I need to hit the rewind button to address that question— Twenty years ago in Missouri, I was surrounded by a genuinely kind friend group who pointed me to approaching food in a new way. During that period, I considered myself a healthy adult, a mother of three, diligently ensuring everyone ate well—sneaking in as many vegetables as possible—and maintaining a tidy home. In the early years of parenting, I faced challenges with asthma and frequent allergic reactions. An allergi

As a firstborn, with tendencies towards tenacity, just-do-it-ed-ness, and people-pleasing, I love these two little words... good work We are all called to some kind of work: in the home, out of the home, in our families, with our friends, in our communities, in an office, in the quiet hours of a night shift, or in the bright hours of a day job that keeps you outside no matter the weather. My thoughts are not meant to be a megaphone-shouting match to tell anybody what their ca

Sad and good and hard and productive day here on the homestead... As we anticipated, it is possible to lose baby chicks and indeed we did today. This little chicken nugget was one of our mystery birds and never quite got the hang of drinking and eating. We tried to help, but it was very weak and slipped away this morning after a last-ditch effort to revive it. We buried it in our homestead cemetery with our feral cat, Finnbogi and the Bina bees. However, homestead life goes o

Not much to say about this other than it is just a part of our fall routine... Join us as we get our garlic planted (in super-speedy fashion) for next year! Our garlic is from Keene Garlic . Great products with great resources for anyone who wants to grow beautiful garlic!

“Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food.” — Hippocrates “A sad soul can be just as lethal as a germ.” — John Steinbeck...

Today is the day! Peter met a fellow beekeeper in the Northern Virginia area, and through sharing our story of our homestead and new...

We have another new critter on the farm, Black Soldier Flies (BSFs). Our goal is to create food for the chickens we plan to get next...

Japanese beetles love our gardens and orchard. They have made quick, destructive work of our apple trees, beans and zinnias...apparently...

Did you know that if you are a novice beekeeper descending the slick, wood-floor stairs in your stocking feet, carrying a recently...

The Gerards wanted a little social media time this morning when I was feeding them, so they wiggled to the top of the bin and had a...

Not the weekend we planned for, but we made the best of it. What we had in mind was a weekend with friends, what happened was rough...

We cleaned up what we could last night with an army of angry bees reminding us that what happened is not okay. Crime scene investigation...

Waiting for my sweet Peter to get here so we can survey the damage up close and try to put some semblance of our two hives back together....

A rainy-ish Saturday is a good reminder of how much our watering gig here at the homestead has changed for the coming growing season....

Bees! Peter made sure our newest bee family, Sting, was settled in this morning. What a privilege to care for these awesome winged...

Hive #2 is here! Meet our newest bee family, " Sting ," like Bilbo's elven short-sword and/or (depending on the mood of the day) the lead...

Bee check complete! Alright, so this is intense stuff...I am glad Peter was here for this hive check. We made sure the colony was doing...

Successful bee transfer to our homestead! Peter reports no bees or apiarists were harmed in the process. This family of bees will be named Bina (pronounced bee-nah), which is Swedish for bees. I think some of the other names from the idea box will be kept for future bee families that come to stay! Welcome to the homestead! May you enjoy the pollinating flora and turn that into delicious honey.

Tomorrow morning, Peter, is going to pick up our first package of bees...that meant today was our last chance to prep! Also, please help...