About Deanna Talerico
Deanna Talerico, also known as “DeannaCat” or @deannacat3, is the CEO and creator of Homestead and Chill. She is a garden educator with an MA in Environmental Studies, over 15 years of experience in organic gardening and food preservation, and 10 years experience raising backyard chickens.
Hi, I'm Deanna!
I’m the main person behind Homestead and Chill (it’s just my husband Aaron and I running things here). My goal is to help teach and inspire others to live more healthy, sustainable lives by sharing easy-to-follow, well-researched and experience-based gardening tips, recipes, and homesteading resources.
I am a passionate gardener, writer, crafter, and love to cook and fuel my body with organic homegrown food. I care deeply about the environment, clean toxin-free living, animals, and wildlife. I’m also a bit of a research nerd, have enjoyed photography since I was a little girl, and seem to have a natural knack for teaching. So, I started this website in 2019 to share those passions with the world!
You can learn more about my background, education, personal gardening journey, and other fun facts below, or learn more about Homestead and Chill here.
Thank you so much for stopping by!
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Fun Facts
- Aaron and I are happily child-free by choice.
- We currently have 5 cats, 4 mini donkeys, and a dozen chickens. I’ve been a crazy cat lady my whole life, hence the “DeannaCat” moniker.
- We live on the Central Coast of California in San Luis Obispo County. I’m originally from Santa Cruz CA (yes, I say “stoked” and “gnarly”) but also spent several years of my childhood in the greater Seattle area. Aaron is originally from Chico, where we met working at a natural food store together in college.
- I’ve had Type 1 Diabetes for over 22 years, and have been vegetarian for 17.
- We just started weighing and keeping track of how much food we grow, and we harvested 1,297 pounds of homegrown produce in 2023! And that’s only counting what made it inside.
- Beyond gardening, I love to read, do yoga, puzzles, play cribbage and board games (we love Wingspan), birdwatch, hike, and walk on the beach. I also love a good Netflix binge.
- Music is a HUGE part of our lives. It’s something Aaron and I bonded over right when we met, and going to concerts is still our main excuse for a “date night” now. See our playlists here.
My Gardening Journey
My mom had a garden while I was growing up, and while I don’t remember being particularly involved, I DO remember being enamored with the juicy homegrown melons, peaches, cherries and grapes! Fast forward to young adulthood: I started my very first garden in 2007. I was 21, had just lost my Dad to kidney cancer, and was struggling to find my path in college (more on that below). I grew just a couple tomato plants, zucchini, and honeydew melon, but the garden gave me a sense of purpose and hope! Aaron and I were dating at the time.
After college, we moved into a rental house and immediately asked the landlord if we could add a couple raised beds to the small backyard. Thankfully, they said yes… “as long as we returned it to same condition we found it”. So when we moved into our very first home the next year, we packed up the soil and bed frames and brought them with us! Lol.
In 2013, we bought our first home. During the house hunt, having a decent little yard and space for chickens was our top priority, even if that meant getting a smaller outdated home for our budget! We ended up with a 9000 square foot lot, and spent the next 8 years slowly DIY-ing and transforming every inch of it. We removed both the front and back lawns to put in raised garden beds, pollinator flowers, and fruit trees. We tucked a chicken coop, rainwater system and greenhouse in one side yard, and compost systems and tool sheds on the other. (You can see the before-and-after photos here.) There, we did and learned pretty much everything we’re doing at our larger property now, just on a smaller scale!
My Background & Education
You don’t need a degree related to gardening or agriculture to dig in, have fun, and be successful! However, my background certainly played a pivotal role in my journey to get here – both in gardening, and to start this business.
I graduated with my B.S. in Sustainability and Natural Resources from California State University, Chico in 2010. I spent 6 years in undergrad, bouncing around between nursing, physical therapy, and nutrition at first. I started to realize (and become increasingly frustrated with) the disconnect between traditional health sciences, natural health, and the environment. Then in 2007, I also lost my dad to kidney cancer. As a “daddy’s girl”, I was shattered. But it also changed the course of my life forever for the better. Sparked with a new healthy fear of toxins and passion for clean, natural living, I totally switched gears that year: I changed my major, started a job as a Sustainability Coordinator with the university, opened a farmer’s market booth to sell recycled crafts and art, and started my very first garden.
Next, I went on to pursue a MA in Environmental Studies at Brown University. Living on the East Coast for a couple years was a really neat life experience! We were living in an apartment in Providence, Rhode Island when I first read Barbara Kingsolver’s “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” and I was like THIS is what I want. To eat with the seasons, to raise backyard chickens, to trade in the excess for the cherished essentials, to keep it local… Even though we didn’t have a garden at the time, we started stocking up on fresh produce from the farmer’s market and practicing different preserving methods. And, we formulated a goal for the future.
Reader Favorites
Starting Homestead and Chill
After grad school, we moved back to California and I got a job as an Environmental Health Specialist with the county. I started out as a restaurant “health inspector” (oof, the stories I could share!) and quickly worked my way up to Senior specialist in the water systems and land use programs. Parts of that gig were fun and rewarding, but as the years went by and older folks retired, they piled more work on my desk rather than filling replacement positions. I was out in the field less and less, and could feel the burnout creeping in fast. I needed an exit strategy.
