296. From Suburbs to Homestead: Building a Family Farmhouse Life | Melissa Ferguson of Our Friendly Farmhouse

Summary

Podcast Summary: Simple Farmhouse Life – Episode 296

Title: From Suburbs to Homestead: Building a Family Farmhouse Life
Host: Lisa Bass
Guest: Melissa Ferguson of Our Friendly Farmhouse
Release Date: July 1, 2025

---

Introduction to Melissa Ferguson

In Episode 296 of Simple Farmhouse Life, host Lisa Bass welcomes back Melissa Ferguson, the creative force behind Our Friendly Farmhouse. Melissa is not only an accomplished author, having penned the novel Perfect Romcom, but she is also launching her first children's book, seamlessly blending her storytelling prowess with her passion for homesteading and family life.

Melissa’s Journey from Suburbs to Homestead

Melissa shares her transformative journey from suburban living to establishing a homestead. She reminisces about her life in a cul-de-sac, highlighting the comfort and sense of community it provided. However, fueled by a desire for a more authentic and hands-on lifestyle, Melissa and her husband decided to pursue their dream of building a farmhouse and homestead from scratch.

Notable Quote:
“You are someone fun to talk to” – Melissa Ferguson [01:12]

Acquiring Land and Building Their Farmhouse

The pivotal moment in Melissa’s journey came when her husband spotted an auction sign for land near the Appalachian Mountains. Despite initial reservations about the risks involved, they decided to bid on the property, securing it with the help of Melissa's brother-in-law. This decision marked the beginning of their four-year odyssey to build their dream farmhouse.

Notable Quote:
“I didn't know what I really thought about it. But then I drove out and we fell in love with it.” – Melissa Ferguson [01:12]

Melissa’s husband, a professional builder, took the lead in constructing their home, allowing them to save significantly on costs. Additionally, Melissa leveraged social media to secure brand deals that further funded their building projects, such as the laundry room and drip irrigation system for their garden.

Notable Quote:
“We saved a lot of money because my husband is a builder, and I utilized social media to fund our projects.” – Melissa Ferguson [04:04]

Navigating the Building Process

Building a home from scratch comes with its set of challenges. Melissa discusses the intricacies of construction, from framing and roofing to installing chimneys and drip irrigation systems. She emphasizes the importance of adaptability, sharing how unforeseen delays, such as weather conditions, can extend the construction timeline beyond initial estimates.

Notable Quote:
“We’re in the very thick of it right now.... It’s progressing, but slower than we hoped.” – Melissa Ferguson [08:00]

Melissa also highlights the satisfaction of seeing their house take shape and the continuous improvements they've made over the years, such as adding a racquetball court and optimizing their driveway with a concrete pad.

Adding Animals and Establishing a Homestead

Transitioning from suburbs to homestead involved introducing animals and cultivating a sustainable lifestyle. Melissa recounts her initial steps in raising chickens, rabbits, and cats, gradually expanding to include sheep and establishing a thriving garden. She underscores the value of taking incremental steps, ensuring each addition to their homestead is manageable and enriching for her children.

Notable Quote:
“I love that my children understand farm life and the joys that come from working hard.” – Melissa Ferguson [06:52]

Melissa’s approach is methodical, focusing on one aspect at a time to prevent overwhelming her family. This gradual integration of farm life has fostered responsibility and a deeper connection with nature among her children.

Balancing Family Life and Construction

Living in a homestead while building the farmhouse requires a delicate balance. Melissa discusses the challenges of managing daily chores, construction tasks, and homeschooling her eight children. She shares her coping strategies, such as setting aside dedicated time for herself and her husband to relax on the front porch, enhancing their mental well-being amidst the chaos of building.

Notable Quote:
“We have a commitment to drink coffee on the porch every day, which really helps me have a better day.” – Melissa Ferguson [54:33]

Design Choices and Lessons Learned

Throughout the building process, Melissa and her husband made various design choices aimed at maximizing sunlight and creating a warm, inviting atmosphere. She shares valuable lessons learned, such as the importance of installing a tornado shelter—something they initially overlooked but recognized as essential after experiencing severe weather firsthand.

Notable Quote:
“I wish we had built a tornado shelter underground when we built.” – Melissa Ferguson [45:32]

Melissa advises future homesteaders to prioritize safety features and to remain flexible, accepting that some aspects of construction will require adjustments and improvements over time.

Practical Tips for Affordable Building

Melissa offers several practical tips for building a farmhouse affordably:

1. Utilize Skilled Labor at Home: Leveraging her husband’s expertise as a builder significantly reduced construction costs.
2. Leverage Social Media for Funding: By growing a social media presence, Melissa secured brand deals that financed parts of their build.
3. Prioritize Functional Upgrades: Investing in essential features like washer-dryers and efficient wood stoves early on saved money in the long run.
4. Choose Durable Materials: Avoiding carpet and opting for sturdy flooring solutions helped maintain the home’s integrity despite wear and tear from children.

Notable Quote:
“Get out of Sheetrock; think creatively to save money without compromising quality.” – Melissa Ferguson [28:56]

Homeschooling and Integrating Farm Life

Melissa seamlessly integrates homeschooling with farm life, using the homestead as a living classroom. Her children learn practical skills through daily chores and animal care, enhancing their educational experience beyond traditional academics. This hands-on approach fosters independence, responsibility, and a profound understanding of natural cycles.

Notable Quote:
“They have a different animal that they take care of, and there's great responsibility there.” – Melissa Ferguson [52:56]

Building a Community and Creating Spaces

Melissa emphasizes the importance of creating dedicated spaces within the homestead, such as porches, gardens, and recreational areas like the upcoming barn. These spaces not only provide functionality but also foster a sense of community and relaxation for the family.

Notable Quote:
“Maximize your outdoor sets to create cozy moments throughout your homestead.” – Melissa Ferguson [55:12]

Conclusion and Looking Ahead

As the conversation wraps up, Melissa reflects on the immense satisfaction derived from building a homestead that aligns with her family’s values and lifestyle. She encourages listeners to take gradual steps towards their dreams, assuring them that perseverance and adaptability are key to overcoming challenges.

Notable Quote:
“Take the jump, and it'll be okay. It really was.” – Melissa Ferguson [19:38]

Melissa also promotes her upcoming children’s book, Our Friendly Farmhouse, which captures the essence of their homesteading journey and serves as a delightful addition to family reading collections.

Notable Quote:
"There’s a cardinal on every page... a fun element for kids to find." – Melissa Ferguson [73:54]

---

Resources Mentioned:

• Melissa Ferguson’s Book: Our Friendly Farmhouse (Release Date: July 2025)
• Our Friendly Farmhouse Socials: Follow Melissa on Instagram and other social media platforms to stay updated on her homesteading adventures and book launch.

Closing Note: Lisa Bass concludes the episode by expressing gratitude to Melissa for sharing her inspiring journey and practical insights, encouraging listeners to embrace the joys and challenges of farmhouse living.

Transcript

[Lisa]

As a parent, you want to set your kids up for success. I know a lot of listeners are thinking about homeschooling. They're unsure of where to start and not as confident as some of the more seasoned homeschool moms who've been doing this for many years. K12 can help your child start reaching their full potential and give you the support you need to get them there. K12 powered schools are tuition free online accredited schools for kindergarten through 12th grade designed to help your child to learn at their own pace, in their own place with an engaging curriculum that supports individual learning styles. This is different from homeschooling if that's something you haven't ventured into yet where you're responsible for teaching them. K12 powered schools are trained online educators that utilize hands on innovative technology to make learning interactive. They even offer social opportunities, extracurricular activities and in person events. Join the more than 3 million families who've been served by K12 and empower your student to reach their full potential. Now go to k12.com farmhousetoday to find a tuition free K12 powered school near you and enroll. Now that's the letter k the number12.com.

[Melissa]

Farmhouse k12.com farmhouse I did immediately want.

[Unnamed Speaker]

A whole farm, but at the same time I didn't realistically think that was wise for us to jump into. So it's taken us four years. I love the life that it's provided for my children. I love that they understand farm life. I love that they understand life and death. The hard work is hard work, but good work and joys that come from working hard. And like harvesting your own carrots with your cousins. It's a great experience for the children.

[Melissa]

Yeah, and it's not always necessarily practical. You can buy carrots pretty cheap. It's more than that. Yes, you can do a much more convenient thing, but then there's just the absence of that good work.

[Lisa]

My name is Lisa, mother of eight and creator of the blog and YouTube.

[Melissa]

Channel Farmhouse on Boone.

[Lisa]

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 course YouTube Success Academy. I will leave links to these resources in the show notes in description box below. Now let's get into the show.

[Melissa]

Welcome back to the Simple Farmhouse Life podcast.

[Lisa]

Today we are having on Melissa Ferguson.

[Melissa]

Again we talked oh gosh, when was that? She is the author of the Perfect Romcom and she has a brand new children's book coming out.

[Lisa]

We're going to chat about their family's.

