Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt and Robin.
Hi Matt and Robin, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
We were living in the suburbs of Minneapolis, struggling to make ends meet in the typical suburban way of life just over a year ago. We examined our cost of living and decided to change our way of thinking and the way we were doing things to make our lifestyle more self-sustainable. Like a lot of people during and after covid, we wanted to figure out how to become less reliant on the corporate food chains and the consumer lifestyle, and most importantly, to live and raise our boys in a more intentional and God-honoring way. We realize it will take us several years to get to where we eventually want to be in regard to self-sustainability, but the only way to get there is to make the leap and start. We sold our previous home, put our belongings into storage, and stayed with family for 6 months while we looked for a new home with land for homesteading and hunting. In April of this year, we finally found our new home (a 100-year-old farmhouse on a modest farmstead) four hours north of the cities. We closed in May but stayed in the suburbs to finish out the school year for our little boys, and made our big move in the beginning of June.
We’ve made a lot of changes to the home and property since we moved in, including installing a wood stove for heat, building a woodshed, converting an old pump house to a chicken coop and adding a chicken run for our 30 chickens, clearing a portion of one of our fields for gardens and greenhouses, cutting hunting trails and shooting lanes in the fields and woods, putting in deer stands, remodeling the kitchen for more space, and starting to finish the basement. We started establishing ourselves on several social media platforms, including starting a YouTube channel to keep friends and family up to date on our new life, share the things we’re learning and skills we have along the way with other homesteaders or aspiring homesteaders, and in hopes of being able to monetize some day for an additional stream of income. Eventually, we hope to have an off-grid guest cabin or two set up on the property for family and friends to stay in when they visit, and to use as an Airbnb rental cabin. We are also looking into creating farm-help jobs and hosting dinners for the local homeless community.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has not been the smoothest transition.
Not all of our family understands this change, so that has been a challenge, but they have come around and are supporting us even if they disagree with the decisions we’ve made. They love us and only want to see us succeed, which we recognize, so we have worked hard to help them understand. There is also the natural challenge of simply being physically distant from our friends and family, especially during the upcoming holiday season. Having animals that require daily care is forcing us to think outside of the box to find ways to see and be present with our families.
The time of year that we moved made establishing our gardens and greenhouses much harder than we hope they will be in the coming years. Shortly after we closed, we made a weekend trip to the property to till the land and set up a hoop greenhouse… within hours of setting it up, a storm hit and ripped the greenhouse down, completely destroying the frame.
In the first weeks and months, we’ve had equipment break, such as tractors, four wheelers and hunting gear, that has led to unexpected costs. The number of materials we need for gardens, greenhouses and animals has also been greater than we planned for. We’re learning that these kinds of obstacles are par for the course in this lifestyle.
Finally, one of the biggest and most recent challenges, has been a recent Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD – specifically Asperger’s) diagnosis for Robin. This is still new to us, and we are still working through a lot of it currently, so we won’t say much publicly for now other than it is something Robin plans to write about more on her blog and we will talk about more in videos on our YouTube channel in the next year.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Disciple Defense Group LLC (business) & GunSmoke Farmstead (creative)?
Matt is a business owner of a firearms training company, Disciple Defense Group LLC, as well, so we have been working on establishing ourselves in our new community with that business. He also started working with a local guided bear hunting company, Clearwater Bear Stalkers LLC. Matt is currently exploring the possibility of establishing a predator hunting guide service. On top of those positions, he continues to work at his full-time job in the cities, staying with family during his work week. Robin left her full-time job when the school year finished last June and is now home full-time to take care of the homestead, chickens, homeschool our two little boys, and maintain our social media accounts and YouTube channel as well as her personal blog.
Matt founded Disciple Defense Group with the help of a friend, Mike, in early 2021 out of a realized need for education and training in firearms and situational awareness during the COVID-19 shutdowns. After witnessing a number of new gun owners who did not understand or know how to use their personal firearms, Matt and Mike decided to pool their combined extensive gun experience and knowledge to begin training friends and family. They had conversations with local gun shop owners and discovered that this was not a unique need during this time. It was this realization that marked their decision to become certified to do training and extend their services to their local communities in Minnesota through a variety of training courses.
This training business has been a large part of our vision and goals for becoming more self-reliant by creating an independent revenue. We have set up a 100-yard outdoor range at GunSmoke Farmstead for a variety of training, and we’ve hosted several Minnesota permit-to-carry and other firearms classes on the homestead since moving in. Matt specializes in situational awareness and has a passion for helping people learn to be more aware of their surroundings, with or without a firearm, because he recognizes that most violent attacks out in public can be prevented simply by being and appearing alert and confident. We like to let our reviews on the Disciple Defense Group website speak for themselves.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
Two is one and one is none. Ha! So many things have broken since we’ve moved here that we’re recognizing the importance of having backups. This also applies to people… it’s hard work on the homestead and having more than one set of hands makes tasks go so much faster and smoother.
Also, intentionality. We recognize how much we leaned on our friends and family for emotional, mental, spiritual and physical support in the past. In a brand-new community with grandparents and friends far away, getting out for date nights is much harder to do and takes a lot of intentionalities. We have to be intentional in prioritizing our church community and spending time on the things that fill us up, not just the necessities.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://discipledefense.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gunsmokefarmstead/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gunsmokefarmstead/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Gunsmokefarmstead
- Other: https://linktr.ee/gunsmokefarmstead
