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Homestead Blessings DVD Super Giveaway!!
>29 January 2010

Remember when I told you all about these new DVD’s I’d just discovered, The Homestead Blessings Collection, and how I really really wanted them?? Well, lucky me was blessed with the Six DVD Collection for Christmas!

Can I just say… I love the West Ladies! They remind me of my visits with Adelia. I think it’s cute that you can tell these are just “down home” women, not hired actors playing a cheesy part. Their videos are full of great tips on everything homemaking!

The titles include: The Art of Gardening, The Art of Bread Making, The Art of Canning, The Art of Candle Making, The Art of Soap Making, and The Art of Herbs. And Franklin Springs has just released two new DVD’s to go along with the series,

Just setting here not feeling to well today. First our youngest boy was sick then the wife got it then they decided to share it with me. I sure wish they were more selfish. They are feeling better now which I am glad of. I hate to see little ones sick. They are back at learning as of yesterday (We home school). Anyone out there looking to home school should check out Rod & Staff Curriculum it is put out by the Mennonites and a very good curriculum we have used it for years and been very pleased with it. This year we kept having people tell us about another curriculum so we ordered it and started off the year with it, big mistake. A few months into the school year we ordered the curriculum we should have started with (Rod & Staff).

I have studied the Amish and Mennonites way of life for years and think it is great. My wife and I have talked about maybe someday looking at moving to an Amish or Mennonite community. We are currently looking at an Amish farm for sale in Kentucky. We took a trip this past summer to look at some places. We went to Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio (Home of Lehman's). We found Kentucky to be the friendliest and to be the least populated.

I am now also looking at the Quakers. I am interested in learning about their way of life also. Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow so I can share some links to a few Blogs that I really Like.

Raining, Raining, Raining, It started raining last night and is still raining, the photos below are of the creek that runs through my back yard. The creek is normally about 3 feet wide with about 1 foot of water, this is the first time I can remember seeing it overflow and I have lived in this area all my life. I need it to quit raining for awhile so I can start getting my garden ready to plant. I'm not complaining because it is sent by our heavenly father, just wishing for enough time to get some veggies growing. Date on photos not correct they were taken 1-24-2010.

Today was a cold & damp day. I have been getting ready to start some seeds indoors with peat pellets. I have also been on the internet looking at some info on Quakers (Friends) I found a few sites that I really like 2 of which are www.conservativefriend.org And http://quakerthink.blogspot.com . I have been interested in the Amish & Mennonite way of life for many years and I am looking forward to learning about the Quakers.

Now just a little bit on my thoughts. Wishing we had about 200 acres of land with our house in the middle, a well for water, no electricity (except for Solar, Wind or Hydro), plenty of chickens, goats, cows, horses, honey bees, a few green houses about 3 to 5 Acres of garden, a couple hundred fruit trees, a few Pecan trees and grape vines.
I would like for our family to be totally self-sufficient on land we own.

Our wonderful dog Snickers.

This is 2 of my children and their raised beds


















This photo shows some of the fruit tree, Peaches, Plums, Apples, Figs, Blueberries and others. (I need to get busy prunning)








This is my garden spot, some of the fruit trees are in the background. I am ready for a break in the rain so I can get the garden tilled and ready for lettuce, Carrots, Onions and several other good things.










Our home sweet home

Relaxing, sitting here looking through my Lehman's Catalog. If anyone is interested in simpler living products check out their site www.lehmans.com I have been a customer since the 1980's and they have many different types of things Wood Cook stoves, Hand cranked ice cream makers, hand operated mills (Flour, Corn), Hand operated water pumps, Gas Refrigerators, Gas lights & lanterns and many many others items. They are always very friendly.
I am glad to see some warmer weather, hopefully this weekend I can do some garden preperation work. Get the chicken pen and coop finished so we can get the chickens, the sooner we can get them the sooner we can get fresh eggs!!

Oh well we were supposed to get between 1 & 3 in of snow today, we got a few snow flakes some sleet and a good bit of rain, it is still raining. Looks like the weatherman missed it this time but they do the best they can (Only GOD knows for sure what type of weather we will get before it gets here) and we all know after it gets here. Going to be a cold night and tomorrow it is only getting into the upper 20's with single digit wind chill #'s. I am not looking forward to being outside all day, but we must do what we have too. Lets all pray for the homeless that are out in this!!!!!!!!

Worked outside most of the day, it was really cold out there, as I am posting this it is 20 F and still falling. Will be even colder tomorrow and I already have 5 service calls lined up, got to get everyones heaters going. I just keep thinking about all the homeless people out in this and the ones that don't use their heat because they are on a fixed income and can't pay the high fuel bills.
Well I am hoping to get all my raised beds & other garden planned out this weekend so I can get my seed orders in, but if it comes to planning or getting people heat I guess the planning will have to wait.

Hello,
It is a COLD day here in Chilton County, Alabama 38 F with a wind chill of 31 F. I have recieved my seed catalogs so I am going through them seeing what I will plant this year. I have some old favorites that I will plant, But every year I like to try something different, not sure what it will be this year. I have about 352 Sq. Ft. of raised beds, about 1 acre conventional, & 10 hanging buckets. Last year the hanging buckets did not do well, I had tomatoes in 7 of them & Cucumbers in the other 3. The 1st year I had good results with them, So 1 good & 1 bad year, I think I will try some this year and decide if it is worth continuing.
We are also improving our chicken pen and coop as the last chickens my son had the foxes ended up with 29 out of 30 so we are puting netting over the top, 4 ft. chain link around the bottom (Along with the chicken wire), and making the coop so he can gather the eggs without going into the pen ( We use our chickens for eggs only) we don't kill anything other than snakes. The pen is 50 Ft. X 50 Ft. and we let them free range the whole property during the day.
We have about 100 fruit trees Peaches, Plums, Figs, Pears, Apples, Blueberries, Pomegranate, & necterines. (The deer probably get 1/2 but oh well they have to eat also).
We are thinking about getting some milk goats and use the milk for cheese, soap, & of course drinking we have not made a final decision on this yet, we are still gathering information on the facilities needed for milking, bedding, & the pen size we will need, We have about 7 acres total and would like to use about 6 acres to raise stuff to feed our family of 4 and to make some income.
I am looking forward to getting my potato's, Cabbags, Lettuce, Carrots & other crops into the ground in the coming months. Hope to be ready for more chickens around the 1st of March.
If anyone has suggestions on a crop I might like to try let me know ( last year it was purple & stripped tomatoes) I normally order from Baker Creek Seed. also if you raise goats I would like to hear your experiences. I am always willing to learn so all comments and advice is welcome and will be read.