About Me *yawn*
Me.
Is there a topic that I like even less to write about? Or even worse . . . talk about?
(I’m thinking, I’m thinking.) The answer, Gentle Reader, is a resounding, heartfelt and contrary “No.“
Ask me about my lovely and talented kids or my gorgeous and perfect grandchildren, or my current chicken conundrum, or how my new Icelandic chicken experiment is going, or what I’ve got growing in my garden (gotta minute?) or how the melodrama is coming along, and I’ll talk until you wish that I would quit.
Sometimes our drama alums drop in on our rehearsals, as this lovely young lady did one night: Abi Wood, once one of our drama kids, now a commentator on Channel 8 News in Lincoln. (I’m the one on the right *cough*).
But talk about myself? Not so much. I don’t like being the center of attention. I’d rather write a story than tell one. I’m not very articulate in person, and I’m always insecure about how my hair looks. *sigh*
However. Since you’re here, anyway–perhaps I owe you a brief (but modest) introduction *yawn* to a few things moi. If you’re bored already, I won’t blame you for clicking out. There are surely more interesting things for you to read. Shakespeare. Jane Austen.
The cereal box. You know.
See how blessed I am. (That’s a really forced smile. Mack does not suffer posing for photos for more than a few seconds.)
My name is Amy, and I am the wife to Bryan, and the mother to six smart-alecky children, ranging in ages from ten years old to the mid-twenties. I’m the proud grandma of the Four Most Amazing Babies in the World. I live on a few windy acres outside a small town in Nebraska, and I teach my children at home. We raise chickens, ducks, and geese, and have an impressive array of house pets, as well. I’m trying to talk my good husband into raising a few homestead hogs *fingers crossed*. I think a few goats would be a good idea, too, to keep the grass down, at least.
Indoor cats + gerbils is a potentially volatile combination.
We produce a good quantity of our own food, with a large garden and a small orchard, bee hives, hazelnut bushes, berry bushes and brambles. We plant a lot of trees, too, just because we love to do that. I’m an artist and a writer and a musician. I love to dance. Also I love to draw old houses, dead things, and Nebraska landscapes.
And my children. Natch’.
I love this picture of a younger little Mack. What. A. Card.
I’m a Jesus follower, and I’m poignantly aware of how lost and depressed I’d be without Christ in the center of my life. I am blessed with a large and impressively creative and fun extended family, whom I am slavishly devoted to. I love to cook. I love pie.
I would rather be outside than inside, in any weather, at any time, for any reason. I am delighted by howling coyotes, star-gazing, climbing trees, snow, rain, spring, winter, and clapping my eyes on anything beautiful or unusual. I play the piano, the flute, and I’m teaching myself how to play the banjo.
Slowly. It is an eminently portable instrument, so I can sit outside to practice. 🙂 Which makes me happy. The neighbors, probably, not so much.
These are my people.
In the summertime, I spend most of my time outside: pruning, planting, picking, weeding, growing stuff, and drawing. In the wintertime, the kids and I hit the books and we all work together to produce a musical melodrama with a group of home school students in our area. So you can understand why I never get my house clean. Not that I really care all that much.
Cleaning house, to me, is nearly as boring as . . . well, as me.
There. That wasn’t so hard, was it? In fact it was easier than I thought it would be, but not as interesting as I’d hoped. Oh well. *sigh*
Thanks for joining me in my tiny little corner of the interwebs.
And hey, if ya wanna, sign up in the little box to the right to be on my email list, so you don’t miss a thing. I’m on all the social stuff, too. Let’s be friends, okay, and stay connected with each other. This is a purely selfish request, because I learn just as much from my gentle readers, I’m pretty sure, as they claim to learn from me.
Thanks, you all. I appreciate you guys and gals.
*hugs*
Goldberry and me in the hammock. Summer evening, circa May 2016.
Thank you for stopping by my blog. I really like your introduction page. I have been told I need to fix mine up. I home school too. 3 of my 9 kids are still at home. I have 2 son in laws, 2 grand kids and a 3rd on the way in June. I look forward to reading you blog.
