Barefoot Earth Apothecary

Heya my herby friends! 🌱

Life is still lifin' and I really thought it was gonna slow down soon but...well, I'm sure you know how it goes. I'm so sorry I've been so quiet lately.

But, I just wanted to stop in and let y'all know that I finally got some of my Tulsi drying for you!

I went out yesterday to start harvesting and came inside to tell my husband that I need an entire warehouse herb drying set up just for all this Tulsi! I've barely scratched the surface. There's just so much!

I'm gonna need to order some more drying racks to speed up this process but it's coming. I'll definitely keep you posted!

Happy first day of fall, friends! It's my very favorite season and I sure am ready for cooler weather 🍂

Wishing you all a beautiful day!

I have more Tulsi than I know what to do with! It's in darn near every bed and crowding out other plants. I really need to thin it out to get ready for fall planting.

I'm thinking about busting out my drying rack. Anyone interested in some freshly dried Tulsi?

If so, I'll get to work! Let me know 👇

Wichita Falls area friends! If you're interested in updates on the farmstand, how it's coming along, when it will open and what will be available...give me a follow on my farmstand page Lantern Hollow Farmstand 🥰

Lantern Hollow Farmstand Bringing you good things from our garden, our kitchen and our little corner in the country. Seasonal produce, fresh baked breads and sweets, homemade jams & jellies, seasonings, dip mixes and plenty of old-fashioned goodness.

Today I started a whole bunch of seeds. 100 starter pots, most of them with multiple seeds in them for dividing later!

These will be veggies and greens for personal use, veggies and greens for the farmstand and, hopefully, starts to offer at the farmstand for folks to plant in their gardens 🌱

Today I started different varieties of mustard greens, swiss chard, collards, kale, broccoli, cabbage, bok choy, leeks, celery, kohlrabi, spinach and parsley. I still need to get some kitchen herbs started and lots more will be going into the beds in the next week or two!

I love a good ol' fall garden!

What are y'all planning for your fall gardens?

Hello all my beautiful humans!

Some of you have reached out and noticed that I've been pretty quiet lately. I did disappear for a bit, not because I don't love y'all, but because life has been lifin'.

So here's an update on what's been going on and to let you know I'm still alive.

We had to make a massive push to get the house to a point that was move-in-able. We did it! We moved in at the end of last month. There were a whole bunch of very long days of replacing drywall, patching holes, critter proofing, replacing the subfloor, laying new flooring, painting, replacing baseboards, etc. And we still have a bunch left to do! We don't even have our upper cabinets stained and reinstalled yet so our dishes are still in boxes, but we're getting there. Those will be put back up hopefully this weekend 🤞

Because of the rush we were in to get the house ready (it wasn't a cheap project), bills fell to the wayside. So for the past few weeks I've been busting my butt to make extra money to get us all caught up by doing grocery delivery (Spark). We're almost caught up and then I'm hoping life will slow down, at least enough for me to breathe again!

My boys are all moved in on the family compound now. My oldest son in the RV and my youngest son and his gf in the trailer we bought next door. My daughter will be here for her summer visit on Monday and we're all so excited! I can't wait to show her everything.

The garden...well, it's been rough here in Texas this summer. It's been so incredibly hot and dry, everything is struggling. Even the trees are dropping their leaves. I had planned on collecting honey mesquite pods to make coffee and flour for the farmstand but even the mesquites are sad! They've barely got any pods on them so most I could do is make enough for personal use.

Speaking of the farmstand, I hope to have that open in the next month! It will be small to start while we work on building a bigger one. But even little steps are big steps! My small temporary garden will hopefully provide some fresh produce and greens for the farmstand this fall. The big garden will be installed over fall and winter and I hope it will provide much more fresh produce next year. I will also be planting fruit trees this fall, of course those will take years before they start producing.

I have decided to go ahead and change the name of this page to Lantern Hollow Farmstead after hearing from so many of you in support of that change. It will be a little while before that change takes place though. I still need to file the paperwork with my county so that FB will allow it since I have a verified page.

This past month has been a full on adventure that I've barely been able to remember what day it is. It's time for me to slow down and breathe now! So I'm gonna do just that today.

I'm going to try to get back to posting frequently. Just bare with me, friends. I'm doing a bunch of new-to-me things and I get stuck in Tasmanian Devil mode and forget about anything other than what I'm focusing in on. ADHD much? 😂 I also have unread messages that I will slowly start going through. My apologies for having y'all wait so long.

That's all for now. See ya 'round...like a donut.

Until next time, friends, I'm wishing you all a beautiful day 🌱🖤

Can you help me decide, please?

First, let me share this exciting news! After months of thought, I've finally named our property.

✨ Lantern Hollow Farmstead ✨

Do you love it? I do!

Now here's where I need your help. This page has been Barefoot Earth Apothecary for years now. But, since closing my business last year and life shifting direction, I wonder if I should change the name of this page or start new.

Many of you have said you'd like for me to bring you along to watch as all of this unfolds. I'll still share herby things but I'll also share how the house is coming along (I've been sharing that on my personal page lately), garden things, homestead things, farmstand things, etc.

So what do y'all think? Keep this page as Barefoot Earth Apothecary and keep the content the same or change the name to Lantern Hollow Farmstead and share everything else too?

You're all such an important part of this page. You're literally why it exists! So your opinion matters to me and I'd love to hear from you.

Here's a picture of my first cantaloupe that I just picked. It's absolutely delicious!

I hope y'all are having a fabulous weekend 🌱

Heya friends! Just checking in again with some life stuff.

Whew, this season of my life is busy, busy. Someone check my pulse because I'm barely breathing!

If you saw my last update, you might remember that we bought the place next door. Unfortunately, the day after he moved out, the AC went kaput. We got it checked out and, of course, it's the compressor. This unit is no longer being produced, meaning the parts for it are pricey. Parts and labor = 2900 buckaroos 😬 I'm also trying my darndest to find new homes for everything that was left behind that he was unable to take with him. And it's a lot!

On the upside, I haven't seen my son this excited about something in a long time. He's so eager to move in! Seeing him smile makes it all worth it.

The house is coming along. We'll be putting in the new floors this week. Our goal is to move in by the end of the month. We're gonna be cutting it close between the house reno and the repairs that need to be done next door. There's so much still left to do.

Spark (Walmart delivery) is becoming my new best friend. All of this is so expensive and we need every single penny we can get at this point! The AC in our vehicle also went kaput so that's been super fun in this Texas heat 🥵 My husband put in a new fan clutch last night so fingers crossed I have some cold air today!

My poor garden has taken a backseat the past couple weeks. I just haven't had time to tend to it the way I'd like. Things need new pots, things need to go in the ground, an arch trellis needs to be put together and installed for my grapes, seeds need to be collected...so many things.

We had a good storm a couple nights ago. A big tree branch came down in the backyard and landed on the new fence we put in. Luckily the fence was strong enough and took it like a champ! The storm also ripped down both sun shades, broke several plants and knocked down my poor tomatoes again. But they're okay!

I'm not complaining, though it may sound like it. This is just part of the journey, as stressful and unglamorous as it is, and I told y'all that I'm taking you with me through it all. This is exactly what I asked for and I will take every single hurdle that comes with it!

But, umm, if anyone wins the lotto, would you mind passing a little something our way? 😉

OK friends, I'm off to Spark now. Send all those positive thoughts out into the universe that I make a bunch of moolah today!

I hope you all have the best day 🫶