Author name: mindyannbrown

Hi! I’m Mindy, known as The Off Grid Barefoot Girl. I’m passionate about living simply, sustainably, and self-sufficiently — one barefoot step at a time! After years of embracing an off-grid lifestyle, I love sharing practical tips, heartfelt stories, and easy-to-follow guides to help you thrive whether you’re dreaming of homesteading, prepping, or just a more independent way of living. Join me as I explore everything from gardening and food preservation to solar power and natural living. Here’s to freedom, resilience, and cozy barefoot days!

Image illustrates a kid with a bow and arrow for archery for kids.
Self-Sufficient Kids

Why Archery for Kids Teaches a Growth Mindset

Discover how archery helps kids develop a growth mindset through patience, focus, confidence, and resilience.

attract pollinators to improve harvest
Vegetable Garden Projects

How to Attract Pollinators to Improve Your Garden Harvest

The foods that we grow rely on pollinators in order to set the fruits and vegetables on the plants for us to eat. Since the past few years, our pollinators have been disappearing and our gardens are hurting. I have many friends posting images of their plants dying off and flowers falling to the ground due to a lack of pollination. While we have the ability to hand pollinate our gardens, we also have the power to attract pollinators to our gardens and help them feel welcome and make homes in the habitats we can provide for them. You don’t need an unkept lawn to attract pollinators, though you can do some simple things in your garden to help pollinators thrive. Let’s dive into how we can attract some daytime and nighttime pollinators to your garden so your garden is pollinated by both day and night shift workers in the garden. CLICK TO READ MORE.

fire starter survival kit
Self-Sufficiency

How to Build a No-Fail Fire Starter Survival Kit

Discover how to build the best fire starter survival kit with the finest tools on the market with this helpful guide.

no power survival challenge
Self-Sufficiency

Why Doing a 1-Day No Power Survival Challenge Can Help Prepare Your Home for Emergencies

Learn why doing a one day no power survival challenge is crucial to helping you better prepare your home for emergencies.

cherry pie jam
Prep Your Pantry

How to Make and Can Cherry Pie Jam

Learn how to make cherry pie jam and vanilla cherry syrup with this step-by-step recipe tutorial full of photos.

Image illustrates growing a potato patch.
Vegetable Garden Projects

Why Growing a Potato Patch Is Important for Survival

Learn why growing a potato patch is important for survival and which types of potatoes you should grow along with the best growing methods.

homeschooling
Self-Sufficient Kids

Homeschooling Teens With Anxiety: How Easy It Can Improve Grades

Homeschooling teens with anxiety is often a hot topic with parents and teachers who struggle to find the best help for teens who suffer from anxiety. Anxiety is very real and it hurts many people and it can put a devastating effect on a teen’s mental health and self-esteem. It can also wreak havoc on grades and graduation credits that teens need to strive for. This topic is personal and near and dear to my heart as I am a mother of two struggling teens who battle these common issues. However, we are discovering the power of homeschooling and how easy it can improve grades and boost their confidence in themselves as they reach their goals independent from the social stress of public middle and high school. Learn how homeschooling has helped improve my own teenagers’ confidence, self-esteem, self-worth, grades, and self-sufficiency and how it can possibly help yours too! CLICK TO READ MORE.

tulips
Cottage Garden

How to Grow and Care for Tulips

Learn how to grow and care for tulips, which are the first blooms to pop through the frosty ground in early spring and multiply each year! The best thing about tulips is that they can continue to grow with their regenerative power in a vase of water after being cut! Plus, they always arrive just in time for Easter! CLICK TO READ MORE.

peegee hydrangea tree
Cottage Garden

How to Grow and Care for a PeeGee Hydrangea Tree

Growing a PeeGee hydrangea tree in your yard or cottage garden will bring a large display of beautiful blooms that last all summer long. I live in Northern Utah and regular hydrangeas do not do well with the long harsh winters in my area. However, PeeGee hydrangea trees are frost-tolerant and cold hardy trees/shrubs that they are perfect for my climate. If you have issues growing hydrangeas, try growing PeeGee hydrangea trees and growing gorgeous hydrangeas in your garden. I love them so much, I planted two of them! CLICK TO READ MORE.

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