274. Recent changes I’ve made in my baking, our no-fuss approach to family goals, how I handle tantrums, and more Q&A!

Summary

Episode Summary: Simple Farmhouse Life - Episode 274

Host: Lisa Bass
Release Date: January 28, 2025
Episode Title: Recent changes I’ve made in my baking, our no-fuss approach to family goals, how I handle tantrums, and more Q&A!

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In Episode 274 of the Simple Farmhouse Life podcast, Lisa Bass delves into a variety of topics ranging from her recent baking adjustments to her streamlined approach to family goals and effective strategies for managing children's tantrums. The episode is structured around listener questions, allowing Lisa to provide in-depth insights drawn from her extensive experience as a homemaker, blogger, and mother of eight.

1. Recent Changes in Baking

Lisa begins by addressing a listener's struggle with dense whole wheat sourdough bread. She recommends investing in a grain mill to achieve fresher, less compacted flour, which can significantly improve bread texture.

“If you can acquire a grain mill from somewhere now, you could get something like the Nutra mill... two cups of wheat berries into a grain mill, two cups of flour do not come out way more than that comes out. So that could help some with the density.” [04:30]

Key Adjustments:

• Freshly Milled Flour: Switching from store-bought to freshly milled whole wheat flour to enhance bread rise and reduce density.
• Measuring by Weight: Using a scale to measure flour accurately (approximately 140 grams per cup) to avoid excess bulk that contributes to heaviness.
• Stretch and Fold Technique: Emphasizing the importance of the stretch and fold method over traditional kneading for better gluten development and dough manageability.

Lisa shares her successful experience with a whole wheat roll recipe, highlighting the benefits of letting the dough sit and using stretch and folds to achieve a light, airy texture.

“When you first go to mix the dough up, it's going to feel like it'll never come together. But after you let it sit for a while... it actually absorbs the grains and all the liquid.” [07:45]

2. No-Fuss Approach to Family Goals

Addressing how she maintains focus on family objectives amidst daily responsibilities, Lisa emphasizes the importance of small, consistent steps rather than grand, immediate changes.

“When you first start out with something, you expect each intention to be something very groundbreaking as opposed to little small steps that you do every day over lots of years.” [00:45]

Strategies Implemented:

• Overarching Goals: Maintaining simple, long-term objectives such as acquiring land for homesteading and homeschooling without a formal mission statement.
• Incremental Progress: Achieving family goals through gradual actions, ensuring that each step aligns with their ultimate vision.
• Flexibility: Allowing the family's needs and circumstances to guide the pace and nature of their progress, ensuring goals remain attainable and relevant.

Lisa reflects on her journey, reassuring listeners that steady progress is key and that being too rigid can hinder the natural evolution of family plans.

3. Handling Tantrums

Lisa shares her approach to managing tantrums, particularly focusing on her experiences with her oldest daughter. She debunks the notion that tantrums are abnormal, highlighting them as a natural part of child development.

“Every single kid throws fits. And I do think that it is helpful if you understand that it's normal so that you don't have to think like, okay, well, because I remember when my second she threw so many more fits than my first... they just have to go through it.” [27:50]

Effective Techniques:

• Emotional Validation: Offering extra attention and allowing the child to express their feelings without judgment.
• Consistency: Maintaining consistent routines and boundaries to provide stability during emotional outbursts.
• Perspective: Viewing tantrums as opportunities for children to develop emotional regulation rather than as behavioral problems.

Lisa emphasizes that tantrums are not indicative of parental failure but rather a normal stage in childhood that, with patience and understanding, can be navigated successfully.

4. Q&A Highlights

a. Replacing Kneading with Stretch and Folds

A listener inquires about the efficacy of the stretch and fold method versus traditional kneading, especially in recipes requiring extensive kneading like bagels.

“For the best and easiest way to develop all sourdough gluten is with stretch and folds. I've exclusively switched to that. I never use my mixer...” [19:15]

Lisa explains that stretch and folds are not only effective but also more adaptable to modern, busy lifestyles, eliminating the need for labor-intensive kneading processes.

b. Geriatric Pregnancies

Another question touches on pregnancies in the 40s and the associated stigma.

“I have had two geriatric pregnancies at this point and I really hope to have like two more. Honestly, if I could, that's probably what I would pick.” [29:10]

Lisa shares her positive experiences with late-age pregnancies, addressing societal judgments and emphasizing personal choice and physical capability over societal expectations.

c. Decorating Style Discovery

Listeners seek advice on finding and maintaining a cohesive decorating style.

“I still make mistakes. I see things and I know I like them, but then they're just paired with the wrong color or the wrong furniture.” [32:10]

Tips Provided:

• Experimentation: Moving furniture and décor pieces between rooms to discover optimal placements.
• Inspiration Sources: Utilizing books, Pinterest, and personal preferences to guide aesthetic choices.
• Patience: Allowing time for pieces to naturally find their place within the home’s overall design.

d. Balancing Self-Care and Motherhood

A listener expresses difficulty in finding time for personal hobbies while managing a large family.

“The number one thing I currently do to fill my cup is go out on a date with my husband and go out with my sisters.” [31:20]

Lisa advises prioritizing small, regular self-care activities and leveraging the support of older children and extended family to carve out personal time without neglecting familial responsibilities.

5. Upcoming Projects and Conclusion

Lisa concludes by teasing upcoming content related to her new house and land building process. She plans to share the journey of designing a new farmhouse that blends old aesthetics with functional homestead living, inviting listeners to follow along for practical insights and inspiration.

