It's taken some time for me to realize there is a connection between how much stuff we have in our home and our mental health. This is how it usually works. Over time, we accumulate stuff. Most of us are guilty of this, especially when we've been rooted for a while. If we aren't careful,... Continue Reading →
I've been craving fresh vegetables. Longing for them, really. I swear I come out of winter with withdrawals for good, healthy food like spinach, carrots, radish and kale. It's so satisfying to the soul (and to the stomach) to be able to prepare meals with food grown right from your own soil. Salads are a... Continue Reading →
What if I told you that you could easily grow your own broccoli, right in your back yard? Okay, maybe that's not that big a deal. But what if I told you that it just might be the best broccoli you've ever tasted? Store bought broccoli has one advantage: it's usually available any season you... Continue Reading →
Alright. I've got some things I need to get off my chest. It always baffles me when I'm on a homesteading forum or FB page and I see people shamed by others for not being a "true homesteader". Seriously, what does that even mean anyway? I'm gonna keep it real here friends. Unless any of... Continue Reading →
Good chili is the way to any man's heart. But it's got to be good. I'm talking about an explosion of taste that is virtually savored after each bite. The kind of taste that lingers for a little while in the soul, like an exceptionally moving story or piece of music. Am I being too... Continue Reading →
I try to do as much as I can by hand in the garden. This is partially because I try to live as frugally as possible. But it's also because I'm unwaveringly stubborn. Just ask my wife! When we first started our market garden, I had grand delusions of farming 3 acres with only a... Continue Reading →
When you're dreaming about farming or homesteading, it's easy to be consumed with the exciting things. Baby chicks. Fresh eggs. Pulling the season's first sun ripened tomato from the vine. Sun drenched fields of green on still summer days with cotton puff clouds softly floating by overhead. You know, the things we usually take pictures... Continue Reading →
When we first told our family that we were hitchin' the wagon and moving to Iowa, my grandpa gave me a bit of elderly wisdom. "Iowa," he said. "They have weather in Iowa." I didn't know exactly what he meant. I mean, I'd been traveling back and forth between Iowa and Oregon for several years... Continue Reading →
Oh winter...we have a love-hate kinda relationship. I love the rest you offer, and the unwinding of busyness you force upon my life. I'm in awe of the picturesque beauty you cast upon our frozen landscape, like the silent purity of falling snow on a Sunday morning. And I appreciate the excuse you give to... Continue Reading →
I apparently believe in fairy tales. I knew Iowa had really cold winters. Surely all those days with freezing temps must mean Iowans deal with less sickness in the winter, right? Germs can't survive the extreme cold. Or at least that's the fairy tale I believed when we moved here. It makes sense, in a... Continue Reading →