October 25, 2017
By now, you all know how much I stress the importance of learning – not necessarily the traditional education model – but real learning. Real learning can happen in a classroom setting, but it can also happen in many less traditional environments such as the car, the grocery store, and the dinner table. It can […]
Read More October 20, 2017
Confession time – for about a year now, I’ve been dissatisfied with my life. It’s very hard for me to put that in print and admit it to the world. It makes me feel very ungrateful to God. God has blessed me with everything I’ve ever wanted – an incredible husband who loves me, eight […]
Read More October 18, 2017
We do a lot of farm tours here at Goat Milk Stuff, and different Jonases give the tours depending on who is available and what is going on at the farm. While the tours all cover the same ground, each tour is very different depending on not only who the tour guide is, but who is […]
Read More October 16, 2017
Saturdays are our busiest day on the farm for a variety of reasons. It’s the busiest day for tours, baby goat experiences, visitors on the farm – and we have to do it all without the help from our employees. But it’s October, and that throws in another complication – Cross Country season. During Cross […]
Read More October 11, 2017
Do you ever watch or listen to Ted Talks? I love to listen to them (if I don’t have music playing) while I’m cleaning the house or cooking by myself. I just put on a Ted Talk playlist and hit play. The other day, I heard a Ted Talk by Nigel Marsh* called “How to […]
Read More October 06, 2017
I wrote my last blog post thinking about happiness. But after I finished writing it, I couldn’t stop thinking about authenticity. Authenticity is being genuine or “what you see is what you get”. It is not being fake. And I kept wondering, “Am I really as authentic as I think I am?” Let’s be honest […]
Read More October 04, 2017
Somebody said to me the other day, “I really love my life and wouldn’t change it. But if I had to swap my life for somebody’s, I’d pick yours. I know you work really hard, but you all just always look so happy.” And this was from somebody who knows “real life PJ” and not […]
Read More October 02, 2017
Last week I mentioned that we are facing a big decision about if (and when) to expand our Grade A Dairy and Cheese Plant. We’ve been having lots of conversations about it as a family and one of the children made an interesting comment. He said, “I think we should build; we’re willing to work […]
Read More September 29, 2017
I am facing a very big decision that needs to be made within the next 6 months or so. We’ve really outgrown our existing cheese kitchen. We need some bigger equipment that we would have a tough time finding room for in our current kitchen. And so I need to decide whether or not we […]
Read More September 27, 2017
When Jim and I were building our home here on the Goat Milk Stuff farm, we spent a lot of time talking about what “feeling” we wanted our home to give. We wanted it to be welcoming and friendly. We didn’t want it to have a “formal” feeling to it. Instead we wanted it to […]
Read More September 25, 2017
I received a huge compliment this weekend. A married man in his twenties said to me, “I want to entertain just like you when I grow up.” He absolutely made my day. This weekend, we threw an Engagement Party for Brett and Mason. It was tons of fun with friends and family. Plus we got to […]
Read More September 22, 2017
Grandma and Poppy have been with us for several weeks. They arrived to escape Hurricane Irma and decided to stay until Brett and Mason’s engagement party since it didn’t make sense to drive back to Florida just to turn right around again a few days later. Poppy took the whole family out to China Garden […]
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