Autumn has been incredibly graceful this year. In Iowa, this season is usually an unpredictable tug o war between autumn and an ever looming winter. The fallout is usually a flurry of snow, wildly fluctuating temperatures and relentless wind that violently scrubs the land of all things giving it character. Sometimes autumn, with all its... Continue Reading →
Our culture is too quick to dismiss the old things. We want shiny, we want new and for some reason I'll never understand we want it to be painted white (thanks Joanna Gaines!). But I like the old things. I'm fond of the weathered. I'm partial to the worn. I'm in love with the old... Continue Reading →
I'm serious when I ask this. Where did the year go? It's beginning to sound like a cliche, I know. But I'm still scratching my head over how fast it seemed this year went by. Maybe that's why I'm clinging to this time between Christmas and the New Year. This season of rest. Because I... Continue Reading →
Homesteading is all about the experience. We all come to homesteading for different reasons. But in the end, what we really crave is a different approach to life. An experience that transcends the meaningless grind that has become the norm in modern day living. For our family, it was a hunger for a simpler, more... Continue Reading →
I walked into the house, ignoring the chicken poop spread across the white siding next to the back door. Yep, you read that right. Chicken poop. Not sure how it got there, but the location suggested a little person. I didn't bother asking, knowing I wouldn't get a straight answer. All hands get washed and... Continue Reading →
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... Continue Reading →
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... Continue Reading →
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... Continue Reading →
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... Continue Reading →
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.... Continue Reading →