From City Girl to Backyard Homesteader

After years of trying to grow plants in the city, and sharing gardens with friends on their property, Francisca and Fred finally embark on their journey as backyard homesteaders.

An article from Gather Here magazine by Young Homemakers Club

Written By: Anastasia Hounnou

Francisca Lagos’s favorite way to spend time in her garden is by listening to Christian music, an interesting podcast, or simply praying blessings over the harvest. She shared, “I love seeing when things are blooming and growing.” And blooming it is. She and her husband, Fred Lagos, have worked hard over the years raising four beautiful daughters—one of whom is the author of this article—while living in a small town of no more than 800 people. Through their hard work, they’ve cultivated the fruit of their labor: a thriving backyard homestead. On their small plot of town land, they keep a flock of chickens, a greenhouse, and a garden filled with vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers.

This is Francisca’s sanctuary, where she memorizes scripture and strolls through her mini-forest. A stranger admiring her beautiful space might think it has always looked this way, but nothing could be further from the truth. Behind the beautiful harvest each fall, produced by the labor of the past summer, lies a story waiting to be told—a story of a former city girl who never imagined a life in a small town with fewer people than her high school graduating class. But this is the story of Francisca Lagos, and I am excited to tell it.

Francisca spent most of her childhood in the city. She tried planting vegetables, but they never grew. Her mother even kept a chicken in their city apartment that would lay eggs, but since they didn’t know the eggs were edible, they would throw them away. “We wasted a lot of eggs,” Francisca recalls with a smile. Fast forward to her adult life: she rekindled a childhood romance and married him in 2008. Her husband, Fred Lagos, was far from a city man. His life revolved around hunting, country living, and producing a popular hunting show. Because of his career, they eventually moved to a small town where they still live and have built a life together.

As she warmed up to small-town life, she began to take an interest in gardening, though she wasn’t quite sure where to start. Fortunately, her husband was very knowledgeable and willing to teach her, so she started to look for opportunities to learn and grow food, even though they didn’t yet have a backyard of their own.

One of her new friends kindly offered to share her backyard garden with her, and she eagerly accepted the opportunity. She decided to plant a variety of vegetables, but to her dismay, only the cucumbers survived. She didn’t know much yet and hadn’t realized that vegetables need nurturing and that weeds, if left unchecked, would take the nutrients. “We had cucumbers coming out of our ears,” she said. She didn’t want to give up on her dream of nourishing her family with homegrown food, so she decided to try again.

The following year, she committed to learning more and sought additional guidance from her husband. Francisca asked Fred how to build a thriving garden, and he explained the importance of pulling weeds and shared other tips she hadn’t known about. She planted again, and though some plants began to grow, she still didn’t see a large harvest. Three years later, things really started to take off when another friend invited her to plant vegetables from seed on her farm. Her friend was very helpful, and Francisca visited her year after year, even bringing her kids along to help pull weeds and plant seeds despite their grumbling. Gradually, Francisca became more comfortable and confident, starting with a small raised bed at the home she and her husband were renting until they eventually bought their own home.

When God blessed them with the home they had been praying for, she began to take gardening even more seriously. Once Fred saw that gardening was more than a hobby for her and had become a real passion, he expanded the garden and even built a coop area for chickens—a dream Francisca had held for years. He saw her love for gardening and made sure she had the means to pursue it. Her husband was, and still is, a huge part of the hard work that goes into their backyard homestead.

Now, gardening has led to other lifestyle changes along the way. She began researching the ingredients in foods she grew up eating in her Puerto Rican culture and discovered that many were filled with cancer-causing ingredients, GMOs, and more.

So, she made it her mission to learn how to prepare the foods she loved using healthier ingredients. Fortunately, her garden provides plenty of dried herbs, peppers, and spices, allowing her to create her own flavors without missing out on the delicious cultural tastes she loves. She also enjoys canning the foods she grows so she can have delicious options through the winter. While owning chickens isn’t cheaper, she loves knowing what they’re fed and that they’re living well—and, as she happily stated, “it’s one step closer to us having a farm one day.” She doesn’t want a huge farm, but she dreams of keeping up the work she’s doing now on her own land someday, where she can still grow food for her family.

Fred and Francisca have built a self-sufficient homestead that provides for their family, proving you don’t need a large farm to live off the land. With God’s blessings and their hard work, they have created a space that nourishes both their physical and spiritual well-being. As they dream of expanding their homestead one day, Francisca finds joy in every season, grateful for the journey that has led her here.

YHC Challenge: Restack this article sharing about your garden or homesteading journey!

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She recently started her own cottage bakery where she sells fresh sourdough loaves in her town!