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Welcome back to Episode 51 of Handmade Happiness! This week, Thomas and I are sharing an honest look at life on our five-acre Missouri homestead, the unexpected challenges, funny moments, lessons learned, and everyday joys that come with raising animals, homeschooling four kids, and learning to live a little more intentionally. We lost seven chickens overnight to what we believe was a weasel attack, our KuneKune pigs figured out how to escape their enclosure, and we're reconsidering everything we thought we knew about buying a home freeze dryer. Just another week of real-life homesteading! Homesteading isn't always beautiful gardens, baskets of fresh eggs, and perfectly organized pantries. Sometimes it's discovering a predator got into your chicken coop, chasing pigs around the yard, or trying to figure out why your kids behave like angels whenever Dad is home! But even with the challenges, we're grateful for the opportunity to keep learning, raising our family, and building a life that reflects what matters most to us. Mentioned in This Episode Foundations in Quilting: Our homeschool-friendly quilting course is available online, and students can begin at their own pace. International Quilt Festival — Houston: I'll be teaching at the festival this November! 12 Days of Christmas Box: We're getting ready to share this year's handmade holiday collection, with some new surprises. Connect With Us Website: https://thelarklife.com Instagram: @The_Lark_Life Handmade Happiness is our weekly podcast about homesteading, gardening, raising livestock, cooking from scratch, homeschooling, traditional skills, and intentional family living. New episodes every Sunday! If you enjoy honest conversations about homesteading and family life, subscribe and join us each week. We'd love to hear from you: Have you ever dealt with a weasel or another predator getting into your chicken coop? What worked to protect your flock? ✨ Thanks for tuning in to Handmade Happiness! ✨ If you enjoyed today’s episode, please subscribe so you don’t miss future conversations about slowing down, creating with your hands, and living more intentionally. 💌 Stay connected: Visit me at TheLarkLife.comFollow along on Instagram: @The_Lark_LifeClick to join my email list for updates, resources, and encouragement🧵 Share the love:  If this episode encouraged you, would you take a moment to leave a review or share it with a friend? It truly helps others discover the show. You can also support the show by making a donation at www.thelarklife.com/podcast Until next time, may you find joy in the simple things and beauty in the work of your hands.

What makes a house feel like home? Is it beautiful decorations, a perfectly clean kitchen, and an elaborate meal? Or is it something much simpler? In this episode of Handmade Happiness, we're talking about the art of hospitality, building meaningful friendships, and making room for the people around us. Hospitality is something that's been on my mind lately. I recently had an article published in Homemakers Journal about hospitality and handmade gifts, and I had the pleasure of being a guest on The Art of Home Podcast. Both experiences have reminded me that hospitality isn't about impressing people. It's about helping them feel seen, welcomed, and valued. Thomas and I are discussing what it really means to open our home to others, especially in a season of life filled with homeschooling, raising four children, homesteading, and running businesses. It's easy to convince ourselves that we'll invite people over when the house is cleaner, the projects are finished, or life finally slows down. But what if meaningful hospitality begins when we stop waiting for everything to be perfect? We're also sharing how our perspective on hospitality has developed through marriage, raising a family, and moving to our five-acre Missouri homestead. One of the beautiful things about homesteading is that it often gives us something to share. Whether it's a loaf of homemade bread, fresh eggs, vegetables from the garden, a jar of jam, or a handmade gift, these simple things can become opportunities to encourage others and build relationships. Hospitality isn't about showing people what we have. It's about making room for them in our lives. And sometimes, building a home people want to gather in begins with something as simple as extending an invitation. Mentioned in This Episode 12 Days of Christmas Gift Box https://thelarklife.com/shop/p/12-days-of-christmas-advent-box-a-handmade-celebration-of-simple-joys?rq=%2012%20days Homemakers Journal: Look for my recently published article about hospitality and handmade gifts and purchase your copy at https://www.theartofhomepodcast.com/product-page/homemaker-s-journal-vol-2-fall-holiday-2026-digital The Art of Home Podcast: Listen to my recent interview about homemaking, quilting, and intentional living at https://www.theartofhomepodcast.com/podcast/episode/82357265/homemaker-portrait-jessica-clark International Quilt Festival Houston: I'll be teaching a hands-on class where you can learn to make your own cozy quilted slippers! If you're attending the festival, I'd love to have you join me. Visit the International Quilt Festival website for class information and registration. Connect With Us Website: https://thelarklife.com Instagram: @The_Lark_Life Handmade Happiness is a weekly podcast about homesteading, traditional skills, gardening, cooking from scratch, homemaking, family life, and finding joy in a slower, more intentional way of living. New episodes every Sunday! If this conversation encourages you, we'd love for you to subscribe, leave a review, and share the episode with someone who enjoys homemaking and intentional living. And we'd love to hear from you: What's one thing someone has done to make you feel genuinely welcome in their home? ✨ Thanks for tuning in to Handmade Happiness! ✨ If you enjoyed today’s episode, please subscribe so you don’t miss future conversations about slowing down, creating with your hands, and living more intentionally. 💌 Stay connected: Visit me at TheLarkLife.comFollow along on Instagram: @The_Lark_LifeClick to join my email list for updates, resources, and encouragement🧵 Share the love:  If this episode encouraged you, would you take a moment to leave a review or share it with a friend? It truly helps others discover the show. You can also support the show by making a donation at www.thelarklife.com/podcast Until next time, may you find joy in the simple things and beauty in the work of your hands.