[Melissa]

Experience of living in a cul de sac, finding some property on an auction and then building their own farmhouse and then eventually their homestead, adding in animals from somebody's perspective who didn't grow up that way. Of course, right now I am very much in the thick of doing the same exact thing. We, we purchase property, we are building a home from scratch and, and a homestead that, you know, is in a. Basically a field. So there's not a lot of infrastructure there. And so it's always fun for me as well to chat with someone who has already gone before on something like that and she's always someone fun to talk to. All right, without further ado, let's dive into the interview. Melissa, I'm so excited to have you back on. We talked about all kinds of things last time that you were on and one of those was your book. And now you are releasing your very first children's book, which sounds really cool. I love the whole concept of it. It's kind of sort of like your journey of moving to the country and building your farmhouse, which I am so in the thick of right now. So very curious to talk to you about that.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah.

[Melissa]

Yeah. So for those who don't know, tell us about yourself and your upcoming book, your past books.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah, well, you know what, this is actually excellent timing because not a half an hour ago I got my very first final copy from my publisher. So it's releasing in July, but this is it. And I'm just through the roof about it.

[Melissa]

Oh yes.

[Unnamed Speaker]

And it has the, the quality so nice. They did really great shine on the front and. And the pictures of our family on the back is so sweet. So. But yeah, we're really, I'm really excited about. This is my, my debut children's book. Normally I write adult sweet rom coms. Yeah. It is the story. Basically it appeals to imagine like good night, goodnight, construction site. But in Natasha Tudor Jan Brett old fashioned that like Charlotte Mason y sort of living kind of style. So. But it's also a whimsical version of our life and just my husband, we lived in a cul de sac. I love my cul de sac life. It was a great life. But of course like most people we kind of like can romanticize a little bit. I wonder what it would be like to live in, I do not know, Capri or wherever and My husband came home from a bike ride in the mountains. We live near the Appalachian Mountains. And he was like, I saw an auction sign on the side of a road and it said, this land is going up for sale next week. And what do you think? It sounded very crazy and it was very risky. I didn't know what I really thought about it. But then I drove out and we fell in love with it. And yeah, and it was actually my brother in law who ended up helping us with the auction. Like he raised his hand to raise it higher than my husband would have. I think we would have lost the land. And I was like, sam, do it. You're okay. And thankfully at the end, Sam was like, yeah, we're fine, we're fine. It's like $1,000 more than, you know. My husband was a little nervous and then it turns out he was just fine. And so then we started building. My husband is a builder, so it kind of like after several years of him building houses for other people, it kind of also d dawned on me, like, wait a second, I wonder what it would be like, could I possibly build ourselves? And so the unique thing for us is that financially we built this house because my husband is a builder. And so we saved a lot of money that way, but also partly hugely because I realized I could utilize possibly. It was a dream of social media to try and fund. Trying to build it. And sure enough, it worked out. So we kind of like. As I worked out building up a social media account that allowed for brand deals, I was able to also build our house and like build the laundry room based off of that or, you know, whatever. So. Yeah, so that has been in fact down to the drip irrigation system in our garden two days ago. You know, so it's, it's a continuous process. But yeah, yeah, so we just added a lot of animals. We've got. We sheared the sheep last week. Do you have sheep?

[Melissa]

Well, we live in town while we're building our house, so we have nothing right now.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Oh. Oh, girl. I can give you some advice on, on adding animals if you want to hear it.

[Melissa]

I mean, we, we had a little homestead and we sold it and we're, you know, we moved while we're building just very temporarily because, you know, we, we. We kind of hit the market with our last place and then now we're going to be able to take that and we're building. But yeah, so living right in town is, is very difficult when you're used to being able to just like let kids run yeah, yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Don't worry about the road and don't worry. I know. I know there's some hardships, for sure, but at least you're not doing. A lot of people I know who've done the build have done a camper on site.

[Melissa]

Listen, sometimes that sounds better, but people say maybe not.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah, that is some tight quarters. That would be. It's for sure, some challenges.

[Melissa]

I don't know.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I don't know.

[Melissa]

It sounds somewhat fun at this current time, but that could just be because the grass is always greener. But I'm like, man, we love being out there, and we hate that we're not out there all the time. And we find ourselves out there at least twice a day just checking in on the build.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Oh, my goodness, you sound just like me. Yes. I'd be like, well, it's time to have a picnic. And so we'd, like, go have a picnic on the dirt mound. You know, go up.

[Melissa]

Yes, yes.

[Unnamed Speaker]

And check.

[Melissa]

Now it's a mud mound here. Oh, yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

How far are you in the build?

[Melissa]

It's pretty much framed. They have the. They're putting the roof on, but because we're needing to get the chimneys built first. It's just the zip system.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Okay.

[Melissa]

And then, yeah, like, we're. We're in the very thick of it right now.

[Unnamed Speaker]

But it sounds like you're kind of almost. I mean, once we got to that part, it was like, whoosh. Went pretty fast. Yeah.

[Melissa]

I don't know.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I.

[Melissa]

And obviously this podcast comes out, I think, like, four weeks from now. So I'm sure we'll be a lot further at that point. But originally we were hoping to be in by Christmas, and I'm thinking there's no way that's going to happen, but I have no idea. This is just me basing it off of watching other people build and seeing how long each part takes. And I'm like, well, basically like July, August, September, October. I'm like, I don't know if that's really going to happen.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I. I mean, I'm no expert, My husband's expert, but I would imagine you would be in by Christmas if they're saying, I don't know. And of course, it's always a little bit later than what you say, sometimes rain delays and things like that. But, yeah, I felt like once we were framed, it was just so fast, really. And that is in my book. Our Friendly Farmhouse is how I showed. I also kind of thought when I originally created my social media accounts, which is Our Friendly Farmhouse, people would Ask all the time. So exactly how do you do the build? So exactly how quickly does this happen? And I was like, I'm going to put this in the book and then they can read it, my children's book, and kind of see how the process.

[Melissa]

My kids will love it, but I need to get it for myself.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I know. And be like, okay, then come. I literally would go back after I wrote the book and then go through edits, and then I would double check with Ben. I'd be like, so was it the H vac system before? Right after this, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. So he would work that in. And so it shows those pages, but then it goes. I will say the rest of the book goes beyond. And then shows, you know, adding chickens, ducks, sheep, you know, gardens, trying really, really make your life as romanticized, as whimsical as you, you know, enjoy your life with your family. So.

[Melissa]

Well, yeah. And I. I've, you know, we lived for six years on seven acres, and we had a dairy cow and we had goats and chickens.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Oh, right. Yeah.

[Melissa]

But. And I still, like, I. I don't. I don't feel this big sense of relief that we don't have it. It's not like, oh, good. Like, I don't have to worry about that. I'm like, I just can't wait to get back there.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yes. Yeah. That's interesting. So we've held off on doing a dairy cow because we like to travel, like, to the beach, or we like to feel a little spontaneous. And I will say sheep, chickens, ducks, and cats have been pretty.

[Melissa]

You can do that.

[Unnamed Speaker]

You can still do it in rabbits. But a dairy cow. We've thought about meat cows, possibly, but were you able to, like, pack up and be like, let us go see their season?

[Melissa]

Not spontaneous.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Okay. No.

[Melissa]

You'd have to plan around, like, when you're going to dry the cow off, when she's going to have a calf. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, I go back and forth with that. But I think we only do those kind of things in theory. We don't actually do them. And so I'm like, well, are we going to build our lives around what we do in theory or what we actually do? Because we don't actually love traveling. We do it, but we're always like. Like, it's hard. It's very hard. Oh, it's hard. It's so difficult.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Oh, I just. So. So last that you're talking. Okay. So two weeks ago, I took a spontaneous trip. Kind of spontaneous. We'll say. We had two Weeks of planning to New York City to actually meet with some producers about turning my books into movies, which I'm super pumped about. That was a great chat. And I met with my agent, blah, blah. But I took my daughter and I learned about the value of carry on life. Like, I will never do a checked bag forever.

[Melissa]

Yeah, we don't. We don't do that either.

[Unnamed Speaker]

You do a carry on. It's not fun.

[Melissa]

So. And I don't mind traveling with anywhere from, like, one to six children. It's literally, like. That's fun. Like, I do.

[Unnamed Speaker]

We do those.

[Melissa]

It's.

[Unnamed Speaker]

It's like, like.

[Melissa]

Okay, so in February, we did a very spontaneous trip to Miami. My sisters, we got, like, the really cheap Spirit airline flights, and we found Airbnb, and I took my six kids that can swim. So it was at a pool.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah.

[Melissa]

And they just swam the whole time. We all packed backpacks. No, you know, no checked luggage. No, you know, Spirit Airlines. You can't bring hardly anything.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Did you bring a carry on or was it only backpacks? Because that's amazing.

[Melissa]

Just a backpack.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Look at that pack.

[Melissa]

So light. You get an Airbnb and you just wash the clothes repeatedly. Or if it's something like a pool trip, all you need is a swimsuit and, like, one extra outfit.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Right?

[Melissa]

That's fine. That's easy. We did, like, Walmart plus for all the food.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah.

