A Week in the Life of an Off-Grid Mom: August 15–21, 2026

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I’ve been back and forth on what to publish on the blog lately, and consequently, I haven’t written anything new (besides a few recipes) in quite a while.

With the advent of AI-made everything, what can I write that you know just comes from me, a real person, here on my side of the internet?

In this case, I decided that the old ways are probably best! Back in the day, a blog was just a blog…a collection of life stories and helpful things. I’ve also enjoyed doing series in the past, such as Frugal Fridays and Day-in-the-Life-type articles.

So this will be my weekly journal! While I will still have social videos and YouTube videos to visually show you some of the things we’ve been doing, this “journal” will be much more detailed. Let’s use it to connect and just be real here in the age of artificial “intelligence”. I hope you enjoy these coming articles. 🙂

This Week at a Glance:

• Added 35 preserved jars to the root cellar.
• Finished coming up with the first 6 weeks of school plan.
• Pulled up summer veggies to make room for fall.
• Ordered bulk foods.
• Got in new canning jars.
• Ate a lot of garden produce!

Around the Homestead

This week revolved around the garden and doing some small canning projects.

What I Preserved

I canned a total of 35 jars. That was actually significant because I wasn’t planning on canning this week, and I didn’t think I had anything to can!

But I did up:

• 7 pints of green beans (from my garden!)
• 8 jelly jars of Jalapeno Jelly (using some jalapenos I had in the fridge that I was about to toss and some bell peppers from the freezer)
• 9 quarts of sweet potato fries (jury is still out on this one…not sure if this will work)
• 11 jelly jars of Chokecherry Jam

I got more lids from Superb to keep canning with, and they also sent me some of their jars to try. I do love that they are made in the US, and I think they are pretty. 🙂 We will see how they hold up!

In the Garden

I worked a lot in the garden this week as the kids and I pulled all the beets, onions, and carrots. Nothing was great in size, but it all grew, and we will eat it! Not enough of anything to can, though.

I did, however, decide to start canning some of my beans! My tiny bean patch is producing so well, and although we’ve been eating beans most nights, I still have enough to put some away.

I’m hoping to get 2 beds of my fall/winter garden planted this weekend.

Off Grid Life

As for other projects, they’ve all been on hold at the moment until my husband can get some time off. He did get his sawmill put together and up and running, which is huge. But he’s been working incredibly long days at the moment. We plan to start building things in September.

From the Kitchen and Pantry

We’ve still been eating the same thing that we usually eat, but with the addition of fresh garden veggies! It’s been so nice not to have to plan any side dishes; I just look and see what’s ready in the garden that day, and we eat that!

I put in my Azure order for the month, and it’s way bigger than I wanted, but there was so much produce! I’ve found that their produce can be hit-or-miss, so hopefully it all comes in and looks good. If it all comes in and looks good, I will have a ton of canning to do next week. In fact, I will have a ton of canning to do next week anyway because I’m getting tomatoes from my mom’s garden.

What I Made This Week

Some favorites this week were my sticky chicken meatballs and our sausage garden fry. I also made lots of my German cucumber salad, which I could eat all day and not get tired of! It’s just sliced cucumbers, dill, salt, mayo, and sour cream mixed together.

Family Life

It’s been an exhausting week for me. Our littlest one is getting in more teeth and has been getting up 5+ times a night for mommy comfort. I believe he almost has all of his teeth in now which I will be thankful for!

One of our newest kitties (Dash) has decided to claim a human. I’m not sure why he picked the wildest one, but nevertheless…it’s pretty cute. 🙂

This month we did a “light” version of school, and we will fully start back in September. I’ve still been finalizing some programs for the kids, and I’m almost finished with our schedule and plans.

Homemaking This Week

I’ve been working on a new 2-week rotating schedule that I think will help me tremendously with getting regular things done that I really like to put off. I’m sure you can relate! I’ve been working through the first week, and I love it so far. I’ll continue to iron out the kinks.

I’ve started to get out the kids’ winter clothing. I think it’s mostly buried in the back of our tiny shed, so it’s really hard to get to (and the mice are just terrible everywhere this year!), and it’s taking me time, but I really need to assess what we have before I buy more. I know I have at least one child who has outgrown everything from last year.

I’ve continued doing my laundry in the wringer washer I recently got. I absolutely love it. I’ve never had clothes so clean before! This week we washed all the sheets and towels in it for the first time, and it worked perfectly.

Behind Little House Living

We are incredibly thankful to Susan, who ordered us the large colander (pictured above!), a game for the kids, and a book for the baby off our family wishlist! We’ve been using the colander a lot already; the kids are excited to play the math game, and the baby loves the book because…he loves all books!

I also loved all of you who wrote to me in the last week, sharing your memories of using a wringer washer! Those were really fun to read.

This week, I didn’t have as much time to film since I had a needy little one, but I’ve still been trying to keep up with everything since I made a commitment to be consistent for at least the next 2 months. If you haven’t already, I would love for you to check out my YouTube Channel, Instagram or Facebook Channel. I post on Pinterest too! Any watches, likes, comments, and shares on those channels help me to know you enjoy that content, and hopefully we can reach my goal of finding and encouraging younger homemakers.

I’ve been working on updating old August content on the blog. Today I need to work on what short videos will be coming up. Over the next few weeks on YouTube, I’ll have a “day in the life” that I’m working on, as well as a video on our “why” behind living off-grid. Today I posted a brand new Garden Tour.

A Few Things I’m Enjoying This Week

I finally finished reading Letters From a Woman Homesteader, and I loved it! It took me forever to read because it’s summer and I have other things to do, but I highly recommend it. I think I particularly enjoyed it since the stories take place in Wyoming. 🙂

I also very much enjoyed the fog this week. Sounds a bit silly, but the fog rolling up the canyon and onto the meadow that surrounds our home is one of the most magnificent sights. To me, it signified that fall is here since we haven’t had the fog all summer.

Reflections

As I said, this week has been rough on me because of the lack of sleep and so much to do right now. I’ve been continuing to pray for patience, especially with my children, who are trying to get back on a schedule with school.

Last week I was reading through Psalm 27, and this week I’ve been encouraged by the end of Matthew 6. I’ve decided to start reading through these chapters and verses that are currently impacting me in video/voice form, so I hope you are able to enjoy them wherever you watch my videos. 🙂

I’ll check back in with you all again next week! I hope you’ll comment back, and as I said above, just have a bit of community and connection here on this simple, old-school blog post.

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Talk to you again soon,

Merissa 🙂

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