Simple Skills for an Ordinary Home

About A Bit More Homemade

A Bit More Homemade is a place for learning practical, time-honored skills in a way that fits an ordinary modern home.

You do not need acreage, a perfect kitchen, or an all-or-nothing routine. Whether you have a backyard, a patio, a balcony, or one sunny window, there is a version of this that fits your home. You can begin with one loaf of bread, one raised bed, one jar of jam, one useful project, or one small change that makes home life feel more thoughtful.

The goal is not to do everything the old-fashioned way. It is to become a little more involved with the food we eat, the things we make, and the way we care for our homes—one useful skill at a time.

Hello, I’m Jennifer

I’m learning alongside you from a suburban Michigan home. I do not have a large homestead or generations of experience doing everything from scratch. What I have is a growing appreciation for useful skills, familiar ingredients, seasonal rhythms, and the satisfaction of making something with my own hands.

Faith, family, and a desire to care well for what we have shape the way I approach this work. For me, a more intentional home is not about perfection. It is about paying attention, learning gradually, and choosing the homemade option when it genuinely serves the household.

How This Began

The change started in the kitchen. Making a familiar loaf of bread at home led to learning sourdough. Extra strawberries became homemade jam. A first raised-bed garden brought tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, herbs, green beans, cabbage, and plenty of lessons.

When the garden produced more cucumbers than we could use at once, preserving became the next skill to learn. Homemade bread led to more from-scratch meals. The garden led to cooking with the harvest. One project naturally opened the door to another.

None of it happened all at once, and not every attempt went perfectly. That is an important part of the story. A Bit More Homemade grew from discovering that meaningful change can begin with one manageable step.

You don’t have to do everything. Just start with something—and make your home a bit more homemade one change at a time.

What You’ll Find Here

A Bit More Homemade is organized around six practical ways to bring useful homemade skills into everyday life.

From-Scratch Food

Dependable recipes, breads, meals, sauces, and useful staples made with familiar ingredients.

Garden to Table

Raised-bed gardening, useful crops, herbs, seasonal planting, and practical ways to cook what you grow.

Preserving

Jams, refrigerator pickles, fermentation, freezing, canning education, and other ways to save seasonal food.

Homemade Swaps

Realistic alternatives for familiar foods, household items, and everyday routines.

DIY & Handmade

Useful projects, simple crafts, garden builds, and things that are worth learning to make.

Intentional Living

Using what you have, simplifying routines, honoring what matters, and making ordinary home life more meaningful.

Practical, Honest, and Carefully Reviewed

I want A Bit More Homemade to be warm and encouraging without pretending that homemade living is effortless or perfect. When I share firsthand experience, I will identify it honestly. When a topic requires research, I will look to current, authoritative sources and explain the guidance in clear, practical language.

Safety matters—especially with canning, fermentation, food handling, gardening products, and tools. I will not claim that something has been tested, verified, or proven when it has not.

Start With Something

Make one meal. Grow one herb. Preserve one jar. Learn one useful skill. Then decide what would serve your household next.

Visit Start Here Browse Recipes

Have a question, correction, permission request, or business inquiry? Visit the Contact page or email contact@abitmorehomemade.com.