Building Raised Garden Beds

Building the garden beds can be a family affair. Here’s a throwback to building our raised beds from scratch on top of the ground.

It was originally pasture so we tilled to break up the sod and let it die off a couple of times.

Then we used rolls of paper under the beds themselves. We use cardboard whenever we can so it will last longer than paper.

Followed by adding the soil to the beds only and mulch to the paths in between.

Just for reference, our beds are the standard commercial market garden size of 30 inches (2.5ft) wide and we kept them all 50ft long. Paths are 18 inches (1.5ft) wide.

Stakes are in the corners of each bed so we use twine to outline the beds and paths while building them. We also use the twine the same way when we weed/cultivate/and amend each bed too. It works better with a line to see instead of guessing where the line might be.

The Beginners Basics to Raising Backyard Chickens From Scratch

So at the time of this writing it’s early fall. While there’s a lot to do to prep for winter and wind down for the autumn season, there’s one thing that’s perfect to start up…chicks.

Chicks were the first homesteading animal we got. We had bought a 25 acre property and before we closed on it we had already ordered 100 chicks. I’ve had chickens before but this would be the first time raising them from day old chicks. We had just moved in to our new place in the middle of the woods when I got the 6am call from the post office to come pick up our birds…from our old post office 45 min away. I hung up the phone from the blaring chirping in the background of 100 baby chicks. We all loaded in the van and were on our way to pick up the beginning of our homesteading animal adventure.

Since that day many years ago we’ve had countless numbers of poultry on our homestead. Chickens, turkey, chickens, quail, chicken, pheasant, chickens, guinea fowl, chickens, geese, chickens, ducks, and oh yeah did I mention chickens;) At some point we had 600 chickens at one time at varying different ages. I’ve done some stuff right and a lot of stuff wrong when it comes to raising chickens.

Since it’s my favorite and recommended time of year to start to raise chicks, I wanted to give you a few nuggets of lessons I’ve learned over the years.

First let’s go over some vocabulary:

Chicks- These are the newly hatched chickens. In a hatchery, they incubate the eggs and when they hatch they ship them the same day to your local post office for you to pick up.

Pullets- Theses are the girls. So if you want eggs from your chickens…pullets are what you want.

Cockerel- These are the boys.

Straightrun- This means a mix of boys and girls. They call it “sexing” when they check each chick to determine if it’s a boy or girl. And if it doesn’t matter to separate the boys and the girls it’s called straightrun, ya get whatcha get.

Hen- This is a grown pullet(girl) that is pretty much ready to start laying her eggs.

Rooster- This is the grown cockerel(boy) that is ready to breed the hens.

Broody- This is a description of a hen that has laid her eggs and is sitting on them with the intent to let them hatch, even if they are not fertile. A broody hen is very very protective of her eggs. She will aggressively peck and defend her cluster of eggs from being gathered.

Molting- This is a process where the hen loses a lot of her feathers and stops laying her eggs to conserve energy in order to grow herself a new feather coat:)

Layers- Pullets grow up into hens that lay eggs. So when you hear someone use the term layers it generally means that their birds are primarily for laying and not meat.

Broilers- This is a general term used for meat chickens. They are typically bred to be the fastest growing and meatiest chickens on the market today.

Now let’s get on to the basics of raising your fist backyard laying flock.

1. Let this be your warning….This can become an addiction;) It’s really easy to start with a couple cute little chicken nuggets and end up with more than you know what to do with:)

2. Fall then Springtime are my recommended seasons to raise chicks.

   Fall is my first choice. The weather isn’t super hot, pests like flys are lower, and it’s the perfect timing in my opinion. It takes 4-5 months before a chicken will start to lay her eggs AND she naturally doesn’t lay in the dark season, that’s just how God made ‘em. (Although some folks put a light in the chicken coop for the hens to keep laying during the dark season. I tend to let them live naturally.) So by letting the dark season be the growing season it makes the most of the time. When spring/longer days arrive, everyone else will be picking up/ordering their chicks but yours should be ready to start laying hopefully before Easter.

   Spring is my second choice. It too isn’t super hot, the pests are starting to show up but not as massive as summer, and you may be able to get some eggs before fall/dark season slow their production down. You may choose to put a light in just to have some eggs your first season so you don’t have to wait til spring. Up to you. And just in case you’re wondering, no boys/roosters are required for the girls/hens to lay their eggs. You just need the rooster to make the eggs fertile.

3. Start with a non specialty breed. Sometimes it can be tempting to want to raise what is different, special, and unlike other peoples flocks. But I highly recommend starting with the tried and true breeds. I generally find myself wanting those breeds even after raising some specialty ones here and there. My favorites are Rhode Island Red, Buff Orpington, and Barred Rock. All three lay brown eggs.

4. Super basic needs are heat, water, food, and protection. Keep your set up simple if you can.

   You can use a heat lamp or a hovering heater made for chicks but they have to have heat bc they don’t have feathers yet. Think of the heat source as their surrogate mother hen. When they have all their feathers they can handle the temps, but not til then.

   Water is of course essential but my one tip for choosing a water dispenser is not to get one with a large drinking area. They tend to get in the water and can even drown. I use a small trough size waterer. Yes, it needs to be filled more often but it’s only for a season.

   There’s plenty of choices of food. But I think again the container you put the food in is more important. If you use the cute little trough with the gable shaped top with holes in it, then I’d advise you to take the top off. Too many chicks have gotten stuck inside it and not made it to the next morning. Try to find something that they can’t get inside and get stuck and also that they can’t tip over. There will be spillage and food waste. That’s just how they are.

   Protection is pivotal. Choosing the best waterer and feeder are part of protection…protecting them from themselves. Heat is a way to protect them from the elements. But a pen that protects them from wild and domestic animals is essential as well. We had a 100 quail one time that we had just started raising in our garage. We had used a short, metal, open topped sheep water trough. It was working out fine until one of the farm cats went through an old unused dryer vent to get inside the garage and help himself to every…single…one of them. So protect them all around with a good secure pen especially while they are so vulnerable.

5. Buy more than you want in the end. As you may be able to see, not all of the chicks you order will survive to the point of being in your flock of laying hens. And if you do end up having more than you want to keep as layers, give them away or sell them. That may be hard to do because you get a bit attached, but I’m sure you can bless someone else that’s always wanted to have their own flock as well.

If you’ve always wanted to have your own flock of laying hens in your backyard, I hope this helps inspire you that you can keep it simple and make it happen.

Who’s the one person that comes to mind that has dreamed of having their very own chickens?

Forward this along to them and you may end up being gifted with a dozen eggs before ya know it.

The Key to Being a Present Parent

I’m gonna go ahead and let you know that I as a mom did A LOT of things that I would do a bit different if I had to go back and raise my children again. That just means I’m human. And like every person, I live and learn. The benefit I have now is perspective. And my perspective is just that…mine. It doesn’t mean it will cater to the masses or tickle the ears of those that don’t want to hear it as a way to change their minds on anything. So with that, I just wanted to give a preface on this being my reflective learning that I can share with you.

So, I grew up wanting two children:) And if they could have been twins from the start I’d be “done” and could go about “my life”. Do everything just so and have the picture perfect family, have the picture perfect job, live in the picture perfect house, and on and on. But what I thought I wanted didn’t end up being what happened. What actually happened was even better, even if I didn’t see it in the moment(s).

After my husband finished his active duty enlistment in the Army we moved back to South Georgia. We were learning how to make ends meet in the civilian life while also working on our college degrees. During this college time we started having kids. Our first son, followed by twin girls a year and a half later, then another son in another three years, followed by triplet girls just under three years after that. I’ll save you the trouble and just tell you the word problem answer you’re probably trying to figure out. That equals seven children aged seven and under and…I was 29 yrs old.

By then I wasn’t thinking to myself “How do I be a perfect parent?”. For that season I was thinking “How do I make sure everyone survives today?”. Seriously.

At this point you may be wondering what in the world does this have to do with how I can be a present parent. And to that I would say: Everything.

Sometimes we consciously create what we want and other times we unconsciously create what we need.

