By Holly Giles | Kitchen , Simple Living
Canning Sliced Peaches Canning sliced peaches are the perfect taste of summer for me since my days at the barn in Alabama with my grandparents. Those juicy bites of perfection dripping down my face were a delight. Watching my grandmother “put up” peaches wasn’t as much fun as swinging on the grapevines out back so […]
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By Holly Giles | Kitchen , Simple Living
Homemade Blueberry Syrup Blueberry Syrup is a wonderful concoction that has many purposes. At first, you might wonder why you would want to discard the blueberry pulp and only use the juice? This method a way to use up berries that are just about spent and still put food on the table. Uses Blueberry syrup […]
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By Holly Giles | Handmade , Kitchen , Simple Living
Iced Coffee Iced coffee is a relatively new term for this generation. My grandmother just called it cold coffee. She had been making it for years before it was cool. Basically, when her morning coffee got cold because she was too busy to drink it, she just threw a few ice cubes in it and […]
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By Holly Giles | family , Home , Simple Living
Investing in Food Investing in food can have many meanings. Time into gardening at home, cooking from scratch or sourcing your food from local places. It was about 1979 when I had a vivid memory of going to Long and Scott Farm for Zellwood corn. Each year my grandparents hopped in my papa’s pick up […]
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By Holly Giles | family , Home , Simple Living
Our Backyard Chicken Story Our chicken story began twenty years ago. My husband, Curtis, and I have gone back and forth about having backyard chickens. He would want to get started and I didn’t want the responsibility. Then, I would get excited about it and he would not. We never got serious about it until […]
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By Holly Giles | Home , Simple Living
Living Simply from a Pioneer Perspective The idea of living simply from the pioneer culture and Laura Ingalls Wilder has a lot to teach us modern-day folk. Pioneer times may be pushing 200 years old, but the lessons we can learn for living today still apply. Laura Ingalls Wilder was fascinating in that she lived […]
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By Holly Giles | Home , Simple Living
7 Simple Tips to Start Seeds Indoors Starting vegetable seeds indoors is a great way to extend your gardening budget and your growing season. However, starting vegetables from seed can be a bit tricky for many novice gardeners. Fortunately, the seven simple steps outlined below simplifies this process and make it much more fun and […]
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By Holly Giles | Home , Simple Living
Baker Creek Seed Company is nestled in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains in Missouri. My fellow Roadschool Mom, Mary Beth and I along with three of our children visited here on a road trip. Baker Creek is an heirloom company preserving and selling heritage seeds from generations ago. This family-owned farm is taking big […]
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By Holly Giles | Kitchen , Simple Living
Honey Wheat Bread Honey Wheat bread is our favorite multi-use bread. We use it weekly for sandwiches and toast. Print out the recipe for Honey Whole Wheat Bread and gather the ingredients together. Bake your bread along with Holly as she demonstrates the recipe or watch the video once before making your own loaves. […]
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By Holly Giles | Simple Living
Our family loves smores all year long, in small doses. There is something magical about a fire in a fireplace or in your backyard that beckons the squishy marshmallow to be plunged into it. I classify smores as a life skill for several reasons. No matter where you live, you will have the opportunity at […]
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