The Big White Farmhouse

intentional living, little by little

No.263: Intentions for the End of June

My big goal: WRITE EVERYDAY FOR A MONTH.  I’m more than halfway there!  This has definitely helped clear out my mental “I should write about this” list in my head.  Hoping I have enough ideas to get to the end! 

Quick recap of my goals from the first half of June:

✔ five fun reasons to send some snail mail in June
✔ how we’re welcoming in summer with both big and little ones in the house
✔ our favorite iced tea recipe
🗙 a new list of small businesses from around the United States
✔ thoughts on a new book I’m reading
🗙 a new skill I’m learning for Homesteading 101
✔ a reading project I’ve been quietly working on since January
✔ a giveaway to celebrate my blogiversary (it’s been 8 years!)


And a few more on the plan to write:
  • a list of items we love for our puppy 
  • a readathon I’m working on 
  • tips and tricks we use to keep praying a family rosary
  • a Poshmark challenge that’s been keeping me busy 
  • June’s latest reads
If you have any post ideas, let me know.  Thanks for sticking around and reading!

No.262: Iced Peach Tea

Iced tea is a summer staple around here!  I like this recipe because it’s easily adaptable – you can change the tea flavor and add or subtract the amount of sugar.  Also: I just bought this glass pitcher (since I’m scared to pour boiling hot liquid in plastic now) and I love it.

Instructions

Pour 4 cups of boiling water over 8 tea bags.
Steep for 5 minutes and then remove tea bags.
Stir in 1/2 cup sugar (or stevia) and then add 4 cups cold water.
Stir once more and chill in the fridge.
Serve with frozen peaches.  Enjoy!

No.261: Our Extraordinary Ordinary Life // June 2019 Edition

A monthly project featuring ten photos throughout the day that show a peek into our extraordinarily ordinary life.

Highlights from Friday, June 14, 2019:

  • The weather was 76° and sunny, just the perfect early summer day!  
  • I drank my morning coffee outside in my new mug, a surprise from Mark.  We took Lucy out after breakfast to burn off some energy and she got filthy quickly by digging in the flower beds (I swear she’s like a toddler – you turn your head for a second…).  M turned on the hose and she was crazy with excitement, trying to drink the water and play tug-of-war.  Crazy dog.
  • We had Blue Mountain Mystery on repeat for P’s morning movie.  It’s his current favorite, although Finding Nemo might be a close second.  Both were bought on Second Spin for cheap.
  • The second set of eggs on the porch fan hatched!  We feel so lucky that we can watch new chicks hatch twice each spring.

P.S. Don’t forget to enter the blogiversary giveaway for a chance to win some of my favorite things!  Winner will be chosen at 11:59PM EST on Sunday.

No.260: Mail Tag // 10 More Questions to Ask Your Penpal

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Another round of mail tag!  In case you haven’t heard of it before, it’s one of the fun little extras I like to include in letters, a way to learn more about your penpal.  (You can find my first list here.)  Here are ten more questions and I’ll share my answers too!

1 // Describe yourself in three words.
This is hard, but the three that come to mind first are loyal, homebody, and goal-oriented.

2 // What is your favorite summer meal?
Cheeseburgers on the grill with sides of fruit and pasta salad.

3 // What book is on your nightstand?
Should I admit that I actually have at least twenty books on my nightstand right now?  Marie Kondo, I am not, hah!  My summer goal is to knock that amount in half before purchasing anything new.

4 // Share your laundry routine.
I prefer big laundry days over little loads every day, so I typically only do laundry on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays.  I have baskets (similar to these but mine are square) in my laundry room and wait until one is full before I wash them.  I actually enjoy folding – I find it calming – and then make stacks by person on my bed or dining room table.  The kids take their pile and put away.  Not a perfect system, but it works for us!

5 // List the contents of your purse.
Wallet, extra diapers and wipes, a baby blanket, a board book, P’s sandals, tissues, and a few pieces of junk mail

6 // Name three items on your summer bucket list.

  • Get the outside of our house in shipshape.
  • Read at least ten books currently on my nightstand.
  • Plan a fun staycation.

7 // What song is stuck in your head right now?
The kids just watched Lego Movie 2 and “Catchy Song” lives up to its name, hah!  Play at your own risk.

