HOME Sweet Homestead

The last couple of weeks have been filled with organization, particularly in our shop! 

Tools have been organized...

 

 toys have been organized...

 and wires have been organized. 

With that organization, we now have electricity in the shop! 

Bryan worked so hard and diligently to make this happen. We have LIGHTS and we can use power tools without running a very long extension cord from the house to the shop.

 Inside the house, I have been adding a few things to the walls. 

(This is actually wrapping paper, but I think it is very beautiful art.)

 I also spotted a simply, splendid chair the other day at a local consignment store. 

It's now in our living room and I absolutely adore it.

from the {Little Barn Kitchen}

a peek at what I've been cooking and we've been eating/drinking...

{Drinks}

hot hibiscus tea with a bit of our own honey

{Main Meals}
(local) spagehetti squash, (local) spinach, brussels sprouts,
 green pepper, (local) garlic, onions, (local) bacon, over easy egg, and siracha

 

(local) lamb meatballs, (local) sweet potato, and peas

chicken vegetable soup made using broth and chicken from one of our spent hens, potatoes, carrots, (local) kale, green beans, corn, (local) garlic, onion, peas, rosemary, thyme, and basil

 

crunchy corn tacos filled with (local) shredded pork, (local) lettuce and sheep's milk cheese, 

black beans, and homemade salsa 

 

bratwurst, brussels sprouts, and pear risotto

 

{Sweets} 

gluten free donut muffins 

(I use coconut milk instead of cow's milk in this recipe.)

First Day of Spring 2015

It's officially Spring! 

Today we celebrated (after our morning at Co-op) by...

picking daffodils

  

creating art with Spring stamps

 reading (only a few) books from our Spring collection

 helping the birds create colorful nests

 filling our bird feeders

watering our seedlings

 

and preparing our porch for lots of time spent outdoors

 

 Happy First Day of Spring!

{Gratitude} Lately

Lately I've been grateful for...

light streaming in the barn and the fact that we even have a barn

rainy afternoons watching little boys play with play dough, 

sipping tea, and reading a good book

more sledding adventures

a day full of goodness and a trunk to prove it

a thrifted basket full of sidewalk chalk and drawings on the driveway

and the absolute miracle of seeds

A Tooth Celebration

Last night, Seth lost his first tooth!

 So today we celebrated...

 We added some tooth activities to our day.

  

And every (first) tooth lost in our family gets a "tooth" cake. 

 Silas is only three and he's already looking forward to losing his first tooth.

Mushrooms!!!

Yesterday we spent a lovely day at Rough Draft Farmstead. While we were there, we learned how to inoculate Shiitake mushroom logs. We drilled, plugged, and wax coated 50 logs. We also ate delicious food, enjoyed conversations about farming, and left with three of our own logs.

 If all goes well, in October, we'll have our own shiitake mushrooms to add to our dinner plates.

HOME Sweet Homestead

This last month, we've been working hard to prepare for Spring 

which is officially just a few days away (yay!).

We bought some BIG shelves at the ReStore for the shop and we assembled them.

 Bryan built himself a work bench...

  

(Notice the foot-deep snow outside. That didn't stop us from working.)

 and a chicken tractor (for our meat birds)

  

(I will take a better photo of the workbench, but you can kind of see it below.)

 Our second set of bee boxes arrived and Bryan assembled them. I still have to paint them.

 All of our seeds arrived for the garden, and we set up a makeshift greenhouse in our solarium for the seeds that needed to be started. I am just giddy from this set up. It has become just what I pictured when we were touring our house and homestead last year.

We still have raised beds to set up, blueberry bushes to pot, muscadine vines to plant, and build an egg mobile for the chicks that will arrive in a couple of weeks. And as I type this, Bryan is wiring the shop so that it will have electricity within the next few days. It is hustling and bustling at the homestead and I just love it.

from the {Little Barn Kitchen}

a peek at what I've been cooking and we've been eating/drinking...

 {Drinks}

Coffee (for him), freshly ground and brewed by Bryan each morning

 Kale, swiss chard, oranges, apples, kiwi, ginger, and carrots turned into

 

juice

{Main Meals}

homemade gluten free pizza with sheep's milk cheese and pepperoni

(I used Bob's Red Mill for the crust.)

 

(local) pork, cabbage, broccoli, (homegrown and canned) hot peppers, and gluten free teriyaki sauce served on white rice

grass-fed jalapeno beef burger, mashed potatoes made with coconut milk, and broccoli leaves
(If you don't eat broccoli leaves, you're missing out.)

 
(local) pulled pork, spinach, and goat pimento cheese on homemade gluten free bread,
Kettle potato chips, and strawberries

{Snacks}
grapefruit with a spoonful of broiled, brown sugar on top