Before we order another packet of seeds, add another animal, expand the garden, or start another homestead project, we're doing something important, looking back before we look forward. In this episode of Handmade Happiness, Thomas and Jessica are sitting down to evaluate what actually worked on their five-acre Missouri homestead this year and what didn't before any plans are made for 2027. It's easy to open a seed catalog or see someone else's homestead and immediately start dreaming about everything we could grow, raise, or build. But we're learning that good homestead planning isn't necessarily about doing more every year. It's about figuring out what actually serves our family well. We're looking at what our family actually ate, which crops earned their space in the garden, what we grew way too much of, what performed well in our Missouri growing conditions, and which perennial crops we want to continue investing in. We're also taking an honest look at our livestock including chickens, ducks, turkeys, meat rabbits, meat birds, and KuneKune pigs and asking which animals truly fit our property, our family's needs, our budget, and the amount of time we have available. Then we're tackling something that can make an enormous difference on a working homestead, bottlenecks. Where did we waste time this year? What chores were harder than they needed to be? Where would better fencing, water access, feed storage, garden irrigation, processing areas, or other infrastructure make everyday life easier? One of the biggest things we're learning is that more isn't always better. The question isn't simply, “What else could we do with five acres?” but What is worth doing? What feeds our family? What do we enjoy? What fits our property? And how can we make what we're already doing work better? Because the best plan for next year's homestead shouldn't come from a seed catalog. It should come from everything this year taught us. Handmade Happiness is our weekly podcast about homesteading, gardening, traditional skills, growing and preserving food, homeschooling, family life, and learning to live a little more intentionally. New episodes every Sunday. #HomesteadPlanning #Homesteading #HomesteadGarden #GardenPlanning #MissouriHomestead #GrowingYourOwnFood #TheLarkLife #HandmadeHappiness ✨ Thanks for tuning in to Handmade Happiness! ✨ If you enjoyed today’s episode, please subscribe so you don’t miss future conversations about slowing down, creating with your hands, and living more intentionally. 💌 Stay connected: Visit me at TheLarkLife.comFollow along on Instagram: @The_Lark_LifeClick to join my email list for updates, resources, and encouragement🧵 Share the love:  If this episode encouraged you, would you take a moment to leave a review or share it with a friend? It truly helps others discover the show. You can also support the show by making a donation at www.thelarklife.com/podcast Until next time, may you find joy in the simple things and beauty in the work of your hands.