8 // Share what you do after a bad day.
After a particularly stressful day, I send the kids up to bed a little earlier, eat a big bowl of ice cream without sharing, and decompress with a good book.

9 // What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?
Mint chocolate chip.

10 // List three items on your wishlist.

  • A new couch: we need one so badly, but are trying to wait until Lucy is a little older (if she chews up something new, I think I’ll cry)
  • This sweatshirt
  • One of these linen dresses from Pyne and Smith Clothiers
Tag, you’re it!

 

No.259: Read With Me // Overdressed (Part 2)

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Quick recap: I assigned myself a summer reading book, Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion, to help me learn more about ethical fashion.  I’m jotting down some notes and thoughts as I read through it this month and sharing them here.  Maybe it will inspire you in a new way too!

I’ve divided the book into four sections.  (Find my notes on Part One here.)  Part Two contains Chapters 3 and 4.

Chapter 3: High and Low Fashion Make Friends

Every season another mass-fashion retailer announces a buzzy new partnership with a famed designer…growing sales by drawing hysterical early morning queues and stampedes that clean out stores in the blink of an eye. (p.70)

Consumers once bought the best clothing they could for their money, which started with an intimate knowledge of fiber content.  When clothes were more expensive and kept for years and worn year-round, we were naturally more invested in what they were made of. (p.83) 

   Notes and takeaways from this chapter:

  • This chapter explored the vast difference between high-end fashion and their cheaper counterparts.  The section on high-end designers and the way retailers like Target, H&M, and Gap have partnered with them to create fast fashion copycats was eye-opening.  This quote was thought-provoking: “Where girls once would have paid at least some attention to the craftsmanship of the product, or even might have sat behind a sewing machine and created their own Missoni-inspired or Karl Lagerfeld look-alike, they can now line up passively to buy disposable versions of it.” (p.71)
  • There are two types of man-made fibers, plastics and cellulosic:
    • Cellulosic are fibers like viscose, rayon, Modal, and Tencel and are produced from naturally sourced by-products like cotton scraps and sawdust
    • Plastics are fibers like polyester, acrylic and nylon
  • As I read through this book, I’m reminded so much of my grandmother.  She was a talented seamstress and would intensely inspect my clothing – what the fabric was, how the seams were sewn, how the lining in a skirt was connected.  I’m so sad that I never sat down with her and had her explain the construction of a well-made piece of clothing.

    Chapter 4: Fast Fashion

    Fast fashion is a radical method of retailing that has broken away from seasonal selling and puts out new inventory constantly throughout the year.  Fast-fashion merchandise is typically priced much lower than its competitors’…On it’s face, it makes little sense that selling so much attractive fashion for so little could be profitable.  But in fact, it seems to be the only surefire way to make it in today’s retail scene: Fast-fashion retailers have more than twice the average profit margin of their more traditional competitors. (p.96)

    Notes and takeaways from this chapter:
    • “Forever 21 is notorious for ripping off fashion designers.  To date, the company has been sued more than 50 times for copyright violations.  Yet it has never been found liable for copyright infringement.” (p.105)  This is so sad.  It reminds me of a few intellectual property violations I read about a few years ago: 
    • A thought-provoking quote: “But what happens when the copycats in question are huge, billion-dollar companies that are gaining market share by the day?  Forever 21 and Zara aren’t small Seventh Street manufacturers aping Parisian couturiers.  And they aren’t just mimicking high-end designers few can afford.  They’re corporations that are able to undercut virtually all of their competitors, whether it’s a high-end luxury label, an independent designer, or anything in between.” (p.110-111)
    P.S. Don’t forget to enter the blogiversary giveaway for a chance to win some of my favorite things!  Open until Sunday, June 16.

    No.258: Small Biz Showcase // What I Bought this Spring

    Years ago, when I was running Big White Farmhouse, my online gift shop, I would often lament that there was just no way I could compete with the “big guys” who could provide rock-bottom prices and free shipping rates.  Retail is a hard business and I never felt like I had a fighting chance.  Fast forward to today as I make yet another order at the “Big A” (you know who I mean) and I realize my hypocrisy.  It’s time to put my money where my mouth is.

