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About Our Family
Family photo 2020
We are passionate about intentional living and wellness. Our family values include holistic wellness, nonviolent communication, self-directed education and gentle parenting. We strive to implement permaculture principles in all areas of our lifestyle.
We Love Thyme
Thyme and rustic scissors
We love thyme. With seemingly endless varieties of this aromatic, delicious, medicinal, flowering evergreen ground cover we thought it was a perfect namesake for our farm. We especially loved creating a play on words that reflects our values of hope, regeneration and abundance.
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. -Lao Tzu

Our Heritage & Rare Breed Poultry

Ameraucana ~ Bresse ~ Cream Legbar ~ French Black Copper Marans ~ Lavender Orpington ~ Silkie ~ Silverudd’s Blue Isbar

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  • Silkie Hatching Eggs (White)
    Rated 5 out of 5
    by Genevieve Robson
  • Silkie Hatching Eggs
    Rated 5 out of 5
    by auberryallison
  • Lavender Orpington Hatching Eggs
    Rated 5 out of 5
    by A Lauren Trapp
  • Silkie Hatching Eggs
    Rated 5 out of 5
    by A Lauren Trapp
  • Lavender Orpington Hatching Eggs
    Rated 5 out of 5
    by Shawn & Chellie
  • Lavender Orpington Hatching Eggs
    Rated 5 out of 5
    by Michaela H.
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Located in Shepherdstown, WV

