're the Laytons, a working family on 2.6 acres around a 1910 farmhouse. We share what worked and what didn't — build stories, garden notes, and the planners and DIY plans we actually use.
From the farm
Build stories, planning tips, and honest homestead notes. No highlight reel.
The Pantry & Preservation Checklist We Actually Use
A plain fall pantry and preservation checklist from our Franklin, Kentucky homestead — what to check, what to put up, and what to skip when time is short.
Read moreFall Reset: What Worked, What Didn't
An honest walk around our 2.6-acre Kentucky homestead as fall settles in — what still produced, what failed, and the two-list reset we use before frost.
Read moreBuilding Our Cedar Compost Bin: What Worked and What I'd Change
How we built our 3×3 cedar compost bin with hardware cloth sides and a board lid, including what went right and what I'd do differently.
Read more
About us, in short
We keep 27 chickens, a garden and a pantry we're trying to fill a little more every year, and our goal is to produce at least 75% of our own food. We're not there yet, and we'll tell you how it's going, failures included.
About our familyFree: Find Your Growing Zone
A printable US growing zone map with a frost-date table, so you know roughly when to plant and when to expect the first frost. Tell us where to send it.
DIY build plans · $17 each
Plans for things we built ourselves, with real photos of the finished builds: a cedar compost bin and a 6×6 kids' tree fort.
Printable planners · $5.99 each
Canning, chickens, chores, pantry and farm money. Print-at-home pages you can fill in at the coop or the kitchen table.
Harvest & Pantry Inventory
Know exactly what you grew, canned and still have on the shelf
$5.99
The Homestead Essentials Bundle
All five printables in one download, $29.95 if bought separately.
Homestead Essentials Bundle: $19.99
See the bundle