Susana Zaldivar of @Home.Coop.Garden reflects on her healing journey homesteading in her in-laws backyard

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I am excited to invite you to my conversation with Susie (Susana) Hernandez Zaldivar. Susie is a stay-at-home mom, a homesteader, a content creator and a small scale flower, egg & veggie farmer. On her Instagram, @Home.Garden.Coop Susie shares tutorials, videos, creative projects and images from her homesteading journey.

Susie grew up in a multi-generational household on her grandmother’s farm in Sonoma Country. Her grandmother practiced homesteading and taught Susie how to grow food and raise chickens. At 12, Susie’s grandmother passed and her parents sold the farm to move to the city.

Susie married young, and worked for a couple of years before becoming a stay-at-home mom for her two kids. She did little jobs here and there - working in gardens and volunteering at the farmers market. She always knew she wanted to work outdoors.

Susie’s vision for the future is buying land to build a regenerative farm. She wants to create a place where she can host field trips and workshops and grow/raise food to sell and donate to her local community. Through her continued work, Susie wants to inspire people to start their homesteading journey, no matter where they are in their lives.

This is a story of listening to your inner voice and changing course, dreaming big but starting where you are at and the restorative, healing power of slowing doing and reconnecting.