I have been blogging for 3 years and have never written an introduction blog about who I am. So, I figured after recently celebrating my three year writing anniversary, it was time to officially introduce myself. Hi, my name is Rachel, and I love God, my family, and creating beautiful things through food, the garden, and in the home.
Homestead on Lakeside Homeschool
My husband and I have three boys who are full of energy and excitement all day long. So, as a homeschool family, when we moved to our home 5 years ago, we knew we wanted a place for our boys to roam and explore. A place for them to build forts and climb trees. To get dirty and enjoy the sunshine. A place for them to be boys.
Homestead on Lakeside Gardening
We live on the edge of a forest, lakeside, in Central Florida. So we share our backyard with bears, deer, turkey, and much more. It’s been a difficult gardening and homesteading journey with all of the wildlife. The bears love to scale the trees into the chicken coop to eat their food, and the hawks like to eat the chickens. It’s difficult to grow typical garden varieties of food and flowers with the extreme forest tree canopy and the hundreds of deer that pass through our property daily. But I love this place, challenges and all. I love the birds that greet us every morning with their songs and the ever changing green landscape around us.
Homestead on Lakeside Food from Scratch
One of my favorite ways to show my love to my family is through food. Food made from scratch is more delicious, healthier, and less expensive. Although our day to day lives are busy with school and sports, the food they eat is more important. When I’m feeling overwhelmed with busy schedules and find myself standing in the frozen food isle, I try to take a step back and remember why I take the time to cook from scratch. It’s my love language to my family. This doesn’t mean that I don’t grab a quick pizza meal here and there. But, I try my best to provide food that is nourishing to their bodies.
Homestead on Lakeside Sourdough
Through my food from scratch journey came my love for sourdough. I mean, have you ever read the ingredients of store bought bread?! Years ago, I read two books that shaped my cooking journey: one called Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and the other Nutrional and Physical Degeneration by Weston A Price (This one is on my nightstand because I have reread it so many times). These books are life changing, and I highly recommend them.
Thankfully, there has been an internet movement with sourdough. It has become popular in our fast-paced world to make something that is slow, delicious, and beautiful. I love how versatile sourdough is. Anything that you need yeast for, it can be used. I love the history of sourdough. How our ancestors used it before there were packets of yeast to buy from the store. I love the health benefits. How much easier it is for our bodies to digest since it has been fermented. And I love to eat sourdough, man, it’s delicious!
Thank you
Well, it has been a joy sharing a little bit of my story with you. I am thankful for those who come to this little spot on the internet to follow along with us being a homemade family. Sharing from scratch recipes, sourdough inspiration, and our homeschool journey. I look forward to continuing to get to know you while sharing our food and life journey from our homestead on lakeside.
You can join more of our day to day story by following along @homesteadonlakeside .
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