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COMO – If there was such a thing as a time machine, some might think that Katie Carr Johnson made her way from the early 20^th century to the present day.

She, along with husband Brad and their two children, Kellen (age 12) and Cecelia (9), live on the outskirts of Como in a modern home with all the modern appliances. But it’s how they choose to live off the land that’s more reminiscent of 1925 than 2025.

Katie, born and raised on the Curle Farm near Como, is a 2003 graduate of Hertford County High School. She graduated from East Carolina University in 2007 with a degree in Elementary Education. That degree landed her a job teaching 4^th grade at Falkland Elementary School in Greenville where she remained until 2012, moving back home one year later.

Brad, a native of Murfreesboro, graduated from Ridgecroft School in 2002. He obtained a degree in Engineering in 2007 from North Carolina State University and is employed as an engineer with the Ahoskie office of the North Carolina Department of Transportation.

“When we built our house, I told Brad I wanted an edible backyard. At first I thought of that as berry bushes and fruit trees,” Katie recalled.

Over the years that yard has progressed. Along the edge of the back porch are various herbs mixed in with the berry bushes. The back yard is dotted with multiple raised garden beds. Two contain “winter” crops: garlic and collards.

“Right now I’m just gearing up for the big spring and summer growing season,” Katie said. “We changed over to the raised beds because we find it a lot easier to control weeds. We try really hard to use organic practices and not use a lot of pesticides and herbicides.

“We have found over the years that wood chips work really good as a mulch,” Katie added. “They provide weed control and they add nutrients back into the soil as they decompose.”

Brad noted that currently they have seedlings growing inside their home, slowly maturing to the point where they can be transplanted in the backyard garden.

“When someone drives by at night it probably looks like an indoor football stadium, with all the grow lights in our living room,” Katie observed.

Once the ground temperature warms, the garden will contain sweet peas, carrots, beets, radish, lettuce, tomatoes, green beans, okra, peppers, and squash…or what Katie referenced as “the good southern stuff.”

There’s a small greenhouse on the back corner of the property. It doesn’t have electricity, but Katie said it’s useful in the warmer months, allowing her to maintain production from tomato plants up until November.

“Our garden produced all we needed last year and we had an excess that we sold using a cart that Brad built and placed it by the road,” Katie said.

The family’s homestead includes extended “family” members….eight laying hens with a couple of new ones set to arrive this spring.

“They give us eggs year-round; it’s convenient to have them right here in the yard and we don’t have to worry about the constant changes in the price of eggs at the grocery store,” Katie stressed.

The Johnsons also have meat chickens (Cornish Cross variety) that are raised in the spring and fall, between 30 to 60 chickens per cycle. They are purchased from a hatchery in Minnesota and arrive as two-day-old chicks. They will be harvested at around seven weeks. Each will be in the three to four pound range.

“We harvest the meat ourselves,” she said, adding they learned how to do so by watching YouTube videos.

The Johnsons also homestead with another family nearby who have more land.

“We have three pigs there. Our plan is to process them this summer and store the meat in the freezer,” Katie said.

Brad added that they raised two turkeys last year, which were harvested and enjoyed by the family as part of their Thanksgiving meal.

“We may try to raise a few more turkeys this year,” he said.

“For anything else we need, we try to support local farms,” Katie noted. “We have a friend who raises beef cattle. We try to have one processed each year and add that to our freezer.

“Maybe one year we’ll have more land, but for now we’ll do with what we’ve got,” Katie added.

While it doesn’t take any extra space to make homemade bread, Katie takes pride in baking that particular staple of life.

“A lot of things changed for us starting back in 2020,” she noted. “My son has a food allergy, so I always have to read product labels on what we were buying. I would see ingredients on some labels that I didn’t know. I would look them up and that led me to stop buying certain food items. We now either grow it ourselves or locally source those items. It’s all about making better choices with our food and how it’s made.”

Apparently, that careful approach has rubbed off on her son.

“Kellen is an excellent baker,” boasted Katie. “With his food allergy (peanuts), he’s learned to make his own style of cookies. People rave about his scones (sweet biscuits) and his chocolate chip cookies.”

What the Johnsons choose to do with their land is reminiscent to the way things were done at the turn of the 20^th century.

“We’re nothing really special out here,” Katie said. “We’re just doing things that may have skipped a couple of generations. I talk to my 96-year-old grandmother a lot and she said when she was young she didn’t have a choice but to do things the old-fashioned way. Now, despite have all the conveniences of life all around us, we choose to do the things the same way she once did.

“Even though chicken-killing days aren’t fun, we try to turn it into an educational class and invite neighbors and friends to come watch and learn how it’s done,” she added.

At the end of each day, the Johnsons feel a sense of accomplishment.

“One of our main goals is to be good stewards of the land and the animals God gave us for nourishment. Hopefully we can encourage others to try it as well,” Katie said.

The couple choose to homeschool their children, with Katie serving as the teacher.

“I had to learn to do things differently with homeschool. It’s different than what I was use to as a public educator,” Katie noted. “The biggest difference is flexibility with the curriculum. I cherry pick what I like the best from the different curriculums and put them together.”

She added that a well-rounded education includes learning by living.

“My kids spend time learning in the workshop, in the garden, in the woods…that’s part of life,” she stressed. “A lot of what they do in the shop is physics related and math related.”

Katie has a blog (https://johnsonhomenc.com) where she shares gardening advice, how to raise chickens, and shares some of her recipes.