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| Brian and I before kids, camping and hiking and being irresponsible. :) |
I'm Kelin (pronounced Kell-in) and I'm a homesteader. For several years I was able to multi-task as an executive chef and a mostly stay-at-home Mom to two. Since my restaurant closed, I am now a full-time mom and "domestic manager," a job I feel blessed to be able to have. My days are filled with joy, sometimes discipline, plenty of farm-y chores, and lots of cooking! My husband is a mechanical design engineer, but he’s really Leonardo DaVinci without the long beard. We met while in college: he studying painting, me literature – because we’re both just that practical. My husband is presently back in college earning a graduate degree in engineering. We have Chloe, who is 4, and Liam, who is 2.
The tag line on this blog says that we are a family learning to live simply. What does that mean? For us it means there is a base understanding of want versus need. That doesn't mean we deny ourselves all wants and live only on the bare necessities. Rather, it means when we do treat ourselves to a want, the reward is richer and more appreciated. Put simply, by stripping away excess and preconceived notions of "ordinary life," I've found I have so much more for which to be thankful.
Just like my life philosophy, my food philosophy is pretty simple: I believe that food is a ritual, that it can provide medicine to our souls, and when eaten in appreciation of its time and place, balance to a cluttered world. I believe food is best kept simple and approachable, and that truly delicious food is made not with the brain, but with the heart. I didn't always cook simply. On the contrary, there are some recipes in the recipe archives on this blog that are pretty complex. Most of my present day cooking, however, is an attempt to reduce my favorite flavors down to their core, so that just as I sort through the clutter in my home and my life, I sort through the ingredients in my recipes.
I keep rules and discipline simple, too. The rules have shifted a bit as the kids grow and their needs develop, but right now there are three: 1. We treat nicely. 2. We take care. 3. We respect. It's my belief that teaching children good philosophy will, in the long run, engender better behavior than a myriad of fixed rules.
We are 1 year in to home-ownership, having purchased our first house on a half-acre of land in the town I grew-up-in. Our home backs up to a nature preserve and sits in a quiet neighborhood with lots of kids. We presently have about 600 square feet of dedicated food production space in our backyard, as well as our long-awaited chickens. We have goals to plant some fruiting trees next.
This blog encompasses all of these things. Truthfully, it's about my life - the food, the discipline, the gardening - the journey. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
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| This is a view off our deck of the butterfly/herb garden and the secondary garden (which is a raised bed garden in progress this season). The flower and herb garden wraps around the whole deck, but this is my favorite view. |
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| Some of our chickens enjoying the delicious weedy grass. :) |
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| The view of the secondary garden and deck from the primary garden. |
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| The primary garden as seen in early Spring this year. |
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| Vegetables! |
