Kellyn of @the.well.nourished.home is a wife and homeschooling mother of five. She and her husband began homesteading in the desert of Phoenix, Arizona almost ten years ago. In the summer of 2021 they sold everything but their books, kids, and pets and traveled the country in an RV, finally settling in the Missouri Ozarks. Kellyn is passionate about literature, good quality home cooked food, and sharing how easy and affordable healthy lifestyle and nutrition changes can be.
One year ago, I resolved that I would learn to make all of the bread products my family needed. With an ever-shrinking bank account battling current inflation prices, I would walk the aisles of our local markets frustrated that I did not possess the skills required to make most of the things I needed to purchase. With a family of seven, I could not spend nine dollars for a loaf of sourdough bread, especially when we easily consumed one loaf per meal. You may be thinking there is plenty of bread at the store for less than half that cost, and this is true. But cheap food comes at an even higher price than the swipe of a card, and my resolution to real food came years before this.
I spent nine solid months failing at every loaf of bread I attempted to make. I would fluctuate from discouragement and frustration to sheer stubbornness. My children would poke fun at me as I spent yet another day in the kitchen, with only sore feet and defeat to show for it. Day after day we gathered together around the table and thanked God for the nourishment we were about to receive; for the flat, tear-filled, over-proofed loaf of nourishment that lay before us. Sometimes we would laugh while almost breaking our jaws, other times we ate a lot of french toast. But it was always a new day, a new prayer, a new loaf, and a new failure.
Until the day that it wasn’t. You would think that the day I finally pulled from the oven a perfectly round, golden crusted loaf would have been more memorable but honestly it wasn’t. Don’t misunderstand, I rejoiced at the beauty of this loaf because beauty is worth striving for. But at the end of the day, it was just another loaf of nourishment. At the end of the day, we would gather and pray and eat this loaf just like all the others. Because at the end of the day, all of those tear-filled failures were still nourishing us, and not just physically. They had been nourishing perseverance, determination, hard work, and hope.
Every loaf bore witness to myself and my children that it is never too late to learn something hard. That it is never shameful to admit we need to grow. And that there is nothing but glory to be found in failure- if we are brave enough to fail. Because failing may just be one of the bravest acts of all. The fear of incompetence or ignorance will steal our dreams and shield us from the glorious and brutal battle we face within ourselves when we fail. G.K. Chesterton said, “Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.” Because we are all bad at something until we’re not. We must be brave enough to fail. We must rise another day, apron fastened, and receive the nourishment of another prayer, another loaf, and another opportunity to grow.
Please join us by sharing, continuing the conversation below, and connecting with Kellyn at the following:
I began my homesteading journey from the perspective of a Nutritional Therapist, closet herbalist, and beekeeper. This mentally gave me a few barriers to diving into the conventionally accepted tools for animal health such as antibiotics, injectable vitamins, generic minerals and mass produced bagged feeds…
Let’s make something fun, beginner friendly, that’s super easy and nourishing too! Remember Mary Poppins and her song about how a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down? It’s so true, for kids, and just about anyone else I know….
I have always been told I am an old soul, and overly optimistic…. but, I believe there is a purpose in everything, every hair on your head is numbered and known to the Creator, every fiber of your being flows with His energy…. each of us has been wonderfully created, with a purpose, just the way we are…
Stained glass windows date back to the 7th century. With the earliest known reference dating
from 675 AD when workmen were imported from France to Britain to Glaze the windows of a
monastery…
Like many in this homesteading space, this has been a completely unexpected journey for our family.
Even 10 years ago I would have laughed at the thought of getting up to milk a cow each morning and
canning endless amounts of tomatoes…
I am a Hopesteader. I haven’t always tried to look for the silver lining in most any situation. It’s a skill that has encouraged me to spur on and learn and read and do and gain experience by turning knowledge into wisdom…
