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Homestead Blessings

Willing Hearts & Helping Hands

2/10/2016

8 Comments

 
Hello Everyone!!
 We hope you all are doing well and staying warm this winter! So excited today that the web server decided to cooperate with our internet provider.... for the last 2 months we couldn't post a blog from home at all- thanks for being patient as you wait for updates! Thank you all so much for all the encouraging words and kind comments! We love to hear from y'all and when we think about the prayers and help we have received from you, we are humbled & send up prayers of thankfulness & blessings on you all!!!
We have had a few beautiful days and were blessed to be able to get a lot of work done inside and out of our new little home this past Saturday!! Yeah! 
  Two friends and neighbors came and pulled boards from tin from an old building and they did a great job. The tin and boards needed to be cleaned up and out of the way for our future garden projects and we will use the old barn tin roof for a well house roof. There should be enough two by fours and other reclaimed wood from the old building for the frame of the well house.
 A friend Steve and his son worked on the window trim, they used the reclaimed wood from the old barn, he called it Shadow Box, its really nice they did a great job as you can see by the pictures-hope to get better shots soon!

 We have lots of exciting ideas for planting this spring! We will be starting from scratch on this little home place as it hasn't been cultivated or planted in many years!!!
 I started a small compost on the new garden site- we put our kitchen scraps in a bucket covered with a lid & take it every time we go to work on the house & empty it into the circle of welded wire. On days we don't have scraps we add leaves, paper or manure, sometimes cardboard as worms love it! A few weeks back, I saw my red wigglers (a type of earth worm) in the compost! Yeah!
 
Since we haven't got our water system going yet, we set empty barrels and buckets out under the roof of the house & barn, we didn't need to wait long for rain here in our middle Tennessee!  Wow did they fill up fast!!! With just one good rain we had more than enough water for watering plants, putting out fires, washing hands and other various needs!! We are so grateful for the rain! Can't wait to make soap with this soft water! We hope to use mostly rain water for watering the garden this summer and its wonderful for washing you're hair too!
Many of our herbs have already been moved to the raised beds we made at the new home place, some are still in buckets and pots, they seem to be hanging in there!

 We have set up the campfire so we can make coffee, tea and vittles to have something warm on these colder days while we are working on the little homestead.
We are so thankful for all the work that has been done on the inside and outside of our house- it's been a real blessing!
We have a ways to go - but are closer than we were! Moving-in day will be exciting!!!

Here are a few pictures we thought you might like, as you can see the garlic is coming up!  Its a small patch for us but, hey, it's a start!!! Come June we should be harvesting beautiful bulbs of garlic!

Well, need to get these pictures on for y'all!



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Watch out!!! Cecilia's got the nail gun!!
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She's pretty good at this! Hubby's helper- he cuts the board she nails it!!!
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Shadow box window trim with barn wood!
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The coffee's on! We love our stainless steel percolator- we've had it for over 20 years- & also use it for teas! Another off-grid blessing!
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& now it's hot!!!
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Scrubbing the last of the pine boards!!!
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See the garlic? The rain barrels & tubs are under the porch roof on the right!
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Cecilia made this tiered skirt on our treadle sewing machine & passed it on to Mamma- she loves it!!!
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Removing boards from an old roof- the tin & wood will be used for the new well house.
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Tools are battery powered or we use the old generator!
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So thankful for willing hearts & helping hands!!!
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  Don't you love Mamma's outfit- learn all about making aprons & tiered skirts on The Art of Sewing DVD! It's still on sale along with other DVDs & books.
Thank you all again for caring, praying and all the encouragement you've given!

Many Blessings,
Vicki
8 Comments

Update on the new Homestead

2/3/2016

6 Comments

 
Winter has finally arrived here in Tennessee! We were beginning to wonder because the weather had stayed so mild for so long into the season. But last week we got a beautiful snow that covered everything in a white blanket of glory. 
We had a blessed Thanksgiving around a long dinner table laden with fruits from the harvest and surrounded by friends and family!
Work still continues on the new Homeplace...  we have had a few hang ups, and snags, and unforeseeable weather issues, but with help from neighbors, friends and family we are pressing on and are starting make a bit more headway now!!  
We are so grateful to the owner of the camper for graciously extending our time in it a little longer and also to the very kind folks who have extended our stay on their property as well! Lord willing things will be progressing more quickly over the next few weeks on the finishing up of our new home as we are hopefully anticipating our move into it!!! 
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In the mean time the crops still have to be put in the ground and new raised beds need to be built at the new homestead for the future spring/summer garden! Check The Art of Gardening Homestead Blessings DVD for more on gardening tips and how-to's
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Here Mom is preparing a bed to plant garlic in...
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And here Jasmine is setting the bulbs in the soil...
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Come May/June we will hopefully be harvesting beautiful, delicious garlic!! 
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On the evening of December 23rd several tornados swept through parts of Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee. We are so extremely grateful to the Lord for keeping us safe that night!! A tornado {which later measured to be an EF-2}  came down through the valley that night and wrecked havoc on the tiny farming community we currently live in. Many roofs were gone, trees down everywhere, and a couple of metal buildings were completely annihilated, including the one that we had almost all of our earthly goods and possessions  stored in.
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But thank the Lord!!! The tornado which was headed straight for the camper and our neighbor's trailer home, swerved and missed us by yards hitting the storage building instead.
There was a lot of damage and lost- but amazingly there were several things that were unhurt including things that were fragile and glass!
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We cannot express enough how grateful we are that the Lord had mercy on us all  here in the community that night. We pray for those who lost loved ones that night and our deepest sympathies go out to them.
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Tomorrow is a new day and we are hoping to get a good bit of work done on our home. This is the kitchen, nearing completion little by little!
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And this is the master bedroom... isn't it just beautiful with all the wood and tin ceiling!! I can just see it now with muslin curtains framing up the windows and hand woven rugs on the wood floors! Oh! we have been very blessed!
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Over the weekend Tyler and Cecilia came to help work on the house! It is always great to see them and visit and hang out while we all work together!
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                Tyler is showing Cece where to put the next board on one of the bedroom walls.
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                                                                   Cece helping her man!
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This is the beautiful shadow box window trim some friends of ours did on the windows and door frames using reclaimed barn wood that came off an old building here at the home place!  
    We are so very grateful to everyone who has donated time, resources and monetary gifts to our new home!! We could not have come this far without the blessings that have been bestowed upon our family! As with any ongoing building project there have been many unexpected costs, so we are grateful to those who continue to donate through the donate button on our home page!
We will keep y'all posted as things continue to progress and once again our blessings and gratitude to all!! 
                                                                                              - The West Family at Homestead Blessings

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    Learn the principles of cooking from scratch.This book will also help you be able to create recipes & substitute ingredients in others.
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