Farm and Homesteading

You know we are all about having our kiddos explore and learn about the world around us through hands-on learning like farming. So when I ran into Maggie Sheffield’s gorgeous home on Instagram, I knew I had to ask her a few questions and feature it.

Maggie is a wife, mother and talented photographer in Oklahoma who decided she wanted to build a metal building and covert it into a beautiful home for her and her family.

Learn more about Maggie here: Website | Instagram

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The concept of a metal building or – ‘barndominium’ is pretty new. When did you build your home and why did you decide this was how you wanted to build your home?

We built our home in 2016, so having a “barndominium” then was definitely not common! My husband had wanted to build a metal home for a while! He wanted it to match our other barns in our shop area. I wasn’t so sure about the idea at first, but I told him as long as I could do what we wanted on in the inside like a “normal” home, I was okay with it! (Spoiler Alert: I couldn’t be happier with our decision!)

How much land do you have?

My husband is a 3rd generation farmer & we live in a TINY farm town in Oklahoma with our two kiddos- we farm around 4,000 acres. Our crops include Corn, Wheat, Soybeans, Cotton. We actually built in the EXACT spot where his grandfather’s childhood home was.

What were a few of your biggest hurdles you had to get over while building?

This would probably be a better question for my husband because I honestly don’t remember any of the hurdles, but I’m sure he does! Ha! It honestly went fairly smoothly. The same man who builds our barns at our shop built our home (B & B Welding, INC.) & my husband contracted the rest out.

How big is your home? Do you have a price breakdown for the build?

Our home is 50×100. We have 3300sqft living and the rest is our shop/garage area.

We paid around $80 per sqft and that includes EVERYTHING. We have 4 bedrooms ( 2 upstairs and 2 downstairs) & 2.5 baths. We have a mud/laundry room downstairs. We also have a large loft area upstairs, which is the kids living area/playroom.

How did you keep costs down?

My husband contracted it himself & that saved us some. We did concrete floors in all of our downstairs area, so we didn’t have to pay for flooring or carpet. We knew this would be a “forever home” so, we didn’t want to cut corners on what we wanted.

Do you have any farm animals? If not, do you plan on getting any?

We have dogs and we had chickens & I plan to get more 🙂 I am always trying to talk my husband into ALL the farm animals once we get a fence built. My farm animal wish list: Horse, Scottish highland, 1-2 goats, & more chickens.

Did you grow up on a farm? Why was it important for you to raise your kids on land?

I grew up with Longhorn cattle and horses. Some of my favorite memories involve them. Where we live now, we don’t have any neighbors. My kids can roam and explore as far as they want. We can ride the rzr on the dirt road down to see their daddy & we can even spot him out our front windows while he’s on a tractor. It was important for us to give our children a childhood of freedom and appreciation for the land.

Describe a typical day for you.

Normally, while my kiddos are at school. I am usually working from home, running errands & house chores. Right now, during this pandemic, and also during summertime- we are home and constantly in and out of the house all day long. The kids are riding on the four-wheelers, jumping on the trampoline, playing hide & seek in all the barns, visiting daddy at the shop, when we can and we are enjoying our long days together.

Do you have any tips for someone else that wants to buy land and build?

Honestly, just to find inspiration. Pinterest & Instagram. When we built I didn’t have all these barndominium inspiration accounts on Instagram and Pinterest. I just kind of had to pick and choose from other homes I had seen on Pinterest and put it into a metal home and hoped it would look great.

What is one piece of advice you would give yourself if you had to do this all over again?

Don’t put off decorating for so long! Get it done & enjoy. We have been in our home for 3 years now and I am still not entirely done decorating and having things just how I want them. Everyone says it takes forever and you’re always changing, but it drives me crazy! I am so much closer to having it how I want it, but there are always little things to add. This isn’t really advice, but something else I would change- do a walk-in pantry! For the most part, I wouldn’t change anything else.

What is your grand vision for your homestead?

Happy, healthy, free children + lots of animals.

What has been the hardest part of being a farmer?

My husband is such a hard worker, but he’s also the best husband and daddy. He works so hard, but he is the biggest family man, too. He never misses anything of the kid’s activities, no matter how busy he is & we are so thankful for him. He truly LOVES what he does. While there are hard times as a farmer ( farmer’s wife), I know there are families who don’t get to see their spouse for days, months, years and I want to recognize that and show how thankful I am that while farming is a very hard job, we are so thankful for those who sacrifice so much more.

We got married young when we were 19 & 20 years old. We have been through so much in our marriage of 10.5 years and the farm has a lot to do with it. It’s a gamble and everything comes into play. The weather, the seed, the ground. We’ve prayed so hard for rain some days & then we’ve prayed so hard for the rain to stop. Some days he leaves before the sun comes up and doesn’t come home until it’s down. There are days we have to take him dinner on the tractor and some days we don’t get to see him before bedtime.

The kids love going to work with him and that’s how we have to do family time during the busy season. We aren’t able to always make plans- it all depends on when he will be planting, harvesting, cutting, spraying, etc. He has a handful of guys who work for him and they are a HUGE part of it. We are so, so thankful and proud of them and it couldn’t be done without them. We appreciate everything they bring to the farm & our family. It’s so rewarding to see their hard work when you’re driving the dirt roads looking at the crops. It’s a way of life and we wouldn’t trade it for anything. I couldn’t be any more proud to be raising our children on this land in this tiny little farm town.

A little prayer we have repeated over the dry summers- “Dear Lord, if it be in your power, please bring us a nice little shower.”

Here in Southern California the vines that lay dormant most of the year are now stretching and growing in the sunshine after feeding on the rains. Take a walk and see if you can identify some of the native vines in your area. Don’t forget to always pack a picnic!

Before you go, make sure to identify poison oak, ivy, and sumac so that everyone knows to stay clear of those. Also, be aware that they may not have leaves yet, but the bare vines of the poisonous plants can still create a rash. Children will delight to learn and identify these nasty plants, as many adults are not even able to do so.

Next, find a place to go. Remember it is illegal to collect from preserves and government run parks. Perhaps you can find some on your own land or that of a friends. We enjoyed the trails of my ranch home in Escondido, CA.

Now, on to the fun stuff. The girls found wild cucumber (Marah macrocarpa) vine to work with. After clipping lengths about 3 feet long, they made a circle the size of their head and twisted the excess vine all around that circle.