By 2018, I’d already been really active on Instagram for over 5 years. Sharing gardening tips, DIY projects, and backyard chicken shenanigans online had become my outlet from the grind of my job – especially since I didn’t have many “real life” friends with similar shared interests. Then a good friend gave me a hard shake and was like: “Helllloooo Deanna, you should start a blog!” At that time, I honestly had no idea how a blog could generate income – let alone become both our full-time jobs!
So with zero website experience, I started building this site in late 2018 and launched with just handful of articles in January 2019. The next few years were arguably the most intense and difficult of my life, but also some of the most rewarding! Between my “real job” and the blog, I worked like a crazy person, pulling 12-15 hour days 7 days a week for over 2.5 years. As the site grew, Aaron came on to help with more and more tasks too. Finally by the summer of 2021, we were able to both go full-time with Homestead and Chill! We were also able to move to our new larger homestead at that time. Now, we’re busy as ever and still work 7 days a week (ha!) but at least it’s for something we both love and take great pride in.
All in all, we are totally honored (and a bit mind-blown) that this little “side gig” of a website has evolved into what it is today – and that wouldn’t be possible without YOU, our valued readers and subscriber community. So from the bottom of our hearts, thank you for being here and tuning in! Keep on growing. ✌️
Made with homegrown and certified organic ingredients, we offer a variety of natural skincare products including nourishing face oil, calendula and lavender salve, natural insect repellent, herbal bath salts and more! Browse our shop here.
173 Comments
Nana nosiglia
I have 3 plants outdoor can you identify male from female please
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Check out our article on how to sex cannabis here. Good luck!
Cindy Hansen
Hi Deanna and Aaron,
Sorry I thought I read it through and proofed my comment, however I meant predicticted future ‘recession’
Cheers, Cindy
Cindy Hansen
Hi Deanna and Aaron, I’ve enjoyed your posts, newsletters and updates on your move to a greater growing garden. I have a hope you would do a post about a simple plan for a ‘victory’ type garden in view of the current supply chain problems, inflation and future predicted inflation. A small scale farm is an idea. Chickens, goats, garden and canning. Your sustainability knowledge is valuable, please share stategies regarding this viewpoint. I know that you have written about much of these topics, maybe a quick sum-up with links to older blog posts. Also please share thoughts about farmer’s markets and co-ops, as you have items to market on your site. Happy Harvesting, Cindy!
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Thanks for the ideas Cindy!
Donna Bell
So glad to find you, looking forward to your newsletters!✌️
Shelly H
I came across your blog searching for info on starting seedlings and I’m so glad I did. I enjoy all your posts (not just about plants) and your vibe is just what I need as I am anxious about growing my first crop of seedlings, ever. So, thank you for your generosity in sharing your experiences. The blogs and videos have been very helpful. Now, if I can just figure out if my LED grow lights are at the right height (I got a compact Sunlite Grow light from Gardeners – 20 Watts) and if my seedlings are not too leggy… Since there was no instruction on where to adjust the grow light over my seedlings, I called Gardeners and they told me to keep them all the way up (18-24″ away from tops of plants). Doesn’t make sense, since it is an adjustable grow light? Any advice here? It appears you have Sunlite LED’s from the photos.
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Shelly, we are excited you found us and you are going to be starting your first seedlings shortly! We have the Sunlite high intensity LED rack and we keep the lights within 3-4 inches from the tops of our seedlings without problems. Hope that helps and keep us up to date on your progress, good luck!
Stacey
Hey, what central coast town are you in? I think we might be neighbors!
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Stacey, we are in the greater 5 Cities area.
Deanna
This is the coolest thing ever. So I did one of those FB things that said search your name plus the cat in Google. So I searched Deanna the cat and your picture came up. My name is also Deanna and I love cats and gardening. What a beautiful vibe you are! Keep shining!
Kelly McCormick
Hi! I came across your site looking for info on how to get rid of grubs. Great article so it prompted me to join your mailing list and read your bio. I love what I’m reading and you’re a great inspiration for this San Diego (zone 10a) newbie gardener and Monarch Doulah (as you call it :)).
Jacque Smith
And I’ve been checking out your loamy-black-gold-like content yet never checked out…you!! Loved hearing about your story — surfing the impermanence of life, transitioning from one stage to another with purpose. Thank you for so much good writing and excellent info. I’m vicariously enjoying the move from thi=e adorable blue house to the much bigger ranch. I’m a person who loves the miracle of creating beauty in small places, but I’m so curious about your new endeavors. You do you, Deannacat, and I’ll keep on being inspired down here in San Diego. All the best!
Doil Montgomery
Like your attitude and what you have done with your home.
Look forward to your future postings.
beth barnes
stumbled upon your website while looking for introduction to growlites. WOW, I love the vibe. I’m a southern california girl (well, always a girl at heart) via England, San Luis Obispo and several jaunts around the world…mom to amazing Emma and Malia. Now I live in the wilds of northeastern Vermont where growing seasons are oh so beautiful but oh so short! Thanks for the great information, I shall be a frequent visitor!