Grab coffee, let's chat!

Hi y'all! Happy 2026! I was looking back at our blog from last year and I literally wrote two blog posts!!!!!! TWO! From the girl who was writing almost weekly... I wrote two blog posts the entire year. I also really slacked on sending out monthly newsletters, but my phrase of the year was to slow down. It was a crazy year and yet I feel like I did a good job letting things go. I didn't strive to be perfect, I prioritized what moved the needle and what was the most important. My word for 2026 is refresh. I want to focus on the things that are important to me, and refresh my excitement towards those things.

I thought it was time to get back to the blog. Grab a coffee and let's chat!

I have been starting my day with iced coffee! I have perfected the at home iced latte with my espresso machine. I am not sure why, but your girl is all of a sudden addicted to iced coffee. I even drank iced coffees on the NEGATIVE DEGREE DAYS. My favorite recipe has been a cookie butter latte with homemade cold foam (cookie butter, white chocolate syrup, sea salt, 1 packet of splenda, espresso, milk).

Okay, now that we have coffee. Let's catch up on what has been happening around the farm and what we have planned for 2026.

Here are 10 updates about our farm/life!

1. Tyler and I started a YouTube channel in 2025! We have been working hard on making content weekly. Our goal is to get to 1000 subscribers this year. If you would like to check it out, be sure to hit that subscribe button! It would mean the world to us. We have made over 50 videos. The goal with our YouTube channel was to share our story and to bring you along for it all. We want to show you behind the scenes, bring you along for the good, bad and changes we make from year to year. We also thought it would be a fun way to document our family story. I will love having these videos one day when the boys are grown up.

2. We also recently bought 5 cows in partnership with my dad to add to our HB herd. We went to a special sale in Sigourney. The prices were sky high but we felt like it was time to add to our numbers. We have reached our goal of 30 cows! the cows we bought are bred 3 year olds. We plan to continue our direct marketing business as we go into this year. We will have another round of beef available in the fall. We plan to utilize our website for our 2026 beef sales! Stay tuned for more information!

3. Seed starting will begin in 1 month! I always start my seeds the week of spring break! I am hoping to buy a small greenhouse. This will give me space to start a larger number of seeds. I have currently outgrown my grow tower. I would love to do more to our yard this year- seed, plant a few trees, etc. I have big visions for the yard but I am not sure really where to begin...

   
   

4. I am currently booking weddings and working on my business management. This is one area where I am constantly learning. I have learned a lot over the years but I still feel like an imposter sometimes. Weddings are a large part of our farm business plan but they also cause me the most stress haha. I love the design process and I love how they turn out but man the week leading up to a wedding is always nerve wrecking.

   
   

5. We switched to a farm accountant this year and that was super helpful! We also have the goal to get more familiar with Quickbooks.

   
   

6. I am beyond excited to get my new flower stand out and down by the lane. Next step is to add a storefront on our land. I would love to have a little farm store where we can sell our beef, flowers, and other local items!

   
   

7. The kids are doing amazing (besides being currently home sick). I am ready for spring break and summer. I love being home with them. I am excited for Dean to have his own little garden this year. I would like him to pick out his own seeds to plant.

   
   

8. Levi turns two this month! How is that possible? I am having a really hard time coming to terms that my baby isn't a baby anymore. I don't like boxing up all of our baby items... I don't think I am ready to be done with that stage of life yet but here we are...

   
   

9. School is going well. I officially completed my teaching endorsement and therefore have my official teaching license. FFA and soccer keep me pretty busy during the school year. Some days I don't know how we do it all but God has placed these things in my path and somehow it is working. Tyler is also working on the weekends doing tree removals. We are living in a time when everything is so expensive but we are working our tails off to make it a life we dream of (without the expense of not actually being able to live the life we are building. There is a balance).

   
   

10. Dean is heading to Kindergarten next year and is interested in soccer, wrestling, and all things sports! I think he might be my sports kid! He is really thriving at pre-school! Levi is learning all sorts of new words and is entering the TWOs haha... if you know, you know!

Thank you for reading and for catching up with me! It is going to be a good year! We have a lot in store but also just perfecting what we are doing and streamlining things!