4 Reasons A CSA Is Right For You
You Believe In Supporting Local When you have your choice of going to the mall, or hitting the corner store on main street - you always opt local. Maybe you grew up in a small town and supporting your friends and family was just part of daily life, or maybe you thrive...
How To Make Butter
There's something extra special about homemade butter. It's easy to whip up, an excellent base for compound butter and the perfect addition to a fresh baked loaf of bread. My family is notorious for a little thing I like to call "double carbs". My great grandma would...
Garlic Grove
I’ve always enjoyed cooking and since moving here, it’s really grown into a passion. I love the versatility of ingredients, the fact that we grow a majority of our own, and that I get to share good food with the people I love. However, you should be warned that every...
Blueberry Journey: All Hands
How did you transplant your blueberries? Lots of hard work and persistence. We can honestly say we’ve never done something so mentally and physically demanding. And not just for a few hours, for full days. The backhoe arrived as scheduled and Rich got to work learning...
Mournicopia
Mournicopia: Living between mourning and coping. Let’s get you all up to speed. Saturday I broke two fingers stacking wood, Sunday our dog went missing from our front yard, Monday I laid in bed and mourned, Tuesday I rescued Rich from a truck breakdown, Wednesday Rich...
A Letter To Our Homestead 2017
An open letter to our homestead, not as much for you as it is for us. After the blueberry series, we needed a little time to reflect on not only our goals for the new year ahead, but more importantly to recognize all that we’ve accomplished this year. It’s easy to get...
Foraging For Greens
The natural look of orange garland and foraged wreaths seems to be a frugal holiday trend this year. While we’re not usually ones to follow, I loved the idea of wandering our property to collect items to decorate our home. Foraging for Greens I thought we had a pretty...
Salsa Verde
At the end of the summer, when I saw how many tomatillo plants we ended up with, I distinctly remember looking at Rich and saying “what are we going to do with all these?” As usual, he responded “that’s your job, I just grow em’.” We had never grown a tomatillo a day...
Simple Orange Garland
When we moved, we lost all our Christmas decorations and tree. And by lost I mean we left them in storage and didn’t realize it until months later. Last year we decided to take an economical route and make handmade decorations with the kids. I thought it was great...
Blueberry Journey: The Test
I woke up to darkness, but my mind was 100 steps ahead of dreamy slumber. Clean up last night's dishes, cook chili to feed the troops, sweep the floor of yesterday's mud, prep the trailer with our gathered tools... the list seemed never ending in anticipation for what...
Why Is Merino Wool So Expensive?
Taking our Wiley Woolly to shows always results in the same things. The touch, compliments on how soft the blankets are, and then the brave ones ask “How much?” Some are bold enough to say they can just make it themselves, but most nod and walk away abruptly ending...
Blueberry Journey: The Plan
The idea of transplanting blueberry plants onto our property seemed to align with our homestead’s greater goals & so we began the plan for over 200 plants!
Fail Proof Cheddar Biscuits
Cheddar Biscuits, Cheddar Bay Biscuits, Cheddar Jalapeno Biscuits - whatever you want to name them it's the one savory biscuit recipe you should always have on hand. I searched the web trying to find the perfect cheddar biscuit, only to either not have Bisquick or...
First Year Garden Fails
First Year Garden Fails: What We Learned The Hard Way – As we preserve the last of our bounty, we’ve begun to reflect on this years accomplishments and mistakes. To document our journey, we’ve compiled our “First Year Garden Fails” not to necessarily emphasize our weak points but to better illustrate the adventure. From old pros to new green thumbs, I’m sure you’ll find one aspect or another relatable.
Where Wiley Stands
This past year has been the proverbial “roller coaster” for Wiley Concepts. When searching for our new home, Wiley was at the forefront of finding the perfect property with a wood shop we could call our own. While a 1930s wood shop may not have been ideal, we made it...
Why We Farm
Before you go any further we feel like you should know why we’re here, and what exactly we plan to do. Why are we here? To get back to the basics. That’s kind of how this whole thing started. We’re tired of running loops for other people, around other people, with...
Blueberry Hand Pies
Blueberry Hand Pies are the taste of late summer, perfectly sized and full-flavored, these are a must! Now, I feel like I should preface this post by stating we are not food bloggers. However, as we continue to preserve food from our land and create new kitchen...