Who Are The Parker County Homesteaders?

  Parker County Homesteaders is a Facebook community page, a place for people who are interested in or actively participating in the growing of their own food and maintaining and sharing the somewhat lost skills of generations past to gather, seek out and share advice, make connections, and show off  triumphs and share failures with people who understand the true magnitude of what it means to finally get your lavender plant to flower or to lose a meat chicken to a predator.

  That's what the page is. But who are the Parker County Homesteaders, really?

Spearheaded by a former stay at home mom who has perhaps too much free time and is known to go into long diatribes about things as inconsequential as dried beans and who often oversaturates the color of her photos, PCH is simply a group of friends and neighbors. Literally. 

  One of the elements of the group that sets it apart from other homestead pages is that it is centralized around one geographical area: Parker County, Texas. While there are a few members from neighboring counties, all are within an hour driving distance of Parker County. This is integral to the group as this allows all information passed around regarding such things as growing zones, sales at feed stores, local breeders and growers of specific homestead related accoutrements, among other things, to be entirely relevant to everyone in the group. This also allows for the arrangement of face to face interaction with members in ways almost unheard of in this digital, hustle bustle world. 

  While all of the group's nearly 1,100 members have homesteading in common, the people and their exact endeavors are as varied as the day is long. They have arborists, bee keepers, cattle ranchers, dairy farmers, and equestrian enthusiasts. Butchers and bakers and candlestick makers (seriously). Poultry, goat, rabbit, and pig breeders. People who sew and people who save seed and people who make their own soap. They have experts and novices and everything in between, and so much more. However, though the group has grown tremendously in its first year, it still has a tight-knit community feel, and the spirit of giving is alive and well among its ranks.

  The group holds monthly giveaways with prizes donated from other members. Items given away in the past have included rabbits, chicks, soap, milk, cookies, cakes, fertilizer, and more. There was such an overwhelming amount of donations this summer that the giveaways are currently being held weekly. There has also been talk of donating seeds and gardening equipment to families in need, and a collaboration is currently underway between the Agnes Community Center and PCH to create a community garden to help those in need and teach community members about growing their own food.

  On July 15, 2017, Parker County Homesteaders celebrates its first birthday, and I, for one, can't wait to see what the next year will bring for this group.  

-Abby