Howdy, friends! What fun I have been having in my homestead kitchen since resuming my whole food plant-based vegan lifestyle. Have you ever gone back to something good after a hiatus and it is so natural that it feels like you never left? That's just how it seems as my vegan journey continues and I am so thankful that it has been easy-peasy for me to get back into my plant-based ways. Since I ..read more

Something new is brewing within me. A joy, a freedom, an excitement, an authenticity that I am not sure I have felt before. I can't wait to tell you about it! {smile} I listen to a lot of sermons and teachings, I read a lot of books, and I tend to view myself as an ongoing work-in-progress. I like to be teachable and flexible. To make changes in my life when necessary. And I am learning to ..read more

:: from this week's snowshoe walkabout around the homestead :: Shalom! We are cuddled near the fire on this blustery day at our place... outdoors, the wind is howling and the snow is blowing about, piling into drifts here and there. Our barnyard critters are well-stocked with extra hay in their cozy shelters and the older boys carried buckets of hot water to them this morning. Brrr! This week ..read more

And the three-month-long flurry of regular birthdays and holidays to celebrate has come to its lovely end at our place this week with our thirtieth wedding anniversary on Monday and my fiftieth birthday yesterday! Whew... all of the love and goodness and attention I have received these past few days makes me feel like a cherished queen. So grateful I am. What a week! My fiftieth birthday was ..read more

What an unusually warm weekend it was, for January. Rather springlike, actually, with patchy drifts of snow and a bit of mud about the barnyard. We spent part of Saturday in the back pasture, checking the fence and basking in the sunshine. One of the girls found this beautiful rock filled with sparkly white crystals as the kids explored the wide open space that is dotted with many lovely ..read more

"Mama, that's your buck!" was the happy announcement made by one of my boys as we paused from our homestead walkabout to view a herd of mule deer that had meandered across our back pasture and grazed in the field next to our property... Oh my, it was the buck I watched last spring and summer! He is easily recognizable by his 3 x 4 point antlers and his split ear. The joy! I raised my ..read more

One of the ways I am putting into practice my focus word for the year :: present :: is by sorting through the cards and papers and pictures and keepsakes I have collected through the years. . . I did the same thing a couple of years ago, and donated or gifted or discarded quite a bit of "stuff" and hand-me-downs and items that I have never missed. In fact, it has been so lovely to have in our ..read more

A new year, a fresh start... and a back-to-normal day it is for us as my dear hubby returned to work after a long-and-lovely stretch of days off that flew by all too quickly, and the rest of us resumed our usual rhythm of school and our ordinary tasks and routines. I am just back inside after a short afternoon walkabout with my youngest daughter and Jack. Jack sniffed and bounded in the snow ..read more

End-of-the-month (and year!) greetings from our happy gentle homestead to you, friends. It is a frigid day at our place - only 5 degrees (F) when we first checked the outdoor thermometer this morning - and the sky is a clear icy blue and the ground is white with snow for as far as I can see. We have been watching a large herd of elk on the hillside across the way this week. It was snowing when I ..read more

What a thrill to open the blinds on Christmas morning and discover a fresh skiff of snow upon the barnyard! A white Christmas we had on our homestead, as we had hoped. {smile} After we enjoyed our breakfast of homemade cinnamon rolls and opened our gifts, one of my girls and I headed outdoors to take our critters their Christmas apples. Jack "helped" me give apple slices to our goats ..read more