Hi, I’m Lanni and I am Preserving Today.
Hello! Welcome to my site. Thank you so much for checking out Preserving Today. I’m Lanni and I am passionate about learning and sharing new skills, especially those revolving around food, family and the homestead. So, who is Lanni of Preserving Today?
More on Preserving Today:
Preserving Today Mission Statement
Preserving Today Homesteading Principles
Here is the “short” story.
About where I’m at now:
My name is Lanni and I am Preserving Today. I live in NW WA on a homestead with my husband and two boys. I love all things home. Homesteading, home cooking, homeschooling, homemaking, homebirth, food preservation and scratch made everything. My favorite thing to do, to eat, to learn more about and to talk about is fermented foods. You can find my recipes here on the Preserving Today website, watch me on the Preserving Today YouTube channel and listen to me on The Greener Postures Podcast.
My family is the best. We love working on our home together. I live for these simple, real moments that we have daily on our homestead.
About where I came from:
I grew up in a small house on a busy street near a university. The interstate highway was my back yard. My family did not keep a garden. We did not can food or ferment things. My mom baked, but she would use the box cake mix and Crisco in her cookies. We followed conventional dietary guidelines, were careful to not eat soft cooked eggs or rare meat, bleached our countertops, went to public school. We had a dog and a cat, but not a chicken in sight.
I did learn a love of food and cooking from my mom, and a love of the outdoors from my dad. Hunting, fishing and foraging mushrooms and huckleberries are some of my favorite childhood memories.
As a teenager and into my 20’s I was rebellious, loud and opinionated. A great worker, but never one to listen to authority without questioning things. School wasn’t for me. I loved dogs, music, camping and working hard for what I had.
If you would have told that gal that she’d someday confidently call herself a homemaker she might have punched you in the throat.
About how I got here:
After our first son had an anaphylactic reaction to peanuts in early 2015, we had to rethink everything we thought we knew about health, food and nutrition. It wasn’t easy. All the things I am passionate about today I have had to learn myself. Through talking with others, reading books and blogs. Of course watching YouTube videos too, but the most important part has been through hands on experimentation. I would not know how to do any of the skills I know today had I not tried. Trial and error and successes, over and over again.
Don’t get discouraged if you’re just starting out.
Much of what I read online about homesteading and scratch making things the old fashioned way was discouraging at first. It made things seem really complicated and hard. It made me think I needed special equipment, skills and resources. By just digging in and getting my hands dirty I found that to be untrue. I found ways to do the things I wanted to do in a way that made sense for me in my environment, with my skills and resources. Just. Start. Somewhere. We can do hard things.
About how I went from learning to sharing:
In 2019 when we moved to our homestead I really ramped up what I was doing and learning in the home. I had been fermenting and learning to scratch cook for about five years already. Next came chickens and a bigger garden and therefor bigger fermentation crocks. Soon after, I began hosting workshops in my homestead kitchen on fermentation. With great feedback from attendees I was inspired to host more and eventually bring these live workshops to an online audience. My approach to “teaching” is that I can’t teach you. Learning is your responsibility, but I will gladly share what I have learned with all who want to listen.
At my workshops I hold space for autonomous individuals to come together to grow, learn, & share freely. Both in person & online.
At these classes you are free to ask questions, interact, crack jokes, make connections, share your experiences, and learn together in a group of free-minded individuals.
Conventional classes tend to be geared toward an “expert” teaching an audience specific “facts”, beliefs, or ways of doing things the “right” way. I believe there are many ways of doing things. Learning is a continuous process. People will come together with various levels of experience, but we are all coming together to learn together with a free and open mind.
Whether you’re reading one of my recipes on my blog, listening to my podcast, joining me at a live workshop or reading one of my books, I hope this theme comes through: You can learn to do things you think are hard, all you have to do is get started.
If that was the short story, what’s the long story!?
If you want more gritty details on my journey to striving for self sufficiency check back here for a link soon. Thanks for reading. 🙂
More on Preserving Today:
Preserving Today Mission Statement
Preserving Today Homesteading Principles