[Melissa]

Because we didn't even get a rental car. We just got an Uber to the.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yep.

[Melissa]

To the Airbnb.

[Unnamed Speaker]

She's amazing.

[Melissa]

Yeah. And I've done girls trips to New York City with my girls. That's fine. My son and I went to Maine. That's all fun. It's taking the entire crew, which. With a dairy cow, if one of us stays back, the other one, you know, one of us can milk. And so it's really fine because we. We have done full family vacations, but it's not exactly relaxing.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Well, I love that you're like, if it's the whole family, plus a dairy cow. Yeah, the dairy. The casual dairy. Just take the cow with you. It'll be fine.

[Melissa]

No, yeah, no, take the dairy cow. We just would leave one adult back to milk, but.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah, yeah, but you. Plus many, many children is less stressful than finding someone.

[Melissa]

It depends.

[Unnamed Speaker]

So potentially do the dairy cow.

[Melissa]

That would be. Yes, but then also we do well with dividing and conquering, because then, like, if my husband would take older kids somewhere and I would stay back with the younger crew, then it's easy for the person. It's kind of easy for both people versus the group is a little bit more challenging because you can do different things. You need nap times, you need to watch kids closely who are maybe not swimmers, all that kind of stuff. So, yeah, I think it, I think we just sometimes choose to do that because it's, you know, you get the ages. So if you have all kids, like five and up, that's a whole different thing than bringing, you know, it's a.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Whole different birth of babies. Yes, for sure. For sure. We are a condensed version of what you have because we have four kids. And so I'm learning the value of. See, I'm like a clinger. I'm like a stage five clinger on my husband. And so I just, just recently have discovered the value of, like, oh, you can take him and go swim at the lake. I could stay here with the girls. And there's a certain joy in that.

[Melissa]

Yeah. I think there was a time where we really loved doing all things together as a family, and we still do. It just makes so much more sense when you have such divided ages. That's when I started really realizing it, like, okay, it would make so much more sense for you to take those kids on a canoe trip and me to stay back with the babies. Because all of the stress of going on a canoe trip is in bringing the one year old, the three year old. You know, it's not the others. Those are fine. Like, that's just pack up the kids, get in the canoe, bring the food. It's. It's both. And so it's fun to go with him, but it's just also really hard.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah.

[Melissa]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

So, yeah, it changed the dynamic. I. We, yeah, we tried originally to have six, six of us go up to New York City and. And I kept being like, how could I figure out the three year old? You know, it's the.

[Melissa]

Okay. Yeah, traveling.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah. So, yeah, that's where grandparents come in and they're very handy.

[Melissa]

Well, and we've done, We've done some of that too. Yes, that. That'll work as well because I find that each group is not super difficult on their own. Like I can do. And you know, obviously, like, we make it all work. But little kids, you do a very certain thing. Like, if I'm ever left home, which I am, times with the four youngest kids, I just. My whole day is structured completely differently than if you have the older kids or if you have all the kids and you quickly adapt to how you're supposed to do it. But it's a Whole different thing. Because you do, like, you're very much in control, too. Like, hey, we're gonna do this. We're gonna have lunch time. We're gonna have nap time, and then, like, you know, we're gonna have our little bedtime. And you plan all of the things that you need to do on your own during all those times. Because they're very predictable. Because little kids actually sleep. You know, they don't go to bed at, like, teenagers. They don't go to bed. Like, they. They go to bed after me.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Why do they sleep?

[Melissa]

Do they go to bed? I've never seen it, so. Yeah, it's.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah.

[Melissa]

Yeah. But anyways, with the dairy cow, with the animals, I see what you're saying. If you are someone who actually does do spontaneous family trips, that's going to be a big challenge.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah. Yeah. Which is where I think we, like, we enjoy our sheep, we enjoy the shearing. I think we might grow that herd and. And just be happy campers there.

[Melissa]

Yeah, that's. That's awesome. Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

But I can see missing the chickens and things. We're actually about to, I think, change our coop. Because our coop was a frustration.

[Melissa]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

And it's time, you know, you learn as you go with farming. I guess so.

[Melissa]

So, okay, your husband came home. You were in the cul de sac, and he was like, I found this land. Was this a dream of yours before or just something that was kind of, like, sprung on you, and you're like, maybe I could wrap my head around that dream.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah, well, that's a little bit of the theme, actually. I ended up twisting into the book of saying, like, what if? What if? Like, you know, taking that risk, which applies, you know, for adults as well as children. And so, yeah, I feel like I romanticized it just like I can romanticize everything else under the sun. And we love. We love hiking in the mountains. We love. You know, like, we've got a homeschool hiking group. We do every week. We've got a. You know, we've done long camping trips. We've done long hikes. We've done various things, but to, like, live out away from people we've never done. I actually grew up in an apartment complex with a single mother, and so this was a far cry. I mean, suburban life was even a far cry from kind of what I grew up with. And so, yeah, it was a bit of a risk. I remember, like, I remember being very nervous the night before the auction because it can really go either way. Yeah. And it could really go either way. And it was like, do we really want this?

[Melissa]

Because if we do this, it's happening.

[Unnamed Speaker]

There's kind of no going back. And I have learned that wherever I live, I think it is the world's best place ever. And so it's hard for me.

[Melissa]

You sound just like my sister. She's, like, so positive about everything. Like, I can get down about stuff. I'm like, meh. And she's like, it's.

[Unnamed Speaker]

But.

[Melissa]

But look at this. And I'm like, okay, cool.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Super. But also, look at that. Yeah. And. And so I've lived in a lot of unique. I will say, places in my life. And, you know, at each point, it's like, oh, my goodness, we're next to a park. It's the best. Oh, my goodness. We have walking here. It's the best. Whatever it is. That is very much how I feel about our cul de sac and our neighborhood. I think it's the world's best neighborhood and the world's best cul de sac. And, like, how could we ever leave? If we leave it, it sells to someone else, and we'll never get it back.

[Melissa]

You'll never find anything like this.

[Unnamed Speaker]

No other house like that house, which, of course, there are millions of houses, but I really genuinely felt it in my core. And so that was definitely scary. But, you know, you just had to weigh the pros and cons and ultimately, you know, really, truly think about it, and then. And then eventually take the jump. Even if you don't know for sure how it's gonna go, just take the jump, and it'll be okay. And it really. It really was. It was. You know, I can't think of a decision we've really made in our lives where I was like, that was a terrible decision. Completely irreversible. Or pivot if you need to.

[Melissa]

Right. So with your house, were you able to live in your cul de sac house while building your farmhouse?

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah, so we were able to do that. And I think that probably we. We were very lucky because my husband bought the lumber package. I mean, like, three weeks before the cost of wood skyrocketed because of COVID Like, we. This was all right around Covid, that we.

[Melissa]

I can't remember.

[Lisa]

When did you move into your farm?

[Unnamed Speaker]

I think it was 2021.

[Melissa]

Okay. Okay. So, yeah, right around Covid.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah. So we were building in, like, 2020. 2021. And so it was right as the world was getting really, really crazy. And so. But thankfully, it was very affordable. So what was shocking, actually, for us is that we were able to sell our house, which was like an 1800 square foot sweet, small house in our. Not small, but you know, a sweet house in our cul de sac and buy the house we're in now for the exact. Pretty much the exact same it cost to build.

[Melissa]

Wow. I guess just the way the. The timing worked out because the market kind of shot up a little bit.

[Unnamed Speaker]

It was.

[Melissa]

And he bought the lumber prior to that.

[Unnamed Speaker]

It was that. And he was just really. Yeah. Careful as a builder. But then I turned around and was able to utilize social media to like make sure do get a bunch of free things, basically free products to build. And it was. Yeah. So it worked out really well, which was very much a huge blessing because I feel like the cost of the value of what our house was or would have been today is like, you know, probably four times more than we were able to build.

[Melissa]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

So I'm like, we're never moving. It was also the great interest rate day. And so I was like, we'll be here forever. Yeah.

[Lisa]

So creating really great retail experiences is tough. Especially with multiple stores, teams of staff, fulfillment centers, separate workflows.

[Melissa]

It's a lot.

[Lisa]

But with Shopify Point of Sale you can do it all without complexity. Shopify's point of sale system is a unified command center for your retail business. It brings together in store and online operations across 1000 locations. Imagine being able to guarantee that shopping is always convenient. Endless aisle shipped to customer buy online pickup in store.

[Unnamed Speaker]

All.