    My new motto is “Less But Better.”  I’m willing to save up a little longer, pay a little extra and wait more than two days to receive my order if it means a better product from a hard-working entrepreneur.  Admittedly, this takes a little more research, but if that’s not a first world problem, I don’t know what is!

    To keep me accountable, I’d like to share seasonally the businesses I found and purchased from.  Sometimes half the issue is that we don’t know any other options, so I’ll share some with you and I hope you’ll share some hidden gems with me!  Here’s what I bought this spring:

    1 // MERCY HOUSE GLOBAL
    Mercy House Global provide homes for pregnant girls in Kenya and has an online marketplace to support those efforts.  I bought a bag of coffee and these mini notecards to add to my Poshmark packages.  Mercy House also has a huge selection of jewelry, many made by the girls themselves!  This bracelet would be fun to add to snail mail for a friend and look at these bracelets!  Beautiful.

    2 // LONDON LITTLES 
    London Littles is run by Janssen from the blog, Everyday Reading.  I bought the Kensington Navy Rain Boot for Sophie and oh my goodness.  I was so impressed with the whole experience – the packaging is amazing and the quality of the boots is great!  If you’re looking for a unique children’s gift that isn’t another toy, this is the shop for you.

    3 // POTTING SHED CREATIONS
    I used to carry Potting Shed Creations’ products at Big White Farmhouse.  I got the Songbird Habitat Scatter Garden Seeds and after planting a few weeks ago, we are just starting to see growth.  Exciting!  This company has tons of great products – I have this saved for a gift idea. 

    4 // FAT BRAIN TOYS
    I needed a few birthday gifts for family members and found Fat Brain Toys after a Google search.  I love their story!  I bought the Lego Duplo Numbers Train, which has been a big hit at our house.  I also got Aqua Pals, which I thought would be fun for the bathtub or for playing in the plastic pool this summer.  Definitely saving Fat Brain Toys for upcoming birthdays and Christmas.

    5 // BEAUTYCOUNTER
    I have been slowly replacing my makeup with better options at Beautycounter and always shop through my friend Stephanie.  This spring, I replaced my blush and got Melon.  Love the color.

    6 // SECOND SPIN
    Because we live in such a rural area, our Internet can be spotty, especially in inclement weather.  So while everyone’s streaming and keeping their movies in the cloud, we’re kicking it old school and buying DVDs!  Mark found Second Spin and we bought a few movies for the kids for super cheap. 

    No.257: The Big White Farmhouse’s 8 Year Blogiversary Giveaway

    Today is a big day – The Big White Farmhouse is eight years old!  I took a trip down memory lane and found a bunch of my headers from the early days (when blogs weren’t quite so polished and this was a fun thing to do):

    I am so, so thankful for anyone who has read my ramblings here through the years.  Some of you have been here from the very beginning and some may have just stumbled on the blog yesterday, but I am grateful for you all!  Your kind comments and support mean so much to me.  To thank you, I wanted to celebrate with a giveaway of a few of my favorite things!  One lucky winner will receive:

    __________________


    Lilac Greeting Card from Oana Befort

    Floral Bookmark from Love Maude
    $20 Gift Card from Book Outlet
    __________________

    To enter, simply leave a comment!  I’m using Rafflecopter to keep it all straight and promise to never share your email address.  Giveaway is open until 11:59PM EST on Sunday, June 16.

    a Rafflecopter giveaway

    No.256: I See You // Simple Ways to Show You Care

    This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission of any sale made at no extra cost to you.

    I’ve been thinking a lot lately about trials and suffering: why we suffer, how we suffer, the big and small crosses we each carry.  I’ve also been thinking about what to do for others while they walk their own path of suffering.  In the past, I’ve been paralyzed by the fear that I may say the wrong thing or that I may be butting into someone’s personal business.  But now?  Inspired by my word of the year, Notice, I’m stepping up anyway, asking the Holy Spirit for the right words and doing something instead of nothing.

    Below is a collection of cards and ideas to show someone you care.  I’d love to hear how you show support as well as what has been helpful when you’ve been the recipient.