I had a husband that was in surgery residency working seven days a week for at least 15-24 hrs a day and seven little kiddos that needed their mom. I wanted to be there for them all but what about my nursing job? What about filling my societal role as a working mom? What about the family budget? What about making money to pitch in for the family finances? What about “wasting” my college education and not working anymore? There was a lot of stuff going through my head. So as it turned out; paying a sitter, mother’s morning out, daycare etc would take away from our finances AND our lives than me being home with the kids and being Mom, all day, every day.

The perspective I’ve grown to understand from my unconscious creation is being a present parent is just that…..Be Present.

I understand that some folks want to make the most of the time they have with their children. I get it. They grow up fast and we won’t live forever. But it’s not a checklist.

Thinking that you have to “be present” in a certain way defeats the point and robs you of the opportunity to enjoy the time.

If you’re making the time (no matter how much) to physically be with your children…then well done, you’re already being A Present Parent.

No checklist required.

I want to encourage or dare I say challenge you to forward this to one person you think of that deserves a congratulations for being a present parent.

Fall Is Fiber Season

Fall is in the air and like any mama bear, my instincts are kicking in for what the season has in store for me…and also what I have in store for the season. During the spring and summer my focus isn’t usually on fiber arts and craft projects. But fall…yeah that’s another story.

Autumn is a great season to make the most of the outdoors starting to wind down it’s need for constant attention and having a chance to prep any needs or wants for upcoming craft projects I have for the fall and winter. It’s also perfect timing for when fiber festivals pop up and I can go add more yarn to my “collection”:)

If there’s going to be any handmade Christmas gifts given, now’s the time to get things together and start scheduling it in to work on them. Waiting for winter is just too late. It’s also about the time I put a post-it note on my bedroom door that reads “North Pole Do Not Enter”. That way I can work on some handmade gifts without having an audience spoil the surprise, or even get away and hide for a minute, whichever I need in the moment;)

So this past summer we were in Alaska for some work. While there I had picked up a locally dyed skein of yarn from a yarn shop. I loved the colors and even though it was wool it wasn’t itchy in the least. I started a knitted cowl project. And I’ve been ever so sloooowly and intermittently working on it for a few months now because there’s been other things that need my attention.

Even though I’ve been knitting for years I learned something new with this project. This will be my first project that I “knitted in the round”. All my other knitting has been with two knitting needles working back and forth like an old style typewriter. Knit to the end, ding, switch hands, knit to the end, ding, switch hands, over and over. But knitting in the round isn’t complicated at all. I was intimidated by how I thought it would be hard. But it’s not. I probably prefer knitting in the round for circular projects now than go back to the knitting flat method.

I also favor keeping my projects simple too. I like the projects that don’t require too much detail in design because at any moments notice I may have to hop up and tend to something unexpected. I let the colors and fiber do the hard work of making the project look extra special.

Now that fall is here I can finish this project up and get started on a new one:)

So I’m curious, do you knit too or have you always wanted to learn? Let me know.

Pint of Petals

The growing season seems to be full speed ahead now. Everything is growing. And I do mean everything. What I want to grow AND what I’d rather not grow;) Last year I had chamomile in one of the flower garden beds. It did wonderful. So wonderful that I didn’t keep up with harvesting it. So, naturally it dropped seed and grew beautiful new plants this year….right in the paths between the beds. Oh boy.

I haven’t decided what to do about the location of the chamomile plants that are in the path. But I did decide to harvest while I can. Chamomile is such a dainty and sweet flower. While it’s wonderful to grow and enjoy its beautiful flowers and fragrance, it’s also equally wonderful to harvest those pretty little petals and save them for later. I’ve changed the words from He loves me, he loves me not, to….Some for now, some for later.

That’s a recurring theme here on the homestead. Some for now, some for later.

If I had to declare my favorite way to preserve any product from the homestead, I’d say it’s probably dehydrating. My two favorite things about dehydrating over other preservation methods are 1.No electricity to keep it preserved. Like a freezer or refrigerator. 2. Space saving. Dehydrating pulls the moisture out of the product and then you’re left with less volume to store on your shelf. And I may as well add a third… 3. It looks so pretty in the jars for storage! It’s part of my mission to prove homesteading can be made beautiful. And storing your food or product in glass jars is a sure way to make your larder look lovely.

For these little chamomile flowers I already knew that when I harvested them I’d be putting them in the dehydrator. So I harvested with clean hands and into a clean pint sized stainless steel container. While the thought of picking pretty little flowers sounds romantic (and it is), it also takes way longer than you’d think. I only harvested the flowers that were fully open. When I finally filled my pint I put them on my clean dehydrator tray. Then I dehydrated them for about 16-18 hours on a low heat setting which was about 115ºF. Their sweet apple aroma filled the barn during and after dehydrating. I absolutely love it. After they were all dehydrated I put them into a clean dry jar to save for tea later.

It’s so exciting to me to think about this process. I’m saving something from the garden now before the heat of summer even truly begins, to enjoy during the freezing cold days of winter. Amazing.

I find it so divine that the season when things are growing like weeds we are also given a way to preserve it with nature itself via the sun/heat if we didn’t have an electric dehydrator.

Whether it be in the garden or in life we are often given what we need in the moment we need it.

Have you ever dehydrated before? If so, what was it? Let me know in the comments.

Get more Accomplished using this Magic Word

Whether it be active observation or more of a reflective observation, I’ve learned a lot over the years from just quietly observing. I’m going to share with you one of the three biggest realizations from my observations for how to get something done.

We all have things we want to do, have, experience, or accomplish. What do a lot of people do when New Years comes around? They join a gym bc they want to get in shape. But we both know they stop going after a while. How about the folks that want their homes to be always “put together”. They get their home put together and then when it gets cluttered or messy, some folks either give up for a while(that would be me;) or they make excuses as to why it’s not “put together” anymore. There’s more examples but let’s just stick to these two very common scenarios. While some people can use sheer will power to accomplish their goals, to dos, or want tos, let’s be honest, most folks just don’t have enough will power to cross the finish line. And both of these examples could have used some help to be set up for success from the beginning. And one of the ways I have observed to get more things accomplished is by keeping this simple word in mind:

Convenient. If it’s not convenient, it’s not gonna happen(long term).

Think about it. We have convenience stores. We have convenience foods. We crave convenience. We’re just wired that way. Human nature tends to want to give the least amount of effort but wants the most amount of return from it. While on the surface that sounds like pure laziness, what if it was really about being efficient? What if really under the surface our human nature was craving efficiency?

So let’s plug a little convenience into our two scenarios.

So, let’s say Ms Sally wants to get back in shape. She’s been carrying around an extra 15 pounds since she gave birth to her fourth beautiful baby ,little Susie, four years ago. If Sally would make her steps to getting in shape convenient she will be more likely to accomplish what she set out to do. If we stick to the gym idea… Sally could go to the gym that is convenient to her home/travel route, conveniently has childcare on site, she picks a convenient time to go when little Susie won’t be napping/expecting a meal, had their clothes and gear conveniently set out the night before for their trip to the gym the next day, and she had dinner started in the crockpot for a healthy convenient dinner instead of unhealthy convenience food on the run. Sally could repeat that plan every day (same gym, same gear, same clothes but washed, same time, same weekly menu) until she didn’t have to think about it because it had become a habit. That would be a great way to set her up for success starting day one.

Now how about Ms Patsy who wants her home put back together…She’s been making every excuse under the sun to friends and family for why her home isn’t put together the way she had it when her young family of five moved in three years ago. She’s often complaining and fussing to her kids and husband for not putting things back where they go. But if Patsy could think of ways to make it more convenient for the whole family it would actually help her out with keeping up with how she wants her home to look and feel. For example, everyday when her husband comes home from work like clockwork he empties his pockets right there on the front hall table, even though there’s a super cute basket whose only job is to hold all his pocket treasures. The problem is, to get to the basket he has to walk through two rooms, go left down the hall and right into the bedroom then put his keys, wallet, change, etc in the basket. Even though the basket’s only use is to keep his things together, it’s not in a location that fits his habits of living. She could put the cute basket on the front hall table and see how that works. It would be convenient for him and “put together pretty” for her. And if she really doesn’t like how the basket looks in the front hall..she can try another decor piece that keeps the function of convenience for him and aesthetics for her.