Debbie, Thanks so much for stopping by! Hopefully we can get better acquainted. We seem to have much in common: I have six kiddos, with 3 still at home that I am teaching, two married sons, two grandchildren, and one daughter in college.
Sounds a lot like my life, minus all of the children. I have 2 step daughters and 2 grandchildren. Other than that, we lead very similar lives. My interests are almost identical. I love the outdoors, gardening, crafting, canning, painting,my animals, 15 chickens-all breeds, 3 dogs, 3 cats. I like the new title much better. Sorry ’bout that. Good luck with your new blog shop.
Good morning, my name is Bobbi Anderson, I’m from up North in Blair,
NE… I stumbled on your blog and saw the post with that cute little
abandoned house near Bee, NE. The one that is for sale, I was
wondering if you could tell me more where it is located so we could
take a drive to see it. I am a photographer, and digital artist, I
have an absolute adoration for the old houses like this and would like
to drive by and photograph it. My husband and I are on scouting
missions for campgrounds and plan to be in the area possibly this
weekend. Thank you kindly for any information you could give me, it is
greatly appreciated.
Bobbi, I sent you information through e-mail. I have other abandoned house stories, too, and I’d be happy to share. 😉
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Thanks so much for sharing my site, Deb! I appreciate it!
Let me just say that just by reading this little blurb about yourself (that you didn’t want to write), I am sincerely excited to start reading your blog because I think I’m really going to like you! I’m moving my young family to the country next week and your blog is just what I was looking for!
Tatiana, Thank you very much. If there’s anything I can do to help you, with your homesteading journey, let me know! Experience has been a great teacher for us!
Enjoyed ur blog. I too have very similar likes as you. I love animals, outdoorsy things. Don’t know how I stumbled on to ur webpage but glad I did. Vomiting chicken because???? Presen tly I do not eat chicken but am very curious by nature as to why I see this on ur page.
You found the answer, right, Patricia? Thanks so much for stopping by!
Yes I did! Love old houses as well! Love the one pictured here in Bee Nebraska. Since I have lived in Florida almost my entire life and love the heat don’t know how anyone can weather winter where snow is abundant. Koodos to you!!!
Thanks Patricia!
Now, I understand…love your blog, too! Love the farm house….love the farm house…will be following your adventures…:)
THanks Renee! If you’re interested I have a facebook page too, I’d appreciate your “like.” It’s “vomitingchicken” of course! 😉
I love your place on the interweb!! I’m in the R&D portion of obtaining a small piece of property and becoming more sustainable, along with my girlfriend. Enjoyed the post about when your blog went viral. Those days with your kids you just can’t plan or ever get them back once they are gone.
Monte, I so agree! Good luck with all your plans. It’s a lot of work, but a great way to live!
Amy, I find you and your blog very interesting! I caught a glimpse of a post of kale. I love kale and wished I had ordered some seeds. I guess I can pick some up at a local nursery. I said ‘glimpse’ because I have short attention span and read little bits at a time. Will come back and visit.
Thank you Lily! Do come back and visit often!
I can’t even tell you how excited I was when I discovered you were from Nebraska! I’m originally a Kearneyite but live in Colorado now. (I still go back to The Good Life as often as I can.) I just wanted to let you know that I love your blog and writing style. Keep it up, it’s a treasure!
Katie, what a nice thing to say! We love it here in Nebraska. So happy to hear from a fellow Husker!
What a delight to meet you, Amy. I find you anything but boring!
How sweet of you. Thanks Susan. I’m probably much more boring in person. 😉
Let me say…girl you are CRAZY! This is one of the BEST about me pages I have ever read! You are very interesting, talented and smart! I think you are a great mother who keeps busy busy busy to support and love everyone of your beautiful family members! I think it would be fun to live on land where I can garden and grown my own food and to have tons of animals! I also love love love your blog name! So unique and funny! It has been a pleasure reading about you and I look forward to reading future blog posts! Thanks~Amanda Marie~
Amanda Marie, you just totally made my day. Thanks, girl, you have no idea how much I needed those kind words. *hugs* and best wishes to you.