[Lisa]

All made simpler so customers can shop how they want and staff have the tools to close the sale every time. And let's face it, acquiring new customers is expensive. With Shopify POS you can keep shoppers coming back with personalized experiences and first party data that give marketing teams a competitive edge. In fact, it's proven based on a report from EY businesses on Shopify POS see real results like 22% better. Total cost of ownership and benefits equivalent to an 8.9% uplift in sales on average relative to the market set. Survey what more? Check it [e-mail] farmhouse all lowercase. And learn how to create the best retail experiences without complexity. Shopify.com farmhouse I remember being a new mom. Well, maybe some of the other children in between. Now and then those newborn phases kind of blur together. But that first one, it was really difficult. I didn't really know what to expect. Really was naive about the whole sleep thing and expected that she would sleep at night. Which if you've had a baby, you Know it's not just that easy. Thankfully each transition has become a little bit easier from experience. But that doesn't mean that I'm always perfectly well rested as a mom. From sleepless nights to feeling more like yourself, Thrive Cosmetics is a new mom's secret weapon. Wake your look in seconds with clean skin loving ingredients, high performance and trademark formulas and uncompromising standard. Also certified 100% vegan and cruelty free. Because moms deserve the absolute, absolute best for every product purchased. Thrive Cosmetics donates products and funds to help communities Thrive. Their brilliant under eye brightener illuminating corrector instantly brightens and illuminates the under eye area for a more awake appearance. It smooths and minimizes the appearance of fine lines while boosting under eye brightness over time. It also supports skin by promoting visible wrinkle smoothing and the improvement of skin firmness, tone and elasticity. Brighten a mom's day. Especially if you're that mom. Go to thrivecosmetics.com farmhouse for 20% off. That's Thrive Cosmetics. C A U S E M E t I c s.com farmhouse I mean.

[Melissa]

Obviously if you ever did need to move, which I, I agree like we're building the house with unless something crazy happens, no intentions to ever move again. But you would, you would have gained that value. Like if you were to sell it, you would obviously have like a large amount that you could purchase something else with as it appreciated and all that.

[Unnamed Speaker]

But yeah, yeah, but of course my mindset, well, we can't ever move. This is the best it'll ever get. Yes.

[Melissa]

Yeah. Yeah. I think I'll, I think I'll think that about our new place. I mean I already think that about the land and the way it lays out and how things are taking shape now. Did you have anything which I know you're like very positive, very optimistic person so maybe you wouldn't have anything that you were like, oh, I regret this and I wish we would have done this differently with our build. I know everybody has those.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah, well I, I think there were some unavoidables it and avoid doubles because I was trying to be so cost effective purchased several, you know, our little chandeliers or hardware off of Wayfair or Amazon. You know like I got. There's always the nice appliances I went for, you know, checking the clearance section at Lowe's for everything or going online and finding the cheapest and have they broken. I'm looking at a broken doorknob right now. That drives me crazy and locks us in our bathroom all the time, you know.

[Melissa]

Right.

[Unnamed Speaker]

But it was sign, you know, you do the best with what you can at the time, you know. And so now here we are four years later and you know, as. As we're able to, we're able to replace things. And so I don't regret any of that. But it's almost like that's a hack make. You know, you can get nice looking things that look really fancy or look really nice on Amazon or Wayfair. You just have to dig. And I mean, I went crazy on Black Friday. I got like everything on Black Friday and that. So I made all these decisions that would like, help us. We. My husband pulled out an entire racquetball court for a job at a gym. And we kept it all and refinished it and put it down. And so I have a racquetball gym in my hole upstairs.

[Melissa]

Wow, that's unique.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Which is really different. Yeah. And no one would think it because it's like just a. I think a maple or cherry. I forget, but it's like you wouldn't really notice but like, you know, it's different than the wide plank that we have on our main floor, but it has a memory attached to it and it was just a way that we were able to save money. So.

[Melissa]

Yeah. And get a nice durable floor.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah. And it was durable for sure. So. Yeah. So I'm trying to think of things I would definitely do differently.

[Melissa]

I mean, if nothing comes to mind quick, that's a good thing.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah. I wanted a shoot from the second floor down to the first. If I could have gotten. Now I ended up doing a brand deal with a washer dryer all in one that goes in your closet that's ventless. So that ended up working out. So now I have a washer dryer upstairs. So it doesn't matter really. However, if I didn't do that brand deal like a couple years later, I would have wished to have a shoot to drop all your clothes into the washer dryer downstairs instead of going up and downstairs, you know, 300 times a day as you do. So I don't. I'm trying to think of things that I regret. I don't. I. We painted the entire house to save money. Again, a base color of just zero color. What is that? Like the base paint? Paint?

[Melissa]

Okay.

[Unnamed Speaker]

People sometimes would ask online, they're like, what color is your baseboards compared to your ceilings compared to your walls? And I was like, all the same. It's your ultra. Right. Or whatever. Base paint. So I don't know, I think we just ultimately saved money where we could. And as I was able to make money, sell books, whatever, then I would do the project. Yeah. Add the wallpaper, do the whatever.

[Melissa]

Well, that's an encouraging thing because I feel like right now my brain is so fully invested in the build because it feels like a very. Like every decision I make feels very permanent. But it's like, like I'm shopping for door hardware, you know, and it's like, well, you can switch a doorknob, I guess. I'm afraid I wouldn't ever do it because, like, when I look at my last couple houses, we kind of just do what the house is. You don't worry about all that. But then whenever you're presented with building.

[Lisa]

A house, I can choose literally every single thing.

[Melissa]

Like just everything. Like, should the door go this way or that way? And then what hardware? It's just, it's a lot.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Well, and with. Yeah, and you can change it, I think. One thing, I don't know if this is going to give you comfort or be like, oh, no, that's terrible. But one thing I realized is immediately, no matter how nicely you do your house, things will. Scuffs will happen on the walls, as you know, and things will break. So it's almost like a get out of jail card feeling of like, listen, just know no matter how nice you do it, you're go. You're forever going to be like, ah, we gotta fix this. Yeah, it's true. Don't sweat the small stuff in the beginning, I guess. Yeah, you know.

[Melissa]

Yeah, well. And you know, when you're building a house, you're still a busy person. Like, it's not like life just stops. And so there's so many things. Like if I just stop and do this, then we will get to have this really cool. Like just one of the really annoying things I'm doing to myself is we did all reclaimed doors, which is very annoying thing to do.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Oh, but that's awesome.

[Melissa]

Oh yeah, it is in theory. Until you're like realizing there's not the right hinges, not the right, you know, the little part that goes in the door so that it latches to the other side of the door and then there's no frames. They're all different inches wide, tall, everything. So it's one of those things where it's like you partially just want to give up, but then you're also like, but if I devote myself right now.

[Unnamed Speaker]

If I commit, if I commit right.

[Melissa]

Now, like next year, this won't be A thing I'm worrying about anymore. And I will have all antique doors in the whole house. But there's, like, a lot of things like that. I'm like, how far do you go? Because there's still a busy life happening around here. Well.

[Unnamed Speaker]

And you can add more personality as you go. I mean, I think the reclaimed doors. I have a friend who remodeled her house too, and she will say that was a big woe of hers, is that they did reclaimed windows, and they were, like, horrible experience and the same problems. Yeah. So, Yeah, I don't know. I. I don't know if I. I do like the modern. Give me a. Give me a good modern window that, like, for sure works and is.

[Melissa]

Yeah, yeah. We're doing new windows too, because y. My old house windows, they don't open. I've lived in three old houses. That's all I've lived in for my whole marriage. And there's the one off window that'll open, but for the most part, they don't. And I don't like that. That's not great.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I know. Good windows are a modern luxury that are a blessing. Well. And I really like windows that go top down so that every time I open them, like, what is it? Not bottom. Not just bottom up, but top down, too.

[Melissa]

Okay.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Because it's safe for my. I feel a lot safer for my children. Like, no one's gonna fall out of a window.

[Melissa]

I hadn't thought of that. Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Well, I had an experience where I, when I was 9, ended up, like, saving a kid. I was walking around the apartment complex, and a child had fallen from a second floor window, and it was terrifying to take him upstairs to the family. And I, from that moment henceforth, have been very, like, very.

[Melissa]

It's something you think of.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah. I, like, never let doors or windows open bottom up, so.

[Melissa]

Oh, right. That's smart. Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

So anyway.

[Melissa]

Smart.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Okay, we'll do it. You got it.

[Melissa]

Well, I already ordered the windows.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Oh, we're past that. Never mind. It'll be fine.

[Melissa]

Windows are fully ordered. That's the thing. I'm asking you. Like, oh, what do you regret? Like, like, you know, expecting you're gonna say, like, some layout thing. I can't change anything about it right now.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Okay. Nothing is changing. Okay, Well, I feel like I shouldn't even say anything then, because I don't want you to be like, oh, my goodness.

[Melissa]

No, it's good for the listeners, because listeners might be building a house and.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah.

[Melissa]

You know, there's. You have lots of good tips, too. On making it affordable, which is very. Like right now. I mean, building is crazy pricey. It's. It's a. You know, it's a pricey thing. And there's. There's just. There's continues to be more and more things that come up. You're like, oh, hadn't thought of that.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah. Well, I do feel like I have tips for how. What I would do to make it cheaper for people. Like, I don't know if I have regrets. I have things. I mean, I'm sure I do. I just can't think of them. But things that I loved. I switched my floor plan. I loved this one floor plan. But my mountains, the view and the sunshine. You want to face your windows. What is it? South. You want the south windows so that you get the most sun, which is I learned through the process. And south, direct south was also where my mountains were, and I wanted that view. And I wanted to be able to sit in my kitchen, because that's where I am all the time, and have a. Be able to look at. I wanted a ton of windows. So I did not do upper cabinets because I was like, we will minimalize.