Phone: (240) 805-3618

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Hours: by appointment only

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Sarah | Better with Thyme
The clue for day three of the #homesteadscavengerh The clue for day three of the #homesteadscavengerhunt is homestead creativity. The creative outlet that I geek out on the most is observing the natural environment around us and finding ways to connect what is available on our land to our needs. It’s something I picked up from studying permaculture design and it has helped guide everything we do on our homestead/farm. For example we have a wild, overgrown hedgerow, filled with crowded and dying trees, thorny brambles and more. It was hard to even walk through when we moved here. Right now we’re partnering with our pigs to make the hedgerow accessible while also getting multiple uses from the area. The pigs forage for food and have access to shade. We gather downed wood for fires and building hugelkulture garden areas. The kids climb and play on the trees and gather berries in the summer. As time goes on we will be able to use the area for our larger livestock to graze and have access to shade in the heat of summer. We will also be able to grow woodland edibles such as mushrooms and fiddlehead ferns. I really love the creative outlet of connecting all these different elements and developing the long term evolution of this site! Please share your homestead creativity today, use the hashtag #homesteadscavengerhunt and follow and tag the hosts: @sprautsonsprouts @theappalachianhomestead @highway.homestead @betterwiththyme @bluegrass_in_a_jar @hopeful_haven_farm
The clue for day two of the #homesteadscavengerhun The clue for day two of the #homesteadscavengerhunt is homestead heirlooms. I hope that we are creating a life of future homestead heirlooms. We carefully planned the design of our home, and included locally sourced materials, including all our cabinets that were hand crafted by my very talented cousin @grayfoxdesignworks. I think they will last as long as our house, and I hope the house never needs to be remodeled. We also love our soap stone counters from the quarry in Virginia. #betterwiththymefarmhouse We’re also adding animals and plants to the property that contribute to biodiversity and long term abundance. We’re cooking all our meals from scratch and with food grown on site as much as we can (and hopefully more from on site each year). I hope my recipes are saved and passed down, like the broth we love to drink (in the photo). I spent years perfecting my broth technique after learning from people I met through the Weston A. Price foundation and I am proud that our children love to drink it so much that it never stays in the fridge long and I am constantly making more. ☺️ I think the best heirloom we’ll have to pass down is this life full of connection to nature, real food and well being. 🙏 If you have a #homesteadheirloom to share today, use the hashtag #homesteadscavengerhunt and follow and tag the hosts: @sprautsonsprouts @theappalachianhomestead @highway.homestead @betterwiththyme @bluegrass_in_a_jar @hopeful_haven_farm
I had a different post planned for the first day o I had a different post planned for the first day of the #homesteadscavengerhunt but if you watch my stories you know we got an unexpected message this morning that changed our day a bit! So I’m sharing our little cow herd for our Homestead Work in Progress. Swipe through to see what the girls are all worked up about and I’ll share more details soon. If you haven’t shared your homestead work in progress yet, jump on it before 9pm EST or tune in to @sprautsonsprouts live at 10am EST tomorrow for the next clue. Daily prizes all week and a grand prize at the end! Make sure to use the hashtag #homesteadscavengerhunt and tag all the hosts: @sprautsonsprouts @theappalachianhomestead @highway.homestead @betterwiththyme @bluegrass_in_a_jar @hopeful_haven_farm
When we decided to start a farm, we decided right When we decided to start a farm, we decided right away that we would not require our children to do farm work. Our goal is to model joyfully doing our work and allowing the children to join in when they choose. There have been times that we’ve asked for specific help, but they are allowed to say no. We decided to do this because we want them to have a childhood focused on playing, exploring and finding their own interests; not negative feelings of forced farm work. While we have been confident in this decision (and most of our parenting decisions) there is one thing we had been unsure of when, what and how we would teach our kids about: money. We’ve made some recent discoveries I’d like to share. Little Peter reached an age that he has been able to physically contribute more to working and also has more understanding of the concept of money as a means of trade. When he asked for a Lego set that was over $200 we came up with a plan together. We were inspired by @rebekah.rhodes and @thejustinrhodesshow when their oldest child started earning money working with his dad (I think he was the same age then that Peter is now.) Our plan was that each day Peter would help with taking care of moving, feeding and watering the animals and bringing in firewood. In exchange we would give him up to $7 per day. He could choose how often and how much to work. When he earned half of the cost of the Lego set, we would pay the other half. During the month of December he earned enough to get the Legos and since then he has continued with his favorite tasks, especially pitch-forking cow manure out of the cows’ winter paddock to a compost pile. He loves to help our cows stay clean so this work feels important to him. Here are a few of lessons I hope he learned from this: 1. Do what you love and the money will follow 2. Align yourself with supportive people who will help you meet your goals 3. Sometimes work is satisfying on its own and we don’t need financial compensation Have you started to teach your kids about money yet?
Since the upcoming #homesteadscavengerhunt was ann Since the upcoming #homesteadscavengerhunt was announced there are a lot of new friends here, so I thought a #fridayintroduction was in order! Here’s a little of what I’m about and what I’m here for: A little over 10 years ago, my husband and I discovered holistic living and benefitted so much from bringing in aspects of an ancestral inspired lifestyle (nutritious food, movement, connection to nature, etc) and taking out harmful aspects of modern life (toxic household and personal care products, stress from unnatural work schedules, artificial lighting and more). Just as we were getting started, we realized that our first baby had food allergies. It took us months to figure out how to feed ourselves without him getting sick and we became interested in growing our own food. One of our successes is that his horrible reactions to eggs disappeared when he started eating eggs from our flock, who don’t eat corn or soy and do eat a variety of kitchen scraps, bugs, etc. Then in the last 5 years we realized that we wanted to live free. We found ourselves in the spotlight in our urban neighborhood for our choices of wanting to let our child play outdoors most of the day and growing food on our little piece of land, especially when we added three backyard hens. We decided to uproot and find a place where we could live our ideal lifestyle. We’ve been on our farm for four years now, and we raise a variety of animals and are always adding more plants (especially perennial edibles). All of our animals eat a species appropriate diet and are not (knowingly) exposed to any toxins. Last year we started purchasing many of our nontoxic products and essential oils from Young Living, and we are working toward financial freedom by participating in Young Living’s generous compensation plan for brand partners. I’m here to share everything we’ve learned so that anyone else who is interested can benefit from our experiences. I love to connect with new friends and help them find their next step toward a more holistic life and all of its benefits. And I am all ears for any info, tips, advice etc that you have for me! If you missed the scavenger hunt info, check out my last post.
