The Fountains of Carrots Podcast

      We are thrilled that Ann Marie Heasley of one of our favorite design blogs, White House Black Shutters, joined us for this episode! In our conversation with Ann Marie, we chatted about decluttering the space in our homes and how it’s possible to simplify with small children in the house. We also picked Ann Marie’s brain about how she nourishes her own creativity while balancing her role as a mother. So listen in to hear all about clean counter envy, a healthy perspective on beautiful pictures on the internet, and more! Mentioned in this episode: 40 Bags in 40 Days The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo How a Family of Five Got Rid of Half Their Stuff: Carrots for Michaelmas To connect with Ann Marie: * blog – White House, Black Shutters * facebook – White House, Black Shutters * Ann Marie on twitter * Ann Marie on Instagram Come hang out with us! * The Fountains of Carrots Raspberry Cordial Social Club on Facebook (our Facebook group) * Connect with Haley on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and her blog * Connect with Christy on Facebook, Instagram, and her blog You can listen to us on iTunes, and we’d love a quick rating or review. If you have an android device we’re also on Stitcher. And as always, you can find all links, show notes, upcoming guests, and listen to all episodes at Fountains of Carrots.com. Disclosure: This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

  Who doesn’t love talking baby names? We both love talking baby names and today we have the Catholic baby naming expert Kate Towne of Sancta Nomina with us to indulge in the whys and hows of baby names from a Catholic perspective. We discuss the value of the Catholic tradition of naming our children, Kate gives both Haley and Christy a name consultation based on their children’s names, and we chat a little about Catholic hipster names and trying to get our husbands to go along with our name loves. It’s a fun episode that’s sure to get your mind spinning up new names for all your possible future children.   Mentioned in this episode: Sancta Nomina The Baby Name Wizard Behind The Name   Connect with Kate: * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram   Come hang out with us! * The Fountains of Carrots Raspberry Cordial Social Club on Facebook (our Facebook group) * Connect with Haley on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and her blog * Connect with Christy on Facebook, Instagram, and her blog You can listen to us on iTunes, and we’d love a quick rating or review. If you have an android device we’re also on Stitcher. And as always, you can find all links, show notes, upcoming guests, and listen to all episodes at Fountains of Carrots.com.

  We thought it would be fun to choose a book we both had been wanting to read forever and have you read-along with us! Today we’ll be discussing Wendell Berry’s Hannah Coulter; a poignant telling of one woman’s life. This is a book about love, not just that found in marriage, but the love of family, community, and the land. We found there was much to discuss from Berry’s work and we hope that you enjoy it whether you’ve read the book yet or not. Don’t forget we’ll be in our Facebook group discussing this great story, come join us! Mentioned in this episode: Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry Jayber Crow Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (discussed in this previous podcast) Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis (discussed in this previous podcast) Through the Shadowlands   Come hang out with us! * The Fountains of Carrots Raspberry Cordial Social Club on Facebook (our Facebook group) * Connect with Haley on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and her blog * Connect with Christy on Facebook, Instagram, and her blog You can listen to us on iTunes, and we’d love a quick rating or review. If you have an android device we’re also on Stitcher. And as always, you can find all links, show notes, upcoming guests, and listen to all episodes at Fountains of Carrots.com.

  Today we’re happy to have Emily Stimpson on the show. Emily is a renowned Catholic writer, speaker, and author who has recently begun sharing her wonderful recipes, hospitality tips, and home decor ideas on her new blog, The Catholic Table. We thought she’d be the perfect guest to discuss the importance of food as a sign and symbol of God’s love and it’s inherent connection to the Eucharist. We also have a great time talking about hospitality; why it matters and why we should make it a priority in supporting the community around us. Emily talks about her 100 year old home and how she’s discovered her own style and why bringing beauty to your home is a spiritual practice. We have a lovely conversation that’s perfect for this time of year when we think of hosting, cooking, and taking time to treasure our loved ones, we hope you enjoy it! Links to Emily’s posts we talked about today: Sometimes You Just Need To Eat Cheesecake…And Other Important Truths About Food Good To Eat: How I Said “Goodbye” to Anorexia and “Hello” to Cheese A Window to God: Five (Affordable) Ways to Bring Beauty Into Your Catholic Home Let’s Get Personal: Making Your Catholic Home “Your” Catholic Home   Where to find Emily: * The Catholic Table * Emily’s speaking and writing website * Facebook * Twitter   Emily’s books: These Beautiful Bones: An Everyday Theology of the Body The American Catholic Almanac: A Daily Reader of Patriots, Saints, Rogues, and Ordinary People Who Changed the United States