Wow! You are sooooo pretty!!! And your writing is very clever–fun to read and informative!
Thank you for sharing your wisdom!
Well. You are my new best friend. *blushing*
You are an inspiration to us all, thank you!
“Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons. It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth. ”
Walt Whitman, (Song of the Open Road)
I absolutely LOVE that quote, Steve, and reading it the first thing this morning made me quite content to spend the day forking out manure from my chicken coop! Ha! (Thank you.) 🙂
I was looking up Borage and stumbled upon your blog. Very entertaining! 😀 then I saw your “About Me” and had to read it. I suspected you were one of my sisters in Christ, and I was not disappointed! 😀 We have a lot in common, and I’m going to have to subscribe to your blog! 🙂
What a sweet thing to say, and thanks for commenting Leza. Nice to be acquainted with you! *hugs*
I enjoyed reading your introduction and found it fabulous 🙂 What led me to your introduction, however, was your extremely informative blog on how to tell which of your hens are laying and which are not. We are selling a few hens tomorrow for eating, because we have some faithful customers that we like to fill the orders for, and because I’m fairly certain at least 4-5 of our hens have stopped laying. I think it was a very clever idea to rotate breeds by year so that you could remember easily! We have around 35 chickens as well and an incubator (big trouble)! We have 6 ducklings and 4 chicks in the house now from our most recent hatching. It was our first time hatching ducks 🙂 Thanks so much for the information!
Oh, Grace, aren’t baby ducklings the cutest things ever? I am glad you found the blog helpful. I think rotating the breeds is a nice shortcut to remembering which chickens are the oldest–but there are always some old faithful girls who just keep laying and laying. I have a Black Maran hen who keeps laying, although she must be 5 years old. I know that she is laying because she’s the only one I have, and she lays such dark brown and distinctive eggs. I suppose that would be another way you could tell which hens are laying–by the color of the eggs. For example, I could buy all Americaunas this year (green and blue eggs) and then all Black Marans next year (dark brown eggs) and that way when there are no (or few) blue eggs, I’d know it’s probably time to start thinking about “retiring” my Americauna hens to “freezer camp.”
Hi Amy! I love your site already! I too would rather spend my time outside – doing ANYTHING – instead of being inside! Right now, I have 2 horses, 20 or sheep now that they are lambing, LOTS of rabbits, 2 dogs, and 2 cats! I want to get chickens – that is on my bucket list for this spring. I had surgery last year on my back – so, I am just taking one day at a time and doing what I can.
God Bless you and your family!
It sounds like you are happy and very busy Miley, with your fun menagerie! I must say, I’m a bit jealous about the sheep! Mayhaps we could finagle a trade–I’d trade a few chickens for a sheep or two? *Ouch* back surgery, I’m sorry! I hope you heal quickly. *blessings*
you may not have wealth as the world sees wealth, but you are rich beyond measure” Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; They will not be ashamed When they speak with their enemies in the gate.
When I read your post I’m reminded of the wise women in the book of Proverbs. “She opens her mouth in wisdom, And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household, And does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and bless her; Her husband also, and he praises her, saying:“Many daughters have done nobly, But you excel them all.”
Steve,
I feel so humbled by your comment. You are so sweet. I certainly aspire to the example of that virtuous woman, but I fall short in so so many areas.
Well, I’ve read your ‘about page’ before and I don’t find you nor your life boring at all….in fact, I’m pretty impressed with you and your children, farm, chicks and life. I was thinking of you this morning because one of your posts is saved, eternally, in my email inbox…so I don’t lose you. 🙂 and I was thinking that for some reason I’m never notified of new posts and I wondered, if indeed, you were still blogging. So happy this popped up today. Now, let me go revise my ‘about me’ page…. Be well and take care. love
Renee,
I’m dying to ask you what that blog post is that you saved. 🙂 Possibly your email provider (is it Google?) may be sending my blog posts to your spam folder. Grr.