If we can all take a look around and see what is out of order, think of why it’s out of order, then discern whether it needs a convenience adjustment or a conversation. When things are convenient for the whole family and “put together pretty” for us it’s a win win. Homes are for living in by living people so it’s not going to be perfect or put together all the time ever. When a home can be made to fit the family instead of the family made to fit the home, then there’s way more life being enjoyed. And if you ever see a home that’s perfect every second of the day, every day…don’t start comparing,,, check the pulse of that perfect home because there may not be any life in it.

Convenience is key on the farm too. There’s truth to the saying “out of sight, out of mind”. When the garden is planted in “the back 40” where you never go on your property, it becomes out of sight. And that makes it more susceptible to being out of mind=Not Convenient. There’s always going to be something more important to do than pulling weeds in the first place much less going to “the back 40” to pull ‘em. When the garden isn’t convenient for you, let’s face it, you don’t work in the garden. You have to put the garden where it’s perfect for what you plan to grow AND convenient for you.

Do you have a personal example of how convenience was the key to getting something accomplished?

Let me know in the comments. I’m always looking for new ideas.

What Does It Mean When Your Plans Fall Through?

The honest answer: “Whatever you think it means.”

For the past six months my husband has been jumping through hoops, dotting the “I”s and crossing the “T”s of all the logistics and legal stuff to do a little moonlight work in Alaska. Although I wasn’t too fond of the thought of flying ten hours away from home, I booked our two tickets anyway. Things looked all good to go. I had done all the notifying and arranging of things on the farm and home so that everyone knew I’d be out of the loop for a solid week. We were prepped. Everyone else was prepped. Then a week before we should have been landing and my husband was supposed to be working in the great “Last Frontier”, it wasn’t going to work out(on the Alaska side). The work stuff is his story and not mine and they say things should be sorted out before his next scheduled work assignment. But the part of the story that I can claim as part of my own is “What now?”.

When things don’t work out as you planned you have a choice. If you’ve coached with me before you know that it’s our thoughts that ultimately give us the results in our lives. Think of all the different ways I could have thought about this situation… I could have thrown a fit from thinking they should have been more competent… I could have demanded reimbursement and refusal to even entertain any future plans with them from thinking they shouldn’t have wasted my time on all the things I put my energy into preparing for the trip in the first place…I could have been thankful from thinking that maybe it was divine intervention keeping us from some sort of harm…I could have figured that maybe I was supposed to stay home and work on the endless list of things that needed to be done from thinking I hadn’t earned any right to take time away when my farm is a wreck…I could have reacted in an infinite number of ways. But you know what I chose?

I chose to think of it as an opportunity. To do something big and fun. We already had plane tickets booked and time set aside. Let’s make the most of it. So I got back on the airline app, canceled our Alaska flights, and booked new flights to London. Why London? Because why not?! We have talked about traveling to Europe forever and always had a reason or excuse why we couldn’t/wouldn’t go. Was I nervous? Yep. Did I know what I was doing from experience? Nope. Did I have second thoughts? Absolutely. But you know what I did know? I could figure it out.

And figure it out I did. Just before we left I booked: a room, a personal tour guide that picked us up from the airport for a full day of London highlights, a Michael Bublé concert, a London Symphony Orchestra concert, and a concert of the legendary Elton John on his “Farewell Tour” that was rescheduled from four years ago. And after about four days of city life I was getting quite antsy for some time in the countryside. So I booked a coach tour that took us out to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath.

Even if we didn’t have anything booked for activities, it would have been good enough. I am open to just going and figuring it out for the experience itself. I got way more out of that trip than the trip itself. I may write more on some of my lessons but here’s a few to give you an idea:

1. I can figure out how to do big new things. I hadn’t flown internationally before. I had put up a roadblock for myself when it came to international stuff. I thought there was more to it than having a passport and booking a trip. I don’t know why exactly. But I did. Granted, sometimes there is more to traveling internationally. But not for this trip to the UK for leisure.

2. London is a City. Yeah, that sounds ridiculous I know. But I assumed that since it was in England it wouldn’t be that much of a city right?:)

3. England’s time “springs forward” different than the U.S. I had checked the world clock on my phone to see what the time difference was between London and home and it was four hours. So I went about my planning and bookings. But when we landed it was five hours difference. Turns out we managed to go when they were “springing forward”. I had to do some adjustments being that I did keep my online appointments while traveling. Lesson learned for the future.

4. A Queue is a Line. As in “I stood in the queue for an hour to get my concert tickets.” And Tills are checkout areas/registers. As in “Walk to the tills and turn left for the exit.”

5. Cashless! Soooo many places do NOT take cash at all. I know this is all over and not just London. But we did run into a few situations where having cash saved the day. Even though I went through the motions with the bank of having our bank cards “coded” for the location we would be traveling to, we still ran into some issues. As an example; When we landed at the London airport we went ahead and used our cards to get English cash. The cards worked just fine using the ATM. But when we ordered our lunch during our tour the first day, the cards didn’t work. And remember, we were five hours ahead of home. So it’s not like we could call the bank and ask about the issue. Our tour guide ended up using her card and we gave her the cash. The cards did that several times during the week. The cards would work one day and then poof they would stop working. Each time we had an issue we just contacted our bank and eventually they were able to fix it totally. So on our last day we found a local tearoom and had an official afternoon tea(it was awesome by the way, Candella Tea Room) Just before the waiter was going to take our payment I mentioned how everyone around seemed not to take cash. He said that there are a few small places that still take cash like themselves and he wasn’t sure why most places didn’t take it anymore. Then when the waiter took our payment (contactless) guess what happened? It didn’t work. We were the second customer in a row that was having that issue. While it seemed as though it was probably an internet issue with their POS system…we still needed to pay for our afternoon tea. And when he asked if we had any other form of payment…yes sir, we have cash. He was more than happy to accept our cash payment. While the contactless payment is very convenient in a way, it’s still good to have a backup. On the homestead I’m always thinking of backups(example: the heat pump goes out during an ice storm, we can use the fireplace). Money is no different. To me the contactless method of payment still needs a backup. You could trade for chickens, eggs, goats, furniture, paintings, camels etc. But I think cash might be a bit simpler and a little less messy;)

The point I hope to get across is that we always have a choice in how to respond. My story is a bit of a grand example but it’s still a good example. The next time your plans (big or small) don’t go as you planned them to go…What if you thought of it as an opportunity? How could you make the most of the situation?

If you’ve ever had plans fall through and you made the most of the situation and it turned out better than the original, let me know in the comments below. I can always use more thoughts to keep tucked away for the next time my plans don’t go as they were supposed to.

Run your home as if it’s your business…Because it is.

I’ll get right to the point. Running a home is like running a business. Why do you think they came up with the phrase “running a home”? Folks could have come up with another way to reference tending to one’s home matters. But they didn’t. Or at least if they did, it didn’t stick. That’s because running a home is work. Whether we admit it or not, it is a job. It doesn’t always get the credit, awards, title, or recognition that other jobs do. But no matter who you are, you have a home. And your role running the home is the foundation to your success in life in general.

To me, running a home is most certainly like running a business. There’s many moving parts that have to be maintained, coordinated, and planned. Before you think “I’m single I don’t run a home” or “It’s just me and my husband, that’s not really running a home”, think again. That would be like telling a solopreneur or cofounders they don’t have a business.

Your home is your business. Just yours and those that live with you, usually being immediate family. It’s work that’s personal. Running a home has its struggles and victories just like running a business.

Here’s just a few examples of what both running a home and business have in common:

1. Bookkeeping/Bills/Overhead

2. Supplies

3. Taxes

4. Appointments/Meetings

5. Maintenance

6. Groundskeeping

7. Events

8. Future growth/expansion/moving locations

9. Team building excercises/memories

10. Lasting relationships

Now, there’s businesses just like homes that are run poorly, mismanaged, or left to its own devices. Sometimes you can tell what’s happening on the inside/behind the scenes of the business by what you see on the outside. You may see some unrest or tension as the management is changing or gaining back control of the mission of the business. Sometimes that goes along with running the home too. But there’s good news for those of us that think that it’s too late to run our homes like they wanted or that we’ve let things go too far... It just takes a decision to work on it one thing at a time and one day at a time. No more. No less. You just do the best you can with what you have, what you know/believe, and where you are.