Just because summer is over doesn't mean gardening season has to end! Fall is actually the perfect time to plant certain crops, and this year we're planting garlic, shallots, and saffron crocus on our Missouri homestead. In this episode of Handmade Happiness, we're talking about fall planting and why some of the most rewarding harvests begin long before spring arrives. We'll share how we're preparing our garden beds, planting garlic and shallots, and trying our hand at growing our own saffron. We'll also discuss the differences between hardneck, softneck, and elephant garlic, what makes saffron such an interesting crop, and how we're planning for next year's harvest. One of our favorite things about homesteading is discovering that the garden never really stops giving. Even as we're cleaning up this year's garden and putting everything to bed for winter, we're already planting the beginnings of another growing season. Fall planting is a wonderful reminder that sometimes the most important work happens long before we see the results. Whether you're an experienced gardener or planning your first fall garden, join us as we prepare for another season of growing food and learning new skills on our five-acre Missouri homestead. Connect with us:  Website: TheLarkLife.com Subscribe to Handmade Happiness for weekly conversations about homesteading, gardening, traditional skills, family life, and intentional living.  Instagram: @The_Lark_Life New episodes every Sunday! ✨ Thanks for tuning in to Handmade Happiness! ✨ If you enjoyed today’s episode, please subscribe so you don’t miss future conversations about slowing down, creating with your hands, and living more intentionally. 💌 Stay connected: Visit me at TheLarkLife.comFollow along on Instagram: @The_Lark_LifeClick to join my email list for updates, resources, and encouragement🧵 Share the love:  If this episode encouraged you, would you take a moment to leave a review or share it with a friend? It truly helps others discover the show. You can also support the show by making a donation at www.thelarklife.com/podcast Until next time, may you find joy in the simple things and beauty in the work of your hands.

What if next year’s garden has already begun and some of it won’t cost you anything? In this episode of Handmade Happiness, we’re talking about one of our favorite parts of growing a garden, discovering just how much abundance a single growing season can produce. We’re saving seeds, propagating plants, storing tubers, and finding ways to carry this year’s garden into the next. We share what we’re doing with okra, bok choy, snow peas, calendula, dahlias, garlic, and blackberry plants, including what we’re saving and propagating for next season and what we’re learning along the way. But this conversation is about more than getting free plants. We talk about how garden abundance creates opportunities to be generous with friends, neighbors, and other gardeners.  The more we garden, the more we're realizing that next year's garden doesn't necessarily begin with a shopping cart full of seeds and plants. Sometimes it begins with what we're already holding in our hands. And perhaps that's one of the most beautiful things about growing your own food and flowers is that the garden often gives us more than we need and that gives us the opportunity to give some of it away. Handmade Happiness is a podcast about homesteading, traditional skills, growing and preserving food, family life, and finding meaning in the art of making. #SeedSaving #PlantPropagation #HomesteadGarden #Gardening #GrowYourOwnFood #GardenAbundance #Homesteading #Dahlias #TheLarkLife #HandmadeHappiness ✨ Thanks for tuning in to Handmade Happiness! ✨ If you enjoyed today’s episode, please subscribe so you don’t miss future conversations about slowing down, creating with your hands, and living more intentionally. 💌 Stay connected: Visit me at TheLarkLife.comFollow along on Instagram: @The_Lark_LifeClick to join my email list for updates, resources, and encouragement🧵 Share the love:  If this episode encouraged you, would you take a moment to leave a review or share it with a friend? It truly helps others discover the show. You can also support the show by making a donation at www.thelarklife.com/podcast Until next time, may you find joy in the simple things and beauty in the work of your hands.

Winter mornings on the homestead are a whole lot easier when you prepare before the temperatures drop. In this episode of Handmade Happiness, Jessica and Thomas are walking through how they’re getting their animals ready for winter, from chickens, ducks, and turkeys to rabbits and pigs. We’re talking about the practical cold-weather jobs we want finished before the first hard freeze: checking shelters for drafts while maintaining good ventilation, adding and managing bedding, strengthening predator protection, keeping feed dry, and making a plan for winter watering when temperatures fall below freezing. We’ll also talk about electrical and fire safety, the supplies we want stocked before winter arrives, and the small problems that are much easier to solve on a mild fall afternoon than at 6 a.m. when it’s 15 degrees outside. Whether you’re raising a backyard flock or caring for several kinds of livestock on your homestead, this episode will help you think through your own winter animal-care plan before cold weather arrives. Because the best time to solve a winter homestead problem is before you’re standing outside in the dark trying to fix it with frozen fingers. ✨ Thanks for tuning in to Handmade Happiness! ✨ If you enjoyed today’s episode, please subscribe so you don’t miss future conversations about slowing down, creating with your hands, and living more intentionally. 💌 Stay connected: Visit me at TheLarkLife.comFollow along on Instagram: @The_Lark_LifeClick to join my email list for updates, resources, and encouragement🧵 Share the love:  If this episode encouraged you, would you take a moment to leave a review or share it with a friend? It truly helps others discover the show. You can also support the show by making a donation at www.thelarklife.com/podcast Until next time, may you find joy in the simple things and beauty in the work of your hands.

