A Simple Life Homestead Bakery

06/20/2026

One week from today, something truly special is happening here on the homestead.

We are gathering for a Beanhole Bean experience, and if you have never heard of bean hole beans, let us tell you, you are in for something special.

This is not a class. This is not a lecture. This is a day spent the way days used to be spent. Outside, around a fire, doing something real with your hands alongside good people.

Bean hole beans are a tradition that go back hundreds of years. A pot of beans, slow cooked underground in a fire pit for hours, the way generations of families before us cooked them. The kind of food that tastes like history and smells like everything right in the world.

You will be part of the whole experience from fire to table, including making the beans, roasting hotdogs, and we'll even roast a few s'mores!

📅 Saturday, June 27th
⏰ 10am – 4pm
💵 $75 per person

There are still a few spots remaining. This is the kind of day you will talk about for a long time. Come spend it with us.

All the details are on our website. We hope to see you next Saturday.
https://asimplelifehomestead.com/products/bean-hole-bean-gathering-digging-into-tradition

Julie + Joe
A Simple Life Homestead

This is a true Maine tradition and a rare opportunity to learn it firsthand the way Joe learned it from his dad when he was just a young boy. Together we'll dig the beanhole, build the fire, and prepare the beans before burying them in the earth to slow cook the old-fashioned way. While the fire bur...

06/19/2026

Friends, the roadside pantry is open ALL DAY today and tomorrow!

Come and get your bread for the week. Fresh baked, made from scratch, the way it ought to be. We also have cookies, and a few other good things waiting for you.

📅 Open all day Friday, June 19th
📅 Open all day Saturday, June 20th

Come see us! We will be here. 👩‍🍳

Julie + Joe
A Simple Life Homestead

06/18/2026

What is your favorite summer refresher? ☀️

Around here, it is water kefir and we cannot imagine a summer without it.

If you have never heard of water kefir, it is a naturally fermented, lightly fizzy drink made with water kefir grains, sugar, and water. The grains, which are not grains at all, but a colony of beneficial bacteria and yeasts, eat the sugar during fermentation and leave behind a drink that is bubbly, refreshing, and absolutely full of good things for your gut.

A few reasons we love it:

🌿 Rich in beneficial probiotics that support digestion and gut health
🌿 Naturally low in sugar after fermentation, the grains consume most of it
🌿 Dairy free and gentle enough for most people
🌿 You can flavor it with fruit, ginger, lemon, herbs, endless possibilities
🌿 Once you have the grains, it costs almost nothing to make and the grains last indefinitely with proper care, and they grow!!

It is one of those old fermented traditions that has been around for well over a hundred years, and once you start making it, you wonder how you ever went without it. A cold glass on a hot summer afternoon is one of the simple pleasures of homestead life.

We are curious? Would any of you be interested in learning how to make water kefir? We are thinking it might make a wonderful addition to our gathering season here on the homestead. Drop a 🙋 in the comments if that sounds like something you would love!

And tell us! What is YOUR favorite summer drink? We would love to know! 👇

Julie + Joe
A Simple Life Homestead

06/17/2026

Back in the day... 🕰️

Most farmhouses had a summer kitchen.

It was a separate room, sometimes a separate building entirely, built just off the back of the house where all the hot, heavy work of summer could happen without turning the main living space into an oven. Canning, baking, preserving, rendering, washing, all of it moved to the summer kitchen when the warm months came.

But not every summer kitchen was out back. In some homes, especially those built into hillsides or banks, the summer kitchen lived below on the ground level of the basement, accessible right from outside through its own door. Cool from the earth, a massive hearth that shared its chimney with the kitchen above, and a workspace that stayed naturally cool even on the hottest July days. Practical wisdom built right into the very bones of the house.

We had the privilege of stepping into one such kitchen at Kings Landing in Fredericton, New Brunswick. A beautiful living history site that preserves homes and ways of life from the 1700s and 1800s. Walking into that lower kitchen, with its stone fireplace reaching up through the floor above and its door opening right out to the hillside, was like stepping directly into another century. You could almost smell the preserves simmering.

It was practical wisdom, plain and simple. The women who kept those homes understood that a kitchen running a canning operation in July could raise the temperature of a house by ten degrees or more, and with no air conditioning and children all underfoot, that mattered.

The summer kitchen was also a gathering place. Neighbors came to help with big preserving days. A dozen women around the table snapping beans or peeling peaches, children running in and out, jars lined up on every surface. It was hard work, but it was shared work, and there was joy in it.

Most summer kitchens are gone now. Converted into mudrooms, torn down, or simply forgotten. But the spirit of them, the idea that the work of feeding your family through the winter is worth every drop of summer sweat. That spirit is worth keeping alive.

We feel it every time we fire up a canning pot. 🫙

Julie + Joe
A Simple Life Homestead

06/16/2026

Tuesday Tip of the Week! ☀️

Did you know that hanging your white laundry out on the line on a sunny day is one of the most effective and completely natural ways to brighten and whiten your whites?

