Family promotes homesteading with heart, heritage, and hands-on help

In a time when convenience often comes first, Jeremy and Carrie Isaac are helping people reconnect with their gardens and embrace sustainable practices through their store, Harvey’s Homestead Supply in Hot Springs.

“Our overall goal is to help people grow their own food and learn new skills,” says Carrie. “We see it as a progression, too. You’re going to grow your own food, raise livestock or garden, and then once you have an amazing harvest, you need to cook it or preserve it.”

Hometown support

Harvey’s Homestead Supply is filled with resources such as books and how-to guides, as well as materials for cooking, gardening, preserving, raising livestock, and more. For Carrie and her family, their business isn’t about selling things but about giving people the knowledge and supplies to produce their own food for self-sufficiency.

Harvey’s sources many products from farms in the area and neighbors. Carrie explains that supporting other local people and businesses connects them to new customers and allows them to support fellow South Dakotans.

“We carry honey from New Underwood, get milk from Ethan, and are getting ready to sell eggs from our own customers in the area,” says Carrie. “It’s a way to support local folks who buy feed from us. Now we can turn around and help by selling their products, too.”

Family led local connections

Carrie and Jeremy work together and take turns being at the store, working from home, caring for their own homesteading activities, and spending time with their teenage daughters who also help with the household and family business.

Occasionally on Saturday mornings, Harvey’s hosts free classes to share knowledge with community members. Topics include an introduction to canning and preserving, how to start making sourdough bread, and more.

“We love being involved with the town and getting to know our customers,” says Carrie. “We like connecting with people and helping them learn new skills. They know they are supported, and the community supports us back.”

Heading to a place called home

The Isaacs moved to South Dakota from Colorado, where Jeremy worked as a real estate broker, not long after the pandemic began to shut down businesses. The couple realized they depended on stores for almost everything.

“South Dakota was calling us,” says Carrie. “My husband and I grew up in Kansas and spent time in Colorado, but we wanted to relocate to a smaller town. We are the sixth generation to live here, and we call ourselves South Dakotans even though we weren’t born here.”

Carrie and Jeremy wanted to be more self-sufficient, so they moved their family to South Dakota where Jeremy’s grandfather and business namesake, Harvey, originally lived. Carrie recalls Harvey saying the land immediately became more beautiful when entering South Dakota, which factored into her family settling in Hot Springs.

Keeping history alive

Since the store opened in September 2024, members of the Isaac family have honed their many homesteading skills, learning more along the way. Part of the process involved giving new life to the historic 1905 building which houses Harvey’s Homestead Supply.

The Isaac family hosts guests in rentable rooms above the store called the Evanston Suites. Each suite is named after a past occupant of the building. Guests can experience a bit of the Evanston building’s history by staying in suites like the Linnie Hawkins, named for a nurse, or the Ben Potts, who was the clerk of a dry goods store, and more. The building is in a picturesque downtown location, right across the street from the visitor center and the meandering Fall River.

Reliable access, rural connection

Evanston Suites relies on its website to share information and book rooms. Harvey’s also uses a website for customers to buy some products and to learn more about the store. Carrie publishes a blog, as well, where she shares recipes and extra how-to guides.

Golden West services allow the Isaacs to run their store with their point-of-sale system, social media, and more. Both the store and the upstairs rentable rooms run on the internet services from Golden West.

“We do a lot of work from the store and some from home, so it’s super helpful having everything synced and connected,” says Carrie. “It lets us stay on top of things without always needing to be in one place.”