Student Success Stories: Growing Confidence One Skill at a Time
Real families. Real kitchens. Real gardens. Real confidence.
Why This Page Exists
One of the greatest joys of teaching is watching that light bulb moment happen.
When I teach in person, I can often see it on someone’s face. There’s a moment when everything suddenly makes sense, and they realize, “Oh… now I get it.” It’s one of the most rewarding parts of what I do.
Sometimes those moments happen in a workshop. Other times they come through a message, an email, or a photo shared online. Someone plants their first garden, bakes their first successful loaf of sourdough, fills their pantry with homegrown food, or simply realizes, “I can actually do this.”
What a privilege it is to be part of that journey.
This page is dedicated to those moments.
I hope that as you read these stories, you’ll see that the people featured here aren’t professional gardeners, bakers, or homesteaders. They’re ordinary people who decided to take one step, learn one skill, and keep going.
I believe that’s what God intended for us all along—not perfection, but learning, growing, working with our hands, and passing practical skills from one generation to the next. It’s about returning to our roots, embracing old fashioned ways in a modern world, and rediscovering the confidence to create, grow, bake, preserve, and care for our families with our own hands.
To everyone featured on this page, thank you for allowing me to share your story. Your willingness to encourage others means more than you know, and I never take that trust lightly.
My hope is that someone who visits this page will see themselves in your story and think:
“If they can do it… maybe I can too.”
Gardening
Gardening doesn’t begin with the perfect soil, trellis and setup. It begins with ONE seed! The love of a garden starts with a single seed.
Laura does a great job with teaching you about gardening and get you involved in the class. She’s very knowledgeable and will answer any questions you have after the class. She’s so eager to help and her home and land is beautiful and a great place to go for class. Thank you. Melissa.
Laura provided GREAT information along with her own experiences, hands on fun, humor, and built up my confidence to just START an organic garden! She makes herself available to answer any questions and give tips especially related to your own unique garden beds and soil recommendations. The binder is a wealth of knowledge to refer back to with all kinds of tips and tricks for seed saving, weeding, when to plant, etc. Her class really is worth every penny if you want to start a garden or jump all in to homestead ! – Leslie
The binder with all kinds of things and resources is invaluable! This really simplified things and made it not so stressful or overwhelming to just START!
Sourdough
Learning sourdough isn’t about baking the perfect loaf.
It’s about gaining the confidence to feed your family with homemade bread, one loaf at a time.
Herbs
Learning herbs isn’t about becoming an expert in 100 different varieties, it’s about learning one herb at a time, what you find it to be most useful for and then adding a new one in when you are ready.
The class introduced and gave me the info and confidence to try my hand at making soaps, salves and to delve into the world of herbs. You simplified things and made them not so intimidating. – Kim
It doesn’t need to be all done at once. You can gradually build your empire. Also, be careful, it’s addicting! Lol!
I can definitely do this, and use this in my life! – Amanda
Laura teaches classes that give you all the tools for the subject at hand, simplifies and gives you the tools to delve in with both feet on your own. The herb class and the soap and salve classes were wonderful. – Kim
Cheesemaking
Learning cheese isn’t a science experiment gone wrong, it’s learning to take simple ingredients like milk and vinegar to create ricotta. Realizing you do not need a lab or special equipment to make cheeses like mozzarella and cheddar.
This is something I can do for my family, and wow, all the reasons why! This is a very education session, and hands on. – Amanda
I’ve been wanting to learn all things cheese and this class did not disappoint. The handouts and hands on was fantastic. I left with the knowledge and feeling I can create my own. Thank you.
Kim
Feeling like I can do it (my big aha moment) Kim
Food Preservation
From Scratch Cooking
Kids on the Homestead
You’re not only learning these skills you’re also inspiring and teaching future generations these time-tested skills that we all have the right to know.
More Stories Coming…
This page continues to grow because every season brings new gardens, new bread, new skills, and new confidence.