From Idaho/Missouri Homesteaders to International Sustainability Ambassadors


Tom originally became licensed as a bush pilot & aircraft mechanic for missionary work and spent 2 years training other future missionary pilot/mechanics.


Tom in the 1954 Piper Pacer he owned during flight training Tom & friend Braden practicing dropping emergency supplies when landing isn't possible


But in his early twenties, he turned his attention to developing knowledge and skills focused around sustainability and regeneration in all areas of life. 

This become the passion and calling he now shares worldwide, using both in-person instruction and online platforms.


As a teenager, Tom built his family's first chicken tractor inspired by Joel Salatin. 


Tom first built this chicken tractor when a teenager. 20+ years later he restored & transformed it into a highly versatile Chickshaw




He also helped with—and later managed—construction projects around his parents' hobby farm, including: 

  • Farm Sheds
  • Fencing
  • an Exterior Addition and Interior Apartment to their Workshop/Barn Building
  • a DIY Forced-Air Waste Oil Furnace
  • Central Compressed Air System
  • Greenhouses
  • a Luxurious Chicken Coop
  • Underground Root Cellar
  • Diesel Generator Backup Power System
  • Wood Heat, etc. 


Tom's dad, Dr. Todd Wylie, is an optometrist and vision therapy specialist known for his holistic approach and out-of-the-box thinking. He has helped thousands of families overcome problems that many other doctors had failed to fully solve. Following his father's example, Tom learned the importance of thinking holistically: considering all the factors in a given situation and employing creativity and an open mind when problem-solving. 


From a young age Tom began learning and experimenting with unique and holistic ways of managing farm resources and animals in a way that complimented the efforts of the family instead of being a constant drain and expense.


Over the years Tom got to learn from and work with several inventors, innovators, alternative energy and health pioneers, as well as antique aircraft restoration experts. Some of these amazing people are: John Bedini, Peter Lindemann, and Addison Pemberton. 

Addison Pemberton and his 1928 Boeing 40C Tom got to help restore (photo credit Ryan Pemberton)


Tom worked for many years building and renovating homes, which prepared him well for the many homestead property and building projects he and Sarah have taken on over the years. Just some of these projects have included: 

  • Land Clearing and Forestry, 
  • Well and Septic Systems,
  • Access Roads,
  • Electrical and Plumbing Systems,
  • Building a Shop out of Shipping Containers,
  • Temporary and Permanent Building Foundation and Roof Systems,
  • Drainage and Water Management including Snow Removal,
  • Permanent and Semi-Mobile Polytunnels,
  • Wood Stove Installation and Maintenance,
  • Workshop and Storage Building Solutions.

Shipping Container Workshop Building with 2nd Story Office/Studio


Ever since the age of 11 when his dad brought home a MIG welder and VHS welding instructional video, Tom has worked with metal, going on to eventually invent and publish professional plans for his own DIY off-grid log splitter, The Paul Bunyan Wood Chopper.


Tom has taught in-person classes and workshops over the years, including teaching dads and their kids how to lift and move impossibly heavy items by themselves using physics principles and old-school tools like levers, jacks, pulleys, ramps, and winches. He also taught school-age kids how to weld and work with basic electronics, and heard back about at least one student who went on in later life to pursue a career in welding. 

Tom teaching Kids & Dads old-school hand-powered methods of moving heavy items


One of Tom's students learning emergency welding, powered by car batteries


Ever since their marriage and first home purchase in 2013, Tom and Sarah have been focusing on crafting a lifestyle of sustainability and creating homes and properties that produce an abundance of life.

Besides the development and renovation of properties and buildings, they have had experience raising and butchering their own meat chickens and meat rabbits, and raising and managing laying hens, ducks, geese, horses, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, livestock guardian dogs, and of course barn cats.

Tom and Sarah have majorly focused on the development of healthy garden soil using the Back-To-Eden and Ruth Stout methods of no-till gardening. They also got a lot of practice using chickens to do the majority of garden bed clearing and soil preparation work, making the final steps of the planting process a breeze.


Tom developed very simple ways of deploying and moving mobile electric fence systems and mobile shelters, water, and minerals around their 10 acres to support their cattle, sheep, goats, and chickens for intensive rotational grazing.


To solve the problem of the high cost of modern Side-By-Side farm vehicles, Tom modified a used Suzuki Sidekick into a very functional and capable (yet extremely affordable) off-road farm support vehicle. With the abundance of used vehicles worldwide and considering scrapyards as a parts supply, this option produces a very sustainable alternative to making payments on overly expensive and complicated recreational or utility vehicles.


Tom & Sarah owned Heirlooms Evermore Seed Co. from 2018-2025, taking it from the brink of failure to 5 & 6 figures before selling it to Mary Lee, their Idaho neighbor who worked with them in the company for most of those years and eventually took on full management and ownership of it. Tom & Sarah continue to be affiliates of Heirlooms Evermore.


Ever since before Tom & Sarah met, Tom was vividly aware of his need to focus on healthy family relationships. He knew that in order to raise children who would become healthy adults, he needed to focus majorly on them while they were under his roof—even if that meant taking a break from career or personal goals for the child-rearing season of his life.

Tom even wrote a book about this: More Than Pie Crumbs: The Picture Book of Priorities for Parents helps other parents understand and adopt this counter-cultural priority structure.

For without a lasting family legacy that stands the test of time, is anyone truly living sustainably?

Tom and Sarah also knew that a life free from debt is a huge part of a truly sustainable lifestyle.

With all this in mind, Tom and Sarah were faced with a decision in late 2023. Their current lifestyle was working, and they were getting by. However, they were under the burden of old debt that they couldn't seem to get free from, no matter how hard they tried.

Either Tom could start traveling for work or commute far and work long hours away from his family. Or they could sell their Missouri Ozarks homestead and almost every possession they had, and embark on the adventure of a lifetime—together as a family. 

Since March of 2024, their family of 5 (and remaining family dog "Snowbelle") have been traveling throughout Europe as Nomadic Homesteaders, spreading sustainability everywhere they go. 

Your purchases on this website and of heirloom garden seeds from Heirlooms Evermore Seed Co. help the Wylie family continue their mission of spreading sustainability to the new friends they meet nearly everyday, in a land their ancestors walked hundreds and thousands of years before.

Celebrating Tom's 41st Birthday with Apple Pie at their friends' home on the Isle Of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland