Simple Farmhouse Life

I’m thrilled to be chatting with another good friend on today’s podcast episode, Kate of Venison for Dinner.  You all likely know her from her homesteading, cheesemaking, homemaking content, and in this conversation, we are answering some of your most common questions about making dairy products at home.  Plus, we pull back the curtain on both of our content creation businesses and offer encourage...

Mother of ten, blogger, author, and one of my real life friends, Abbie from M is for Mama, is back on the podcast chatting with me about being an intentional mother in an increasingly frantic culture.  As mothers, there are so many negative messages coming at us from all directions highlighting the burdens of motherhood without offering us hope or direction.  Abbie’s countercultural message of emb...

In the last decade since I was a young mother, the pace of motherhood has changed so much.  Even for mothers who stay home full-time with their children, there are endless opportunities and distractions available to us through our digital devices.  When Sarah realized she was running on the hamster wheel of busyness and distraction, she knew she wanted to make a change.  Through her own pursuit of...

For many of us, it is the time of year where our gardens are producing in abundance.  All of our hard work in the garden is starting to pay off, and we don’t want to let any of that hard work go to waste.  Knowing how best to preserve your produce is just as important as knowing how to grow it. Melissa K. Norris is a food preservation guru, and she is joining us to dive into the various methods of...

Every parent wants to do what is best for their children, but technology use can be a tricky issue to navigate!  Early in her motherhood, Molly welcomed technology into her kids’ lives, but quickly realized she needed to make a change.  Immediately, Molly saw drastic improvements in her children.  She now helps parents navigate this complex world of screen use by coaching families through a detox...

As I am anticipating the birth of our eighth child any day now, I sat down to answer some of your questions about how my pregnancy has been going, my plans for birth, and how we are preparing for baby number eight! In this episode, I’m answering: Will we have more kids after this? What were my previous births like? How am I planning for this home birth? Did we find out the gender this time? Has th...

Navigating the topic of screen time as a mom in today’s world can definitely be overwhelming.  Joy is a fellow mom of seven, and she has a passion for helping families put down the screens and enjoy the beauty of life outdoors through her nature study resources.  In our conversation, we address the feeling of overwhelm moms experience when outdoor time seems like just one more task to add to their...

You all have been asking me to bring Jessica on the podcast, and I know you won’t be disappointed in our conversation!  As a mother of eight and homesteader, Jessica is well-versed in many aspects of motherhood and homemaking.  We sat down to answer your questions about food preservation, minimizing food waste in your home, priorities and perspective in difficult seasons of motherhood, and more. ...

I heard Katie and her husband discussing this idea on their podcast, and I was intrigued by the thought that maybe a problem we face as homemakers is not that we don’t have enough time, but that we have too much of it.  In our conversation, Katie and I look at how modern conveniences save us time but have presented us with new challenges in terms of productivity and efficiency.  We hope this episo...

As much as I love sharing about homemaking and homesteading and family life, I also love talking about online business!  Being a business owner is a huge part of my life, and it is so fun to talk to fellow moms and business owners about how they are managing the many responsibilities of this way of life.  Gillian teaches women about building and managing profitable online businesses that don’t tak...

I hear from countless women who have a dream of starting a homestead and making it their full-time lifestyle.  Katie of Lost Oak Sheep Farm had the same dream, and she put her nose to the grindstone to make it a reality.  In our conversation, we talk through what it looked like for Katie to leave her full-time career as a teacher and begin her life as a stay-at-home homesteading mama raising sheep...

If you have seen the viral strawberries in a jar hack, then you know who Amy is!  A couple of years ago, Amy shared her best tip for keeping berries fresh in the fridge for three weeks, and she took the world by storm.  She has built her business on teaching families how to effectively store and use the groceries they bring into their homes, thus saving money and cutting down on food waste.  If yo...

