Rebekah Engebretson reaches for jars of canned or freeze-dried produce in the winter, which were preserved months earlier from the garden bounty.
When Rebekah Engebretson talks about the meaning of homesteading, she keeps coming back to the same word.
“Simplicity,” she says. “That’s the word I go back to a lot.”
For her, homesteading isn’t about doing everything yourself. It’s about building a life that feels intentional.
In 2011, Rebekah and her husband, Dale, bought 20 acres with the hope of raising their four daughters in the country. The McKenzie Electric Cooperative members wanted wide-open space, room to grow and the chance to build a life that felt less overwhelming.
Over time, that desire for simplicity began shaping everyday life in the Engebretson home.
Rebekah homeschooled the girls when they were younger, which meant they were able to take part in many of the everyday rhythms of life at home. They helped in the garden, planted flowers in patterns they chose and learned how to cook meals they loved.
“If it’s important, your kids need to know it’s important,” Rebekah says. “They need to be involved to understand why.”
Like many people learning to live this way, not everything worked perfectly the first time.
Much of what they learned came through trial and error. Their first gardens were far from successful, Rebekah says. Over the years, the family experimented with different parts of the homesteading lifestyle, raising chickens, sheep and even bottle-fed calves, as they figured out what worked best for them.
Health also became one of the strongest motivations behind the lifestyle. Rebekah began paying closer attention to what her family was eating, desiring fewer chemicals and food with more nutrients at their table.
Often, she says, the simplest place to start is in the kitchen.
“It can be as simple as growing your own food or cooking meals from scratch,” she says.
Many Engbretson family meals are built around single ingredients and what is in season. In the summer, they eat what the garden produces. In the winter, they reach for jars they preserved months earlier.
“You eat fresh tomatoes until you’re tired of them. Then you eat them canned all winter, and by the next summer, they taste good fresh again,” Rebekah says.
In recent years, Rebekah has balanced a homesteading lifestyle with a full-time job, which has changed her approach. Planning ahead and knowing what the family actually eats helps make it manageable.
For the Engebretsons, that also means focusing their time and energy where it matters most. They no longer raise cattle, choosing instead to buy beef from friends who do. It allows them to support local producers while focusing their own efforts on gardening and the parts of the lifestyle that fit best for them.
“It’s about choosing what you put your effort toward,” Rebekah says. “All good things require effort. You just decide what’s worth it.”
The rewards go far beyond what ends up on the table. Working with the soil, preparing meals from scratch and watching something grow from the effort put into it can bring a sense of peace that is easy to lose in a busy world.
“Don’t underestimate the restorative gift of working with your hands and seeing the fruit of your labor,” Rebekah says.
That connection often begins with food, but rarely ends there. Time spent growing, cooking and preserving meals has a way of slowing life down and bringing people back together around the table.
It also shows up in small, everyday ways. Baking sourdough, planting a garden or learning how to make things by hand are all part of a growing desire many people feel today to reconnect with a simpler way of life and the things that matter most.
And as Rebekah says, it does not have to be complicated. It can be a homecooked meal, a garden bed in the backyard or learning a skill that brings you back to working with your hands. Often, it is simply the decision to live a little more intentionally.
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Makenah Bundy is member services coordinator for McKenzie Electric Cooperative in Watford City. She can be reached at mbundy@mckenzieelectric.com.
A new event coming to Watford City this spring will bring together people interested in gardening, food preservation and other traditional skills connected to a more self-sufficient lifestyle.
The Prairie Roots Homesteading Summit will take place May 15-16 at the McKenzie County Ag Expo. The two-day event will feature guest speakers, demonstrations and educational sessions focused on topics such as soil health, food production, food preservation and other practical homesteading skills.
The summit is designed for people at all stages, from beginners who are just starting to explore these skills to those with more experience looking to expand their knowledge.
Speakers include Justin and Rebekah Rhodes and Tim and Sophia Eng, who share their experiences raising food, working with the land and teaching others practical approaches to building a more self-sufficient lifestyle.
Find more details, including event schedules and ticket information, at mcagexpo.com/homesteading-summit.
