a few {current} favorites...

i'm just loving...


+ planning ahead on my Grove Collaborative order - so nice to know that even in the tiredness of new mama hood i will be less likely to run out of toilet paper and dishwashing soap. i've already got a few of my most often used consumables saved in the cabinet for that fourth trimester. here's to hoping that late night target run won't do me in...


+ my Baby List registry - our family is throwing us a co-ed baby shower and i'm very excited! when j and i got married we decided to keep things fairly small, so when it came to having a bridal shower we decided not to make everyone drive again to see us just a few weeks before our wedding. but now that we're talking about celebrating our baby we decided that a shower would be very fun. you know, a good excuse to have everyone that we don't see nearly enough gather for some delicious cake + conversation.


+ doing a bit of baking - we've been enjoying a lot of muffins {using this recipe lately} for snacks the past few weeks and of course a few cookies here and there. I love {this} no bake recipe for when the days are too hot for the oven.  And I have {this recipe} to try next.


hope your week will be full of your current favorites!

sometimes a little word like "do" can be pretty wordy...

At the beginning of 2015 I wrote:

"I declare 2015 the year of action. I've realized that I've had time to reflect, to savor and appreciate... years of planning, of saying "in a three to five years _____ will happen"... I am now ready for a year to put my passions and dreams into action {as well as continue to dream, savor, appreciate}.  Each day, each week I am accomplishing mini goals, important steps to be more where I want to be.  Living a locally centered life in a relatively clutter-free home while saving + preparing for the future. All of these things are on the front burner now - financially, physically, mentally. I'm feeling very much on top of my goals for 2015. 

This is all happening because I've done some great reflections, pretty in-depth planning and research. Now is the time to start carrying out my carefully laid plans.  Each day I'm reminding myself to just 'do' something."

Wow. Some amazing things happened in 2015. We. Did. So. Much. 

Home renovations, savings, buying a new home, preparing our first home for the next family who will live there... so much good stuff. I can't even list it all.

"DO" was the PERFECT word for me in 2015.

My 15 in 2015 {3/15}

1. Simplify. 

2. Read.

3. Experience.

4. Taste.

5. Create.

6. Rest.

7. Search.

8. Learn.

9. Photograph.

10. Enjoy.

11. Express.

12. Save.

13. Appreciate.

14. Make.

15. Do.

Now that the year is quickly pulling to a close, I have to finish up my reflections and move on.

 2015, you were just plain fantastic. Thanks for all you did.

A Bookworm's 2015 Bookshelf: What I Read This Year

Yep, 2015 was a year full of books. And a year for the books! 

I enjoyed re-reading a few novels as well as finding a few important "book lists" to help me select some fantastic reads this year. 

::My Reading List of 2015::

Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

Messenger by Lois Lowry

Son by Lois Lowry

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste NG

The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman

Books One, Two and Three from A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket

One - The Bad Beginning

Two - The Reptile Room

Three-The Wide Window

Fringe Hours by Jessica Turner

Cold Antler Farm: A Memoir of Growing Food and Celebrating Life on a Scrappy Six-Acre Homestead by Jenna Woginrich 

The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright

I re-read the Harry Potter series as well

(just trying to remember what all my students are talking about)

::I enjoyed these stories as audio books this year::

Paper Towns by John Green

The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food and Love by Kristin Kimball

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

What was your favorite read of the year? Let me know in the comments below!

.:thankful:.

each day i think of five things i am thankful for prior to getting out of my bed.

it is a good practice for me to remember how much i have. what i need to keep close to my heart and to be present in all the great aspects of my life.

similar ideas come to mind each week. which makes me believe that i am pretty lucky to have... a solid relationship with my husband, a wonderful roof over my head, a loving family, close friends that i consider family, good {and still improving} health, a job i enjoy...

i am very thankful each and every day.

i hope you find time to count a few of your most precious + loved joys over the next few days.

around these parts {taking a few days off}

hello friends!

guess what!? something very exciting is going on around these parts!

my husband and i officially purchased a mini farm!

well, it is an old house with barns and five acres of land. but soon it will be our dream mini farm. {soon is a relative term here when we've been declaring things like forever home}

the house has loads of character. just enough land for what we want to grow. and the property is a short drive to our village, family, friends and professional work.

we couldn't be more excited. and after just a few days of moving/cleaning/searching-the-barns-for-treasures i realized i couldn't wait to say something here.

and after a few days of all that work i also realized i need to spend a few days away from the blog because we still have much to do to settle in {and we are a few days away from our new internet connection as well}

so, i'll be sure to say 'hello' again soon. and soon this time will mean early November!