It takes work and skill to run a business just like it takes work and skill to run a home. So remember it’s going to take time.

A here’s a bonus thought: Most businesses have a “Why” and a mission statement. Homes can have a “Why” and a mission statement too. Even if you don’t share it with anyone else. You know what it is. And it can be your north star when times get tough.

Now tell me, have you ever thought of running a home being like running a business? Let me know in the comments.

Spring Cleaning Commenced

AFTER

Here I go being real with you. And I mean really real. Can you get any more vulnerable than showing the world your own mess? Every single person has a mess somewhere. For some it’s their relationships, or it’s their finances, or it’s their work, etc. And for others like me, it’s my physical spaces.

I’m one of those people that takes the feel of my home and internalizes it. I have been going through my house (and farm) with blinders on. I didn’t want to see the mess. I didn’t want to feel on the inside what I was living with on the outside, which was a big dang mess. Even though I thought I had blinders on to keep from feeling the mess inside myself…I still felt it on the inside anyways. I felt disorganized and chaotic. Funny thing is some of my thoughts were that it wasn’t my stuff so it’s not my mess. Boy was I wrong. Even if zero of the stuff was mine….It’s my space, It’s my home, It’s my domain, It’s my responsibility. So it’s mine to manage no matter whose stuff it is. No one was coming to my rescue to voluntarily clean up what is my responsibility. Even if they had come to my rescue I’d want it done my way anyways. I’ll admit that a lot of my resistance was that it’s just more work. I know that if there’s something I don’t want to do, I will do everything else just not to deal with it. But if I did want to do something I’d figure out a way to do it. You know what I mean right? In this case I didn’t want to clean out the mess….But I did it, while still not wanting to.

I believe spring cleaning can be any season. There’s no wrong time of the year for a good purge. Clean outs and clean ups are like a merry go round. There is no “done”. It’s always going to be a loop of cleaning out and up our space, room, closet, files, bodies, emails, minds, etc. The sooner we can acknowledge that there’s no “once and done” the sooner we take the pressure off and it miraculously will happen sooner.

Let me tell you why I chose to pick the dining room to tackle first and also why pre spring is the best time to do it.

1. The Dining Room is the easiest to maintain order. It’s a room that gets used then put back together with minimal effort.

2. The Dining Room being cleaned out is an invitation for family meals. It’s a place for family time and connection during a universal event(eating). No more eating in the living room or at the kitchen counter or heading to the nearest restaurant. Told you I was being real.

3. The Dining Room being cleaned out during pre spring is the perfect time for me because the wood floors are still contracted from the cold winter temps. That means I can get in the grooves and get out the dirt that otherwise would stay stuck during the warmer months when the wood would be expanded and leave less of a gap between the boards.

4. Spring and Summer are just too busy on the farm and in the garden to think about “starting” a spring clean. It’s the getting started that’s the hardest. Keeping up the momentum takes less energy once the work has begun.

5. The Dining Room creates a great opportunity to entertain. When you invite others over by hosting a dinner or meal, you are going get to work making sure the rest of your home is in order before your guests arrive. Sneaky little way to keep up the good work:)

I could have picked another room to start my purging for the year but the dining room for me was the perfect beginning. The cleaning up and out will never be done but at least it’s begun.

I’m taking back the reins of managing my homestead and estate. Just announcing it brings a feeling of control and order. Now that the momentum is started I’m on to tackle my next project.

Where do you start your spring cleaning and why?

Teacups and Checkbooks

The look on the young cashier’s face was all I needed. I’ve been in that same place and I wanted to help her the way someone did for me.

Recently I visited a local deli in town. I gave my order to the cashier and as I was pulling out my check card she pushed the cash key and zeroed out and completed the transaction. I could tell she was in shock for a moment and was still thinking of what to do, in silence. I calmly said “That’s ok I have cash”. And that’s when the opportunity for a lesson happened for her and myself.

I’ve noticed that cashiers rely on the machine to tell them how much money to give back. And what they would consider “counting back” is no more than counting up to the money the machine told them. But what if someone was buying a five dollar item handing over $10 and the cashier puts in $100? Some folks would just mindlessly give back change of $95 not thinking about it because that was what the machine told them to give back. I’ve had that happen before.

As my deli cashier was trying to figure out how much change to give back, I had a chance to ask if she knew how to “count back”. She said no, she’s never been able to understand it. So I told her I would help her. That way we made sure we both had the right about of money.

My first non babysitting job was when I was 16 or 17 at an Evan Picone retail women’s clothing shop. They were going out of business in a local mall so it was a perfect time for me to get my foot in the door of working in the “real world”. One of the things the manager did during my training as the cashier was make sure I knew how to count back. The poor customer that was checking out became the involuntary guinea pig for my lesson. The customer waited patiently until I was truly able to understand. And that was a good five minutes…took me a little bit:) So I took the time to go over counting back the old fashioned way with my cashier at the deli until she got it.

My order was for $5.46. I gave her a $20 bill. So my change with counting back to me would be saying out load: $5.46(my cost spoken no money given to me) plus 54 cents makes 6 dollars, (using $1 bills) makes 7 makes 8 makes 9 makes 10, (using a $10 bill) makes 20. Wha-La! I have the right change back and she has a balanced register.

That got me thinking about how I balance my checkbooks. I’ve been in conversations before where some people really struggle with how to balance a checkbook….so they just don’t, ever. I don’t have a hard time with it. As a matter of fact I think it’s fun. Kinda like a mystery to be solved. I get how to do a checkbook, but taxes….no thanks:)

So I wanted to share how I balance a checkbook to the penny. But before I do, let me say why I think keeping an old fashioned checkbook register is a good idea.

1. Believe it or not the bank(machine) makes mistakes. Not too common for me but it’s happened.

2. You have a chance to prevent a problem before it happens. Like duplicate items, auto drafts, or a charge that was supposed to be one number but went through another number.

3. It’s a part of your life that you have full control over.

4. Having expenses and deposits staring you in the face is a great way to get a reality check of what you invest in(spend money on).

So here’s the steps I take to balance my checkbook:

1. Requirement: A nice cup of tea.

2. Put on some calm music.

3. Get out the ol’ checkbook and get down to business.

4. Write in any loose receipts that haven’t been recorded on the register.

5. Add and/or Subtract the register to the final debit or credit.

6. Log in to online banking, write on a sheet of paper what the bank says my balance is.

7. Scroll through each line of the online bank transactions. Making sure I have them written in my register.

8. If the debit/credit is “pending” I put a dot in the middle of the box in the check off column.

9. If the debit/credit is “posted” I put a slash (/) in the check off box. When a pending turns into a posted item my / goes right through my dot.

10. If a debit/credit is online and not in my register, I go ahead and write it in the register with my assigned pending or posted symbol.

11. I keep going through each online transaction until I get to at least two or three that have already been / posted. Then I know I’m where I left off last balancing.

12. Go back and do the math in the register for anything I had to write in the register that the bank had that I didn’t.

13. If all transactions in my register are . or / then my balance on the register should match the balance the bank says that I wrote down in step 6.

14. If I have transactions written in the register that aren’t . or / yet (ex. check that’s not cleared yet, an auto draft that hasn’t happened yet) then I do the math opposite of what is should be. I’ll explain…

    14A. If it’s a debit/charge that hasn’t shown up online yet, I add it back to my balance I have written in the register.

    14B. If it’s a credit/deposit that hasn’t shown up online yet, I subtract it from my balance I have written in the register.

15. Then compare the adjusted balance I think it should be with what the bank says it is.

My balance and the banks’ should be the same number at this point. And if they balance with each other I underline _ the change of the balance. (Ex 123.45)

If it’s not balancing still, Here’s some things I’ve run into that have made it not balance before:

~I have a math error subtracting or adding. This is when I go back to that underline and start doing the math over one line at a time from that underline down. I know there’s no math errors from the underline and up because the register was correct to that point.

