About Common Sense Home

Common Sense Home is a trusted online resource dedicated to empowering individuals and families to embrace self-reliant, sustainable lifestyles.

With its focus on practical advice and actionable solutions, the brand provides a wealth of knowledge in areas like gardening, food preservation, natural remedies, homesteading, and preparedness. It combines traditional wisdom with modern techniques, appealing to those who value resilience, independence, and a connection to the land.

Common Sense Home speaks like a trusted neighbor or mentor, offering guidance that’s both approachable and reliable. We’ve been at this for decades, and we know stuff, and share what we know.

Why we talk about Resilience and Abundance

We started the site simply to share our story, but it’s become more than that. We live in challenging times, and the “resilience and abundance” mindset is critical to prosperity.

Resilience

Resilience is the ability to adapt, recover, and thrive in the face of challenges, adversity, or change.

“Fall seven times, rise eight.” – Japanese Proverb

We empower individuals and families to adapt to challenges by building skills, creating food security through gardening and food preservation, and enhancing energy and resource efficiency.

We emphasize proactive measures to prepare for emergencies, while fostering a deeper connection with nature and a simpler, more intentional lifestyle.

Abundance

Abundance isn’t just about having more, but about appreciating and wisely utilizing what you have. It’s about becoming creators, innovators, and producers, instead of just consumers.

There’s enough “pie” for everyone if we learn how to make more “pie”. When we do well, we can share our surplus with others.

We encourage readers to cultivate abundance through practices like gardening, preserving food, and reducing waste. Be thankful, and build a life rich in skills and community. Live in harmony with nature, and enjoy meaningful experiences.

What’s the plant in the Common Sense Home logo?

Just in case you’re wondering about the plant in the Common Sense Home logo, it’s common plantain, Plantago major. My grandmother called it medicine leaf, and it was one of the first wild plants that I learned to use.

I chose as a reminder that the help you need might be found where you least expect it. It also teaches us to thrive in adverse conditions, as it grows in rough conditions, like sidewalk cracks and compacted soil.

Our Story

Common Sense Home started as a way to share our story as we moved out to the country to pursue a more self-reliant lifestyle. Over the years, we’ve helped millions learn about growing your own food and medicine, food storage and preservation, emergency preparedness, and more.

Our Homestead

We began our marriage staying with family while we built our first home in the suburbs of Green Bay, Wisconsin. We filled the yard with dwarf fruit trees and gardens, but we always dreamed of our own place in the country.

In 2004, we decided to take the plunge and move so our sons would grow up on the homestead. We found our land when Laurie spotted a “For Sale” sign tipped over in a ditch. The home was built in an old cow pasture after we swapped land with a neighbor for a driveway to get to the landlocked pasture.

Our family’s Green Built certified home includes an attached greenhouse, root cellar and canning pantry, which extend the growing season and allow us to store food for year round use. We also built a coop/greenhouse complex, for chickens, ducks, and growing more food. Eventually we added two ponds, solar panels and a workshop.

Learn More About Our Northeast Wisconsin Homestead

Our Homestead – Then and Now – How Things Have Changed

The Gardens

The raw land was rough, with compacted soil closer to the house and thick grass roots farther away. Our first garden was a sad, weedy mess, planted with a few leftover transplants from Laurie’s mother.

Over time, we added many garden beds, two orchards, nut trees and shrubs, and other edible and medicinal plants. We went from soil that the boys had to use a pick ax to break up to soil that looks like chocolate cake.

Overcoming Adversity

Things haven’t always been easy, but we’ve made it through as a family. In 2008, August lost his job during the economic downturn. After a year of freelancing, he found a full time position – an hour and a half away.

We debated selling the homestead and everything we’d worked for, but decided to hang on. August came home on weekends, and Laurie and the boys kept the homestead going. After five long years, August finally found a position back in the area and the family was back together full time again.

Then, in 2015, Laurie had a debilitating attack of psoriasis, with peeling, blistering skin over about a third of her body. When the “experts” told her to live with it, she took matters into her own hands, and figured out a way to clear her skin.

At the end of 2023, August’s full time job ended. He started a consulting business, but things are different from the first time he lost his job. Now, we have other revenue streams. We also produce most of our food and electricity. No matter what happens, we can make it through together.

Laurie Neverman

August Neverman IV

Duncan Neverman

August Neverman V

Contact Us

You can reach us via email at laurie@commonsensehome.com.

We do not accept unsolicited guest posts.

Most of the photos featured on the site are from our homestead, but we do use some stock photos from depositphotos.