Artful Homemaker

Creating Peaceful Rhythms in a Busy Home

Life at home can feel full in the best way—and overwhelming in the hardest way.

Meals to make.
Laundry to fold.
People to care for.
And somewhere in the middle of it all… your own heart needing attention too.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re constantly reacting instead of living with intention, you’re not alone.

But peace in the home isn’t found by doing more—it’s found by creating gentle, God-led rhythms.

Peace Isn’t a Perfect Schedule

It’s easy to think peace will come when everything is finally “under control.”

When the house stays clean.
When the to-do list is finished.
When you finally catch up.

But that kind of peace is always just out of reach.

True peace comes from alignment, not accomplishment.

It comes from inviting God into your day and allowing Him to order your steps—even when life still feels full.

Start With a Simple Morning Anchor

Your entire day doesn’t need to be structured—but having one small anchor can change everything.

This might look like:

Sitting with your coffee and a short prayer
Reading a few verses of scripture
Writing down one intention for the day

Even 10 quiet minutes can shift your mindset from reactive to rooted.

Instead of jumping straight into demands, you begin from a place of connection.

Create Gentle Daily Rhythms

Rhythms are not rigid schedules—they are patterns you can return to.

Think of them as anchors throughout your day:

A quick tidy in the morning
Resetting the kitchen after meals
A short evening reset before bed

These simple habits bring order without pressure.

They give your home a sense of flow instead of chaos.

And over time, they begin to support you instead of overwhelm you.

Let Go of Unrealistic Expectations

One of the biggest obstacles to peace is the pressure to do everything perfectly.

But your home doesn’t need perfection—it needs presence.

There will be unfinished tasks.
There will be messy moments.
There will be days that don’t go as planned.

And that’s okay.

When you release unrealistic expectations, you make room for grace—for yourself and your family.

Invite God Into the Middle of It All

Peaceful rhythms aren’t just practical—they are spiritual.

Talk to God while you work.
Ask Him for wisdom in your decisions on what is a priority.
Pause when you feel overwhelmed and reconnect.

He cares about your home.
He cares about your energy.
He cares about what you’re carrying.

You were never meant to manage it all alone.

A Rhythm That Fits Your Life

Your rhythm doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s.

It just needs to serve your season.

Some days will be slower.
Some will be full.
Some will require flexibility.

But when your days are rooted in God and guided by intention, even the busiest home can become a place of peace.

Start Small

You don’t need to overhaul your entire life to create change.

Start with one anchor.
One small rhythm.
One intentional moment with God.

And let that be enough for today.

Because peace isn’t something you achieve—it’s something you cultivate, one faithful step at a time.

For help with growing your faith and establishing your own rhythm, take a look at the system I created for myself. I use it daily and have seen amazing results. You can find it at:

https://saffronalder.etsy.com/listing/4448976949

Comment if you’d like a sample post about how I use this system to plan my days with intention.

Drawing Close to God Through Homemaking: Creating Peace, Rhythm, and Real Refinement

There is a quiet kind of ministry that happens within the walls of a home.

It doesn’t always look impressive. It isn’t loud or widely celebrated. But it is deeply sacred.

Homemaking—whether you are a single mother, a wife, or somewhere in between seasons—is not just about managing a household. It is an invitation to draw near to God in the ordinary, to partner with Him in creating an atmosphere of peace, order, and life.

And the beautiful truth is this: you can cultivate that peace and rhythm no matter your circumstances.

Your Home, Your Rhythm

No two homes are the same, because no two lives are the same.

What works for one woman may not work for another—and that’s not failure, it’s design.

Whether your days feel full and overflowing or stretched and fragile, God meets you right there. You don’t need a perfect schedule or a picture-perfect home to begin. You simply need a willing heart.

Peace in the home isn’t created by perfection—it’s created by intention.

When you begin to ask:

What does my family need today?
What do I need today?
Lord, how can I steward this home well?

You step into a rhythm that is uniquely yours.

Refinement in the Everyday

For me, creating simple rhythms and systems has become a daily anchor.

Not rigid rules, but gentle structure—something I can return to when life feels scattered.

