Homesteading Family

What Homesteading Family does

Homesteading Family, operating as Thomas Cottage Enterprises Inc., is a private bootstrapped education and content platform that teaches traditional homesteading skills to individuals and families pursuing greater food self-sufficiency. Founded by Josh and Carolyn Thomas from a 40-acre homestead in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, and legally incorporated in 2016, the company delivers instruction through online courses (canning, dairy making, bread baking, herbalism, freeze drying, fermentation, permaculture), tiered memberships, a monthly Homestead Kitchen Magazine, and a creator-led YouTube channel that has accumulated approximately 28 million views and 800,000 subscribers.

The core technology infrastructure is built on Kajabi's hosted learning management system, which serves as the storefront at classes.homesteadingfamily.com, the video vault, the membership hub, and the community forum. Content distribution is anchored by YouTube and a 450,000-subscriber email newsletter, which together funnel viewers through free video workshops into paid courses and recurring memberships. The company sells one-time courses priced at $199–$399 alongside recurring memberships: a $9/month (or $90/year) Silver tier offering magazine and curated videos, and a $29/month (or $290/year) Gold tier granting full access to all courses, the community, weekly live Q&As, and the magazine. To date, the platform has served more than 45,000 course students and approximately 4,000 paying community members.

The business is family-operated, bootstrapped with no external institutional capital, and monetizes through a hybrid of one-time course revenue, recurring subscriptions, a physical/digital magazine, and affiliate commissions. Digital content reaches a global audience, with confirmed adoption in the US, Canada, and Sweden, while the physical magazine is restricted to U.S. delivery. Operations remain concentrated in Idaho with a small team, and the founders' personal credibility on a working multi-acre homestead is the central source of brand authority.

Name

Homesteading Family

Legal name

Thomas Cottage Enterprises Inc.

Website

https://homesteadingfamily.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Bootstrapped education platform founded by Josh and Carolyn Thomas that teaches traditional food production, preservation, and self-sufficiency skills through online courses, tiered memberships, a monthly magazine, and a YouTube channel with 800,000+ subscribers, serving individuals and families.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Bonners Ferry

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Individual Online Courses: One-time purchase courses on topics including canning, dairy making, bread baking, herbalism, and freeze drying. Prices range from $199-$399 per course.
2. Homestead Kitchen Membership (Silver & Gold): Monthly or annual subscription memberships providing access to all courses, video vault, community, and magazine. Gold includes all courses; Silver includes magazine and basic video access.
3. Homestead Kitchen Magazine Subscription: $9/month or $90/year subscription with physical magazine (US) and digital access to magazine plus video vault
4. Affiliate Revenue: Earn affiliate commissions from recommended tools, ingredients, and products through Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and direct relationships with small businesses

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Homesteading Family sells online video courses, digital books, a monthly magazine, and tiered membership subscriptions teaching traditional homesteading skills such as canning, dairy making, bread baking, herbalism, fermenting, freeze drying, and household management. Their flagship offering is the Homestead Kitchen Membership (Silver and Gold tiers) which combines a content library, live Q&A, an exclusive community forum, and the monthly Homestead Kitchen Magazine. All digital content is delivered through their Kajabi-powered learning platform at classes.homesteadingfamily.com.

Product overview

Homesteading Family operates as an educational content platform offering a comprehensive portfolio of homesteading skills courses, digital products, and membership programs. The core offering is the Homestead Kitchen Membership available in Gold and Silver tiers—Gold provides full access to all premium courses including The Art of Homemade Bread, The Practical Homemade Dairy Masterclass, The Abundant Pantry: Canning, Herbal Medicine Cabinet, Fearless Fermenting, Freeze Drying, and more, combined with the monthly Homestead Kitchen Magazine, an exclusive community forum, weekly live Q&A sessions, and a video vault. Standalone courses cover topics such as bread making, dairy production, canning, herbalism, permaculture, and household management, while digital books provide focused guides on bread techniques and gluten-free baking. The platform also offers free workshops like Meals on Your Shelf and Simple Homemade Cheese to drive funnel conversion. The Silver membership tier provides magazine-only access with curated video content. All content is delivered through Kajabi's course platform with lifetime access to purchased materials.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Homestead Kitchen Magazine: Monthly magazine with practical homesteading recipes, preservation techniques, and traditional cooking skills.
• Homestead Kitchen Membership
• The Abundant Pantry: Canning
• The Practical, Homemade Dairy Masterclass
• The Art of Homemade Bread
• Herbal Medicine Cabinet: COLDS and FLUS

