LCU students learning to live off the land, homesteading in Winn Parish

When Elijah and Kaleigh Jones aren’t on the campus of Louisiana Christian University, you will probably find them—if you try hard enough and have a GPS—at home about a mile-down a heavily forested long, red dirt road in Grant Parish.

The area is so remote, in fact, Kaleigh said they can choose between three “nearby” towns for the place they live. The nearest grocery store is Walmart, 40 minutes away. And the couple makes a daily hour-long trek to campus for classes.

Keeping up with these Joneses wouldn’t be the choice for many in our culture, but this couple has chosen to live a modern homesteading lifestyle.

Contemporary homesteading is marked by growing your own food and making other essentials, raising livestock, making homemade products for use and resell, and living a simpler lifestyle close to nature.

Their lifestyle isn’t for the faint of heart.

But the couple said the struggle has only brought them closer together and closer to the Lord.

Elijah, a senior business administration—marketing and management major from Winn Parish, and Kaleigh, a junior public relations major from Shreveport, met in the fall semester of 2023 in Dr. Scott Pickard’s history class.

“He sat next to me and asked for a pencil every single day until he asked me out,” Kaleigh said.

They were married in August 2024 and moved to the Winn Parish property in January.

“I never even considered this lifestyle,” Kaleigh said. “I was going to move to the East Coast and live in a city, and then I met him. It’s been a big adjustment. I’ve lived in the city most of my life.”

The home they live in was built by Elijah’s great-grandparents after the first house on the property burned to the ground. The couple inherited it and the 10 acres on which it sits. Elijah grew up in and around Winn Parish and still has a lot of family in the area, which the pair said has come in handy as they have started the numerous renovations on the old home and property.

“Growing up, we always had lots of animals—cows, goats, chickens—I grew up with all of it, big gardens every year,” Elijah said. “Most of the produce and food came from the gardens and what you raised. We’d butcher one to two cows a year and froze it and ate from it all year.”

The Joneses said they plan to start their garden in the next year and have started procuring seeds. They are also building their animal inventory and currently own 21 chickens, five ducks and one obnoxious turkey.

“Once the coop is completed, our goal is to have 50-100 chickens,” Kaleigh said.

Their plan is to sell the chicken eggs. They use the duck eggs in their own cooking and baking because of their rich creaminess.

“The turkey is just for fun,” Kaleigh said. “She is sweet and won’t peck anything, and she is spoiled rotten.”

Inside the home have been many more challenges, which are far from over, the pair said.

They lived without electricity until April and just got indoor plumbing in July.

“We went four months without electricity or water,” Kaleigh said very matter-of-factly.

Most of the work around the property they have done themselves or with the help of family.

They didn’t have a driveway and were always getting stuck, so they busted up big rocks for gravel.

No one had lived in the house for more than 25 years, so there were lots of clogged rusty pipes and bad wiring throughout.

“We’ve had to run new pipes everywhere,” Elijah said. “We’re still not finished.”

Much of the house has had to be gutted, walls knocked down, a leaky roof replaced and flooring ripped up.

The work hasn’t come without injuries either.

In April, Kaleigh fell on the concrete sub-floor, fractured her jaw, and split her chin open, in addition to suffering a concussion from hitting her jaw in the fall. Elijah was working on the roof at the time..

“I was only unconscious for two minutes; that was fun,” Kaleigh said. Thankfully, Elijah’s Aunt Darlene, a home health nurse, was just a quarter-mile away and was able to help close the wound.

“It was too far to get to the ER for stitches,” Elijah said.

Kaleigh’s chin has healed nicely with only very minimal scarring. This is just another thing the couple seems to take in stride with their chosen lifestyle.

The attic of their home was riddled with the mummified remains of dead squirrels, rats and other rodents that had gotten trapped and died over the decades. The pair had to clean all that out to make the home liveable.

“I only scream when I see the spiders,” Kaleigh said.

Snakes and rats are no bother, she said, but she can’t deal with the brown recluse spiders and scorpions she encounters in the house.

“We knew it would be hard, but not this hard,” Kaleigh said. “The marriage part isn’t hard. It’s a choice we made to be content where we are, and Elijah is a pro at it.”

Still, neither of them is complaining about any of the struggles, which include no hot water and having to purify all water they do use, as the area they live in is always under a boil water notice.

“I don’t always have a good attitude,” Kaleigh said. “But then he reminds me of how blessed we are.”

Elijah is a firm believer that with hard work comes many rewards. They have a house that is paid for and have little to no debt. They both have loving families who support them.

“We should always strive to do better but be content where we are,” Elijah said. “If not, you can’t ever have a happy life. Sometimes the hard times make for a better relationship in the future.”

Kaleigh said the key is not to let outside problems affect their relationship. The pair do daily morning devotionals together.

“We have each other to hold to in hard times,” she said. “And we’ve both had really great role models and wise mentors.”

Both attribute strong, loving parents and the church as the source of much of their strength of character. Kaleigh is the daughter of Keri and John Power, of Shreveport; and Elijah’s parents are Laura and Brandon Jones, of Grant Parish.

“We both grew up in church our entire lives, and having those principles to ground your life on is key,” Kaleigh said.

One of their recent adventures has been starting up their own small business, Louisiana Wild (louisiana-wild.com), which features many of the homemade products they make and use themselves. Products include laundry detergent, soap, all-purpose cleaner, tallow and other all-natural items.

“We’ve just started making candles,” Kaleigh said. “We’re always launching new products.”

 

=================================================================

Media Release     |    Aug. 6, 2025     |     Pineville, Louisiana
Contact: Dr. Elizabeth B. Clarke, Director of University Communications | Elizabeth.clarke@lcuniversity.edu