Cozy Oaks Homestead

08/15/2024

Eggs for sale!! No camera filters! I have the large older hen eggs for $5 a dozen. $3 half dozen. I have a TON of Pullet eggs. Complete eggs just smaller size in the pretty colors! Selling the pullet eggs 18 for $4! Or $5 for TWO DOZEN!!! I need to clean off my counter tops. All unwashed eggs pm me for porch pick up! Thanks! 🥚 🙂

04/15/2024

Happy national gardening day! 🪴What a beautiful sunny Sunday to spend in the garden! We reached 77 today and I just loved every minute outside even if I was pulling w**ds and planting bulbs. Gardening to me is my therapy. It keeps my body moving and my mind in a relaxed space. Plants have always surrounded me between my mother and my grandmother. My mother had our apartments surrounded in houseplants and when we had our first home I was in 3rd grade. That home was my grandparents. My grandmother had gardens that my mother evolved to make her own and I watched and learned along the way. I remember being a kid and finding joy in the strawberries right outside the back door and the uniqueness of the white cup and saucer plant in the front yard. My grandmother had moved to her forever home at that time and evolved her gardening styles and I learned from her a lot as I was older. We would go on nature walks a lot together through the years and she would explain the beauty around us. We would pick berries and apples and marvel in the native plants. She was in the garden club and had been apart of community garden spaces as well. So as you garden this year make it your own. Remember it should not be a chore but a sense of wonder and beauty. Happy gardening this year friends!

02/25/2024

Welcome to our homestead my starlight green eggers! The funny story here is that I sent the daughter to buy 3! She came home with all the chickens left in the store “because she couldn’t leave two there. They would be lonely” 😂 love her heart and spirit! So we are over what our goal was for this year but we will have a colorful future egg basket coming soon!

11/27/2023

Tonight as I was walking in to our bedroom the moons glow in the windows caught my eye. So I took the moment to look, breathe, and admire how beautiful the snow is in the backyard I was even happier when I was actually able to get the photo from just the moon light and the glow from the skylight in the library below. Two wins and a smile as I head to bed. (Unedited photo)

11/09/2023

Our new home journey began a few years ago. We loved our home we raised a big beautiful family in it and had so much history there. We had a great neighborhood community and the best neighbors you could ask for! However, the kids grew up. They made their own lives and found someone to share it with. Our family size doubled for family gatherings and with weddings on the horizon we knew little grandchildren were coming. We love to entertain and craved a space for it. I also craved a space for more of my passion to plant and create in the garden. My husband craved land and privacy. So we started a several year hunt(sorry to our realtor Steve). I wanted to build the husband didn’t. I wanted to stay in the youngest college district but my husband said that shouldn’t restrict us.(not that he would of ever let her move out😂) I wanted a home we could put our stamp on. He wanted move in ready. The list of battles went on. But what we agreed upon was first floor master bedroom , acreage, a living room that had to have the feeling that our home at the time had. We were outbid, homes sold while we pulled into the driveway for showings, private showings became open houses unannounced. The market was insane! We had even placed an offer on this home and was outbid and had moved onto the next property and I had the husband just about convinced to buy the land and build. Yeah! *Then we got the call that the other buyer backed out because of bats in the attic and the inspection report.* now what? So we came back with our inspectors. Again we loved the crazy large rooms and the historic nature of the property. The land was beautiful but everything needed a lot of work. The windows were broken and rotted. The carpet was stained downstairs and disintegrated upstairs. The dining has the thickest red wallpaper ever! The roof was leaking. The hill was eroded. The were chipmunks living in the garage and getting into the basement. There is garbage everywhere in the woods. But we somehow never got frustrated about that and saw through it. We countered with the estate to pay for full attic bat remediation with new insulation and cleaning.(this estate was as is). We were approved. Cont..

10/21/2023

Just a three day difference. I think we are hitting our fall peak! I must say this view and the colors are amazing 🤩. The beauty of Mother Nature shining in and making you pause in awe. The glow of the sun casting on the trees. I am not sure if this view from our bedroom will ever get old. Are you at peak for fall where you live?

09/27/2023

A dahlia bloomed! This is a reminder to everyone that it’s “better late then never.” I planted these tubers on Aug 10th! Three months after I should of! It took me that long to get a space to plant them out. They were all sprouting in my storage crates and some tubers were dried up. I planted them anyway. My “why”was to let the tubers get some life before I had to store them for the winter again. I am grateful and blessed to have a bloom at all this year. Thank you Mother Nature for bringing me a bright spot to my day!🥰

09/12/2023

The chair…. It’s funny as your kids grow up you find yourself reflecting a lot on the things you did or didn’t do with them, or for them. The grey chair triggered those reflections for me today. I’m out here drinking morning coffee and had to smile. The chair there made me giggle actually and here is why. As the children grow up we get so frustrated about their stuff everywhere and frustrated with cleaning up after them all the time. However, they grow up and mature, they move on with a separate life story and move out to make their own legacy. But they still come home if you are lucky. We just had our second annual family golf outing where all 5 of our kids and their partners or friends made it home. We sat out here talking, learning some of their childhood secrets and plans of their futures. We talked about grand-baby one that came in June and grand-baby two that is coming in January. So yes the chair made me smile and tear up. Why? Because they were here.❤️ They showed up and I got to have a full heart for the day. So I will smile now when I clean up after them, the dishes, the beer cans, the chair etc. It doesn’t matter to me as much because they were here. ❤️

08/06/2023

Welcome to the homestead! These girls I think will fit in just fine. They will have a job and hopefully do well with helping a bit with the critter control. But first the girls will need names :) Any suggestions?!

