Martin and Jackie Baker live in northwestern Wisconsin on a small farm an hour drive from St. Paul, Minnesota. They met on an online dating site in December of 2012. Jackie grew up in California and had never visited the Midwest until after meeting Martin. Martin was born and raised in rural Wisconsin and never took an interest in gardening, farming, or sustainable living until 2001. Neither of them were raised with the skills to be successful in sustainable living and had to learn the hard way to fulfill their dreams of living a better life, from scratch. After their years of experience, they now offer their expertise through their blogs and consulting services here on BackwardsProgress.com. Martin has been gardening since 2001, and tending to a dairy cow since 2005. The two of them raise and process 85% of their groceries, heat their home only with wood, and have a lot of experience balancing out career demands with home life.