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Demi’s children’s books are at the very top of our list of favorites. We were thrilled when her latest picture book on Mozart was released and may or may not have begged her publisher for an interview. Because we love her. And much to our surprise, she agreed to talk with us! We tried not to fangirl but totally failed and she was ever so gracious. The conversation was an absolute delight.

If you live under a rock and haven’t discovered Demi’s work yet, you’re going to love her art and the gorgeous books she creates. She is an award-winning author and illustrator of over 300 books who lives in Washington with her husband. Many of her books are about famous historical figures including many Catholic saints! While Demi herself isn’t Catholic, she depicts the saints so beautifully and in this interview she shares all about her artistic training at Immaculate Heart College in Hollywood, CA and the inspiring nuns she studied under.

We were absolutely spellbound learning about Demi’s incredible life, the famous artists in her family tree, her artistic process, where she finds inspiration, and most of all her home library of (wait for it) EIGHTY SIX THOUSAND BOOKS! We also enjoyed hearing her thoughts on how children react to art (and create art). Hearing from Demi will make you want to stop, tap into that creative spark, and create something beautiful. We know you’re going to love hearing from her!

Demi’s two newest books:

(links to Amazon.com are affiliate links)

Mozart: Gift of God

Hildegard of Bingen: Scientist, Composer, Healer, and Saint

Books we talked about today:

The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter

How to connect with Demi:

Amazon Author Page

Sponsor:

This episode is sponsored by Telos Art Shop: Modern Design for a Timeless Faith.

Exclusive discount available just for Fountains of Carrots listeners: Use FC10 for 10% off any order!

Gorgeous new Sacred Heart stacking rings are now available from Telos Art Shop! These rings are designed by Jessica of Telos Art and fabricated by a Catholic artisan in Florida. 

In addition to the Sacred Heart rings, the shop offers faith-inspired gifts, jewelry, and liturgical calendars. At Telos Art you will find both popular prayers and vintage medals from all around the world, redesigned for the modern day. 

Sign up for the newsletter to receive a free liturgical calendar download each month, new product updates, and occasional discount codes. Connect with Telos Art on Instagram and Facebook.

Website: www.telosartshop.com

Renderings by 31Four, Inc.

Patreon!

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Head on over to support the podcast as a patron and get access to special episodes available exclusively to patrons as well as to the FoC Slack community!

Come hang out with us!

Haven’t joined in on the fun with 4,000+ other FoC listeners in our facebook group? It’s your direct line to some fantastic folks who also care about faith, culture, books, and whatever our current masterpiece theatre craze might be! Join in with the link below.I

• 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.

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We’re thrilled to have Catholic novelist Eleanor Bourg Nicholson back with us today discussing one of our favorite books of all time: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Eleanor is a wife, homeschooling mother of four, director of religious education at her parish, former assistant editor at Dappled Things and the Saint Austin Review, has previously published a novella entitled The Letters of Magdalen Montague, and she has also edited the Ignatius Critical editions of Dracula, Mansfield Park, and Sense and Sensibility.

In this episode we nerd out on all things Jane Eyre! We start out with the importance of reading the classics and how good books make our souls expand. We also cover the very important questions such as whether Mr. Rochester’s marriage to Bertha was really valid and if he could have gotten an annulment and saved Jane a whole lot of heartbreak. We have OPINIONS! So grab a cup of strong tea and imagine you’re about to embark on a blustery walk on the moor.

Eleanor’s new book:

A Bloody Habit

Remember to use the coupon code CARROTS when ordering any of the Ignatius Critical Editions of the classics we discussed OR Eleanor’s book from Ignatius Press to get 25% off!

Books we talked about today:

Links to Amazon are affiliate links.

Mansfield Park 

Vilette

Jane Eyre

Great Expectations

Hard Times

A Christmas Carol

Wide Sargasso Sea

About Ignatius Critical Editions

Our past episode with Eleanor: Delving into the Mind of a Catholic Novelist

How to connect with Eleanor:

• Facebook

Thanks again to Ignatius Press for sponsoring today’s episode! What better time to read or re-read the classics than summer? Use coupon code CARROTS to get 25% off the retail price of the Ignatius Critical Editions, including classics such as Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, Dracula, and Wuthering Heights. Each title includes footnotes as well as critical essays from Catholic writers and academics, including today’s guest Eleanor Bourg Nicholson.  See the full list of titles at IgnatiusCriticalEditions.com or search by title at Ignatius.com. Ignatius Press is also extending this discount to Eleanor Nicholson’s novel, A Bloody Habit. Use coupon code CARROTS at checkout. Offer expires August 31. 2019.

