from home on magnolia hill
home, farm, & Family
Hello! Welcome to Home on Magnolia Hill and Thank you so much for stopping by!
about me
I wear a few hats in my day-to-day life: wife to Ray (my high school sweetheart), mom to our two boys, & farm mom to our 23 chickens, 4 goats, 2 dogs, and our cat.
I am also the Radiology Department Manager at a rural hospital not far from my home town. I have been in the medical field for the past 15 years and have always possessed a strong desire to help others. Another reason I am beyond excited to have created this blog is, not only as an outlet to share about the things I am most passionate about but, to hopefully help others along the way!
I was born and raised in a small town in the Felicianas of South Louisiana. I feel so blessed to have had the privilege to grow up in a part of the world that, to me, has been so inspiring; rich in culture, access to the outdoors, and deep architectural history....excellent fuel for my personal form of creativity. Click here or here for interesting facts and history about the Felicianas.
I have been a DIYer since my very early years; I’ve been fixing things, building things, creating things, and growing things (plants & animals) as long as I can remember!
Random Facts About Me:
- I love coffee (really, really love coffee), especially pour over.
- I love watching movies in languages other than English, especially German.
- I almost applied to Louisiana State University’s School of Veterinary Medicine.
- I have been drafting to scale (for fun, not professionally) barn & house plans since I was 16.
home
As I mentioned, I started drafting architecture at a young age. By the time I turned 16, I had come to the realization that I had a strong passion for architecture.
This passion for architecture started with barns. I was an avid horsewoman growing up and, hence, was very interested in the structures that housed my most favorite creatures.
Once I started sketching, it wasn't long before I was drafting full plans, which then evolved from barns, to barns with apartments, then house plans.
Needless to say, I have dreamed of building our forever home for more than half of my life. My husband and I have been a couple since I was 16, so we have shared this dream together and have spent many hours over the years drafting, reviewing, and redrafting countless plans.
We started the build of our first home, which we drew the plans for and contracted the build out ourselves, when I was 21 and he was 23. This was our first year of marriage, our first home build, and also the year we started a family. There are no words to explain the wisdom we gained that year! This was also the chapter of my life where I learned I had a knack for home decor. I truly believe it stemmed from my strong maternal nesting character that had developed from being a new mom. Nonetheless, I now thrive in a space where I am able to "make my nest".
And come to find out, dreams do come true! In September 2018 we officially broke ground on the logging of our land; the very beginning of our forever home build. We sold our home in town at the end of March 2019 and moved into our camper on our family land, next to our forever home job site, at the beginning of May 2019. We lived in our camper....4 of us and our Boston Terrier....until we moved into our new home in mid March 2020....and I thought we learned a lot during our first build! We survived and are even closer as a family than ever before!
farm
My maternal grandfather was a beloved veterinarian in Southeast Louisiana. My mother also carried the same traits that expanded her love of animals beyond the typical person's. With that said, I truly believe my love of animals is genetic….it must be! It just doesn’t feel right if I don’t have some sort of farm animal or fur baby following me around.
My first pet was a sweet little kitten named "Frisky"; I was a toddler when little Frisky became part of our family. From that moment on I do not remember a day that I did not have a pet to come home to.
I started horseback riding lessons when I was 7 years old; this was the start of something that hugely influenced the path of my young life. I continued riding and showing horses on into my teenage years.
I was the oldest of four girls, so Dad had taught me at a young age how to maneuver a vehicle and trailer. As soon as I started driving on my own, my love for the farm life really blossomed. I was able to haul my own horses to trail rides with my horse loving friends, find baby goats and chickens in the classified ads, buy them with the money I earned from working at our local veterinarian's office, and haul them home.
I was so blessed to have parents that allowed me to be responsible and run my little farm in town at such a young age. By the time I was ready to graduate high school I had raised, cared for, and trained a colt that I had purchased as a weanling, 50+ chickens, goats, rabbits, ducks, you name it.
I had found my place. The barn.
Jumping ahead to my adulthood....at the end of 2019, as we were wrapping up our forever home build, we decided it was time to share this love of a farm and a barn with our two boys. For Christmas, they received a pair of Nigerian Dwarf goats, Muffin and S'More. This was the start of Magnolia Hill Farm. We have since added Biscuit and Bear, another pair of sweet little Nigerian Dwarf goats, that completed our herd.
We are so excited to be in a place that has allowed us to revive the memories and lessons we shared from time spent at a barn and to be able to share that with our family and YOU!
family
My family is my greatest treasure. My husband, Ray, and I have grown, learned, and experienced so many chapters of life together over our 20 years as a couple. We were married in June 2004, on the front porch of my family's home in Clinton, Louisiana. Click here to see the plantation home where I was fortunate to spend most of my childhood until Ray and I were married. You will definitely see how this home was a catalyst for my love of architecture!
That day, I married my best friend, and little did I know, the best father I could have ever asked for my children. We became parents August of 2006 and had our caboose July 2011.
Our two kiddos have taught us to laugh like we've never laughed before and pulled at our heart strings all at the same time. They grow up so fast and we are just soaking in every single moment the best we know how, which brings me to my "why" for creating Home on Magnolia Hill.
My why
After a whirlwind year of having multiple, large, projects on hand: completing my Bachelor's Degree, contracting out our forever home while living in our camper, pursuing and achieving a promotion in my medical career (all at the same time of course), I began to feel a creative void approaching.
Well, that feeling was accurate. Don't get me wrong, my life as a wife, mother, and healthcare professional are my greatest blessings and truly very fulfilling, but in a different way. My heart and mind have always needed to create things from nothing, revive or repurpose things from brokenness, and to be the hands for something to grow into what God intended it to be.
I have been self taught in most aspects of my life, especially when feeling the need to create, and by self taught I mean found resources on my own in order to learn. In the past, this took the form of books, magazines, and reference materials. Over the years, like most of us, these resources evolved into expert blogs, Pinterest, social media groups, YouTube, and the like.
Around mid-March 2020, when the entire world's lives changed, a light bulb went off for me. I began to ask myself: How can I be a resource for others, as others have been for me? How can I help others, remotely? How can I create, and make a difference? How can I build something that allows for more time with my family?
A blog!! I can create a blog......I can follow the path on which God is leading me, I can create, I can spend more time with my family, I can help people; all things that bring life to my soul.
That light bulb moment led to saturation of any free time I had and currently have with knowledge from some of the most wonderful and talented people in the Home, Farm, and Family blogging community. Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone, Chloe from Boxwood Avenue, and Amanda from Midcounty Journal are top among the many. Not only did they inspire and encourage me to be brave, but they taught me the foundation of a valuable blog for the reader, and the creator.
Along with my intention to be who God created me to be, the support from my amazing husband, and the gumption to share light and all that brings me joy, I created Home on Magnolia Hill.
I hope you feel right at home and experience the happiness that I pour into every post here at Home on Magnolia Hill. I am beyond thrilled to be here and I hope you are too!