The sun is a gentle bleaching agent. UV rays break down the compounds that cause yellowing and dinginess in white fabric, leaving your linens bright, fresh, and chemical free. No bleach. No additives. No harsh smells. Just sunlight and fresh air doing exactly what they have always done.

This is not a new discovery. Our grandmothers and great-grandmothers knew it well. White sheets and pillowcases hung on the line on a bright summer morning would come in smelling like sunshine and looking like new. It was simply the way things were done.

A few tips for best results:
🌞 Hang whites while still damp from the wash
🌞 Full sun works best. The stronger the better
🌞 A few hours is usually all it takes

Simple, free, and as old as laundry itself. The old ways really do know best.

Julie + Joe
A Simple Life Homestead

06/15/2026

Extra Leeks Looking for a Good Home!

Our seeds have blessed us with more leeks than we can use right now, and we'd love to share them with a neighbor or two who might put them to good work!

If you've never cooked with leeks before, they are one of those quiet, humble vegetables that deserve so much more attention than they get. Think of them as a sweeter, more gentle cousin to the onion. No sharp bite, no tears — just a soft, savory flavor that melts beautifully into just about anything.

Here's a little of what you can do with them:

🍲 Soups & Chowders — Leeks are the backbone of classic potato leek soup, and they're wonderful stirred into a creamy chowder. They cook down silky and sweet.
🍳 Sautéed as a Side — Slice them thin, cook them low and slow in a little butter, and you have one of the simplest, most satisfying side dishes you'll ever make.
🥧 Savory Tarts & Quiches — Leeks and eggs are a natural pair. They add depth to any egg dish without overpowering it.
🍗 Braised with Chicken or Pork — Tuck them around a roast and let them soak up all the pan drippings. You won't regret it.
And beyond the kitchen — leeks are genuinely good for you. They're rich in vitamin K, vitamin C, and folate, and they contain many of the same beneficial compounds found in garlic and onions that support heart health and digestion.

If you'd like some, drop us a comment or send a message.

06/15/2026

It is a rainy Monday here on the homestead this morning. 🌧️

The kind of day where the garden drinks deeply and the kitchen smells like something warm. We are not ones to let a little rain stop us. There is always something that can be done, and the garden is calling regardless of what the clouds have to say about it.

There is something quietly beautiful about a rainy day on the land. The world slows down. The air smells like earth and green things. And somehow the work feels more peaceful for it.

We hope wherever you are this Monday morning, you find a little bit of that same peace. 🌿

Julie + Joe
A Simple Life Homestead

06/14/2026

✝ "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." — John 15:5

Standing in the garden this week, watching things grow and stretch toward the light, this verse settled over me like a quiet truth.

We tend the soil. We water and w**d and watch. But it is not our effort alone that makes things grow. The fruit in the garden and in our lives comes from staying close to the One who is the source of all of it.

Whatever you are tending right now, friends — stay close to the Vine. The fruit will come. 🙏☀️

Julie + Joe
A Simple Life Homestead

06/13/2026

Good morning, friends! 🍓☀️

We are gathering in the kitchen this morning for our Strawberry Rhubarb Jam Workshop. What a wonderful day it's going to be in the homestead kitchen! The fruit is beautiful, the jars are ready, and everyone is going to make something truly special.

There is nothing quite like a kitchen full of people learning these skills together. We are so grateful for every single one of you who comes through our door. 🙏

Julie + Joe
A Simple Life Homestead

06/12/2026

There is something that happens when you turn into the driveway at A Simple Life Homestead.

The road disappears behind you.

The noise quiets.

The hurry slows.

As you make your way down the winding gravel drive, past gardens, orchards, chickens scratching in the yard, and the simple rhythms of homestead life, it begins to feel as though you've stepped into another time. The conversation slows. The rush of everyday life fades into the background, and for a little while, you'll step into a tradition that has fed families, logging camps, and communities for generations here in Maine.

For one day, that's exactly what we're inviting you to do.

Join us for "The Bean Hole Gathering: Digging Into Tradition" and experience a piece of Maine heritage that has been passed down for generations.

This is not a demonstration.

This is not a lecture.

This is a hands-on gathering where you'll become part of the story, learning through experience, conversation, and the kind of simple work that once brought families and communities together.

We'll spend the day outdoors, gathered around the traditions of the past, sharing food, stories, laughter, and the satisfaction that comes from slowing down and doing things the old-fashioned way.

By day's end, you'll leave with more than knowledge.

You'll leave with a deeper connection to a skill, a tradition, and perhaps a simpler way of looking at the world.

"The Bean Hole Gathering: Digging Into Tradition"

📅 Saturday, June 27th
⏰ 10:00 AM-4pm
📍 A Simple Life Homestead

A minimum of 3 guests is required to hold this gathering, and we're just two weeks away.

If you've been longing for a slower pace, meaningful experiences, and the chance to learn a nearly forgotten skill, we'd love to welcome you to the homestead.

Reserve your seat today.