~If I did have a math error I write a * next to where the math error was. Then write another * in a mirrored placement with a new transaction line where I corrected it. (Ex. Deli math error *)

~If there’s multiple math errors…I get creative with my symbols:) Each error gets the same symbol as it’s correction;) I’ve used different color pens/highlighters etc.

~Gratuity doesn’t always show up online. That’s why I write the pre gratuity amount next to the name of the place/restaurant. Usually the pre gratuity shows up online as pending then when it switches to posted and cleared it will have the real amount with the gratuity included.

~Sometimes fuel charges show up as $1 until it fully posts with online banking with the full amount charged.

~Occationally some places with have a charge that is behind the scenes/not visible on my online banking. When that happens I wait a couple days and balance again. Usually it balances by then. Some fuel and hospitality businesses with put a hold behind the scenes that you can’t see.

Now I can see all the things I have invested/spent my money on. Did I spend/invest wisely? Did I invest/spend where my values are? What’s my return on investment with where I chose to spend?

This is where the cup of tea comes in…With your “investing portfolio”(checkbook register) staring at you in the face. Sometimes reality is a hard pill to swallow and you need a nice cup of tea to help wash it down.

Balance your checkbook for a good review of how you’ve been investing your money.

Then decide if that’s where you want to keep investing. If not, change course and be intentional.

I believe you are worth investing in. So put your money where your values are…

Are you a checkbook and teacup junkie like me? Let me know in the comments.

Homesteadmaker™

Homesteadmaker™ Have you heard of it? Well you have now! And this is my story of what it’s all about.

I have spent my life living from a place of being what and who was needed in the moment for others and myself. I bet you can relate to that too. But before you think I’m going down a negative rabbit hole, spoiler alert, It’s quite the opposite:)

I’ll mention some examples to give you context:

• When I was in school and college, I was the student.

• When I was getting married, I was becoming the wife.

• When I was in the hospital having babies, I was becoming a mom(by the multiples!;)

• When I was assigned a patient in the ER, I was their nurse.

• When I balance the checkbooks/organize paperwork/planning budgets etc, I am the secretary and finance specialist.

• When I plan classes or events on the farm, I am the business owner.

• When I have conversations with my grown kids, I am their friend.

Those are just a few roles and hats I have worn and still wear. I’m sure you have some of the same hats and and even other hats that I don’t have, nor will I ever. It’s called life! But I never thought of those roles as being as important as they really are.

So here’s the thing….Why do we discredit our roles? Why do we compare to others? Why do we think there’s no value to the roles we have in our lives? Why do we lessen the value of our foundational roles and give more value to what seems more important to our own culture or community?

Based on my experience with myself and others here’s what I think the reasons are ….1. Because we don’t think of our roles as being important or making an impact, 2. We don’t think we are good enough, and 3. We think money/status/stuff/etc equals value.

When we don't think of ourselves as valuable human beings it leads to thinking we aren’t good enough. (And let me tell ya, I am the queen of “not good enough”!) So we then put value on money or anything physical outside of ourselves or on our person. We think that if we earned money(status, stuff, title, dress size etc) then we earned our value. And when we earn those things THEN we will have earned being considered valuable. But it’s not true. Our value isn’t what we earn.

I believe what’s considered the “most basic of roles” we have within our society are the most important and valuable for ourselves, our community, and the future generations.

I put myself through years of self sabotage.

• I wanted to be the “perfect mom” and I compared myself to other moms who appeared to have everything put together. Always thinking I failed my kids.

• I wanted to live in the country but I felt I wasn’t as good as the city wives. Always thinking the country life wasn’t as dignified as city life.

• I wanted to learn how to homestead but it wasn’t socially acceptable. Always thinking I personally was socially unacceptable.

• I wanted to have my own business and make an impact but I never thought I was as good as the next business owner. Always thinking I had to be just like someone else or I didn’t have a real business.

Every one of those and all the rest that aren’t listed,,,Are a big fat lie. It wasn’t and still isn’t true. And the crazy thing about all my thoughts of self sabatage…I did it to myself!

It’s like a plague that effects all people but women seem to be the most vulnerable of self sabotage. Once I realized I wasn’t the only one to think and feel this way, I started to choose different thoughts.

I didn’t want to just choose different for myself. I wanted to be the example for other women to choose different too. I wanted to turn homemaking and homesteading on its socioeconomic undervalued head.

So…. I created Homesteadmaker™.

Homesteadmaker™ is the blending of Homemaking and Homesteading. It’s Homesteading made Beautiful.

All women are Homesteadmakers™. No matter what phase of life, where we live, or if we do/don’t work outside of the home, we still have our hat to wear of being role models and teachers for the next generation.

Accepting our value and responsibility of being a Homesteadmaker™ is what strengthens ourselves, our family, our communities, and all of our futures.

You’re gonna want yourself and all your friends in on this one. So ya better make sure ya’ll are on the email list. Because you’re not gonna want to miss out on what’s next. Sign up below.

Est 1995

This day in 1995 was the beginning of a fairytale adventure. Like a lot of little girls, I daydreamed of when I would get married. I thought I had to “figure it out” before I truly needed to figure it out. I had a mental checklist in my head of my requirements in order for someone to be my husband. And I even remember starting to pray for my future husband when I was around 6 or 7 years old. Yeah, it was that big of a deal to me.

Now, as I grew older I learned how to live in the day and not only in all those daydreams. There were plenty of goals and dreams in that young head of mine. And those were great to have then and they are still great to have now. But if I could go back to my younger self and give her words of advise here’s what I would say:

“Don’t worry, you’ll figure it out.”

And I did figure it out. But it wasn’t from trying to figure it out. It was from living in the moment and figuring it out as I went.

One summer day in 1992 while still in high school I saw the young man of my daydreams. There was a family that had moved to town and they had been having their home remodeled and were finally moving in. The contractor for the remodel went to our church and he mentioned needing volunteers to help with the clean up for a remodel job he was finishing up with. Well, my mom and I were no strangers to cleaning. I would help my mom clean houses during the holidays and any day I didn’t have to go to school. So off we went to do some cleaning at this newly remodeled home. My job was scraping windows. So I would scrape every one of those extra large picture windows until I knew it was clean as a whistle. I was working on a bedroom window when I heard someone coming toward the room. I thought it was someone from the construction crew or maybe my mom but it wasn’t. As I turned from the big picture window to look at the door, it was a young man wearing a football jersey. He walked just inside the bedroom, set down his football bag and walked right out. Not a word was spoken. But I had an instant crush. I remember thinking “What the heck! I’m in this guys bedroom! OMG I’m so embarrassed!” I had never seen him before and assumed I’d never see him again. But I was wrong;)

I saw him at school when it started back for the fall. He ended up asking me out. And we have been best friends ever since our first date in November 1992.

After he graduated high school he joined the Army. When he left for basic training, I thought for sure this time I’d never see him again. But I was wrong again. He had a very short Christmas break in the middle of his basic training. He came back home during that break and asked if I’d marry him, I said yes, and he went right back to basic training. But this time I knew I’d see him again.

All those daydreams rushed back to my mind on the day we were married. And believe it or not, I didn’t care about the details anymore. I cared about having a nice dress, a nice cake, and really I just wanted to get married. The rest didn’t matter so much.

Things were going just fine during the ceremony. It came the time and my husband said his vows. I’m smiling along. Then it felt like the whole world looked at me and I realized it was my turn. In my mind I had a freak out moment. “Wait! What? OMG, I have to speak out loud?!!! Can’t I just sign my name on a paper or something?!” I had completely forgotten that I had to actually speak…in front of everyone….But I figured it out:)

We’ve had many years figuring out this life we have together. And we’ll have many more to come.

It’s not a fairytale without the adventure.

Happy fairytale adventuring to you too:)

Country Tip for Celebrity Lips

So it is officially dry skin weather and I’m gonna let you in on my little secret weapon. But first let me give you a riddle and see if you can guess what my little secret is.

