There I was. Standing in the barn with both hands firmly wrapped around the legs of a squealing three week old male pig. I held it up as the vet made an incision across each testicle, beginning the castration process. And the first squeal sent Charlotte charging at us. I had dreaded the moment most
Here we are once again, at the birth another new year. The older I get, the quicker the years seems to pass. On more than one occasion last year, I had to double check the calendar because it sure felt like we had just started into 2018 not that long ago. But alas, we’ve now
When I initially came across the property that would eventually be ours, it wasn’t the house or the 12 acres of land that caught my attention. It was the old brick barn that boldly stood among the overgrown mulberry and ash trees. It’s roof was pocked with holes, like an old cannon riddled ship after
If I’m entirely honest, I had no intention of ever becoming a homesteader. I didn’t understand homesteading. I thought it was a fad, and it wasn’t something I was going to be interested in. But little did I know that homesteading was so much more than what I thought it was. It was exactly what
Ever struggle with not having enough time to do all the things? Yeah, I know how that feels. There are so many things that we want or need to do, fix, grow, build…and there never seems to be enough time to do it all. So projects get pushed out, or simply not done at all.
One thing is certainly true about all weeds. We hate them! I know you’re with me on this. It’s not necessarily the labor of pulling weeds that gets under my skin. It’s the time it takes to do it. When I’m pulling weeds it means I’m taking time away from other jobs that are more
You’ve heard that term before, right? Free range? But what does it actually mean? Especially when it comes to children? When you think of free-ranging, your mind probably goes right to chickens. You know, letting your birds scavenge freely for food, rather than keeping them penned up in a cage. And in a way, that’s
When we first told our family that we were moving to Iowa, my grandpa asked me if I knew that Iowa gets “weather”. That wasn’t the first time we were asked that question, nor was it the last. Even when we finally did make the move, well-meaning Midwesterners asked us if we’d experienced Iowa winters
So we’ve been here in rural Iowa for over three months now, and I’ve had some time to reflect on our experience so far. I’m sure if given a year, or even five more, I’d have much more insight to share, so take my perspective with a grain of salt, or perhaps with a