[Melissa]

All of our windows just so we.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Can have as many windows as we can. So I put four windows in our kitchen that just like cover the wall and only have, you know, my plates and cups are below. And I love it. Including with having a child. It doesn't matter. With my children, toddlers or whatever, the sunshine is key for me. Windows are key. And having. Just having that light is so important. So that is a tip. I would say I even changed my floor plan to make sure that I had a house that faced primarily at most south and had the most windows, so I had the most sunlight. Another tip I would say is you want to whimsy up your house. And chimneys are very whimsical. However, it's also like $15,000 to put in a fireplace. Well, we ended up waiting until I could afford it. So I basically write books and then turn around and put wallpaper up in my house. I write books for the rugs. So we waited a while and then I put in a fireplace, but it was a wood stove. And if you want to save money, I would absolutely recommend you just don't even do a fireplace. Do a wood stove and the type of.

[Melissa]

Well, they heat the house better. That's why we're doing it, because it wasn't necessarily like a line item thing. It was just like, we literally prefer the wood stove.

[Unnamed Speaker]

It's more practical. Well, we ended up doing a mix. We got a wood stove kind of fireplace, so it heats really well, but it's also like, I get the full mantle for the stocking life.

[Melissa]

Okay, so how did you do that? Like, how does it. I need to look at your Instagram pictures.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Well, I don't know. It was an inset wood stove, because I learned about. And we had a wood stove in our last house, how efficient wood stoves are.

[Melissa]

Okay.

[Unnamed Speaker]

But I wanted to save the space in our living room, so, you know, we would have lost about, what, five feet or something like that.

[Melissa]

Oh, yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

So I decided to go with a wood stove fireplace, and it was just an insert, so it shuts and then really lasts forever. And there's these fans that pop out and heat the whole house as you want. So you kind of. It's kind of a hybrid, but I really enjoy it. So I would say. That's another tip I would give. I would also say, avoid carpet at all costs. My husband was like, we can save money by doing carpet. And I was like, no, because that's.

[Melissa]

Where I draw the line.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I will draw the line with this. I will. 20 bucks later. Yeah. Because, I mean, as you know, with small children, all it takes is one stomach butt to ruin that carpet.

[Melissa]

No. Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

And. And I've experienced that all my other houses were carpet. And so I just was like, no, no. And so that's how we ended up with thinking creatively and got a rocket fall. A rocket ball, you know, flooring or whatever. But, yeah, so. And I always love. I think something that makes your space feel special is Mason work. Like, I love. I love thin brick. I ended up. And of course, all of this was not in the original build. It was after a few years, but I ended up putting a herringbone thin brick in our floor in our mudroom, and then painting it, which everyone who's ever put in anything. It about kills my husband because I always paint over this brick, but I love a thin brick that's so tiny, and it just has so much personality. And then I did thin brick in our kitchen, too. And then we did a brick going up the fireplace. And I just. Just. I don't know. I think the texture. I think having a variety of textures makes it so nice and gives it an old, old farmhouse feel in a new farm, which I'm sure you're thinking through. What do we do? Do you put bead work in, or do you, you know, what are you doing?

[Melissa]

Yeah, yeah, we're doing. Like, there's going to be Paneling on just about every surface of some kind. Like Beadboard V groove. I. You know, it all sounds overwhelming at this point that we're going to still be doing that, but I'm like, I think you can always add it later.

[Unnamed Speaker]

If you need to, right? Yeah. Or if you do, you're like, wow, this is redundant. However, I did sheet a rock because that's all we could afford. And that is something I would have asked to slowly add in is like trim, like box trim and things to give it more personality. So. But if you can do it in the beginning, do it in the beginning. Yeah.

[Melissa]

Well, okay, so this is my question. I need to ask my builder this, this. If you're doing some kind of paneling on just about every surface, do you put the drywall behind it or not?

[Unnamed Speaker]

I don't. Okay, listen, I'm not, I'm not my husband, so. But I think, I think if you're doing like, what is it? Beadboard? I think that's. You don't have anything behind it. I don't think you have Sheetrock.

[Melissa]

I think because I asked my husband this a couple days ago, he's like, will you do the drywall first? I'm like, but if we're covering every surface, do we really need to do that?

[Unnamed Speaker]

Well, I mean, double check. Because I could be so wrong and I don't know. But I, I mean, and if that. You know what, and if that's true, then super. You, you're gonna have Sheetrock anyways. So I don't feel like it's a waste for me then to just go ahead and layer afterwards and be like. Cause right now I literally actually did this. I went to the. Actually that was my Christmas project. I got a whole wall behind my dining room and I got some boards that were like 6ft, 6 inches wide and some 3 and some 4. And then we put it up the wall and painted it and it was over the Sheetrock. And I feel like my husband was like, why? But I was like, it gives a better antiquey look, you know, while still feeling clean, you know? Uh huh.

[Melissa]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. All of that is still to come. And I think this is all gonna make our house take longer. But, but you know, I, I want to get the projects mostly done just because I don't want to be living through. We're not great at like trying to do a bunch of projects with a bunch of kids around. I mean, I guess probably most people aren't.

[Unnamed Speaker]

No, I love it. It's a Dream.

[Melissa]

I love it. It's great. No.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Do you know how, like, you're saying this? And I'm like, oh, I so relate. Because last. Last contract, I ended up remodeling my daughter to both my daughter's rooms. And a few months ago, and I worked with rifle paper for it. And so they sent me wallpaper and rugs and, like, some bedding, which was awesome. Very thankful to them forever. I feel like I could be an ad for them rifle paper. Go buy them. But the process of, like, pushing everything to the center and then it being in a construction zone while they do the trim work and like the box trim. Although box trim is handy. I will say I love a good box trim halfway up the wall. And then wallpaper the second half up because you don't have to do. It's. It looks like paneling, but it's actually just straight on sheetrock, so it's easier. And it's just this little piece of trim that's boxed and I don't know. I'm sitting in it now.

[Melissa]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah.

[Melissa]

It looks great.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yes.

[Melissa]

All those little details to me make it feel older, more custom. Yeah, that's. That's what I'm hoping to give our home lots of character and for it to not look like a new build, which I know it. It will for at least at first. So that's. Yeah, that's the goal. So I guess on your property, you were able to kind of face your house. Like on ours, there was really only one option. Like, it was like, this is the way you face the house. Like, there wasn't any choosing by, like the sun. Actually, it does face south, but it really just turned out that way because there's any other way would have made zero sense.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Well, you're saying the front face south? Yes. Okay. So I. I made it so that my kitchen.

[Melissa]

Okay.

[Unnamed Speaker]

The whole. So I. I redirected so that the bulk. Majority of my house. It's like a long. I. I guess. Okay. Is my house. So instead of being wider, which was my original plan, I was like, wait a second. I don't want the only. This strip to. To have the sun. I want all this. So I had to change the plan to make it that way.

[Melissa]

Okay. And how did you guys choose a floor plan?

[Lisa]

I think we talked about this last.

[Melissa]

Time, but I kind of forget.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah. I scoured Pinterest until I found my favorites.

[Melissa]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

And then. And then I said I would like that one very much. So thank you.

[Melissa]

Well, that's easy enough.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I know. And originally My husband was like, well, we can't. We can't afford to build that. It was three. I think it was like, 3,400 square feet, something like that. So our original plan was like, fine. And this is a tip I would give to people, too. Find what you want, because that is permanent. Your floor plan is the only. Really that's kind of permanent. So I was like, you know what? That's fine. We'll just build our house in pieces. We'll have, like, everything. But we won't build the garage, and we won't build the room over the garage. We're still not living in the master bedroom from the plan. We live in a. My husband and I live in a rec room, which I'm like, whatever. We just use that as our room, which is fine because that's on the same floor as our children, but. And then one day when we can afford that, we'll build on our. And make our plan. So I would rather have a floor plan that I can build onto.

[Melissa]

Okay.

[Unnamed Speaker]

And just not have pieces.

[Melissa]

How do you find that? Because, like, ours too, like, we have additions, but the floor joists, like, run through the whole thing. You know what I mean? So I don't. I don't. I guess I probably don't know enough about building to even know how you would choose a floor plan that you could easily. I've seen them. I have seen ones that really lend themselves to it.

[Unnamed Speaker]

And I. Yeah, and I'm not even talking. There are definite floor plans that are, like, very obviously, like, they'll even label themselves as, like, additions that are. Yeah. And you know what? And usually my husband says, usually those are. Can be a waste, actually, because a lot of times his clients will come to him and say things like, I want to save money by building all of this, except for the room over the garage. We'll just leave that unfinished. And he's like, well, a bulk of the expense is, you know, getting it boxed in.