We spent the weekend at the Ozarks Homesteading Expo, and we came home with a lot more than we expected including some new animals for the homestead! In this episode of the Handmade Happiness Podcast, Jessica and Thomas recap their weekend at the expo, the people we met, the conversations that encouraged us, the things we learned, and some of the ideas we’re excited to bring back to our own homestead. One of our favorite parts of attending homesteading events is realizing just how much there is still to learn. Whether it’s raising livestock, growing and preserving food, learning traditional skills, becoming more resourceful, or simply connecting with people who are trying to build a similar kind of life, there is something valuable about getting together and learning from one another. We’re also sharing the story behind the new animals we brought home, why we decided to add them to our homestead, and what we hope they’ll contribute as we continue growing and learning here at The Lark Life. In this episode, we talk about the Ozarks Homesteading Expo, what we learned from other homesteaders, meeting creators and vendors, building community, homestead education, adding new livestock, and why events like this can be so encouraging whether you're already homesteading or just beginning to dream about it. If you enjoy conversations about homesteading, gardening, raising animals, traditional skills, food preservation, homeschooling, family life, and intentional living, subscribe to Handmade Happiness and join us each week. Connect with The Lark Life: Instagram: @The_Lark_Life YouTube: @TheLarkLife Website: TheLarkLife.com Some of our favorite creators that we met at the expo and mentioned in this week's episode... Jill and Nathan from  @WhisperingWillowFarm Ruthann from  @Ruthannzimm Staci and Jeremy from  @gooseberrybridgefarm Kody Hanner from  @homesteadeducation   Find out more information about the Ozarks Homesteading Expo  https://ozarkshomesteading.com/ ✨ Thanks for tuning in to Handmade Happiness! ✨ If you enjoyed today’s episode, please subscribe so you don’t miss future conversations about slowing down, creating with your hands, and living more intentionally. 💌 Stay connected: Visit me at TheLarkLife.comFollow along on Instagram: @The_Lark_LifeClick to join my email list for updates, resources, and encouragement🧵 Share the love:  If this episode encouraged you, would you take a moment to leave a review or share it with a friend? It truly helps others discover the show. You can also support the show by making a donation at www.thelarklife.com/podcast Until next time, may you find joy in the simple things and beauty in the work of your hands.

We cleaned out our freezers expecting to make a little more room. Instead, we discovered just how much food we had actually grown, raised, harvested, and preserved over the past year. In this episode of Handmade Happiness, Jessica and Thomas talk about what happened when we pulled everything out of our very full homestead freezers and realized we had bags of homegrown squash, berries, greens, eggplant, pumpkin, peaches, cherries, home-raised meat, and more tucked away inside. It was encouraging to see how much food our garden and homestead had produced, but it also taught us an important lesson: There’s no point in growing and preserving all that food if we forget to eat it. We talk about the tendency to save homegrown food because it feels too special to use, only to risk letting it sit so long that it eventually goes to waste. Instead, we're learning to embrace seasonal eating: enjoy foods abundantly while they're in season, preserve what we can't eat fresh, and then actually use what we've put away. In this episode, we talk about: Cleaning out and organizing our homestead freezersRealizing how much food our garden actually producedFreezing, canning, and preserving the summer harvestWhy we're creating a freezer and pantry inventoryMeal planning around the food we already haveWhy you shouldn't “save” your homegrown food foreverEating with the seasons instead of expecting every food year-roundMaking better use of home-raised chicken, duck, and other meatsReducing food waste on the homesteadWhat we're learning about preserving food in ways we'll actually useUsing this year's harvest to decide what we should grow next yearThe garden varieties we loved—and a few we probably won't grow againOne of our biggest takeaways from this growing season is that success isn't just about how much food you grow. It's about how much of that food your family actually uses and enjoys. We're learning to grow what we love, preserve it in practical ways, keep track of what we have, eat it while we have it, and trust that another season and another harvest will come around again. If you're growing a garden, raising your own meat, preserving food, stocking a homestead pantry, or simply trying to make better use of the food you already have, we hope this conversation encourages you to take inventory and use what you have. Subscribe to Handmade Happiness for more conversations about homesteading, gardening, cooking from scratch, food preservation, homeschooling, handmade skills, and building a more intentional life. ✨ Thanks for tuning in to Handmade Happiness! ✨ If you enjoyed today’s episode, please subscribe so you don’t miss future conversations about slowing down, creating with your hands, and living more intentionally. 💌 Stay connected: Visit me at TheLarkLife.comFollow along on Instagram: @The_Lark_LifeClick to join my email list for updates, resources, and encouragement🧵 Share the love:  If this episode encouraged you, would you take a moment to leave a review or share it with a friend? It truly helps others discover the show. You can also support the show by making a donation at www.thelarklife.com/podcast Until next time, may you find joy in the simple things and beauty in the work of your hands.

