Homesteading in Your Neighborhood

 Come on a tour of our home to see how we homestead in the city. Then check out my article on Molly Green about creative ways that you can be a homesteader even if you live in an urban area. 

We have a small area in our yard that is suitable for a garden. We make the most of what we have with a raised garden. 

This is my line I use to hang some laundry. I also have a free standing  drying rack.

This is our shed. 

The climbing tree. 

This is the fun area where the kids like to play. 

The "river"

The "river"

I enjoy setting outside, drinking coffee and watching birds or a storm roll in. 

I love this sunny room. We use it for our pantry and various Farmhouse Decor. 

I make my own laundry detergent and dryer balls.

I enjoy making bread as well.

Various projects I am working on. 

The boys playing piano. 

Reading in our book nook. I am thankful that they enjoy activities other than computer games and TV. 

I love this picture of our home in the snow with the boys out playing. 

Thank you for visiting and I hope you enjoyed my article for Molly Green.

Home

Laura Ingalls Wilder said it best when she said, “Home is the nicest word there is.”

When you hear that word, what kind of images does it evoke in your mind?

For my family, I want them to know our home is a happy, warm place—a place where they can come after a tough day and snuggle under a crochet blanket, on a well worn couch and rest their weary body.

 I want them to know that our home is a place of protection from the outside world. And we will always find comfort in prayer.

I want them to know our home is a place where our bodies are nourished with warm, comforting food and our souls are nourished with the word of God .

I want them to know our home is a place where wonderful memories are made—memories that will live forever in our minds.

 I want them to know our home is a place where there will be love, peace, laughter, togetherness, and lots of hugs.

I want our home to be a place of refreshing and comfort in this cold dark world.
At the beginning of last year, I challenged my family to come up with words that we want to describe the focus of our home and family. I took the words they gave me and framed them. They are now displayed in the kitchen for us and anyone that enters our home to read. Listed below are some of the words:
Share, Bible, Simple, God, Others, Memories, Purpose, Trust, Content, Faith, Blessed, Together, Comfort, Respect, Intentional, Give, Hospitable, Forgive, Pray, Thankful, Silly, Welcome
I challenge you to do the same. What are some of the words you would use to describe your home and family?

The Blessing Of Being Without A Dryer.

In the spirit of our family motto, “Don’t look at what you are missing. Look at what you are seeing.” I want to reflect on the few weeks we were without a dryer and what a blessing that was to me. 

It was the week we were gearing up to learn how the pioneers washed and dried their clothes.

I had already bought the clothes line that we would hang our clothes on as they dried. 

I had already picked out two tall trees that were the perfect distance apart so that we could get a big load of clothes on it.

I had also just bought two new packages of clothes pins. 

And then it happened…

I was right in the middle of drying a load of clothes when the dryer died.

Nothing could be done to fix it. At least it had good timing.

That was the day that started a really neat blessing. 

Our days actually slowed down. Instead of being able to do 4 to 5 loads of laundry a day, I could only do one. We could not rush around gathering the clothes and folding them as fast as we could between school lessons. We were taking our time, putting the wet clothes in the basket , walking to the line, and hanging the clothes. We laughed and talked as we carefully placed the clothes on the line. 

The boys commented on the fresh smell of the clothes. I told them that it was because I put peppermint essential oil in my clothes detergent to give me a peppy attitude as I clean. They just laughed.  And we continued being silly and hanging our clothes.  Hanging the clothes on the line became a relaxing and fun job.

After the clothes were hung, we stayed outside and played. We did not sit and listen for the dryer to buzz as usual, but instead we enjoyed our peaceful reading of “Little House in the Big Woods”.

At night when the clothes finished drying, the boys and I would go out and gather the clothes off the line. We enjoyed smelling how fresh they smelled after being in a nice breeze all day. We enjoyed listening to the owls and watching the sun go down while we put the clothes in the basket.

I loved the peacefulness of it all. I enjoyed reflecting on our day as I smelled the clothes. I was really able to take everything in. 

Another great thing that happened was that I got back into ironing, since we did not have the convenience of throwing the clothes in the dryer to get the wrinkles out. I realized I love the slowness of ironing. It was nice to be able to do something slowly and really think about what I was doing. I could focus on the fact that I was able to do this and it was helping to take care of my family. I also had the opportunity to teach the boys how to iron their clothes. 

Was I glad when the dryer arrived? Sort of. But I loved that it felt like I had more time and that I could be more intentional with my day.

Welcome To Our Farm

Welcome To Our Farm

Welcome to our cozy farmhouse and farm. Grab a nice, warm cup of coffee or tea and make yourself at home on our lovely front porch. 

(Shhh… I realize that we live in a 1970’s ranch style home with only a tiny worm farm; but, if you don’t tell anyone, I bet they won’t notice. ) 

My boys and I recently visited a farm. It was the farm I have always dreamed of having. It had chickens running free, a pumpkin patch, and cute goats. When I walked into the home, I melted into a pile of coziness. The home had all the rustic charm of a great old farmhouse. 

Then I came home to our 1978 ranch style house.

In the spirit of “Look at what you are seeing, not at what you are missing,” I am excited to say that I can see that our home and land would make an awesome farm and farm home. I have always wanted to live on a farm, so instead of being upset and thinking I was missing out on something, I decided to SEE what I was really looking at.

Once I started reading about farmhouses, I realized that my home, even though it is a 1970’s ranch style, has a lot of elements of an old farmhouse. And there are plenty of things that we can have in our yard that will make it seem more like a farm.

 I also read the following quote from a blogger. “Farmgirls love anything to do with homesteading, keeping chicken’s (sic), embroidering, sewing, knitting, spinning, quilting, natural home remedies for health care and cleaning, horses, goats, cows, organic gardening and cooking, caring for their loved ones and friends and are community minded. Re-purposing and UP-cycling are high on their list of ‘fun things to do too’!”  

http://deborahjeansdandelionhouse.blogspot.com/2011/03/farmgirl-friday-blog-hop.html

I thought, “WOW!  That describes me and I don’t have to live on an actual big working farm!!!”

So if you feel the same way as I do, I encourage you to stay tuned as I post things about my life as a farmgirl living in our farmhouse on the farm!