What do new mommas, sheep, and celebrity lips have in common?…..

This is where we play the gameshow music right:)

The answer is lanolin. As in the stuff that nursing Mommas sometimes use when they breastfeed. Sounds crazy at first I know. But I’m here to tell ya that it works.

If there ever was someone that was prone to chapped lips and dry skin especially in the winter, it would be me. I have been using some kind of product or another on my lips since I could say the words chap stick. It was so common during the winter for me to all of a sudden smile or start laughing and be abruptly shocked with a lip split open. After the shock of the pain and what just happened AGAIN…I’d position my lips different and not talk unless necessary for a few days while they healed enough not to bleed. All while coating them with more product to keep them covered from more damage. Heaven forbid if you smile and undo all the healing that’s taken days to accomplish, starting all over again. And then dealing with all looks from folks doing double takes of my busted lookin’ lip. Ugh. Seriously, am I the only one that’s had this happen to them?

Now, I am a country girl. I do have sheep. I love my sheep. I love their wool. I love how yarn smells from their wool. And I absolutely love to make things with fiber. But this ain’t one of the things I plan on making in the near future or ever. I’ve looked into the process of making my own lanolin from our own wool and it stinks. No really, it stinks. As in the Grinch, Stink, Stank, Stunk stinks. It takes a lot of wool processing to get a little bit of lanolin. Then clarifying the lanolin to clean it up more. Yeah, I’m not exactly feeling up to that challenge.

So I did the next best thing. I went and grabbed my little old purple tube of lanolin from when I used it about a quarter of a century ago as a new Momma. A tube will last you a very very long time. I started using it on my lips without anyone knowing;) And it worked! Once I used it, tested it, and I knew it worked…I didn’t care that the family knew what I was using anymore. I’d take it with me wherever I went and the family got to see first hand what I was using. And ohh did some of them ever notice what it was and made sure to tell me what they thought about it. But that’s ok. I’m the one that can smile without those dry cracked lips now and forever.

I do agree that keeping your body hydrated is the first layer of defense. That’s just the basics though. There are elements that we live in that effect our skin hydration and moisture from the outside too.

I used to use all the common lip balms and sticks for chapped lips. They always seemed to make the problem worse. I’d put the product on my lips and get temporary relief but in 30 min it was worse than when I first put it on. Which meant I was always putting more on. For crying out loud how is that solving the problem?

Since I started using lanolin I’ve noticed how long it lasts. Not just how long the tube lasts. I’m talking about how long one application lasts during the day. I apply my lanolin in the morning. And five hours later I still don’t need another application. Those five hours are full of coffee drinking, talking, smiles, and laughs. That is amazing!

If you want to give lanolin a try and experiment on your own, here are some tips from my experience:

General:

• The tube will last a very long time. So you don’t need a large amount if you are shopping for a brand new tube.

• Use a dry cloth. If you apply lanolin with your fingers don’t bother thinking water will wash it off them. It won’t. That’s the benefit of lanolin. It is a protective barrier that lets the water slide right off like water off a ducks back…or rain off a sheep’s wool as the case may be:) If you use a dry cloth you can rub it off your fingers easily.

For Lips:

• Apply a very tiny amount to keep your lips moisturized without looking like a gloss.

• Apply a very tiny amount on your lips and it will help your liner and/or lipstick go on smoother.

• You can also apply a tiny amount to your lips, then lip liner, smudge to fill in the color, then a small amount more of lanolin.

• The more glossy look you want the more lanolin. But even a high gloss look only takes a very small amount of lanolin.

• There is a point of too much and you’ll know it when it happens. Instead of it looking like a clear gloss look, it will look more like a cream, usually at the place where the lips touch each other. If this happens just take a dry cloth and dab the inside part of your lips and you’ll be good to go.

Other Uses:

• Add a tiny bit of lanolin to your pump of lotion or body oil and experiment to see if you like the combination. Just make sure you mix them together well before applying it to your skin.

• Use as a diaper cream. If you haven’t read by now, a little goes a long way. So I’d combine a diaper cream and a little bit of lanolin together before applying to baby. You’ll get the benefit of the lanolin while letting the diaper cream help thin it out for more surface coverage.

• Use on objects that need greasing. Hinges, drawers that don’t slide anymore, rusted screws that need tightening or loosening, etc

That’s my Country Tip for Celebrity Lips.

Let me know if you give lanolin a try and what you think about it.

It sure has made my winters more enjoyable.

The Number One Item on the Top of My Thanksgiving Checklist

I’m a checklist kind of gal and it’s getting down to the wire for planning the perfect Thanksgiving dinner. So many things to decide…Use the casual or formal dinnerware? Prepare the usual dishes or try something new? Set the table with the meal centered on the table or have a food station(buffet style)? Lunch time or Dinner time? Music or no music? Kids table or all at one table? Planned entertainment or just see how things go? The decisions go on and on.

Of all the decisions to make for what to put on the holiday meal checklist, there’s one thing I want to put right at the top so I don’t forget…Deep Thanksgiving Reflection. While I do have my own practice of journaling every day and appreciating what I am grateful for, this is different. It’s Thanksgiving! It’s a time where we as a whole nation push pause and reflect and appreciate what we are thankful for on the same day.

So what am I thankful for? Our home, our jobs, healthy food, our farm, freedom to dream and reach for our goals, central heat during the winter and air during the summer, our cars that get us safely from one place to another, the washer and dryer that seem to be in constant use, hot running water, and the mountain and lake views, just to name a few. Absolutely, those are all things to be thankful for and not take for granted. But above all that is family. Family really is what matters the most.

Family is what makes us who we are. Let’s really think about that for a minute. No one’s perfect. But our experiences primarily with our family shaped us into who we decided to be. All of the experiences we live through, good and not so good, are an opportunity to make a decision about ourselves. We can take those experiences from our past and the ones we will have in the future and learn from them, to improve who it is we want to be in this one life we have to live.

It’s like master dominos. Every person has an effect on another directly or indirectly.

My Great Uncle Harold ,whom I only met a handful of times, had an impact on me that rippled through my life. I was probably no more than 10 to 12 years old when I went to Uncle Harold’s farm for a visit. I can still see in my mind the farmhouse and the layout of their home, the horses and the hayfields, and all the books around the house that he could read at any moment he had a desire to read them again. During that visit he would ask me different history questions. Well, I didn’t know the answers to those questions. I would try and answer them with a question mark at the end of my answer:) This educated man showed concern wondering if the school wasn’t teaching me important history I should know. I can’t say it was the school’s fault. I have a very different way of learning than through a textbook. So that day Great Uncle Harold gave me two books. They weren’t history books at all. They were both old novels with threaded fabric and hard covers and no more than eight inches tall. At first I kept them safe and thought of them as a dear gift from a family member I hardly got to know. The pages were very fragile and I never wanted to worsen their condition by reading them from the original book. Any time I had to move, those two books would move with me. And I moved those treasures with me all across the country.

Those books were the catalyst for my affinity for anything old, historic, and heirloom. When I see an antique piece of furniture, an old book, an heirloom teapot, a historic building I wonder about its history. What time in history was it made? What and who was it made for? Who all handled and used it? And turns out that’s the best way I learn. It’s by seeing something I can put my hands on and learn it’s history by me being the one asking the questions and finding out the answers. Then I can put the pieces of the history puzzle together one piece at a time. I love learning about things of old, appreciating them today, and preserving them for tomorrow. So really, Uncle Harold is still teaching me to learn my history even though he isn’t here with us anymore.

What I didn’t realize in the moment was that Great Uncle Harold taught me an appreciation for things of old and a history lesson that would last me a lifetime.

That’s just one example of the multitude of experiences that had an effect on me.

And for that experience then of not knowing my history I am now thankful, because it helped me to become who I am today and who I will become in the future.

So if you already have your Thanksgiving dinner checklist or still need to put one together, remember to put “Deep Thanksgiving Reflection” at the top. Then take a moment and truly be thankful for what you do have AND who you’ve had that helped shape you into who you are today.

Who is the first person that comes to mind that you are thankful for?