Wouldn’t you love to have access to all of your grocery staples within a few steps of your kitchen?  This is what Jamerrill has spent the last several years working towards in her home, and she’s here to talk to us about her systems!  She shares what it looks like to start small when you are building up your long-term food storage.  We also discuss how this type of bulk buying and storage can bene...

Dena is perhaps best known on the internet for sharing about how she and her family self-built their home from scratch for only $70,000.  Dena has had extensive DIY, renovation, and design experience on a number of homes, and she is sharing her best tips with us today.  She shares lots of practicals, but we also dive into what it looks like to embrace your own definition of “dream home” and create...

The pressure is off!  If your homeschool days have become overrun with stress and pressure to do all things perfectly, this episode is for you.  My friend, Julie, has been homeschooling her large family for over a decade, and she loves helping moms free themselves from the pressures of homeschooling by embracing delight directed learning.  Not only does this approach free moms to thrive in homesch...

Homemaking is truly an art, which means each of us expresses our own personalities and interests and values in unique ways in our homes.  But one thing all homemakers share in common is the value they bring to their families.  In my conversation with RuthAnn, we dive into some of the whys and hows of homemaking.  If you are seeking encouragement and inspiration in your role as a homemaker, you don...

I’m so delighted to bring Sally back on the podcast to share her wisdom and encouragement for mothers in every stage.  We discuss Sally’s latest book, Tea Time Discipleship, all about the beauty of incorporating a tea time ritual into your life and home.  This simple daily routine creates endless opportunities for personal refreshment, family discipleship, and cultivation of friendships.  Join us...

In our modern world, it is easy to accept all of the latest conveniences and innovations that are offered to us.  At face value, they may seem to make our lives easier or better, but at what cost?  Jill Winger has been asking these kinds of critical questions for many years, and this questioning is the basis for her upcoming book on how many of the old-fashioned ways may actually be superior.  Our...

In the homesteading world, we place a lot of emphasis on sourcing food well and producing it at home when possible.  With all of the hard work we put into obtaining high quality food, we have to have a plan for what to do with it!  In today’s conversation, Becky shares about her process of preserving food using various methods: freezing, freeze drying, canning, etc.  She also shares some practical...

Many of us strive to live a more minimal lifestyle in order to simplify our homes and lower our stress, but minimalism can also be good for the world around us!  In this conversation, Stephanie and I discuss what it looks like to become more conscious consumers as we continually minimize our homes.  If you are on a minimalism journey of any kind, this episode will inspire you to contribute to a mo...

If you have a desire to begin sewing or improve your skills, you will love this conversation with Linda.  Not only has she been sewing almost her whole life, but she also owns a sewing business and teaches people all over the world to sew via her blog. We dive into the practicals of how to get started sewing, but also chat about why sewing is such a valuable skill to have, even in our modern world...

Many people discount themselves from growing a successful garden because they think they don’t have the time, space, money, or skill.  Carrie of The Little Pallet Farmhouse is here to break down all of our preconceived notions about gardening being unattainable due to these barriers.  The truth is that gardening can be simple, inexpensive, and successful, even for a beginner.  As many are gearing...

The task of educating our children about real food has never been more important than it is now, but it can feel like swimming upstream in a culture saturated with highly processed and denatured foods.  Thankfully, we have access to more information and resources than ever before to educate ourselves and our children on this foundational topic. My conversation with Liz of Homegrown Education dove...

Based on the questions I received on Instagram, you all are just as excited about this homebirth episode with Katelyn as I am!  No matter where you are on the spectrum of homebirth—curious about it, preparing for your first or second homebirth, or a veteran homebirth mama—this episode addresses all of it. We speak to the mom who is wondering if homebirth is possible for her, the mom preparing her...

Homeschooling goes far beyond choosing curriculum and planning field trips.  It is equally as important to establish a firm grasp on why we are homeschooling and what our homeschool philosophy is. I so enjoyed this conversation with Angela where we had a chance to get honest about the ups and downs of our homeschooling journeys.  We chatted about important mindset shifts we have had to embrace alo...