You’re not behind.
You’ve just been handed information instead of “do-this-first” instruction.
Maybe you’ve been watching homesteading videos for months. Maybe you’ve already tried things. And you have the results (or rather the lack of them!) to show for those efforts.
A garden that didn’t make it. A first batch of pressure-canned green beans, you weren’t quite sure were safe. A sourdough starter on attempt number three. A tincture you’re holding in your hand, wondering, “Is this the right dose for my kid?”
Maybe you’re working full-time, raising kids, caring for an aging parent, and you still want to grow food, bake from scratch, and have something cleaner in the pantry than what the grocery store is selling.
Or maybe you’re on a tight budget, watching prices climb, thinking “I could do some of this myself if I just knew I’d actually use what I make.”
Any of those sound familiar?
You’re in the right place.
“I have an annual membership with the school. I love the classes so much; they are so valuable, down-to-earth, and such a wealth of information! I am so excited to be able to utilize the knowledge of so many experienced people!”
–Brianna H.
“I love knowing that everyone here is a real person, not a bot. Also, the empathy and encouragement and solutions are so wholesome!”
– Melissa K.
“I love that STS is family rated content and love that we can learn, ask questions and be inspired by classes or what others are doing. It is enjoyable and relaxing : )”
-Debbie G.
We’ve made all the mistakes, and we know what not to do.
We’ve killed the sourdough starter, too. We’ve lost a row of seedlings to frost. Thrown out a suspect batch of canned tomatoes. Spent a Saturday deep in tutorials and went to bed more confused than we woke up.
Wondered if we were “too suburban” or “too new” to call ourselves homesteaders at all.
Most of our 10,000+ members started right where you are.
Some on acreage. Plenty on a small yard, a balcony, a rental with one sunny window. Many are 65 or older and starting afresh. And just as many are homeschool moms with young kids to raise.
They all had the same first question: where do I begin?
That’s what the School is for.
Join Kristin Nobles right in her kitchen as she teaches you how to make bread. Walk through the garden as Melissa Norris shows you how to extend the growing season. Peek inside Doc Jones’ herb cabinet, and learn what’s safe for your family.
The community space where members trade advice, seeds, and “is this normal?” questions all day long.
One clear path, three simple steps.
Choose your starting skill.
You don’t get confused when deciding what to do. You pick the one thing you need next. A sourdough starter before the holidays. A spring garden. A safe, simple elderberry syrup for cold season.
We’ll tell you what to learn first and why.
You stop drowning in tabs and start with one win.
Learn from teachers who’ve done it for decades.
Step-by-step video from instructors like Joel Salatin, Sally Fallon Morell, Melissa K. Norris, Justin Rhodes, Shawn & Beth Dougherty and so many others, filmed on location so you can see the curds, the seedlings, the dough, the tincture, and what each one is supposed to look like.
You stop wondering which YouTuber to trust. You learn it once. Correctly.
Do it yourself and get support if it goes sideways.
Print the Skill Sheets. Try the skill. Share a picture in the community.
Ask a question and get an answer from a fellow homesteader or our Community moderators.
Come back when you’re ready for the next skill.
Repeat.
You start building a pantry, a garden, and an herb cabinet you actually trust.
One next step. Every time.
That’s the whole method.
“STS is the best place for advice on this homesteader life. Practical ideas, varied experiences. I see other posts and know that if I had a hard situation with, say, an animal, I could ask freely without judgment.”
– Jennifer M.
“The cost of the school will be paid for by the foods I don’t throw away. Basically, the school is free.”
– JoAnn S.
“As an STS member, the money I spent to become a member to have access to these wonderful courses has been such a great decision! I have saved myself and my family so much time and frustration by having unlimited access to all of the professional knowledge over so many homesteading areas. And, I love that new information and new instructors are continually being added. Truly, best money spent!”
– Kimberli A.
Taught by the people you were already trying to learn from.
“I love that I don’t have to search all over the internet for this invaluable homesteading information. It’s all in one place with great instructors.”
– Lyndzie L.
