About us
Meet the Hurtados - Ralph, Nicole, Ralphie,and Charlie. A realtor and former educator transform their family home into a suburban homestead to teach their children practical skills for life. In their spare time, all of them can be found training at Charles Gracie Jiu Jitsu Academy. Ralphie enjoys playing flag football and plays year-round. Charlie loves to go for long walks visiting all the horses, cows, llamas, alpacas, and goats throughout Livermore. In addition, he loves any dog that will give him love.
How we started homesteading
Christmas 2023, we received a loaf of homemade sourdough bread from Ralph's cousin. We couldn't believe how amazing the bread tasted. As a joke, Ralph told Nicole to add it to her list of things to do in her spare time. (She was working 40 hours a week for a local school district.)
Nicole started to explore making anything sourdough and quickly fell in love. She started with just making breads, and soon begin making bagels, cookies, scones, cupcakes, and pasta. When someone makes a request, she tries to make it with sourdough. This launched a whole new discovery of what was in the food they were eating.
Nicole and Ralph decided to redo both their front and back yards in 2025 so it will be completely foodscaped. The plan is to take their current 10x10 garden and made everything in their yard edible. Nicole loves to make everything from stratch as much as possible, including drying the herbs that we use year-round.
As the adults began to make sourdough and learn about what was in the food we were eating, Ralphie wanted chickens. (Read the Meet the Mother Cluckers page to learn more.) Within months, he asked for turkeys. (Read the Meet the Gobbler Monsters page to learn more.) For Ralph and Nicole's Wedding Anniversary in November 2024, Ralphie tried to gift them a sheep in the backyard.
Our mission
Parents just trying to teach their childern sustainable practices that can help them survive in life.