Homesteading in the Suburbs: Karina of Goodley Living
To say homesteading is having a moment right now would be an understatement. I see countless videos of folks raising chickens, growing enough food to sustain themselves and their families and still having the time to share all the content with us. By “us”, I mean pedestrian crunchy folks like myself who still go to the local farmers market or natural food store for all the essentials.
Little did I know that my friend and fellow mom, Karina, has her own incredible homestead right in the suburbs of Chicago! I only learned about her hobby at a moms night out when she casually mentioned she raised chickens. I had to know more!
For me, homesteading always felt like a pipedream: I’d need several acres in the country to ever do something like this, right? When I heard Karina’s story, it opened my eyes to the possibilities. Homesteading can be done on a fairly small plot of land, and with the right resources, elbow grease and determination, it doesn’t have to be a pipedream!
Tell us a little about you and your family; what’s your day job?
I’m Karina. My husband and I have a 2-year-old daughter. I'm a working mom with a full calendar and a deep love for home. During the day, I work as a cybersecurity product manager at a tech company. Probably explains why we try to find so many hobbies away from the screens!
What do you have on your homestead?
We have a small flock of beautiful Black Copper Marans chickens, two beehives, and we’re still container gardening this year (hopefully, we will build out our raised beds and growing areas this fall to be ready for next summer!). We also have a couple fruit trees we’ve been loving and starting forage in the woods near our house- wild black raspberries and gooseberries have been our favorites! We also have a created native wildflower prairie area to help our bees.
How long have you been homesteading?
I’ve been interested in this way of life for a long time, but we really started putting it into action a few years ago. At first, while I was living in an apartment, it was simple things like cooking more from scratch and learning to preserve food that I would get from the grocery store, as well as a couple of balcony strawberry plants. We had a large container garden when we moved to a rental house with a real backyard, and now we finally have our own space to grow!
What motivated you to get started?
My husband grew up on a farm, so this way of life is very natural to him and he’s definitely tried to bring that with him and has inspired me. I’ve always appreciated going up to visit farms in the rural Midwest throughout my childhood and my mom has always had a big veggie garden. My journey really started with getting some vintage cookbooks from the 1960s. I was just out of college, learning to cook and reading up on the past in my spare time. Once you fall down the scratch cooking rabbit hole, you learn just how much you can make from scratch!
What has been the most challenging part of your journey so far?
Before, the hardest part was definitely waiting to get the space to do what we wanted. I really wanted to be in the suburbs with good schools and my husband wanted to have enough land that we could do what we wanted- not an easy find over here!
Now, I’d say that the hardest part is balancing it with “real life”. There’s so many things that I want to do and there’s not enough time to do them, especially while working full-time, raising my daughter and working on my blog. There’s not really anything that is passive- planting, weeding, watering, cleaning, feeding, cooking, preserving- so I have to budget my time wisely.
What’s most rewarding?
The sense of accomplishment that comes with learning something new and realizing you can do more than you thought. Most things that you can buy at the store, you can make at home (except seaweed salad. I’ve looked for recipes).
What’s your advice for folks wanting to start a homestead?
Just start. If I had waited until we had land for animals and a huge garden, I would have missed years of learning how to grow in growbags, how to make food from scratch, and how to preserve and ferment. You don’t need to do everything perfectly and it is okay to buy things from the store. The other small piece of advice I can give is that if you are moving, where you live makes a huge difference. Make sure the town you are moving to allows you to do what you want.
What’s your next project?
We’ll have to figure out how to best overwinter the bees, since this will be our first winter with them. We are also planning on having a bigger garden next summer. Maybe I’ll also get over my fear of pressure canning soon. I’m trying to convince my husband to get some mini goats so we don’t have to mow the lawn ;).
Can you share some resources that you’ve found helpful or been inspired by (books, podcasts, influencers, etc)?
There’s too many to list! I love The Prairie Homestead, Nourished Kitchen and Farmhouse on Boone for practical ideas and seasonal inspiration. We subscribe to Homestead Living magazine, which has so much great, timely information. My husband read most of Joel Salatin’s books, which were very good. I spend a lot of time with vintage cookbooks. They’ve taught me so much about flavor, resourcefulness, and how people used to live. For Chickens, I highly recommend Storey’s Guide to Backyard Chickens- there’s a section for picking breeds that would have been SO useful. Locally, I like FromScratchFarmstead and The Institute of Soil and Soul for inspiration on what can be done here in our backyards.
And honestly, my biggest resource is probably my family. I reach out to my in-laws for any questions on chicken-rearing and beekeeping and my mom for garden advice.
Tell us about your blog!
My blog, Goodley Living, is a place where I share my real-life version of homesteading and scratch cooking. It's for working women who want their homes to feel more nourishing and beautiful, without adding more pressure. I write about simple kitchen skills, seasonal recipes, cookbook reviews, and slow living habits that actually work with a full schedule. It’s a modern homestead, built from scratch, one step at a time. I’m deeply passionate about homesteading wherever you are, apartment to acreage, and want to support people wherever they are.
