Simple Farmhouse Life | Book Review

This new book, A Simple Farmhouse Life by Lisa Bass, is beautiful, useful, inspiring, and one to treasure.  I’d like to tell you all about it!

When I finally received this book I purchased, one that I have anticipated for a long time, I knew I wanted to tell you all about it!

A Simple Farmhouse Life by Lisa Bass of the blog Farmhouse on Boone, is a book I know you will enjoy. It is full of simple inspiring tutorials and ideas for creating a handmade life you can be proud of.

Topics include everything from handmade items for your home, kitchen, garden, for your body and natural cleaning essentials.

I was able to open up the pages and find projects to start right away. Our windows are covered in construction dust still, so I determined first to try Lisa’s glass cleaner, made from natural ingredients I already had on hand.

Flipping through the pages, I enjoyed a moment of extreme delight for a friend, knowing what trials and sacrifice came in the creation of this book. How even more delighted I was to see my name and testimonial make it to her back cover!

Now while this book is a treasure trove of beautiful ideas for the Farmhouse life, I feel inclined to write a bit about the author herself, my dear friend Lisa.

Lisa’s success in her family life and business has been something I have thoroughly enjoyed observing and watch grow. I might say, “I knew her when” her blog was just a baby and she was just getting started.

I wonder if she ever imagined the huge influence she would make on the lives of so many as she began sharing her passions and giving viewers all over the globe a glimpse into her “simple farmhouse life”.

If you are able to get this book into your hands, or check out Lisa’s blog and popular YouTube channel – I want you to consider these 5 traits I’ve observed in Lisa, that have contributed to her incredible success.

I know you’ll find her projects inspiring, but it’s who she is that inspires me most.

5 Traits that Contribute to Success

Relatability

Every once in awhile, I’ll text Lisa and tell her about what I call “My Famous Friend” moments.

One time, a sweet young mama with armfuls of kids showed up to my door to buy the items I had listed on Facebook Marketplace. We were moving once again and this time into an RV. A lot of stuff had to go.

As she sifted through my items, she remarked, “This stuff reminds me so much of this YouTuber I love”. I laughed inside, because I already knew who she was talking about.

I said, “Let me guess, Lisa – from Farmhouse on Boone”. She exclaimed, “You watch her too?!”. To which I couldn’t help myself and said something to tune of “Oh yes, we are real life friends.”

This sweet gal couldn’t believe it and asked if I was that friend Lisa talked about whom she visited in Utah. Yes, that was me. (wink)

This girl knew nothing of what I did, but spoke about Lisa and her projects like she was her best friend. I found myself amazed at how relatable Lisa is, even in her online presence.

More recently, I found myself in an antique shop looking at a hutch piece for my new home. I was asking the store worker about it, and she said, “this reminds me of something a gal I watch on YouTube would put in her home”. Again, I smiled and said . . . “Farmhouse on Boone?”.

The sweet lady was shocked! I watched her “friend” too?! She enthusiastically continued to talk about Lisa’s amazing kitchen reveal and how she appreciated that it didn’t look like something out of a sales magazine, and how real it was.

She also told me that she thinks she is the one that named her newest baby, as “Daniel” was the name she suggested when Lisa was talking about picking names for their 6th child.

Again, I stood in amazement at how relatable and real Lisa was for folks all over the world.

Her ability to connect with others and show up as a “real life person” to anyone in front of the screen is something I admire deeply. In a world governed much by follower counts, perfection and worldly perception – Lisa is a breath of fresh air for many.

Persistence

If you haven’t followed Lisa’s book journey, it is a story of persistence. I believe it was a couple years back that Lisa got her first book deal and was busy busy creating all the content.

She had called and chatted with me about what it was like writing a book. I had a small leg up on her, having just published Master the Electric Pressure Cooker Cookbook with my sister Marci. I told her the need for an attorney to look over her contract, helped her rephrase some sewing instructions and told her it was going to be amazing! That’s all she needed from me 😉

My heart sank when she later sent me a text telling me the publishing company she had signed on with just dropped her book. She was almost done with the entire manuscript . . . and they dropped her without any reason.

Can you even imagine the devastation?!

But here I have this beautiful book in my hands, and that is because Lisa did not give up. She was persistent, and found another publishing company to help her bring this beautiful gift to the world, after all.

I’ve watched her bust through other setbacks and challenges, with a strength and determination that is nothing short of admirable.

Passionate

My husband always reminds our kids, “Passion breeds excellence”.

Lisa first grew leaps and bounds on Instagram, as she shared mostly her handmade home decor and remodel of their old Farmhouse on Boone. She once commented to me that seeing how I was able to branch out and begin sharing recipes and other non-home decor posts on my blog was something that set her free.

It was when she opened up her entire Farmhouse lifestyle, full of made from scratch recipes, natural body care solutions, and all about raising her 6 kids – that folks drew to her in masses. She has since skyrocketed past my TIDBITS, and I couldn’t be more proud of her!

She is so passionate about the simple, natural, and full of love life that she lives, that sharing it is so instinctive.

Her passion for what she teaches is contagious. As I mentioned on my back of book testimonial, she has an ability to inspire the reader to action – like I’ve never witnessed before.

She is passionate about learning, and isn’t afraid to try anything new. Well, she might be . . . but that doesn’t stop her! Her passions have led to her and her family achieving their dreams and goals and making her blog their single source of income they get to all work on together.

Vulnerable

We were in Waco together, staying at a dinky Airbnb for our little excursion before a blog conference. Lisa had just started getting some growth on her YouTube channel and was telling me that I really needed to do video!

Our little late night chat made me a little sick to my stomach – because I hated video! Especially being in front of the camera. I am a photographer and much prefer being behind the lens.

Lisa continues to shows me that being vulnerable, putting yourself out there for whatever criticism may come, will only help you grow.

Doing hard, scary things that may not come natural can only help you become better, both personally and professionally. I know she has given many bloggers the courage to come out from behind their camera and try to connect with their readers on a whole new level – myself included (check out my little YouTube channel). I believe she can also inspire you to do what scares you, and see massive personal growth.

Consistent

Did you know that it is really hard to put out consistent online content? Every week I find myself with big ambitions to write a blog post at least 2 times a week, and a video at least once a week. But life, motherhood, and other things tend to prevent me from those goals.

I’ve heard Lisa be asked several times, “How do you do it?”. Her response rings in my ears . . . “It’s my job. I just do it.”.

Her job is to show up consistently and reliably and she does it! Even with pregnancy’s, newborns, product launches and so forth.

She is consistent in her work and I believe that has been a huge contributing factor to her amazing growth and success!

More importantly, she is a consistently nice, genuine person – online, in real life, and with her family.

What you see is what you get, and you can’t help but love and adore her for it! Don’t you love people like that?!

Grab your copy of Simple Farmhouse Life, visit Lisa’s blog and YouTube channel, read more about her book, and be prepared to be hooked on Farmhouse on Boone! (If you are not already).

Thanks for reading and supporting “my famous friend”!