Someday I’ll share a little more, but for now I’ll just say that there has been much sorrow, and slowly, gently, came much joy. And I’ve learned that I’m always closer to God when going through a storm. I grew up enough to truly embrace James 1:2-3: Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. But I haven’t grown up enough to think I’m done growing, and I hope I never do.

I had to let go of Homegrown Mom to have enough room in my heart and mind to fully tend to the needs of my family. As we started to work our way through the muck, I was amazed by the abundance of creativity and peaceful contentment that was overflowing from my heart towards my family and home. I can truly say that I have been a better mom and wife for letting all this go.

I am prayerfully considering taking this blog back up, but on HIS terms, not mine. I want to continue writing, occasionally, but I’ll be honest: I still want to save the most creative, most fun, brightest parts of me for my husband and kids. This season I’m in, it’s only going to last 10 more years at best. Writing will always be here. So this might just become a static page, an archive of sorts. I’m honestly not sure yet.

Either way, I’ll be keeping Homegrown Mom around because someday I will need this space to unleash all that is in my heart! Someday, I’ll share all the fun projects we’ve done, the lessons I’ve learned, the inspiration God has given me to keep going strong as a mom. Someday, I’ll have free time to share about doing those fun, educational things, but these days, I’m using that time to do them. Someday… might be my favorite word.

I’ve missed you all. I’ve still read every email, and every comment, though I might not have replied.

If you have a minute, check out what my beautiful daughter has been doing with herself.

Then, finish this sentence for me. “Someday I’ll…”

I am going to try this during the summer: Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day Looks delicious and easy! (ad)

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I thought I might just squeak by without anyone noticing, but that doesn’t feel honest. And while I doubt that the majority of you would even notice, I am thinking of the lone one or two that might be wondering, What the heck?

But my regular peeps probably aren’t surprised. (I can hear you now: “Oh honey, we saw this one coming. 30 Days in a row? Puh-lease!”)

The truth if it is, Homegrown Mom is an active, exciting, wonderful part of my life that feeds my creative spirit and is a big part of what I consider my ministry.

However, my first and foremost ministry is my family. I don’t always do the greatest job of balancing the two, and if I’m going to err, I try to err on the side of neglecting the blog as opposed to the other way around. And let me be clear, sometimes it is the other way around. I screw up both ways.

If you know me and love me, then you know I am not one of those supermom bloggers that can rise before dawn, work from home, homeschool my kids, run all the errands, attend all the activities, keep my house sparkling, and plop a loaf of homemade bread on the table at the end of the day, to boot.

And I am fine with this. I gave up that dream ages ago. (Though I still somehow manage to work it out on paper occasionally. What’s up with that?) What I’m not fine with is putting something out there and not following through. So, please buy into it when I say, in my own little flaky way, this is still a 30 day series.

Just not necessarily 30 Days in a row. Wink, wink.

Three things I’ve learned this month:

1. If I ever decide to do a series again, I shall make sure I have all the content written and posted and scheduled to go out before I announce the series. Ahem.

2. Accepting guests posts is a lot more work than I realized. Kudos to those of you who run group blogs. I. could. never. The email, the email… how do you do it?

3. I really, really love my readers. Someday, all of you are going to wake up and realize I am not a professional and I have no business doing this bloggy thing. Until that day comes, I am blissfully happy to have you all here humoring me. And yes, I realize blissfully happy is somewhat redundant. But sometimes the truth is.

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This is the next book on my wishlist: Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends
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Today’s Post is from Kristie

The ability to make yeast breads from scratch is a skill that I learned directly from my mother. I’ve often been thankful that she took the time to teach this art to her daughters.

And now, I have daughters of my own. At the ages of five and three, they love to help in the kitchen! And while it is sometimes more work for Mommy, there are so many great skills and lessons that are passed on while baking together.

Making cinnamon rolls involves a wide variety of cooking skills: stirring, kneading, using a rolling pin, and frosting. It is also an exercise in patience, as you must wait for the dough to rise. And as always, cooking is good practice for counting and measuring.

Even at their young ages, my daughters were able to help with nearly every step of the cinnamon-roll-making-process. We made a bit of a mess, but we had a lot of fun along the way!

Here’s the recipe that we used:

Combine 2 ½ cups flour, ½ cup sugar, 2 teaspoons salt,

2 packages yeast and ½ cup of melted butter. Mix well.

Then pour in 2 cups of hot tap water. Add 1 egg and beat for two minutes.

Add 3 additional cups of flour (in ½ cup increments) and stir well.

