Hey Everyone!
   Thanks be to God we are all fine and safe after the big storm and flooding in our area! It just happened that we have been out of town this past weekend and actually missed the storm, although our farm did suffer pretty badly as well as others around us. A tornado came through our valley early on Sunday morning, taking down some trees but no houses were lost. The flooding has done much damage to our farm, but our animals are all just fine and dry. Because of roads being out we have been delayed in getting back home, but hopefully tommorrow we will be able to make our journey back. We are praying for those in Nashville and other surrounding areas as they began to rebuild and recover from this devastating event.
                                                                            Blessings,
                                                                              The West Family

We truly understand the saying, “Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise”! I remember one spring day, a few months after we just moved here, attending the small local church and hearing the preacher say these very words; “We will all meet here next Sunday, Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise”. He meant it! Every word, because the creek is liable to rise real fast if we’ve had a lot of rain. We are so sorry for the folks who have had hard times from it! Some lost horses, many of our neighbors lost their crops of watermelon and corn, and the top soil off their fields which is quiet a loss. We are still grateful for the much needed rain. Our neighbors will plant again what they lost and the sun will shine again soon!
Blessings to your Homestead,
Vicki

Well, we got our rain Mama wrote of. It started on Tuesday afternoon and continued on and off for the rest of the week. Yesterday morning we woke to find our lovely little creek that gently flows through our front yard to be a mighty raging river pouring out of its banks. Our foot bridge that goes over the creek was swept sideways and covered with water and debris, but we pulled it out with a 4-wheel drive truck and got it to higher ground. The little dirt road we live on became a nice sized flowing creek, and a few places where there were coverts got completely washed out, leaving big holes impossible to drive around. Several corn fields and watermelon patches were washed out, taking all the nice top soil with it, leaving big gravel bars behind. The old timers are saying this is the biggest flood we’ve had in this area since ‘91. Through it all, we managed just fine and things will be back to normal soon. With all this rain, everything has turned mighty green and our garden has grown a lot with the past week. It’s almost like you can watch it grow! But along with the peas, potatoes and lettuce, the weeds are popping up everywhere! I fully understand the term, “growing like a weed”. It can be very hard to keep up with them!
Yesterday I noticed the green beans are coming up in the garden. We’ll be picking our first crop at the first of June most likely. There will be “green beans in the garden”!! Our Nubian/Boar goat, Magnolia, is due to kid sometime this month. It’s exciting to think we’ll have fresh milk and little baby goats jumping and running around the place. Magnolia was born on this farm two years ago and this will be her first time to kid.
The blueberry bushes are blooming and there are little peaches on the peach trees. We are expecting a good crop of apples from our orchard on top of the hill this year. The strawberries are ripe and ready to pick, thus beginning the long canning season. This month we’ll put up strawberries and green peas most likely.
I have been busy sewing the past week. Making dresses, skirts and aprons from patterns (first time I’ve really used a pattern) from the 1860’s era. I love to sew (and wear!) these clothes, it’s like your stepping back in time. We can relate so much to the old days because we live very similar to the way everyone did then. We even sew on a treadle sewing machine like the folks did then!
Well, I best be ending this essay and go fix some buttermilk biscuits and gravy for dinner. Ya’ll take care now!
A Rambling Farmgirl,
Cecilia
West Girls Buttermilk Biscuits
4 cups unbleached white all-purpose flour
8 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
Mix these dry ingredients together. Add just enough lard or coconut oil to make flour mixture like course cornmeal. Then add just enough buttermilk to make soft biscuit dough. Roll out 1 inch thick and cut with regular canning jar ring or biscuit cutter. Bake at 400 degrees until lightly browned on top. Makes around 12 biscuits