A walk down memory lane…

A few days ago, I went up to the attic and pulled out two reindeer to sit on our table. The table is sitting in the middle of the kitchen right now (not its normal spot). Somehow, I didn’t plan too well and we had all 22 of our windows replaced a week ago. Every [...]

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Here’s to longer days and the light of hope. . .

I have been feeling the weight of the short days and dark nights. Wrapping up our first whole year as farmers has been interesting. Intense moments of extreme frustration and system failures combined with those moments I live for, at the farmers market when a mother with her three children approaches our table and thanks [...]

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‘Tis the season

Even in a non-religious household like mine, it’s important to remember the religious, cultural and spiritual underpinnings of this most dear of holiday seasons.  Forgotten in modern consumer focused holidays, is that Christmas is a season and not just a day. We tend to think of Christmas as happening on December 24 and 25th, and [...]

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The Ethics of Honey

Here in the Southwest, winter mostly comes at night due to our diurnal climate. It isn’t unusual to be wearing a t-shirt during the day and a coat and thermals when the sun goes down. We’ve had a couple of light freezes but the trees (well, the ones that didn’t expire from lack of rain) [...]

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Shaving Cream Painting

Recently one of our autumn projects was to make these nifty painted leaves. I found this awesome tutorial via Pinterest, created by Little Wonder Days. We had all of the items available in and around our house and it was completely doable for a 7 year old with minimal guidance, and easy enough for preschool [...]

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Honey Cinnamon Frozen Custard

Here in the Midwest we’ve had a late blast of summer weather bringing with it Indian summer. We should be thinking of a sweater to fight off the chill, and instead we’re spending days on the beach and keeping our windows wide open. It’s been absolutely gorgeous, in a bright yellow and warm orange kind [...]

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Sun Flowers

The Solstice is a year-marker. The longest day, the shortest night; the day when the god believes in his supremacy and his triumph over the world. He shines high and strong and hot and proclaims the summer. The Sun flowers are primary- daisy, petunia, primrose, tickweed. But though the god sleeps through the winter, the [...]

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March Planner

So many of us are working our way toward a more self-sufficient lifestyle. With that in mind we here at NDiN wanted to share some general guidelines of what to plan for on a monthly basis. Whether you’re a gardener, a beekeeper, a forager, or you keep animals, hopefully our monthly guides will help you plan [...]

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Wood Heat my “Ahhhh” of Winter

There is nothing in my whole house that makes me go “ahhhhh” like standing in front of our woodstove and a frosty winter’s morning. At any given time all winter long you are likely to find at least one person warming their backside by this great heat source. Living in the Northwest makes heating with [...]

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Moving On to Fall/Winter Vegetables

I’m just about finished with the tomatoes in the gardens at Chiot’s Run, the ones that remain are a mere shadow of their sun-ripened summer selves. They’re not as flavorful and just don’t satisfy the way a tomato warm from the sun does. So I’m saying “Goodbye” to the fresj tomato until next summer, most [...]

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