Knead in another 1 cup of flour

(or enough flour that the dough is easy to work with and not sticky.)

Place in a greased bowl and let the dough rise for 1 ½ hours.

Punch the dough down, and then let it rest for 15 minutes more.

Roll the dough out into a rectangular shape.

Cover with melted butter (about ½ a stick) and then sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

Roll up the dough.

Cut the dough every one inch.

(This was Mommy’s job! I find it works easiest to use a steak knife.)

Place in a greased pan.

Let the cinnamon rolls rise until doubled

(approximately 40 minutes.)

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Now it’s time for frosting!

Mix together:

2 tablespoons melted butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract

½ cup milk, and 2-3 cups powdered sugar

Continue mixing until the frosting is lump-free.

Add more powdered sugar as needed, until the frosting reaches the desired thickness.

Spread the frosting across the warm cinnamon rolls.

Now, it’s time to enjoy!

My daughters love to sample our finished project and were excited to share them with Daddy when he arrived home!

As you can see, it’s never too early to start baking with your daughters. I love knowing that I am passing this skill onto the next generation. Even more, I love the conversations that we have while working together!

Kristie has been married to her fantastic husband for nearly 9 years. Together, they have two delightfully energetic daughters. She is a full-time SAHM and a part-time children’s minister in Minnesota. Kristie records her thoughts on her blog, A Mom By Any Other Name and can be found on Twitter as @mnmommy.

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Today’s Post is from Angie

Technology can often be seen as the very antithesis of traditional homemaking. It can be easy to let technology take over our lives, as we may spend too much time on something like social media and then have to rush around at 6 pm trying to throw together a quick dinner. Not only does this take away from what we can accomplish in our household tasks, but it also teaches our children, through modeling, that this is acceptable.

Now, with all of that said, I will admit that I’m a big fan of technology. Over the past several years, this has become especially apparent to me as I have found that amongst many of my local friends, I am seen as being at the cutting edge of technology. (Mind you, this always amuses me to no end.) Because of my love of technology, I am here today to share the ways that you can use technology to your benefit (not just a “time waster”) while teaching your daughters to learn and improve on their domestic skills.

There’s an App for That

One thing that was surprising to me about having gadgets that use apps (such as the iPhone or iPad) was how many great apps there are to help with household tasks. If your daughter is techie or has her own device that uses apps, some of these can be a great way to show her how to organize a future household or just help with your own household. I also think that it’s a wonderful chance to model this organized behavior if you are using these types of apps yourself.

Some of my favorite apps (for the iPad and iPhone) for organizing household tasks include:

2Do – An electronic version of your to do list. This can, of course, include both home tasks and completely unrelated items.

52 Organizing Missions – An app that includes “52 Organizing Missions,” this app can help your daughter to get an overview of all of the major tasks that can sometimes be forgotten or just things that are normally done but can be streamlined. A great activity may be to tackle one of these tasks each week with your daughter. You will get help in the task, and she’ll learn more about household management.

Motivated Moms – This app is based on the popular Motivated Moms Planner (printable). Using this electronic check list each day with your daughter can be a great training grounds for household management and homemaking skills. You may come across tasks from time to time that you might have never thought to teach your daughter about homemaking. This makes for a perfect teachable moment.

Big Fork Little Fork – I love this free app from Kraft. It’s a perfect teaching tool, as there are lots of kid friendly recipes that are designed for you to prepare alongside your child. There are facts about food, games, and even videos to show how to make many of the recipes. This is a perfect app for working in the kitchen with your daughter. (This app is only for the iPad.)

AllRecipes – Another free app that provides you and your daughter with great recipe ideas. You can search for certain recipes by name, ingredients included, time, method, and so on. This can be a wonderful springboard for training in the kitchen.

Tutorials are Just a Click Away

Technology has revolutionized the way that people learn. It no longer means that your only ways to learn new skills are from books or classes. There are so many great video tutorials on the Internet, especially on You Tube. This can mean that if your daughter wants to learn a skill that you aren’t so sure about yourself, you can look up a tutorial and work through it together, side-by-side, with your daughter.

I will caution, however, that any You Tube video should be watched in its entirety by you (alone) before showing it to your daughter. I may be overly cautious in this, but I don’t think so.

Some great examples of tutorials that can help with homemaking skills (if you are proficient with these skills enough to teach them yourself):

How to a Blanket Stitch

How to Knit – The Basics
This is, of course, just a tiny sampling of the homemaking related tutorial that you can find online. Just do a search, preview the material, and then share it with your daughter.

