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As we were honored to be asked to keep the first web site up date to the "How We Live" feature in the Farm and Ranch Living Magazine this year
I've included the Homesteading Gathering week here along with some pictures. The best laid plans of mice and men sometimes go awry
well, that
was our motto this week! The high point each spring here at Beulah Land is the Homesteaders Gathering and this year we were down to the wire Saturday, June 8 was it. The list I'd devised two weeks ago was set by
the way side as other chores pressed in. The green beans couldn't wait to be canned (3 canner loads); the broccoli had to be frozen. My garden had no regard for the to do list at all. Don't get me wrong, I'm very
grateful for the produce, it's the timing that was less than desirable. Despite all, we were (almost) ready to go on Saturday morning when the homesteaders started driving up. I would have been lost without Cindy, who
flew in from Mass. just for the Gathering. We had a pretty tight schedule planned for the Gathering
- 10:00 10:30 - Meet and greet
- 10:30 Sun ovens self-demo with chickens in the ovens; Horse shoes ready to go! Plant swap
- 10:45 - Cheese making demo Debbie Burns
- 12:00 Barn and gardens tour
- 12:30 set up lunch
- 1:00 2:00 lunch
- 2:00 Weaving demo with a floor loom Steve & Deb Casey
- 3:00 hoof trimming and basic goat care Cindy St. Pierre and Debbie Burns
- 4:00 tool sharpening Steve Casey
- 5:00 meat chicken raising John Burns
- 5:30 goat milking Debbie Burns
- 6:00 exodus and crash!!
What an exciting day it was! 22 people were here from all over Texas (and Mass!) in various stages of homesteading. Some were just now moving to their dream homestead, some had not yet made it and some were in the
full throes of homesteading activity. I believe everyone took home a new spark for their own dreams as well as new ideas for the future. I know I learned a lot about geese and guinea from others who had grown them
before these are new to us so it was great getting first hand knowledge. On the sign in sheet I asked participants to write in "You know you're a homesteader when
" Steve Casey filled his in with "you know the
name of the sheep your sweater was made from." Steve brought a sweater his mother had knit in an intricate cable pattern from yarn he had washed, carded and spun from a raw fleece. It was a wonderful example of a start
to finish homesteading project. The weaving demo he conducted really brought to light the old saying "cut out of the same piece of cloth" to me. The old sayings lose a lot of meaning with modern technology. John's
meat raising information and demo was right on target as many of the homesteaders were interested in raising meat chickens. He had everything set up as we would on butchering day the scalding table and pans, the
electric plucker and he went through the whole process, from day old chicks to dressed birds in the freezer. Every minute of the day was packed but there was no rest once the crowd left feeding and milking had yet
to be done along with clean up. I was very grateful for the ones that stayed afterwards to help. A rat snake (the second this week) in the nest box greeted me when I went to collect eggs an exciting ending to an
exciting day. Both met their end in a timely fashion - like we said, never a dull moment! |
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