    Cards

     

    Ideas

    No.255: The 20th Century in Books // A 100 Book Reading Challenge

    In January, I quietly started a fun reading challenge to expand my reading to more than just the newest bestseller.  The idea started after taking a peek at my reading stats on Goodreads:

    I’m reading almost exclusively from the last 20 years and while there really is nothing wrong with that, I also think that it’s difficult to be wise about the future without learning from the past.  SO!  New ongoing challenge is to read one published book for each year of the 20th century.  100 books!  I’m not putting an end date on this, but I hope to be more mindful as I choose what to read in the coming years.  I’ll update the post with the full list of 100 books at the end.

     

    UPDATE: You can find the current status of this challenge on this page.

    No.254: Our “Welcome to Summer 2019” Basket

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    In summers past, I have done “One Fun Thing A Day” (I wrote about them here and here) with great success.  We’ve made so many memories as a family that we still reminisce about.  But these kids keep growing older, so I’m trying something new this year: a Welcome to Summer basket!  As I purchased items throughout the spring, the theme that continually came to mind was “Summer Fun Without Screens.”  It’s so easy for us to fall into a “just one show” rut when it’s boiling outside so I wanted to give them fun options to do instead.  Here’s what’s in our basket for 2019:

    painter’s tape (for making roads all around our hardwood floors)
    everything to make s’mores: chocolate, marshmallows and graham crackers
    playing cards
    and the big gift for the littlest ones: a water table!

    No.253: Reflections On Our Second School Year at the Farmhouse

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    School’s out for summer!  A few thoughts and memories I want to remember:

    We went into our second school year at the farmhouse with the goal of getting ourselves out there.  We joined a weekly co-op and started new activities in town.  While we still have a ways to go, I think we made progress in the right direction.   

    Duds and failures:

    1. Not enough creativity and too much “do the next page” // Because of our new extra-curricular commitments, I had trouble keeping creativity alive in our daily work.  Most of the kids took an art class through the co-op and I scrapped that subject from the plan – much to our detriment!  They really enjoy that creative expression in their schoolwork, so I’ll be working extra-hard to add art and projects to our plan again in the fall.
    2. Shakespeare // Can I just say that Shakespeare really intimidates me?  I read parts of How to Teach your Children Shakespeare and a handful of helpful blog posts, but I still had trouble implementing it.  We did manage to read Macbeth, but I’m not sure I taught it correctly.  
    3. Nature Study // I have a crazy two-year-old who made this impossible.  Maybe next year?

    Successes:
    1. Dictation for Dyslexic Learners // A handful of my kids have various degrees of dyslexia so I’m always looking for off-the-beaten-path ways to help them learn.  Another homeschooling mother recommended dictation and she was totally right!  I used Dictation Day by Day with my fourth grader and his handwriting, spelling and grammar all improved just from studying a passage and then writing it as I read it aloud. 
    2. Beautiful Feet Books // We used four guides from Beautiful Feet Books this year: Modern American and World History, Early American History, History of Western Expansion and Geography Through Literature.  I loved them all!  Their book choices are great and the guides provide enough structure to keep us on task but are open-ended that I can pick and choose which assignments to complete.  We’ll definitely be using them again next year.
    3. Grammar // We used First Language Lessons in our morning basket for grammar and I am amazed at how much the kids retained!  Just yesterday, as they were working through a MadLib book, I heard: “Okay, we need a verb.  A verb is a word that does an action, shows a state of being, links two words together, or helps another verb.”  A proud moment where homeschooling feels worth it, hah! 
    To celebrate the last day of school, everyone got a book to jumpstart summer reading:
    D (age 10) // Click Here to Start
    Tradition is also to get everyone a treat, so we celebrated with soft serve ice cream!

    It was a good year and I’m happy to continue again in the fall.  But first – a summer of relaxed schedules and gobs of long overdue house projects.  

    No.252: Read With Me // Overdressed (Part 1)

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    As you may know, I’ve been selling secondhand clothing on Poshmark for almost a year now.  Looking critically at clothing has opened a whole new world to me!  I’m asking questions like, What kind of fabric is this?  How is this garment constructed?  How in the world can they sell a brand new knit sweater so cheaply?!  In the past year, my fashion self-education has taught me a lot, but I know there is still so much to learn.

