Basics with Laura

09/08/2026

It seems like people are a little angrier and more impatient lately. Maybe it’s just me, but the more aware I become of it, the more I notice it popping up in everyday situations.

You see it on the road—someone flies past everyone at a merge just to end up one car ahead, still traveling the same 50 miles an hour. You see it in stores when people become hostile with cashiers over a wait or a small mistake. And you certainly see it on Facebook, where an innocent post can quickly turn into insults, accusations, and arguments going in 50 different directions.

Why are we all so angry?

Maybe we aren’t surrounded by more bad people. Maybe we are surrounded by overwhelmed people. Financial pressure, health concerns, family responsibilities, uncertainty, loneliness, too much upsetting information, and too little true connection can fill a person’s emotional bucket until one small inconvenience makes it overflow.

Sometimes anger isn’t even the first emotion. Underneath it may be fear, grief, exhaustion, embarrassment, disappointment, or the feeling that life is beyond our control.

Anger is a normal emotion, but living in it affects the person carrying it most. The body responds by releasing stress hormones, raising the heart rate and blood pressure, tightening muscles, and staying on high alert. Meanwhile, the slow driver or Facebook stranger who started it may have forgotten all about us.

Perhaps we could learn to pause before passing our pain on to someone else. Not every irritation deserves our energy, and not every opinion requires our response.

Sometimes a small, tangible reminder is all we need to stop, breathe, and choose our response more carefully. If you’re looking for a gentle way to create those little pauses in your day, check out some of my handmade, hand-created calming pieces at Amanda Hometown Marketplace or in my Etsy shop (link in bio).

Farm Girl Meets Science 🌿

09/05/2026

You can find these pieces and more locally at Amanda Hometown Marketplace.

Plus, check out the beautiful mums they currently have for only $8.95 each.

A lot of women are not looking for more noise.
They are looking for steadiness.

That is one reason I care so much about small calming tools and simple daily supports.

Sometimes that looks like changing the scents in your home.
Sometimes it looks like a small pause ritual.
Sometimes it is a helpful guide that gives you a place to begin.

I love tools that make calm feel tangible and doable.

That might be a simple plant-based product.
A quiet home ritual.
An aroma stone from my Etsy shop.
Or one of the free resources I keep linked for people who want to learn more.

Support does not always have to be dramatic.

Sometimes it just needs to be gentle and consistent.

If you have been quietly curious, the link in my profile is there for you.

09/02/2026

GATHER.

How many places is your mind right now?

The text you haven’t answered.
The appointment tomorrow.
The laundry.
Something someone said yesterday.
The 14 things you just saw while scrolling.

Sometimes we need to gather ourselves back.

Try it three ways:

Mind: Picture yourself gently letting go of everything that doesn’t need you right now.

Words: “For right now, I am here.”

Body: Put down the phone. Close the computer. Walk away for five minutes.

Whatever truly needs your attention will still be there.

🌿 Coming Back to Our Own Wisdom
Farm Wisdom Meets Science

09/02/2026

Have you ever left a craft fair thinking, “I sold quite a bit today…but did I actually make any money?”

Or wondered which products were really your best sellers—not just overall, but at each individual market?

That’s exactly why I created my new Craft Fair Vendor Profit and Cost Tracker.

I wanted something that could take all those scattered numbers and put them in one place:

• What each product actually costs to make
• Packaging and labor costs
• Selling price, profit per item, and margin
• Booth fees, mileage, card fees, meals, and other event expenses
• What you took to each event vs. what actually sold
• Sell-through percentage
• Your Top 3 sellers at each individual event
• Your best-selling products overall
• Which events actually brought you the most profit

And because not everyone wants to build formulas in Excel for fun, the calculations are already built in. You enter your information in the cream cells, and the tracker does the rest.

It also comes with a Demo Tracker so you can see exactly how it works before using your own numbers, plus a short Quick Start Guide.

I created this especially for craft vendors, handmade sellers, bakers, makers, artists, and small market businesses who want to make decisions based on real numbers instead of that end-of-market feeling of, “Well…I think that went pretty well.” 😄

It’s now available as an instant digital download in my Etsy shop. I’ll put the link in the first comment below.

If you know someone who sells at craft fairs, farmers markets, vendor shows, or pop-ups, feel free to share this with them.

