Embracing Everything Farm and Forest

Pioneer Mountain Homestead

16477 Sharman Lane
James Creek, PA 16657
814-505-6426

Pioneer Mountain Homestead is located near Lake Raystown, Pennsylvania. The homestead is diversified into various activities. On this site you’ll find the homestead and farming activities. On our website MakeSomeDust.com you’ll find our wood division outlining our sawmill services, firewood sales, lumber sales, and woodworking masterpieces. On our website raystownstorage.com you’ll find information for our boat and camper storage options.

On this website, we include our activities related to farming. This includes our vegetable and small fruit sales, honey sales, and egg sales. Additionally, we provide education and inspiration through blogs and videos. Topics include self-reliance, DIY, gardening, food preservation, beekeeping, livestock and poultry raising, and other farming, homestead, and homemaking topics.

We do sell products at the farm. If you are within the area, check with us about what we may have in season. As of November 2025, the farming season is over. Please check back in March when we start selling eggs again. Additionally, we may have limited amounts of composted manure available for your gardens.

Our Food Standards

Our standards are high when it comes to food. Are we “food snobs”? Well, maybe. If you believe in fresh picked produce grown without synthetic chemicals, fresh eggs, raw unprocessed honey, and enjoy understanding the list of ingredients that make up your food, then you are in line with what we believe. Come along on the journey with us. We welcome your ideas, recipes, and other discussions. If you’re not of like mind, we welcome you, too. It’s a discussion and we are always open to new perspectives.

Central Activities of the Homestead

The home is the central hub or core of the homestead. Activities that are utilized or needed regularly to run the home need to be near it for efficiency and convenience. Like most homesteads, the area surrounding the home has the vegetable gardens and the herb garden. In days when supermarkets and food delivery services were unavailable, the garden would be utilized daily for fresh produce, fruits and herbs.

The Livestock, Poultry, Pasture, and Fields of the Homestead

Beyond the central hub of the homestead are the barns and houses for animals and the honeybee hives. On a homestead, a very synergistic relationship exists between the central hub and each area beyond. The reliance becomes less as you move from the central hub, but there is a relationship, none the less. For us, the chickens provide eggs and manure. Our goats provide us milk, fiber, and manure. The bees pollinate the garden plants as well as the plants in the woodland area beyond. The pigs provide meat and manure.

The Woodland

Surrounding the farm activities is the woodland area. The woodland provides firewood for heat and cooking; wild harvested edibles; and an area for hunting wild game. The honeybees help the forest in pollinating tree flowers as well as the abundance of wild flowers growing on the woodland trails and the wood’s edge.

Can you really be self-reliant?

No. That’s the short answer. So why do we think we can be self-reliant? For us, being self-reliant is controlling as much of our lives as possible when it comes to the food we eat, the way we live, the choices we make, and the work we do. The more self-reliant we become, the freer we feel. It’s really about a mindset. When you start making your own path, the world opens up to you in all directions.

Come along on this Adventure

Please check out our blog: Homestead Happenings. The Homestead Happenings Blog gives information about the farm activities conducted at the homestead as well as other related information. We’ve combined many of the blog topics with our video channels so subscribe on those platforms, too.

Bren standing in the homestead vegetable garden.

Baskets of tomatoes picked from the homestead garden.

A frame of honeybees from the homestead.

Moonpie and Molly - two of the goats at the homestead.

Home canned tomato sauce made from fresh tomatoes from the homestead garden.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in this page or post may be “affiliate links”. This means that if you click on the link, Pioneer Mountain Homestead, LLC may receive an affiliate commission at no direct cost to you. Pioneer Mountain Homestead, LLC only recommends products or services that the owners, managers, or employees of Pioneer Mountain Homestead, LLC use or believe will add value to the readers of this website. This disclosure is made with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Visits to the property are by appointment only (with the exception of tenants with boat or camper storage leases). Our self-serve Wood Shed is always open for those wishing to purchase camp fire wood. It is located at the corner of Sharman Lane and Dogtown Road (not far from Shy Beaver Boat Launch, Lake Raystown). We continually keep the wood bins stocked; even for the winter campers! Anyone coming to the premises is responsible for their own well being while on the premises. Pioneer Mountain Homestead, LLC, the owner(s) of the property, managers or employees of the business cannot be held responsible for personal injury or damages to property brought to the premises by the customer or potential customer.