As much as I dislike and distrust our current national administration, I also deeply value community harmony.
As a new parent I tried to delight over stocking stuffers, wrapping paper, and battery-powered plastic thingamabobs. But none of it made me happy.
I hate clutter, and one morning I just couldn't take it anymore. Here's how I got my kids to throw out their toys and tidy up our house.
Our isolated life on the farm keeps my family close, but it can also stand in the way of my daughter becoming her own person.
In his book 鈥淗ow to Raise a Wild Child,鈥� Dr. Scott D. Sampson argues that the current disconnect between kids and the natural world is a threat to their physical, mental, and emotional health.
I never thought farming would mean owning a post office. But looking at my community and our need to define ourselves as a place, that seems to be our family farm's next job.
As I begin to take over my parent鈥檚 farm, I鈥檝e learned how important it is for my family to celebrate our strengths, acknowledge our weaknesses, and work together as a team.
When it was my turn to raise kids, I was certain I鈥檇 get it all right. But it doesn鈥檛 happen by the book.
When my family's dog passed away, I was faced with the question of how to talk to my children about sadness and death.
When my mom had a medical emergency on Mother's Day, I was reminded to cherish the time I have with her.
Farming and writing don't bring home the bacon鈥攚hy I'm no longer ashamed to ask my community to help.
This year鈥檚 muddy spring presents my family with the chance to pull together more closely than ever.
Tired of the spending that goes along with the holidays? The gifting frenzy? The stress? Maybe this is the year to blend a few new ideas into your holiday routine.
Magic is about stepping into our power, about uniting our intentions with the natural world to create something better, something deeper.
A short list of books that have kept discovery alive and well in 2014 at Sap Bush Hollow farm.
Quite often it is our darker side that illuminates the best part of us, that brings us to where we need to be.
I love my solitude. I also love my community. But my independent nature has never been unusual in this town.
I had grown up identifying joblessness with shame and failure. But here we were, on the other side of the employment equation, and for the first moment in my grown-up life, everything felt 鈥� right.
Rather than feeling guilty for not giving each child everything they deserve, I will feel gratitude for the grace with which they accept my limits.
If there is one key to making it in a family farm鈥攐r in any business that thwarts the trend toward relentless greed and destruction of the planet鈥攊t is the ability to believe.
I have lived for 40 years, gathered 10 years of higher education, and never before this moment understood the foundation of science.
Sure, life goes on even if it is devoid of buttercream. But when it is there, life just seems so perfect鈥攅ven if you only get to eat buttercream once or twice in a year.
While making the season's tomato sauce at three in the morning, I mull over the origins of my desire to farm.
No matter what age we are, the challenge of telling others "no" never really goes away.
"There are times when I question whether I was a fool to walk away from a conventional career."
Each year I take a week-long break from radical homemaking to act like a "normal mom" and take my kids to camp. It's never easy鈥攁nd this year was no exception.
What at first seemed like a disturbing reaction to an article was all about my kids finding something they could relate to in the story.
As a mother, I have made life choices that can鈥檛 always include everything my children want鈥攍ike hiking the Adirondacks. Here鈥檚 how I learned to overcome the guilt.
The experience of debt can guide us toward different ways of living鈥攍ike having extended generations share a household鈥攖hat are both cheaper and more fulfilling.
Moments of sadness are inevitable in a life filled with deep connections to other people.
When You Live in the Local Economy, Musicians Are Just People (And Cyndi Lauper Is Coming to Dinner)
After getting mad at her daughter for handing hard earned money to a street performer, "Radical Homemaker" Shannon Hayes considers what musicians bring to the local economy.
A midnight run-in with a spiny interloper forced me to re-evaluate my priorities.
I've learned not to worry about whether others approve of my life. But applying the same thinking to my daughter is a challenge.
I made the choice to give up a career in law and return to my family farm. Now, I wait to see if my daughter will do the same.
I've learned to embrace the dreams I most deeply desire, but also the burdens that so often work against them.
Books should light up our lives鈥攅specially during the dark days of winter. Here are a few to pass along.
If it takes being a "controlling wife" to make my husband value his own health over his love for his family, I'm going to do it.
Stepping into the realm of creativity can be scary for little ones. But reward for sticking with it is the powerful feeling of making something beautiful with your own hands.
Self-reliant farmer types may not think they need help from the government. But they need affordable health insurance at least as much as the rest of us.
Living a happy life in love is the most important sexual education we can give our kids.
I've built a life filled with work I love. But the challenge of choosing among competing joys is very real.
It feels bad to throw away the crayon drawings and unfinished projects. But the memories stored there can never really be lost.
I never expected to develop such a strong connection with another person鈥檚 child. But once it happened, I had to learn how to let her go.
Country people have a reputation for viewing outsiders with skepticism. But it turns out they have good reasons for doing that.
Maybe there鈥檚 something deeper to the stereotype of old-school farmers as plodding, slow-moving people.
Heather and I were like oil and water. We made polite conversation but couldn鈥檛 find a single thing in common. But slowly over time, a friendship has grown.
Wearing a sunhat and a cape because you want to is innocence. Doing so when you know others don鈥檛 like it is bravery.
Selling food in the freezing rain is not my favorite thing. But seeing my customers come out in the bad weather reminded me of why of do this work.
I was afraid of being judged by a neighbor who began giving free French lessons to my kids. But the worries melted away as our friendship grew deeper.
When we visualize the lives we desire, we often leave out the difficulties and frustrations. But they鈥檙e inevitable, and in the end they make the rewards of life more satisfying.
There鈥檚 nothing like talk of 鈥済overnment handouts鈥� to get people upset. But when it comes to farm bill, the real culprits might not be who you think they are.
Using young children as political props is problematic, to say the least. But when they do form their own opinion, it鈥檚 important to let them express it.
Children鈥檚 future happiness is not tied to how well they behave or whether they will be able to hold a job. It is tied to their ability to create with their minds and their hands.
We know about the ecological problems that follow when farmers are asked to 鈥渇eed the world.鈥� What would happen if they just tried to feed their neighbors instead?
How to live a fulfilled and happy life without going broke.
Breaking our families into nuclear units has an ecological and emotional cost. Could the multigenerational farm remind us where to turn for a viable future?
It鈥檚 a good time to be in farming if you like to grow corn. It鈥檚 a tough time if you see yourself as a steward of the land. Shannon Hayes on why growers pressured by corn-heavy markets should hold out for crops that nourish the Earth.
Sometimes Shannon Hayes finds herself missing the days before she was a mother. But the circle of familial give-and-take love makes the trade-off worth it.
Caught in the consumer trap? Radical Homemaker Shannon Hayes discovered that producing what she needs at home lets her live on a fraction of what she thought she needed.