I haven’t been posting 3 times per week as I was before, my Facebook page updates have been a little less frequent, and my poor Twitter account has been sorely neglected…

Well, there is a good reason behind my mysterious absence.

Is it because I’m tired of blogging?

Nope.

Is it because I’m tired of homesteading?

Heavens no…

Is it because I’m tired of interacting with all of my fabulous readers?

No way!

The reason that I haven’t been on the internet as much lately is because…

Prairie Baby isn’t gonna be the baby anymore come October.

Yup- that’s right- I’m pregnant with #2!

I’m officially in the second trimester now (18 weeks), and am starting to feel pretty good. But let me tell you- that first trimester was rough folks!

All I can say is that pregnancy hormones are a powerful, powerful thing. They can knock this homesteading, cow milking, cooking-from-scratch, ultra-hyper, mama flat on the couch faster than anything else.

It was… humbling… to say the least.

For the first time in our almost 6 years of marriage, I called my hubby and asked him to bring home pizza after work. His reply was, “What happened to my wife?!”

You see, when you are in survival mode (aka- “everything I see makes me want to vomit…”) you eat whatever you can get down that doesn’t make you want to run for the bathroom. So yes, I did drink some Sprite, and eat store-bought pizza (although I’m a total crust-snob, now that I’ve found my ultimate pizza crust recipe…), and store-bought ice cream for a while this spring…. Just thought I should fess up. *wink*

I know those things aren’t optimal pregnancy nutrition, but hey- what good is raw milk and bone broth if it doesn’t stay in your stomach more than 20 minutes?

Morning sickness was different this time around. Perhaps the intensity wasn’t as severe as it was with Prairie Baby, but it was more challenging since I have a two- year old to chase and a full-blown homestead to care for.

On many of the days, my biggest accomplishment was making sure that Prairie Baby stayed safe (not necessarily clean, just safe…) and keeping all of the animals in some form of food and water. That was about all I could handle. Doing cute little homestead projects and baking homemade bread? Forget about it!

But, I’m happy to say that I’m back from the dead, so it seems. I’ve been feeling great and have been able to get outside over the past few weeks and catch up on my planting, watering, and gardening. I might still fall asleep when we watch a movie in the evenings, but I could care less about that, since my animals and gardens are much more tended to than they were before.

Once I get caught up here around the homestead, I plan to get back to my regular posting schedule. I have some fun posts ideas and recipes in the works for ya’ll, so stay tuned.

And, I appreciate everyone offering me a little extra grace through this pregnancy. I’ve received some lovely fan letters recently, but please understand if I don’t/can’t respond to you right away. I plan to spend a lot of quality time outside with Prairie Baby this summer before our family of three becomes a family of four. So, even though I’m feeling good, my computer time might be more limited than before. So, I appreciate your understanding.

Thanks to all my lovely readers for sticking with me- I appreciate you more than you’ll ever know!

Interested in a free eBook about soaking grains? You got it! As a thank-you gift for subscribing to The Prairie Homestead, you get a complimentary copy of "Is Your Flour Wet?"- an eBook packed full of information and recipes using healthy grain preparation methods. Click here to download your free copy. (Open the link, then select "Save As" and save a copy to your computer).

Ever since Prairie Baby was born, we have made an effort to have her be an active participant in our lives. It always makes me sad when I see couples constantly dropping off the kiddos at grandma’s house or the babysitters so they can go out and “enjoy themselves” or work on a project.

Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the occasional date night, but if we think we must continually separate ourselves from our kids in order to accomplish things, the kiddos will miss out on many valuable life experiences.

Since Day One, Prairie Baby has been a part of our team. Some days I stuck her in a Moby Wrap, or buckled her into my giant jogging stroller as I worked outside. We took her everywhere with us… During her first 6 months of life, she attended multiple cattle brandings, went antelope hunting, hung out at several equestrian clinics, and took many a nap in the cool shade of the barn. She’s experienced more in her few years of life than many city-dwelling adults have seen in a lifetime.