“I will definitely be showing all of that... I'm really trying to create the look of a new house that looks old. And so I'm excited to take you all along on that journey.” [34:30]

Final Thoughts: Throughout the episode, Lisa Bass underscores the value of simplicity, patience, and intentionality in both homemaking and family life. Her practical advice, grounded in personal experience, offers listeners actionable strategies to enhance their own lives while maintaining alignment with their core values and goals.

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Notable Quotes:

• “Just keep putting one foot in front of the other.” [00:45]
• “Tantrums are a normal part of childhood and nothing to be overly worried about.” [27:50]
• “Sourdough is the most flexible, easy to work around your life process than anything else.” [20:10]

Resources Mentioned:

• Simple Sourdough Course: Bit.ly/farmhouses
• Simple Sewing Series: Available through her blog and podcast.
• Create Your Blog Dream & YouTube Success Academy: Business courses for home-based entrepreneurs.

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For more detailed recipes, homeschooling tips, and homesteading insights, visit farmhouseonboom.com and follow Lisa’s YouTube channel for visual guides and tutorials.

Transcript

[Lisa]

I think when you first start out with something, you expect each intention to be something very groundbreaking as opposed to little small steps that you do every day over lots of years. You're putting one foot in front of the other. We did not have a mission statement at that time. We still don't. We don't have anything like that. Nothing official. We just had an overarching, simple type of goal. We want to have some land where we learn how to do things for ourselves, where we can raise our kids and they can learn these skills as well. So what you're doing in this exact stage of life right now is exactly where you need to be. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other. My name is Lisa, mother of eight and creator of the blog and YouTube channel Farmhouse on Boom. On this podcast I like to talk about simplifying your life so you can live out your priorities. I help you learn how to cook from scratch and decorate on a budget through this podcast and my courses Simple Sourdough and the Simple Sewing Series. I also help people reach their goals from home through my business courses, Create your blog Dream and YouTube Success Academy. I will leave links to these resources in the show notes in description box below. Now let's get into to the show. Welcome back to the Simple Farmhouse Life podcast. Today I'm going to be continuing with another solo episode again. If you have questions or interview suggestions, put them over at Bit ly, capital S, capital F capital L questions and I will see them there in a big massive spreadsheet. So I've pulled some today that I will be answering and we'll just dive right in. Okay, thank you for your info. I've learned so much from you. I started Sourdough with your instructions and recipes in March. I make everything with whole wheat flour from the grocery store. My breads are always dense and I'm tired of it. No matter how warm or cold it is or how long they proof, they're always dense. I want to use all whole wheat flour for health reasons, but I'm tired of dense bread. Also, my starter never grows too much in size. I know it's active. If it's super bubbly, I don't know if that makes a difference in bread density. Do you have any suggestions? Okay, so first of all, I would highly encourage you. And I know not everybody has a grain mill and a lot of them are out of stock right now. And of course not everybody has the budget for a grain mill. Certain ones can be very pricey, so I understand that. But I do Think over time it will actually save you money. If you can acquire a grain mill from somewhere now you could get something like the Nutra mill, the white one, not the, the bamboo one with the stone, but just the regular white nutrimil. I believe the price point for it, brand new is somewhere in the 200s, I think. Yeah, 249. You could also look on Facebook Marketplace, see if you could find one for a better deal and then if you can source whole grains. A lot of times I believe over time. I haven't ran the numbers in a really long time because I started milling grains back when my oldest was little. And before then or at that time, I did run the numbers and feel very confident that it was a good idea. But I haven't done it since then. But I'm assuming it would still be quite the good price because you can get a 50 pound bag of wheat berries for a great price and then they bulk up a ton when you put it through the mill. So if you put two cups of wheat berries into a grain mill, two cups of flour do not come out way more than that comes out. So that could help some with the density. I feel like flour from the grocery store, a lot of time it's been through transport and everything become very compacted in the bag. So you might, if you do not switch to freshly milled whole grains or either way switch over to grams. So for me personally, I've weighed a cup of flour on the scale in the way that I scoop it from the bag or from the bowl or whatever I'm doing and I get about 140 grams per cup. So see if that's what you're getting. If from the bag it's weighing a ton more, you might want to convert it to grams. Working with that 140 grams per cup ratio type of measurement and you might just be putting in a little bit too much flour, too much bulk. Anytime your breads are really dense, try to use less flour. Now here's the thing, when you first go to mix the dough up, it's going to feel like it'll never come together. Like it will just be so wet and liquidy. But then after you let it sit for a while before doing any kneading or stretching and folding, it actually absorbs the grains, absorb all the liquid in the recipe, whether that is milk, eggs, honey, water and then you're. It's very workable after that. So the way I do whole grains is I do do cups, but I do freshly milled and I will mix up the dough. So I actually made rolls last night, and I did. Let me just actually pull this up because I love this recipe. I've been making this a lot lately. I took a roll recipe somewhere, made a few adaptations, made it sourdough, and I've been loving it. So what I did was I did a cup of milk, a half a cup of starter, a half a cup of softened butter, a third a cup of honey, two eggs, half a teaspoon of salt, and three and a half cups of whole wheat flour. Mix that together with my hands, and it felt very, very wet. Like, okay, this is when you're tempted to add a ton more flour. I put a wet tea towel over it so it wouldn't dry out. Went away for, like two hours before doing anything to it. You come back, and it's not exactly, like, stretchy at this point, but it feels way less wet and like, you could actually work it. And then throughout the Evening, every like, 30 minutes or so, I'd go to do a stretch and fold. I think I got four or five in before bed. I let it bulk for a minute all night. And this morning or this afternoon, I need to actually go finish this up. It's feeling great. So it's been fermenting for probably like 20 hours at this point. I will divide it and shape it because I'm going to do rolls, let it rise again for a couple hours, and then bake. And I made these on Thanksgiving, or not Thanksgiving. I made them on Christmas Eve. So, so good. But again, it feels like you need to add more flour. And that's usually the mistake when you're. When you're getting something that's way too dense. So for the nutritional value, though, I'm sure you listened to the podcast I did with Sue Becker. Or possibly. It's so important, though, that it's freshly milled because a lot of nutrition is lost once it's been sitting for about 24 hours or something like that. Like, it. It loses more and more the longer it sits. And so I'd hate to see you putting in all this hard work, but it's really not all that much better when it's not freshly milled. Okay, another question on the same topic. This question is regarding the discussion on sourdough you have with Sue. It sounded like you were saying that sourdough isn't the healthiest option. Rather, milling your own flour and using commercial yeast is the better option. Is this correct? Can you use freshly mild grains to feed your starter, or would it spoil? Okay. So, no, no, no. I've gotten this question a ton. I think because I'm an interviewer, I do want the, the guests to give their perspective. And I think sue has a great perspective on whole grains and she has gotten very comfortable with, with yeast and working with that. I for one, still fully believe that the fermentation benefits of sourdough are just going to make it also much more digestible. And actually, sue said that as well. She's a huge fan of whole grains no matter what. But with sourdough, she agreed as well that, you know, you're unlocking a lot of the nutrients there. And so it's such a beautiful combination of using a whole grain in the way that they are meant to be consumed and then fermenting it and souring it and making it have all of that nutrition available. I know that she does sourdough as well. So it's. I maybe should have said more in the interview on how much I'm still doing sourdough. I have gotten so comfortable with sourdough. I don't even know what to do with yeast, to be honest with you. I like the slow process of it because it works so much better for my life when I mix up the dough and then I can walk away for a couple hours, stretch it here, fold it there. It is such an easy process that doesn't require tons of hands on time. Way less hands on time, in my own personal opinion. And I just. Absolutely not. I'm still like, I'm just doing everything with whole grain. But with sourdough, I've hardly used all purpose at all. But everything I've done has been sourdough. I haven't gotten yeast still since the interview with her. Now I will say I have a few times done like a quick muffin or tortilla, where normally I wouldn't do that. But I did become convinced that, hey, maybe whole grains are great even when they're not sourdough. But my preference is still for sourdough and especially anything that contains yeast. I'll just use the yeast from my, my sourdough. So I've even. I got the Sue Becker grain book. I went and purchased it after because I was like, I want her recipes. Like, I just, you know, want to see what she's doing, you know, even though most of my recipes I've tried with one for one whole grain with all purpose swapping and it's been fabulous. But I just wanted to try hers as well, see if she had anything, you know, that I hadn't tried and anything that she had in there, I just, instead of putting in the yeast, just put in a little bit of my sourdough. Starter works fabulously. You don't have to even measure. It doesn't have to be like a quarter cup or a half a cup of, you know, 100% hydration. You don't have to do that. Just take your starter instead of yeast. With any recipe you have, just pour in a little bit of sourdough starter and that's your yeast. And of course allow for longer rise times and all of that, but it's really just that simple. And I've just become so comfortable with it that I'm like, I'm not gonna like relearn with yeast when I already know how to do sourdough. And knowing the nutrition that that unlocks, I think it's the best of both worlds. Creating really great retail experiences is tough.

