Night Owl Homesteading

Night Owl Homesteading: A Unique Lifestyle For Innovators

In 2018, my husband and I retired and moved from California to a small country town in northern Louisiana to start our homesteading adventure. We purchased a home with 13 acres, a pond, and a desire to hone some new homesteading skills. We started a garden, purchased some chickens, and worked towards our dream of self-sufficiency.

When people think of homesteaders, the typical vision is an early-to-rise, early-to-bed hardworking man/woman, salt-of-the-earth type persona. I am not that person. I am a person that stays up late and wakes up late, and I have had a lifetime of adjusting my sleeping habits to function in society, but now I can adjust my work schedule to accommodate my sleeping habits.

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Baby Night Owl

I have been a night owl from birth, and my mom has many stories to back up this claim. I was born at 3:59 pm (had to double check my birth certificate), and according to my mother, the doctor spanked my bottom and I started crying, then stopped. The doctor spanked my bottom again, I cried, and subsequently stopped again. My mom was concerned at this point and asked the doctor what was wrong. The doctor told my mom that I kept going back to sleep … and this, my friends, is how I started life.

My mom had five (5) kids and her first four (4) kids are 5 years apart and are all girls, the boy came 11 years later. My mom can attest with many stories to back up my night owl claim. When my parents had poker nights and stayed up until the wee hours of the morning, all of my sisters would be fast asleep and I would still be running around the house.

Single Mom Night Owl

2 kids in front of a pool — My two kids, Krislene and Dillon

My ideal sleeping schedule is 4:00 AM – 12:00 PM, but alas, the rest of the world does not work on that schedule. I was a single mom with two kiddos and an accounting degree, a desire for food and shelter, so I had to adjust. I was late to work, a lot. I had to take Benadryl at night to fall asleep before midnight, and it was torture getting up in the morning and getting my kids off to school and me to work.

I had kids to support and an image of the “successful” person that I wanted to become, which is what motivated me to become an accountant and not a drug dealer. I have no regrets about my career path, except I would have made more as a drug dealer.

Married/Retired Night Owl

Jon with Tractor — My husband and his new tractor

I never expected my love story to turn out like this. I married a man who adheres to the homesteader’s 8 PM-4 AM sleep schedule, yet has no interest in the traditional homesteader lifestyle. Nevertheless, he encourages my inner homesteader and allows me to maintain our small garden and raise chickens. Who says God doesn’t have a sense of humor?

I retired when I was 50 at the request of my husband. Who am I kidding, I jumped at the chance to retire early. Since I am retired, I am able to adjust my sleep schedule to one that more closely meets my ideal, to a point. I live in a small town in northern Louisiana, and 24-hour shops do not exist, I still need to interact with humanity, and my husband. I try to get to bed before 3:00 AM and get at least 6 hours of sleep, then take a beautiful refreshing deep nap in the afternoon.

Homesteading Night Owl

My she shed, where I spend many hours burning the midnight oil when I am not gardening

I still have the same chores as other homesteaders, I just approach my tasks differently. Summers are hot in Louisiana, so I do my heavy labor late at night with a powerful headlamp flashlight.

Tomato hornworms glow in the dark under a black light, so every night during the growing season I shine a black light on my tomato plants and remove the glowing worms. Lesson learned, do not tie up the tomato plants with white twine, because the twine will also glow under a black light.