07/02/2023

Another look at before and after💪. This area on the top of the hill was just ivy vines, grass and w**ds… a lot of birds love the birch trees and I wanted some more habitat for them as well. We got to work! From bought a of poison ivy rash to erosion wash out and storm damage, we kept on … I resourced some amazing plants from our local nurseries and online at and as well as some treasured snippets from family gardens….. now to watch it grow up and In while on maintenance level. Onto the next space ! Do you have some favorite shade garden plants? Looking for unique foliage and textures with color pops…

06/30/2023

Another before and after… there was this walk way here.. it was wonky - not centered with the porch opening, had a straight angled line out to the stairs and very narrow. I decided to start pulling them to remake the path.. I quickly learned that the path had been partially buried with expansion of the flower beds and grass…we used the same material I found for the new walk way!! It’s the little victories that keep you going!

04/22/2023

Taking moments at the new homestead to freshen up spaces… to be honest we are a disaster over here. Boxes everywhere… mattresses on floors…not sure where stuff is…. So anything I can clear up and make pretty has been peaceful for me…always a bonus if I get my hands dirty too!

04/12/2023

As I walk around with my morning coffee, I looked for beauty in all the chaos. Todays list of chores…our asphalt millings driveway is going in. Day two of carpet install. Goals of getting the old house cleaned up and finished inside…a college lacrosse game at 2 PM. Hopefully some more unpacking of the garage into the home. after all and organize bathroom space would be nice to have at the end of the day. 🌷 💪

04/02/2023

In the moments of chaos…to get a sweet space set up helps the mood🥰. Moving things that you have accumulated over 17 years and several family deaths is no joke! I am seriously considering hard before I put anything away in this house if we need it or use it…

02/23/2023

Since fb has different parameters then instagram…not all things travel between the platforms….we are embarking upon a new journey….our next season…. See the link and follow us!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Co_XBdEj9Do/?igshid=MjkzY2Y1YTY=

7 Likes, 0 Comments - Angela / Homesteading (.oaks.homestead) on Instagram: "So many emotions on this journey. We are planning a move to over 4 acres from our 0.38 acre county lot. It has been a ride so far. The home we are purchasing has been vacant since the fall or summer of 2022 and a renta...

01/15/2023

11/02/2022

These beautiful black strawberry tomatoes from may not be packed with sweet flavor fresh off the vine like sweet cherry varieties but I found their use! The fruit are a great size for dehydrating and canning sun-dried tomatoes out of them! They even add a beautiful color to the pantry! How else do you use your tomatoes?

10/24/2022

Yesterday the weather was in the 70’s and ☀️ for us! A blessing for a Michigan fall day for sure. So we decided to clean out the coop. Our girls moved into the coop a little over a year ago. We decided to use and trial the deep liter method with h**p bedding. There was no smell, no crust and not a bad clean up! I honestly didn’t need to scrub it down bet felt that it was emptied so I might as well! My only surprise we found was a our own charlotte 🕸🕷 taking residence. (Surprised she wasn’t eaten yet) do you deep litter method? How does it work for you?

10/05/2022

Well the milk w**d isn’t just for butterflies… the aphids and this cute new friend are hanging out more there…. Any one know what kind of frog 🐸 it is? It’s so tiny! See my finger tip for reference in the last pic! Been hanging out for a few days that I know of in the same spot. **d

09/11/2022

The truth behind this is priceless….

09/09/2022

Who else loves hydrangeas!!! My old school lime lights always throw out large blooms ! Some the size of my head! Time to start bringing some outside in to dry for fall. I even picked my pear’s too! These lonely ones are left…mmm so good!

09/01/2022

Busy day today. We just got back from a relaxing and beautiful trip to the U.P. So of course Yesterday I was attacked with a weeks worth of bursting tomatoes! So I got busy to use some up! I Finished my peaches up with some maple bourbon peach butter, blistered cherry tomato sauce for pasta (with lunch left for tomorrow and extra sauce to freeze) plus several bags of cherry tomatoes to freeze and process later! My favorite quote today from my daughter was “wow the sauce actually taste like tomatoes! I mean like jar stuff doesn’t really taste like tomatoes when it comes out!” 😂

08/31/2022

Help! We just got back from vacation and man the girls didn’t miss a beat! Eggs available! $4 dozen!

08/14/2022

I think they have begun to like my reading time as much as me! Pull up a seat and sit ladies! There is a peacefulness to sitting outside with these gals.

07/11/2022

Can’t wait to see these ripen all the way! They truly are a beautiful work of natures abilities . ‘Black strawberry’ tomato from .