Living a Legacy
Faith. Family. Homestead.
Jonestead Farm Didn’t Begin With a Farm.
It began with a family, two different dreams, and a growing conviction that the life we were busy building wasn’t necessarily the life we wanted to leave behind.
We’re David and Janan Jones. We met in church, married young, started a family, served in ministry, and eventually followed God from Indiana to the Kansas City area.
Life was full: raising kids, working, serving, doing ministry, and running from one thing to the next.
A life can be full of good things and still be too full.
Sometimes busy causes you to give up the important for the urgent.
And eventually, God began slowing us down.
When Life Slowed Down
Like it did for so many families, 2020 interrupted the rhythm of our lives.
We spent more time together. We worked intentionally on our marriage. We cooked more from scratch and started thinking differently about our food, our home, and the pace at which we had been living.
Food shortages and purchase limits hit differently with a large family. Two pounds of ground beef could barely make one meal in our house. We began thinking seriously about where our food came from and how much of it we could provide ourselves.
But underneath all of that was a bigger question:
Two Dreams Became One
Janan had dreamed for years about a slower, more traditional way of living: growing food, making things from scratch, raising animals, and building a home deeply rooted in family.
David’s dreams had largely centered around ministry and serving people.
For a long time, those dreams ran beside one another.
Then, through a season of studying, talking, and praying together, something changed.
We stopped thinking about his dream and her dream and began dreaming about our legacy.
We wanted a home that was a safe place. A place our kids wanted to be and their friends felt welcome. A place where someday our grandchildren would be excited to come back.
We wanted to teach our children to work hard, serve others, make things, grow things, solve problems, and trust God when the next step wasn’t obvious.
Living a Legacy
People talk a lot about leaving a legacy.
We’ve come to believe that before you can leave one, you have to live one.
Legacy isn’t something that begins when our lives are over. We’re building it right now, in what our children see us prioritize, the meals around our table, the work we do together, the people we serve, the skills we pass down, and the way we steward what God has entrusted to us.
Every ordinary day gives us another opportunity to make a legacy decision.
We won’t do it perfectly.
That’s what “Living a Legacy” means to us.
“What If We Sell the House?”
At first, the homestead felt like a distant dream. Maybe five or ten years away. Maybe something we’d do when the kids were grown.
Janan kept praying that if this was something God had for our family, He would make a way while we still had children at home to experience it.
Then circumstances began changing. Our house had gained equity much faster than we’d expected, and possibilities that hadn’t existed before suddenly did.
One day, David got out of the shower and asked:
“What if we sell the house?”
So we did.
We didn’t have the entire plan figured out.
We just knew it was time to take the next step.
We Chose the Yes.
We found a property we loved, a blank slate where we could imagine building the life we’d been talking and praying about.
We made an offer.
And we lost it.
Someone else got the property, so we moved on.
Then our realtor called. The other deal had fallen through, and before putting the property back on the market, the sellers wanted to know if our original offer still stood.
The door we thought had closed was suddenly open again.
We could have found a dozen reasons to be afraid.
And that yes became Jonestead Farm.
We’re Still Learning
We’d love to tell you that buying a farm magically turned us into homesteaders.
It did not.
We’re learning as we go. We’ve made mistakes, changed plans, tried things that worked, and plenty that didn’t.
We’ve discovered that homesteading isn’t about recreating somebody else’s version of the simple life.
It’s about becoming resourceful with what God has put in your hands—your home, your family, your abilities, your resources, and your little corner of the world.
For us, that means raising animals, growing food, baking sourdough, preserving harvests, making things from scratch, teaching workshops, feeding people, and becoming a little more capable than we were yesterday.
For you, it might look completely different.
Why We Share It
We aren’t sharing Jonestead Farm because we’ve mastered homesteading.
We’re sharing because we’re learning.
Others have generously taught us, shared their mistakes, answered our questions, and encouraged us to try. We want to do the same.
If something we learn saves another family some frustration, we’ll share it. If a recipe helps someone put homemade food on their table, we’ll share it. If a workshop gives someone the confidence to learn a new skill, we’ll teach it.
And if watching our family figure this out encourages someone else to take a step toward the life God has placed on their heart
then sharing our story is worth it.
The Foundation Beneath It All
There is one part of this story we never want to tell incorrectly.
Jonestead Farm exists because God has been in the story the entire time.
Our faith in Jesus isn’t one part of what we do here. It’s the foundation underneath all of it.
We believe our family, this farm, our abilities, and our opportunities ultimately belong to Him.
We don’t know exactly what Jonestead Farm will look like years from now. We don’t need to.
We simply want to be faithful with what He’s given us today.
Our Story Is Still Being Written
We’re still building. Still learning. Still raising kids. Still making mistakes.
Still saying yes.
So whether you’ve been homesteading for generations, you’re dreaming about a piece of land someday, or you’re simply trying to live a little more intentionally right where you are,
Welcome.
Pull up a chair. There’s room at the table.
We’re the Jones family, and this is Jonestead Farm.
We’re not waiting to leave a legacy.
— David & Janan