As my husband Daniel and I have been sharing photos of the bounty from our urban garden, I've gotten lots of requests for a backyard farm tour. Your wish is my command! One of the biggest selling points of the house we bought two years ago was the giant backyard. After a great experience doing an agricultural internship for a year on a working farm (yes, that farm where we lived with no … [Read more...]
Hospitality With No Flushing Toilets: What I’ve Learned
Having people over has always been our thing. Daniel loves to cook and I love to talk, so hosting friends for dinner has been part of our family culture ever since we tied the knot. And after having kids, hospitality became the only way we were going to see our friends because kids have early bedtimes and babysitting is expensive. I firmly believe that other than the Mass, there’s nothing that … [Read more...]
When You Leave Your Comfortable Life and Change Just About Everything (THE BIG NEWS)
Since I mentioned in February that we put our house on the market, inquiring minds have wanted to know why we’re moving. And y’all, I have been bursting with this news for months. Months! Now that it’s actually time to share it, I hardly know where to start. Here's the basic idea: we’re selling our house and leaving behind Daniel’s stable job and everything we know to move our five-person … [Read more...]
Ask Daniel: You Had Questions, He’s Got Answers
Today Daniel answers your questions about gardening, homesteading, and backyard chickens from last week's Facebook party. Yay! Chickens So, here’s the basics of our chicken setup at this point: We have a 4x8 movable coop. It’s just an A-frame with one half covered by plywood and the everywhere else wrapped in chicken wire. I can easily open one side. There are roosting bars inside. … [Read more...]
Introducing the Hens!
And now, the post you've been waiting for! A chicken virtual meet and greet! You have been waiting for that, right? Ahem. Apparently there's a nesting instinct that takes over pregnant women as they approach their due date. Instead of starting a painting project, organizing, or attacking the dire laundry situation, this phenomenon prompted me to do super unnecessary things like convince my … [Read more...]
6 Must-Have Books and Cookbooks for Seasonal Eating Inspiration
Since our conversion, I've gained more appreciation for the rhythms of the Christian Year and that by observing those seasons, the story of the Gospel unfolds. One way to participate in the Christian Year is to feast and fast according to the traditions of the Church which, obviously, involves food! Sharing food with family and friends should ideally be a daily reminder of sacred things: The Last … [Read more...]
Goals for the New Year
So, we're halfway through January and I'm just now solidifying my goals for the new year. Clearly we should begin with with "stop being such a procrastinator, Haley!" Anyhow, I've never spent much effort on resolutions at the start of a year, but I've really been reflecting on what I want 2013 to look like. I've been very inspired by all the great posts about goal-making, particularly Mandi's of … [Read more...]
Our Favorite Breakfasts
Breakfast has always been my favorite meal of the day. Maybe because I love eating anything I can cover in butter and jam. When I was a little girl, my parents would take me to Cracker Barrel and I would amaze bystanders with the sheer volume of biscuits a tiny 4-year-old could eat. Having a child with a severe gluten allergy has significantly diminished my biscuit consumption, but I still love … [Read more...]
Food Choices ARE a Moral Issue
I recently read a very popular blog post, Food Choices Are Not a Moral Issue, on one of my favorite blogs, Keeper of the Home by Mandi Ehman of Life Your Way (another blog I read and enjoy). Mandi writes a lot of great stuff and I usually like her posts, but in this case, I wholeheartedly disagree with her claim. You can read the post here. Basically, Mandi bemoans the rigid judgmentalism of … [Read more...]
East Hill Honey: Get Delicious Raw Honey and Support a Great Kickstarter!
I wanted to share a great Kickstarter project that my lovely musician friend Colleen Nixon introduced me to: The East Hill Honey Project, a North Florida family-owned apiary providing pure, raw, unprocessed honey through sustainable methods. Because I don't process sugars well, our go to sweetener is local honey and Daniel really wants to keep bees next year so I was immediately intrigued by their … [Read more...]