[Melissa]

That's what I wonder. Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

So that's not. That doesn't really count. What I'm saying is basically the floor plan, you know, we just wouldn't have had our garage. We wouldn't have had the room over the garage. We would have just had to really. And we. We just didn't build. There was the master that was just a one level, and you just, like, chop it, you know, on the floor plan, like, well, we're just not going to build that. And we're just not going to build that. And one day when we can, it'll be a hassle, but we'll figure it out. And yeah, you know, I would talk to. If someone's building house, I would talk to their builder. I trusted Ben because that's his job, to make it happen. But that for sure saved us, you know? Yeah.

[Melissa]

And so when you go to build it, are you just gonna do like a slab, not like a full foundation or.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Well, okay. This is actually probably the biggest tip. I. This is my regret. I found my regret. I got you to it.

[Melissa]

I had to.

[Unnamed Speaker]

You got me. And it's not too long, actually, I would say the weather has been insane the past few years, and. And I. He even has noticed everyone who's his new builds are building tornado shelters. 100%. I wish we had built a tornado shelter underground when we built.

[Melissa]

And you mean something other than a base? Just a basement.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Oh, yeah. Because we don't have a basement.

[Melissa]

Okay, Gotcha. Okay.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah. So we are. We are. We've got a little crawl space that's really scary.

[Melissa]

Oh, okay. Like, you couldn't get down there. I guess you could.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Not really. Yeah. I mean, like, if I wanted to go outside, I don't know.

[Melissa]

You just wouldn't.

[Unnamed Speaker]

No, I wouldn't. We would go in this tiny bathroom, but like I said, we got a lot of windows. We're like, you know, I kind of feel like we're in a fishbowl in our house a little bit, so. And we're at the top of the hill, and so it's a little bit scary. It's like, I would just. So we're talking now about building. When we build the master, we for sure will build a tornado shelter to accommodate that. So I would say 100% without question. I think everybody given. Given extreme weather should have a tornado shelter in place.

[Melissa]

I mean. Yeah. I mean, and where I live, it's very uncommon to not have a basement. Actually, the house I currently live in doesn't have a basement, which is very unusual. I've always had a basement. And the house we're building has a basement. But Missouri's like, if you look at deadliest tornadoes in the last hundred years, like, Missouri's on there the most times. So we just, you know, we would definitely.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah.

[Melissa]

Like, it's common for us to go to the basement for a storm.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Right.

[Melissa]

But here there's not one. And I'm like, well, this house has.

[Lisa]

Been here over a hundred years.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Look, it made it. Yeah. Yeah. So I don't think they're extreme ads. However, it is like, I think you can even buy apparently some sort of pod that you can like drop in your yard. I've heard of that too. My husband's like, we should do that. And I'm saying that sounds extra terrifying, but we.

[Melissa]

Yeah, well. And you'd have to really commit. You'd have to just believe this is going to be the worst storm to get your whole family out there in that pod. Like if, you know, because we've had times where it's three in the morning and you're like, do you get the children or not? Like, do you literally wake everybody up? And if it was like a comfortable basement with a couch, then maybe you would. But take them out to the pond, like cram together.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Well, and my problem is, I assume it sprinkles or thinks about sprinkling. And I'm like, it's it. That's it. The tornado is coming. And so we'd be in the pod half of our life, you know?

[Melissa]

Yeah. No, I'm the opposite. I'm like, they have to say there's a tornado on the ground. I'm like, I guess we'll bring everybody tornadoes.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah. We actually did experience a crazy tornado thing on the way when I was trying to get to New York.

[Melissa]

We, we.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I think we straight up went through a like tornado. I've never, I did not know the alert could go one past warning. It did the watch and then it did the warning saying it was on the ground. And then it did this.

[Melissa]

Okay.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Third. And it's my husband and me and my, all my kids and it. We're on the interstate is pure black and it's dark outside and you. There's nobody around and everybody's smart. We're just driving. And then I got this, we got this extra ding a lings thing and it said critical like tornado is now here where you are or something.

[Melissa]

Oh, okay. I haven't seen that one.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Well, yeah, I hadn't either. So we immediately get off the interstate, go under a bridge because we're like, ah. And. And then I'm chatgpting it and it said, do not go under a bridge. The worst thing you could do is.

[Melissa]

Go under a bridge. I'm pretty sure that's not allowed.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah. So then it was like, get out of the bridge. Get it, get out. So we're just going crazy. So anyways, I'm living from that recently, so I'm thinking we need a tornado shit shelter.

[Melissa]

Yeah, yeah, I think that's probably a good idea. Just there's going to be times and our house too, is on top of a hill. So it seems like it might be. And you know, it's. I can't say, oh, this house has been here 100 years. I can't say that, like, no, you're.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Gonna have to find your confidence in something else. It's been here a sturdy two weeks.

[Melissa]

Right, well, let's move on a little bit to after you. You know, I think a lot of people aren't probably building, but they still dream of that country life. And you're someone who grew up in an apartment and you go to a property and you're thinking, you know, adding animals. How did that look and was it really intimidating?

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah, I think, I think like anything else, it's just one little shaky step at a time where you're like, wow, this sounds, you know, it's. I will say it's incredible what you end up taking on when you have the space to take it on. So. And I've always wanted. We had chickens, even when at a brief time when we lived in Knoxville, Tennessee, you know, we're in suburbia then and we had chickens then and I loved it. So I've always, I've always loved the idea. I remember the very first time, like going to the post office with my 4 year old daughter and like we got the baby chicks and we brought up, brought them home and then we started the thing and we never knew. You can only research. I mean, I literally did read like goats for dummies or like sheep for, you know, raising sheep for dummies. Like, I really did listen to those audiobooks and read those books and they were. I read some terrible books. And I was trying my best to figure out how to do it, you know, do due diligence and be prepared. But the reality is eventually you gotta just be like, all right, we just gotta jump in here. There's no amount of reading that will prepare me for this. Yeah, also this was really boring. So it's like 60 pages on Clipper size or something. And so let's just go, let's just go to the farm store and get your supplies and you'll figure it out as you go. And so it started with chickens and we loved it. It's not like we did everything at once. It was baby steps, which I do highlight in our book. This is how you slow. This is, you know, you slowly you bit by bit before. You know, I didn't say to myself, and I did immediately want a whole farm, but at the same time, I didn't realistically think that was Wise for us to jump into. So.

[Melissa]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

So it's taken us, what, four years. We've had chickens, rabbits, one cat, quickly two cats, then three cats.

[Melissa]

Yeah, cats.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I know. Cat, cat, cat, cat, cat. And then, duh. And then sheep and then a big garden. And it's like you just kind of. And honestly, at this point, I feel good there. I don't really necessarily need more responsibility than I need now. I feel pretty happy with this. And I love the life that it's provided for my children. I love that they understand farm life. I love that they understand life and death and. And, you know, the hard work is hard work, but good work and joys that come from working hard and, like pulling up your own carrots, you know, harvesting your own carrots with your cousins and, you know, chasing chickens that got out and let them, you know, back into the run or let them back into the field or whatever, or doing morning chores. They each have a different animal that they take care of, and there's great responsibility there. And I don't know, I just feel like it's been a great. As you probably know, it's a great experience for the children. It's as good for them as it is for me. Yeah.

[Melissa]

And it. It's. It's not always necessarily practical. Like, you know, you can. You can buy carrots pretty cheap.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Sure.

[Melissa]

You know, but that's. It's more than that. And that's what I think we talk about on this podcast a lot, that a lot of this stuff, like, yes, you can do a much more convenient thing, but then there's just the absence of that good work, you know, available for you.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Well, yeah, you have 24 hours in a day, and your kids are going to be spending them somehow. And it's nice to. I don't know. There's a certain joy watching them. I don't hear them really say, oh, I'm bored, you know, or things they just. They go out and they have so many things to do, and before you know it, they're entertaining themselves in both cold and hot weather and snow and finding all kinds of joy. So I agree.

[Melissa]

Do you spend a lot of time out on that front porch? It just looks like the most dreamy spot.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yes, I do. I do, actually. Every day. My husband and I, about a year ago now, I said, I really want to make it a commitment that every day you and I specifically have time, not with our children, and get to, like, drink coffee on the porch and have a talk for, like, 15. Somewhere between 15 and 30 minutes. Yeah. And so now we do that every day, and it's like, you know, sometimes it's freezing outside, and we just bundle up. But there's something really extremely healthy feeling about hearing the birds and, like, feeling the sunlight, and. I don't know. It really helps me genuinely have a better day.

[Melissa]

Yeah. Yeah. I'm dreaming of that. Our last house had a front porch. It didn't have, like, as much of a view as our new house will have from the front porch. And we were not as intentional about sitting out there, but I definitely dream about it, and I think with the view we're going to have, we'll. We'll have to do it.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah, for sure. And it's so peaceful. And then before you know it, your kids will school on the porch and.

[Melissa]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yes.

