About Us
Homesteading is a term used for a lifestyle of self-sufficiency through agriculture, preservation, textiles, crafts (to name a few). There are many different ways to homestead and many different terms used for it. Including smallholdings and crofts. It typically involves family and/or extended family/friends and is a term also used to describe people who want to get back to basics.
Originally homesteaders also made livings off there land but in a modern world this is often a bit harder. Bills always exist. Traditionally homesteading involved large plots of flat fertile land, but as times change , so has land requirements.
Homesteading for us, is the lifestyle choices, and how we can look to the past to pave a way forward for the future, how we can learn to tread lightly and have more respect for resources around us.
We consider ourselves modern heritage homesteaders, learning on our journey some of the more heritage plants that are dwindling from memories and heritage skills. We have been on this journey five years, building skill sets as we go . We still have a washing machine and all the modern appliance but we try to make ecologically conscious decisions and have a heritage focus. Heritage traditions for us, can teach us to reconnect and tread lightly as we go.
Cernunnos Mil sell artisan, homemade, sustainable, nectar of the earth goods with a heritage focus. Heritage traditions can teach us to reconnect and tread lightly as we go. We make and grow these products with low foot prints in mind, all our power is generated off-grid through, wind, hydro or solar power. We recycle grey water and use rain water on the gardens and recycle packaging where we can.
Our name meaning, Cernunnos is lord of wild things (Celtic), Mil (nectar or sweet). Cernunnos is based on Celtic mythology and is the green man, he is the bridge between nature and man. Our property name is Innangard Druim which translates/loosely interprets to Family Ridge.
“Green Man as a rich and vocal emblem connecting contemporary concerns with mythic thought, specifically as it pertains to our relationship with the land. In our present moment of ecological disaster, such emblems of pre-industrial, premodern “green” principles seem to arise in our intellectual culture almost unbidden. They tell complicated stories about our place in a world we’ve harmed—some so complicated that they hardly seem to exist at all.”-Source Unknown
We (Ryan and Hannah) began this Journey in 2017 after making a shift with one two year old from Auckland. We have built and grown our homestead during this time, now with three beautiful daughters, all growing up as free range children. Our homestead continues to grow and evolve. One thing we have learnt is the connections you make are as important as the act of homesteading itself, the support from others is vital, and often lifesaving. We look forward to adding more creations and sharing our journey in the blog with you.
Better pictures, and some of us. Coming soon 🙂