We dreamed of a home that would honor a way of life more simple than what we were living at that time. One that would allow us to have one foot in our home and the other in nature. To be more connected to the earth and less connected to materialistic influences. We searched for two years, almost gave up a couple times, and then it happened. We found it.
2022 was my and Maddie's seventh year picking strawberries at our local berry farm and making homemade strawberry jam together. The boys join us for picking sometimes, but Maddie never misses it and looks forward to it every year. It is how we welcome summer every year.
Grown, gathered and dried. Yesterday was for harvesting herbs from the garden. I do this every couple weeks throughout the summer. It’s a quiet, slow, fragrant task that I truly enjoy. Here are a couple tips to keep in mind when storing your kitchen herbs:
I thought it might be worthwhile to share a bit about our babydoll Southdown sheep and why we chose to add them to our farm. This heritage breed was not a decision made on a whim, but rather one made after exhaustive research with close consideration of our land, the space we had available to dedicate to animals and the climate of the area we live.
This year, the kids and I have a goal of spending 1000 hours outside! We printed off a gorgeous free tracker from 1000 Hours Outside and have it hanging proudly on our wall and easily accessible to the kids when they come inside. I hope you will consider downloading it too! It can be catered to what works best for your family and is a beautiful way to encourage time outdoors together in nature.
In March 2020, our state shut down. Our schools closed, my photography business screeched to a halt and my husband began working full-time at home. There are a lot of mixed emotions that came with this shutdown. But we were grateful for our new home and land to stretch out. In fact, I couldn’t imagine a better place to call home during these times. As a way of channeling my anxiety and worry into something positive, I did what many of us did and jumped on the sourdough train!
If last November, you’d told me that my family would move to three acres of land, live in a cedar cabin, own 15 animals, be building a garden bigger than my old backyard, all while homeschooling the kids, I’d have told you you’re crazy. But here we are.