I want to thank (from the very bottom of my heart–would that be my right ventricle?) the two amazing designers who took the time and energy to enter the first ever Feeding the Soil header redesign contest. Both Sebrina and Olivia are super-talented, friendly, responsive, creative women, and I am so honored and flattered that they entered my little contest.

I felt bad after I learned that the design community frowns upon contests. Fortunately, Sebrina and Olivia each had their eye on a different prize, so I was able to reward them both for their effort. Additionally, while the winner gets free advertising as long as I’m using her

I’m elated to introduce you to our first Feeding the Soil sponsor ever. Everyone, please meet MontessoriHouse, the Etsy shop that provides access to information about how to do Montessori in the home. MontessoriHouse, please meet some of the coolest and most insightful folks I know.

As a certified Montessori teacher for ages 6-9, I knew that I wanted to implement Montessori in the home. However, getting my hands on exactly how to do that has been so, so difficult. There’s a book that shares how to set up your home for an infant, but it’s very dense and not always as clear as possible.

I’ve been blogging since 2007, but I’ve been reluctant to jump on the sponsorship bandwagon. So much of what I started blogging about over at 2000 Dollar Wedding was the importance of putting our time, energy, hearts, and minds into something other than the predominant consumer culture. And I very much support the ad-free blog movement.

But lately I’ve started taking a more honest look at our situation. We have been living on one income since February, so I can take care of Henry all day and take giant steps toward my goal of opening a public, Montessori charter school in Austin.

And just when we cut our income