What if chores weren’t something to rush through so we could get back to “real life”,  but were actually part of the life we’re trying to build? In this episode of Handmade Happiness, Jessica and Thomas talk about chores, family responsibility, raising capable kids, and learning to find satisfaction in everyday work. As our family prepares to settle back into homeschool routines, we share how chores fit into the rhythm of their home and homestead, from laundry and dishes to feeding animals, gardening, preserving food, and tackling the jobs that simply have to get done. Raising capable kids isn’t about giving them a long list of chores simply to keep them busy. It’s about helping them understand that being part of a family means contributing to the life you all share. Sometimes that means washing dishes or feeding chickens. Sometimes it means preserving a mountain of summer produce, and sometimes it means discovering that peeled apples look an awful lot like slinkies. Subscribe to Handmade Happiness for more conversations about homeschooling, homesteading, raising capable kids, cooking from scratch, handmade skills, and finding joy in the everyday work of building a meaningful life. ✨ Thanks for tuning in to Handmade Happiness! ✨ If you enjoyed today’s episode, please subscribe so you don’t miss future conversations about slowing down, creating with your hands, and living more intentionally. 💌 Stay connected: Visit me at TheLarkLife.comFollow along on Instagram: @The_Lark_LifeClick to join my email list for updates, resources, and encouragement🧵 Share the love:  If this episode encouraged you, would you take a moment to leave a review or share it with a friend? It truly helps others discover the show. You can also support the show by making a donation at www.thelarklife.com/podcast Until next time, may you find joy in the simple things and beauty in the work of your hands.

Sometimes the best resources aren’t the ones you buy; they’re the opportunities you learn to notice. In this episode of Handmade Happiness, Jessica and Thomas talk about recognizing and making the most of opportunities that show up in everyday life. From gathering free firewood after a storm to receiving an abundance of free apples from a friend, we’re sharing how resourcefulness, relationships, and simply paying attention can provide for your family in unexpected ways. We also talk about the relationships we’ve built through our local farmers market and how community often leads to opportunities that could never be planned or purchased. In this episode, we discuss how to recognize useful resources around you, why being willing to do the work matters, making the most of free and inexpensive opportunities, preserving unexpected food abundance, using storm-damaged wood instead of letting it go to waste, and why building genuine relationships within your community has value far beyond buying and selling. Homesteading and intentional living aren’t just about having land, animals, or the right equipment. They’re also about learning to be resourceful and to notice what’s available, build relationships, and make good use of what comes your way. Sometimes abundance doesn’t look like having more money. Sometimes it looks like a truckload of firewood, a basket full of apples, or a friend who says, “I thought you might be able to use this.” ✨ Thanks for tuning in to Handmade Happiness! ✨ If you enjoyed today’s episode, please subscribe so you don’t miss future conversations about slowing down, creating with your hands, and living more intentionally. 💌 Stay connected: Visit me at TheLarkLife.comFollow along on Instagram: @The_Lark_LifeClick to join my email list for updates, resources, and encouragement🧵 Share the love:  If this episode encouraged you, would you take a moment to leave a review or share it with a friend? It truly helps others discover the show. You can also support the show by making a donation at www.thelarklife.com/podcast Until next time, may you find joy in the simple things and beauty in the work of your hands.