.:take a breath:.

this morning i need a moment.

a moment to just take a breath.

i thought maybe someone else did too.

so this is your reminder to take a few deep breaths and be present. right now. 

welcome to the new week. 

i'm going to keep breathing deeply with my eyes closed and then live my day with my eyes wide open. 

 i hope you enjoy the same.

Current Room Tour {Our Music Room - The First House Edition}

I often mention projects + work that we have done around our first purchased home. We've been busy bees over the past few seasons - sanding, remodeling, laying new flooring, clearing clutter and organizing  spaces... I decided that sharing what rooms currently look like might be a fun way to share spaces in our home.

We live in a four bedroom home. As we don't have four people living in our home we decided to dedicate our extra bedrooms for various purposes that we love. We have a study, a studio space and a music room.

I love how our music room is shaping up! I mean... chevron wall...

I love that my husband painted that wall just because we decided it would be fun. And when I asked how I could help him he only requested for me to go make cookies. Yes, I knew that was my cue to get out of the way.

Happy Wednesday, friends!


*this particular series on my blog is to show what rooms currently look like in our house... as in using my iPhone to quickly snap a few photos of a mostly {HOPEFULLY!} clean but probably in-progress room.

how i prep breakfast + lunch to last the week

that's right y'all. i'm getting back into the swing of the school year and that means i'm cooking with all the burners on sundays. this helps me keep from eating out or running out of meals to serve during a quick moving work week.

i thought it might be fun to share how i plan many meals, prepare and store them so they are easy to gather up for lunches or to eat at home.

often i try to plan one basic breakfast for monday thru friday. if i don't make enough for the week we often end up with eggs and sweet potatoes or oatmeal on friday. and we are okay with that.

this week i decided to use up some bacon from the freezer and make a breakfast salad. by prepping + storing the bacon, egg salad and clean, chopped kale salad separately all i need to do each morning is put the pieces together in one bowl. i made a double batch and hoped that it would be plenty for the week! so on the weekday mornings i will just make a layer of kale, scoop some egg salad and crumble bacon over top of the whole thing. we will might drizzle a little balsamic if we feel it needs something else. i put together the salads while my husband makes the coffee and we eat in our quiet kitchen after we are dressed and pretty much ready to leave the house.

i store these foods separately as it seems to keep them fresher. a bonus is that it is also more flexible that way. for example if we decide on wednesday to have toast and egg salad we are able to change the meal that tiny bit very easily.

as for lunches - once again i try to plan for one basic lunch and then if we have dinner left overs we also serve those for lunches too. we find that if the main course is something simple and filling we don't mind eating the same lunch all week.

i planned grilled chicken + egg over salad for lunch. with a few sides like whole apples, roasted nuts, watermelon and a lara bar for if we get extra hungry {i often eat a snack at the start of my walk home so i'm not starving when i walk into the front door of our house}. i prep the romaine and other greens {wash, let dry a bit, chop} and other veggies i have on hand {carrots, peppers, cucumbers, radishes - etc.} and put all those prepped vegetables in one bowl to store in the fridge. my husband will often grill several chicken breasts while i make the hardboiled eggs. i slice up the chicken once it is cooked and store in one container. the hardboiled eggs go in a separate container. we assemble the salads either the night before {and add the egg in the morning or pack it separately and add it at lunch time}. we typically mix several dressing servings {think the tiniest mason jars known to man} for the week and put one in our lunch boxes the night before.

we also do this prep in advance with the other side dishes - i chop watermelon and place servings in small glass containers {sometimes other mason jars} so we can just pull them straight from the fridge when we are about to leave for work. i make several small containers of roasted almonds + cashews. and we typically have apples and lara bars in a big fruit bowl on our kitchen table. everything is ready to go - all we have to do is put it in the lunchbox the night before we go to bed {room temperature items like the nuts, apples, lara bars} or the morning on our way out the door {cold temperature foods like the salads + watermelon}.

okay, breakfasts and lunches are ready... i think we are good for this week!

happy monday!

