A good tote bag is so versatile and useful.  Sewing bag, book bag, beach bag, shopping bag, knitting bag; the possibilities are endless.  I wanted to create more handcrafted Christmas gifts this year and set out to sew up a couple of great totes for two dear friends of mine.  I found some lovely fabric and [...]

I got the bug to make my own cheese early this summer.  The more I move toward a more homemade life, the more reading I do and the more ideas I get.  I read the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle a while ago and was surprise to find a recipe for mozzarella.  What?  You can really [...]

I recently knitted mittens for myself but those became my “nice” mittens.  Knitted mittens are lovely but won’t hold up to the rigors of skiing, snowball throwing, and extreme cold so I decided I needed some really warm mittens for just those purposes. Several weeks ago I made my fleece cozy pants and had quite a bit of [...]

What on earth is kombucha? Up until a few months ago, I had no idea either.  Simply put, kombucha is a fizzy fermented tea drink and is full of probiotics and vitamins.  Fizzy and tangy, my husband and I both love to drink a cup of it everyday.  I don’t drink pop anymore and this [...]

Having sensitive skin limits my options as far as facial cleansers and lotions.  Many cleansers and lotions are chock full of chemical ingredients so I steer clear of long and complicated ingredient lists with words that I don’t recognize.  However, natural face cleansers can cost an arm and a leg, and I don’t find that [...]

Nothing beats fresh, homemade bread.  The smells that waft from the oven as it bakes are enough to make my stomach growl.  I learned how to make bread from my mom and even entered homemade bread as 4-H projects in the county fair. When I got married I made bread off and on but wasn’t [...]

I enjoy cleaning and making everything sparkle in my house.  However, I always disliked cleaning the bathroom not because of the actual cleaning part but because of the awful cleaners I thought I had to use to get the bathroom clean.  They would make me cough, irritate my nose, and give me a slight headache. [...]

I started avoiding store-bought lip balms several years ago because of the smell factor.  I didn’t like the medicinal, fake smell.  It smelled bad, tasted bad.  Then I started reading the labels of store-bought lip balms and discovered they were loaded with not-so-fantastic ingredients such as parabens, aluminum, and petrolatum (all of which can be [...]

This year I got 4 large boxes of apples from my mother-in-law who lives Up North.  There is a large apple orchard in town that allows anyone to pick apples for free and being the frugal person that I am, I jumped at the chance to get free apples to can and freeze.  I got [...]

My mama (aka MotherHen) is not only a wonderful mother, she is also my dear friend.  She taught me everything from how to sew, ride a horse, cook and bake and garden to the importance of a made bed and how to vaccum.  Not only has she raised five children and dealt with horses, chicken, [...]