One evening early last summer, I walked outside to check on my boys.  They were in the garden helping their dad weed, as well as plant the last of our tomato seedlings.  Knowing what I know about my husband’s method of gardening, I knew that weeding would only be a …

It was “Kid’s Night” at the fair last summer.  Joshua, my oldest, had written the date on the calendar after reading about it in the newspaper two weeks earlier.  He was looking forward to it so much!  Me?  Not nearly so much.  I had already had a very full day. …

“Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.” – Confucius I’m a self-proclaimed homebody.  I used to feel the need to apologize for it because I have felt judged at times for not having the desire to get out more.  But …

This time of year, I often think about Aesop’s iconic fable of “The Ants and the Grasshopper”.  Summer has turned into fall and my pantry is completely restocked with beautiful mason jars.  They stand as an amazing reminder of a summer’s hard work of planting, cultivating, harvesting, and preserving.  I …

Summer was not always the lazy, vacation-filled season that we now see it as.  When we think of summer today, we think of long hot days of laying by the pool with the kids while they splash away their summer break.  The family road trips to expensive amusement parks or …

Have you ever found yourself using this phrase? “I could never…” Fill in the blank for yourself. We have all said it, but have we stopped to think about what it really means? I’ll share with you one of my very adamant “I could nevers”. I could never get up …

We were eating non-GMO, organic, locally grown, pesticide free, fresh food before any of us had ever heard about these modern buzzwords.   As I look around at kids today, it is completely obvious to anyone with eyes that we have an epidemic problem of obesity in our country. It …

Humanure (human manure) is defined as “human fecal material and urine recycled for agricultural purposes via thermophilic composting.” EWWW!!! Does that definition completely gross you out? Well, you are not alone! The word “recycled” is what gets to me. It brings to my mind images of Kevin Costner in “Water …

I’ve often said that living without running water is the hardest thing about living off grid. Reaching for the faucet and expecting water to flow out of it, is so ingrained in us that for many it seems impossible to imagine a life without that luxury. Yesterday water flowed into …