About
Hello out there!
I’m glad you found me here and have taken a few moments to see what is happening at a little crafty nest.
I’m Jules…home-making wife, home-schooling mama, home-steading gardener. We live on a small farm in the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia. It wasn’t always this way ~ the farm, I mean. Our 5 acres was once just wild and overgrown and my husband and I spent our first years together building our home and raising our three babies. Over the years, we have added a chicken coop and a barn, filling both with dozens of hens, six sheep, two angora bunnies, and several pigs who just come to stay for a few months in the summer. We also have four dogs and two cats. Most of our hot weather days will find us building fences and repairing the old ones.
My husband, Josh, is a pretty handy guy and he likes to build our furniture and carve other nifty wooden things. But he is happiest in winter when he gets to do the work that feeds his soul…he is a back-country ski guide and spends three and a half months taking people into the mountains to ski fat powder lines. Josh had an alternative upbringing right in this very valley…living in a tipi at times, learning to be thrifty, and going to Yogananda camp in California.
My own upbringing was the polar opposite. I grew up attending private schools and spending holidays traveling with my family. But I always felt like the black sheep and secretly wished I lived in another century, far away from the busy city. I moved to British Columbia twenty years ago, living in various alternative communities while pursuing a more unusual lifestyle than I had been accustomed to. At different points along the way, I have lived in a tipi, a tent in a tree, a yurt, and a dilapidated A-frame. I spent a few summers making just enough money to travel to various Grateful Dead shows, I owned a hemp clothing business and toured the folk festival circuit, I went to South America on my own to learn to weave, and I became a teacher and taught at an alternative elementary school down the road from here. Then I met Josh and I became a mama ~ the very best thing I’ve ever accomplished, without a doubt!
Aside from raising my beautiful flock of merino, gotland, and romney sheep, I love to garden and spin wool. Inspired by my love of all things woolly, I opened a little on-line shop, Wool Maiden Handcrafted Fibre and Yarn. I dye yarn and roving that I have purchased from a luxury yarn store in Canada, and I have my own farm fresh fibre from my own flock that I dye with plants and mushrooms.
Nowadays, we are a fairly quiet family who keeps close to home. We began this farm in 2013 and it has become our favourite place in the world. There is always more land to transform into pasture for our small flock of sheep, or a new shelter to build, or more garden beds to raise. We like to be busy here and find a friend to farm-sit so we can go camping and fishing on the weekends. If all goes well, we are planning a big adventure in the next few years…we’d like to drive across the country, but we have to find the right school bus to convert, first.
Our homeschooling methods are constantly evolving. With each child, in the early years, we begin with a strong Waldorf inclination. However, as my oldest has approached the age of ten, I find we are adopting more of an unschooling approach to learning and it suits us quite well as our son grows into himself and knows a little more of what inspires him, of what speaks to his spirit.
This blog is a really good reminder for me to slow down and take the time to see the beauty in our everyday. This journey is fleeting, and we are reminded of that daily with the medical issues that my daughter faces. What I share here is truly just a snapshot of a larger picture, a messier and more complicated picture. But I want to focus on the magic that may be found in the nooks and crannies between the messes.
Please feel welcome to email me…I love to hear from people who visit. You canalso write to me at alittlecraftynest@gmail.com. I will do my best to get back to you when I find a moment.
Thanks for taking the time to visit! I hope you enjoy what you may find.
xo Jules
a little crafty nest
Hello out there, I'm happy you stopped by! My name is Jules and I am grateful to share my family's homegrown adventures here...from homeschooling to homesteading.
This space is my own reminder to savour the beauty amidst the chaos and messes of motherhood...to see the extraordinary in the everyday ordinary. Thank you for joining me.
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6 Comments
I’m excited for you (and myself, as I am a long time follower ). The newness and wonder of springtime are upon us and I want to thank you for sharing with us. I am constantly inspired by your photos or something you’ve made or grown. Happy Spring! You can be sure I will keep you company in this space.
Hello dear Susan, I am happy you found me here at my new address. Your comments are always welcome, like an old friend.
xo Jules
Every so often I seek out new blogs, stories to lose or find myself in. Just followed a link from soulemama to here. Excited to find this place.
Hello Kelly, thank you so much for stopping by and leaving a comment. I’m happy to have a new place to visit, too. Have a beautiful weekend with your tribe!
xo Jules
Reading your blog and loving it.
I was just reading your blog and about your daughter. Very inspiring that as a whole you have transformed your entire family to better living. I am struggling with T2D and really need to find something that works. I am going to go look at Dr Bernstein’s ideas and see if I can’t change things in my life.
Happy to say we are sort of neighbors. Live in Spokane. Have to love the Northwest. Keep up the homesteading and thanks for the advice. Wish me Luck!
Hello Tammi, I am happy you discovered my blog! Welcome! Dr. Bernstein’s book was a much-needed refreshing change for our whole family in how we manage our daughter’s Type 1 Diabetes. I know he has also helped lots of people with Type 2 as well. Good luck on your journey, keep me posted!
xo Jules