My name is Suzan Ferreira and I am a 50’ish (shhh, don’t tell anyone) wife and mother (one human and one canine), unapologetic feminist, yogini, blogger, business manager and co-owner of a small 24/7 fitness facility, family organizer (ok, maybe sometimes dictator), and director of all things domestic. I am a passionate learner and implementer (yes, I use Google A LOT) of all things healthy and holistic.
During my early professional years, management was my focus. Working for 17 years in the equine veterinary industry as practice manager of a multi-million dollar veterinary hospital, honed my organizational skills, not so much my health. The stresses of managing a business took its toll on both my mental and physical health.
Meeting my partner in life (a certified CPT) in the mid 90’s (in a gym no less), was the kick in the butt I needed to make a change, for the betterment of my life’s quality and health. I was certified as a personal trainer, CPT, in 1995. Although I chose not to keep up with my certification, fitness and health remain a large and important part of my life. We began performing on-site biometric screenings in 1995, of which remain a big part of our business model to this day.
In 2005, we opened the doors to our 24/7 fitness facility, Solutions Fitness. My management expertise and the daily running of this facility are in my wheelhouse of expertise.
In 2000, shortly after giving birth to our daughter, I was diagnosed with EBV, a debilitating auto-immune issue. As mainstream medical options were limited at that time for treatment, I began to turn toward more holistic approaches to healing. I developed a passion for yoga, received my 200 hour yoga certification through RYT in 2001, and proceeded to teach consistently for the next 10 years.
As my world began to turn more holistic and organic, a passion for learning how to live more sustainably began to develop. I wanted to know where our food came from (and not from a plastic bag), I wanted our daughter to grow up rooted to the earth she lives on and create a more wholesome life for our family.
With the love and support of my partner and best friend, we decided to move from the city 14 years ago and create a small organic farm in New England with the goal of leading a “simpler life”.
Building from the ground up, we have created a productive homestead and haven. Needing to learn from scratch how to grow an organic vegetable and herb garden, maintain chickens, preserve and store food, and heat with wood was a daunting (often comical) task. Realizing that much of our healing comes from the gifts of mother nature, I began to develop herbal wild-crafting and harvesting to create many of our homemade personal care products and remedies.
It is my hope and mission that through sharing what we have learned in the past 14 years, and what we continue to learn, I will be of assistance for those seeking a “slower” pace in today’s modern world. Be forewarned, the homesteading mindset has a way of wonderfully inserting itself into your life, creating a richer & more rewarding way to live.
If you are looking to or just curious how to grow your own organic food from scratch, how to cook fresh wholesome food from scratch into something wonderful, questions on raising your own meat, or even how to create amazing home remedies and personal care products, you came to the right place.
I look forward to sharing our experiences and hearing from you as we share this homesteading journey, one season at a time.