[Melissa]

And so you homeschool as well. And so you're kind of weaving all of this together in this place you're living that you built from scratch. There has to be so much satisfaction in all of that.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Oh, yeah. It's. I don't know. It has been. We are definitely to the point where we're. I don't know, we can't really imagine living anywhere else at this point. We just love where we are, so. And it is very peaceful to see your kids, to be like, oh, I'm gonna go read out here. And it's nice. I will say, in a new build to have multiple places. I. I do feel like I try to optimize dining sets or rocking porches or whatever. In as many places, I just. I just put a table, a garden set in our garden, and, like, oh, it's so nice. And I. And my husband was like, why do you have a garden set in the garden when you have a table in the greenhouse? And I was like, well, it's nice to sit in the shade right here for my daughter to paint or, you know, sit with her cat and read or whatever. So it is, I would say, maximize your outdoor sets.

[Melissa]

I really like that idea. It's overwhelming thinking about right now because I'm like, we don't even have a house yet, but I'm dreaming five years in the future of all the little places that you can be. Once we have built out a garden and we're doing a barn at the same time. But I can just picture all the little spots around the property outside of the house that I want to be a place where people can go and spread out. I mean, that was the whole idea.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah. Yeah. Especially do it at the barn. Like, I think we should need. We just put a bonfire thing out there and it's just. Yeah, I just feel like every. Every few steps we have something. We just did another spot for grilling over here in the back porch. Granted those are just lawn chairs, beach chairs, whatever. But it's like we just set up on our driveway. Oh, that's another thing. I would say we got a. We did get a concrete pad for our driveway, even though the rest is gravel. And even just last night we pulled out some chalk and then we pulled a pickleball net out and we've been playing pickleball for like the past 24 hours and straight. And that'll be an all summer thing. We'll grill and we'll sit in our lawn chairs and the kids play pickleball with us. And it's just having that.

[Melissa]

So what size is the concrete pad? Because so far we just have gravel everywhere. But I'm like, huh, that might be smart.

[Unnamed Speaker]

It even I would say I love gravel going up the driveway. Like I love a good gravel driveway. But the top pad, it's a three car garage. So we.

[Melissa]

It's that width.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah. And I actually the third car of the garage from the very beginning, I never wanted to use for anything but like a gym, like to put treadmill in so I can open the door and I can walk on the treadmill. But also my. I can see right there my kids are playing with chalk and they're scootering and they're apparently now doing pickleball.

[Melissa]

Right.

[Unnamed Speaker]

And so it's a. It's the width of a three car garage. And I don't know how long, but it's. It's like a square.

[Melissa]

And I mean, we have a spot for that. I just never thought of it. It's probably one of those things you think about when all the structures are there. You're like, oh, it took a while.

[Unnamed Speaker]

We did gravel forever. And then eventually that was another one of those things we worked into. But you know what's nice is then you can put a basketball hoop up and you guys can play basketball. You can do, you know, four squares. I have kids over and we all go play fours. Right.

[Melissa]

Concrete for that.

[Unnamed Speaker]

There's a ton of stuff you can do with concrete with a good driveway. So.

[Melissa]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, and that's. We're weighing out a lot of decisions on like that kind of thing because, you know, I want some sidewalks that are like flagstone like we had at our last place. But then like that also sounds really nice to have a spot where there's just a concrete.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Just a good flat spot.

[Melissa]

Yep.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah. No, I mean, honestly, too. The pickleball thing, like, you can literally get this, like, accordion kind of net and. And then just pull. Pull the net out, have a pickle ball set, and then you can put it back when it's done. And then you can play tennis and four square and chalk and bikes and scooters and whatever.

[Melissa]

So smart.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah, I. I highly recommend it. It's a modern. It's a. It's one of those modern luxuries, one.

[Melissa]

Of those modern conveniences. Yeah, I know. Through this process, I'm thinking of a lot of those things because I've always, like. We've always lived in an old house. I only wanted to ever find an old house. But the way, like, the property laid and where we wanted it, there was no there. It was just literally, we had it. We looked for years. There's. There wasn't with the amount of property we wanted. And so as I started thinking about a new house, I'm like, well, there's a few things that might be kind of nice. Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah, for sure. So what was. What are your things? What's your list?

[Melissa]

Well, the windows opening is great. I mean, not that you could really work on your windows, those probably, and make them open, but even some of them have, like, the cords came off of the little, like the wood cords, and so it was more extensive to actually fix them. Man.

[Lisa]

What are some of the things?

[Melissa]

Just so many things. And, like, everything will be level, which, you know, character.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I know. I love a good slanty floor, too, but I hear you. It is.

[Melissa]

Yeah. Theoretically, it'll all be level. We'll have a basement that's like, you know, a real. Not. We had. We've always had basements, but they're not super dry or they're, you know, they're just kind of like stone walls, which. They're beautiful. Like, so beautiful.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah.

[Melissa]

But, you know, like, maybe you guys actually would do things down there, like more of like a storage place as opposed to anything you would ever hang out in, which our basement now is that we're building. It's not going to be like that either because there's no windows down there, so it's not like it's going to be a cozy place to be, but.

[Unnamed Speaker]

And you built a large barn, did you not? I feel like I. Yeah. In my memory, I feel like I saw a video where there was a very large, awesome barn.

[Melissa]

Yeah, we have a barn. We. We have a barn, too. It's about what do we decide? Like, 150 or 60ft from the house? We built a barn.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Oh, wow. Yeah. Nice. And so what are you going to use it for?

[Melissa]

It'll be. We dream of so many things, but, like, it'll partially be. There's going to be some stalls in there, so we'll put our milk, like, our dairy stanchion in there, and then we'll have a hayloft, but then the other side is going to be open and tall. And I picture, like, dinners and weddings and.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Oh, my goodness, that's so fun.

[Melissa]

Probably just basketball and skating and, you know.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Amazing.

[Melissa]

Just an extra flex space.

[Unnamed Speaker]

So will that be concrete, then?

[Melissa]

There it is. It's concrete. Yeah. And I thought, you know, there's definitely some things we could have done to make it more aesthetic, but I'm like. Like, they're going to like having that, because in the wintertime, you could close all the barn doors.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Oh, yeah.

[Melissa]

All the wind, you know.

[Unnamed Speaker]

No, you don't need a driveway patch. There you go. You got your.

[Melissa]

It's in the barn. Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

That's epic. Oh, that would be so nice. We have a barn that we. With our property that we inherited that.

[Lisa]

Nice.

[Unnamed Speaker]

That's the only thing I let my husband really take care of, and because his. His design eye is not any. I mean, he. We cannot be more opposites, ever.

[Melissa]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

He tried for a long period of time to get me to move into a metal container. Like. Like the thing.

[Melissa]

Yeah. He's like, why are we building this house?

[Unnamed Speaker]

Why do we need a house? I can cut out four little windows, you know, like, oh, my goodness. So he handles the barn, and it's just this saddest little patchwork barn that he just puts all the other. But it's starting to kind of have character for it and.

[Melissa]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

And I like it. Yeah. Yeah.

[Melissa]

That's the thing. When you have an old property, you inherit so many things. Like, with the last property we had, there was three other buildings other than the house, you know, and it's. And there was just. There's just, like, things around that you just don't inherit at all with a new property.

[Unnamed Speaker]

No. Well, I feel like that I was telling that that recently. I'm like, the hardest thing you can do when you have property is not fill it with stuff. Like, I just feel the temptation to be like, oh, well, let's just have another coop. We'll just have a duck house plus a coop house. And we'll just put that one over with the sheep. And then before you Know it. We'll be covered with a bunch of buildings and then 15 random cars resting out back and a toilet in the front. You know, like, it's just hard to make sure it's clean.

[Melissa]

Well, yeah, that's a. That can be a struggle too. But then there's some character and coziness than just like, a house in a field. Like, that's the thing with us. The property that we bought, it could easily just be a house in the field if we're not careful. You know, like, we need to build out, like, some garden beds, and then we have the barn to provide a little structure over there.

[Unnamed Speaker]

We're gonna.

[Melissa]

Putting a garage on this side of the house because otherwise it's just like a house sitting in a field. And I want, like, paths. And it's all so far in the future, but I wanted to have those cozy moments, moments throughout that. It'll be hard to.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Well, I think it'll happen very easily. I feel like before we knew it, we. So my son, now he's 10, but he'll, like, mow dirt, pike paths, and mazes in the tall grass, which is really kind of fun. So you can build, like, corn mazes or you can build, like, dirt bike paths, and that's character y. And just a bunch of trees.

[Melissa]

Yes, well, and the boys all have dirt bikes.

[Unnamed Speaker]

There you go.

[Melissa]

They will be doing all of that.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah. So, I mean, I think that section will be fun. And then we did just. That was a process, too, getting the trees in. Are you putting trees up your driveway?

[Melissa]

We need to do all that. I guess we should think about that now, probably.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Well, I mean, I'm four years in, and we just did it like, two months ago.

[Melissa]

Yeah, I'm like, I have too many things on my brain.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah. No, there's so much. But of course, trees are the best, biggest ways, I feel like, to. To fill up a space in a really beautiful way.

[Melissa]

Absolutely. Yes, I know. I.

[Lisa]

We.

[Melissa]

I wish we could get trees that will grow fast, because even our last property, the first thing we did, because everybody advised the first thing you do when you get a homestead is to put up your. Or put in your fruit trees. And we did that. And even when we left after six years, they're still, like, we still weren't harvesting apples, you know?

