Well, it has been a long, cold winter, but we stayed cozy and busy in the warm farmhouse and are very grateful for the beauty of spring!  Thought we'd share some with y'all!

Herb, Burdock, breaking through the warm earth.

                                       Yarrow, just beginning. A wonderful homestead herb.

 These make the first fragrant bouquet of the year.

                                                  "Black Gold" from our worm bin.

Worm castings make great amendment for lettuce.

 Sprinkle around the plant.

 Straw or hay mulch helps keep the moisture in.

 Spinach LOVES water!

So water, water, water in well drained soil.

Bluebell about to bloom. We found these in the woods near the river.

Dandelion's yellow petals can be sprinkled on your salads- colorful and nutricious! 

"Johnny Jump-Up's" are everywhere in our garden. These too can be sprinkled on your spring salad. Hope you will take the time this spring to stop and smell {and eat} the beautiful and edible flowers!

Howdy Friends and welcome to Homestead Blessings!
   We have updated and re-created a new look to our blog and hope you all will enjoy taking a browse through and find something new to look at! 
Life has settled into late spring, early summer rhythm, the early garden is prolific with produce and the later crops are coming along nicely. With all the rain we've been having it seems like things are growing over night! The heat has finally hit us though with temperatures in the 90's and humidity rising every day. But there is still a nice breeze through the valley and it brings with it the sweet, sweet aroma of blackberry blossoms, honeysuckle and wild roses. Canning season is just barely around the bend with crops like snow peas, new potatoes, cabbage, and strawberries being harvested now. We've been canning dried black beans and pinto beans that we've had in storage for a couple of years. They have turned out beautifully and we're excited about being able to just open a jar for bean soup instead of soaking and boiling for days. We've got a lot of projects looming ahead of us these next couple of weeks, building an outdoor shower, breaking in the filly, more plowing, and planting field corn and purple hull peas- just to name a few. So with that I'm gunna sign off and go check the canner on the woodstove… Y'all have a blessed day!

The two newest members of our farm, "Quick" and "Quack"

Planting cucumbers

The lovely bluebird couple who lives in the cherry tree

Part of the spring garden, it has grown about a foot since this picture was taken!

Hilling up the potatoes

Planting tomatoes. We have 130 in the ground so far!

Getting ready to cultivate with Shenandoah

Building a drag for plowed ground from an old pallet

Hammering on the "dirt guard"

The drag in use. Hannah is standing on it as Shenandoah pulls.

Our horses in the pasture {of buttercups}

Our pretty little filly

She is the cutest thing, we love her!

We are still trying to settle on a name for her

There's a pretty girl!

Tonto, the handsome horse.

Taking a bike ride on a Sunday afternoon

The elusive cowgirl

Laundry day was hectic, we had an overloaded clothesline so...

we used the barbed wire for the denim. It works great!

The Tennessee state flower

Beautiful bluebells.

 With spring officially here now, we have begun planting and plowing.  These onions are called "multiplying" or "walking" onions, and we have separated and transplanted to another long nice onion row for spring and summer use.

Doing some dirt work here, making it ready to plant potatoes. It may look like a beautiful, warm, spring day, but the wind was strong and frigid.

Discussing where we are going to put the potato rows and giving the horse a break.

 Our handy digging fork, we could hardly garden without it!

We attended the beautiful country wedding of some friends in Alabama.

Bridesmaids in a row, in dresses they sewed themselves.

Groomsmen in their "Sunday best" overalls.

The Bride and Groom

Rye seeds to throw on the newly weds. The seeds are held in a paper cone made from pages of seed catalogs.

Getting ready for the send off!

The Groom's sister.

Always good to visit with some of our dearest friends.