** the recipes i used are linked to their original source - just click on the foods listed.

how i created a short term food supply

hello there. today i thought i'd share a bit about how i spent several months figuring out how to create a short term supply of food.

{Are you not familiar with this idea? Please don't jump to super scary thoughts of an underground shelter and canned beans stacked from floor to ceiling... are you looking for a good place to start? read this pretty low key two-page pdf :: link here}

i was inspired to prepare in this way when i considered all my family's work and thoughts that made our emergency savings and get-out-of-debt plan such a success thus far. i realized something that would help us with this emergency preparedness would also be a basic food supply.

now i don't know if we're exactly prepared for some crazy out of the norm long term event {i.e. a zombie world take over - i know that my husband and i will both hold out to be saved by Brad Pitt} however, if it became difficult for us to afford groceries or one of us became very ill the family could make do with what is in our food storage and general food storage plan.

our short term storage also has been a great resource when we are just low on groceries or time when cooking a late night dinner - why not pull out that can of black beans for a protein? then you can replace it with a newer can the next time they go on sale at the store!

A Few Important Ideas that Worked for Me:

+ shopping slowly
now, i know the need can strike at anytime for the use of a food storage, however i found it most manageable when i broke down the shopping into small amounts. partly due to spending constraints, but also because i like to purchase bulk items at specific places. so i started by consider what i'd like to have in my storage and then only putting a few of those items on my shopping list when i knew that i could purchase a little more than the list of what we needed to eat for the week.

+only buy what will work for my cooking
i figured if it was something we wouldn't want to eat we would live without it. like i didn't purchase dried eggs or dried milk. it just wasn't something i was willing to say - yes i will cook with this. instead i put foods on the list i was comfortable with and planned meals with the ingredients that i thought would keep well for our storage plan. and i purchased items that didn't confuse me while reading the ingredient lists.

+use my canning stash to supplement
i enjoy canning food - jams, ketchups, salsa, tomato sauces, dill veggies - so in those went to my supply. and i planned meals or snacks with those items.

+labeling my storage space
i really believe in good labeling when it comes to food storage. i selected one cabinet to hold our extra food items and made a simple list {about 6 pages long} to state what is on each shelf and their expiration dates. this way we can eat food {and quickly replace it} before it goes bad. if there is more than we can manage we also can donate canned goods to a local food shelter before it expires so at least someone can eat it. i also use a highlighter to cross out items that we eat. that way i know quickly what we have and what we don't have on the shelf.  i like knowing what we had in the past so i don't have to go back through and re-brainstorm the initial list of what should go on these shelves.

Inspired? Want to consider making your own food storage plan? Try some of these resources for more tips, hints, and helpful ideas:

Detailed run down of how to start your 3 month food supply {with Valerie of Prepared LDS Family blog} - be sure to read the comments for a few more helpful suggestions

Pantry Shopping List + Key Points List to get you started when considering your short term food supply {with Crystal at Everyday Food Storage}

Ways to look at your 3 month supply as a "working supply of food storage" {with Shelle at Preparedness Mama}

Check out this post with a great 3 Month Planning Graphic {with Tammy from Simply Preparing}

* i've added this post to Our Simple Homestead Blog Hop! ::click here:: to head over and check out all the great information and stories from other bloggers! Thanks to all the hosts and bloggers for sharing in the fun!

making in the studio {felt ball garland}

happy hello to you this morning!

i am excited to share a recent quick craft i did. 

i've been wanting to make a garland for the studio and realized i had a beautiful stash of felt at my reach.

so a felt ball garland was an easy choice to make!

some sorting, some threading, some hanging... fun, quick, easy.

hooray for some more details in the studio!

need more garland goodness? Click ::here:: for a similar DIY with Laura.

have a lovely monday, friends!

around these parts {+ on my bookshelf}

hey there bookworms!

i've been reading like a maniac this summer. i just love having time to get into books that i enjoy that i don't necessarily plan on sharing with the kids at school.

::most recently i read::

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn


during a few recent short road trips i had a great time listening to Paper Towns by John Green and The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball. i really enjoy listening to books on cd or by virtually checking out audiobooks thru my local library {+ listening on my phone}. it has been a fun way to get in a few extra stories this summer while i can, drive, declutter or clean. i will keep up listening to audiobooks as i move into preparing for the start of the new school year.


any great books to recommend?

