Simple Living Made Simple Podcast

This week I had a chat with Sharon McCaskill who is an Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and founder of the blog, "The Helpful GF" all about switching to a gluten free diet with as little stress as possible.

Any change in diet or lifestyle can be a challenge not only in implementing the changes but also making them stick.

Sharon has first hand knowledge with gluten free diets as her husband has celiac disease.

In this episode we talked all about the following:

- What it really means to be gluten intolerant or gluten sensitive,

- Great gluten free alternative ingredients for baking,

- Tips for being gluten free while still enjoying eating out being spontaneous.

Sharon McCaskill, is a dedicated Registered Dietitian Nutritionist with a mission: making gluten-free living not just accessible but delightful. Her journey began with a personal touch, as she helped her husband Tyler manage his refractory celiac disease and embarked on a quest to make gluten-free living a breeze. Now, as the driving force behind "The Helpful GF," Sharon extends a warm invitation to everyone looking to embrace a gluten-free lifestyle with confidence.

Sharon's passion shines through her website, https://thehelpfulgf.com, where she shares her wealth of knowledge, empowering others to savor every moment of their gluten-free journey. With her husband, two daughters, and a heart full of compassion, she's committed to helping you live a healthy, delicious, and stress-free life. Connect with Sharon on Instagram @thehelpfulgf and explore her insightful videos on her YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/@TheHelpfulGF, for a taste of her gluten-free expertise and inspiration. 

This week is an awesome episode with Jill Winger of the Prairie Homestead.  Jill is a well known homesteader, author, entrepreneur, rancher, mother and wife.  She is one of the first people I started following and reading when I was interested in living a more simple life.  She has a new book Old Fashioned on Purpose: Cultivating a Slower, More Joyful Life, being released 9/26/23 and is taking preorders until then. You can buy at any bookstore or preorder here: Old Fashioned on Purpose by Jill Winger

We had an awesome discussion and covered a variety of topics to include:

- The importance of letting your kids be bored.

- Balancing old-fashioned skills with modern technology and conveniences.

- How we have lost the importance of community and how we can cultivate it.

Join us as we dig a bit deeper into what it means to live a little more intentionally and purposefully.

You can find Jill Winger here:

The Prairie Homestead Blog

Prairie Homestead Instagram

The Old Fashioned on Purpose Podcast

Jill's new book: Old Fashioned on Purpose: Cultivating a Slower, More Joyful Life. 

I am so excited to share with you this powerful episode with Sara Jo of Bryarton Farm. We covered many topics in this episode but the them throughout was "Saving the Forgotten".  Sara Jo's take on this is beautiful, encouraging, and inspiring. We talked all about the restoration of her beautiful historic farmhouse and her family's beautiful adoption story of her two daughters from India. It was truly eye opening and inspiring.

Please go check her out on these platforms:

Bryarton Farm Instagram 

Bryaton Farm Blog

Bryarton Farm on Patreon

Books Illustrated by Sara Jo

We are doing a very strict elimination diet and it has been rather difficult. Since I focus on stocking my kitchen with whole food ingredients, being faced with having to eliminate several of our family's staple foods has been challenging.

Join me as I discuss these new dietary restrictions that we have been faced with and how we are navigating finding new alternatives for meals and snacks.

Anyone got the Holiday season itch?

I typically do not like to start preparing for a holiday way before the actual season starts. I really despise seeing Christmas stuff in stores in October, however considering holidays gifts early in the year can help you out later in a lot of ways!

In this episode, I talk about a few Handcrafted and Homemade Holiday gifts that you can start making today with some of the harvest you have in your garden and really take some of the stress off when the holiday season comes.

I have a few fun, cost effective, and super simple ideas that I talk about in this episode.

Websites mentioned:

MotherHenHomestead Instagram

Merry Stockings: Bucilla Stocking Kits

In this week's episode, I got to speak with Naomi from Love Stitches​.

Learning to sew has been on my list of projects to start for a long time but it always seems overwhelming and difficult to get started.

After speaking with Naomi about how to get started regardless of where you are in your life, I am ready to jump in!

Join us for our conversation in this week's episode.

Websites mentioned in this episode:

Big Duck Canvas https://www.bigduckcanvas.com/ for slipcover fabrics

Natures Fabrics https://naturesfabrics.com/

Naomi is a sewing entrepreneur from New York State, providing her local community with bridal alterations and custom slipcovers. Online she teaches sewing as a life skill for sustainable living. She is also a faith based author, and homeschooling mom of three.

Naomi offers a variety of s downloadable tutorials for clothing alterations and repairs, available at this link which I’m offering for 25%off with coupon code SIMPLELIVING. The coupon code is valid through August 30th, 2023

https://www.naomifata.net/product-category/tutorials/ 

Naomi publishes a bweekly sewing enewsletter called The Sewing Circle and has video courses available through her website https://www.naomifata.net

Instagram Link: https://www.instagram.com/naomifata/

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/NaomiFataSews

I am really excited for today's Simple Living Made Simple Podcast guest!

In this week's episode, I got to speak with Alicia DeVore from Create My Garden.

We talked all about growing gardens and kids. This was such a fun episode because it was recorded early in the gardening season and even though I am just releasing it now, it is still relevant and timely.

You can check out Alicia on Instagram or at her blog Create My Garden.

Alicia DeVore is a garden teacher/coach and the founder of the blog Create Your Garden where she teaches people how to make gardening a part of their lives with simple systems that make gardening easy. Alicia is based in California where she has grown gardens for the past 10 years for herself and others. But her gardening knowledge has helped many from all over the world.

She uses the garden to teach how to practically grow a successful garden without spending lots of time. Simplifying the process of gardening for those that live in small spaces or large to make sure that they can grow their own organic food.

Thank you for sticking it out here while I was gone! It has been a busy couple of months!

I took a little hiatus after I gave birth to our fifth in April and it took much longer than expected to get back to it.

My evenings and mornings have been unpredictable and I can never guarantee I will have time available to do work on the podcast or social media. We are starting to all settle back into a schedule so that is great!

In this episode, I share with you updates from our garden, what I am doing to stay sane during this busy season, and some of the projects we are working on.

If you follow any homesteaders on Instagram or You Tube, you may have heard of Azure Standard Market. I have tried it out a few times and I talk all about it in today's episode. I talk about how it works, what a drop location is, and the things I have ordered! Azure Standard is great for ordering bulk goods to cook from scratch and build your food supply. This short and sweet episode should help you place your first Azure Standard order if you are interested!

You can get started with your first order here: Azure Standard Market

Have you ever prepared venison or elk? I certainly have not! That is why I invited Danielle from the Homebound Hippie to the podcast this week.

Danielle is wonderful at cooking with wild game and I learned so much during this interview.

She gives a ton of information about how to get started cooking with wild game and sheds light on how different it may or may not be from chicken or beef.

Danielle from the Homebound Hippie is a full time homemaker and homesteader living a slow and simple life with her husband in the rural wilderness of Washington State on family land, 7 acres of backwoods country passed down 4 generations. Her experience as a hunter's wife has led her to a life centered on hunting; fishing, homesteading, and of course good home cooked food.

You can find Danielle over on her blog: The Homebound Hippie and over on Instagram at the Homebound Hippie

Check out the Back to Homemaking Collective! Available until 3/31/23.