We're homesteaders, we're not quite self sufficient. As homesteaders we have a relatively low grocery bill, here's how we do it, 8 simple ways to cut grocery costs on the homestead. Meal planning When you go to the grocery store, you need to go in with a plan. Don't go to stock your shelves with impulse purchases, you probably don't actually need another box of pasta to ...
Favorite Packaging Supplies for our Farm Stand
I knew when we started our farm stand that packaging was something I really wanted to focus on. I know I'm way more likely to buy a product, and probably even share a product on social media if the packaging is cute. Plus, it makes my job of advertising our products online so much easier when I have cute products to sell. Our farm stand currently sells produce, eggs, our famous ...
What we learned from our farm stand’s first year
This was our first year with a farm stand and we learned so much. Our farm stand sold eggs, produce, cookies, and bread. Here's what we learned and how we're taking that knowledge to tweak some things and have a successful season this year. Which products sell the best at a farm stand We had success selling eggs, we would be sold out incredibly fast. Some days there was a ...
Homestead french toast recipe
Homestead french toast recipe Growing up french toast was a recipe we would wing, milk, eggs, a splash of vanilla and call it a day. When I had my first apartment with the teeny tiniest kitchen ever I was so ambitious, I was always cooking and baking complicated meals. Even though we didn't even have a full size oven, no counter space and the only table we had was a little ...
Homemade chocolate syrup for homemade chocolate milk
Homemade chocolate syrup for homemade chocolate milk It isn't morning if my toddlers don't have a chocolate milk in their hand. They call it their "coffee" and I have no idea where they got the whole idea of needing coffee to survive in the morning, definitely, 1000% not from their mother. It was definitely from me. Ingredients in store bought chocolate milk are more than ...
Funeral Potatoes using real potatoes
If you're from the Midwest you probably know and love funeral potatoes. They're a staple at every church potluck and family gathering. They probably got their name from, well, appearing at every Midwest funeral ever. Most funeral potatoes recipes' make these with frozen potatoes, but it makes it impossible to mix, it takes forever to bake, and you're using frozen potatoes ...
Homeschooling on a homestead schedule
Homeschooling on a homestead schedule. Homeschooling and homesteading is kind of like choosing to do life on hard difficulty, our schedule is always swamped. So how do we fit homeschooling into our homesteading schedule? Homeschooling on a homestead schedule It's important to remember that homeschooling doesn't have to match a public school schedule. Formal homeschooling ...
4 Simple ways to make extra income for the homestead online
We're farming in the age of the internet, we don't just have to make our money on roadside stands (we do have one though!) and locally. We can make some supplemental income online too. As a stay-at-home farm mom it definitely helps to have extra income, even if it's just to feel a little less guilty when getting a coffee at the drive-thru or to buy little essentials like new ...
Heat wave on the farm
We've had a summer of mostly cool temperatures. So imagine it being almost September, a Monday of course and dealing with a heat wave on the farm. Heat waves are hard to deal with, but today has been extra. It's always constantly checking to see if the livestock is staying cool and that their waters are full. Hosing off hot pigs, pigs love getting hosed off with hot water, ...
How to Quick Pickle Pickles
How to quick pickle pickles It's that time of the year in our garden, we're drowning in pickling cucumbers and we don't always have time to can them. I'm also obsessed with watching cooking competitions, and chefs are always quick pickling. So I started quick pickling our pickles, and it's actually pretty awesome. My pickle obsessed family loves having pickles on hand in the ...
When a food blogger opens a farm stand
I have been thinking a lot about career paths, and how they typically stray far from that path you started in school. I have a 12 year old that we homeschool who is putting a lot of pressure on herself to find a career path, and I keep telling her to maybe find a hobby instead. She's 12, I'm almost 34 and I barely know what I want to do when I grow up. I'm also teaching a class ...