Now that she’s a “big girl” (two years old!), she can take an even more active role in our activities- and she is already comfortable and familiar with our routine, since she’s been along for the ride since the day she was born.

It’s never to early to start sharing your homestead life with the kiddos. Below, you’ll find my list of simple activities for the homestead toddler or preschooler to help inspire you in your journey.

22 Activities for the Country Toddler or Preschooler

1. Teach them to plant things. Larger seeds like peas, beans, or corn are fun to poke into the ground, and items like seed potatoes and onion sets are downright fascinating!

2. Let them water. Prairie Baby loves to hold the hose as we water our trees or fill up water tanks. She makes designs with the water stream and loves the splashing. If your garden is dry, stick a spray nozzle on your hose and let them go crazy. Yep, they’ll be muddy and wet when they’re done, but that’s ok.

3. Pull weeds. You’ll have to be careful when you teach this skill, otherwise you’ll end up with a bare garden from over-enthusiastic little helpers. Better yet, give them a play shovel and let them hack on the weeds with that.

4. Reap the harvest. Digging up potatoes, onions, or beets is a real-life treasure hunt, while pumpkins and squash are fun to select and carry out of the garden. Peas and beans are a blast to pick from the plant- and make sure that you let them “sneak” a few bites so they equate gardening with food. (As long as you maintain a chemical-free garden, a few unwashed, homegrown veggies won’t hurt them…)

5. Fill pots. As you prepare your containers for planting, let them use their toy shovels to fill the pots with soil.

6. Make newspaper seedling pots together.

7. Dig in the compost pile. We don’t have a sandbox, so Prairie Baby climbs and digs in our finished compost pile instead. Chat about compost and how it’s food for plants.

8. Allow them to collect eggs (a classic country childhood favorite!) and then place them into the cartons. (A great time to practice counting skills)

9. Show them how to fill the nesting boxes with fresh shavings or straw.

10. Have them carry your bucket of chicken scraps outside to the coop, and then let them go crazy slinging potato peelings and fruit bits for the hens to eat.

Brand new baby goat. (I promise, she's not choking it...)

11. Allow them to be present if you have dairy animals to milk. Talk about where milk comes from and allow them to touch the udder and even apply udder salve, if they wish.

12. Have straw or bedding to spread in your pens? Little helpers love this one- show them that they can kick and throw the straw all over. This one is a big hit at our house.

13. Have your kiddo carry and dump any grain or supplements in the animal’s pans (preferrably when the animal is a safe distance away).

14. If you have bottle babies that aren’t overly pushy, let your helper hold onto the bottle as they drink and chat about how people and animals drink milk when they are babies.

15. Sweep out the barn or coop together.

16. Invite your kiddo to hand you laundry to hang on your clothesline or drying rack.

17. Give them their own lump of bread dough to knead/smash/squish.

18. Get them a mini-rolling pin to help make tortillas.

19. Snap beans and shell peas-allow snacking to give them a taste of food fresh from the garden.

20. Shuck corn.

21. Let them scoop, dump, and mix ingredients in your recipes.

22. The most important part? Let them get dirty, and muddy, and dusty, and covered in bits of hay if they want. Don’t freak out when they sneak a taste of dirt, or grass, or hay, or alfalfa pellets, or even goat poop. It won’t kill them, and I truly believe it’s good for their immune system. (Prairie Baby has never been to the doctor for an illness or had an ear infection…Ever.)

Praise them as they help, even when they accidentally spill something or spray water in the wrong place. Show them that “work” is enjoyable, not punishment. Show them they are a valuable part of the team and you genuinely like having them around.

(Now, before anyone yells at me- NO, I’m not assigning “chores” to my two year old. She doesn’t do these every day, nor does she get in trouble when she isn’t in the mood to collect eggs or pick beans. These are simply learning experiences for her to partake in as she grows- and I have to say- she loves it. All I have to do is say the word “outside” and she starts squealing and running to get her mini-rubber boots. When she is older, she will have “assigned” duties– but not now. She is too young for that.)