Iam totally inspired by all that you have wrote! I shed tears of joy on how wonderful and positive you people are for each other. I have two grand children and the one grand child I take care of her since she was born. Shes three and a half. Thankyou for the encouraging words. Helping me to keep the faith!!!
JUST FOUND YOUR GREAT BLOG. OUR FARM WAS IN WI AND I LOVED LIVING THERE! I MISS IT SO MUCH BUT TIME MARCHES ON….WE MOVED TO A WARMER AND EASIER TO TAKE CARE OF PLACE. READING YOUR BLOG TAKES ME BACK TO THAT WONDERFUL TIME.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Trudy, how nice to make your acquaintance! I’m glad that you found my little corner of the internet! Welcome!
Hi Amy,
My name is Sydney and I am a senior in college at Southern Oregon University. I have found your article titled, “How to keep your hens laying eggs all winter long: my top 5 tips!” very helpful and used this article for information for my business capstone. Since I learned something off your blog, I need to cite it in my paper to give you credit. However, I could not find your last name on your blog. The citations for MLA format includes first and last name. Would you mind letting me know what your last name is so that I can properly site your website in my paper? Thank you!
Amy, I love your blogs, stories, words, and hair. Seriously. My sister Mary and her husband are recent (post retirement) farmers. I have found that helping them is a huge draw and a real joy for me. Just reading your vomiting chicken story inspires me. Thank you, and hello. So nice to meet you. Here are just a few areas of inspiration I received from you today. 1. I want to stop worrying about my messy, cluttered up house. 2. I play the violin. I have been asked to teach a local girl lessons. I said yes, and now I am avoiding it like the plague because of my messed up, untidy life, family and house. Fear. I am thinking about (thinking only) calling the girl’s mom and setting up the first lesson. 3. I want to do more, so much more growing, outside! My sister and I worked at a 3,000 sq. ft. garden and boy can I relate to the not having time to cook or eat good food during the busy times. Thanks for sharing, I really enjoyed reading!
Liz, you know that comments like yours make the too-early-morning writing sessions so worth it. Thank you so much for the verbal hug! You made my day, truly!
Nice you meet you Amy. I am so grateful for your liver and onions recipe. I am Egyptian and my mother was an amazing cook. As you said about your mom, she had the uncanny ability to make everything taste good. She cooked liver that was so good I use to dream about the next time we’d have it. She put together a cookbook and I foolishly lost it. It breaks my heart every time I think about it now… because my mother passed away (bless her soul). The liver recipe was in there and I have been trying to construct how she did it. I think she did soak it in milk! I don’t know where she got the recipe from but she always cooked either from Egyptian recipes or from a variation of Julia Child recipes. I thought you might be Middle Eastern in some way because in the Middle East liver is popular. Thank you for lighting my load and sharing this recipe with the world. It brings me closer to her and the wonderful memories we had around food. May God bless you.
Basma, thank you for your kind comment. I’d love to hear back from you, if you ever figure out what that wonderful way of making liver that your mother discovered, was. Sounds like it was truly delicious!!
I am so glad I met you! And so glad I get to spend eternity with you! You’re not boring at all. And I love chickens, too. I live near Seattle. It’s so beautiful here. But I’d rather live near you. Please pray for my state.
Dear Tacy, I will pray for your state. I hope things turn around for you all out there. God bless.
Hello from New Zealand. I came by your page honestly via the Prairie Homesteader. I absolutely LOVE your writing and humour. I think your blog will be my “go to” when I need perking up. I’m British, living in NZ since 2004, when I got married for the first time at the grand old age of 42 and half. Moved to the countryside 6 years ago and am trying hard not to get chickens. That is a story for another day.
