Hello world!

Welcome to Cobblestone Fiber Designs! I am so glad you are here to join me on my journey. I’ve started this blog to help hold myself accountable, but also to share my struggles and triumphs along my path to my dream life. Together we will learn about sustainable practices, returning to simpler, old practices, getting creative, motherhood, and the ultimate dream of owning and operating a locally sourced farm shop.

Hi, I am Ashli. I am a mother of Scarlett (4), Declan (2), and Renley (9 months). I own Cobblestone Fiber Designs (CFD) and have been in operation since 2015. To be honest, CFD is more like an expensive hobby than a business which I want to change. I have my real estate license in New York state (2024) and hope to make a successful career out of helping others find their perfect home. And, because that is not enough already, I currently work parttime on the weekends at the USPS delivering mail and packages.

That’s a lot, isn’t it? I’ve always thought I am never doing enough until recently. Earlier this year I came across The Good Enough Mompeneur podcast which has opened my eyes. I am enough, I am certainly doing more than enough, but I still have a dream I am super passionate about that I want in my life. And so, taking advice from the podcast, I am getting started.

This week I spent a lot of time dreaming about what exactly I want my future to look like and how I want my life to go. And I discovered I am still passionate about living off my own property, returning to old homestead skills, making beautiful things, and selling them to others to enjoy.

I hate working away from my kids, I hate working in cooperate America and I really don’t like having a boss, which has motivated me to carve out my own life.

Last year (2024) I took a step in the right direction. I am obsessed with Realtor.com and so I took the New York State Sales Person course and passed the license exam on my first attempt, while pregnant with Renley. I joined Howard Hanna and then Renley was born and real estate quickly went to the back burner while I adjusted to mom of three life.

Of course life continues to happen even when you’re recovering from a birth of a child. Bills were increasing and we were beginning to struggle, which forced me back into the workforce working around my husbands schedule because we cannot afford daycare for 3 kids. Heck, I quit my career position with the post office in 2023 when Declan was born because we could not afford daycare for 2 kids, so 3 is definitely out of the question.

To be frank, I enter survival mood after Declan was born in 2023 and only recently started to come out of it. The last two years I have been in a dark place, just pushing through each day and I do not want to continue that pattern. I am ready to get uncomfortable, stop making excuses and just start taking baby steps towards my dreams.

And here’s the fun part.

I am no longer allowing other people’s opinions deter me.

There is more to life than going to work and paying the bills. I want a more natural life, closer to nature with my kids. I want to see them running barefoot outside picking blueberries off the bush as they run by. I want to be able to walk outside and grab the vegetables I need for dinner or some fresh eggs for breakfast. I want to teach my kids how to grow their own food. I want to be able to be creative and make functional, beautiful things.

I want a life away from plastic. Not only am I allergic to something in plastic, I believe plastic is terrible for the world in general. I want to return to organic, natural materials for clothing and everyday needs.

So what does that mean for this blog? What will you find here? Why follow this journey? What’s in it for you?

There’s so so so much I want to share with you. Here’s a list of a few of the things I want to learn about and share with you:

• Homesteading – how to get started homesteading in any setting, rural, suburban, or urban
• Gardening – growing your own food again in any setting, rural, suburban, or urban
• DIY projects
• Mom life – surviving each phase as the kids grow
• Uplifting, you are enough, creating a schedule that works for you
• Sustainable living practices and how to incorporate them into your life
• Old fashion skills
• Small business skills

My hope is this blog will grow and change with me. Who knows where we will go and end up? Good things are about to happen. Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter so you don’t miss what I am up to, or any of my new creations.

So please, come follow my journey. Join me on this adventure called life, and let’s make a beautiful tomorrow, one tiny step at a time.

~Ashli