Patreon!

Do you love FoC and want to help us keep doing what we’re doing (and more!)? Well, we have just the thing for you! Our Patreon is finally up and running so listeners can support the work we do.

Head on over to support the podcast as a patron and get access to special episodes available exclusively to patrons as well as to the FoC Slack community!

Come hang out with us!

Haven’t joined in on the fun with 4,000 other FoC listeners in our facebook group? It’s your direct line to some fantastic folks who also care about faith, culture, books, and whatever our current masterpiece theatre craze might be! Join in with the link below.I

• 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.

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Colleen Carroll Campbell is a journalist, former presidential speech writer, author, speaker, wife, and mother of four. Her new book, The Heart of Perfection, brings the common struggle against perfectionism to light by offering personal stories and wisdom from the lives of the saints who were recovering perfectionists.

Today we chatted with Colleen about the hidden ways perfectionism sneaks into the spiritual life, how the saints have been there before, and how we can learn from the saints’ wisdom and lives in combatting perfectionism in ourselves. We also explore how perfectionism takes it’s toll on how we see God and his plan for us. It was great to talk about the distinction between God calling us to holiness not perfection, and how we can live that out.

We think you’ll enjoy Colleen’s insight and experience in our conversation!

Links for this episode:

(This post contains Amazon affiliate links)

Colleen’s brand new book:

The Heart of Perfection

Colleen’s other books:

My Sisters the Saints: A Spiritual Memoir

The New Faithful: Why Young Adults Are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy

How to connect with Colleen:

• Colleen’s web site
• Facebook
• Twitter

Patreon!

Do you love FoC and want to help us keep doing what we’re doing (and more!)? Well, we have just the thing for you! Our Patreon is finally up and running so listeners can support the work we do.

Head on over to support the podcast as a patron and get access to special episodes available exclusively to patrons as well as to the FoC Slack community!

Come hang out with us!

Haven’t joined in on the fun with 4,000 other FoC listeners in our facebook group? It’s your direct line to some fantastic folks who also care about faith, culture, books, and whatever our current masterpiece theatre craze might be! Join in with the link below.I

• 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.

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The moment we met (in real life) today’s guest, Mary Lenaburg, hugs abounded. After following Mary and her beautiful story for years, we felt like she was already a dear friend. After you hear today’s episode, you’ll feel like you know her, too. She’s just that wonderful.

Mary is a speaker, author, wife, and mother of two. Her new book, Be Brave in the Scared, offers wisdom about giving God control over our lives as Mary shares the story of loving her daughter, Courtney, from birth, through medical nightmares, during years of caring for her special needs, and the holy beauty of finding joy and being drawn to Jesus through it all. With vulnerability about dark times in her marriage and her relationship with God, Mary sheds light on rejecting shame and accepting God’s grace and will for our lives. You can’t have a conversation with Mary and not laugh, cry, and feel encouraged and inspired to love more deeply and follow Jesus more closely.

In this episode we talk about the terror we feel over facing the fact that we’re not in control of our lives. Thankfully, God is in charge and not us, but it takes being pushed completely out of our comfort zones to accept this truth. We know you’ll love this conversation so grab a cup of tea and enjoy!

Links for this episode:

Our first episode with Mary (and part II).

Mary’s brand new book:

(This post contains Amazon affiliate links)

Be Brave in the Scared

How to connect with Mary:

• Mary’s web site
• Instagram
• Facebook

Patreon!

Do you love FoC and want to help us keep doing what we’re doing (and more!)? Well, we have just the thing for you! Our Patreon is finally up and running so listeners can support the work we do.

Head on over to support the podcast as a patron and get access to special episodes available exclusively to patrons as well as a FoC Slack community!

Come hang out with us!

Haven’t joined in on the fun with 4,000 other FoC listeners in our facebook group? It’s your direct line to some fantastic folks who also care about faith, culture, books, and whatever our current masterpiece theatre craze might be! Join in with the link below.I

• 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.

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Blythe Fike is a thing of beauty and a joy forever. We love any chance to chat (and laugh) with Blythe. By the end of this episode you’ll want her to be your life coach, I promise. (She’s not a life coach, you’ll just wish she was, and that she was taking on new clients, and that one of the clients was you.)

Blythe is a blogger at The Fike Life, wife to Kirby, and mom to eight kids. She lives in sunny LA in a fantastic mid-century home. Blythe has a great conversion story and is full of love for her Catholic faith.