These rhythms help me set my intentions each day. They bring clarity to what actually matters: my family, my home, and the condition of my own heart.

And through that process, something deeper has been happening.

Refinement.

Not the kind that demands perfection, but the kind that shapes you slowly, faithfully, and honestly.

Scripture, Prayer, and a Changed Atmosphere

One of the most impactful shifts in my homemaking has come through surrounding my days with truth.

Scripture prints placed where I can see them.
Prayer journaling that slows me down long enough to listen.
Moments of quiet conversation with the Father in the middle of ordinary tasks.

These small, consistent practices have begun to change more than just my routines—they’ve changed the atmosphere of my home.

There is more peace.
More movement and fewer blockades.
More intention.

And within me, there is change too.

Not overnight. Not perfectly. But real.

A Lighter Yoke

When we invite God into our homemaking, we are no longer carrying it alone. We are guided, directed, and refined.

There is a lightness that comes when we release the pressure to “do it all right” and instead ask, “Father, lead me today.”

And He does.

He leads in the small decisions.
In the way we speak.
In how we prioritize.
In how we respond when things don’t go as planned.

This is where effective living begins—not in striving, but in surrender.

An Invitation

If your home feels chaotic, heavy, or disconnected right now, you are not alone.

But you are also not without hope.

Start small.

Invite God into your morning.
Write a simple prayer.
Place truth where your eyes will rest on it.
Ask Him what matters today—and trust His leading.

You don’t need perfection to create a peaceful home.

You need presence.

His presence with you.
And your presence within your own life.

This is the heart of homemaking.

Not just tending a house…
but cultivating a life, with God at the center.

And in that place, true refinement begins.

How It Started/How It’s Going

We started off the season with a new flock of chicks and some veggie starts. All of them have grown so much in the last few weeks.

So here is the progress update!

Starting off with the garden; we bought some tomatoes, peppers, sugar snap peas, purple pole beans, squash, zucchini, and pumpkins, as well as some herbs like thyme and basil. We already had strawberries, sage, rosemary, and chocolate mint, Jerusalem artichokes, and I planted some potatoes that were growing eyes.

How it started….so fresh, so new, so small!

How it’s going…so lush, so fruitful, so abundant!

Now onto those fluffy butt chicks! 🐣

They lived in the house for about 2 months. After a bit they got so big and so dusty that it was time they move outside. So I, Mrs. Artful Homemaker built them a new home with all the creative guile I could muster. 💪 🐥🏠

Now, I’m no expert builder, but I think I did a pretty dang good job using mostly materials we had lying around the yard and shed. Palettes, laminate tiles and the kids old bunk bed! We did go to the store for a few items like chicken wire and t-bars and the PVC pipe.

It still needs some prettying up yet, but more to follow on that soon…

How it started…So cute, so fluffy, so dirty in my house.

How it’s going… so sturdy, so safe, so outside!

The walkabout…

Video tour of the Cluckingham Palace: So royal, so majestic!

Leave a like and let me know your thoughts on the new homestead yard and garden.

Until next time; Love peace and chickens! 🐓

New Year, New Chicks!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted. Shame on me, I know. After all, consistency is key to maintaining any semblance of an audience. In any case, for those who may care, we have arrived at the time of year when fuzzy baby chicks are tweeting and chirping in every feed store in the northwest.

Needless to say, I’ve picked up some new additions after our losses last year. Five new beautiful babes are here on the homestead and just waiting to be integrated with the flock! For my fellow chicken nerds, I got another speckled Sussex, a white Cochin bantam frizzle, a golden sexlink, a black sexlink, and a buff Orpington. They are quite the assortment to be sure, but they will really diversify the flock.

With the roo gone to a new place, more on that later, I’m still not sure which of my previous flock is now in charge but they’ve been pretty peaceful. Hopefully, the new bunch will be welcomed here in a few weeks with minimal feather pecking. I’ll be sure to report back on that when it happens.

In the meantime, enjoy this video of the new babes clucking around their little temporary home.

Latest additions to the flock- video recorded by homestead girl. Cinematic mastery! 😉

It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye

So, we knew it would come eventually but no one envisioned it happening so soon. Chickens don’t live a terribly long time, about 5-8 years is average. Yet sometimes circumstances outside of our control happen and we are forced to face the reality of life. It’s fragile and unpredictable and time is promised to no one.

