Today we’d like to introduce you to Krista Snelling.
Hi Krista, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for sharing your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
Our business was born out of an awareness of the need for self-sufficiency and healthier food. During the pandemic, when supply chains broke down, state governments were dictating people’s movements, and items were unavailable on store shelves, we quickly realized that we needed to change how we did things as a family. Like many, we decided to move out of an HOA-controlled neighborhood and onto some land to begin a homestead. We wanted to have food available in our backyard, for our community and us, so that we could weather whatever events the future would undoubtedly bring our way. By the summer of 2021, we began building our homestead dream from the ground up. Because I will always be a teacher at heart, I wanted others to be able to learn and grow with us, so I started a YouTube channel, along with Facebook and Instagram pages, to document our journey. After a little over a year of working on getting the homestead running and just starting to see it produce, I was asked if we would put some items in a local shop that was opening up. The shop was called Honest Living and was the first of its kind in this town. The mission of the shop owner was perfectly in line with our standards for the things we grow and produce on our homestead – local and organic. We both desired a place where our community could access healthy food and products. There is beauty and freedom in realizing that community sufficiency is better than self-sufficiency. Being part of this new business allowed me to partner with other like-minded small businesses to benefit our community. I no longer would have to produce everything myself and market our small business all by myself, but instead, I could be part of a greater collective of people with the same goals for quality and health. We were initially overwhelmed at the idea of putting products in a shop when our homestead had only begun to produce. Still, we also knew that this was a wonderful opportunity to help us meet our growing homestead’s financial needs. So, I stepped out in faith and took on the challenge. I started with items I had already learned to make and had on hand, like vanilla extract, alcohol-free hand sanitizer, and foaming hand soap scented only with essential oils. I also rushed to perfect my sourdough loaves, which had been on my to-do list but were now needed for opening day. Since the shop’s opening just a few months ago, I have taught a couple of classes on sourdough and added a variety of sourdough granola flavors and organic eggs to the list of products we offer. Healthy dark chocolates sweetened only with maple syrup and homegrown seasonings are the items we are currently working on. The community response has been so great, and it has pushed us to grow more than we imagined, faster than we ever could have anticipated. We’re grateful and are looking forward to what our growth will look like in the coming years.
You wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been smooth?
While a lot has happened in a relatively short time, the journey has yet to be smooth sailing. We traded our home for an RV on some land. That brings challenges when you have a family, even though we know we are working toward something better. The swift downward turn of our economy has prevented us from being able to build as we had planned. We have started the process a couple of times, only to have it come to a halt before our plans could begin to take shape. This means I have to travel to bake the items for the shop, as I have no real kitchen right now. Traveling to use an oven means everything takes more time, which is already in short supply. We’ve lost some of our laying chickens to predators just as the demand for our eggs started to pick up. Starting a business while our homestead was still in its infancy meant stretching ourselves financially and time-wise. We had to quickly buy materials and ingredients to make and package our products while also meeting the extra needs of our animals as we prepared to head into our first winter with livestock. We struggled to find balance and work out our routine as a homeschooling, homesteading family that now had a new business to run. In addition, we only had the internet on our property for the first year. This made the online portion of our business, especially uploading YouTube videos, very difficult. That wasn’t very pleasant because I couldn’t document as much as I had planned initially. Thankfully, quality internet has finally moved in, and we can now focus more on our online presence.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
At Saving Grace Homestead, we strive to provide food and products that are honestly healthy. No greenwashing (things marketed as healthy that aren’t), gimmicks, or shortcuts here. We insist on organic products and holistic methods on our homestead. Our products include sourdough granola, pre-order/special order bread, alcohol-free hand sanitizer, vanilla extract, foaming hand soaps scented only with essential oils, and free-range eggs. We are currently working on adding home-grown seasonings, goat milk, and dark chocolates sweetened with only maple syrup. Our list of available items will continue to evolve and grow in the months and years to come. We also provide local classes and educational content online through YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
I’m proud of what we’ve built so far. I’m proud that we stepped out in faith and were willing to tackle hard and new things. However, I have to give God all the credit for providing the opportunity for us to learn and grow the way we have, seeing us through the challenges we’ve overcome, and sustaining us through the ones we are still facing. I’m proud of the quality of our products and the methods we insist upon for our homestead. When so many others take the easy shortcuts and throw toxins or chemicals at every little inconvenience on their farm, we insist on doing things the healthy way, the way God designed nature to work. We believe that allows our products to be not just “non-toxic” but truly a benefit to the body. I am proud that we are more than just a seller of products. We believe in helping others to learn and grow with us. We are passionate about teaching others the skills that will allow them to grow in their self-sufficiency and more about the products they consume so that they can begin to recognize and choose true health.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
While God ultimately gets credit for everything, I’m grateful to our family, friends, and community. My mom has provided her oven for all the baking. My dad put in the time and labor to build our goat barn and get us hooked up to electricity. My sister provided the push to turn our young homestead into a business with practicality and the opportunity to get our knowledge and products into the community. Our more experienced homesteading friends have mentored us, helped us put up fencing, and jumped in to spread compost in the garden, all while having projects they could have been tending to. Our church family has prayed for us, mourned, celebrated, and shopped for our products. My husband and kids have put up with late dinners, late nights, weekends filled with farm projects, loss of life on the farm, a stressed momma and stretched finances as we grew quickly and have tried to find our stride in our ever-changing routine. None of us is an island. Though we talk about self-sufficiency, the reality is we need community. We have been so blessed and are incredibly grateful for those who have been that supportive community for us. We could not have done this without them.
Pricing:
- Sourdough Granola (variety of flavors) $9
- Organic Sourdough Bread Products $10-18
- Organic Sourdough Starter $25
- Vanilla Extract $12-22
- Foaming Hand Soaps $15
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saving_grace_homestead
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SGHomestead.TN
- Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/@savinggracehometead2687
