Healing and homesteading

How one veteran focuses on sustainability despite disability

Picture this: 50 pounds of vine-ripened tomatoes, lovingly tended through every stage of their growing season. Now, imagine simmering them with fresh herbs, filling your kitchen with their rich aroma, and ending up with … eight jars of sauce. The effort was humbling, homesteader Alison Scherer said, a great reminder to appreciate all the effort that goes into growing and canning food.

“But it was the best pasta sauce I’ve ever had in my entire life,” Scherer said.

Scherer didn’t originally set out to be a homesteader. Instead, Scherer had envisioned a 20-year career in the Navy, thriving in the medical field. She had been accepted to George Washington University’s School of Nursing and had her life mapped out. But those plans were upended by a musculoskeletal injury that led to a medical discharge.

“I served the president, working on the White House Medical Unit, and I worked at the Naval Academy and Walter Reed,” Scherer said. “I accelerated and ranked quickly and was really good at my job. We never thought that my career was going to end.”

When homesteading calls the heart

When Scherer was forced to pivot, homesteading called to her. She’d always been a gardener, and Scherer’s final military posting was at Tinker Air Force Base, where her family frequently visited Lake Thunderbird and fell in love with the Norman Farmers Market. These experiences inspired them to settle in the area and purchase land, choosing Norman over her husband’s hometown in Ohio or her own in Amarillo, Texas.

“Throughout working in healthcare, it was really obvious to me the importance of where food came from and how food is medicine,” Scherer said. “We wanted to be close to the land, to be together as a family, and we wanted healing. And that’s where the dream started.”

At first, Scherer launched an ambitious plan to have a large vegetable garden and livestock. She formed a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) for Scherer Homestead, where several local families had “shares” in the farm and Scherer supplied them with vegetables. She also raises and harvests chickens. However, she’s taken a step back from her CSA and is focusing on educational endeavors.

When Scherer began homesteading, she quickly made connections at farmers markets and through social media but noticed a need for a way to unite homesteaders across Cleveland County. In response, she created the Cleveland County Homestead Ladies group on Facebook, which grew to include over 300 women with a shared interest in homesteading. Beyond organizing periodic gatherings, Scherer also began teaching classes in her home.

“There are so many people doing similar things, and I wanted to connect them while encouraging the sharing of skills and building a sense of community,” Scherer explained.

One example of this community spirit is her Sourdough 101 class. Reflecting on her own struggles, Scherer often jokes about her early sourdough experiments — “terrible” loaves so bad they were only fit for her chickens. Determined to help others avoid the same pitfalls, she began hosting intimate classes for six to eight women around her kitchen island, sharing the best practices she had painstakingly learned.

“She not only taught me about sourdough, she’s a great cheerleader,” said Carmen Head, owner of Head Acres, who took one of the classes. “She’d tell me, ‘You’ve got this.’”

The demand for Scherer’s sourdough expertise quickly outgrew her large farming kitchen. To reach a wider audience, Scherer turned her knowledge into a book. “Sourdough with Grace” was published on Sept. 14, 2024, allowing her insights to inspire and guide bakers far beyond Cleveland County.

When it comes to mentoring and encouraging others, Scherer practices what she preaches. She met Ashley Laudenslager, a fellow baker who owns Joyful Gifts, at the farmers market, and found out that she specialized in gluten-free baking. Scherer encouraged her to audit her sourdough class so Laudenslager could adapt it for gluten-free bakers.

“She gave me so much confidence in building my class,” Laudenslager said. “She’s also so inspiring in doing what you can with your own ability. Some of us have lots of acreage, some have not as much … I’ve had some health issues, and she helped me figure out how to downsize my garden to take up less space while maintaining the same operation. I don’t have to move around as much, and that’s been really helpful.”

Finding Strength in Adaptation

Healing is rarely a straightforward journey, and in the fall of 2024, Scherer faced a setback as her health issues flared up, making it difficult to maintain her usual routines. Her combination of epilepsy and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) brought additional challenges, including partial paralysis and sensitivity to extreme temperatures.

To adapt, Scherer began relying more on mobility aids, including, at times, a wheelchair in public. A friend’s openness about using mobility aids helped her feel more comfortable embracing them herself at just 30 years old.

“I’ve been very humbled by my physical disabilities lately,” Scherer shared. “Disability doesn’t discriminate. It doesn’t care who you are or what your dreams are.”

Despite her health challenges, Scherer remains resilient. Large-scale farming is no longer an option, but she’s shifted her focus to smaller projects like growing herbs. She continues crafting preservative-free foods, such as canned meat and bone broth, ideal for quick meals on tough days. Dedicated to community and education, she still shares recipes and inspires others to embrace homesteading.

“I’m trying to encourage people to homestead where they’re at,” Scherer said.

She’s also attracting a whole new kind of follower: those who deal with disability or health limitations but want homesteading to be a part of their life.

“Homesteading is taking care of yourself and those around you,” Head said. “She’s still doing amazing; it just looks different than it did maybe eight months ago. She’s keeping that fighting spirit. I look up to her a lot. She’s definitely goals.”