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[Lisa]

How did you address the move with your kids in regards to feelings slash adjustments? Honestly my kids did so well. There was one child that I felt like was feeling a little bit sentimental about it more than the others and so you know, I just like a few extra snuggles and let him tell me whatever he, you know, wanted to tell me and we we'd talk about it. But honestly nobody seemed like it was they just rolled right into this house. And I think having so many siblings really helps too because it was just our whole life just here, you know, like all the same people, all the same food, even the same sleeping arrangements really. Like we have the same kids rooming with the same kids. So I think that really helped create a sense of familiarity. We did this, you know, we have the same schedule here, but it's just our life but in this Victorian home instead of that Victorian home. Also, it's winter, so homestead life doesn't really look that exciting this time of year. I think if we left that home like right in the middle of summer or fall, I just would have been, it would have been such oh it been so hard. But it's winter both places and once it's warm out, we're going to be spending so much time at our new farm, plus a couple of boys not well. We got a couple of dirt bikes for the boys to share, so that was a Christmas gift. And so having our farm and that just all really helped with them being like, yeah, this is going to be fun. This will be a fun family adventure. What cleaning supplies do you use for your house? Are there specific brands that you love or do you make them yourself? So I in the past did a lot of making my own cleaning supplies but these days I just have some brands that reliably I feel like are great and fine. And honestly I don't use a ton of cleaning supplies. I like to have an all purpose at Least currently there's been years where I've just never even used hardly anything. I just use like a good scrub down with hot water and that's good enough. Or vinegar or something like that. Lately I have been keeping some all purpose cleaner from Azure standard and really the whole Azure standard, Azure Standard line of cleaning supplies. I've been stocking those and it's nice. I just have it out on the countertop pretty much at all times to spray that and have it kind of soak on, you know when you have like bread dough and starter and some of those things that need a little water soaking or cleaner soaking for them to come up. I've been doing that also because we don't have super nice countertops here. So in our last house we had quartz and those are virtually indestructible. So I would take my dough scraper, you know your bench scraper that you get with a lot of sourdough sets, and I would just run that thing all along our island and get everything up so I wouldn't have to soak anything. But now I have like a. I don't know if it's a laminate or what it is, but I don't want to be that hard on it. And so I will just spray it down with that all purpose, walk away, do some dishes, come back and then it all just comes right off. So I've been using the Azure standard. Are you going to show us the new house and land in the building process? Yes, I will absolutely be showing all of that. So we haven't gotten very far yet on the whole project, so there's really not a whole lot to show. I have shown some clips of the property, of course. I am like wrestling with how much to show because I feel like I gave away too much privacy in past seasons of my life. So I'm going to be showing like the whole building process, all of that, but then trying to decide like how much of the property that I show you because we've done things like we have already put in the driveway, which was like a whole thing like thinking about which way it was going to go. There was like bajillion options that you could have chosen and I haven't really shared anything like that because obviously a driveway is closer to like you know, civilization and everything. So anyways, I've tried to kind of wonder like, or tried to figure out what we'll share, but I will definitely be sharing at least the house and all of the surrounding homesteadish areas of the property and the Entire building process. The design that's going to be so fun because I'm really trying to create the look of a new house that looks old. And so I'm excited to take you all along on that journey. Baking questions I'm curious about construction folds replace kneading in any and all applications. For example, the sourdough bagel recipe takes quite a bit of kneading. Stretch and fold seems so much easier to me. I love that technique and the artisanal round bread. Are there some recipes you would avoid them and go for kneading? Also with this work, when using yeast instead of sourdough, would there actually be enough time with the instant yeast? So there that that's the kicker. When you said or somebody asked earlier, should we just do everything with yeast? To me, the best and easiest way to develop all sourdough gluten is with stretch and folds. I've exclusively switched to that. I never use my mixer. I know that for so many years and even in my book I show you putting all the stuff in the mixer and then kneading it and like walking away while the dough hook goes for whatever, however long time it takes for it to develop the gluten. Never do that anymore. I even do brioche with the stretch and fold process, which brioche, as you know, is a very wet dough. It contains tons of eggs and butter. It's this very soft, fluffy bread. But when you throw it in a mixer, you need to literally knead it for 30 plus minutes for it to pass the stretch and fold test or sorry, the window pane test. However, when you put it all together, like mix it all up, walk away for a long time so that the flour has a really long time to hydrate with all of that liquid, all of those eggs and the butter, and then start doing stretch and folds throughout the evening. It works just the same. I don't know why it took me so long to figure that out. So again with replacing with kneading, I agree, I think. Or with yeast, sorry, I agree that there wouldn't be enough time because by the time you mix up the dough, wait an hour, then go to start doing stretch and folds, that instant yeast has already tried to rise the dough to its fullest potential. So you need something slow like sourdough to be able to use stretch and folds because they take such a long time. So like right now it is winter, so my kitchen is nice and cold. I can I walk away from my dough for especially the doughs that need a lot of time to hydrate, you know, those really wet doughs for an hour. And then I do stretch and folds every 30 minutes for like three hours. So you're already four hours in at this point. If you had yeast, you would have already needed to move on to the dividing, shaping, and second rise process. And so that, to me, is why sourdough is so much easier. And all of these, like, people act like, oh, sourdough, it's so hard. Like, I, you know, I have to pause my whole life