    So to help me out, I assigned myself a bit of summer reading: Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion.  Like last year, I thought it would be fun to jot down some notes and thoughts as I read through it this month and share them here.  Maybe it will inspire you to look at your closet in a new way too!

    The book is divided into nine chapters.  Today’s Part One will look at the Introduction and Chapters 1 and 2.

    Introduction

    The introduction is only ten pages long, but I underlined something on almost every page!  Here are two quotes that had me nodding my head in agreement already:

    That clothes can be had for so little money is historically unprecedented.  Clothes have almost always been expensive, hard to come by, and highly valued; they have been used as alternate currency in many societies.  Well into the twentieth century, clothes were pricey and precious enough that they were mended and cared for and reimagined countless times, and most people had a few outfits that they wore until they wore out.  How things have changed.  We’ve gone from making good use of the clothes we own to buying things we’ll never or barely wear.  We are caught in a cycle of consumption and waste that is unsettling at best and unsatisfying at its core. (p.4)

    Clothes could have more meaning and longevity if we think less about owning the latest or cheapest thing and develop more of a relationship with the things we wear.  Building a wardrobe over time, saving up and investing in well-made pieces, obsessing over the perfect hem, luxuriating in fabrics, and patching and altering our clothes are old-fashioned habits.  But they’re also deeply satisfying antidotes to the empty uniformity of cheapness.  If more of us picked up the lost art of sewing or reconnected with the seamstresses and tailors in our communities, we could all be our own fashion designers and constantly reinvent, personalize, and perfect the things we own. (p.9) 

    Chapter 1: “I Have Enough Clothing to Open a Store”

    Cheap fashion and off-price chains have come to occupy a significant part of the retail market.  Their dominance, paired with the majority of department store clothing now being sold on sale, has fully reset our expectations about how much clothes should cost and what they are worth.  This constant chipping away of the price of apparel has shifted the concept of what is “affordable,” with once-reasonable prices now seeming expensive to us. (p.31) 

    Target and Old Navy initially needed marketing to redefine cheap fashion as chic, but today cheap fashion needs no endorsement.  Whether we’re buying from off-price stores, department store sales, or from pure discounters, landing clothing deals in the realm of $30, or often much less, is ingrained in our culture.  It’s simply the way most of us shop.  (p.33)  

     Notes and takeaways from this chapter:

    • This chapter was an overview of the history of fast fashion.  Surprisingly, the roots go back to the Gap!

    Chapter 2: How America Lost Its Shirts 

    To understand why fashion is so beguiled by overseas production, consider that even after outsourcing almost our entire clothing industry to low-wage countries, labor is still a huge part of the cost of garment production.  According to recent estimates, raw materials account for 25 to 50 percent of the cost of producing an item of clothing, while labor ranges from 20 to 40 percent.  “Fashion is a labor-intense industry, not a technology-intense industry.  You need someone to sit at a sewing machine,” DiPalma says.  Clothing, even when produced in a factory, is really a handmade good broken down into assembly-line steps.  The sewing machine is more a tool than a machine, as it really just facilitates and speeds up manual work.  (p.42)  

    Low wages don’t just affect immigrants and garment workers…Long before the recession began, jobs were becoming increasingly polarized in the United States, with The New York Times reporting in 2010 on a number of economic studies that showed high-paid occupations that demand higher education and advanced skills growing alongside low-wage, entry-level, service or retail jobs.  This trend is intimately related to the loss of manufacturing in the United States.  Skilled middle-income jobs, those once populated mostly by factory workers, are the ones that have disappeared, and they have evaporated even faster since the start of the current recession. (p.56)

     Notes and takeaways from this chapter:

    • To make cheap clothes, you need cheap labor.  These stats are unsettling: “Garment workers in the United States today, although poorly paid by American standards, make more than four times as much as Chinese garment workers, 11 times Dominican garment workers, and 38 times Bangladeshi garment workers.” (p.43)
    • Fun fact: Nike has never made their shoes in the United States; they have always been made in Japan and Taiwan.
    • Another fun fact: Levi’s was one of the last major garment manufacturers to give in and source from overseas, closing its last last factory in 2004.

    Less Materialism, More Intentional Living

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