HELLO, I’M TALLIA!
Welcome to Little House on Laurel, a place where I share simple, inspiring ideas on homesteading basics, farm fresh recipes, and natural living.
Our family of five moved into our farmhouse one year ago. Before that, we spent two years in an apartment as we sold our previous home, bought land, and owner-built the little house of our dreams on 1.25 acres.
I have been married to my incredibly kind, hardworking and handsome husband, Mike, for 21 years! We were married when we were just babies (I was 20, he was 21) and we had our first child two years later.
We now have three teenagers in our home. Our daughter graduated last year, and our second will graduate a year later. Time goes far too quickly, and I’m trying my best to cherish these moments when we all live together under the same roof. I’m not going to lie though…some days are really rough!
ABOUT ME
I grew up right here in Eastern Washington, surrounded by orchards, vineyards, and sagebrush. My parents bought a home with 2 1/2 acres when I was six years old. We had lots of dogs, cats, horses, and a huge garden. Later, my dad added chickens to the mix as well. I learned to work hard, especially in the garden. There were endless rows that needed weeding on hot summer mornings. We ate a ton of fresh produce from our garden in the form of salads, stirfrys, and side dishes. I have been a veggie lover ever since!
I have been raising my own garden since Mike & I bought our first home in 2004. Some of my very favorite things to grow are berries (blueberries, raspberries & strawberries), melons, tomatoes and basil. Basically everything you grow in your garden tastes better than what you buy from the grocery store, but I think the favorites I’ve listed above are SO MUCH better homegrown.
My family wasn’t a typical meat-and-potatoes family. We usually ate all those veggies we grew paired with some sort of starch like pasta or rice. Once in awhile, we would have fish, steak, or chicken, but I was never a big fan of meat. Recently, I experienced a paradigm shift that completely changed the way I planned and cooked meals. I began incorporating grass fed, grass finished beef and pork and free range chicken into our regular meal rotations. Read here about our journey to eating more healthy, all-natural foods and how you can learn the art of farm to table meal planning.
I love learning each day how to be more self-reliant. I will share everything I know with you so that you can become more self-reliant whatever your situation may be. You don’t have to live on lots of land to grow food, save food, and cook food!