Move Over Cookbooks, Hello Blogs and Websites

While I have lots of cookbooks, I have found that in the last few years, many of my favorite recipes are ones that I have found on recipe sites and on blogs. A fabulous activity to do with your daughter could be to compile her own cookbook binder with print outs of favorites found online. You can also help her to infuse favorite family recipes into this binder as well.

This kind of binder can be a treasure that she will take with her when she leaves home. I know that although I have a shelf full of cookbooks, the one that I reach for more than 75% of the time is the binder that I have put together myself that includes recipes from online, old family recipes scanned from my Mom’s house, and recipes from places like magazines and newspapers. If I could only keep one recipe “book,” this would definitely be the one.

Print Out Check Lists or Make Your Own

The computer is the perfect training grounds for your daughter to learn about an organized home. You can not only teach her to use resources such as downloadable print outs from online (such as the wonderful variety of forms that Simple Mom has on her site), but you can also guide your daughter in making her own check lists through things like word processing or spreadsheet programs.

Technology: Friend or Foe?

With the influx of more and more technology seeping into our everyday lives, I hope that you might find some ways to show your daughters that technology isn’t just about Angry Birds, Facebook status updates, and rabbit trails leading us all along the information superhighway. Technology can be used to become better and more organized homemakers, both presently and in the future.

This post contains affiliate links.

When Angie isn’t busy playing Words with Friends, she can be found writing about faith, family, and household management (and her love of iGadgets) at Many Little Blessings. She is also the founder of The Homeschool Classroom and Catholic Mothers Online. She tries to let her creative side out at Just a Tiny Owl and Tiny Owl LLC.



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Today’s Post is from Jennifer

When I was a young girl, I used to be an avid letter writer. The kind of writer who sits down with pen in hand and decorative designer stationary paper or letterhead on desk ready to write all of the exciting events of my life since I had last seen the recipient of my letter. I also enjoyed drawing little pictures to go with my words that covered several pages about what I had been doing. My envelope was sealed, stamped, and dropped into the mailbox and then my wait for a return letter began. This was always the fun part for me; waiting for the response to come in the mail.

When it came to thank you notes, things were a little different because once I dropped that note into the mailbox, there was never a “promise” of receiving a response for my efforts. At the time, I did not understand that there was something special about that thank you note. Two simple words thank you.

Thank yous come in verbal form as well as in hand written form, but not as often as they should. It is easier to say thank you, than it is to write thank you, so most people opt for the former and call it a day. In some instances a verbal thank you is fine. Most people do not expect to receive a written thank you note for holding the door open for you. Today, most people do not even expect to receive a thank you note because not too many people send them anymore.

If I give a gift to someone, then I do expect a thank you, but I do not expect a thank you note. To clarify, I do not give a gift to receive a thank you, but instead to show my appreciation for that person. When I do receive a thank you note, I am grateful and also impressed because I know somewhere that person learned the importance of thanking someone for their effort; they were “raised right.”

Although I am more concerned with character than impressions, I do want to raise my daughter right and writing thank you notes is one of the many lessons I would like her to learn. Through tired hands and occasionally a few complaints, all of my children have been writing thank you notes for years. I wanted to share a few things we have done to make the “chore” a little less daunting and ways that have stretched their creativity and also improved their writing skills.

Start your children when they are young. Give them crayons, paint, glue, etc. and let them create a picture of choice or if they are able, then have them draw a picture of the present they received or how they were helped.

Depending upon the age of the child, try not to “write the note,” but guide your child so she thinks of and includes a mention of the gift in her note. Receiving dictation from a two year old can be quite entertaining.

If your child is older, then have her address the recipient by name, specifically mention the gift(s), and maybe mention how much she enjoyed the gift or how she plans to use it. There is no need to mention that she “received two of the same thing” or that she “didn’t really like it.” Instead she can say she “plans to share it with her sister or brother, etc.” Remember to always encourage honesty.

If we have quite a few notes to write (ex: birthday thank you notes), then we complete a few notes each day until we are finished with them all and then mail them off together. Seeing the bulk of ones hard work creates a nice sense of accomplishment and often provides the motivation needed to finish all of the notes.

Besides building character, teaching your children to say thank you and also understanding the importance of writing thank you notes (etiquette 101) as well as when to send them, are values that will carry them through to adulthood. Their thank you note may bring needed comfort to someone. Think of how good you feel after receiving a thank you note. They may also be that remembered and later hired candidate after a job interview.

So let your little artist get busy and creative and don’t forget to write your own thank you notes too.

When is the last time you hand wrote a thank you note?

