The Dumyahn Homestead

Hello there, and thank you for visiting our blog. We are the Dumyahn family and we are doing our best to run a part-time homestead while working jobs outside the home, and raising a family. It has always been a dream of ours to homestead, grow our own food, make some of our own goods and raise our kids to know and be part of the process that starts with the soil and ends up on our table (and deep in our couch cushions šŸ˜…). On the other hand, we still have a passion to have careers, travel, and make time for our friends and family. We are here to discover, learn, and document our journey.Ā 

I am Luke, husband and dad (and letā€™s be honest, full time caretaker for our animals). I work as a full time physical therapist with other passions such as trail running, sports and DIYā€™ing. I enjoy the simple things in life and would happily live out the rest of my days working 9am-5pm outside my home, and working 5pm-9pm around my garden (while sipping on a cold craft beer). I donā€™t always have the dreams and ambitions of my wife, but usually will get on board with her ideas (i.e. most recently getting goats.)



I am Ciera, wife and mama, and I work part time outside the home as a mental health counselor and full time inside the home raising up our littlest humans. I enjoy trying to keep up with my high maintenance sourdough starter, reading, and always prioritizing good lighting, optimal hygge, and the coziest things in life. I have big, exciting dreams for our lives and our family and once I get an idea in my head, I either put 100% into it, or coerce Luke into putting 100% into it.

Bodhi, our 4 year old, and ā€œworkerā€, as he calls himself, will easily spend upwards of half the day outside. He will joyfully don his work gloves and throw himself into any project his parents are working on. In the summer thereā€™s a 90% chance you can find him eating tomatoes straight off the vine in nothing but his swim trunks.

Hadassah, our 2 year old, loves to read, stay up past bedtime playing with her stuffies, and do everything her big brother is doing. When mama is cooking, sheā€™ll be pushing her stool up to the counter, clutching her knife, and “helping.” If you canā€™t find her, thereā€™s a 90% chance sheā€™s tormenting our outdoor cat, Houdini (bless his heart).

So far on the Dumyahn Homestead, in addition to the humans, there is our energetic dog, Kiva, our one (we lost our other suddenly in December, RIP) outdoor/workshop cat Houdini, our 6 Hens (Princess Leia, Storm Cooper, BB-egg, Hen Solo, Darth Layer, and Little Anahen. We used to have 9 but have sadly lost 3 in 3 years), and lastly our newest addition of 3 goats (Davidson, Harley and Dyna).

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There are many reasons to create a blog and share our stories, knowledge and questions. For us, we wanted to fill some different voids that we are passionate about. The reasons we are creating this blog:

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– To learn and discover what we know and do not know (which is a lot), and share it with all of you.

– To inspire others who want to take the next step, but donā€™t know if it is possible.

– To show you that part-time homesteading is a commendable, wholesome and healthy lifestyle to work towards.

– To give you ideas on how you too can start homesteading in your life right now.

– To give us something to look back on as our family grows.

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There are lots of reasons that we convince ourselves that homesteading is not going to be the right fit for us. These reasons might be:

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– Too big of a time commitment,Ā 

– Not enough room or land,Ā 

– Not enough knowledge on the important subjects of homesteading,

– It will take away from other things we want to do outside the home.

Some of this might be true, but in our eyes, homesteading is adaptable, flexible, a learn as you go process and what you make of it. We canā€™t tell you how many times we have got lost in being overwhelmed by trying to work our jobs outside of the home and keep up with all that we want to be able to do on the homestead and outside of the homestead. However, we always step back to look at the bigger picture and what can be done to make the process more enjoyable and more efficient for us, even if that means dropping the project altogether. But that is the beautiful thing about making your homestead yours. You can put as much or as little time as you want into it and adapt things to fit your lifestyle, wants and needs.

Here our are top reasons why we homestead:Ā 

  1. We want a healthier lifestyle.
  2. We want to learn about our food and where it comes from.
  3. We want to teach our children about nature (and help them spend 1000 hours outside each year).


Follow along as we work toward balancing a homesteading (ish) lifestyle while keeping up with some of the other things we cherish and find meaningful in our lives. 

Welcome to our corner. We’re glad you’re here!