Spring's in full swing!



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.

Spring days, Country ways, and a Wedding


 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.




Wild winds and Winter white








Well, we woke up this morning to a beautiful little blanket of snow on the ground, much to our surprise.

Just two nights before we had an incredible storm move through leaving it's twisting path behind.

We have somewhere between 30 to 50 trees down in a tangled mess on the ridge just about 400 yards behind our house.

We are very thankful to the Lord that nothing but trees and fence lines were down and that no people or animals were injured.

On the bright side of the storm is, we'll have plenty of fire wood for next winter and canning season.

            The newest {and prettiest} addition to the farm, a two year old palomino filly!

She's a little muddy, but she'll clean up nice. We have not named her yet and she is only halter broke- so we have our work cut out for us this spring.  Fun work!  :)



                                                                Fleck in the snow.

                                                      We got our birdhouses in a row.

                                              Enjoying the morning sun with Maybelline.

                                          Beautiful snow on some cedar trees.
By the way, we wanted to let y'all know that our Specialty Soaps, Homesteaders Soaps and Rolling Pin Recipe Card Holders are on sale while supplies last, so drop by www.homestead-blessings.com