Jennifer is a wife and a homeschool teaching mother of three originally from the big city and now living in small town USA. You can read more from her at Milk & Honey Mommy where she writes incessantly about her accidental love of cooking, shares her take on being green, natural, and crafty, and opens the doors to the head scratching happenings in her house.

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Have you thought about joining or starting a homemaking co-op? I shared a post last week on Raising Homemakers about the co-op our group is starting next year.

Last year, my friend Stacy asked me if I wanted to be part of a homemaking co-op she was setting up for a few high school girls in our homeschool group. We aren’t starting the co-op until next school year, so we had a year to think about it.

I couldn’t say yes fast enough!

Click here to read about how we’re running our group, the benefits of having a co-op, and a list of topic ideas.

I am going to try this during the summer: Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day Looks delicious and easy! (ad)

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Today’s Post is from Lacey

There’s something about baking that just makes me happy. Maybe it’s a stress-reliever. Maybe it’s the delicious results. Maybe it’s getting to make something yummy for someone else.

Whatever it is, I love doing it, and I love the idea of doing it with my daughter someday.

One of the things we’ll definitely make together will be scones. They’re easy, delicious, and perfect for hospitality–great to share over a cup of coffee or tea with a friend. And these strawberry scones from Laura at Sweet Savory Planet definitely don’t disappoint! As an extra treat, they would be even more fun to do with your daughter!

For step by step pictures and instructions, you should definitely check out Laura’s site! But here, I’m going to help you make it even more enjoyable by telling how you could do it with your daughters!

Here’s what you’ll need:
strawberries
lemon juice
flour (I ended up adding about a cup more than what the original recipe called for, so I would suggest adding a little at a time)
sugar
baking powder
salt
butter
cream
1 egg
vanilla
powdered sugar (for the glaze)
**Keep all of your cold ingredients cold as long as possible–it helps your scones turn out even better!!

Ready? Let’s get started!

1. Puree strawberries, lemon juice, and sugar in a food processor. Simply cut the tops off your strawberries and pulse them a few times in the food processor (if you don’t have one, just give them a good chop!) with the lemon juice and sugar.
–Let your daughter be the one to push the pulse button 5 or 6 times if you have a food processor. If she’s anything like me, she’ll love that part!

2. Mix cream, vanilla, and the egg in a separate bowl. While your baby girl is pushing the pulse button, get all of the liquid ingredients in a separate bowl and give them a good whisk. When she’s done with the strawberries, mix them in, too.
–Let your daughter finish mixing the wet ingredients all together, while you start measuring out the dry ones.

3. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Put these in another bowl while your daughter is mixing the wet, and give them a good stir to combine everything

4. Add the wet to the dry. Pour all the wet ingredients into the dry ones, and then mix them together until all the liquid is combined. Your mixture will be a little crumbly, but that’s a good thing!
–Let your daughter lick the spoon (that’s half the reason for baking, right?)

5. Shape the dough. Here’s where all the messy fun begins.
–Flour your hands and your daughters, and use them to shape the dough (you can either do a circle, or a rectangle).
Then, use a sharp knife to cut the dough into the size of scones you want.
–While you’re cutting, have your daughter pour just a little cream into a small bowl.

6. Brush the scones with the cream.
–Let your daughter sprinkle sugar all over the top of the scones (and if she adds on a little extra, that’s a good thing, right?)

7.Bake the scones for 22-24 minutes on 400.
–Let your daughter clean up the entire mess (I’m totally kidding…unless she enjoys that kind of thing, and then you should be very thankful!!)

8. Get the icing ready. Mix together a cup of powdered sugar with a tiny bit of vanilla and about two tablespoons of cream.
–Let your daughter go icing crazy! The more the better!

And there you have it! Delicious, fresh, amazing strawberry scones! Not only do you get to reward yourself with a sweet treat, you also have a sweet memory to treasure. Want to make it even better? Teach her the gift of hospitality by inviting some mommy/daughter friends–plus, that keeps me from eating all the extras!

Lacey Wilcox lives in the Panhandle of Texas with her husband, Kade and sweet baby, Selah, where they manage Panfork Baptist Camp. Lacey writes about adventures in marriage, mommy-hood, and camp life at her blog.

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Are you looking for a homemaking curriculum for your girls of all ages?

Check out Polished Cornerstones, Projects for Daughters on the Path to Womanhood! I have been hearing about this curriculum for a while and I’ve been longing to try it out with my own girls. Imagine how happy I was when Doorposts offered to send me a copy to review.