So, I encourage you this week to include your children or grandchildren in your homestead activities. Embrace the imperfection and the mess, and enjoy those little helpers!

This is in no way a comprehensive list– what ideas can you add? Share them in the comments!

This post was shared at: Frugal Days Sustainable Ways, Simple Lives Thursday

Interested in a free eBook about soaking grains? You got it! As a thank-you gift for subscribing to The Prairie Homestead, you get a complimentary copy of "Is Your Flour Wet?"- an eBook packed full of information and recipes using healthy grain preparation methods. Click here to download your free copy. (Open the link, then select "Save As" and save a copy to your computer).

“Cultivating the Homestead Community”

Welcome to the 63rd edition of the Homestead Barn Hop!

This hop is hosted by The Prairie Homestead, along with two other fantastic homesteading gals:

Amy from Homestead Revival and Kendra from New Life on a Homestead.

We encourage you to stop by every Monday and share your latest homesteading posts with us. From cooking to animals to gardening, we want to hear what’s been happening at your homestead this week!

If I had to guess, I’d say that chickens are one of the most popular aspects of modern-day homesteading. And because of their popularity, there just so happens to be a LOT of chicken info floating around the web! If you are new to chickens, you’ll appreciate this down-to-earth, back-to-basics chicken keeping primer from Little Farm in the Big City. This blog post covers legalities, buying chickens, equipment, coops, and more. Thanks for sharing this wonderful info with us last week!

Want your post to be showcased as our featured post in the weeks to come? Amy, Kendra, and I will pick a different post to feature each week from the previous week’s entries. Just make sure that you link back to one of our blogs- otherwise we can’t pick you!

Now, on to the business of this week’s Hop!

Some Simple Guidelines:

1. Remember to provide a link back to the Homestead Barn Hop in the post that you share. Feel free to grab the banner at the top of this post, if you would like, and use it to link back to us!

2. Please link to a specific post, not your blog’s main page.

3. If you don’t have a blog, share your latest homestead updates in a comment on this post!

4. We, the hosts of the Barn Hop, reserve the right to remove any link that we deem inappropriate or offensive. We will err on the side of caution.

Click here to view all the past editions of the Barn Hop

Have fun, get to know some new homesteading friends, and be sure to join us every Monday!

(If you are reading this post via email, click through to see all of this week’s links!)

Interested in a free eBook about soaking grains? You got it! As a thank-you gift for subscribing to The Prairie Homestead, you get a complimentary copy of "Is Your Flour Wet?"- an eBook packed full of information and recipes using healthy grain preparation methods. Click here to download your free copy. (Open the link, then select "Save As" and save a copy to your computer).

The journey to a real food lifestyle can definitely be overwhelming when you first get started. (Heck, sometimes it’s still overwhelming, even if you’ve been doing it for years!)

I’m always up for furthering my learning or trying new resources. So when I received a copy of the Treasures of Healthy Living Bible Study to review, my curiosity was piqued.

(Disclaimer: I realize that not all of my readers are of the same faith and beliefs as me. However, please respect my right to post about my faith on my blog. The Bible is my final authority on life, therefore, I found great value in this study. If you don’t agree, then feel free to skip this post and giveaway. Any rude comments left here will be immediately deleted.)

I’ve done many different Bible studies over the years, but this one fascinated me since it involved not only my interest in Scripture, but also my love of food. (Healthy, wholesome food, to be exact!)

This study was originally designed to accompany the Healthy Treasures Cookbook, both from Designed Healthy Living. However, I found it sufficient all on it’s own (although I definitely plan on getting the cookbook someday soon!).

Treasures of Healthy Living is a 12-week workbook by Annette Reeder and Dr. Richard Couey that takes you on a tour of the Bible- real foodie style. (‘Meet’ Annette below in this fun farmer’s market video!)

