OUR MANOR HISTORICAL BUILDING RENOVATION PROJECT
Welcome to Our Manor Historical Building Renovation Project. This 118-year-old building on Main Street is becoming our forever home. We’re bringing back its old-world charm with European-inspired details and simple, practical updates. Every step honors the past while making space for modern, cozy living. Here, we share our process—restoring original features, tackling DIY projects, and creating a home full of heart. If you love historic homes and slow renovation stories, you’ll feel right at home here.
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Our Manor on Main
Small Space, Big Dreams: Homesteading, DIY, and creating a cozy life.
This is the hardest part of homesteading.![]()
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It’s easy to share the fresh eggs, the slow mornings, the simple joys. The cozy parts. The ones that feel like a dream you’re building with your own two hands.![]()
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But this… this is part of it too.![]()
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Today we had to say goodbye to one of our girls.![]()
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She had been struggling all day, and we did everything we could think to do. We sat with her, kept her warm, prayed over her, and hoped she would pull through. But as the hours passed, it became clear that loving her well meant letting her go.![]()
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So we wrapped her up, carried her out to the coop, and let the others gather around her one last time. It felt important… like they needed to understand, in their own quiet way, that she wasn’t coming back.![]()
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And then, in the gentlest and most selfless act of love, Jason helped her pass peacefully and quickly.![]()
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We buried her in the garden, where life will keep growing, just like it always does.![]()
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Homesteading is beautiful. It’s meaningful. It’s full of life and purpose.![]()
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But it also asks something of you.![]()
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It asks you to show up on the hard days. ![]()
To make decisions that break your heart. ![]()
To love your animals enough to give them a good life… and a dignified ending.![]()
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Tonight feels heavy.![]()
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But I’m grateful we could give her a peaceful goodbye. 🤍
After a long day of working on our old Main Street building, covered in dust and dreaming up what it will become, I come home, make something simple for dinner, and pour a glass of this strawberry lemonade water kefir.![]()
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It’s light, fizzy, a little sweet, and feels like such a small reward at the end of a full day. I love knowing it’s nourishing too, full of natural probiotics and made right here in our kitchen.![]()
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If you’ve been looking for a simple, homemade probiotic drink, this one is so easy to make and perfect for warmer days 🍓🍋![]()
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I’ll link the recipe in the comments, friend 🤍
I was down at our old building last night, not working, just spending a little quiet time there, enjoying it.![]()
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The chickens were out in the yard, and I noticed all these little songbirds hopping around with them, pecking at the ground like they were part of the flock. It caught me off guard in the sweetest way.![]()
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They made little bird friends, and it made my mama heart so happy. 🥰![]()
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Moments like this remind me why we’re doing all of this. I can already picture slow evenings out here one day, a garden growing, bird feeders hanging, maybe even a bird bath, just life happening quietly all around us.![]()
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Simple things like this feel like a glimpse into what home is going to be.
Life gets heavy sometimes. Stress, uncertainty, grief, hurt, it all piles up. But this place, this old building, this home, is my comfort.![]()
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When I walk in, it feels like a warm hug. I can sit, breathe, and just be for a little while. Somehow, even when the world feels too heavy, I feel peace here.![]()
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This is the place worth fighting for. The place that reminds me that no matter what life throws my way, there is still a corner of the world where I feel like I belong. ![]()
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Do you have a place in your life that feels like a refuge?
Lately I’ve just been thinking more about how much we throw away without even realizing it.![]()
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Not anything extreme… just slowly learning to be more intentional with what we use and what we throw away.![]()
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Composting has been one of the easiest ways for us to do that.![]()
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It’s nothing fancy. Just saving scraps, giving them a place to go, and letting them turn into something good again. It feels like a small shift, but it adds up over time.![]()
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I wrote a blog post sharing how we approach spring composting in a really simple, doable way, especially if you’re just getting started and don’t want to overthink it. (There is also a tutorial on how to build your own compost bin like the one below)![]()
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If you’ve been craving a lower-waste, more intentional rhythm at home, this is a really good place to begin 🤍![]()
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I’ll leave the link in the comments.