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah. Yeah. We just put in a fruit tree and. Yeah, I think it'll be a while, so. But I like our maples. Blazing maples. They grow pretty quick.

[Melissa]

Okay.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah.

[Melissa]

We need to put something in front of the house because behind the house. There's trees everywhere, but there's nothing in front of the house.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Okay. Yeah. Well, you're talking to someone who. Also, when this land was auctioned off, I think it used to be, like, a cow field or something, and so there was, like, not a tree in sight. We have planted the only trees that exist list on this property, so.

[Melissa]

Oh, okay. On the property.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Melissa]

Ours is actually mostly trees. Our property. But it. They're not, like, integrated with the house. You know, the house is in front of that. But.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, that's nice to have both, so you can have, like, tree forts and things like that. I do wish we had a whole lot of trees.

[Melissa]

Yeah. Oh, man. I could ask you about building stuff forever, because obviously that's what I'm in the thick of. I remember last time we talked, I wanted to, but we weren't announcing that we were moving yet. And so I was like, I'm not gonna. But, yeah, it's so fun.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I know. Well, there's so much to think about. I do remember, I will say, rest is coming for you. I remember that point where it was like, wow, you don't get a break from your life. It's very exhausting. And every decision feels very intense.

[Melissa]

It does. And it happens, like, every day. Like, the builder called this morning, and we chat about a few things, and, like, there's always a new thing to worry about with it.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Oh, no. Yes. Yeah.

[Melissa]

He just says, and every small thing.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Feels really big, too. Every single thing feels very big.

[Melissa]

And maybe it shouldn't. Yeah, I think that's it. I think I'm in that place right now where every. Every little small thing feels like maybe like a problem.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yes. Yes. No, I remember, like, the handrails, Like, I. I, like, very intensely had to think about the rail that went down the stairs, which. Who cares about the rail that goes down the stairs? I care.

[Melissa]

That's the problem. I care everything.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Right.

[Melissa]

I know you care a lot about the end race.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Right. So then what am I doing? I'm dragging all my children in in a minivan, in a Kia minivan down to, like, a saw shop. I don't know even know what they're called.

[Melissa]

Yes.

[Unnamed Speaker]

And I'm like, I must find this myself and drag it home. And then I'm like, this giant things between all of our heads on the drive home. Because I. I had to, like, make sure I like the feel, so I definitely understand the stress. I will say, once it's over, there is. There is peace ahead.

[Melissa]

I believe It. Because. Yeah, I've. I've been in a part of life where we weren't building before.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah.

[Melissa]

And so I know that that exists. But it's. It is like. And I think it'd be a lot easier if I didn't care about certain things, because I'm like, you. Like, I'm not just like, well, just go to Lowe's and get a handrail. Like, no, no, no, no. Oh, no. We can't make it that easy.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I have to search the entire, entire Internet for every handrail that's ever existed.

[Melissa]

Ever existed.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yes.

[Melissa]

Yes. I designed stairs that didn't even. I didn't realize my plan didn't really have. Like, I didn't realize the way the walls go. Like, there's just a small handrail. So I, like, had the staircase, like, all designed. Like, I. I definitely am spending more mental energy than even is necessary, for sure. But I can't tell when I should and when I shouldn't. Like, I can't tell when I be blindsided by, like, a. You should have already thought about this moment. So I'm overcompensating.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I just. I don't think. You know, I don't even think I can. I think this is the point where I'm supposed to say, don't worry. It'll all work out. But I tell you, every time I walk down the stairs, I think I like the feel of my hand on this. Four years later. Good thing you did that day.

[Melissa]

One little trip with your kids, and now every day.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Every day. I'm thankful.

[Melissa]

So.

[Unnamed Speaker]

No, but you really shouldn't worry. It really will be great. I did. I will say, for me, in a new build, and you're probably past this point, but I had to limit myself eventually to three colors because I realized it was way too overwhelming to try and do everything. So I was like, blue, white, and gold and, like, wood. A light wood color. And I will have my house in these colors. And I will not overwhelm myself with too much, because I know I love those colors. I know I like them together. And that's just. And I will say. There we go. There we go. I found another regret. The only things I regret is someone gave us a vanity. So, you know, of course, I was making the most of it at the time for my. For my kids bathroom. And I designed the entire bathroom in, like, black and white and all this other stuff, because that was the vanity they gave me. And I don't love. You know, I wish I didn't. It doesn't you wish you just would.

[Melissa]

Have bought like a different vanity?

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah, I wish I had gone with that, that. But at the same time I saved money and we didn't have money in the budget. So you do what you can. So maybe it's not really a regret, it's just. So anyway, stick to four colors. Give yourself three or four colors.

[Melissa]

Good tip. Because I'm actually not past that point at all. I haven't even gotten there whatsoever. Yeah, haven't even gotten to that point.

[Unnamed Speaker]

So if you're like a sage green girl, I don't know. What color do you like?

[Melissa]

I like green. We're gonna do. I'm thinking I'm gonna do a yellow kitchen which is. I just want, I want very, very country. Like the whole house. Very country.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah.

[Melissa]

So that's my thing.

[Unnamed Speaker]

That's a yellow kitchen.

[Melissa]

Yeah, that's a yellow kitchen. I don't know what else to do. I think I'm gonna do lots of colors throughout, but maybe I should just limit myself to four colors. That might be easier.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Well, think about. Yeah, get your, get your. Get like a canva graphic going. Figure out the color wood you like. If you like light or dark or whatever you're gonna put on your floors, make that the full color of the picture. Because that's the reality is it doesn't matter. Most of your room is gonn wood. And then put your yellow in. I guess white lace curtains would be super cute. I'd put that in and then, you.

[Melissa]

Know, just start building it out.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah, just get yourself a few pieces.

[Melissa]

Yeah, that's smart. I need to do that. I need to do this and not overthink it.

[Unnamed Speaker]

You should get a. This is my side idea. You should get one of those. Although you have so many kids, but have you seen like those buttery yellow old fashioned like smeg yellow refrigerators?

[Melissa]

Yes, I have.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah, do that. That'd be so cute.

[Melissa]

I know it would. I'm doing like a big massive refrigerator.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Like practical. Yeah, that makes sense.

[Melissa]

I guess we're still doing the panel ready thing. Which part of me is like it seems kind of silly because it's not going to look like a cabinet because of how massive it's going to be.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Oh no. But that'll still be cool. I like those things.

[Melissa]

Yeah.

[Lisa]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I did not do those. I wondered about doing those. You know what you should do too? Side point, if you want to be super country. Have you seen the dishwasher thing? Where And I did that. I tried it. The metal. You can put a metal over it and then have like a curtain in front of your dishwasher so you don't see it. Do you have that?

[Melissa]

Yeah, yeah. No, but that is really cute.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I bet you could do the panel ready dishwasher. So this. That it's. So the problem with me doing it via magnet is it would pop off all the time to the point that, like, I could handle it, but my husband could not.

[Melissa]

Right.

[Unnamed Speaker]

He was driving me crazy. And my children. Why? Yeah, and it would like, pop off and then we'd have to fix. But like, man, it's super country and cute to get like a little ruffled. Oh, it is in front of it. And I bet there's a way to do that on install that you never would have to deal with again. And it would add so much character.

[Melissa]

Probably so. Yeah. Yeah. So many things to think about.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I know. Yeah.

[Melissa]

Well, tell the listeners where they can find your book. I believe it comes out July 15th. Correct.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Maybe I don't remember.

[Melissa]

Okay.

[Unnamed Speaker]

You know what I'm gonna say. I think it's July 11, but I could be wrong. So July sometime. And yeah, so my socials are Our Friendly Farmhouse. And the title of my book is Our Friendly Farmhouse, so. And I don't know where it's going to be. It's probably in Barnes and Noble and the normal bookstores, but this is my debut children's book, so I have no idea how different it's going to be than my adult so.

[Melissa]

Well, I think it's going to be so much fun to read to my kids. I read to my little boys every night and they, like, they fall in love with books like this, so it could quickly become a family favorite and in all of your homes as well. So head over to our friendly farmhouse. I love, love following along with you. You can just feel that romanticized country life in all of your posts. And I just like, yeah, well, good.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yay. And I will say there's a cardinal on every page. I was like, put a sneaky little cardinal on every page. So I love a good find a cardinal. But yes, thank you.

[Melissa]

Thanks so much for coming on.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Thanks.

[Lisa]

Thanks as always for listening to the Simple Farmhouse Life podcast. My husband Luke and I and our.

[Melissa]

Eight kids work together side by side.

[Lisa]

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, farmboon.com and to.

[Melissa]

Dig deeper, we do also offer a.

[Lisa]

Course called simple Sourdough over at Bit Lynn.

[Melissa]

Farmhouse. Sourdough course.

[Lisa]

That's all one word. Bit Ly Farmhouses. If you're looking to learn how we earn an income online, check out my YouTube course at Bit Ly Farmhouse. YouTube course. All one word, Sam.