Thoughts + Resources from a Newbie Chicken Farmer

i really love having chickens.  it is almost embarrassing. everyone i know asks about our chickens/their coop and i talk about "the girls" almost as much as i talk about my dog. they are just fun and do sort of silly things. i love that very soon they will take care of our family's egg needs {this fall our flock of eight hens should begin to lay more than enough eggs for us to eat + share}.

i've been talking about getting chickens for a few years now. sometimes just the 'oh won't it be so fun to go collect our own eggs?' or the joke about what my chicken call would sound like {i think the chickadee inspired call: 'chicken-feed-feed-feed-feed' or the 'winner winner chicken dinner' with victory dance have been the front runners for a year or so now}.

but as i got more serious about raising our own flock {for the eggs, compost turning and garden pest control} i began to read, interact with chickens/their caretakers and dream.

so today i wanted to share a few insights + resources that helped me get chickens into our backyard...

+ get to know a few hens {or even a rooster}

i was able to "practice" raising hens for about a year before we got our own chicks. this was so helpful as it gave me just a little bit of experience and actual animals to keep healthy. the school where i teach has a very lovely garden and we decided to add just a few layers, a coop and an awesome run for the hens. the children have responsibilities to share in caring for the chickens. these truly loved hens provide eggs for when we make snacks and prepare real food with the students. so the fact that this small flock of three wasn't solely my responsibility made it easier for me to take on tasks without being overwhelmed. maybe you have a neighbor or friend who might need chicken sitters when they go on vacation or there is a local farm that asks for volunteers. you might gain experience and free eggs!

+get to know a few people who know chickens

this is pretty basic but i saved so many tidbits of information over the years from friends, neighbors, co-workers who have their own flocks - or did in the past. it is also great to have these resources when you come up against something {illness, strange behavior, etc} and you need to ask a more experienced farmer. 

+find a few favorite chicken raising websites  {click to go directly to the site}

here are some of my favorite websites...

BackYard Chickens

the forum on this site helped me a lot with coop training for my littles and identifying a broody hen at my school. so much information here and a pretty active online community.

The Chicken Chick

there were a few special posts about chicks + brooders that helped when we were hatching eggs at school... but there is lots of knowledge to gain from this chick's site.

+start reading

i checked out many homesteading, gardening, livestock books over the past few years from our local library. these are two of my favorite chicken books that i recommend over and over...

Keeping Chickens with Ashley English

this book is from her Homemade Living series and it really helped me begin to focus my plans for raising chickens, such as selecting breeds that i would enjoy and also do well in our climate. 

Free-Range Chicken Gardens: How to Create a Beautiful, Chicken-Friendly Yard by Jessi Bloom and photos by Kate Baldwin

this book has super fantastic photos that makes you want ALL the free-range chicken backyards. i found it very inspiring and it was actually a fun book to share with my students as we were waiting for our eggs to hatch {think seven year old girls making bookmarks for all their favorite coops + breeds}. 

+ be prepared to keep learning

as with pretty much all things i think there is a lot of to learn as we go. like we had a skunk interested in our coop + run recently. we did some quick research + double checked for any weak spots in our run. nothing has happened and we think we are in the clear for a bit... but not everything you will know from other resources before you have actual chickens. i think i have to learn about what happens here, in our yard, as the seasons pass. 

any other favorite chicken books or tips? want to gush about how cute my little chicks used to be? {these photos were from early May when i was playing around with my camera - because, well, baby chicks!} leave me a comment below! i'd love to talk chickens with you! and i hope to share more about my backyard chicken raising in the future here on the blog.


* i've added this post to Our Simple Homestead Blog Hop! ::click here:: to head over and check out all the great information and stories from other bloggers! Thanks to all the hosts and bloggers for sharing in the fun!

my canning favorites

i love good local food - especially when it looks pretty in a jar. and even more so when i know that i put forth the love and effort to place the tasty produce in the jar myself. i have a list of canning-mainstays for sure. i also like experimenting with something new each year. i wanted to share some of my favorites {linked to their original source} incase you are trying to decide what to can this year!

what i put-up each year...

ketchup - I love making traditional tomato ketchup so that I can control the amount of sugar in this much used condiment. Also, every other year I make roasted red pepper ketchup which was featured in the book Put 'em Up. I like to keep it as a "treat" in the ketchup department.