In this episode we talk about everything from being bad at prayer to finding God in the daily tasks He puts in front of us. We discuss the importance of having an eternal perspective and how the heck it’s possible to love God more than we love our kids. We felt so inspired by talking with Blythe and we know you’ll love the conversation!  So if you’re ready to laugh, and maybe cry, grab your cup of coffee and enjoy.

Our first episode with Blythe (also with a title about pants!)

How to connect with Blythe:

• Blythe’s blog
• Instagram
• Facebook

As we mentioned in the episode, Haley’s new ebook about motherhood releases May 1st (Wednesday!) as part of the Ultimate Homemaking Bundle. To be sure you don’t miss the sale, head on over with Haley’s author link and enter your email address to be notified when the sale goes live!

Patreon!

Do you love FoC and want to help us keep doing what we’re doing (and more!)? Well, we have just the thing for you! Our Patreon is finally up and running so listeners can support the work we do.

Head on over to support the podcast as a patron and get access to special episodes available exclusively to patrons!

Come hang out with us!

Haven’t joined in on the fun with 4,000 other FoC listeners in our facebook group? It’s your direct line to some fantastic folks who also care about faith, culture, books, and whatever our current masterpiece theatre craze might be! Join in with the link below.I

• 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.

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Links to books in these notes are Amazon affiliate links.

We live in a hookup culture that fears authentic intimacy above all else. What kind of problems does that cause in marriage? And how can sacramental marriage heal those wounds? That’s what we’re talking about in this episode with Dr. Timothy O’Malley, author of Off the Hook: God, Love, Dating and Marriage in a Hookup World, the book we wish would be used EVERYWHERE for marriage prep.

Tim is a husband, father of two, and the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life as well as academic director of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy. He and his family live in South Bend, Indiana.

In this episode we discuss how married sex can be overemphasized as the center of married life, how the true nature of marriage is communion and deep friendship, and how raising children fits into everything. We also chat about misconceptions about marriage we have personally suffered from and how a Catholic view of marriage as two people helping each other to Heaven differs from the cultural concept of marriage as achieving personal fulfillment. It’s a great conversation so grab a cup of coffee and listen in!

Tim’s book:

Off the Hook: God, Love, Dating and Marriage in a Hookup WorldT

Connect with Tim:

• Notre Dame’s Church Life Journal
• Twitter
  

Patreon!

Do you love FoC and want to help us keep doing what we’re doing (and more!)? Well, we have just the thing for you! Our Patreon is finally up and running so listeners can support the work we do.

Head on over to support the podcast as a patron and get access to special episodes available exclusively to patrons!

Come hang out with us!

Haven’t joined in on the fun with 4,200 other FoC listeners in our facebook group? It’s your direct line to some fantastic folks who also care about faith, culture, books, and whatever our current masterpiece theatre craze might be! Join in with the link below.

• 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.

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Can a Catholic be a feminist? What does a Catholic feminism look like? We’re tackling some of these big questions in this episode with the wonderful Samantha Povlock. Samantha is a Catholic mom and Notre Dame grad working in project management in downtown Chicago. She’s also the founder of the popular online community FemCatholic. The first FemCatholic conference, which was wildly successful and inspiring–you gotta check out their speaker lineup!–wrapped up just a couple of weeks ago. We’re so jealous of everyone who got to attend!

In this episode we discuss how our economy and cultural attitude toward families make life difficult for women. We also talk about challenges facing working moms and we dive in to the issues of feminism and the Church. There’s a lot packed in to this episode so grab a cup of tea and listen in!

Links to what we mentioned in today’s episode:T

The FemCatholic Conference 2019

Connect with Samantha:

FemCatholic

Patreon!

Do you love FoC and want to help us keep doing what we’re doing (and more!)? Well, we have just the thing for you! Our Patreon is finally up and running so listeners can support the work we do.

Head on over to support the podcast as a patron and get access to special episodes available exclusively to patrons!

Come hang out with us!

Haven’t joined in on the fun with 4,000 other FoC listeners in our facebook group? It’s your direct line to some fantastic folks who also care about faith, culture, books, and whatever our current masterpiece theatre craze might be! Join in with the link below.

• 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.

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Lent is upon us! We have some great lenten episodes about the hows and whys of observing Lent in the archives, but we wanted to do something a little different for this year’s Lent episode. Then we had the brilliant idea to have Tolkien aficionado Kaitlyn Facista join us to to help us bring wisdom from The Lord of the Rings to our lenten journey!

Kaitlyn is a Catholic wife and mom and when she’s not spreading joy on Catholic Twitter, she’s sharing a love for Tolkien’s work through the lovely online community she created: Tea with Tolkien. She also hosts a podcast of the same name.