The School was founded by Josh and Carolyn Thomas of Homesteading Family who wanted their own kids — and yours — to grow up knowing how to do the things most of us were never taught.
So they invited the teachers they trust to come teach here, too.
JOEL SALATIN
SALLY FALLON MORELL
MELISSA K. NORRIS
JUSTIN RHODES
SHAWN & BETH DOUGHERTY
DARCY BALDWIN
BRANDON SHEARD
PAUL GAUTSCHI
WILL BONSALL
LISA BASS
JOEL SALATIN
SALLY FALLON MORELL
MELISSA K. NORRIS
JUSTIN RHODES
SHAWN & BETH DOUGHERTY
BRANDON SHEARD
PAUL GAUTSCHI
WILL BONSALL
LISA BASS
…and more.
Thirty teachers and counting. More than 300 years of combined experience.
Hardworking, salt-of-the-earth people who’ve raised the animals, grown the food, fermented the cabbage, and treated their own families with herbs for decades.
Not influencers. Not hobbyists. Real homesteaders who live this life every day.
“These classes are so helpful. I used Darcy Baldwin’s dehydration one today on apples that turned out great. Thank you for caring.”
– Kath B.
“I really adore Beth D. and all her skills, especially making hard cheese. I finally made it and it looks & smells fantastic!! I’m so excited.”
– Donna L.
“After taking their breadmaking class, I was brave enough to bake bread from scratch which my family absolutely loved.”
– Lyndzie L.
“The STS community has more expertise than most of the people that post on IG. There is more to access on STS, and when I need to find information out regarding something here on the homestead I will refer to STS and take a class or ask in the group.”
– Tonya S.
Start with the one skill your family needs this season.
Gardening
Grow real food in the space you actually have — raised beds, a suburban backyard, a few pots on a patio. Time to stop buying those tomatoes and start growing them.
Food Preservation & Canning
Can, freeze, ferment, and store what you grow or buy in bulk. So your pantry feeds your family for months, not days — safely.
Sourdough & Scratch Baking
Learn to bake the loaf that feeds a family, the pancakes your kids ask for on Sunday, the rolls for the holiday table. No more buying bread with questionable ingredients!
Herbs & Home Remedies
Know exactly what to reach for when someone has a sore throat, a fever, or even a minor injury — and know the dose is right. Taught safety-first by experienced herbalists.
Raising Animals
Chickens for eggs. Goats for milk. Pigs for the freezer. A dairy cow for when you’re ready.
Now your family’s protein doesn’t come from a factory you’ll never see.
Dairy, Cheese & Traditional Foods
Butter, yogurt, soft cheese, kefir, bone broth, lacto-fermented pickles — the foods our grandparents made without thinking.
Start with one. Take your time. The rest will still be here when you’re ready.
The shift our members talk about most isn’t the bread they bake, the bees they raise, or the gardens they grow.
They talk about confidence.
They tell us it’s the moment they pulled jars out of the canner and knew they were safe. The moment their kid snacked on homemade fruit leather. The first time someone got sick, they reached for a remedy they made themselves.
That’s the real change. You stop second-guessing. You stop waiting to feel ready. You put the jar on the shelf, feed your family, and get on with your day.
You’re not adding more to your plate. You’re taking doubt, fear, and anxiety off it!
“I’m a founding member of the School of Traditional Skills, and it’s the one subscription I will renew forever.
Financial challenges have caused me to cancel nearly all other subscriptions as we’ve had to tighten our budget, but STS is one that I value and will keep.
Our family lives in suburbia and had to delay our plans for country life, but STS has helped me to develop a homesteading mindset where I am right now today and not wait until we move.
I’ve learned so much!!!! It started with bone broth, raw milk, and sourdough, and it grew to gardening in my tiny backyard and into making herbal tinctures.
The beekeeping class gave me the confidence to start my own apiaries and eventually launch a beekeeping business this year!
I love having all the classes, the workshops, and the community for resources that help me when I need.”
– Victoria K.
