Recently I had occasion to make a new batch of the seed starting mix I’ve been experimenting with. I’ll do a whole post on this very soon. But to be super brief, you basically just dump stuff together and mix, and I’ve found the easiest way to do this is to just lay a tarp out in…
Kids
{Reader Question} Can You Homestead with Kids?
I received a question the other day from reader Andrea about how to keep up with a “homesteader” type lifestyle when you have kids. I would love to know where you were in this journey when you had babies and how you were able to keep up with it. We currently live a similar life (gardens, chickens,…
Things I've Said In The Past Week
Hello darling readers, I just wanted to check in and let you know I’m calling a mulligan on this entire week. We will get back to our regularly scheduled programming on Monday. Until then, here’s a few actual things I’ve said this past week that will give you a sense of how I’ve been spending…
Permaculture Parenting
Note: this is a super long post, and much of it is personal story and observation stuff. If you want to just skip to the bottom for the take-away lessons on combining Permaculture with parenting, please feel free. For a while there my son and I were really butting heads. I’ve been at the end…
Best Chicken Breeds for Families with Kids
Nearly every backyard urban chicken keeper I know has kids. Part of that is probably my demographic (mid-thirties suburban mom in yoga pants – I’m a walking cliche) but I think part of it is that parents my age want their kids to see where food comes from in a way that maybe we didn’t,…
Relaxing Bed Time Bath Soak
Periodically, I have trouble sleeping. The reason for this is a certain three-year-old boy. I’ve vented about the challenges of having a hard sleeper before. My son’s sleep is better than it used to be, but on a typical day, he still wakes and gets out of bed two or three times between his bedtime…
Organizing Kids Toys: The Toy Closet Solution
If you have kids then you know how toys can multiply, especially over the holidays. Here’s how we solved the Kid Toy Madness issue our house. We took the vast majority of our kids toys and moved them into The Toy Closet. The Toy Closet didn’t start out as a toy closet. It started as the…
The Introvert's Christmas
Hi, I’m Nick. I’m an introvert, and I’m caught smack in the middle of my least favorite time of the year. No, I’m not the Grinch, I’m not a Scrooge. I’m just your average introvert, and I wish to hell that Christmas would just shut up. “Introvert” isn’t the same thing as shy or socially…
This Is An Absolutely True Timeline
It is Saturday December 7th. 47.80 degrees North, 122.37 degrees East. It is 22 degrees F outside temperature. This is an absolutely true timeline. 4:15 am I am awoken by Oliver standing in the bedroom door. This is the second time he’s been in tonight. He’s mumbling and twitching with the incoherence of the freshly…
Get A Shovel. This is Urban Homesteading.
Today I put about thirty pounds of pork belly into cure for bacon and pancetta, made a loaf of bread, mixed a bottle of homemade citrus cleaner, and buried one dead chicken. Get a shovel. This is urban homesteading. If you keep chickens, dead chickens are part of the deal. You get what you get…
Saying Goodbye to Bleary Eyed Exhaustion?
My son is almost three years old. A week ago he slept for 4.75 hours straight, from 8 pm until nearly 1 am. That was the lifetime record for maximum time slept in his own bed. He does not nap. He’s never napped in any consistent way. I was estimating with my husband a few…
The Agony and the Ecstasy of Gardening with Children
One My greenhouse had gotten away from me. Weeds were threadening to overtake the tomates. Slugs had overtaken the cucumbers and basil, both of which needed a replant. And so I embarked on a clean-up effort. Out came the mini handheld hoe and the red plastic mulch. Somewhere along the way I decided to redo…