Each week is highlights a different theme such as Sweets, Grains, Beverages, Fasting, or Environment & Toxins. You’ll work through 5 days of study each week as the authors point you to corresponding scripture that relate to each topic and give a clear picture of what the Bible has to say about each area. It was fascinating to me to find all the references to the many different foods in scripture. God mentions food a lot more than we might think!

Weaved among the scriptures each week are practical tips, facts and figures relating to health and disease, recipes, and more. I’ve been researching real food for a while now, so many of the core concepts were familiar to me. However, I still learned a ton from working through this book!

I have to say that I didn’t agree with every single concept that was mentioned (for example– I’m still personally debating the pros and cons of eating pork…), but I felt that this study was an incredibly well-rounded approach to both food and scripture, and I would highly recommend it to anyone.

And… One lucky Prairie Homestead reader will win a copy of this book! (Thanks to author Annette Reeder for sponsoring this giveaway!)

Use the Rafflecopter widget to enter below. Comments left on this post will not count as contest entries. Only open to residents of the USA due to high shipping costs.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Interested in a free eBook about soaking grains? You got it! As a thank-you gift for subscribing to The Prairie Homestead, you get a complimentary copy of "Is Your Flour Wet?"- an eBook packed full of information and recipes using healthy grain preparation methods. Click here to download your free copy. (Open the link, then select "Save As" and save a copy to your computer).

“Cultivating the Homestead Community”

Welcome to the 62nd edition of the Homestead Barn Hop!

This hop is hosted by The Prairie Homestead, along with two other fantastic homesteading gals:

Amy from Homestead Revival and Kendra from New Life on a Homestead.

We encourage you to stop by every Monday and share your latest homesteading posts with us. From cooking to animals to gardening, we want to hear what’s been happening at your homestead this week!

Food is such a hot topic these days, especially around the blogosphere… When I started my own real food journey, I tended to swing towards the extreme (as many people do…) Unfortunately, if you listen to all of the “experts,” you will literally start to fear eating anything at all(except maybe water– as long as it’s filtered!) I mellowed out a lot as my journey has progressed. I still love whole foods and healthy eating, but I’ve realized that stressing out about it is totally not worth it. My blogging buddy Stacy, from Stacy Makes Cents, shared an outstanding post in last week’s hop: Food is Not Your God. I couldn’t agree more with what she said. I highly recommend hopping on over and giving it a quick read- I love Stacy’s style– she’s a “let’s get real” sorta gal– my favorite!

Now, on to the business of this week’s Hop!

Some Simple Guidelines:

1. Remember to provide a link back to the Homestead Barn Hop in the post that you share. Feel free to grab the banner at the top of this post, if you would like, and use it to link back to us!

2. Please link to a specific post, not your blog’s main page.

3. If you don’t have a blog, share your latest homestead updates in a comment on this post!

4. We, the hosts of the Barn Hop, reserve the right to remove any link that we deem inappropriate or offensive. We will err on the side of caution.

Click here to view all the past editions of the Barn Hop

Have fun, get to know some new homesteading friends, and be sure to join us every Monday!

(If you are reading this post via email, click through to see all of this week’s links!)

Interested in a free eBook about soaking grains? You got it! As a thank-you gift for subscribing to The Prairie Homestead, you get a complimentary copy of "Is Your Flour Wet?"- an eBook packed full of information and recipes using healthy grain preparation methods. Click here to download your free copy. (Open the link, then select "Save As" and save a copy to your computer).

“Cultivating the Homestead Community”

Welcome to the 61st edition of the Homestead Barn Hop!

This hop is hosted by The Prairie Homestead, along with two other fantastic homesteading gals:

Amy from Homestead Revival and Kendra from New Life on a Homestead.

We encourage you to stop by every Monday and share your latest homesteading posts with us. From cooking to animals to gardening, we want to hear what’s been happening at your homestead this week!