What experience with them are you thankful for that made you who you have decided to become today?

Welcome to The Barn

Yes, It was absoluteley worth three years of building and a pandemic. It is with great joy that I introduce you to “The Barn” here at Hindsight Homestead. Beautifully located on Muddy Creek and Boone Lake. This majestic structure is like no other barn on earth.

Some folks thought it was going to be a barndominium while it was being built. It’s gorgeous enough to live in with the stone exterior walls and white washed board and batten siding, but it’s not our house. It’s a little dream I’ve had for years that grew into a big reality.

It’s like a one stop shop of a farm hub. If you’ve ever built something from the ground up you know all the pain, hangups, decisions, and time that’s involved. But that’s not what I’m gonna talk about. I’m going to tell you about the awesomeness this Lady has to offer.

Let me start by saying this barn isn’t home to any animals. Even if we leave doors open every so often our farm dog lays down at the threshold because she knows she’s not even allowed inside. It’s that special.

The first thing you’ll see when you drive up to the farm is the barn’s classic southern style front porch. It’s a 12 x 64 ft covered porch complete with ceiling fans for those warm summer days. I like to watch and listen to the creek from the front porch. Lately I’ve stopped to appreciate the ducks that have made the creek home for the autumn season.

On the opposite side of the barn is the most beautiful greenhouse any gardener could ask for. It’s 16 x 64 ft and south facing in direction. It’s exterior door is on the side closest to the garden for convenience. In the center of the concrete floor is a trough drain that runs the whole length of the greenhouse. I wanted to make it beautiful and practical too. So the stone that is on the outside of the barn wraps around and into the greenhouse, making up the bottom four feet of the walls. Not only does the stone look stunning in the greenhouse it also absorbs heat from the sun during the day and releases the heat at night, exceptionally helpful during the colder months. There are two spigots as well of cold AND hot water…no more frozen hands or seedlings. Also centered on the long wall is a set of double doors going into the main part of the barn from the greenhouse.

The main entrance into the barn is the 10 ft tall double doors on the garden side. When you come into the barn you’ll notice it’s very open, very bright, very white washed, and very shiplapped(walls and ceilings). You see from one side to the other. No walls in the way, just pillars. It’s 32 x 64 ft. As you come in you step immediately in the gathering room. This half is the side for all of our workshops, classes, and events. On the right side are three antique cabinets that hold our homesteading and homemaking books along with the tea cups and tea pots that are put away when not in use. Between those antique cabinets are windows looking into the greenhouse.

On the other half of the main floor you’ll find a full stainless steel kitchen on the right hand side. It consists of a commercial three tub sink, stainless steel prep tables, two commercial propane stove and oven units, a refrigerator, and last but not least a washer and dryer. The doors that exit on this side are the same and are directly across from the doors you entered. Just like the greenhouse, the concrete floor has a trough drain going down the full length of the floor. On the left side there is a double closet that is set under the staircase. Before I take you upstairs let me tell you about one more section of the main floor.

So on the left side of the building when you came in, directly across from the greenhouse doors are the French doors that open into our employee lounge. It’s quite cozy and in there with a table and chairs, it’s own antique corner cabinet housing antique books, and of course I can’t forget about the coffee pot that keeps us going every day. This lounge is centered between two cooler rooms. Yes you read that right, two refrigerated rooms. Each cooler room is 16 x~20 ft. These cooler rooms have done really well even during the hottest of summer days. They have already kept thousands of berry plants dormant, giving us the much needed time to plant them this past spring.

Now let’s go back into the main floor area and go upstairs. This space like downstairs is very open, very white washed, very bright, and very shiplapped:) It measures the same as the main floor, 32 x 64 ft. However, in the middle of the upstairs floor is a square opening with a banister that allows full view from the main floor to the ceiling upstairs. I’ve measured from the main floor to the top of the hand rail on the banister and it measures 14 ft….Christmas Tree Farm here we come:) We use two corners on the garden side for our offices. We get a great inspirational view of the lake, garden, creek, and fields with all the multiple windows. Besides the office spaces, the rest of the upstairs is for the fiber studio. I have all the fiber supplies and equipment stored and staged upstairs. All the spinning wheels, drop spindles, raw wool rovings, etc. I love working with natural wool for fiber arts. It has an old world feel that makes my mind and heart think for a moment that I've stepped back in time.

As you can tell this is no ordinary barn.

It’s a statement.

A statement that homesteading can be functional AND beautiful.

I only offer farm experiences and events to my private email group.

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My Top 5 Homesteading Books To Read

I’m asked questions about homesteading all the time. And I absolutely love it. Animals, vegetables, flowers, homesteading with kids, you name it. While I don’t claim to be the know it all of all things homesteading, I have had plenty of successes and failures with it. Honestly it’s more failures than success. But who’s keeping count right? Not me, I can’t count that high:)

So I wanted to give you my top 5 homesteading books that I would recommend.

These are books for the beginner and up. No need to be a farmer or own a million acres. They are great for reading or reference. Sometimes I have to get extra books because I’ve ended up giving away my own copy.

Here’s my top 5 homesteading books to have on hand:

1. The Self-Sufficiency Handbook by Alan and Gill Bridgewater

   This is a sweet and simple book that has an organic feel. It covers your land, home, garden, animals, and even your pantry. I appreciate how it approaches the topics in a bit of an outline form. It makes using it as a reference very quick and easy. Want to know what it says about controlling weeds?…Go to the chapter on Garden, then Weed control, then you even have your choice of subsets under that of different techniques of controlling weeds(ex. mulches, fabrics, and hoeing). It’s not just a good book to have but it’s also pleasing to the eye with its black and white drawings inside.

2. The Backyard Homestead edited by Carleen Madigan.

   If ever a homesteader needed the Cliff Notes on homesteading, this would be it. The publisher has taken excertpts from different previously published books and combined them in this one. This book also covers gardening, animal husbandry, pantry, food preservation etc. But what I love most from this book is in the drawings of three homestead examples. They have a bit of an angled aerial view of a home and how a homestead could be on a one-tenth of an acre, a quarter acre, and a half an acre. AND they even give calculations of what that in particular homestead can produce. Like how many chickens it could handle, how many vegetable beds it could fit, or how many pounds of meat it could produce. Lots of good information in there.

3. All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew.

   If I could sum up this book in one word for why I’d have it on hand for reference it would be: Efficiency. This book does cover how he builds his garden boxes and what all he uses etc. But the core to the book to me is that it’s making the most of the space that is available. You don’t need fields of long rows to have a garden. You’ll learn how you can grow so much more per square foot. And your garden doesn’t even have to be on the ground. One big take away for me was (Spoiler Alert) that you don’t need any more than six inches in depth for even the longest of vegetables. It does go into specific crops. How close you can plant the seeds/transplants is great to know and refer back to.

4. Back To Basics edited by Abigail R. Gehring.

   Back to Basics is the perfect name for this book. I enjoy this book for the wholeness of homesteading it gives. It covers topics from what to look for before buying land, how to build a log cabin felling your own trees, techniques for ways to work the earth for your trees and garden, animals, preserving food, making cheese, making jellies, crafts like making a braided rug, how to make a handmade broom, welding, stenciling walls and floors, how to canoe a river, how to read a map with a compass, how to make your own soap etc. This book certainly has a “from scratch” approach. I love how diverse it is. I really appreciate having this book around.

5. The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery.

   Encyclopedia is the key word in the title of this book. It is a large book in size and information. The subjects covered are too many to list but they are all there. There’s not many drawings throughout the book but it is packed full of plenty of words of knowledge and wisdom from experience.

Even if you think you’re not interested in any topics in these books, let me give you a secret of how I use them sometimes. Even if I have no need to look up a certain topic or a solution to a problem I use these books kinda like a magazine. I thumb through them. I’ll see sketches of topics of how to do something an old fashioned way. Then my mind may go down memory lane. Or I may start imagining how it would have been in the old days. Even making up history as a movie in my head. This gives me a moment of appreciation for the time period I live in and the conveniences I have available. A thankful heart is a happy heart.

