Hello and welcome to the At Ease Homestead (previously known as Clucks and Quacks)
I’m Toni and along with my husband Bob we have a small homestead in Leonard, Michigan. Prior to that we lived in Oxford for thirteen years. We're both from the east coast. I'm from NJ and he's from PA. The Marine Corps brough us to Michigan in 1995 where I completed my last tour of duty. We have two grown children and two beautiful granddaughters. The eldest makes occasional appearances in my posts. I love gardening, food preservation, cooking and raising poultry- chickens, ducks, guinea fowl, turkeys and a sole goose. I have a running joke that after becoming an empty nester I had to find a different kind of nest. I started raising poultry in 2017. A dozen birds has grown, and I have loved every minute of it. In 2022 we added forest raised pork to the homestead as well. We thoroughly enjoyed having pigs and plan to continue raising them seasonally. Eventually we plan to add dairy goats and other small livestock. Here you will find posts and updates sharing critter shenanigans, a bit of gardening, home food preservation and pantry stocking information along with general small scale homesteading that prioritizes stewardship. The At Ease Homestead is our little holding that sustains our family, provides us an opportunity to learn as we grow and connect with simple things that bring us joy and a bit of good healthy dirt under our nails.
