Story
PIONEER ARTS? WHAT’S THAT?
You’ve may have heard of the ‘industrial arts’ - metal and wood crafts, machine repair, commercial and graphic arts, technical drawings, agriculture, plumbing, basic computers, and other related vocations. The stuff of Trade-schools. Practical, trades and not-so-common sense ‘oughta know’ skills.
We’ve taken a step back in time - and created what we call the “Pioneer Arts”. We focus our endeavors on DIY, home-based skills that the American Pioneers would have practiced. In the days of wagon-trains and homesteads, there was no Dunkin’ Donuts, Amazon or Walmart. If you wanted, for example, a hot cup of coffee, you’d better get to doin’ it yourself. This would include sourcing the beans, roasting, grinding and brewing. Hope you brought a cup! Same goes for all sorts of agriculture, home & tool repair, cooking and even medicine. The Pioneers were incredibly self-reliant, not on just their own skillsets, but on the community around them. If you couldn’t DIY, you’d better hope you had a neighbor who could - or it wouldn’t get done. Wagon Trains included a curated group of skilled individuals, Cooks and Doctors, Tradespeople, Teachers, Farmers, Clergy and Organizers. It literally ‘takes a village’. Once reaching their destinations, the Pioneers and early homesteaders created communities of neighbors-helping-neighbors, and an enviable system of sustainable agriculture and production.
The diversity of Products that come from our homestead represent both Todd and Genelle’s (and our children’s) skillsets. Todd Builds and can engineer & fix most anything. Genelle Bakes, sews and grows things. We’re committed to passing these skills on to our children. Between the two of us, we maintain our little hill country homestead & supply our local community as best we can. While it may feel a little odd to order both Cinnamon Rolls and a Chicken coop from the same place (yep, this happens on the regular) - when viewed through the lens of “The Pioneer Arts” it begins to make sense. We’re also involved with our local Farmers Market - as well as educational outreach for some of the homesteading skills we don’t want to see lost!
Our TEXAS HILL-COUNTRY DREAM COME TRUE
Throughout my life, my happiest memories have involved Backyard Chickens. From collecting eggs from my Grandpas small coop, to the delicious eggs gifted by church-family members during my pregnancies. I have always had a desire to have my own flock of laying hens, though this was always, (for one reason or another) just out of reach. In recent years, as I began to learn the role pastured poultry plays in a sustainable lifestyle, my desire for homegrown eggs blossomed into a chicken-obsession.
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Todd got his start building at 13, hodding mud, and working as a laborer for a small-town small-business. By 21, he’d obtained his Contractors license, Hand-Built his own home and started his own Company. Fast Forward several decades - Todd has been a Master-Carpenter and Custom Home-Builder for over 30 years. Most recently, building high-end custom homes for California’s Silicon Valley Elite.
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As recent refugees from the ‘left-coast’ - Our family has longed for the beauty and freedom that Texas offers.
Todd and I met in 2007, and soon after, combined our lives and our seven children into a large and busy family.
Over the past 12 years, Todd’s 5 simple rules: Don’t lie, don’t cheat, don’t steal, use common sense, clean up after yourself - have helped us grow our kids and keep our focus on hard work and straight-forward dealings.
When we married in 2016, Todd’s wedding vows included the phrase “our Farm-Family, without the farm…for now”.
In 2018, we accepted that California was no longer for us and would never allow us to fully realize our Farm-Family dreams.
We decided to pack it all up, joined the Wagon-Train fleeing California and began our family’s own Pioneer Journey to the Hill Country.
Todd’s skill, plus my (finally realized!) chicken obsession, has resulted in our own thriving Homestead - and the creation of Todd’s beautiful Wagons ~ symbolic of our family ideals and recent Pioneer journey.
We couldn’t be happier, and are thrilled to call Texas our Forever Home!
Thank you for appreciating our vision.