Ashley Trudo’s day job is spent working in marketing for a hospital in Cody, Wyoming.
But her life passion is promoting health and wellness through a homestead lifestyle and mentality. She believes that also leads to becoming more engaged in communities while remaining self-sufficient.
That doesn’t have to mean abandoning technology and modern innovation, but it does promote not being dependent on them.
“It’s this beautiful cycle that we all have to lean on each other, but it allows us to also depend more on ourselves,” she said. “It just makes us better humans so we can teach our children and that next generation.”
The Idaho native now lives on a 10-acre farm outside Cody. Along with her husband, Brent, she has spent the past 12 years of their 14-year marriage learning to homestead and helping others see the benefits of it along the way.
At their property, Trudo said they have a garden, tractor, chickens, pig and cattle, including a Jersey cow that they milk.
Building a community and finding mentors are important keys for those who want to be successful at homesteading, Trudo said.
She explains that homesteading brings challenges and trials that necessary friendships can help solve as well as encourage one’s mental well-being. Physical benefits come from an active lifestyle and the healthy foods you grow and raise yourself.
She has self-published a 170-page book called “A Modern Guide To Homesteading” that is meant to help people wherever they are in life, apartment dweller or homeowner, to become more self-sufficient and live healthier.
Her own quest began with health issues, miscarriages and the desire to know where food was coming from and how it might be affecting her body.
“After having those miscarriages, I lost half of my hearing as well,” she said. “Your body is a tool and if you don’t keep it fine-tuned it will break. Our food system is an important component of that.”
Even before that, she recalls living in an apartment and learning to grow lettuce and herbs in a windowsill. After marrying Brett, who grew up on a farm, the couple bought some ducks when they established their first home.
“We realized we love animals, and we just started building from there,” she said. “And then we flipped that home and bought 10 acres outside of town.”
The Trudo family have included cows on their 10-acre farm outside of Cody. (Courtesy Ashley Trudo and Homestead Mentors) 
Brent Trudo and his wife Ashley have built these movable rigs for their chickens, allowing them to easily move them to new ares of ground to grow. (Courtesy Ashley Trudo and Homestead Mentors) 
Homesteading doesn’t mean living like folks on “Little House on the Prairie.” A Cody woman teaches how homesteaders in Wyoming use technology and innovation to achieve self-sufficiency, and it doesn’t mean you have to be a loner. (Courtesy Ashley Trudo and Homestead Mentors) 
Brent Trudo and his wife Ashley have built these movable rigs for their chickens, allowing them to easily move them to new ares of ground to grow. (Courtesy Ashley Trudo and Homestead Mentors) 
Homesteading doesn’t mean living like folks on “Little House on the Prairie.” A Cody woman teaches how homesteaders in Wyoming use technology and innovation to achieve self-sufficiency, and it doesn’t mean you have to be a loner. (Courtesy Ashley Trudo and Homestead Mentors)
Pandemic Boost
When the pandemic hit, the couple found that the homesteading lifestyle was a great way to live and started fielding questions from others about how to do it.
“And so that is why we try and teach people today how to do it,” she said. “That’s why I wrote the book, it’s ultimately to help guide (others) … mothers who are full-time working, moms trying to live off the land and milk a cow. You can do it. It’s just that you have to do it in phases.”
In addition to her book, Trudo has created a website that offers blogs and courses to help people along the way.
One of the courses is called Mastering Micro-greens.
“More and more people are realizing that (they) can take that little pot and add a little bit of dirt and may just try some herbs for my salad this week,” she said. “You can grow micro-greens in seven to 10 days on a windowsill or under a light and they are the most nutrient-dense foods on the Earth that you can eat.”
While Wyoming can be challenging for gardeners, Trudo said there are several techniques that can be used to overcome those obstacles.
“We really go into a lot of detail on how to grow, companion planting successively, so you can continue to get those large harvests and not waste time,” she said. “We’ve got the shortest growing season in the lower 48 up here.”
Trudo said in addition to the website courses, people can use that technology to research how to do all kinds of homesteading things.
• Grow their own food from seed to harvest.
• Sustainable livestock practices.
• Master the art of food preservation — including learning how to ferment foods.
• Harnessing renewable energy sources.
Building Community
She calls building community and sharing resources her most important advice.
The family recently lost a cow and calf at their homestead, but because of their community of mentors was able to learn for the future and salvage some of the loss.
Their cow was pregnant, and the couple did not realize that if a cow lies down, it may not be able to get up. While down, the cow can bloat and die within two or three hours.
When the family saw their animal down and the emergent need, they called friends who have raised cattle for years. They arrived within five minutes.
“We did our best, but we were too late,” Trudo said. “Those are hard lessons to learn, but now we can help someone else.”
The friends helped them butcher the cow for meat to save some of the loss.
Trudo said her passion to help others become self-sufficient also brings the need for an understanding that “struggle is good” and that people need to “ultimately build a community around you.”
At their homestead, that means taking their tractor around the neighborhood and plowing gardens or helping with snow removal during the winter.
Trudo said the homestead movement is a way for people to get to know others and reinforce a sense of community.
Homesteaders also need to learn to be resilient.
Trudo said crops can fail and in their own homestead the loss of the cow was a financial hit.
Wyoming’s struggle with suicide, especially among older white men who are ranchers and farmers, is because they have lost their purpose in life, she believes.
“I can say that because I’ve studied it all,” she said. “They need to find purpose and they do have a purpose — to help the next generation understand how to live off the land just as they have and how to struggle with life and teach others.”
Ashley and Brett Trudo have been homesteading for the past 12 years and are working hard to share what they’ve learned with others who are interested. She's written a book about homesteading. (Courtesy Ashley Trudo and Homestead Mentors) 
Ashley Trudo says she has learned a lot of techniques to help cope with Wyoming’s short growing season. (Courtesy Ashley Trudo and Homestead Mentors) 
Homesteading doesn’t mean living like folks on “Little House on the Prairie.” A Cody woman teaches how homesteaders in Wyoming use technology and innovation to achieve self-sufficiency, and it doesn’t mean you have to be a loner. (Courtesy Ashley Trudo and Homestead Mentors) 
Ashley Trudo says she has learned a lot of techniques to help cope with Wyoming’s short growing season. (Courtesy Ashley Trudo and Homestead Mentors)
Getting A Mentor
Trudo said she has engaged an “old-time farmer” by knocking on his door and asking him to teach her to plant a garden.
“I failed six years in a row,” she said. “But after meeting with him, that totally changed it and having him as a mentor for about three years … that helped us tremendously.”
In her research, Trudo said she has found that homesteaders typically last about six years before they give up. She wants people to know that it is OK to take a year off from the garden or skip buying a new batch of baby chicks to raise for the freezer.
“You’re going to have struggle, but it’s the way that you look at the struggle,” she said. “It’s not a new concept. Paul talks about it in the Bible. Be OK with struggle because in this life, the older you get, the more you go through.
“This way of life really teaches you how to deal better with struggle.”
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