I’ve tried many different aspects of homesteading, but I have to admit that I have yet to attempt composting with worms! I know they are a wonderful way to dispose of your kitchen waste (and even your junk mail!). Last week, Your Gardening Friend shared her wonderful post on 14 Reasons to have Compost Worms. I enjoyed learning more about her worms through this post, and I think you will too. Thanks for sharing Holly!

Now, on to the business of this week’s Hop!

Some Simple Guidelines:

1. Remember to provide a link back to the Homestead Barn Hop in the post that you share. Feel free to grab the banner at the top of this post, if you would like, and use it to link back to us!

2. Please link to a specific post, not your blog’s main page.

3. If you don’t have a blog, share your latest homestead updates in a comment on this post!

4. We, the hosts of the Barn Hop, reserve the right to remove any link that we deem inappropriate or offensive. We will err on the side of caution.

Click here to view all the past editions of the Barn Hop

Have fun, get to know some new homesteading friends, and be sure to join us every Monday!

(If you are reading this post via email, click through to see all of this week’s links!)

Interested in a free eBook about soaking grains? You got it! As a thank-you gift for subscribing to The Prairie Homestead, you get a complimentary copy of "Is Your Flour Wet?"- an eBook packed full of information and recipes using healthy grain preparation methods. Click here to download your free copy. (Open the link, then select "Save As" and save a copy to your computer).

I’m kinda of a no-frills gal.

Sure, I like to put on a little make-up and jewelry when I head to town or go to church on Sundays, and sometimes, I’ll even wear a dress.

But otherwise? Eh, not so much.

I mean, I think it’s great that a lot of women put on a little lip gloss, or perfume, or fix up their hair when their hubby gets home. But when my hubby gets home, we usually head right outside to build fence, or scrape up manure with the tractor, or….

Have you ever tried to remove horse hair or dirt chunks from freshly applied lip gloss? It ain’t pretty folks.

Last fall I tried Lilla Rose hair clips for the first time, and if you a reader back then, you’ll remember me saying that I think they are the cure for ‘homestead hair’!

They are easy to use, allow you to keep you hair out of your face, and are still feminine to boot. The clips are available in seven different sizes to accommodate nearly any hair type and style –from elegant to no-frills — and everything in between.

(I highly, highly recommend watching the short sizing video to figure out what size would work best for your hair. It’s incredibly helpful!)

You can read my entire review and all of my thoughts HERE  if you like.

Just in time for Mother’s Day, Independent Consultant Jill Wright has generously offered to sponsor another giveaway to one of my lucky readers! (And Jill just happens to also be the newest Prairie Homestead sponsor for the month of May!)

This giveaway is for a $15 gift certificate, redeemable for a flexi-clip or any Lilla Rose item of the winner’s choice, (up to $15.)

Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter. Comments left on this post DO NOT COUNT as entries!

Contest only open to residents of the USA, Mexico, and Canada. Contest ends May 8th, 2012 at midnight. Winner will be announced shortly thereafter, here on the blog.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Interested in a free eBook about soaking grains? You got it! As a thank-you gift for subscribing to The Prairie Homestead, you get a complimentary copy of "Is Your Flour Wet?"- an eBook packed full of information and recipes using healthy grain preparation methods. Click here to download your free copy. (Open the link, then select "Save As" and save a copy to your computer).

“Cultivating the Homestead Community”

Welcome to the 60th edition of the Homestead Barn Hop!

This hop is hosted by The Prairie Homestead, along with two other fantastic homesteading gals:

Amy from Homestead Revival and Kendra from New Life on a Homestead.

We encourage you to stop by every Monday and share your latest homesteading posts with us. From cooking to animals to gardening, we want to hear what’s been happening at your homestead this week!

I LOVED these ideas for copy-cat Lara Bars from Living Crunchy! If you don’t know what a Lara Bar is, they are commonly sold at health-food stores and are 100% whole-food, fruit and nut bars. I love them, but they can be a little on the pricey side. In this week’s featured post, Living Crunchy will show you the basic method for making your own bars at home, with 5 variations! I can’t wait to give these a try. Thanks for sharing these wonderful recipes with us this week!