Homestead Scavenger Hunt How does it work? - Each Homestead Scavenger Hunt How does it work? - Each morning the hosts will post something to find on your homestead around 9am CST - You have until 8pm CST to submit your finds!!! - Make a post, reel, video, or story showing us what you found! - Tag all hosts and #homesteadscavengerhunt for your entry to count towards our prizes. We are PROUDLY sponsored by: @GoldenStagGloves Gloves that work as hard as you do! And @Grubblyfarms for all your chicken feed and treats! DAILY PRIZES: (Winners will be drawn daily and announce each morning!) - 8 Different Varieties of Heirloom Seeds from both the Appalachian Homestead and the Spraustead - Dehydrated Sourdough Starter from both the Spraustead and the Appalachian Homestead - Organic Swanky Chicken Rub from the Highway Homestead - GRAND PRIZE: - 2 Pairs of Golden Stag Garden Gloves - 5lb Bag of Chicken Treats from Grubbly Farms - 15 Different Varieties of Heirloom Seeds from both The Appalachian Homestead and The Spraustead - Dehydrated Sourdough Starter from both the Spraustead and the Appalachian Homestead - Goats Milk Caramels and Elderberry Syrup from the Highway Homestead - Bottle of Young Living Thieves Cleaner from Better with Thyme - Homemade Soap Assortment, Jewel Weed Salve, Plantain Salve, and Herbal Lip Balms from Bluegrass in a Jar - Hopeful Haven Farmhouse Photography Print Head over to the main post on @sprautsonsprouts to enter now!
Something I learned in 2020 is that abundance is a Something I learned in 2020 is that abundance is a mindset not a destination. Ever since I started studying permaculture I’ve been attracted to the word abundance, but I was looking at it as a goal to achieve. While I do still whole heartedly believe that we can achieve more abundance with time (this is part of what went into our name - Better with Thyme) I also now fully see that abundance is all around us, in our hearts and minds. Abundance is ours to embrace and share by making friends and building each other up. When we open our hearts and minds fully to the energy around us, the physical abundance begins to manifest before our eyes more quickly than we could have imagined. What do you think, have I lost it or are we on the same frequency with this? PS Rather than criticizing ourselves for not getting a holiday family photo, I’m embracing that we’ve switched to taking our annual family photo every January 1st and we’re done for the year. Any more family photos this year will be a bonus. How’s that for abundance mindset?
Last week we picked up a side of beef! Here’s a Last week we picked up a side of beef! Here’s a bit about what that means, why we do it and how we use it. Buying side of beef means that you’re getting all the meat from half of a cow. We buy this for several reasons. The most important for us is knowing that we’re getting meat from an animal that was raised well, grazing pastures that did not have any chemicals applied to them and finished on grass as well. Some meat that is labeled grass fed is still corn finished which alters the omega-6/omega-3 ratios (look it up if you haven’t heard of this!). It’s not easy for us to find quality meat locally and buying it piecemeal can be quite expensive. We also like to keep our freezers full to be prepared. The last time we filled our freezer we still had plenty of meat when the pandemic situation led to meat not being in stores. Ordering We found our farmer through our local chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation. When we moved from New York we realized we were moving closer and now we meet in Pennsylvania. Another option for finding a farmer is farmmatch.com. When we’re ready to stock up we contact the farmer and let him know, then we coordinate a date. Butcher The price of the meat is based on the hanging weight. We call the butcher and they review the options for cuts. We chose to maximize variety and we like to include the organs and bones. Even if you have not used these things in the past you’re paying for them in the hanging weight so you might as well try them! Packing We found that you can cram it all into a 5 ft.³ freezer but we like to split it up so that we utilize all the different cuts equally. So for example I set out eight bags, got out all the ground beef and then split it up evenly between the bags. Cooking We bring one bag worth of meat at a time from our garage freezer to our kitchen freezer. I have a weekly plan to make sure that we rotate through everything, for eg slow cooked (roast) one night of the week, steak another, ground beef another etc. For each type of meat I have a handful of go to recipes or techniques. Then we repeat until it’s time to bring in the next bag.
It’s almost 2021 and I’m sharing Mulberry for It’s almost 2021 and I’m sharing Mulberry for #joyfulhomesteads day 30 “highlight of 2020” and day 31 “make a wish.” Adding Mulberry to our farm was definitely a highlight of the year. Having our own grass-fed milk has felt like a huge step in food security and self-sufficiency. And it has been truly wonderful seeing Moonbeam have her sister here so she can get to do all the things cows like to do together. I love watching them move in tandem grazing and spend time grooming each other. A wish I have is for both of our cows to get pregnant and have calves next year. Hopefully that will happen very soon! I also included my most liked posts of the year. I think you might love our dogs almost as much as we do! 😉😘 The likes are also heavily weighted to before the algorithm changed and not all my followers even see my posts anymore. 😢 I wonder when photos get a lot of likes but not comments what you are thinking and so I also checked out the most commented on photos. The first by far was my post about how essential oils helped transform our emotional experience after being verbally attacked by extended family members. I think we all have our own traumas and hurts and this was relatable to many of you. I wish peace for all of you in this. So if you’re still reading, tell me what you’d like to see more of on this account in the new year?
This morning while I was making breakfast, Little This morning while I was making breakfast, Little Peter looked out of the window and said one of my least favorite things to hear. “The cows are out!” The reason it’s one of my least favorite things to hear is because we have a lot of very young trees that are quickly destroyed by their munching. Yes, cows mostly eat grass but they eat many other plants and even browse trees a little bit. Thankfully both of our girls are easily walked back in to where we want them to be when we put a lead on them. Check out my stories to see if you can guess which animal of ours is the hardest to get back in!
When we first bought this property, I imagined thi When we first bought this property, I imagined this little hill would be a good place for an orchard. As I’ve continued to study permaculture and observe the land, I’ve been leaning more and more toward this being the best place for a little barn. Nutrients flow downhill (thanks Ben Falk for that epiphany), the area is easily observed from the kitchen window and the area gets the most sun in the winter (the recent snow melted here before anywhere else). I hope a barn is in our future. I envision it as a place to store hay, keep new mamas and their babies separated if needed and it sure would make it easier to care for the animals when we have snowstorms and very cold weather!
✨ Birthday Giveaway ✨ I usually buy a little ✨ Birthday Giveaway ✨ I usually buy a little something for myself that brings me joy on my birthday but this year I’ve been so focused on giving (and decluttering!) that the thought slipped my mind. Instead, I would like to continue the giving spirit by giving gifts away for my birthday. I have three roller bottles that I’d like to share with people who haven’t experienced the magic of Young Living essential oils yet. I’ll send one bottle each to three winners, and you can pick your blend: 😴 Relaxing sleep support 💪 Immune boosting support 😊 Glowing skin support 😁 Happy mood support Whichever option you choose I will include skin-safe/diluted oils so all you need to do is roll on and enjoy - no instructions to figure out. To enter: follow me, like this post, and comment/tag a friend who needs oils in their life. Three bonus entries of you share this post, but make sure to tag me so I see it. Giveaway closes December 24 at 8pm eastern. Winners announced in stories on Christmas morning! This giveaway is not affiliated with Instagram or anyone else. US residents 16 and older please.
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