Welcome to Whole Hearth Living
We are a family of four building a slower, more intentional life on 20 acres in Oregon. From farmhouse renovations and gardens to chickens, home cooking, faith, family, and the beautiful chaos of country life, Whole Hearth Living is the story of building the life we once only dreamed about.
A slower life. A fuller home. A little more dirt under our fingernails.
In the winter of 2025, my husband, our two boys, and I took a pretty big leap.
After years of dreaming, saving, working, and figuring out how to make our finances work, we sold our little home on one acre and moved into a fixer upper 1980s farmhouse sitting on 20 acres in rural Oregon.
It was not perfect.
Honestly, it still isn’t.
There are rooms to renovate, gardens to grow, fences to build, animals to bring home, and approximately a million projects waiting for us.
But that is exactly what makes this home ours.
I am Raisa, the woman behind Whole Hearth Living. Alongside my husband, Mihei, and our two boys, Gregory and Isaac, I am documenting what it looks like to build a slower, more intentional life from the ground up.
We are learning to grow our own food, care for animals, cook more from scratch, make the most of what we have, and create a home that feels rooted in family, faith, hard work, and simple pleasures.
And we are figuring it out as we go.
Why Whole Hearth?
Whole Hearth is a play on two ideas that mean a lot to me: whole heart and hearth.
The hearth has always represented the heart of the home. It is where food is prepared, stories are shared, children gather, and everyday life happens.
That is what I want our home to be. A place where we live wholeheartedly. A place where we use what God has provided. A place where we make something beautiful out of ordinary days.
What you’ll find here
You will find the real version of homestead life.
The beautiful garden mornings and the muddy boots. The homemade meals and the kitchen disasters.
The chickens, goats, gardens, hunting trips, renovations, family projects, and everything that happens in between.
You will see us learning as we go, making mistakes, laughing at ourselves, and slowly turning 20 acres and an old farmhouse into the life we once dreamed about.
I am not here to tell you that we have it all figured out. I am here to show you that you can start where you are.
You can learn. You can grow. You can make your home more intentional. You can live a little slower.
And you can build something meaningful, even if it takes years.
Come along with us
Whole Hearth Living is for the woman who dreams about a garden but still has weeds everywhere.
For the family who wants chickens but has no idea what they are doing yet.
For the person who longs for a simpler life but is still very much living in the modern world.
For anyone who looks at a piece of land, an old farmhouse, a backyard garden, or even their own kitchen and thinks:
“Maybe we could build something here.”
That is what we are doing.
One project. One meal. One garden bed. One animal. One ordinary day at a time.
Welcome to our little corner of the country.
Welcome to Whole Hearth Living.
