Homesteading Chat with Jesse Bickley

Roots and Refuge Podcast

Jessica Sowards

Home & Garden, Leisure

5 • 646 Ratings

🗓️ 12 March 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Hey y’all, welcome back to the Roots and Refuge Podcast!

Today, I’m joined by my good friend Jesse Bickley for a conversation about homesteading, raising animals, and the realities of growing your own food. Jesse and his family also homestead here in South Carolina, and over the years since we've moved here, they’ve become some of our closest friends. In this episode, we chat about the real costs of homesteading, why people start (and sometimes stop), and the deeper value beyond just saving money.

Rising grocery prices have a lot of folks considering chickens, gardens, and food preservation—but does it actually save money? We dive into the true cost of homegrown food, why access matters just as much as price, and the unexpected benefits that come with this lifestyle. We also talk about hard decisions on the farm, keeping livestock manageable, and how your "why" should always guide your choices—not just what seems practical or popular.

This episode is full of real talk, a few laughs, and plenty of stories from the farm. Whether you're just starting out or deep in the homesteading journey, I hope it encourages you to think about what truly matters in your own home and how to build a life that reflects those values.

Thanks for being here—we’re so grateful for this community! 🌱💛

If you’d like to get early access to episodes and join our community, check out our Patreon

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, darlands. Welcome back to the Roots and Refuge podcast. I'm your host, Jessica Sowers. My friends call me Jess, and I hope you will too. And here on my podcast, we talk about all things homesteading, growing food by raising animals, growing gardens, preserving,
0:21.5	preparing, and enjoying that food, as well as just trying to live a little more mindfully in relationship
0:26.8	with each other and with the earth. Today I have a guest in my RV here with me on my farm,
0:33.2	where I'm recording my podcasts lately. I brought all my stuff home from my office since we were homeschooling.
0:39.4	Jesse.
0:40.3	And when is actually, this is Jesse.
0:42.5	Hi, Jesse.
0:42.8	Yeah, you said my name like, Jesse.
0:45.1	We actually just recorded for over an hour.
0:49.1	It was great.
0:49.8	Y'all should have been there.
0:51.1	And I'm not great with technology.
0:53.6	It's not my strong suit i am good at many
0:56.1	things and i only have one question do you have the intro written down or you just memorized
1:02.1	i just memorized it i've said it many times how many episodes do i have a lot i know but like
1:06.4	i do mess it up sometimes though i tried i tried to think of it because in the beginning of our last
1:11.5	podcast which was not recorded or the beginning was it was recording you know what happened my
1:16.9	i had my air pod in my pocket and it switched over to there uh that's right yeah pretty much
1:25.2	so here we are on take two.
1:27.9	Take two.
1:29.8	I think take two is going to be better.
1:30.3	Yeah.
	...

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