jam - i make atleast two types of berry jam each year {usually strawberry, cherry, blackberry or triple berry} and then either peach jam or apple butter too.

salsa - we love a good homemade salsa! to the point where once we are out of salsa in the pantry we resist buying salsa from the store as long as possible. this year i'm hoping to make more salsa than i have in the past just to avoid this situation. our favorites will always be: corn salsa + chunky salsa

tomatoes - i also can tomatoes to add to soups, chili, etc. in the winter. my family has a great tomato sauce recipe that we sometimes jar up together as well. this year i am going to use up my excess tomatoes by trying this quick + easy tomato sauce plan with a crockpot.


what i often experiment with...

various sides
i like to try to use up squash or save beautiful carrots by making interesting sides or snacks. i do love snacking on pretty much any dill vegetable.

jams or butters
i like to try at least one unique jam or fruit butter each year. i often make several jars and save them as gifts. a few of my favorites i've tried in the past:

honey sweeten peach vanilla jam

cranberry apple butter

mango jam 

{mango jam was not a locally sourced treat - but mangoes were a great price at the grocery that day!}

how about you? any adventurous canning you've tried this year? or did you just stick to your absolute favorites?

*click over to the Our Simple Homestead Blog Hop to see my post in the link-up, as well as many posts about homesteading, homemaking, and more...

*update: this post was selected as a "featured post" for the blog hop with Nancy on the Home Front! Thanks Nancy for featuring my canning favorites!

An Exceptional Fourth Wedded Anniversary

over the weekend my husband and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary! 

on friday we drove to bloomington, indiana for a visit! 

just relaxing... a few treats, some shopping, a couple of breweries and an art museum. the kind of weekend where nothing needs to be planned out - but a lady can wear a dress if she likes!

{some of our favorites from the weekend}

FARM Bloomington - serious brunch on saturday morning. 

the walk thru Indiana University's campus was BEAUTIFUL!

SOMA Coffeehouse was a nice quiet stop for us to grab drinks after a long walk thru campus 

{and not over-the-top-sweet beverages either}

a wine tasting at Oliver Winery - they have the cutest little pond + picnic area. 

we had the best burgers + fries at Upland Brewing Co.

we sampled several great brews at Function Brewing

we hit up Hopscotch Coffee on our way out of town for cold brews to go. 

i was so thankful for the time to just hang out with my favorite guy - hand in hand strolling thru the bloomington entertainment and arts district {BEAD}.  i'm a lucky mrs. for sure. 

all the happiest anniversary wishes to you, dear j. you are tops on my list and i'm ready to start up our fifth wedded year! xo ;)

some of the links in this post take you to the shops + businesses that we enjoyed over our visit - just simply sharing the love. if you'd like to read about our past anniversaries click away for our first, second, and third. 

How to Make a Declutter Challenge Easy

so here i am. about to start a third round of a minimalist game. i've found that i make more decisions when i can see my list of items grow and know that i'm making space for a clutter-free life. i figured the final 30 or so days of my summer break from teaching would be the perfect time to let go of more stuff.

i know keeping a home is more than decluttering all the time. but right now decluttering seems to be what just a few more spaces of mine needs. i truly look forward to having so many usable and loved spaces in our home.

so to kick off a new 30 day declutter challenge i thought i would remind myself and share with you a few things that we all can do to make getting rid of unnecessary things easier...

- just start. i actually just stepped away from my computer and found five things to get rid of. took less than 15 minutes to come right back here. five items, on the list. done.

- keep a running list. and an open donate container. to keep it easier to rid my home of an item at any time i just mark my amount of items on a list and then take them straight to the proper container. trash can, recycling bin, or donate container {i typically reuse cardboard boxes or paper bags}

- get in the mindset. the "liberate usable space" mindset. i took the last few days to consider places or categories of stuff that need to be addressed around our homestead. here is a little list i have ready for when i am in need of locating unneeded items:

places

 :: garage storage-shelf :: 

 :: desk ::

 :: studio closet ::

 :: under the bed storage ::

:: laundry closet ::

categories

:: bed sheets ::

:: bathroom towels ::

:: kitchen towels ::

:: toiletries ::

:: cleaning supplies :: 

 - want more tips + thoughts? click ::here:: for my first 30 days complete + click ::here and here:: for thoughts about my second round of a minimalist game.

may the most cherished + useful things stay... and here's to hoping one day all my shelves will be as organized as my canned pantry... good luck to us all!