because of sourdough. It's, it's actually the most flexible, easy to work around your life process than anything else. And I haven't always known this. Like, I've shared, you know, you might go back to videos years ago and be like, okay, but you said set a timer for 20 minutes and then you have to stretch and fold again. And what if I'm sleeping? Or what if I'm, you know, a friend stops by and I've even like taken my bowl of sourdough with me so I could, like, do the right intervals, the stretch and fold. I don't do anything like that anymore. It just needs to have some stretch and folds throughout the process to develop the gluten. And it totally works great. So it'sthe more I do it, the more I realize just how flexible and easy it is and how many tools you don't need. Like, if I was deciding between a grain mill or a mixer, hands down, the grain mill, because you really, I don't need it anymore. I use the mixer for other things. Like, my daughter used it today to make the cheesecake. She, we're making cheesecake and she used the whisk attachment to mix together all the eggs and the cream cheese and whatever else she put in cheesecake. And so she used it for that. But like sourdough, I have not even touched it once since I started doing all stretch and folds, which was probably like six months ago. Maybe not. Maybe it's been a little less than that, but hasn't been long because it is just such an easy process. Like when you have a couple minutes, mix together the dough and then walk away for however long you need to be. Let's say you had to go take the kids to practice or something. Then when you get back, do a stretch and fold. Then you have dinner, then you do a stretch and fold. Just make sure you get in like 3ish before bed and then let it ferment all night. And then that's just literally it. So, yes, I've become passionate about this obviously, because it used to be like such a deal, like, okay, well what mixer will have enough strength to knead all this dough? Because, you know, the little tiny kneading hooks don't do it. And maybe she get the massive Bosch and all of this. Now I'm just like, just don't do any of that. Just mix it together with your hands in a big bowl and then just do that. So yeah, I for one currently now maybe I'll change my mind someday for some reason I'm not really sure why, because it's easier back to the mixer. But for now, I mean, it's just sitting on my countertop, but I'm really not using it much. As a mom of two under three, how do you handle tantrums? I've seen a lot of discourse on this, but being a mom with a husband who has a full time job, I'm the one who really has to deal with these tantrums from my oldest as a two and a half year old. Also, is there a difference between your girls and boys when it came to tantrums? My oldest is a girl and I'm not really sure what to expect from my son once he decides to start throwing tantrums. So recently I was on Instagram and I came across this reel and it was about how kids shouldn't actually throw tantrums. If they do. I forget the exact verbiage. Sure, I'm gonna mess this up. But it means that they're like dysregulated. And there was like all this like, like basically they probably have some kind of like emotional whatever if they're throwing tantrums. And again, maybe I'm wrong, but I do have eight kids. My sister has seven. I have other sisters. And so I'm around a lot of children. In my little tiny anecdotal sample size, every single kid throws fits. And I do think that it is helpful if you understand that it's normal so that you don't have to think like, okay, well, because I remember when my second she threw so many more fits than my first and like thinking like, okay, I've got to like figure out what to do. Because if I don't like figure out what to do, she'll probably be like a teenager who I just really had it in my head that this was a really bad thing and I need to figure out what to do. And now I really at the point where tantrums are almost like funny kind of, because they all do it and they just have to go through it. Because they're probably trying to express what they want, but they don't have all the words to do it. And as far as like boys and girls, I'd say it's more personality. I've had some that do throw fits. They've all, they all throw fits, but they grow out of it at a really young age. And then I've had some who not grown out of it at a really young age who, they throw fits way longer than you might expect that they would. And I've had both a boy and a girl that have done that. They do eventually grow out of fits by the way. So I don't really think it's gender specific. I think that probably you're more likely to experience less tantrums with your son, but that doesn't guarantee that you're. That that's the case. As far as like the emotional dysregulation, even if that is totally true, which it very well could be, I feel like that just gives moms another thing to worry about. Like now, okay, you're worried about what you're making them for dinner. Like make sure it's like perfect, it's from scratch, it doesn't have any dyes in it, they don't watch too much tv. You know, we're trying to do all these things we read in books. And then also like if they throw a fit, you're. That's also a good indication that you're doing something wrong. I do not buy that. I just don't. If you have a child who's never thrown a fit, let me know. I've never seen that in a toddler. Okay, you get a lot of questions regarding child rearing, but I want to know what you do to fill your cup. Mom of only two so far, a toddler and a four month old. So my mom hat is on 24 7. I take care of my kids, the house, the dogs and then squeeze in my self care when I can. But it feels impossible to cultivate any non motherhood related hobbies without feeling like I'm neglecting someone else. I know this will probably pass as my kids get older and more self sufficient, but when did that happen for you? Well, I can tell you that the number one thing I currently do to fill my cup is go out on a date with my husband and go out with my sisters. Both of which on a normal schedule we do once, once a week. But there are things like there's been holidays and so we haven't really done certain things and then you know, but that's like, that's the things I look forward to. Those are little breaks throughout the week that I really look forward to. And obviously because I have 16, 14, 12, you know, I have like older kids that can care for younger kids. We can do that, no problem. And then with the, with going out with my sisters, that's something we do when I bring all the older kids to an AWANA program. And so my sisters and I meet up and then my Luke stays home with the little kids. So it's not like I'm going out, you know, twice a week, just with all the kids home with kittens. That's not how it's working out. But we do try to do that once a week. Date night. Again, if you have only little kids, that's not really possible. But Luke and I almost enjoy just as much an in home date night where we make the kids a different dinner, get them in bed, you know, the