In this episode we discuss the challenges of Lent and how drawing from Tolkien’s themes can inspire us in our lenten journey. We chat about what we can learn from the fellowship in LOTR and their mission, how having companions on the journey enriches our lenten experience, and why even seemingly insignificant small acts can be powerful. Kaitlyn is a delightful guest, so grab a cup of tea (or a brew from the Green Dragon?) and enjoy this episode!

Links to what we mentioned in today’s episode:

(links to Amazon are affiliate links)

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien

A Lent of the Lord of the Rings: Reading Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Over the Season of Lent

Kaitlyn’s book:

To Middle-Earth and Back Again

Connect with Kaitlyn:

• Kaitlyn’s Tea with Tolkien web site
• Twitter
• Instagram

Patreon!

Do you love FoC and want to help us keep doing what we’re doing (and more!)? Well, we have just the thing for you! Our Patreon is finally up and running so listeners can support the work we do.

Head on over to support the podcast as a patron and get access to special episodes available exclusively to patrons!

Come hang out with us!

Haven’t joined in on the fun with 4,000 other FoC listeners in our facebook group? It’s your direct line to some fantastic folks who also care about faith, culture, books, and whatever our current masterpiece theatre craze might be! Join in with the link below.

• 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.

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Every so often we like to do an episode with just the two of us to answer some of the questions we get frequently from listeners. Today we’re covering….drumroll….MARRIAGE! It was Valentine’s Day when we recorded and considering how we are indeed the queens of romance (har har) we got to talking about love, marriage, and all that mushy stuff. We try to keep things real and honest.

We’re hoping that all our single listeners don’t run straight for the convent after listening to this episode. (Or maybe that was our plan all along…increasing those religious vocations!)

In this episode we talk about the ups and downs that all marriages go through, what mindset shifts have helped us in embracing our vocation to marriage, and how we’re awful at romantic gestures but we’re pretty sure they aren’t what really matters in a committed relationship. So grab a cup of coffee and enjoy!

In this episode we talked about:

(Link below is an Amazon affiliate link.)

Paris, je t’aime

When a mentally absent spouse is apportioned a third of a marriage: Elizabeth Scalia for Word on Fire

Patreon!

Do you love FoC and want to help us keep doing what we’re doing (and more!)? Well, we have just the thing for you! Our Patreon is finally up and running so listeners can support the work we do.

Head on over to support the podcast as a patron and get access to special episodes available exclusively to patrons!

Come hang out with us!

Haven’t joined in on the fun with 4,000 other FoC listeners in our facebook group? It’s your direct line to some fantastic folks who also care about faith, culture, books, and whatever our current masterpiece theatre craze might be! Join in with the link below.I

• 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.

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After reading an inspiring piece by Brandon McGinley about a vision for the future of the Church, we knew we needed to have him back on the podcast to unpack some of those ideas. Brandon is editor of EWTN publishing and he also put together a great book about Catholic fatherhood titled The Joys and Challenges of Family Life. He lives in Pennsylvania with his lovely wife and three kids.

In this episode we discuss how the parish landscape has changed dramatically, especially in urban areas, and how faith life is different now that not everyone can walk to their neighborhood parish. With urban parishes closing or merging, is there hope for urban parish life? What can lay people do to create community in an isolated society and what can parishes offer that’s distinctively Catholic? We also cover how offering beautiful liturgy, prayer, and the sacraments is what will truly attract young people as well as the importance of welcoming and cherishing small children attending Mass. We cover a lot of ground and have a great time tossing around some weighty ideas so grab a cup of coffee and join us!

Links to what we mentioned in today’s episode:

Brandon’s article: America’s Catholic enclaves have vanished. But I can imagine a beautiful future: Catholic Herald

Our first episode with Brandon: The Challenges and Joys of Catholic Fatherhood

Our second episode with Brandon: Attracting with the Transcendent: Why the Beauty of Catholicism Speaks to the Heart

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Brandon’s book:

The Joys and Challenges of Family Life

Connect with Brandon:

• Brandon’s web site
• Twitter

Patreon!

Do you love FoC and want to help us keep doing what we’re doing (and more!)? Well, we have just the thing for you! Our Patreon is finally up and running so listeners can support the work we do.

Head on over to support the podcast as a patron and get access to special episodes available exclusively to patrons!

Come hang out with us!

Haven’t joined in on the fun with 4,000 other FoC listeners in our facebook group? It’s your direct line to some fantastic folks who also care about faith, culture, books, and whatever our current masterpiece theatre craze might be! Join in with the link below.

• 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.