My adventure with cooking on a wood stove started years ago when the children were still very young.  We had just bought a wood stove at an auction to save money on our heating bills (that was before we were totally off the grid like we are now) and that little stove put off great amounts of heat.  I remember being so proud about being able to start my own fires!  Well, that stove top was so hot that we put kettles of water on to humidify the air and use for tea water. Then I thought that maybe I could heat up some beans on the stove top, too! Now that was a big hit - heat my house and heat my beans at the same time! Talk about two birds with one stone. Wow, what a stove! So heating beans led to cooking beans, soups, stews and more all on that little wood heater bought at an auction for little or nothing. I loved it and I was hooked on cooking on a wood stove. 

A few years passed and we were able to get a real wood cookstove-a Kitchen Queen.  It is huge, takes about 6 or 8 men to move it, but it is the homesteaders dream of cooking and heating efficiently and frugally.  We love it!  I have been cooking on it for 15 years now and not a season goes by that we haven't used it to its full extent. That stove has been the heart of our home and has done more than heat our house. It has provided warm meals on the stove top, hot bread from the oven, boiled our water for washing dishes and taking our baths, dried our herbs, simmered the tea, raised the bread, heated irons for wrinkled clothes, baked our beans, baked our pies, melted bees wax for our candle making, dried our clothes, warmed new born puppies, chicks and more! Most of our recipes have been tested and tried on our cookstove, but they have been written in a format easily used for any type of stove you may have, although, if you have never tasted food cooked with wood the old fashioned way - boy, are y’all missing out.   There is definitely a delicious difference in the taste.

Find this, and other stories, in our Homestead Blessings Cookbook!
Also watch Homestead Holiday Pies to see us using our wood heat oven.

Y'all stay warm!
 Vicki for Homestead Blessings

After many months {possibly years} of writing, editing, cooking, editing again and finally off to the printer- we are so excited to annouce that the Homestead Blessings Cookbook is now available at our websitewww.homestead-blessings.com !!! Yeah!!!!

Full of lots of pictures from the homestead kitchen and garden, hand sketched drawings by Mama, stories and tips from the farm and over 150 recipes that are easy, fun and centered around the home and farm.

Recipes for homemade breads,

and Lemon Meringue Pie...

and also recipes for canning pickles, relishes and produce right from the garden!

So gather 'round in the kitchen and open up the Homestead Blessings Cookbook to try new recipes and have some good 'ole fashioned family fun! We hope this book will be a blessing to you and your homestead!

Broccoli harvested last  month

Elderberry flowers that we gather to dry and make tea with in the wintertime

Little kitty taking a nap on the front porch

Jasmine and Julia are working on editing the Homestead Blessings cookbook

Ready for blackberry pickin'?

Black Gold

Believe it or not, this picture was taken at the crack of noon, in the middle of a major thunderstorm. It got so dark in the house that we needed the lamps to see by.

Canning "pineapple" from zucchini, using pineapple juice and raw sugar.

It tastes just like pineapple and you can use it as you would in any recipe calling for pineapple. This recipe is just one of the many handy homestead recipes you can find in our upcoming cookbook!!!

Today we canned green tomatoes, also using the recipe out of our cookbook. As you can see, Jasmine is reading from the sample copy that we just got back form the printers!

The complete, finished Homestead Blessings Cookbook, is coming soon.

Well we have been busy making bread, sewing dolls, cooking maple syrup and getting ready for spring. The air has warmed up quite a bit outside and the spring birds are singing. Speaking of birds, I have had fun taking pictures of robins, chickens and our goats. The goats love to nibble on my apron when I'm taking their picture. They don't hold still either, just jump around and such. :)
We have been working on the cookbook, trying out new dishes and deserts, we'll all have to do a lot of juicing after this!! Hah, hah!
Hopefully we'll have some more pictures up soon . Until then...
                                                                           Blessings,
                                                                                Vicki for the West Family

Well it has been a very busy and exciting summer for us here at Homestead Blessings. Gardening, canning, swimming in the creek, cleaning house, farming, hauling hay and fellowshiping with other like minded believers on the front porch while the sun sank west over the hills. We have had some cooler weather already, a little early this year I think. The other morning we had a fire going in our wood cookstove and it felt so nice and cozy. We are always greatful for fall to come, bringing the cooler beautiful weather and bluegrass festivals in eastern Tennessee. Bluegrass festivals are a wonderful part of our lives and we always look froward to going to them and hearing good music, eating good food and meeting new people. We are currently working on the "Homestead Blessings Cookbook" which will be out sometime this fall, we're hoping. Also coming up soon we'll be filming the next three Homestead Blessings DVD's, so keep an eye out for them. Well,take care ya'll, and may you have many God given homestead blessings!