ones that can go to bed early. We get them in bed early, let the older kids watch a movie, and then we make steaks. I always make steaks. And then a fried potato of some kind and then something fresh chopped up, whether it's cilantro, parsley, onions. If we have mushrooms, I'll saute some of those. And then we sit down and we have our steak and we talk and we listen to music. That's really fun. So for me those are really important things. Last night I. So this doesn't happen every night because a lot of nights we get late on the whole like bedtime thing. But if we have a night where nothing's going on, we will eat dinner and then start working on the bedtime routine really early. So last night after we got done with dinner, the older kids cleaned up while I took Victor upstairs, put him to bed because he didn't take a great nap, so he needed to be in bed by like 6:30. And then I took the other four. I took four of the boys, not the oldest one, but anyways I took four of the sons, sat with them in their room and read them books for a full hour till 7:30. And so by that time, yes, it was only 7:30 and they don't normally go to bed at 7:30. We aim more for eight with those kids because they all sleep in the same room. And so yes, the little one should probably go to bed earlier, but that's just kind of how we average it out. And so I was out of there by 7:30 because I already kind of did all the things, you know, I read all the books. They all felt like, okay. They didn't really look at the clock. Like to them it's like, oh yeah, we did it. And then I went and got in the bathtub and had like a good long while of laying in the bathtub. So especially when you have younger kids, you really have so much time to do stuff like that. Like if you get. Of course. Okay, here's. I'm forgetting something. My older kids did clean the kitchen while I was up there doing that. So, you know, if you don't have older kids, then you need to probably clean the kitchen. It'll push it all off a little bit longer. But little kids you can put to bed even earlier. Like I had Victor in bed by 6:30. So you have a lot of time to work with in the evening for stuff like that when you have little kids. And I've had a few times in the last several years where Luke will take the older kids somewhere. And so I'm left home with like three or four little kids, like the six and under crowd. And I just make sure all throughout the day, like my whole goal is that bedtime. Whereas with like big kids, it's not really it because they don't go to bed, you know, at a reasonable an hour that you're going to want to lay in the bathtub. So I would like work toward that. Like, I'd spend more time in the afternoon cleaning and like getting the things I could get cleaned for dinner done and just making sure that by the time it was that 7 o'clock bedtime or whatever I could do for all those little kids, I was done with all the other things. So it was like my finish line, you know, like, get all the tasks that are going to happen and come up. Like, try to just work on that all day with like little kids at your feet. Like get the laundry switched over, get as many dishes done as you can. Of course, after you put the kids to bed, you might still have like their plates and their forks, but all the dinner prep and everything done enough that you can really like work toward that bedtime finish line and then have a little bit of time all to yourself. As far as hobbies, I mean, I'm just talking about like taking a bath and hanging out with my husband. But it's hard to fit in hobbies because you need like more time to do them, I think. And so there'll be time when you can probably be able to figure like, do all that better. But when you have really little kids, all of that's very tricky. I think it was in the last episode I talked about how when my kids were really little, I didn't take on like extra businesses and things like that, but once I worked my homemaking muscle and really knew what I was doing and it felt more like a well oiled machine, that's when I could add in like hobbies and things, things I wanted to work on. All right, next question. What are your thoughts on geriatric pregnancies? I had my first daughter at 36, my second at 39, the second all natural at a birthing center. I just turned 40 and we are contemplating having a third. There can be a stigma around pregnancy. In your 40s and just curious to know your thoughts. Thank you for your wisdom. So I have had two geriatric pregnancies at this point and I really hope to have like two more. Honestly, if I could, that's probably what I would pick. But I have not yet had one in my 40s because I'm 39. But I'm definitely hoping to do it. And I have seen so many women, both online and then in real life as well, that have, and, and they've all, it's all. I think it's sort of a lie that we're fed that women, you know, we still are able to get pregnant at that age. And so I think if it's your heart's desire, like that's what I keep remembering is if God made it to where your body could do that, who's to say that it won't be a successful pregnancy? Now will you get stigma and people giving you the side eye? Yes. I already feel like I got that with my one I had at 37. And so I can only imagine if we go on to have any more, that it will definitely. It's not something a lot of people do now. Of course, if you go looking for it, you will find so many. It's not, it's not ridiculously uncommon. It's just not something most people try for. And so there, there are going to be plenty of naysayers, plenty of people who think that you're crazy. And I'm saying this as if I'm like so confident. It doesn't bother me at all. It totally bothers me. I actually really, especially having so many children, I always have that. Like when we do get pregnant, I'm like, oof. I don't really want to share it. Like, I'm excited, but I don't really want to share it with anybody. I always feel that way I know that people are thinking like, you know, they ask those weird, awkward questions and it's just like not socially acceptable. So I guess all that to say I think it's cool, but I definitely think that you'll get people who, you know, won't think that's such a great idea. But the moms that I've talked to, they almost all have had like wonderful births. As much energy, some people say, okay, it's harder in your 40s. I can say that my two geriatric pregnancies, I've had so pregnancies over age 35, I noticed no difference. In fact, my birth at 37 was my fastest, easiest birth that I've had. The pregnancies were great. I never had any issues. So as far as all that goes, I'm personally for myself, if we are to be blessed with another child, I'm not scared of any of that. Like I'm not scared that the pregnancy is going to be hard or the birth is going to be hard. I'm not worried about that. I think it's going to be fine. Maybe the age your child will be when you're 60. That's all possibly something to consider, but I still don't think that. I still think for us, for our family, it's, it's a dynamic that we're willing to definitely consider.

