After a very transformative last few weeks, I’m back in the blogging saddle again! I’m struggling a little on what exactly this week’s topic will be, so I decided to just start writing and hopefully it will end up focused, and not just my ramblings.

For the last year or so we’ve been a homeschooling family, which truly was a blessing in 2020 if you know what I mean. We were so thankful that we were able to avoid the masks, intermittent school closings, quarantines and overall confusion that the pandemic brought.

We started this homeschool year off with the same intentions, but it just wasn’t working as well for us as it did last year. The kids were restless and hard to focus, I was constantly being pulled in other directions as our farm grew and Andy became more busy with the harvest that continues even today.

We made the tough decision to send the kids back to a small christian school that is only about 10 minutes from our house. It’s been such a blessing!

Our day-to-day looks different now- I get up at 6 am, milk the cows and then come in to wake the kids up for school. I drop them off and come back home, clean up the barn, feed the animals and am free to work on other projects while they’re gone. I pick them up at the end of the school day and milk again when we get home.

This new routine has allowed us to enjoy each other so much more, and I can relax and enjoy my evenings with Andy and the kids, knowing that there isn’t a mile-long list waiting for me in the morning.

I soooo admire other ranch/Catholic mothers and have read many a blog & book on how they all do it. Kendra Tierney, Holly Pierlot, The Pioneer Woman, and Jill at The Prairie Homestead are a few of my favorites. I looked to ladies like them, trying to pattern my days and seasons after theirs, and also implement Weston A. Price nutrition strategies, but I was always left frustrated and overwhelmed.

What did I learn? I’m not them. Our family is different, our farm is different, our geography is different, my tolerance for chaos is different, my patience level is definitely different, and basically I’m not them. Duh!

So now what? I didn’t throw it all away, there are many things that I can use/do from each way of life that I have learned from. I realize that you may not be in the same situation as me, but I hope that some of my experience will be a blessing and help to you too!

A day on the ranch with me-

I’m up and at’em before sunrise. This just works best for me, even though I am definitely not what you’d call a morning person. Waking up while its dark doesn’t come easily to me, but I’m always in awe at the experience of each new sunrise.

Then its back to the house to get the kids up and ready to get to school. We always pick out clothes and pack lunches the night before so we have plenty of time to get out the door.

On the drive to school we say the Rosary together every day. We follow along with a group of about 800 others @ manyhailmarysatatime on Instagram.

When I return home, I finish cleaning the barn and milkhouse if I didn’t have time before. I check on the sheep and milk cows to make sure bedding is clean, water and food is full, and I also check the nesting boxes for eggs and clean bedding for our free range hens.

Then to the kitchen where I clean up any dishes and either have a quick breakfast myself, or make something hot if Andy is around.

The middle of the day is when I can do some cleaning, laundry, baking, creating, writing or other projects I’d like/need to do. I also make appointments during this time, do bookwork, milk testing etc. Basically this is my time to get caught up and do anything I need to get finished before the kids come home (in peace).

I pick the kids up after school, and we talk about their day on the way home. When we get home we go through their backpacks and I make a mental to-do list for later. Then I milk the cows, and check the sheep again.

Dinner prep follows, and the kids do homework in the kitchen so I can give guidance as I prepare dinner. After dinner we do their reading and relax together until its time for them to get to bed. Andy and I stay up a little later, but not too late because morning comes fast! Then we do it all again!

The above daily schedule is what I use as a starting point, of course, there are variables that come into play.

• Sunday Mass attendance every week is so essential. We love attending mass at the St. Joseph Mission Church in Foster City. It feels like home to us there, and we’ve recently decided to make it our home parish.
• Monday’s and Thursday’s we deliver milk to Marquette and Norway/Escanaba respectively. I’ve hired my daughter to do the Marquette run and that has really helped, otherwise I was working from 6 am to 6 pm on Mondays without rest. This way I can sanitize the bulk tank once I’m done bottling, clean the milkhouse and still have the middle of my day for other tasks while she does the delivering. Thursday’s deliveries do not take all day, so those I can take care of myself. This also gets me to Escanaba so I can pick up the groceries!
• Farm tours- we often have requests for farm tours around here and we are always happy to schedule those along the way.
• Harvest Dates- because if you can’t beat em, join em. Sometimes its the only time I see Andy during harvest season and also in the spring during planting.
• Parts runs, hauling animals…. all the farm-wife things that I can do to help Andy.
• Kids activities- So we’re talking sports events, play dates, school functions, appointments…
• Weekends- we try very hard to not plan anything but fun on the weekends. Of course we still have to care for the animals, but besides that we try to just enjoy each other’s company.