Jane, SO good to meet you! Welcome to my gentle readership. Thank you for your sweet comments. I’ve got to tell you: New Zealand is definitely one of my very favorite places on the planet! We’ve traveled there twice, as a family, and we were thrilled both times. (Also very glad to make it out alive, as neither Bryan nor I were particularly sharp about learning how to drive on the wrong side of the road!!) “Trying hard NOT to get chickens?” Dear one, with the way that chickens perk up my every day, whyever would you try NOT to get them? *just kidding* Please stay in touch. I’d love to hear that story! (I’ve written posts about our trips to NZ:
http://vomitingchicken.com/new-zealand-farmers-market-delightful-find-worth-hunt/
http://vomitingchicken.com/5-secrets-best-runzas-can-make-no-matter/
Hey y’all, I’m from a small town from California. I was googling toasted bread that looked like jesus, and the Elven Lembas bread article you posted showed up in my google search. It was super cool reading your blog. I’m excited to keep up with what you write.
Taylor, that’s a strange coincidence! I hope you enjoy the recipe and keep in touch!
Hello,
I would like to know if the “Recipes from a Halfling’s Pantry” comes in a hard copy or a PDF file? I’d like to purchase it but really want a hard copy to add to my library of cookbooks.
Kind Regards,
Michael
Michael, our Recipes book does not come in a hard copy or a PDf file. We have had so many requests for that, we are making it a summer project to provide that. If you’ll sign up for my email list, I’ll make sure you hear about it when it’s finished! Thank you for your interest!
Hey, Amy!
Not yelling at you, it’s just a southern thing. I so enjoyed your blog and will certainly return again and again. We are the old folks enjoying our little place and just starting with our first fat-bottomed girls. Stopped by here to find some answers and found so much more that that! Thank you for sharing your place in this world.
I’m a retired nurse living with a retired plumber. He gets more nursing care than I get new plumbing. Teehee. All works out in the end though. My time in the yard is priceless but I also love to create, quilt, cook and watch old movies. Together we have a blended family of 7, which has given us 17 grands and 8 greaters and counting!
I look forward to exploring your life as you let us peek inside.
Thanks you!
Carol Bell
Carol, thank you for sending me your sweet note. Blessings on you and your plumber! It sounds like we have a ton in common. If you want to receive all the posts from vomitingchicken.com, please share your email address with me (in the box underneath my FACE) and I will make sure you hear about every new post! xoxoxox & blessings!
Hmm… something tells me the Miller homestead has changed over the years. I really ought to “drop in” for a tour and a catch-up. I spoke with a lady from mid-state a few weeks back who sold some of the most lovely cut flowers! They reminded me SO much of you and your gardens that I asked if she knew you… long shot and all, as this isn’t the smallest state in the Union; BUT, surprisingly, she’s been in a class with you! Needless to say, between your daughter-in-law contacting me, and the aforementioned incident, y’all have been on my heart and mind lately.
Truly, one of the best bio pages I’ve enjoyed. Thinking of you,
So nice to hear from you, Kris! Hmm now I’m wondering who this lady was?
Hi there! I am an 86-year-old lady who has health problems but keeps on going. I do watercolor art and flower gardening. I’m very content with my darling little home and have lots of friends. However, texting with friends is not the same as having a cup of coffee with him. I feel very blessed and content but I do get lonely and I miss the wonderful adventures I used to have with life. Reading your blog about Brainerd brought all of that excitement back to me. I enjoyed every moment and I’m looking forward to more Adventures with you. Thank you for sharing your busy, busy life with us!
Dellouise, aww, you just made my day! Thank you. I’m so glad you sent me a note. I totally agree that relationships are so much more fun in person!
Would love to know more about you and how you got your blog started once Nelly was fixed up! And ‘Pone reminds me of an amazing best friend I recently lost, so enjoy while you can. They don’t stay with us long enough.
Julie–how I got my blog started. Honestly, it was quite simple. I have a couple of smart sons who coached me and helped me set up a blog. I’ve always loved writing, and so I just started writing stories and publishing them in my blog. Yes, our ‘Pone is already showing signs of aging, sadly, though he is only 7 years old. His eyebrows and muzzle are getting white! You’re right, our furry friends just don’t live long enough!