Hi! I'm Jana Dziak, the founder, primary writer, recipe developer, and voice behind The Peasant's Daughter!
The Peasant’s Daughter is a journey of rediscovery into self-sufficiency and sustainable living.
Explore regenerative homesteading and no-till gardening on 3 acres. Learn about traditional farm-to-table cooking techniques and food preservation. Make family-friendly real-food meals with my growing collection of heritage American, Slavic, and Central European recipes. Learn all about small-livestock care for your chickens, ducks, geese, sheep and goats.
Start homesteading wherever you are with what you already have.
You can also find me on Instagram and Facebook for a more intimate behind-the-scenes look at everything we do here on the homestead.
I'm a Croatian immigrant married to a Slovak man. With our growing family of two boys, we are homesteading on 3 acres in Zone 6 after leaving the city behind forever.
I see myself as a steward of the land we are fortunate to live on, and I strive for regenerative and holistic homesteading practices that give back as much as we take.
Here you'll find:
- Old-fashioned recipes from the Slavic, Eastern, and Central European countries alongside classic American recipes.
- Budget-friendly cuisine, peasant dishes, & family-friendly recipes for busy people.
- Traditional desserts from America and Europe.
- Gardening & growing guides that focus on regenerative, no-till, permaculture, and organic principles. The easiest and best ways to grow an abundant food garden in a way that gives back to the land.
- Small flock and backyard chicken-keeping advice: take the mystery and hesitation from owning your own egg-laying and/or meat chicken.
- Small livestock advice on sheep, geese, ducks, goats and more!
- Small homestead advice — we have 3 acres, which is PLENTY for most of our needs. You may be shocked at what is possible on a small amount of land. Even your backyard can be designed to produce so much abundance for you and your family.
More About Me
My husband and I took a leap of faith and traded the chaos of city life for the tranquility of the countryside to follow our dreams of homesteading. I firmly believe that homesteading starts with you and that you can do nearly everything I do here from your condo, suburban backyard, or wherever you may live.
My Story
I am a graduate of Horticulture at the University of Guelph, English Literature at The University of Toronto and also LEED.
I worked as an auditor and consultant for various corporations in ISO9001.
I have worked in many restaurants and grew up learning how to garden and care for animals alongside my family.
But my story starts long before all that.
My mother was the youngest daughter of eight children; her parents were the typical subsistence farmers eking out an existence in the rugged mountains of our troubled but beautiful homeland.
My family had fled the seemingly never-ending political turmoil of the Balkans and escaped the communism and war of our Croatian homeland to make a better life in Canada.
I grew up between two places.
The first place was my new modern city life in Toronto; the second was in the dusty forgotten villages of my homeland, where I would go back in time each summer.
In many ways, my life stood in such stark contrast to my Canadian-born peers who ate differently and thought differently.
I would return to Canada, confused by who I was and my place in the world.
And as much as I tried to escape my roots and traditions, they would ultimately claim me.
This blog is a love letter to those traditions and a resource to those of you who feel the same yearning, and hear the same call.
The modern homesteading movement is a way to slow down and create a healthier and more wholesome life, one of connection to the land and to ourselves.
And the deep sense of meaning and contentment that this life brings makes sense in a way the modern world and all of its conveniences simply can't.
Whether you have several acres in the country, a small suburban backyard, a community garden and a condo, or live off the grid far from society. None of that matters.
There is a movement of people like us, a remembering of the old ways, a return to the simpler and quieter lives of our ancestors.
The Peasant's Daughter is a journey through the lives of the women that came before me.
Where to Start?
- Read about how my husband and I found and bought our homestead.
- Read more about my personal life in the (long) story where I discuss how I found and left veganism for my health.
- Check out my growing collection of recipes.
- My ultimate guide to chickens is a great resource for backyard and small-flock chicken keepers.
- And my growing gardening section will teach you how to grow your own food in a regenerative no-till way.
Follow me on Instagram for more personal, behind-the-scenes content.
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