Ok, I have a confession. I actually asked them to send me a copy! I’ve never used my blogger status to try to get free stuff, but this book inspired me to try for the first time. Furthermore, I knew that Homegrown Mom readers might like a shot at a free copy, too, and Doorposts generously agreed to bestow one copy upon a blessed reader.

Here is why you want to win this:
In this massive, spiral bound volume, 52 Characteristics of the Proverbs 31 Woman are taught.

Each of the 52 lessons consists of various suggestions to teach girls how to develop these characteristics at 3 different age levels: Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. However, many of the lessons can be combined to include all ages.

Lessons include: Memory verses, Reading selections, Questions to discuss, Scripture passages to read, Projects to do, and more. Several lessons include charts and worksheets to fill in.

I literally wept when I was reviewing this book. To have these qualities laid out to teach, and knowing that I get to be the one to teach them honestly moved me to tears. I am so looking forward to projects, chats over tea, and most of all, digging into God’s Word to see what He says about being a Virtuous Woman.

The author, Pam Forster, recommends planning out one month at a time and choosing from the extensive menu of activities for one lesson. She suggests setting aside a couple of hours a couple times a week. If you do plan one lesson per month, this book will last you years!

I love her idea of planning to answer some of the questions with dad over an ice cream. And guess what? Eric and the girls love it, too! A homemaking curriculum that involves Dad? I know you want it now!

That is what is so unique and cool about this curriculum. At its core, it is about discipling your daughters in the Lord. Along the way, you’ll teach them lots of skills and train them in many areas of homemaking and Godly living, but all of it goes back to God’s Word and spending time with your girls.

The Details:
To enter, leave a comment telling me how many daughters you have. This giveaway will close Saturday, May 21.

The winner will be picked at random.

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Today’s Post is from Courtney

The Proverbs 31 woman was a domestic artist. Proverbs 31:22 says “she makes coverings for her bed.” Did you catch that – she MAKES her coverings.

Well, I’ll be honest – I buy my “coverings” at Target! But I am working my way through a book titled “Polished Cornerstones – Projects for Daughters on the Path to Womanhood”. (Note from Angela: Keep an eye out later today for a giveaway from Polished Cornerstones!) I want to train my daughter to love homemaking. So, yesterday at breakfast we read some of Proverbs 31 and then proceeded to do our morning chores. My daughter makes her own bed everyday but I wanted her to learn to make her bed to the glory of God. To develop her heart towards wanting to make it beautiful – to let making her bed become a work of art.

Sure, it’s not perfect, nor the way I would do it…but she’s a domestic artist in training! And it’s my job to teach her and show her the significance of making her bed.

The Proverbs 31 woman would have spent countless hours making her coverings. It is innate within humans to be drawn toward beauty and so rather than rushing through this rather meaningless task – I challenged her to take her time and make it beautiful to the glory of God!

Genesis 1:27 says man was made in God’s image. Our God has created majestic mountains, beautiful sandy beaches, breathtaking sunsets and from the flowers, to the stars, to the birds and butterflies - all of creation declares God’s artistic nature.

If you have a daughter, encourage her to express herself – to make it a work of art. Teach her to find joy in making her bed. Praise her efforts and diligence. And as mothers, remember to be a role model like the Proverbs 31 woman and make your bed to the glory of God!

Courtney blogs over at Women Living Well. She has been married to her high school sweet heart for 13 years, home schools her son and daughter and is a graduate of the Moody Bible Institute. Her passion to see “Women Living Well” landed her on the Rachael Ray Show in November, 2009. Since then, she blogs regularly about faith, marriage, parenting, and homemaking. In 2010, she started a second website called GoodMorningGirls. There she encourages women to dig into their Bibles daily through tech accountability groups called “Good Morning Girls.”

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Today’s post is from Island Girl

It is the simplest things we forget sometimes or take for granted “everyone knows that” attitude. I am going to teach, or rather attempt to teach how to sew a button. It is not the most glamorous things to teach your tween daughter, but important nonetheless.

First thing you need a button (of course), you need thread either matching and a coordinating color. You need a pair of scissors and a measuring tape if you need it a certain measurement.

You thread the needle and tie a small knot at the opposite end.

When you have this done – hold the button exactly where you want it, start the threaded needle from the underneath of the button on the material. Basically continue this about six times then switch to the other two openings. (some buttons only have two openings if that is so, then go to next step)

After sewing each side of openings when needle is underneath the cloth, tie it off by doing two stitches just on the cloth itself. Cut any extra strings off and you’re done!

All it takes is a little practice and if you get a stitch off here or there. No worries, probably it will go unnoticed and button will stay on just the same!

I would love to hear about your experience with this!

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