Life on the Elmore Homestead

We were inspired on the name Fiat Five because of Mary's big YES to God.  This is our YES to FIVE boys and our other YES to God to live on FIVE acres. It was not in our plan to be homesteaders, but it was His.  

"By the rock of our Catholic faith we will be messengers of Jesus through laughter, honor, and praise." 

All the boys name meanings are found in our motto:

Isaac - to laugh

Malachi - messenger of God

Peter - rock

Titus - title of honor 

Jude - God be praised 

One of our favorite homestead projects this year was our maple syrup collection.  This was our biggest year yet and got to even sell some at the office.  Not only were they a hit, but our home smells like a candy store while we are boiling the sap down in the kitchen.  

We decided this year to paint and name all of our bee hives.  We picked names of saints that all had to do with bees in some way or form.  The hives names are St. Ambrose, St. John the Baptist, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and St. Fransis of Assisi.  It was fun to refer to the hives by their names, especially when we were eating dinner one night and watched St. Bernard swarm and land on our neighbors' tree! 

Rachel's fun project this spring was making tallow balm from local grass-fed cows.  If you didn't purchase the one that had the added frankincense, then you definitely smelled like you just had a hamburger for dinner.  (She will have to rethink her recipe next year!) 

Although some our harvest pictures look awesome, we always want to tell the truth.  We did not spend much time in the garden this year! Thank goodness for early rain in the season and surrounding all our plants with compost to keep the weeding down, otherwise we wouldn't have much to pick...and we are okay with that! Boys come first...garden is just a bonus. 

We decided that since we kind of knew a little more about raising and butchering chickens, we doubled our order this year to 40.  Well, with the stress of traveling and a few raccoons, we still ended with 20 when it was time to butcher.  I think God knows our limit! 

Kombucha has been the most consistent and refreshing homestead project this year!  The boys especially like the fruits of this labor. Our favorite flavors have been raspberry and blueberry.  When you get that loud "pop" after the second ferment, we know we did a job well done!  

Finally, we did a small barn demo this summer to utilize the space more since this homestead thing is for real.  Jeff is loving his new space! 

Malachi has definitely been our highlight this year.  As many of you know, he is currently healing from Perthes Disease.  Early in 2025 he finally got the clear to run after not running for over 14 months! He was known over that time as "Quarterback Mac" because all he could do when playing with the brothers is throw.  He was thrilled with the clearance and soon signed up for baseball in the spring in which pitching was his favorite position.  He has been consistently working with a personal trainer all year to get the strength back that he lost over his rest period and is working extremely hard at it.

The ultimate gift God blessed him with is that he also got to play flag football this fall.  And what position do you think he was put in? Yes, quarterback.  During his first game when he threw a bomb down the field, Isaac looked at Jeff and said, "Quarterback Mac is back!" Thank you to everyone who has been praying for our little man.  Please continued prayers until all is well.  

As the boys get older, the noise gets louder, the brotherhood gets stronger, the competitions get more intense and they are always growing closer to the Lord. Here are some updates on our amazing boys:

Isaac (11) - Had an awesome flag football season making it to the championship game.  He has been working out with Mac and we can see his hard work ethic play out on the field.  He is still a phenomenal piano player and is currently memorizing Paul Revere's Ride for school and is rocking it (look it up if you don't know it!) 

Malachi (9) - Obsessed with his four animal pelts that he got for his birthday.  His Busia calls him her "Native American" because of his tan skin and intensity for life.  And as he likes to say, "I take that title very seriously." So, you can catch him around the house wearing those pelts as his clothes!  

Rocky (7) - Had a crazy good football season scoring touchdown after touchdown and pulling flags like it was his job.  He is also amazing at numbers.  Next time you see him, throw out any player in the NFL and he will be able to tell you their jersey number and what the score of the game they played in last year against the Eagles! 

Titus (5) - Is having a wonderful school year finding joy in memorizing his poems and math.  He loves going into the woods with his brother Mac and setting traps for animals and going "hunting". We foresee more pelts in our home from this guy! 

Jude Dominic (3) - This boy is still smiling! He has an awesome nerf gun shot and loves to be tackled and chased.  He tells his Mom all day "I love you SO much!" and then he will see a picture of Jesus and say "I love Jesus SO much!" What a joy and light to our family.