Ring in 2010 with us!

Have no New Year's Eve plans yet? Come and take a blue moon sleigh ride beginning at 11 pm at Maple Valley Farms and end with hot cocoa! Only $5- a person. Please call the farm to RSVP. We would love to see you! Read more about "blue moons" here!

Ice days at Maple Valley Farms

Are you interested in watching ice cut the old-fashioned way for our ice house? Horses, saws and a pond? email us at maplevalleyoffgridfarm@gmail.com and let us know so we can contact you to witness this lifetime treasure of an event. This event will happen anytime from about January 6ish - the end of January 2010. We will do our best to contact you as quickly as we know when the event will take place, but this is weather permitting and could be just a day or two notice. We would love to see you. Only $3- a person~! 616 566 8481 check our archives in January 2009 to see last years ice days! Lots of fun! ***absolutely no pictures can be taken at this event and we thank you for respecting our wishes!

a new Valentine tradition at Maple Valley Farms

Join us for an off-grid, so that means oil lamps, Valentine Supper here at the farm with a sleigh ride. What a fun and romantic evening for your group of friends to have a private Valentine Supper at Maple Valley Farm by the wood stoves! Only $75- per couple. This includes your supper and a sleigh ride! We can accomodate your group of 10-12. This will be a memorable evening. Sign up soon to get your entire group in for a private dinner, or sign up as a couple! This is an all-you-can eat night of tons of homemade food and goodies from the farm, you won't be dissappointed!

Friday February 12, 2010 7 pm - 10 pm

Saturday February 13, 2010 7 pm - 10 pm

in the farm dining room

waiting for guests from southern Ohio

homemade apple dumplins made by our dear daugther with local apples of course a hot tea, coffee and cocoa caddy with local apples for the arrival

getting supper ready

the Sellers' Estate all ready to go!

When do you want to come and visit? The cottage is available in JANUARY and thats next week! Hope to see you!

off-grid wood haulin'

Horses make wood gathering just a little more interesting and FUN! We now have 4 woodstoves to man betwix the cottage and the farm house! Wood is a daily activity for us... It is the best heat around and I should mention its free when you cut your own and your woodstoves are free-standing... Horses are not free to feed unless you grow and cut your own hay though, I am glad we can do this because these big guys can really EAT!

One of the biggest blessings in our life this year...  A true Cowboy (left)with a wonderful blessing of a dear wife and 3 blessings.  We have cherished our time together, a like minded family and true friends...

God is doing mighty things with these two men of GOD!  To Him be the glory...

a surprise Christmas gift not under the tree...

Get the laundry on the line, bake some cookies and thats the holiday stress here... The holiday stress vanishes when you start on the path to becoming a conserver rather than a consumer. It wasn't always this way. We are glad to be heading in the right direction!"   ~HomemakerAng 2009

We did a lot of things different this year for Christmas:

buy new presents because you feel obligated  we made ONE stop to a cool local thrift store
piano recitals there is nothing wrong with this, we just opted out
church Christmas program  there is nothing wrong with this, we just opted out
last minute shopping nope
wise choices how to spend our time and where we would or would not go
visited a shopping plaza to buy something for gifts nope
went to WALMART this was a no brainer NOT to go
bought one thing on ebay and had it shipped here, it was slightly used (nothing wrong with new things)

We are learning as we go to be a conserver rather than a consumer and I was surprised that I did not have any stress for the Christmas season.  Just another added benefit I suppose of being a conserver... 

What blessings have you and yours received in your life from being a conserver rather than a consumer?  I would love to hear about them as we continue on our journey of conserving.


By the way, here is a close up of Bill

Go take a look at a fabulous Christmas offering here at Maple Valley Farms!

a Maple Valley Christmas...

a white spruce tree from the local Christmas Tree Farm, Goetsch Tree Farm-Coral, Michigan a little helper to decorate...
this morning's breakfast (steel cut oats and kefir, oh yes, raspberry preserves too)

the snowman collection stays out all winter...

no lights on the off-grid tree

Cookie baking today, large dinner served to 6 workers too! Come for dinner!

we are workin' hard!

Maple Cottage updates!!!

another reason...