Some things that help me along the way! (not listed in order of importance)

The following contains affiliate links- if you use the links below to purchase any of my favorite products, it helps support our ranch too!

My faith– this is what gives me meaning, direction and strength. Sometimes it’s applied as the strength to know that I can’t do it all, always it’s what gives the strength to accomplish what I do get done. If you are interested in learning more about the Catholic faith, please ask me- if I don’t know the answer, I will find someone who does. Here’s another resource too: Catholics Come Home

eMeals– (this is a referral link that gives me credit there) I often use this app to create a menu for the week and I can export the list to Walmart’s shopping app to order curbside. Otherwise, you can use the list on the app (which is in supermarket order) to go shopping at any store you like. Every week I meal plan for the week ahead, usually on Wednesday so that I can pick up my groceries (mostly curbside) when I deliver milk to Escanaba on Thursday afternoon.

Misfits Market, (this is a referral link that gives me credit there) and our CSA- I am NO vegetable gardener (although I love my herb garden). I always start my vegetable garden with good intentions, but I can never keep up. I can support a local farmer though, and we did enjoy our CSA deliveries this summer from Yooper Produce. We’re already signed up for next year! In the off-season we love ordering our produce from Misfits Market.

Blessed Is She Planner– if you are looking for a planner, this is the best I’ve found, especially if you are a Catholic mama. It really helps you through the liturgical year, shows the saint of the day, prayers, goals, and has places for habit tracking and to list things your grateful for each day.

Cookbooks- in addition to eMeals, I love my Nourishing Traditions, Prairie Homestead and Pioneer Woman cookbooks. I may not be able to use the Weston A. Price philosophies 100%, but ANYTHING homemade is a thousand times better than prefab or fast food. Many of the recipes I will share I have developed using principles found in these books, and others have been handed down from our family.

Young Living Essential Oils– my herb garden provides some of the herbal remedies and culinary herbs I need, and what I can’t harvest from there, I order from Young Living. Did you know that I can hook you up with their products? You betcha! And I’ll be sharing how I use herbs and essential oils around here in future posts. You can’t beat Young Living’s seed-to-seal guarantee and that’s why they are my second choice, right after what I grow on my own.

Instant Pot– because sometimes I forget to thaw the meat, and that’s the truth. Also, if you want hard boiled farm fresh eggs you can actually peel, yogurt from our raw milk, or nutritious bone broth, its the only way to go.

Carrie- my dear friend, comes in one day per week and cleans floors, dusts, detail vacuums and does the bathrooms and a couple other things. It doesn’t take her all that long, but it sure helps- and we get some visiting in too- a win-win! A true friend and blessing for sure.

Robot Vacuums– they are life-changing, yes. they. are. We think Neato brand are the best. I have one in our big, lower level mud/laundry room, and one on the main floor of the house. With the kids and the dogs, it really helps to have Jeffery and Harmonica around (the kids named them). I also have one in the milkhouse!

Kierra- a beautiful, sweet soul who started milking my cows one weekend a month, and here and there, so that we can get away as a family once in a while. She LOVES our cows and they love her. I do intend on introducing her more formally in another post too. She’s really been a blessing to us!

The kids and Andy- who take up the slack when I fall short, and are always willing helpers. We are a great team.

I definitely don’t have it all figured out, but I hope this article has given you a little glimpse into what our lives look like day-to-day.

We love the lifestyle our ranch provides us, and we hope you can take pieces of what we share and use it to enrich your life too.

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Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Colossians 3:17