We’ve been looking forward to chatting with author, blogger, and podcaster Cari Donaldson for ages! And it was even more fun than we imagined. We asked Cari all about her family’s recent move from suburbia to an old house with plenty of land and what life is like on their new-to-them homestead. There was also some fangirling about a few of our favorite TV shows: the respectable and the embarrassing. And we finished things out by chatting about the challenges of raising large families. Cari is awesome and we know you’re gonna enjoy all she has to share! Mentioned in this episode: Cari’s homestead (first floor house tour and garden tour) The Walking Dead (read Cari’s recaps here) Firefly True Detective   Cari’s book: Pope Awesome and Other Stories   To connect with Cari: * blog – Clan Donaldson * blog – Ghost Fawn Homestead * Ghost Fawn podcast * facebook – Clan Donaldson * facebook – Ghost Fawn Homestead * Cari on twitter * Cari on Instagram * Ghost Fawn Homestead on Instagram * Ghost Fawn Homestead on Twitter Come hang out with us! * The Fountains of Carrots Raspberry Cordial Social Club on Facebook (our Facebook group) * Connect with Haley on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and her blog * Connect with Christy on Facebook, Instagram, and her blog You can listen to us on iTunes, and we’d love a quick rating or review. If you have an android device we’re also on Stitcher. And as always, you can find all links, show notes, upcoming guests, and listen to all episodes at Fountains of Carrots.com.

In this episode we had the pleasure of interviewing the wonderful Nancy C. Brown about one of our favorite topics: the Harry Potter series. Nancy is the author of The Mystery of Harry Potter: A Catholic Family Guide and The Woman Who Was Chesterton (about G.K. Chesterton’s wife Frances). We had a nerdfest sharing about our love for the books. We discussed how they can be positive for both the moral imagination of the child and for family bonding and we examined some of the Catholic themes in the series. We also went into some of the concerns parents have about the series. If you haven’t read the Potter books and aren’t sure if you want to share them with your children, I highly recommend reading Nancy’s book. She covers every concern I’ve seen raised about the books, so definitely start there to discern whether they’re right for your family! Mentioned in this episode: Harry Potter! Lepanto by G.K. Chesterton Nancy’s books: The Mystery of Harry Potter: A Catholic Family Guide The Woman Who Was Chesterton To connect with Nancy: * blog * podcast Come hang out with us! * The Fountains of Carrots Raspberry Cordial Social Club on Facebook (our Facebook group) * Connect with Haley on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and her blog * Connect with Christy on Facebook, Instagram, and her blog You can listen to us on iTunes, and we’d love a quick rating or review. If you have an android device we’re also on Stitcher. And as always, you can find all links, show notes, upcoming guests, and listen to all episodes at Fountains of Carrots.com.

      Today we’re happy to have author, blogger, master of the new media, and content director for Word on Fire, Brandon Vogt. He’s here to discuss Pope Francis’s visit to the United States and to hash out the things you’ve seen in the media and on your Facebook feed with what Pope Francis really said. We recorded this episode last Thursday, so only two days into the Papal visit, but we think we touched on a lot of important themes from the Holy Father’s visit. We have Pope Francis fever and we know if you do too you’ll enjoy this episode!   Mentioned in this episode: Brandon’s new project, Help Them Return Robert Bishop Barron’s Word on Fire Catholic Ministries Brotherhood of Hope Pope Francis’s address to Congress A little bit more about Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton Christy’s post on Dorothy Day’s autobiography, The Long Loneliness.  Pope Francis responds to reporter, “…if they want me to recite the Creed, I can!” Highlights from Bishop Barron’s World Meeting of Families keynote speech The Onion articles: Pope Francis Reverses Position On Capitalism After Seeing Wide Variety Of American Oreos and Pope Francis Kills 3 Hours Milling Around Atlanta Airport During Layover To D.C. Brandon’s favorite Catholic news sources: John L. Allen, Jr. on Crux, National Catholic Register Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato si’   Brandon’s books: Saints and Social Justice: A Guide to Changing the World The Church and New Media: Blogging Converts, Online Activists, and Bishops Who Tweet To connect with Brandon: * website * facebook * twitter  Come hang out with us! * The Fountains of Carrots Raspberry Cordial Social Club on Facebook (our Facebook group) * Connect with Haley on Facebook,