What are the best tools to invest in for a homestead? If we were starting over today, which purchases would we make again without hesitation? In this episode of Handmade Happiness, Jessica and Thomas share the homestead tools, equipment, and practical investments that have made the biggest difference in our daily lives. From gardening and food preservation to sewing, cooking, and raising animals, we're talking about the purchases that continue to save us time, reduce waste, and help us live a more self-sufficient lifestyle. These aren't necessarily the most expensive items we own, but they're the ones that have provided the greatest return through years of regular use. Whether you're just beginning your homesteading journey or looking to invest wisely in tools that truly make a difference, we hope this conversation helps you prioritize what matters most. Visit The Lark Life for more resources on homesteading, gardening, quilting, food preservation, and practical family skills. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and tell us in the comments: What's one homestead tool or investment you couldn't live without? Find more information about the Foundation in Quilting Course at TheLarkLife.com/foundations-in-quilting ✨ Thanks for tuning in to Handmade Happiness! ✨ If you enjoyed today’s episode, please subscribe so you don’t miss future conversations about slowing down, creating with your hands, and living more intentionally. 💌 Stay connected: Visit me at TheLarkLife.comFollow along on Instagram: @The_Lark_LifeClick to join my email list for updates, resources, and encouragement🧵 Share the love:  If this episode encouraged you, would you take a moment to leave a review or share it with a friend? It truly helps others discover the show. You can also support the show by making a donation at www.thelarklife.com/podcast Until next time, may you find joy in the simple things and beauty in the work of your hands.

Think it's too late to plant a garden? Think again! In this episode of Handmade Happiness, Jessica and Thomas share why midsummer is actually one of the best times to start planning and planting a productive fall garden. With nearly 100 days left in the growing season here in southwest Missouri, there's still plenty of time to harvest another round of fresh vegetables before the first frost. Whether you're planting cool-season crops or squeezing in another succession of green beans, this episode will encourage you to make the most of every garden bed and extend your harvest well into the fall. In this episode, we discuss: 🌱 Why your gardening season is far from over 🥬 The benefits of planting a fall garden 🫘 Succession planting for a second harvest of green beans and other fast-growing vegetables 🥕 The best vegetables to plant for fall, including carrots, beets, lettuce, spinach, radishes, kale, broccoli, cabbage, bok choy, and snow peas 🌾 Why we're saving seeds from elephant garlic, bok choy, and snow peas for future planting 🍂 Preparing garden beds for another round of crops 🌿 Making the most of your growing season through stewardship and intentional gardening 🌱 Why gardening is a year-round rhythm, not just a spring activity If you've been wondering whether it's too late to grow more food this year, we hope this conversation inspires you to head back out to the garden and plant another season of abundance. Visit The Lark Life for more gardening inspiration, homesteading resources, recipes, quilting tutorials, and practical skills for the whole family. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe and leave a review.  We'd also love to hear: What are you planting in your fall garden this year? ✨ Thanks for tuning in to Handmade Happiness! ✨ If you enjoyed today’s episode, please subscribe so you don’t miss future conversations about slowing down, creating with your hands, and living more intentionally. 💌 Stay connected: Visit me at TheLarkLife.comFollow along on Instagram: @The_Lark_LifeClick to join my email list for updates, resources, and encouragement🧵 Share the love:  If this episode encouraged you, would you take a moment to leave a review or share it with a friend? It truly helps others discover the show. You can also support the show by making a donation at www.thelarklife.com/podcast Until next time, may you find joy in the simple things and beauty in the work of your hands.

What do you do if your power goes out for a few days? In this episode of Handmade Happiness, Jessica and Thomas share stories from a weekend at the lake after a severe storm left them without electricity or running water. What could have been a frustrating experience became an opportunity to slow down, adapt, and appreciate the value of being prepared for life's unexpected interruptions. Rather than talking about extreme survival scenarios, this conversation focuses on simple, practical preparedness, the everyday habits and supplies that can make power outages, storms, and other temporary disruptions much easier to navigate. In this episode, we discuss: ⚡ What we learned from spending a weekend without electricity 🏕️ Why shifting our mindset to "camping mode" changed the experience 🫙 Keeping shelf-stable foods on hand for emergencies 🔥 Using propane camp stoves and outdoor cooking when the power is out 💧 Storing water for unexpected situations 🕯️ Candles, flashlights, and oil lamps for simple lighting 🔋 Generators and keeping essential household systems running 🎲 Finding joy through board games, porch conversations, and slowing down Preparedness doesn't have to be complicated or expensive. Sometimes it's as simple as having a few supplies on hand, a flexible attitude, and the ability to make the best of an unexpected situation. Visit The Lark Life for more resources on homesteading, from-scratch living, gardening, quilting, and practical family skills. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review; it helps more families discover the show. ✨ Thanks for tuning in to Handmade Happiness! ✨ If you enjoyed today’s episode, please subscribe so you don’t miss future conversations about slowing down, creating with your hands, and living more intentionally. 💌 Stay connected: Visit me at TheLarkLife.comFollow along on Instagram: @The_Lark_LifeClick to join my email list for updates, resources, and encouragement🧵 Share the love:  If this episode encouraged you, would you take a moment to leave a review or share it with a friend? It truly helps others discover the show. You can also support the show by making a donation at www.thelarklife.com/podcast Until next time, may you find joy in the simple things and beauty in the work of your hands.