Now, on to the business of this week’s Hop!

Some Simple Guidelines:

1. Remember to provide a link back to the Homestead Barn Hop in the post that you share. Feel free to grab the banner at the top of this post, if you would like, and use it to link back to us!

2. Please link to a specific post, not your blog’s main page.

3. If you don’t have a blog, share your latest homestead updates in a comment on this post!

4. We, the hosts of the Barn Hop, reserve the right to remove any link that we deem inappropriate or offensive. We will err on the side of caution.

Click here to view all the past editions of the Barn Hop

Have fun, get to know some new homesteading friends, and be sure to join us every Monday!

(If you are reading this post via email, click through to see all of this week’s links!)

Interested in a free eBook about soaking grains? You got it! As a thank-you gift for subscribing to The Prairie Homestead, you get a complimentary copy of "Is Your Flour Wet?"- an eBook packed full of information and recipes using healthy grain preparation methods. Click here to download your free copy. (Open the link, then select "Save As" and save a copy to your computer).

And combine running a homestead with blogging? Yikes!

My biggest advice to new bloggers is that it HAS to be something you love, because the pay generally ain’t that great when you start out. ;)

I am so thankful to have a group of wonderful sponsors behind me who help to offset some of the costs of maintaining the Prairie Homestead blog, and help to keep the content free for my wonderful readers!

I had a influx of new sponsors for April, so I wanted to devote a special post to introduce them to you.

Mom’s Love Rub is a family-owned and operated company that specializes in wholesome, natural body products. They carry a variety of decadent products ranging from Dead Sea Salt Foot Scrub to elegant handmade soaps to soothing massage rubs. I’m thinking with Mother’s Day rapidly approaching, this would be a great place to snag some products to help pamper Mom!

Dehydrating is an excellent way to preserve your homestead bounty. The book Delicious, Delectable, and Dehydrated will answer your dehydrating questions and then some! From the makers of Mom’s Love Rub, this book will help you to: “Learn about the current methods of preserving foods and explore the many reasons people are drying food today!  You’ll discover how to preserve the bounty from your garden and provide healthy treats you’ve made from scratch. From apples to zucchini, explore the fruits you’d expect, the veggies you love and surprising snacks like dehydrated cake! You’ll also learn how to properly prepare and store foods for maximum freshness. ”

Ever since I started reading blogs, I’ve heard folks rave about MadeOn hard lotion products. So imagine my excitement when Renee, the owner of MadeOn, contacted me and offered to send me some samples! I’ve been thoroughly enjoying these products- if you’ve never tried hard lotion, it is a welcome change from the cheap, greasy liquid lotions you’ll find at the store. I’ve especially been loving the Au Chocolat lotion bar- it is absolutely luxurious to use! Another great Mother’s Day gift idea- look for a more thorough review and maybe even a giveaway coming soon!

Meeting like-minded folks is one of the most enjoyable parts of blogging for me.  Melissa K. Norris is an author and blogger who loves inspiring other to get “Closer to God and your pioneer roots.” Visit her blog for homesteading ideas, delicious recipes (like Homemade White Sauce Chicken Pizza), and lots of inspiration! Melissa is a regular commenter here at The Prairie Homestead, and is also a brand new member of the Nourished Living Network, of which I am also a member!

Speaking of blogging buddies, I’ve known Holly of Your Gardening Friend for almost as long as I’ve been blogging! She has been a faithful sponsor of the Prairie Homestead for many months. You’ll find plenty of gardening inspiration at her blog, as well as a weekly Friday Photo Hop! I love her recent post about repurposed garden accessories. Brilliant! And don’t forget to check out the Your Gardening Friend Facebook community as well.