[Luke]

If you have young kids like me, a new year isn't just another year. It's another chance to go on that epic family trip. Another round of the best themed birthday parties, and dare I say it, another year closer to getting them a phone. But with the power of phones today, I'm extremely nervous about it. 45% of teens say social media makes them feel sad or depressed. Even as an adult, I know what endless scrolling does for my brain, for my creativity. It's just not something I want my kids to already have to deal with. With Gab, there's a less nerve wracking way. Gab is the leader in safe phones and watches for kids, teens and tweens. With no social media apps, no Internet browser and GPS tracking, Gab devices were built specifically to keep kids and teens safely connected. Gab phones have all the tech features kids actually want, like the Gab music app which lets kids stream clean music. For older kids, there's the Gab Phone 4 Pro with hundreds of vetted third party apps that can only be installed at parents discretion. Kids also get unlimited talk and text with Gab messenger, the first messaging and video calling app design. With kids safety as the Top priority. Gab's exclusive app has a parent companion app for easy controls. It doesn't just keep parents informed. Gab messenger blocks high risk messages and content with nudity from ever reaching your child's phone in the first place. In fact, Gab's phones and watches are built with the smart filtration that proactively blocks harmful content before it ever reaches your kid. Just last night Luke and I went out on a date night and we used to leave one of our phones with them. But we have so much more peace of mind now being able to leave them the Gab phone and it's great.

[Lisa]

Because it's very easy to use.

[Luke]

They can take photos with it so.

[Lisa]

They really enjoy it.

[Luke]

Plus we can reach them easily which is the main priority. It's what we needed a phone for. I can't recommend Gab enough. It's the most responsible way that I've found for parents and kids to embrace technology together. Right now Gab is offering 25 off any device with no contract required. Just go to gab.comsfl to get get started. That's Gab G A B.comsfl gab.comsfl terms and conditions apply. We all get some big ideas when it comes to New Year's. The things that we couldn't get accomplished all last year. Well, this year it's going to be different. Everyone wants to go to the gym more, but actually dragging yourself out of bed in the pitch black every morning is a whole other story. But what if you could make your resolutions automatic? Well, they can't help you get to the gym, but Acorns makes it easy to start saving and investing automatically. I apply the same thing in my kitchen. I make sure I have all of the supplies and the setup that I need so that I can throw together a meal really easily so that it can become automatic. Anytime you can take the thought out of a new habit, you can actually accomplish it. Today's episode is sponsored by Acorns. Acorns makes it easy to start automatically saving and investing so your money has a chance to grow for you, your kids and your retirement. You don't need to be an expert. Acorns will recommend a diversified portfolio that fits you and your money goals. You don't need to be rich. Acorns lets you invest with the spare money you've got right now. You can start with $5 or even just your spare change. You don't need a ton of time. You can create your Acorns account and start investing in just five minutes. It's easy to just live the day to day and forget about your future. But you will be so happy that you took this small step today to make something that might be overwhelming, easy and automatic. And that's why I believe ACORNS is such an important step for your New Year's goals. Head to acorns.com farmhouse or download the Acorns app to start saving and investing for your future today. Paid non client endorsement compensation provides incentive to positively promote ACORNS Tier one compensation provided investing involves risk. Acorns Advisors LLC and SEC Registered Investment Advisor do Important [e-mail] Farmhouse House hi.

