Pungent cat urine. Strong dog smell. Dirty socks. Musty. Tuna fish. Overwhelming synthetic fragrance. Smells that smacked me in the face as the door swung open and jolly loving people welcomed me into their homes. As I gasped for air smiling with all of my gusto. I wish that these words did not summarize some of my experiences in other people’s homes. But the smell of people’s homes can assault. And I just have to note that these people were entirely gracious and in some cases were trying their best. Which moves me to teach more on homemaking since so many women just did not receive adequate training in this…

Ladies, Commonly, new homemakers do not know what to do daily. Some may do too much exhausting themselves and their family trying to mimic the pace of the rat race thinking this is what makes them good at homemaking. Others may feel bored because they truly do not know how to fill their time, and others may actually be lazy but not even realize they are not doing enough. Aside from obvious things like dishes after a meal, being home can feel like one empty desert of time. Some people overfill this time and some people underfill this time. Don’t feel bad if you’re a new homemaker but you are…

Our culture does not often admit others “should” do something. We like a loosey goosey take on everything. We do not want to draw hard lines but it’s sometimes at the cost of not being helpful. Go into any job and there is a job description to fulfill. The same is for homemaking. While you can homemake in a variety of ways, such as tailoring your work to the household’s preferences, you still need to meet certain needs of a household. This is not negotiable. If I were to tell a woman she can be a homemaker but not fulfill the duties of a homemaker, she would not be learning…

Ladies, Your work at home is a job. The home job is serious work too. But this work is different from jobs outside of the home in that many people see a woman working in her home as not “working”. A home is a place of rest and leisure yes, but it is also a place we must manage and preen. It is both to be enjoyed and languished in and also scrubbed and fixed by a diligent worker. There are many rewards of full-time homemaking. I come and go as I please. I make my own schedule. I get to prioritize dinner time every day, so that it is…

Picture rolling vineyards and walk among the vines with me. Picture apple orchards and meander the rows harvesting. Imagine being barefoot in the garden to cut flowers for the table. Think about the scent of hay in the barn. There are so many different kinds of country properties from vineyards, to orchards, to livestock ranches, to a homestead. Many of us have a mix of many different types. Likewise, country fashion does not have just one look. Country fashion can mean a floral dress for the garden to horse back riding. It can be leggings and cozy sweaters with tall boots for walking a soggy field or mucking out a…

It can seem unwise to invite guests over or have get-togethers when money is tight. However, we have history replete with times of scarcity to give us ideas for how women offered hospitality with very little. There are specific types of gatherings that allow you to have guests over without spending much money. It is about the time of day you have the gathering in order to communicate that you will only be offering a simple treat not a full meal. It is also about the type of event you plan which will limit the kinds of food and drinks offered which saves money. Then there are old fashioned potluck…

Not all of us are born and raised in the country but we get there as fast as we can. If you, like me, spent years or decades of your life dreaming and trying to move to the country, you may have some solid ideas of what you want. Here are some things that I learned along the way that helped me to edit and curate the dream so that I could buy the right property….and I’m still shopping for it. But I have been renting in the countryside for some time now and have a lot of first hand experience on what to be aware of and the nuances…

There is a special beauty about Christmas in the countryside at my home. But Christmas everywhere else feels pretty stressful to me. Do you feel uneasy with society’s version of Christmas? I find pop Christmas music played in stores to be extremely unpleasant as well as the stress of shopping and crowds. Here are my 5 ways to create a peaceful Christ centered Christmas season and how you can too even if you don’t live in the country. 1) Shop online instead of big box stores or shop local small businesses. The hyper environment of big box stores with loud pop music, stuff overwhelm and unfriendly crowds can be stressful…