“For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing birds is come…”
                                       Song of Solomon 2:11,12

How true this verse is! For right now, as I sit here typing, I can hear the melodious chorus of birds singing to their hearts content. You know their songs can give us a heads up about the weather if we listen and learn what each song means. For instance, an owl hooting in the woods during the day time, usually means that there is rain coming very soon. Every time I have heard an owl this spring {during  
the day time} we have gotten rain that night or the very next day. Just an interesting fact for you bird watchers out there!   Strawberry season is in full swing right now in our beautiful valley. A couple weeks ago we canned 20 quarts of fresh strawberries, thus kicking-off the beginning of canning season too. And, what could possibly be more delicious than a perfectly ripened-by-the-sun, gorgeous, red strawberry {or bowl of berries} with a cup of raw milk, or even thick, sweet cream?! I don’t know of anything more wonderful than being so blessed as to be able to grow such delectable foods. What a wonderful Creator we have! I was just mentioning to Jasmine the other day as we were planting out the tomatoes, that I think you can enjoy a complete fulfillment of cooking a good meal when you have toiled in the field, sweating, working and praying over the very harvest you hope to prepare for the dinner table someday. It must be the epitome of the “bread winner” to provide by the sweat of his brow, and the essence of the home maker to take that provided harvest and nourish the household with it. 
Growing up in a farming community, we have so many wonderful memories of working in the fields. Of damp, cool, mornings, being out in the strawberry field long before the sun had come up over the hills, on our hands and knees in the straw, picking ripe, little, red jewels from the ever green plants, throwing the rotten ones at a nearby picker, laying on your back and looking at the gorgeous morning sky, and then looking down the long, long, row wishing you were done because the sun had finely gotten too hot and your knees and back were killing you. Of later that day, being in the hot kitchen, washing jars and checking the cook stove fire, and sitting on the porch capping strawberries till your hands and fingers are shriveled like raisins and your finger nails are so stained red that it takes a few days before it is worn off… and then at suppertime that night, when the dessert is served by the ambiance of the kerosene lamp, and the men folk exclaim, “Oh, my, strawberry short cake, my favorite!” it seems like all that toil and hard work has gone with the wind and the satisfaction of a meal well appreciated is the best reward you could ever dream of, even though you don’t ever want to look at a strawberry again in your life. You ever so gratefully and most tiredly climb into your feather bed and are asleep before your head hit’s the pillow and the next morning, you begin all over again refreshed and eager to work through this strawberry season.
   One of the blessings of strawberries is that if you have never canned a jar of fruit a day in your life, these little berries are some of the easiest to learn by. Strawberry jam is super easy, if you can wash dishes and cook a meal, you can definitely learn how to can strawberries!!  I would like to encourage anyone who is aspiring to learn more homesteading skills, or anyone who needs inspiration for the skills they already know, to pick up a cookbook {we just happen to know of real good one at www.homestead-blessings.com} or grab “Homestead Blessings, The Art of Canning” off the shelf {or find it at www.homestead-blessings.com} and be inspired to put up those strawberries, or make that dessert that’s bound to be on your men folks “Most Wanted” list!!  And be blessed as you embrace your calling as the Queen of the your home!

                                                                    Until next time….
                                                                             Cecilia for Homestead Blessings

“A significant part of the pleasure of eating is in one’s accurate consciousness of the lives and the world from which food comes.”
                                                           - Wendell Berry, from “The Pleasures of Eating”

Ps. If you are looking for a great book to read aloud to the family, we would highly recommend “Strawberry Girl” by Lois Lenski. This book was my favorite as a child growing up and I still love it today. It is a fictional story about a family back in the late 1800’s, moving from their home in North Carolina to an old farm in central Florida and growing strawberries as their main cash crop. Full of ole’ timey adventure and farming experiences, it captures the Old South and it’s culture perfectly. If the “Little House” books are on your favorite reading list, you’ll love reading “Strawberry Girl”!

Here are some pictures from a few springs back, Mama in the greenhouse

Hannah driving the team during spring plowing

Chickens are always hungry

A busy farm kitchen at high noon

Picking and grinning with friends under the maple tree

Washing hair in the creek, talk about running water!

Early crop planting- cabbage and brocoli.

We love our good ole' wringer washer!

What better way to end your day than with a farm fresh meal and a family prayer of thanks.

These pictures were taken by John Partipillo, thanks John!