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life,

to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean,

why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience ... ~Thoreau

"Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. 9Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing". I Peter 3:8-9

An announcement!

We are very excited to be asked to participate in this new venture. Our farm is becoming a partner with a new farm website found at www.michiganfamilyfarms.com. This site will serve as a gathering place for farms, families and foodies. With the goal of helping farms promote their special products and helping consumers find them, we have great hopes that this will become a wonderful statewide source of information. Please check out the site, sign up for the newsletters that start this spring and join the movement to bring farm goodness to each family. Someday "Michigan Family Farms.com" will be a household name, and just remember you heard it hear first! :)

Oh and take an extra loooooong look at this part of the site :)

~Ang

look, look!

If you liked the bob sled ride below, you will love to check out this big surprise here at

Maple Valley off-grid Farm!

dashing through the snow today... listen to the bells

Dashing through the snow in a TWO horse open sleigh! We hooked up Jim and Bill today to see how they would pull our boblsed. It went very well! Come take a bob sled ride here at Maple Valley Farm and then come inside to warm by the fire with cookies and hot cocoa... 616 566 8481

see the difference

How can you tell if those "FREE RANGED" eggs you are buying really are pastured and free range? True free range eggs have an orangey golden yoke (left). Store bought eggs are more of a yellow transparent yolk (right) see for yourself and taste the difference. Our eggs are also fertile, free range and pastured :)

right egg store bought, left egg our egg

Do some research on free range eggs and cholesterol once :) and insert feed back here

the arrival of Bill at the farm

Bill arrived at the farm on a dark and snowy evening. Its a miracle he fit in this small trailer... Bill is very tall!, Taller than Jim. He is nervous about his new surroundings and this entrance to the barn is to short for him, but he ducked to get in...
The animals are still mourning the loss of dear Pearl and comforting one another. They are getting used to the idea of Bill...

The way I see it

It might be possible that when you arrive here on the farm you may be like, “what is this lady writing about this picturesque farm?” “her writing must be smoke and mirrors” or “she takes pretty good pictures” … It could be one of these…

But the way I see it, I see hope and a future. I am truly in love with this work of “art”, this farm. When I rise I am excited of the possibilities in a day and what it can bring here. I love a project. It would be boring for me if everything is done. Some see it as a lot of work, I see it as a lot of life yet to be lived, or a blank canvas waiting to be painted.

What you see here is my heart. When I take a picture of our farm, this is what I see. I see hope, I see a legacy, I see peace. I even see GOD!

There are many unlovely photos I could take, but I just don’t see them. I believe life can be what we choose it to be or what we focus on. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder is such a true statement.

Some ask us in a sarcasm or mean tone, “so, are you going to move again”? We have moved more than some, but for us, life is not meant to be lived in one spot. How boring that would be! Alas, to think in the 100 years of our life that for 1 year we lived as we just did…. We wouldn’t trade it for anything.

The palace was an absolute work of art, BEAUTY and more. But it was finished. Our time there was done as the project was completed…

I thank my Lord for new horizons, as this humble farm home, HE is new every morning! With all of the challenges we wouldn’t want to be anywhere else at this point.

one of our very best friends...

For those of you who have been keeping up on FB, you know the status on Pearl since last Thursday has spiraled downward. Pearl's condition was verified yesterday by a blood test that she had 100% renal (kidney) failure with the liver well on its way. We had to make a very tough decision last evening. We even called MSU to enroll her in an experimental program and they were not accepting cases as these. We did not want her to suffer any longer as there was nothing more we could do.

Life is full of disappointments... I believe this is a safe way children can experience these trials, here on the farm, here with dad and mom, here with the family. We are in this life together... I hope that it will help them to deal better with life's bigger challenges that will come along. Of course, we never wanted this to happen at all. We are trying to find some good in this sadness...

