Life + Work

I shared this photo on Instagram and know many of you don’t have it so wanted to share here too. There are times when Dave and I think we can’t handle any more responsibility or time taken out of our day on things like gardening or pets but we decide to do it anyway so that we’re forced to go outside and work or pet something cute and just exhale. It can be lot at times but we’ve found it really brings us a lot of joy and it’s a bit of that “no pain no gain” thing kind of going on for us.  It was physically easier to accomplish our tasks without geese for the past year but harder too. We weren’t going outside as much as we had been for years and it felt like something was missing.  The gardens with all the weeding and harvesting… same deal.  I keep making more spaces to maintain that force me outside.  The other evening as I was watering new plants with a sink full of dirty dishes inside I was able to just exhale. | here’s a peek at our back porch where we do potting and vegetable collection and kids’ meals. Took this pic because I’d asked my 10 year old for a basketful of lettuce (basket available here) for our BLTs but he came back with this beautiful chard display instead thinking it was lettuce. 🥬  we went back out and picked together & had a little alone time and it reminded me again why we do it all.

We’ve been getting so much use out of our egg baskets these days… With covid we had to throw away our egg cartons to decontaminate and began using one of these babies in the fridge. Now that our hens are laying eggs I keep one with eggs in it on the counter (crazy you don’t have to refrigerate eggs unless the “bloom” has been washed off!) and one hangs in the mudroom for egg collection every morning but sometimes gets stolen for the garden

I’ve been loading products onto the shop for hours on end this weekend and am BEYOND excited about them and wanted to share a few special ones.  We recently partnered with my good friend and photographer, Helen Norman, and here husband and son- Mark & Peter- to carry products they’ve made at their farm, Starbright Farm.  Above is a photo of the waxed cotton Starbright Farm garden apron we now carry and it’s so awesome!!! It has the cutest little leather “holster” for your shears.  Helen gave me one and I’ve been loving it! There’s a pouch made specifically for a cell phone, which I love because I often have my phone out in the garden with me so I can take pictures. 🙂  Helen and Mark have been opening up their property on the weekends for those who don’t have green space to hang out on.  People are staying apart but can go hang on a picnic blanket together to get some time in nature.

We’ve added a new section to our shop- the apothecary– and I am SO excited to be sharing one of my passions with you- herbs and tinctures!!

I’ve mentioned this before but when I was in high school I used to sell herbal concoctions that I’d make as a side business.  I’d go out and find herbs or buy them and make teas, lip balms, lotions, face spritzers etc. out of them.  (My lip balm was always a big hit at school lol)  .. I would spend hours researching herbs and foraging.  In college I opened up a company called “Mystickal Dreams” (cannot say it with a straight face!!!) with my best friend Erin and we sold handmade clothing we would stay up all night to sew, beaded jewelry and handmade pillows stuffed with herbs and made oils and sold them.  I’ve always dreamed of having a shop like the one in the movie “Practical Magic”-

I’m adding to our new apothecary shop daily and cannot wait to open the physical version of it soon in Great Falls!! It sounds so cheesy but I truly feel like life feels better when I’m taking care of myself and bringing herbs into my life on a regular basis.  Herbs and plants have long been a passion of mine and in recent years I just haven’t had the time to devote to it that I used to (back when I was making my own field guided lol) so it’s really amazing feeling to be getting back into it.

I’m obsessed with Starbright Farm’s hydrosols and am so honored to be carrying them in the shop!! I’ve been having fun creating the product listings and am filling with them with old herbal lore and legends because I’ve always loved reading about the history of what people used to believe about the plants and things around them. To read the product listing go here.

Love matches our yellow roses!!

We carry our aged terracotta pots in 4 sizes (available in our garden shop here)  and I looooove how old and textural they feel!!

Our plants have been growing and so have our goslings!!

It’s been really satisfying to be using our own products around the house and yard!!  I’ve just been loving creating little vignettes and meals to photograph and add to our product listings.  I start by taking photo like the one below and them my goal is to eventually photograph almost everything in use to share ideas, tell stories and to hopefully  inspire people to do their own cool things with the products and take their own spin on them.

I’ve got a very disgruntled two year old here who just declared to her brother, “I’m not a master, I’m a BABY!” so I’m off for the day but hope you have a good one!! Thanks for coming along with me on this new adventure!!