    Today we’re back with the second part of Mary’s incredible story of her daughter Courtney’s life. Mary shares with us the details of Courtney’s final days on earth, complete with profound moments of grace. This is a beautiful testament of the power of faith and that death does not have the final word. We hope that you are moved by Mary’s story. Please head over to Mary’s blog to read more about Courtney and if you feel so moved donate to helping pay down the Lenaburg’s medical bills with the Paypal button on the sidebar of Mary’s blog. We know that any amount you could give would be a huge blessing to Mary’s family. #lovealwayswins St. Courtney, pray for us! To connect with Mary: * blog  * instagram * facebook * twitter  Come hang out with us! * The Fountains of Carrots Raspberry Cordial Social Club on Facebook (our Facebook group) * Connect with Haley on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and her blog * Connect with Christy on Facebook, Instagram, and her blog You can listen to us on iTunes, and we’d love a quick rating or review. If you have an android device we’re also on Stitcher. And as always, you can find all links, show notes, upcoming guests, and listen to all episodes at Fountains of Carrots.com.

      We are thrilled to be talking to the amazing Mary Lenaburg in this episode. Mary is the blogger behind Passionate Perserverance and she has an incredible story to share about her family’s journey and her daughter, Courtney. We have followed Mary for years and the way she shared the sorrows and joys of parenting a child with special needs has inspired us so much. Mary is also an engaging storyteller and we just know you’re going to be moved by what she has to share. We’re publishing Part One of Mary’s story this week, so check back next Tuesday for Part Two! To connect with Mary: * blog  * instagram * facebook * twitter    You can listen to us on iTunes, and we’d love a quick rating or review. If you have an android device we’re also on Stitcher. And as always, you can find all links, show notes, upcoming guests, and listen to all episodes at Fountains of Carrots.com.

      We’re back! After a long summer break (mostly due to Haley’s cross country move and two month road trip) we are so excited to be podcasting again. This week we shared all about our summers! We recapped the Edel Gathering 2015 and Christy’s obsession with the American South. We chatted about our Fountains of Carrots whirlwind pilgrimage to Flannery O’Connor’s farm in Milledgeville, GA. And Haley’s family’s crazy American road trip and new life as her husband Daniel begins his farming internship in Texas. We probably shouldn’t have talked about bear attacks and compost toilets but….we did. And we invited all our listeners to join us in the FoC Facebook Group where we chat about books, discuss ideas for episodes, and have a lot of fun. It’s called the Fountains of Carrots Raspberry Cordial Social Club. Basically it makes it easier for us to share with you since Facebook doesn’t like showing posts from pages unless we pay them money.   Haley’s posts about the road trip: Our Secrets to Keeping Kids Happy on a Long Road Trip Why You Should Take Your Kids to Caves, Monasteries, and Fancy Hotels A Pioneer Girl Wannabe’s Dream Come True And Haley accidentally said that the amazing Ultimate Healthy Living Bundle is available Tuesday, but it starts Wednesday, oops! It’s a brief sale full of oodles of amazing resources (including Haley’s husband Daniel’s eCookbook) for a super low price and there’s over $200 worth of bonus offers including free essential oils, credit and Mrs. Meyers soap from ePantry and more! Be sure to check it out before it disappears.   Links to the bundle are Haley’s affiliate link and at no additional cost to you, a portion of the sale will support her family. Thanks so much! And P.S. Haley is turning 30 this week and celebrating with a Facebook party and some giveaways! So if you want to party in your PJs on Wednesday night (9:30 EST) just head over to the Carrots for Michaelmas Facebook Page! You can listen to us on iTunes, and we’d love a quick rating or review. If you have an android device we’re also on Stitcher. And as always,

    We’re talking about them on our new book swap episode! Today we’ll be exploring Greek myths and Victorian poetry in our latest book swap selections Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis and Possession by A.S. Byatt. We discuss the beautiful imagery of faith in C.S. Lewis’s masterwork, then toss around ideas of feminism, sexuality, marriage, and creativity with A.S. Byatt’s Possession. We hope this conversation makes you want to pick up these books if you haven’t read them yet, and if you have, we hope you’ll join in the discussion! We’re also excited to introduce The Fountains of Carrots Raspberry Cordial Social Club – a Facebook group dedicated to fostering cultured conversation and making friends with fellow Fountains of Carrots Podcast listeners. We will be hanging out there on Facebook and hope to hear from you and have great discussions online. We’ll also share upcoming episodes, topics, and ideas as well as hear from you and what you would like to hear on the podcast. We hope it’ll feel like we’re all having coffee together on Facebook, so come on over!     Mentioned in this episode:  Possession by A.S. Byatt Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis Beauty and the Beast Gilead True Detective Haley’s crazy road trip. The upcoming Edel Gathering Missed the past book swap episodes? See them all here.   You can listen to us on iTunes, and we’d love a quick rating or review. If you have an android device we’re also on Stitcher. And as always, you can find all links, show notes, upcoming guests, and listen to all episodes at Fountains of Carrots.com.  