“The quality, knowledge, and communication skills of all the instructors prompted me to up my subscription from annual to lifetime.This is a fabulous resource for anyone wanting to understand how to make the most of their land, be it a small backyard or acres of property. Every topic offers information I use.”
–Cyndi S.
“Our youngest kiddo helped me put out some seedlings to enjoy Mother Nature after so many recent frigid days indoors under lights. All of the thousand-ish onion starts are in the greenhouse, andwe’ve been able to plant out brassicas and greens (spinach, kale, chard, lettuce) in our garden beds thanks to the info- not to mention confidence- gained in Melissa K Norris’s season extenders class! So far, year three (this year) has been the best beginning of seed starting I’ve yet had!”
–Elena N.
“Made 4 loaves of bread, a batch of cookies, and homemade mayo and homemade butter. Just put an offer on 5 acres today, waiting to hear back. And my heart is just overflowing. This community reawakened my joy for simple living.
These things felt so overwhelming just 6 months ago, here I am, sharing and inspiring my whole family.
– Terri R.
We built this school because we needed it too.
The School of Traditional Skills was founded by Carolyn and Josh Thomas of Homesteading Family — two parents who wanted their own kids to grow up knowing how to garden, can, bake, and care for the people they love.
But as an overwhelmed young mom, Carolyn struggled to find the resources she needed to learn these skills.
“Where are the older women I’m supposed to learn this from?” she tearfully asked Josh one night while sitting on their back porch.
Sourdough. The garden. A baby on her hip and three more kids to teach to read. No grandmother down the road. No Proverbs 31 woman next door. Nobody to ask.
When they started looking for a single trustworthy place to learn it all, they couldn’t find one. So they built it.
That was the seed of Homesteading Family.
Later, on the back of a napkin in a restaurant, Carolyn sketched the rest — a school built around the people who taught them.
Sally Fallon Morell on traditional food. Brandon Sheard on curing pork with salt, even in a tiny kitchen. Will Bonsall on seed saving. Joel Salatin on the land. And others!
Today, the School is home to 10,000+ families doing the same thing you are: cooking from scratch, growing what they can, caring for their people, and passing on skills that were almost lost.
Carolyn created the teaching framework that every class still follows. Josh built the home for it.
Traditional skills. Trusted teachers. A guided, waste-free, time-saving path.
School of Traditional Skills exists so the overwhelmed mom on the back porch doesn’t have to figure it out alone.
Picture the pantry. The garden. The herb cabinet. The Sunday loaf.
You walk into your kitchen and know, without hoping, that you can feed the people you love. Your kids are learning the skills most families forgot. Your grocery bill is smaller. The elderberry syrup is in the fridge where you need it. And the jar of tomatoes on the shelf has your handwriting on the label.
That’s what the School builds. One skill, one season, one jar at a time.
Here’s What’s Inside Your Membership
Everything you need to learn the skills your family will benefit from the most. In one trusted place, not scattered across a hundred YouTube tabs.
Pick your skill. Pick your plan. Start this week.
Monthly
$29
Perfect if you want to stay up to date with your favorite instructors and work on your skills month by month!
Annual
$298
The most affordable way to get premium access to every new class on traditional skills.
Lifetime
$2,980
A one-time investment to get lifetime access to the best training in self-sufficiency you’ll find.
30 days refund guarantee · Cancel any time · Trusted by over 10,000 families
Your enrollment in School of Traditional Skills is protected by our “See it to Believe It” Guarantee.
You have a FULL 30 days to decide if School of Traditional Skills is the perfect place for you to master homesteading and self-sufficiency skills from the best experts.
If on Day 30, you decide it isn’t what we promised … email us and we’ll return your money. No questions asked.
Not only that, even after 30 days, you can easily cancel your subscription at any time and not be billed in the future. You can view our complete terms and conditions here.
Not only that, even after 30 days you can easily cancel your subscription at any time and not be billed in the future. You can view our complete terms and conditions here.
You May Have These Questions.
Still have questions?
Feel free to email us at hello@schooloftraditionalskills.com or reach out via our Contact us page.
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