Personal

i want to begin by sharing our deepest gratitude to all of you for your encouragement & support of our online general store, freckled hen farmhouse. it’s been an absolute gift to share this project with you & one that i feel i have been preparing for my entire life. goodness, we are just so grateful for you & we cannot even begin to say thank you enough for an amazing first week!

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dear friends, i want to talk about fear.

i am no stranger to fear. as a creative entrepreneur, i balance fear & faith daily. 

fear of failure. fear of messing up. fear of the unknown. fear of no retirement. fear of not being current enough. fear of being inauthentic. fear of being too authentic.

i juggle these fears with my truths, some days putting my faith into action & on the uglier days, allowing my anxieties to dictate the day. 

i believe we all struggle with our own unique fears, anxieties & doubts. we believe we aren’t good enough spouses, parents, entrepreneurs, friends, humans. we place more value on our shortcomings than our successes. we shrug off the light & focus in on the darkness. 

and although i firmly believe fear can cripple just about anyone, i do believe it can have a way of propelling us forward. 

last year, with the future of luke’s job unstable & the rockiness of potentially depending on just one (self-employed) income to support our family, the fear began to set in. instead of allowing our anxieties to control our future, together we began dreaming up just what we always knew we were made to do. 

dear friends, no part of that season was easy. we took on a huge financial risk & chose to fully invest in freckled hen farmhouse during one of the most difficult parts of our story. i’m quite certain luke was on the verge of divorcing me if he heard “i am so scared!” one more time. only kidding. but honestly, that fear pushed us to connect more deeply with one another & dig deeper into the next chapter.

truth be told, not all fear has such a picture-perfect ending & oftentimes our anxieties are not even based in reality, but i think it points to a bigger picture. it proves that we have this really amazing ability to triumph in hardship, make lemonade out of lemons & conquer even our biggest fears.

yes, we will fail. yes, we may lose money. yes, we might just lack security & yes, we won’t always be that perfect parent. but we will grow stronger, believe in ourself even more, gain humility & possibly set trail on a brand new – & oftentimes even better – path.

dear friends, don’t let your fears convince you that playing it safe is better than risking it all for a more joy-filled life. 

tell me your thoughts on fear. let’s chat.

hello, sweet friends! 

if you haven’t yet noticed, my blog was freshened up just a bit! big hugs to heather of life made lovely for making her magic happen in this space. 

with the launch of freckled hen farmhouse, i wanted a new blog design that spoke to my individual passions & complimented our online general store. i think it’s perfect & i hope you love it, too.

i’ve always viewed my blog as a launch pad for all of our business & personal endeavors. my blog has walked us through dating, marriage, graduating college, uprooting from our community, the purchase of our farm & first home, loss of family members, growth of two businesses & so much more. this space will continue to do just that as we grow & change in our roles as individuals, partners & more.

i am forever grateful for this online journal of our life. i will continue to share snippets of our story & highlights of our general store, garden, farm life, home & more. i hope you’ll stick around as we continue to create a good life.

as for changes, there are just a few:

+ you may visit www.nataliecreates.com to visit our shop, our farm & my blog all on one simple page.

+ i have closed my etsy shop & will move our hand-sewn pieces to freckled hen farmhouse. we will continue to offer happy flags & headbands perfect for the farmhouse & farm girl. we hope you love our new designs! 

+ i plan to highlight freckled hen farmhouse from time-to-time with guest posts by luke & products that we use within our own home. we hope it’s informative & an enjoyable addition to this space!

thank you all so much! xo.

love,

natalie

this weekend was spent at home doing what we do best – a balance of work & play. 

i thought it might be fun to snap a handful of shots throughout our weekend & share them with you.

breadmaking & homemade pizzas, early morning walks, weekend naps & muffins for our people. birthday celebrations, matinee play at the local theater, a double date & fresh new kitchen tile.

jadeite, warm mugs of coffee, taxes, braids & late night cuddles with a movie.

wishing you the very best week!

share your weekend with us! i’d love to read. 

love,

natalie