[Lisa]

Lisa, first of all, thank you so much for encouraging me to be a creative homemaker. Your content inspires me to always be trying something new and encourages me to be innovative with my homemaking skills, whether it's baking sourdough, sourdough, yummy, starting a garden or learning to sew. I'm a young mom of two and or two and your seasoned motherhood advice helps me to enjoy my current season of life. Because you share your life through the perspective of having so many children. One day I hope to have lots of littles running around my future homestead as well. All that to say, how do you keep your family goals at the forefront of your brain when you are in the midst of doing everything else around the home? How do you stay focused on your family values? Do you have a family mission statement? How do you make sure everyone is continuing to stay on the same page when there is a home to take care of, a garden, homeschooling children, etc. What does the that intentional time look like in your everyday life? I think it's a more subtle thing than I think. When you first start out with something, you expect each maybe like intention to be something very groundbreaking as opposed to little small steps that you do every day over lots of years. So you're currently very much doing the things that I did when I had two kids under two. I was learning to sew, learning, you know, little homemaking skills. And it didn't seem very productive I guess at that time because I wasn't that good at it. So I wasn't sewing things that looked great, I wasn't making bread that looked beautiful. And so you, you know, you might have thought like, oh, how will I ever get there? But really it's exactly what you're doing. Like you've had, you know, your oldest child is not even two yet, so you know you're not at the stage where you're having your babies, you're working on things, and you're. You're putting one foot in front of the other. And so I think that you're probably doing exactly what you need to do to be on pace to have all of your littles and be on a homestead someday. You're just so many years before me, like, 15 years before me, because I got married 17 years ago, and I was in your exact position with two under two, but only for a month because they're 23 months apart and learning all these things very imperfectly. We did not have a mission statement at that time. We still don't. We still don't have a mission statement. So to answer that, we don't have. Have anything like that. Nothing official. We just had an overarching, like, simple type of goal. It wasn't something that we had a family meeting and we had, like, a committee, and then there was, like, this thing written on the wall. There was nothing like that. It was just exactly like you're saying, like, we want to have some land where we learn how to do things for ourselves, where we can raise our kids and they can learn these skills as well. We want lots of kids. We want to homeschool them. We. What are the. Some of the other things that you said we had? We just had those, like, very basic goals. And when your child turns five or six or seven or whatever, they're developmentally ready for it. That's when you'll start to homeschool. So what you're doing in this exact, like, stage of life right now is exactly where you need to be. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other. As far as family goals, we didn't even tackle anything big very fast. And even once we did start working towards the goal of Luke coming home so that we could, you know, have our homestead together as a family and homeschool together. It was, again, a very. A slow process, and that won't look the same for everyone. We knew we wanted some kind of business together, but it was all, like, slow, incremental steps, and it wasn't. I don't feel like we were always keeping our goals at the forefront of our mind, and we're still not. We'll get a goal in our mind, and then we will work toward it. But it's in such a slow, not groundbreaking way, if that's what I'm trying to say. It's not quite as intentional as it. I mean, it's intentional, but it's not, like, quite as set in stone. I guess, as it might seem like once you have so many years of just putting one foot in front of the other, like you're doing right now. Okay. How did you discover your decorating style, and do you have any tips on how you'd recommend finding my decorating style? I feel like I love so many elements, but don't see how to make it cohesive or how to pick paint colors. Okay. I don't even feel like I still necessarily know my decorating style. I, over time with different books and looking at Pinterest and seeing the things that I'm, you know, I'm attracted to. I have a kind of a sense of what I like. But then, even still, I'll make a mistake. I'll put something even in the wrong spot. That's something I noticed. We moved to this house. This rug that's in this room right now, which you can't see with the angle that the camera is pointing, it was a rug that I purchased for the living room in our last house. And to be honest, I looked and looked and looked for this rug. I. I had an idea of what I wanted, and I had the colors kind of pulled together in that room, and I thought this would be the perfect rug. And I never really liked it, and I spent money on it, and so I never wanted to get rid of it. But when we moved to this house and everything was all mixed up in this big moving truck, and we were trying to figure out, like, okay, where does this go? Where does that go? I had us just put this rug down in our bedroom. And now I absolutely love the rug. It was just in the wrong room with the wrong furniture, and it almost took moving for me to even see that. And so I think, like, I still make mistakes. I see things and I know I like them, but then they're just paired with the wrong color or the wrong furniture. And it all comes together over time. Like, we'll move things around the house. Another good example is this chair here I'm sitting on right now. I bought this for the living room, and it was never right. It was the wrong shape. It was too big. It didn't work in the spot that I thought it would work in. And then one day we moved it to the bedroom, and it was perfect in there. So so far, I'm just sharing, like, when we swap things from the bedroom to the living room, that's not always it. Sometimes I'll move like a little wing back chair. I moved it to the nursery, and all of a sudden, it had a whole new. Like, I was gonna get rid of it. I thought, this isn't working for my style anymore. But it really just needed to go somewhere else. And it is so beautiful, collected together in there with a rug. There's another rug in the nursery that I was gonna get rid of. And now it looks beautiful with that chair. But I'd never seen those two pieces together in