Bonus Book:

Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder. If you haven’t read this book you are missing out. It’s a great book to use as a read aloud to children of any age too. I learned a lot from this story.

So there you go. Those are my top 5 homesteading books I’d recommend.

Email me and let me know if any of these books are helpful for you too.

I’ll even give you bonus points if you can tell me what happened with the weather during the Fourth of July in Farmer Boy;)

Lesson Learned from my Lazy Work

Sometimes we learn lessons because we want to. Other times we learn lessons because we have to. But then there’s the times we learn lessons because we can. It’s all in the way you think about it.

This lesson is one of those “can” times.

Last year instead of pulling the basil out of the garden or at least nipping the flower buds, I got lazy. I just left it alone. The basil plants didn’t get pulled out until they were good and done, some may call that dead. So this year I ended up having little baby basil plants growing in a 10ft radius from last years basil bed. They looked so healthy I couldn’t just compost them. So I dug up the cute little baby basil plants sprawled all over and transplanted them into the basil bed.

I wasn’t sure if the transplanted basil would survive or not. But there wasn’t any harm in trying. Thankfully most of the transplants survived. Or at least what did survive covered the whole bed anyways.

Now, basil is one of my top five spices I love and use. But when the homestead gives you an overabundance of something what do you do?…Learn a new way to use it!

I already had a stockpile of dried basil so I didn’t want to dehydrate it. I wanted to be a little more creative.

So, we made Pesto!

Then we made pesto pizza. Oh my gosh that was so good!

I had never made pesto before. But I learned how.

And I can now say, it’s a new favorite.

We did blanch the basil to make sure it kept it’s pretty green color.

It’s an awesome feeling when you preserve food for yourself. But an even more awesome feeling when you can preserve the food from learning something new from a lazy mistake.

Some folks say “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” but I say “When the homestead gives you basil, make Pesto!”

Next time I make pesto, instead of using pine nuts I may try using our own hazelnuts.

If you’ve made pesto with other nuts let me know how you liked it.

If I could do it again: 10 Things I’d do Different if I was a New Homesteadmaker™

We all have moments that looking back, we just may have done it a little different. I get asked a lot of questions about Homesteading. Little questions, big questions and everything in-between. So I wanted to share 10 things that came to mind of what I would have done different.

1. Thinking it has to be “perfect”. Since when is anything perfect? Why in the world do we do this to ourselves? I thought that it had to be exactly how I had it in my mind or it was a failure. No matter the topic under the Homesteading umbrella, it’s never going to be perfect, or done, or just the way we want it and it never needs changing or tweaking. Letting go of the “perfect or it’s a failure” attitude is a must if I was starting as a new Homesteadmaker.

2. Keep it simple. I’ll be the first to admit I want to do it all, have it all, and be it all. Starting small is good for many reasons. But when you stretch yourself so thin trying to do/learn everything, nothing gets done well. Pick one kind of poultry to raise. Pick one new plant to grow. Pick one new skill to learn. Pick one new food to cook from scratch. No matter what category of homesteading, keeping it simple will actually help you grow faster. Think of it as packing clothes in a backpack for a trip. Is it easier to fit your clothes in the bag if you throw them all together and shove them in, or if you take one article of clothing and fold, roll, and pack? Not only can you fit them in easier one at a time, the backpack will be easier to carry AND the clothes will look better when you wear them too.

3. Find other Homesteadmakers to be around in person. Isolation and alienation are the demise of anyone much less a new Homesteadmaker. You are not alone. You aren’t the only one that wants to homestead. You aren’t the only one that struggles. You aren’t the only one that thinks you messed up. You aren’t the only one….. Finding other Homesteadmakers to be around not only helps you, it helps them too. Online connection is good but in person connection is best in my opinion.

4. Get Away. I would make getting away from the homestead a requirement. Homesteadmaking can be all consuming and easily lead to burnout. Getting away here and there doesn’t just give you a break. It also gives perspective. No matter if you get away to somewhere that is similar to your homesteading life or the complete opposite. Both can help give you clarity on what you want to do different or what you want to pursue more.

5. Ask for help. Some people don’t have trouble asking for help no matter how small. But for me it’s still hard to ask. It goes back to wanting to do it all. I would at least ask for help with big things. Making it a social moment. Make sure you offer to help others as well.

6. Be selective. This is similar to keeping it simple. But more on the side of being picky. It’s better to have less quantity with better quality. Wether it be plants, animals, tools, equipment, supplies etc. It will be worth the investment to go quality over quantity.

7. Have an accountability partner outside of the homestead. This could be another Homesteadmaker but it doesn’t have to be. It could be anyone from a friend to a coach. They don’t need to want to homestead too. They just need to be someone that cares about you enough to keep you accountable for what you are working on. It doesn’t just give you someone to be accountable to. It also helps keep you from jumping from one thing to the next and not finishing something you started.

8. Have fun with it. Some things you have to do aren’t fun. But if you can make it fun…do it. I’ve been known to just start talking in other accents than my natural southern country girl accent. The work becomes more fun and goes by faster.

9. Why? Why do I want to homestead? What am I doing it for? I’d write it down and put it on the wall to be able to read it every day.

10. Slow down. Realize it’s not about the seeds in the packet, but about the seeds of memories that are being planted.

These are just some of what I would do different and recommend to any new Homesteadmaker. If you try any of these let me know how it goes for you.

Your Homesteadmaker,

Neva

My Story of Becoming a Homesteadmaker™

The nitty gritty of this story really started in 2006. It was the beginning of so many facets of our lives. I had triplets in April and we moved a few hours away in June. My husband was starting a new job that consumed most of his time. And I was learning how to survive being a mom of seven kids, seven years old and under. Oldest was 7, twins were 6, middle was 3, and triplets were newborn. Survival became my motto for a while. And before you ask, Yes, the multiples are natural and planned by God himself.

But soon I didn’t want to just “survive” anymore, I wanted more. I was faced with being a mom of seven, a modest budget, and a desire for peace and meaning to living each day. It was in that desire and searching that I found the journey of a lifetime. Two pivotal things happened.

1. I was invited to a wives Bible Study that had onsite childcare provided.

2. We picked up a book at a yard sale called “Little House on the Prairie”.

Those two things weren’t just pivotal, they were critical to my journey.

Bible Study provided not only a mom break once a week, but a connection to other women living in the moment of where we were personally and together(our husbands all had the same/similar line of work). I went to Bible Study all seven years that we lived there. And I balled my eyes out my last day at Bible Study before we moved away. It truly was a Godsend for me during that time in my life.

The “Little House on the Prairie” book sparked several things:

1. Homeschool: My 6 yr old daughter read the whole book in the car while we were still wondering around yard saling. The kids needed more opportunity to learn and read on their own. I wanted to give them real books and real experiences to learn from.

2. Homemaking: I remember watching Little House on the Prairie when I was younger. Back then I related to Laura. I was about the same age during the show, and Ma and Pa actually looked a lot like my Mom and Dad. But this go around was different. Yes, the books are different from the show. But that’s not all. This time I related to Ma in the show and books. She was the perfect example of making due with what you have, from scratch living, living out being a good example, and managing the home.

3. Homesteading: Learning the basics and building knowledge and experience from there. There was so much to learn. And that’s just what I started to do.

So I started homesteading, homemaking, and homeschooling right where I was. We were living in a three bedroom rental home at the end of a culdesac in a dense neighborhood in suburbia. I started homeschooling the kids. We started our first vegetable garden in the backyard along with a double compost bin made out of cement blocks on the sunny side and a clothesline I wrapped around all the trees on the other side of the yard. I canned for the first time, making tomato sauce from boxes of tomatoes from the farmers market. I made my first load of bread from scratch too. I learned a lot during those three years. As our knowledge and experience grew so did our dreams of homesteading bigger and on our own land. Looking back, those years in that home were just the beginning of a lifelong journey.

Now that I have adult kids and homestead over a hundred acres I look back to the beginning of what started this lifestyle of mine and smile. It all started with a desire and a decision to try. Never stop growing and dreaming.

Share this with the person that comes to mind when you read it. They can use the encouragement.

Your Homesteadmaker,

Neva