About Mary’s Journey to Homesteading

Hello and welcome! I’m Mary Woita, the creator and writer behind Boots & Hooves Homestead.

I am a Traditional Roman Catholic (Latin Mass), loving rancher’s wife and homeschooling mother of 4 children. I’m an accidental country girl – originally from Southern California and now living in the middle of nowhere Nebraska. It all started when I met and married my real life cowboy.

When I became pregnant with my first child, I began to research everythingLearning about the chemicals that were in cleaning products inspired me to ditch the toxins and create my own natural cleaning products.

But this is where the story begins. Moving to the middle of nowhere taught me a lot about country living (with a bit of culture shock thrown in!) and it is what catapulted my natural living journey

Like most of you, I grew up eating the Standard American Diet (SAD) and also referred to the Western Diet. The overly processed and convenience foods we grew up on did not contribute to our health or well-being. And in fact, I believe contributed towards my current health problems.

I have been battling a few autoimmune diseases – endometriosis (for 22+ years), rheumatoid arthritis, and fibromyalgia (both within the last 10+ years). And this is another huge motivator for living a clean & healthy life for my family!

My food philosophy is pretty simple. We strive for using real food ingredients, eating whole foods, and organic whenever possible. Our family also enjoys regular amounts of fermented foods & homemade bone broth daily.

Our family has been living this simple homestead lifestyle (12+ years), growing our own food, and living naturally for more than 20+ years!

All of this experience is what drives my desire for creating a better & healthier lifestyle for my family + encouraging our readers to make small healthy changes over time.

Start Homesteading

standing outside on dirt road

When we aren’t busy wrangling little ones… or cattle, goats, chickens, and ducks, we are working hard on building our homestead dreams from scratch.

This means constantly reevaluating and testing processes to find what works best for our family & sharing what we learn along the way.

I honestly never would have imagined or planned this life. I certainly never dreamed of living my own version of Little House on the Prairie. 

Or that I could make a career out of a blog while living in the middle of nowhere. And sometimes with some really sketchy internet!

I don’t use social media, please feel free to comment on your favorite blog post or through email! I love chatting with you, hearing your homestead experiences, and gardening stories!

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AMDG – Ad majórem Dei glóriam

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5 Fun Facts About Mary

01

I am the oldest of 6 children! We grew up in Los Angeles and moved to Nebraska when I was a senior in High School. I moved back to LA for my career later in life and was recruited back to Omaha for a job where I met my husband. We now live in the Sandhills of north-central Nebraska.

02

Gardening & harvesting our own food + cooking healthier versions of comfort food has become my passion!

03

I home educate my 4 children following the Classical method and I have a homeschool blog where I share all about it!

04

Previous job(s): Human Resources Manager, Store Engagement Manager, Business Operations

05

I started my first blog in 2014 as a way to share the crazy city girl to country life antics. It evolved into Boots & Hooves Homestead in 2016.

Learn more about Boots & Hooves Homestead
Introducing my new eBook

Build Your Dream Homestead

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This guide book helps lead you through learning homesteading skills slowly over time as you prepare for your dream homestead. Beginning with the fundamentals of raising livestock, preparing for your first garden, homestead buildings, creating your from scratch pantry & much more!