Homesteading is an ancient concept that has resurged in the modern world. It’s a way to return to nature and stay connected with your surroundings.
Fall and Winter
The fall season is a great time to get out on the land and start planting vegetables, herbs, fruits, and nuts. It’s also a good time to harvest and preserve food so you have something for the winter.
A lake and a wetland in Washington state are soon to have new names in honor of two early Black settlers on the Kitsap Peninsula.
A 10.5-acre acre lake near Tahuya, Wash. will soon be called “Nathaniel Sargent Lake.” Sargent was a Black man born into slavery who homesteaded near Seabeck. He died in 1954.
A nearby 18-acre wetland will now be known as Rodney White Slough. White was also born into slavery in Missouri. He began homesteading in Mason County in 1890, started an orchard, and lived there until his death in 1913.
Both the geographical sites near where Sargent and White lived in Mason County previously had names which included a racial slur toward Black people.
“The stories of Rodney White and Nathaniel Sargent are important,” said U.S. Representative Derek Kilmer, Mason County’s representative in Congress. “They made positive impacts on their communities, but they are not widely known. I’m proud to have supported this effort because renaming these locations in Mason County recognizes their contributions and impacts that might have been forgotten due to the color of their skin.”
Dyer Oxley contributed to this report.
Source: kuow.org