Pearl will be sadly missed... She taught us so much, and to this we are ever grateful. She "took us on" as her students as we learned from her this past year. In all of our many new challenges with our lifestyle changes, Pearl (and Jim) made driving horses a breeze and made us look as if we had been doing it for years.

it is an official GLIZZARD HERE

play, making candy and studying Mt St. Helens... Oh yes, snowfort play time coming up after a dinner (the noon meal) of beef and candied yams!

green eggs and ham today

This last few days, even the past week have been precious here on the farm. So many days full of much love and care from dear friends and our Heavenly Father. He always knows when to step in and care for us does He not? I believe He prompts others to reach out and we are thankful for their faith to step out. To the ones who know this is you we are speaking of: “Thank you” does not seem enough… The friendship we have is the richest part about this gift to us you have given. We are touched and humbled by your goodness but your encouragement and faith in our Lord, that we share as well, strengthen us in more ways than you will ever know… Now the distance part, yes, we need to work on this! How exciting to think of what He has planned for us!
Today more blessings have come our way. A dear friend from another community called to deliver one of his best friends for us to use throughout dear Pearl’s recovery (Lord willing we are hoping for the best although it seems worse). Meet Bess, Jim’s interim team mate… A Percheron mare, 8 years old. She is gentle and friendly but not afraid of hard work. We are being cautious of our new friend on the farm but our guts tell us she is safe and sound.

Bess and Jim pulled our little bob sled (a new arrival on the farm) just fine! We will be attaching some benches to the top when time allows. This will be our first choice of transportation fairly quickly to get around the community. It should be fun. To think we can still live a life like this in a day and age like this to me is exhilarating. The neatest part? When you pass another along the road traveling just like you with children in tow like its normal…

We butchered a hog this morn after a breakfast of green eggs (see photo below). I am pretty tough on the farm until it comes to pig guts. Let’s just get it out in the open OK? I uncontrollably get the driest of heaves and it is quite embarrassing as most find it so funny. It is all I can do to keep my stomach down… We sent the piggy on its way to have it smoked in our friends smoke house. Can’t wait to taste it! We had a dinner at noon together, all of the butchers from the smallest to the oldest, with fried “sweet meat” from the pig and the liver… Notice we does not necessarily mean ME ok! UCK! The children learned so much today! They butchered a hog, just to think, what a real and true education for life and more. Their teacher learned a lot as well

off grid laundry? How do you like your off-grid laundry? freeze dried or regular?

today its freeze dried ... a few days ago it was regular ...start the honda engine to agitate the wash on the OUTSIDE of the house first

hot water wash for whites, see kettle in the background heating up more and more (great for evening baths) and I should add a very welcome addition from last winter. No more freezing cold hands!

the old kettle put to great use

start your 3rd fire for the day

become a friend of Facebook of Maple Valley off-grid Farm (right sidebar) and see more updates about the farm :)

Also, more items in the Mercantile, check them out!

update on Pearl: We are calling in the vet. We are now thinking it is a tooth problem? WHO KNOWS! Long days and nights right now. xoxox~Until tomorrow, Lord willing, (some famous words spoken whom I know) ~HomemakerAng

What does an off-gird farm library look like?

Click to enlarge photos of just a shelf of our off-gridy, sustainable, earthy type farm books. MANY are scattered through the home for reading etc. Here is my helper librarian. There are 5 shelves on the "other sides" that you cannot see in this photo. We had these shelves put in right when we moved in last fall. Books are very important to us. You would never want to deal with me at a Library Book Sale :) I am so excited and leave with quite a bit!

In the process of organizing our library. we have 100's of books! We still are settling in here even after a year.

one of our best friends

what started off as a good day, our son sowing oats in the fields with the team, went south suddenly. We are still hoping for the best, please pray that this all works out! We were doing our school when suddenly Pearl, one of our prized belgian horses runs out of the barn (she broke free from her harnesses) and collapses as she was shot or something. We all ran out, she lay what seemed to be unconscious not to be moved or anything for a few minutes. I frantically started making phone calls, the G Man is away at a Defending Ag. Conference and finally our friends from the community came down with some meds and more. We have her up, she seems ok, not great but ok. Looks to be colic... She must recover! We are hoping for good things as we cannot afford this loss in more ways than one.

a winter offering from Maple Valley off-grid Mercantile

Enjoy this beautiful Michigan centerpiece for your very own table. We will ship you what is shown and you can arrange it as you will in your very own abode. A wonderful winter offering from Maple Valley off-grid Farm. For more information, you may go here