Wisconsin Homesteader

03/07/2025

Smells.

This morning as I was making breakfast for the kids, the smell of my coffee and the slightly overdone pancakes on the cast iron transported me back to summer mornings at Grandma’s house. Grandpa was always out working on a project and then would come inside where Grandma always made us the best breakfasts. I remember telling her she should open a bed and breakfast at the house because her cooking was so good and the house was so beautiful. I can still see myself sitting in the kitchen, eating breakfast while watching tv on their little kitchen tv, windows open and the summer morning sunlight pouring in. After breakfast the day was wide open to explore the farm, play upstairs, make play houses in the milk house, or swim in the pond. Those were special days and I will cherish them forever. It’s what inspired me to live this way for my own children. How lucky I was to experience it!

Are there smells that take you back to another place and time?

01/06/2025

Sometimes as I’m traveling about, I’ll notice a brilliant mature lilac bush blooming amongst overgrown shrubbery. Sometimes, I’ll notice the lonely grove of apple trees blooming along a ridge. Other times, it’s an army of daffodils that I see, standing tall and bright isolated in a hay field. Or, it might be a patch of rhubarb growing strong in a clearing hidden in the woods.

Have you ever thought about these things? I contemplate it deeply. Each plant was once placed there by rough dirty hands, more than likely on a small farm, long ago. Each were planted with the intention of making their home more beautiful or providing food for their home. More than likely, the hands that planted them are no longer around. But, a part of their story lives on leaving a mark on today’s generation.

I thought about that as I dug in the dirt next to our porch preparing a hole for the lilac that Danny had so kindly given to me. He knew I’d been wanting one, and was so sweet to surprise me with it.

And with my rough dirty hands on my own little farm, I planted my own future piece of history with the intention to make my home more beautiful too. I wonder if someone will wonder about me when they see it long after I’m gone.

21/05/2025

“We are all merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing. We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it. And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in you.”

Psalm 39 is one of my favorites, and one I find myself meditating on throughout the day often. I meditate on it in the moments of pure joy as I sit on the porch surrounded by flowers, sipping coffee, my baby in my arms and the other children running through the yard. In the moments of reflection while I hang the many clothes on the line to dry. In the moments of frustration as I hurry the children into the car and out the door. The words of this psalm echo in my mind: “My entire lifetime is just a moment to you: at best, each of us is but a breath.”

So often I find myself rushing. Rushing through the day- but where am I rushing to? Most of the time a few minutes won’t make a difference anyway…so why am I always in such a busy hustle to get the most done I can? And better yet- what am I missing when I rush around mindlessly trying to accomplish another thing?

We have opportunities to see God here in the ordinary. To allow the moments of His goodness to soak in and settle. We just need to stop, seek, and we will find the extraordinary within the routine of life.

My prayers over the last few weeks have been to slow down in this busy season of spring. To not be so rushed that I miss out on the meaningful and beautiful reality that is given daily by our Lord. To enjoy the beautiful everyday moments of being a wife and mother of five on this little farm on this wonderful piece of Earth. What a bittersweet gift it is to recognize our impermanence here!

What do you do in your lives that help ground you to what is good and true in your seasons of business?

13/05/2025

These muffins are moist, tart-but-sweet, and are such a delicious treat to add to your family’s menu!

What you’ll need to make the muffins:

1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup melted butter
2 cups chopped rhubarb
1 1/2 cups flour

There’s also a to-die-for crumble topping that goes on these old-fashioned rhubarb muffins. For that, you’ll need:

1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup brown sugar

These absolutely delicious old-fashioned rhubarb muffins are moist, tart-but-sweet, and are such a delicious treat to make!

13/05/2025

Spring.

My heart swells thinking about how beautiful this place is in the spring. And all year, really. But, spring- it’s fresh, new, alive. The birdsong returns to the morning. Clothes are blowing on the clothesline to dry. Wildflowers are popping up throughout the woods, with bright and happy colors. Baby animals are beginning their lives here on Earth. There is a warmth on the breeze that blows throughout the day, reminding us that summer lies ahead.

Such a beautiful time of year. Here are some shots of what it looks like through my eyes.

02/05/2025

“For as the earth bursts with spring wildflowers, and as a garden cascades with blossoms, So the Master, God, brings righteousness into full bloom and puts praise on display before the nations.”

Isaiah 61:11

22/04/2025

It's all about perspective.

This here is a w**d. It's full of w**d seeds, ready to spread throughout the field. It's a problem, a burden, trouble. I can walk past this w**d, think about how awful it is, think about all of the work it will cause me, allow it to draw bitterness into my day and cloud up my ability to see it differently. If my mindset is focused on the bad, that is all I will see.

But as I walked through the field last night, it wasn't a w**d that I saw. Instead, I saw its beauty as it glowed in the evening sunlight. With a heart that was already overflowing with gratitude to the Lord for the day, my family, and for my life, I saw a beautiful piece of nature, sun beams radiating on the soft seeds as they trembled in the spring breeze. I saw the handiwork of the Lord's hands. My mind was focused on the light and the darkness could not overcome it.

There is so much darkness in this fallen world. And if we focus on it, that's all we will see. But if we give ourselves the opportunity to look through things with the lens of gratitude and thanksgiving to the creator of it all, we might be surprised at where we can find beauty.