Another long-time sponsor of The Prairie Homestead is Pantry Paratus! I love family-owned and operated companies, and Chaya and Wilson are wonderful to work with. You’ll find everything you need for your homestead kitchen– from dehydrators, to grain mills, to pressure canners, to bulk grains- they’ve got you covered. Not to mention they run a wonderfully informative blog– that’s where I first learned about the Back to Eden film, which is really changing the way I think of gardening.

Speaking of family-owned companies, one of my absolute all-time favorites is Homestead Drying Racks! I’ve sung the praises of these racks many times before on the blog, especially in my tongue-in-cheek “Dear Clothesline” post. And not only do they carry high-quality, hand-crafted racks, you’ll also find other homestead laundry gear, books, grain mills, herbs, and more in their store! And of course, if you haven’t already, you MUST check out their recently released free e-mag. It’s a stunning publication, chock-full of articles, homesteading info, and more!

Blogging is a lot more than simply writing articles and taking pictures. A huge part of blogging is learning how to be a computer geek. And for many of us, that doesn’t exactly come natural… A lot of web hosting companies are really big and really impersonal. It is the most helpless feeling in the world when you blog is down with a serious problem and you don’t know where to start to fix it. Homestead Host is a family-owned (are you noticed a theme here?) web hosting company that has gone above and beyond to help The Prairie Homestead run more smoothly than ever! I’ve known the owner, Erin, for a while now (I think we met through the Barn Hop). She has answered my bazillions of blogging questions and has worked overtime to create a sustainable hosting company with a small-town feel. They have a variety of packages to fit a variety of needs, and I can’t recommend Homestead Host highly enough if you are looking for a host for your blog or website!

So as you can see, blogging is not a solo-venture and I am SO thankful for all of the wonderful companies and individuals who support The Prairie Homestead. Thanks everyone! 

Interested in sponsoring The Prairie Homestead? Contact me for more details!

This post contains affiliate links.

Interested in a free eBook about soaking grains? You got it! As a thank-you gift for subscribing to The Prairie Homestead, you get a complimentary copy of "Is Your Flour Wet?"- an eBook packed full of information and recipes using healthy grain preparation methods. Click here to download your free copy. (Open the link, then select "Save As" and save a copy to your computer).

“Cultivating the Homestead Community”

Welcome to the 59th edition of the Homestead Barn Hop!

This hop is hosted by The Prairie Homestead, along with two other fantastic homesteading gals:

Amy from Homestead Revival and Kendra from New Life on a Homestead.

We encourage you to stop by every Monday and share your latest homesteading posts with us. From cooking to animals to gardening, we want to hear what’s been happening at your homestead this week!

With summer getting closer, that means only one thing– ice cream season is coming! There is nothing, and I mean nothin’, better than homemade ice cream. I think this recipe from Jill over at Paths of Wrighteousness is the perfect homestead ice cream recipe, since 3 out of the 4 ingredients could easily be produced on a homestead. (And the 4th, vanilla extract, can be made at home too!) So be sure to head over to Jill’s blog to check out this simple but decadent, ice cream recipe!

Now, on to the business of this week’s Hop!

Some Simple Guidelines:

1. Remember to provide a link back to the Homestead Barn Hop in the post that you share. Feel free to grab the banner at the top of this post, if you would like, and use it to link back to us!

2. Please link to a specific post, not your blog’s main page.

3. If you don’t have a blog, share your latest homestead updates in a comment on this post!

4. We, the hosts of the Barn Hop, reserve the right to remove any link that we deem inappropriate or offensive. We will err on the side of caution.

Click here to view all the past editions of the Barn Hop

Have fun, get to know some new homesteading friends, and be sure to join us every Monday!

(If you are reading this post via email, click through to see all of this week’s links!)

Interested in a free eBook about soaking grains? You got it! As a thank-you gift for subscribing to The Prairie Homestead, you get a complimentary copy of "Is Your Flour Wet?"- an eBook packed full of information and recipes using healthy grain preparation methods. Click here to download your free copy. (Open the link, then select "Save As" and save a copy to your computer).