Friends, a week away in the forests of the North Carolina mountains has been a balm for my mental health. Well, that and the fact that I’m two steps away from securing a position that I will not only enjoy and be good at, but that will help secure my family’s financial stability and longtermContinue reading “Finding Healing and Fall Harvest Salad, Pumpernickel Bread, and Big Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie”
Tag Archives: family story
The Job Search is Broken
A few months ago, when I last updated, I dropped how I’d lost my long-time (what I thought was my) forever job in a surprising flash into a post about how Charles had gone missing. Those two events overlapped, causing me to be in a Not Very Good Place for a few weeks. Charles returnedContinue reading “The Job Search is Broken”
Cooking in my new Cozy, Cluttered Kitchen: Zucchini-Asparagus Fritters with Pesto Yogurt Sauce
To update everyone from my last post, Charles–our beloved kitty–found his way home. YAY!! After a week of prayers and me bushwhacking through dense forest, he wound up at our sliding glass door at 11:30pm one evening, meowing frantically to be let inside. He didn’t leave my side or let me leave his sight forContinue reading “Cooking in my new Cozy, Cluttered Kitchen: Zucchini-Asparagus Fritters with Pesto Yogurt Sauce”
Bittersweet Updates: New Homestead but Lost Things
So much has happened and is happening since my last update about maple syrup there is no reasonable way to include it all in this post. I have had very good reasons for not being able to update that I will gloss over by simply saying we had to finish all of our projects onContinue reading “Bittersweet Updates: New Homestead but Lost Things”
It’s Tree Tapping Season! A Quick Guide to Homemade Pure Maple Syrup
Syrup season heralds spring. It’s the first early spring food, a sweet reward for making it through another cold and gray winter, arriving with those first bursts of 50 degree, sunny days, just when the forest feels like it’s coming back to life. Sap flows when it’s freezing at night, forcing the tree to take in more water and nutrients from the ground and then around 45-50 degrees during the day. It needs to be just warm enough to unfreeze those nutrients on the inside of the tree, but not so warm that the tree starts to bud, generally speaking at least 42 degrees. Here in Indiana, as a result, the season lenth varies greatly each year–sometimes giving us a heady month, and others, just a few short days.
Dear White Church: A Love Letter to the Forest Behind our Homestead
We bought our home 11 years ago because it was pretty much all we could afford. We were young and had few resources but big dreams. We had lived in my parents’ home for 3 years. Chloe, our daughter, slept in her own room. Liam, our baby son, slept in a co-sleeper he’d long outgrownContinue reading “Dear White Church: A Love Letter to the Forest Behind our Homestead”
Finding the Home in Homestead
Oh hi there. *sheepish wave*. So, yes, it’s been 9 months since I last updated the blog. In my defense, I got the kids through their homeschool year in the middle of a global pandemic, dealt with the uncertainty of (yet another) year as contingent faculty (“will I have a job or won’t I?”) whileContinue reading “Finding the Home in Homestead”
Plumbing Disasters but Camping Miracles
What a week it has been, friends. As I stated in last week’s Garden Update post, last Monday we had septic tank issues. After we paid a premium to have someone come out that same day AND paid to have the pipe that runs between the septic tank and our house jetted and cleared, weContinue reading “Plumbing Disasters but Camping Miracles”
Garden Updates: The First Half of June
Good morning and happy Monday, friends! It’s been a bit of a day here at the Homestead–our septic tank is backing up because, in all the recent goings-on in the nation and world, we neglected to make our pumping appointment. In addition, poor Liam has a nasty bug bite that has caused a swollen lymphContinue reading “Garden Updates: The First Half of June”
The World is Hurting and I Can’t Not Write About It
As I write this, my two amazing children are engaged in a Kids Baking Show-style challenge. Their assignment? Bake 6 cake donuts with a glaze and a topping. This is the second challenge in a series. Last week they made ultimate brownies. In 20 minutes, my timer will chime and it will be time toContinue reading “The World is Hurting and I Can’t Not Write About It”
Hull Family Homestead 