Homesteading | Self Sufficient Living | Living off the Land
The call came early, as I was wiping the sleep from my eyes. “I need help!” my sister's voice was laced with excitement and concern. I could hear meowing in the background. Twelve hours prior, she’d taken in an orphaned kitten. The kitten’s eyes were open and she seemed healthy, but she didn’t want dry food. I offered her advice from our experience with orphans over the years: offer formula (it’s expensive, so get the ...Continue Reading
Stillness. As I sat down to write this, I was trying to think of a word to sum up the hours I spent in my greenhouse and garden over the weekend. That was all that came to mind. No grand revelations. No long-winded observations. Just blissful quiet. A peaceful, settled brain. It’s taken me a long time to get to this point with my garden. In years past, my growing seasons were defined by stress. Overwhelm. Never feeling ...Continue Reading
I'm not stranger to dealing with poisoned and tainted soil in my garden. I wish that I could say that tainted and damaged garden soil has only happened to me once, but it's actually happened multiple times... --> The first time was when we accidentally bought contaminated non-organic hay for our Deep Mulch garden method (read more about that story here). --> The next time was when we accidentally tainted our compost pile ...Continue Reading
I recently spent two days at the Homestead Festival in Columbia, TN. It was glorious. Events like these feel like coming home. I experience a deep sense of relief when I get to to hang out with people just like me. They don’t raise an eyebrow when I mention milking a cow. They commiserate when I talk about animals dying or the struggle of balancing it all. They share knowing laughs when I tell of my husband ...Continue Reading
Last week the ground was covered in a blanket of white. This week, it’s 70+ degrees and my kids are “swimming” in the buffalo wallow. A tinge of green is appearing across the prairie that’s been brown for an eternity. It’s coming. I'm looking forward to sun, soil, and long evenings spent outside. Although... a part of me will miss the peaceful nights curled next to the fire with a good book. But I know that time will come ...Continue Reading