08/31/2026

Sometimes the best way to quiet the noise of life is to put your hands in the soil. Gardening isn’t just about growing food or flowers, it’s about grounding ourselves, reconnecting with the Earth, and remembering that we’re part of something bigger. Every seed, every root, every new sprout reminds us to slow down and breathe.

08/31/2026

Have you felt a little drained lately?

Not necessarily tired.

Just pulled in too many directions.

Our attention goes everywhere—to our phones, other people’s needs, unfinished jobs, tomorrow’s worries and yesterday’s conversations.

Sometimes I don’t think we need one more thing to add to our lives.

Maybe we simply need to come back to our own wisdom.

This week I’m going back to three very simple things:

GATHER. GROUND. GUARD.

Gather yourself.
Ground yourself in what’s real.
Guard your peace.

Nothing complicated. Just some old wisdom—with a little modern science behind why it works.

🌿 Coming Back to Our Own Wisdom
Farm Wisdom Meets Science

08/29/2026

One of those little grocery-store choices that matters to me. 🌿

I only buy Daisy Cottage Cheese because the ingredient list is so simple: cultured skim milk, cream, and salt. That’s it.

Just 3 ingredients. No long list of extras I don’t need.

Sometimes low-tox, simpler living really is this easy—just flip the container over and read the label. 😊

Farm Girl Meets Science™
Simple choices. Smarter living.

08/26/2026

Popped in a few new additions at Amanda Hometown Marketplace today including some gorgeous maple leaf dishes, crocheted pumpkins, and diffuser bracelets. The Amanda Sparkle and Buckeye Spirit bracelets are two of my favorites.

08/18/2026

Ever wonder why your zucchini plant is covered in flowers…but you still don’t have any zucchini?

Here’s a little Farm Girl Meets Science happening in my garden.

Zucchini plants produce two different kinds of flowers—male and female—and they don’t always show up at the same time.

Quite often, the male flowers appear first. They grow on long, slender stems and produce the pollen.

The female flowers tend to follow a little later. They’re easy to recognize because they have what looks like a tiny zucchini sitting right behind the blossom. That swollen little area is the o***y, and if the flower is successfully pollinated, it keeps developing into the zucchini we eventually harvest.

So if your plant is blooming like crazy but you don’t see any little zucchini yet, it may simply be that the plant is still in its early male-flower stage.

Once both male and female flowers are opening, bees and other pollinators normally take care of moving the pollen from one flower to the other.

But sometimes the timing is off, there aren’t many pollinators around, or a female flower opens and could use a little help.

That’s when I may step in and hand-pollinate.

You can use a small paintbrush to collect pollen from the center of a male flower and gently transfer it to the center of a female flower. You can also remove a male flower and use it to transfer the pollen directly.

No fancy equipment. No complicated technique.

Just a little understanding of how the plant works.

One of my favorite things about gardening is learning some of the science behind what I’m seeing—and realizing that when nature needs just a little help, there are often simple ways we can work along with it.

Today’s Farm Girl Question: Have you ever hand-pollinated zucchini or squash?

💚 Basics with Laura | Farm Girl Meets Science

08/13/2026

🌿 There is more than one way to create a well-lived life.

Some people arrive at Basics with Laura because they want to make more thoughtful wellness choices.

Others come for the homestead stories, the animals, the garden, the handmade projects, or the hope of creating a calmer, more natural rhythm at home.

Here, you’ll find practical information you can actually use.

We may explore how the body works, why nourishment and movement matter, or how herbs, essential oils, supplements, and natural home choices fit into a broader picture of wellness.

We may visit the goats, chickens, ducks, or honeybees and learn something from the rhythms of homestead life.

We may preserve herbs and garden produce, make something with yarn, fabric, or clay, or simply slow down long enough to enjoy a cup of matcha on the porch.

Some days I’ll share a little science.

Some days I’ll share a story.

And sometimes I’ll share a class, guide, handmade item, wellness product, or favorite tool that has genuinely been useful in my own life.

You never have to do everything you see here.

Take what speaks to you.
Save what may help later.
Ask questions.
Stay curious.

My hope is that each time you visit, you leave with one useful idea, one new understanding, or one gentle reminder that small choices can still make a meaningful difference.

🌱 Today’s Farm Girl Question: What brought you here—wellness, homestead life, natural living, handmade creativity, or simply curiosity?

💚 Basics with Laura | Farm Girl Meets Science