This is what homesteading with children looks like. Fox, now a toddler, picked these precious San Marzano tomatoes, which he’s been doing periodically all summer. And, yes, it drives me I.N.S.A.N.E. But the alternative is to keep the kids out of the garden or, worse, stop gardening altogether out of frustration. And then everyone loses. Let me tell you why. Continuing to homestead on our
Welcome Baby Fox
Here we are on the winter solstice, nearly three months after welcoming our sweet baby Fox. I hope you spend this darkest day of the year somewhere warm surrounded with love, with bright days ahead. Here’s the story of how we welcomed our biggest gift this year. This pregnancy was savored more than any other because I knew it was my last time on this
One More Seat
It turns out there was one more seat at our family table. We get to welcome a baby boy into the world in early October, just as summer is fading into fall. Although I am not blogging regularly anymore, the news just feels too big to not share. Life feels very full, but somehow I just knew we weren’t quite done with our family. Juniper
How to Build a Fairy Garden Planter
This spring I began adding nature play “stations” throughout the homestead to make our outdoor space feel even bigger. I created a series of small fairy gardens at these stations using simple materials with Juniper’s help. They were easy projects to do together and have made a fun addition to the homestead. Our homestead has different use zones: intensive vegetable growing in the raised beds, an all-season outdoor
Year of Gratitude
As 2015 draws to a close, I can’t help but acknowledge what a tremendous year this has been. I feel cheesy talking about being blessed, since it’s becoming such a cliche. But as my friend Brigitte says, “it’s not like your favorite kombucha is on sale and you feel blessed… your mom is alive and you have these amazing children.” Well said, Brigitte. My Mom Some
My Proud Mama Moment
I had one of those overwhelmingly proud mama moments recently that I have to share. Juniper and I spent the morning of my birthday harvesting fruit for the Portland Fruit Tree Project. They help local fruit tree owners maintain their trees in exchange for donating the fruit to the Oregon Food Bank. If you volunteer for a harvest party, half the fruit goes to the
Simple Backyard Nature Play
Our homestead garden plan includes a small area reserved for an evolving nature play space for our little ones. We didn’t have a budget to work with, so most the play elements were based on what we had on hand. It’s a flexible space that can change over time as the kids grow and their interests change. That means none of the play elements are permanent or expensive.
Welcome Baby River
“I think I had better go lie down. I think that may have been a labor contraction…” I was standing in our garden next to the raised beds talking with my Dad about the garden. Contractions had been getting more and more frequent for the last week, but had yet to turn into real, belt-tightening-feeling labor contractions. As a second-time mom, I’m told that’s common
Living Room Facelift
The mid-century home we bought a year ago had solid bones, but fabulously outdated interior spaces. Every room came with it’s own unique patterned wallpaper and a thick layer of beige carpet. It was hard to imagine we could polish this into a gem, but we took a leap of faith and snapped the house off the market. Since that time, we have slowly transformed this house into
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 5
- Next Page »