Is home canning really safe? Why are so many families rediscovering this traditional skill? In this episode of Handmade Happiness, Jessica and Thomas share why home canning has become an important part of life on their Missouri homestead, how they safely preserve food for their family, and why you don't have to be intimidated to get started. If you've ever wanted to preserve your garden harvest, stock your pantry with homemade food, or learn a practical life skill, this episode will help separate fact from fiction and give you the confidence to begin safely. Whether you're preserving food from your own garden, shopping local farmers markets, or simply curious about learning traditional skills, we hope this conversation encourages you to give home canning a try. Free Resource: Check out the blog and download our Ultimate Canning Guide for a beginner-friendly introduction to safe home food preservation, recommended equipment, trusted recipe sources, and practical tips to help you get started with confidence. Visit The Lark Life for recipes, gardening tips, quilting classes, homesteading inspiration, and practical skills for the whole family. If you enjoyed this episode, please like, subscribe, and leave a comment below:  What's one food you've always wanted to learn to can? ✨ Thanks for tuning in to Handmade Happiness! ✨ If you enjoyed today’s episode, please subscribe so you don’t miss future conversations about slowing down, creating with your hands, and living more intentionally. 💌 Stay connected: Visit me at TheLarkLife.comFollow along on Instagram: @The_Lark_LifeClick to join my email list for updates, resources, and encouragement🧵 Share the love:  If this episode encouraged you, would you take a moment to leave a review or share it with a friend? It truly helps others discover the show. You can also support the show by making a donation at www.thelarklife.com/podcast Until next time, may you find joy in the simple things and beauty in the work of your hands.

Do you really need 20 acres to build a productive homestead? In this episode of Handmade Happiness, Jessica and Thomas explore one of the most common questions aspiring homesteaders ask: How much land do you actually need to grow food for your family? After a year on our own 5 acre Missouri homestead, we're sharing what we've learned about matching your property to your goals, why bigger isn't always better, and how thoughtful planning can make even a small backyard incredibly productive. Whether you live on a suburban lot, dream of owning a few acres, or are considering a larger farm, this episode will help you think beyond acreage and focus on creating a homestead that truly fits your family's lifestyle. In this episode, we discuss: 🌱 How much land it really takes to grow food for your family 🌱 What you can accomplish on a small backyard lot 🌱 The advantages and challenges of a 5-acre homestead 🌱 The realities of owning 20+ acres of land 🌱 Why productive gardening is about planning not just property size 🌱 Growing vegetables, fruit trees, berries, herbs, and perennial crops in limited space 🌱 Choosing livestock that fits your property and lifestyle 🌱 Designing a homestead that serves your family instead of becoming overwhelming 🌱 Why stewardship matters more than acreage If you've been waiting to start because you think you don't have enough land, we hope this conversation encourages you to begin where you are and make the most of what you've been given. 🌿 Visit The Lark Life for gardening resources, quilting classes, recipes, homesteading inspiration, and practical skills for the whole family. Subscribe for more conversations about gardening, homesteading, cooking from scratch, homeschooling, handmade skills, and intentional living. ✨ Thanks for tuning in to Handmade Happiness! ✨ If you enjoyed today’s episode, please subscribe so you don’t miss future conversations about slowing down, creating with your hands, and living more intentionally. 💌 Stay connected: Visit me at TheLarkLife.comFollow along on Instagram: @The_Lark_LifeClick to join my email list for updates, resources, and encouragement🧵 Share the love:  If this episode encouraged you, would you take a moment to leave a review or share it with a friend? It truly helps others discover the show. You can also support the show by making a donation at www.thelarklife.com/podcast Until next time, may you find joy in the simple things and beauty in the work of your hands.