Stone Hill Homestead

It was never about the food. A garden holds its own romance but in the end, the animals won out. Half of my original garden space now belongs Cookie Dough and Oreo for their winter quarters. The other half is presided over by Freckles and Wilma who magnanimously allow Aggie,…

Your three year old will not always draw little whales and birds on his bed sheets. He will graduate to dragons and creatures of the dinosaur age. Then he will begin artwork for his own fantasy novel that he spends his teenage years writing.  Tonight he says, “And I have…

I spent two hours on the phone Monday with my mom. I asked her, how do you know when  something is a non-negotiable you need to factor into a decision making process, or when that thing is something you just give up to the Lord with open hands? How does…

A rambling record of the dehorning process for my own benefit—don’t read it if you’re tender of stomach. It involves some blood. You were warned. They had to go. I liked the picturesque idea of a cow with horns. But the reality was shaping up to be not-so-picturesque. It’s not…

So much happy has been happening in our lives and on the farm lately that it’s time to start writing it down. The kids are growing up. There are more animals on the farm. The flowers have only stopped blooming for winter. There have always been flowers and always shall…

They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder. There is truth to this statement. Dru is in Manitoba for a weekend of meetings at a youth camp. I miss him. I think about him more because he’s gone. I can only just barely be okay with it. Because I…

I took a walk around my yard yesterday in spite of the rain. I discovered that I missed the bloodroot blooming but found the Jack-in-the-pulpit before I stepped on it. I was able to identify the juneberry bush so that it doesn’t get cut down when we do our brush…

Havilah is my partner in crime on this homesteading journey. Give us a few years and the two of us will be a formidable force. We’ve got dreams and ideas already! Jube was ready for the school break and turning into a good help around the house and homestead. He…

I went out the door last week in the midst of that polar vortex and told myself I was so glad I didn’t have any dairy animals. The cold was bitter. Dru had three days of school off. We hunkered down and enjoyed the comforts and diversions available to us.…