Eating clean, minimalism and sustainable living have caused an influx of families to ditch the mainstream life, buy chickens, and start their own farms. Maybe you’ve watched The Biggest Little Farm or have been following some picture-perfect homesteader Instagram feeds and are wondering, “should I homestead?” In my most recent Project Simplicity post, I shared...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...