Recently, we lost two of our feathered family. One bird was my favorite, the sweetest Easter Egger named Ladybird. She loved to be pet and cuddled. Just the gentlest soul. She, unfortunately, met her demise because of some skittish hens who got spooked and accidentally broke her neck. I held her for her final last twitches and then she was gone. That was hard for me.

Now, I understand that these things happen and so I didn’t want to let her death be in vain. It’s not practical to have a bunch of little chicken graves all over, but I didn’t want to just toss her out with the trash either. Mr. Artful Homemaker asked around to some friends and we gave her to someone who would use her for sustenance. I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I’m thankful he could.

After that loss, I was just not ready for what came next…

A few weeks later we were getting ready for a trip to Vegas for my sister’s wedding. The night before we left I was collecting the eggs and when I reached into the nest to grab them, one squished in my hand. It was a soft shelled egg!

My chickens have always laid perfect eggs from the start, so after a year of laying these perfect eggs comes a soft egg? Weird. But there wasn’t much I could do other than research and pray for the best while I was gone.

We leave the next day for a ten day trip and my good friends Annie and Raphael are sending me daily updates. No weird eggs, and all the chicks are good. Great news! sigh of relief. Exhale. Good.

Then we get home and all seems well for a couple days, I go to collect the eggs one afternoon and see little Flower dead and gone. With a heavy heart I had to inspect her body to see if there are any signs of injury or infection or anything. Nothing as far as I can see. I assumed she got her neck broke too, until I checked the chicken cam. Best investment ever, for anyone considering it.

At around 6am that morning she was wobbly on the roost, fell off the roost and after an hour of flapping just gave up the ghost. My best estimation is that she was egg bound and I was unaware and couldn’t help her in time. Due to the nature of her death, I didn’t want to risk anyone getting sick from her meat, so I buried little Flower in our garden.

The kids and I painted rocks to decorate her grave and in the spring I’ll plant some vining flowers on a pretty little trellis that serves as her gravestone, that way she’ll be a feature in the homestead garden 2024.

Now I’m sure there will be plenty of long-standing homesteaders and flock owners who are rolling their eyes at this whole ordeal. But as a first time flock owner, I hand raised these babies in my home and named each one and have spoiled the heck out of them from day one. So, to lose two of them within a month not only affects my pretty array of colored eggs, but leaves a hole in my heart for those two beauties that made my flock complete. Especially since they were two really sweet ladies.

Two exciting things out of this whole experience is:

1. knowing that I can face whatever comes with fortitude and an attitude of learning, and

2. come spring I’ll be adding to my flock which means a couple more fuzzy butt babies!

It’s hard to say goodbye but we carry on because we must.

Flower and Ladybird, you may be gone but you’re never forgotten. 🙏❤️

Beef With The Fowl

Lately, I’ve had a few bare ladies in my flock… which sounds a lot sexier than it actually is because a naked chicken is NOT attractive, no matter how big her breasts are!

Jokes aside, anytime a chicken in my flock is having issues, I am there immediately to help her through it. Thus far we have been blessed by Almighty God and haven’t had too much to deal with.

However, my flock consists of two integrated flocks and a rooster. Having the rooster has helped with the pecking order quite a bit but we still get some feather pulling going on. It had been minimal until a few months ago when I started noticing that my Easter Eggers and one of my speckled Sussex hens started getting some bare backs. No blood, just feather loss.

My first assumption was that the rooster had been treading too hard and pulling them out with his spurs. He’s pretty young and learning still, and his spurs are short but pointy, so that was the most logical conclusion. But then…. One fateful day my husband witnessed the truth that changed the whole story!

The rooster mounted one of the Easter Eggers and no feather loss occurred, but while he was on this poor girl, the oldest barred rock hen ran over to pluck a feather from her back and proceeded to eat it! Gasp!! What in the world? And while the poor girl was defenseless! For shame!!

Shaming the Bully

What do you do with a bully?