    We are thrilled that we get to share this awesome episode featuring our friend Kendra Tierney. Kendra is the author of A Little Book About Confession for Children and the voice behind the wildly popular blog Catholic All Year. She is also homeschooling mom extraordinaire and is about to welcome her eighth baby to their home in sunny California! We had a great conversation about how to use social media, avoid Instagram envy, respect our kids’ privacy, and protect our children from inappropriate content on the internet. Kendra also shared some great tips for aspiring bloggers! Related post to what we talked about today: Haley’s post on Instagram Envy. Kendra’s post about what she loves to see on a blog.   To connect with Kendra: * blog  * instagram * facebook * twitter    You can listen to us on iTunes, and we’d love a quick rating or review. If you have an android device we’re also on Stitcher. And as always, you can find all links, show notes, upcoming guests, and listen to all episodes at Fountains of Carrots.com.

  We thought it would be fun to talk about what you want us to talk about, so we’re answering all your questions in this episode! We got a lot of questions about mommy-hood, like how we try to turn around a bad day, make it through the witching hour before dinner, and how to make mom friends. We also discuss how to get involved with your parish when you’re in the season of life of having only little kids and babies, as well as a bit about how to approach motherhood when you’re unsure if you’re ready. We hope you’ll enjoy our sometimes rambling answers to the questions you asked, because we had a great time answering them!   Things mentioned in this episode: Matilda Colleen Duggan’s post On Motherhood, Cultivating Our Own Interests, and Accepting Ourselves Upcoming books for the next book swap  episode: Possession by A.S. Byatt  and Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis   You can listen to us on iTunes, and we’d love a quick rating or review. If you have an android device we’re also on Stitcher. And as always, you can find all links, show notes, upcoming guests, and listen to all episodes at Fountains of Carrots.com.

      Today we’re so pleased to have Dr. Michael Foley with us talking about the wonderful Catholic connections between wine and drink and celebrating the saints of the liturgical calendar.  Dr. Foley’s new book, Drinking with the Saints, combines the saints of our Church calendar with appropriate cocktail recipes, wine selections, or beer recommendations. It’s a beautifully designed book that makes the lives of the saints easily accessible as well as having the makings of a great cocktail party. In today’s episode we talk about the Catholic attitude of moderation when it comes to consuming alcohol, the sacramentality of wine and alcohol, how we can celebrate the liturgical year with easy drink recipes, how Dr. Foley decided on which saints to include in the book, as well as how tough a job it was creating and testing hundreds of cocktail recipes. This is a great episode for the faithful beer and wine enthusiast, or anyone who may be interested in learning more about the saints of the liturgical year. Things we talked about today: Drinking with the Saints: The Sinner’s Guide to a Holy Happy Hour (makes a great Father’s Day gift!) You can find more information on Michael Foley, including links to his articles around the web, at his website. One of Dr. Foley’s other books: Why Do Catholics Eat Fish on Fridays?: The Catholic Origin to Just About Everything Connect with Drinking with the Saints: * website * facebook You can listen to us on iTunes, and we’d love a quick rating or review. If you have an android device we’re also on Stitcher. And as always, you can find all links, show notes, upcoming guests, and listen to all episodes at Fountains of Carrots.com.

  We’re thrilled to welcome co-founder and style editor of Verily Magazine, Janet Easter to the podcast this week. We’re both huge fans of this groundbreaking women’s magazine that champions beautiful, real women with positivity and class. Today Janet shares with us how her own personal conversion (or re-version) to the faith contributed to coming up with an idea for a women’s magazine. We also talk about how Verily stands out from the crowd of other women’s magazines by not using photoshop on their models, respectful discussion of relationships, and viewing the woman as a whole person. Then we chat a little bit about fashion and summer trends you might be adding to your wardrobe soon. This is a great listen, we know you’re going to love hearing from Janet! Things we talked about today: Verily Magazine Janet’s recent article, Create Your Own Capsule Wardrobe with Just Sixteen Pieces Janet’s top five spring and summer fashion tips: chambray shirts, striped shirts, midi skirts, florals, and one-piece swimsuit. Questionable fashion trends: culottes and high-waisted jeans Stitch Fix You can read all Janet’s style articles here. To connect with Verily: * website * instagram * facebook * twitter * pinterest You can listen to us on iTunes, and we’d love a quick rating or review. If you have an android device we’re also on Stitcher. And as always, you can find all links, show notes, upcoming guests, and listen to all episodes at Fountains of Carrots.com.