Arielle Farhner, Author at The Farhner Homestead

29Mar 2018 by Arielle Farhner 1 Comment

Bone Broth: A Homesteader’s Liquid Gold

Bone broth has made a resurgence in recent years for its numerous health benefits, to the extent of being termed "liquid gold", but to me, it's mostly just an amazing base for the perfect soup... and we eat a lot of soup, hence the need for lots of amazing broth! I haven't gotten to the point of drinking a glass straight, but I'm sure this stuff would be as good of any to start with! We posted this week on our Instagram that we had suddenly run out of the first batch of broth we did following the butchering of our first pig in December. So our roughly 30 quarts of broth lasted us nearly 4 months! I know lots of people who aren't huge fans of soup, but for…

02Feb 2018 by Arielle Farhner No Comments

Fermented Garlic

Food Preservation, Recipes

Until that day that we can source all our food straight from our garden, we are huge Costco addicts. Buying in bulk is more economical, and we are blessed in our region to have many organic and non-gmo options for produce! The problem with buying in bulk is that often the food goes bad before you have a chance to use it all! This has been the case with buying the whole bulbs of garlic. We do our best to eat what we have and not waste anything, so when I needed more garlic this week, I decided to peel and ferment half the bag of garlic rather than wait until they're mushy and unusable. It's probably a lot more work to peel each clove, and I'm aware that Costco…

26Jul 2017 by Arielle Farhner No Comments

When the going gets tough

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A few kind souls have asked for a house update, so here goes...June 14 we became home owners. Today is July 26. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we'd still be living sporadically without running water or a proper lavatory. But that's the nature of home remodels sometimes, especially the DIY kind!With the help of our family, we've done a LOT of work on the house to get it as close to our dream home as possible. More work than we originally planned to do prior to move in, in fact. We are incredibly thankful to have encountered as few snags along the way as we have (no asbestos, no active mold, no infestations), which is amazing given our house is 95 years old! And while we're still…

13Jun 2017 by Arielle Farhner 3 Comments

Hey, it’s been a while…

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As I write this, a handful of unpublished posts sit in my drafts. It's been a while since you've heard from us as we've struggled to write much over the last 2.5 years. When we started this blog and began documenting our vision, our dreams and our goals, we were in the preparation process; honing our skills, gaining more knowledge, and preparing to be able to hit the ground running once our dreams of land ownership and self sustainability became realized. Over the last 2.5 years, however, much of that was put on hold. Our first daughter was born, we moved into an above-garage "apartment" with Ben's family to save up a down payment, Ben began working a second (third?) job, and life overall became way too full, too chaotic,…

27May 2015 by Arielle Farhner 1 Comment

Debt: a Free Spirit’s Perspective

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I'm positive if you read my husband's latest post on debt, you might think him insane and a little too polarized on the subject of debt and finances. Goodness knows we've encountered plenty of people along our journey who can't seem to understand why we live the way we do. However, our seemingly offbeat perspective is actually not without balance. If you have ever listened to Dave Ramsey or taken his course, you will have heard him describe two kinds of people: Nerds and Free Spirits. The nerd is the one who, while he or she may have debt, is more thoughtful before making purchases, will weigh pros and cons, acts more rationally toward money, and is the cautious decision maker. The free spirit, on the other hand, spends money on a…

26May 2015 by Arielle Farhner No Comments

Traditions: Babywearing

Traditions

You will probably find that most of my hobbies and interests lately revolve around being a mom and having a baby. For a little while I was nearly obsessed with cloth diapers (can you say, "stalking online diaper stores with limited-edition diaper releases at 3am?!"). I've read lots of books and articles on breastfeeding and where and how and why, and I've researched the heck out of when to start babies on solid foods. Ask me any question about parenting and I've probably read something or formed some opinion on the matter! However, for our first installment of our Traditions series, I would like to focus on my newest baby-related passion: Babywearing. The term "babywearing" was first coined by notable baby-guru Dr. William Sears after he discovered the Ring Sling, first invented by…

21May 2015 by Arielle Farhner 1 Comment

Tradition

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"And how do we keep our balance? That I can tell you in one word: Tradition!" ~Reb Tevye, Fiddler on the Roof If you've ever had a serious conversation with my husband, you will surely have heard him say "It's a balance!" a phrase which seems to always land him the last word in any discussion. As is evident by our silence these past few months, I have obviously struggled to find the balance of maintaining our home while learning how to be a new mom and keep up with our blog! (As of this week, our thriving little 7 month old is a joy and has us absolutely transfixed, in a good way! I promise to update more on her later!) What's on my mind now is this matter of balance and its…

01Oct 2014 by Arielle Farhner 1 Comment

A New Season, A New Normal

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Recently a post circulated Facebook about Seattle and the coming of Fall rains and how comforting they seem to be to us native Seattleites. I found it surprisingly true. Though we long for the warm Summer months and often complain of the dreary skies come April, the transition from Summer into Fall brings a certain level of familiarity and comfort and routine back into our otherwise busy lives. Ben and I are similarly working on our own transition to cultivating a new routine, a new normal, if you will. We recently moved from our apartment in the city to a mother-in-law apartment in the "country" on the property of our parents with the goal of simplifying our lives, boosting our savings, being closer to family, and working towards our goal…

28Aug 2014 by Arielle Farhner No Comments

Sentimentality

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Last night we moved our first belongings from our current apartment into our new home. It was both exhilarating and intimidating. While we're thrilled to have the hard work of cleaning up and painting our new apartment behind us, the sadness of leaving our old apartment is quickly setting in, for me at least. I've always been pretty sentimental towards places I've lived. Having a home where I feel safe is extremely important to me. And as I look back, each move away from my home has been equally bittersweet. I long for those perfect moments spent in my old home that allow closure and adequately commemorate the end of a season without putting too much glee in the changes ahead. Despite whether I was allowed this closure or not, I…

05Jul 2014 by Arielle Farhner No Comments

Island Time

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Last weekend, Ben and I were privileged to spend a weekend away in the San Juan islands to celebrate the wedding of some good friends of ours. We feel so fortunate to live in a part of the country where such a gorgeous spot for a getaway is just a few short hours away! In those few hours of travel, however, we were transported further away than just the 105 miles it took to get from our home to the island. The week preceding our trip, we had to cram as much as we could fit into a shorter week in order to fulfill our responsibilities before taking off for the weekend. We found ourselves rushing every single day, getting to bed late and waking up early, running errands and trying…