One More Seat

It turns out there was one more seat at our family table. We get to welcome a baby boy into the world in early October, just as summer is fading into fall. Although I am not blogging regularly anymore, the news just feels too big to not share.

Life feels very full, but somehow I just knew we weren’t quite done with our family. Juniper and River are both excited for their new baby brother. Jay and I feel so privileged to be able to make room in our lives for one more child.

Gosh, it was agonizing at times when we were trying to decide if three kids made sense for our family. It means we less times, less money, a minivan… But is also means more love, more adventure, more sibling bonding (and bickering), another set of hands searching for berries in the garden, and never having to wonder later in life “what if?”

The first couple years with a baby made homesteading a challenge, but I have learned how to pull back on things that aren’t important. It’s ok to buy tomato starts when you have a newborn. It’s totally fine to u-pick berries when you didn’t harvest yours in time. Homesteading is not a contest or perfection – it’s just doing your best to have balance, find simplicity, be humbled by nature, live in the season.

Both kids are now old enough to help me plant the spring garden, collect eggs, feed the chickens, harvest carrots, and so on. I know I won’t get all my canning projects done this fall with a newborn. But I also know this season of life won’t last forever, and soon enough I’ll have another set of taste buds wanting to try our homemade strawberry preserves.

Expect an update from my this fall, if not sooner. In the meantime, I’ll be in my studio working on landscape designs, outside tending our homestead, or perhaps kicking my feet up to watch my family play in our garden at dusk. I hope your spring garden gets seeded soon and summer brings you lots of bumper crops.