Products and services

• Homestead Kitchen Membership (Gold) Premium tier subscription membership providing access to all Homesteading Family courses, the monthly Homestead Kitchen Magazine (print and digital), exclusive non-Facebook community access, weekly live Q&A sessions with Carolyn and Josh, quarterly challenges, and the full video vault. Priced at $29/month or $290/year.
• Homestead Kitchen Magazine (Silver Membership) Monthly subscription offering a physical magazine mailed to US subscribers plus digital access to the magazine and a curated video vault with 350+ how-to videos. Priced at $9/month or $90/year with a $1 first-month trial available.
• The Abundant Pantry: Canning Self-paced video masterclass teaching safe water bath and pressure canning techniques with step-by-step recipe tutorials, troubleshooting guides, workbooks, and bonus materials for building a pantry of shelf-stable meals. Priced at $199 (sale) up to $399.
• The Practical, Homemade Dairy Masterclass 60+ video lessons plus a 130-page workbook teaching students to make cultured milk products, soft cheeses, hard aged cheeses, butter, yogurt, and kefir at home using store-bought or raw milk with minimal equipment. One-time $399 purchase for lifetime access.
• The Art of Homemade Bread Video course teaching every step and technique for making light, fluffy, and sliceable homemade bread from scratch, covering various bread-making methods and recipes.
• Herbal Medicine Cabinet: COLDS and FLUS Course teaching families how to build an at-home herbal medicine cabinet using simple herbs to safely and naturally treat common cold and flu ailments.
• The Abundant Pantry: Freeze Drying Masterclass teaching how to freeze dry fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs, meat, and complete meals to preserve nutrients and extend shelf life for long-term storage.
• Fearless Fermenting Course teaching the creation of probiotic and enzyme-rich fermented foods and vegetables, with printable workbook and step-by-step instructions.
• Wild Milk: A Guide To Making Fermented Dairy Products Guide to making fermented dairy products at home using traditional methods without specialty ingredients or store-bought supplies.
• Baking with Home-Milled Flour Course teaching techniques for making healthy whole wheat baked goods using freshly ground, home-milled flour with professional-quality results.
• Preserving Eggs Instructional videos and workbook teaching proper handling, storage, and multiple methods for preserving fresh eggs for extended use.
• Permaculture for Your Homestead Workshop Workshop teaching the basics of permaculture design and how to apply permaculture principles to make homesteads, gardens, and homes produce more with less effort.
• The Household Management Class Course teaching how to organize household chaos into peace with video lessons, make-ahead breakfast casserole recipes, and weekly planning sheets.
• Herbal Oils & Salves

Quantifiable outcome

• Save hundreds of dollars a year on convenience foods and grocery store purchases through home food production
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• American Blossom LinensminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPodcast sponsor providing coupon code 'HOMESTEADINGFAMILY2026' for 15% off orders. American Blossom Linens makes durable, chemical-reducing bedding products backed by a 2-year money-back guarantee.
• Amazon Services LLC Associates ProgramminorGTM or Marketing PartnerAffiliate advertising program where Homesteading Family earns advertising fees by linking to Amazon.com products. Standard associates program for earning commissions on product recommendations.
• Raptive (CMI Marketing, Inc.)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerAdvertising service provider for placing advertisements on the Homesteading Family website. Raptive collects and uses data for advertising purposes on the site.
• Secure Third-Party Payment ProcessorsminorOthersSecure payment processors used for online transactions. Credit card and debit card information is stored and processed by these third-party providers, not by Homesteading Family directly.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• The Prairie Homestead: Homesteading education blog and brand from Jill Winger teaching cooking-from-scratch and traditional skills, with strong email-list and digital product monetization comparable to Homesteading Family.
• The Elliott Homestead: Family-run homesteading brand publishing cookbooks, blog content, and digital education around traditional food and farming for the same self-sufficiency persona.
• Melissa K. Norris: Homesteading author and educator with a podcast, YouTube channel, books, and a paid membership (Pioneering Today Academy) — highly comparable creator-led course and community business model.
• MaryJanesFarm: Mary Jane Butners' heritage farm and magazine brand combining rural-lifestyle publication with educational offerings for homesteaders; direct match on the print-magazine-plus-education model.
• School of Traditional Skills: Direct peer explicitly referenced as a separate but adjacent homesteading-education company founded by Steven and Teri Gilley, teaching similar traditional living skills to a comparable consumer base.
• Roots and Refuge Farm: Jess Sowards' homesteading YouTube channel and educational brand, with courses and community offerings targeting the same aspiring-homesteader persona.

Emerging players

• Fresh Eggs Daily: Heritage-raising and herbalism education brand with blog, books, and courses, overlapping on backyard farming and herbal skills taught to a similar demographic.
• Grow Forage Cook Ferment: Creator-led homesteading/fermentation education site with online courses and digital products overlapping significantly with Homesteading Family's preserve-and-prepare curriculum.
• Self Sufficient Me: YouTube-led homesteading/gardening channel with educational content overlap, though less developed as a paid course/membership business than Homesteading Family.

Broad incumbents

• Mother Earth News: Established multi-decade homesteading/Self-sufficiency publication with broad editorial and educational footprint — competes for the same reader and learner audience across many overlapping topics.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@HomesteadingFamily
• Facebookfacebook.com/homesteadingfamily
• Instagraminstagram.com/homesteadingfamily
• Pinterestpinterest.com/homesteadingfamily
• Xx.com/HomesteadingFam

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Homesteading Family