**I just added this post to "Our Simple Homestead Blog Hop #11" - check it out and learn something new! Click::here:: 

garden + homestead update {july 2015}

so you may remember that i had big - big dreams for my garden this summer. well, it is interesting when real life happens and how much work just one or two of your {other} big visions take...

this summer we've focused our extra time and energy on a few home projects and our lovely little chickens.

this means i haven't moved our garden beds to a sunnier spot yet. nor have i planted them. i'm dedicating more of my food growth/prep time to canning and using up {or putting up} what our great CSA brings us. we were early adopters of one of our local CSAs and man after a few years of working out what to supply they are bringing the veggies I tell you!

so as to what we've actually done this summer with our garden plans... our coop is perfect! my husband out did himself this time and i love how it has turned out. we even cleared a little portion of our back yard to place the girls back in a mostly shady area that we think they really enjoy {think low branches for roosting and pine needles for scratching}. we are into a great little routine with our girls and they've decided that i am the source of food and my husband is the source of loud, unpredictable noises - such as mowing the lawn, or general wood-maker/saw sounds. it is pretty great. i love the chickens just as much as i thought i would.

we have a few finishing touches to put on the coop + run. so i'll just have to promise a super tour sometime soon.

as for what's next... i'm thinking about canning up local tomatoes, hoping for the time to make roasted red pepper ketchup and then maybe even making a year's worth of salsa.

how about you, enjoying summer's bounty? what are you growing? canning?


*I'm happy to also note that I just added this blog post to the {Our Simple Homestead Blog Hop #10} click ::here:: to check out some of the great posts featured on this link up!

sew lovely::a few significant stitches

i had gotten into a bit of a sewing rut. where many other things always seemed more important of a task and i just didn't get out my machine.

plenty of little project ideas, and even all the materials to do them.

but yesterday. that was the day. the day to put a few stitches on the studio curtains. 

short. simple. needed.

needed for me. and for those windows.

how about you? any good stitches lately? 

around these parts {+ on my bookshelf}

happiest Wednesday to you!

i've been getting into several books this summer season!

which makes me oh so happy. 

::most recently i read::

Still Alice by Lisa Genova...

i really enjoyed this book and read it in like a day and a half. highly i recommend it. but i did get fairly emotional during reading.


The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

i also enjoyed this book. it was a longer read and i enjoyed getting lost in a few chapters - reading for an hour or two at a time. i don't often put this much time forth in reading, but since it is summer break i thought i deserved a little quiet afternoon reading in our sunny chair.

okay, now, let's go grab a book + read...

i have The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright patiently waiting to be picked up!

moments in the kitchen :: summer kitchen fun

okay my dears! we are in the thick of it... summer kitchen excitement!

i've been busy with pickling, smoothie + kombucha making and veggie chopping a plenty. i think it is time for sharing some links as a way to celebrate july in the kitchen...

making the best refrigerator dill pickles known to the history of cucumbers. {even my dear gal pal kaytie thinks so!}

trying out this banana ketchup recipe and making enough to freeze a jar.

and considering making this mango jam recipe to be showcased during an upcoming brunch at our house.

How about you? Loving some summertime cooking in the kitchen? I'd love to know more about it!



**I added this post to Our Simple Homestead Blog Hop #9...  click on over to check out all the fun links!

cleaners i like to make at home

Oh summer! My perfect season for a serious cleaning around the house. 

During the month of June I was able to organize and deep clean many spaces in our home {as well as a huge declutter!}. 

All of my work made me want to share some of my favorite resources + links of cleaners I like to make at home...

My favorite home cleaners to make {from Young House Love}

the DIY foaming hand soap recipe I use {thanks Katie from Wellness Mama!}

a super podcast from Pure Green Magazine 'Detox Your Cleaning with Authors of Homemade Cleaners'... I actually tried a few of the tips/recipes the very day I listened. Very inspiring!

Put on some good tunes, grab a rag and get to it friends! I've been seriously digging some 

Pokey LaFarge this summer - be prepared to dance while dusting :)

Happy Cleaning!


**I'm happy to also note that I just added this blog post to the {Our Simple Homestead Blog Hop #8} click ::here:: to check out some of the great posts featured on this link up! Thanks Tracy for hosting!