my other home. And so I guess just saying, like, experimenting, trying things, moving things around, it's a very long process. Now you can do things like look at books. I have a couple of books in my home that I love. I'm trying to think of their names. One of them is, I think, called English Farmhouse, and the other one's called, like, Perfect Farmhouse or something like that. I know I love a country aesthetic. I don't like anything modern and sleek. I know that at least about myself, and I've always been that way. So when you peruse, you know, Pinterest or Instagram and you find yourself saying, ooh, and saving something, even if you're not going to recreate any part of that, but you're just getting a gauge for what it is that you're attracted to, what, like, looks pretty to you in the lifestyle that you're trying to create, no matter where you live, what makes you feel like that. So for some people, that's a modern style, a very sleek, minimal style. That is definitely not the case for me. No matter where I live. I want a country aesthetic. I want it to feel old and collected. And I've learned that just by looking at pictures and seeing what I'm attracted to. So I think that's how you find it. And then if you have a bunch of things that don't seem like they work together, maybe move them around, maybe collect together a group of things that maybe one piece is in the living room, one piece is in the dining room, one's in the bedroom. And then really, if they're all put together in a different spot, they'd be perfect, but they're just curated wrong. That all comes with time. What is your favorite part of homemaking and homesteading? Like, what's one thing you can do over and over without feeling burnt out? I believe I've answered this before, but I'll just answer it again. Sourdough. Now you're thinking, I'm just making that up because I'm the sourdough lady. But it's true. I actually love it. And I don't get tired of making bread. I really don't Trying to think if there's any other parts. I would say milking a cow, but that gets old. I get burnt out on that. Dealing with the dairy is, I think, what gets me burnt out. It's fun, but it's so much like every single day. You need to make butter, cheese, yogurt every day to keep up with all that. But it also is. It's just work that you feel good afterward. Like, you feel like I really accomplished something. So I like that. I would say design, because I really like it, but I get burnt out on it. I get. There's certain times where it feels overwhelming. Like I feel like I haven't done a project in a while that I've liked or I, you know, I haven't collected it together in a pretty way. I don't like how the room's turning out. And so I get burnt out and overwhelmed because I see a lot of things like, oh, I need to do this and this, and I don't like that. Whereas, like, sourdough. I start it, I know what I'm doing, and so it always. Pretty much always turns out. And so I think that's what I like. It's like a quick satisfaction. It's delicious, and it works. Okay, last question. We're approaching a move, and my husband and I are torn on what the best next move is, and we're looking for advice. We're a family of five, with our oldest being four. So you have three kids and hoping to keep growing our family. We hope to have property and to do some home setting. However, we're. We are young. My husband just started his own business, and our price point is lower. We're torn between getting a couple acres outside of town in an older home or getting somewhere in town on a smaller property but in a walkable downtown per season. I know you have experience with both and are curious of your pros and cons for young family. Okay. So when my kids were 4, 2, and a baby, which sounds like what yours are, I really did love living in town. Now, I loved it, but if you had asked me at that time if I would have chosen that, if there had been a viable option of a couple acres outside of town with an old home, I probably still would have chosen those couple of acres with the old home, I think. But I did love it because we were able to walk to all these little things. Like, I. I had a whole group of friends and we'd meet at the park. I actually lived right next door to a park, and so I would like, see my friends come to the park. Or I'd see, like, a friend and be like, oh, let's go to the park. And then we'd walk to the library, we'd get books, and then we would stop in the field by the school and read books on a sunny day and we'd point out the different trees. It was a sweet season. I really loved it. I really did. But I still think that if you were asking me to choose, See, that was. That was the house in our price point. It was cute and it was in our price point. And so I think if. If there was a viable option in your price point on a couple acres in an old house a little out of town, I think I'd still choose that, to be honest with you. That's what I would probably choose. But I don't know if you're talking like you actually have the option. Like, there's two places for sale and you're looking at those two places. It's hard to say without knowing all the deets. Like, I don't know what kind of downtown it is. I'm talking about a small town that we lived in. We could pretty much go to the library, the park, and that was basically it. So if you have a much cooler downtown, that might factor in a little bit as well. So it all just. And then, like, what. How the property is laid out on the two acres. Is it a very private two acres where you're. You could tuck the kids, you know, back in the little fencing area and they can play outside all day and it'd be really easy. You have to worry about them. I might choose that. You know, I need more context, but I'd probably always choose a little bit of acreage and privacy and an old home at this point. All right, well, we will be getting back into interviews next week. I'll leave a link below to where you can submit your questions. As always, thank you so much for listening and I will see you in the next next episode of the Simple Farmhouse Life podcast. Thanks as always for listening to the Simple Farmhouse Life podcast. My husband Luke and I and our eight kids work together side by side on our little homestead and use our blog, podcast and YouTube channel to reach other homemakers, home cooks and home setters with practical recipes and daily family life. For everyday sourdough recipes, make sure to check out our blog, farmassomboon.com and to dig deeper, we do all also offer a course called Simple Sourdough over at Bit Ly Farmhouses. That's all one word. Bit Ly Farmhouses. If you're looking to learn how we earn an income online, check out my free blog Success Masterclass at Bit Ly Farmhouse Blogging school and my YouTube course at Bit Lynch Farmhouse YouTube course. All one word.