Since launching this “Project Simplicity” series, minimalism and simplifying has gone totally mainstream. Awesome. We are all realizing that enough is enough! Life is better without the clutter. There is one thing that fills up our lives with more clutter and unnecessary “stuff” than anything else; one thing that can completely rob us of our…
Project Simplicity: How To Start Minimalizing
You may love the idea of a clutter-free life, but the question remains… “How Do I Start To Minimalize?!” (Don’t worry, Mom. I know this isn’t a word. “Minimizing” is correct, but playing off “minimalism” is what I’m doing here.) Minimalism doesn’t happen overnight, and there isn’t a “right” way to do it. Please do…
Project Simplicity: Silence
I have four children now. They all want to listen to Greatest Showman at full blast whenever possible. The baby even wiggles along to the music, fascinated by his rockstar older sisters. Today I discovered one of the most valuable, treasured things in the world: silence. I had a rare experience of silence for the…
A New Chapter
I can’t believe it. I have four children. People are already asking me if we are “done”. Through my entire pregnancy I knew I definitely didn’t want more kids after this one. I would tell people it was “number last”. But surprisingly my answer is “probably”. My husband’s answer is a firm and very quick…
Project Simplicity: Minimizing Stuff to Maximize Life
As life becomes more complicated with kids and the homestead and responsibilities, I’m constantly asking myself, “how can I simplify my life?”. When life gets too complicated, I suffer and so does everyone in my life. I get angry and irritable too often and I feel like I’m not doing anything very well, including being…
The Many Adventures of Our Hens and Chicks
Mama hens hatching and raising a brood of chicks. What could more perfectly capture the dreamy homestead life? Reality check: Our last couple weeks of this picturesque life has involved exploding rotten eggs, dead chicks dangling from a mama hen as she runs around the coop, deformed chicks, drowning chicks, evil mama hens and countless…
15 Protein Boosted Recipes + Snacks
In our house we are constantly trying to add quality sources of protein to our kids’ meals. All of our kids are very active, but our oldest daughter is a competitive junior olympic gymnast at one of the top training centers in the world…which means she works her body like a professional athlete for up…
How We Homeschool
When it’s time to enroll kids in school- either for the first time or for the next school year- many parents start feeling a tug on their hearts to consider homeschooling. Parents consider homeschooling for a myriad of reasons. Whatever the reasons, the whole idea comes with excitement, fear, self empowerment, self doubt, a lot…
Spring 2018 Homestead Update
My first “real” winter taught me some major lessons. About life. About work. About reality. About myself. I didn’t like it. There, I said it. I bragged to my southern California friends before moving to the midwest that I was sure I’d be fine with the winter because I love drinking coffee and staying inside…
Death on the Farm
Though death is inevitable on a farm or homestead, it’s never easy. My mom always reminds me when I call her to let her know of another animal loss…”livestock is deadstock”. I was enjoying a lazy extra hour in bed and listened as my husband left the house to do the morning chores. I heard…