Well, I like to shame them first (see video above) and then give them love. Because at the end of the day a bully really just lacks love and attention in their life, right? So yesterday Foody Booty and I had a heart to heart, I gave her some snuggles and some scratches and hopefully she takes me seriously because if it continues she will be on a two week isolation from the others.

As I understand it, separating one hen from the flocks for a couple of weeks causes them to lose their place in the flock and they might not be so bitchy. We’ll see how it goes and I’ll keep you updated!

Be sure to let me know if you have any keen tips for preventing such horrific bully habits. I try to keep them occupied with snacks and dust baths and toys and free ranging, but it hasn’t been enough for this mean streak. All ideas welcome! Minus freezer camp, I’m not gonna off one of my most productive hens. Plus, I raised her from a fluff and she has a name, so I couldn’t do it if I wanted to. But I’m game for more creative shaming tactics! Let me know what you know.

Be blessed! 🙏😊

Clucktastic!

🐓 + 🎃 = ❤️ + 😋

The Times They Are A Changin’

Now that the beautiful Indian summer has disappeared here in the Pacific Northwest, and things are a bit more dreary, it’s time for some things to change around this homestead!

The garden is ready to be cleared of all the dead tomato plants and vines, and the huge poke weeds we let grow too big are beginning to droop and look sad. But I won’t let the dreariness get me down. Instead, I’ll rise up and prepare for new beginnings!

Seven foot poke weeds drooping and dying

Right now is the best time for me to rethink my space, and to plan for the future. The ground is good and sopping wet, so I can easily start reshaping the yard with new pathways and garden beds. We can use last season’s lessons to optimize the layout and functionality of the space we have to work with for next season. That’s artful homemaking!

Check back for more progress soon…

We’ve Only Just B-‘egg’-un…

It’s an elation I will try my best to convey to those of you who may never have had the joy of raising chickens and getting those small oval sunny delights!

It seems such a simple thing, really.

A single egg?? Whats the big deal? I can buy a dozen and a half of those for five bucks at the store. Easy peasy, no hassle.

Well, having raised all nine of my chickens by hand from hatchling to hen, I can tell you egg production does not happen overnight. It is a dedication and a total labor of love. Yet I find it’s worth the wait. It takes roughly five months worth of TLC to reach the pinnacle stage in a chicken’s life where it switches from freeloader, to homestead contributor. That’s a long time!

It could be argued that chickens contribute more than just eggs to a homestead or farm and earn their keep in other ways. Curbing the bug population, trimming the weeds and fertilizing the lawn, but at the end of the day, it’s not a really a whole lot, just some small bonuses. I’ve never once heard of someone getting a flock of chickens to maintain the nitrogen levels in their yard for gardening. Just doesn’t equate. Buy it at the store!

However, knowing that almost everyday you will have at least one egg to eat, or in my case eight, it’s a sense of leveling up the homestead from just fruit and vegetable nutrients to protein and fats. A huge step up in self sustainability without resorting to hunting or eating bugs.

Owning chickens is a whole different game. It’s not just about supplying a demand but maintaining a personal supply.

Yet it goes one step further into self sustainability knowing that worst case scenario I have eight whole chickens to eat, or trade. Add in the bonus of owning a rooster, and I can sell fertilized eggs or breed more chickens. It’s really such a huge leap forward in food security.

Plus, it’s a fun family adventure!!

So, go get you some chickens. Now!

When Flocks Collide

The pecking, the squawking, the chasing around. It sounds gnarly to experience, but it has to be done. And so far, having a rooster has actually been a boon to the integrating adventure!

I’ve tried to research the varying methods available online, and am taking key aspects from each method to artfully create one that suits this homestead. It has been wonderfully successful so far. We’re just taking it slow and easy and making it stress free.

The video below is the second face to face meeting of all together, and they did so well! … for a few minutes. But then the feather pulling began. It wasn’t too bad, honestly. Just a little action, but I went and grabbed poor Dino Dana from the grips of Rosie the red beaked bully. I feel like the rooster was going to protect her but I didn’t want anyone stressed out, so I intervened and scooped her up.

Oh and Mr. Artful Homemaker was caught up in the middle of it. He is kind of scared of birds. 😂