Around the Homeplace

Ahhh...rain! We needed it so badly! I'm sitting here listening to it fall outside and I am so thankful! Our water comes from a spring that gets pumped up from the bottom of the ridge we are on. If there isn't rain for awhile, our cistern gets very low and on Monday night we had no water! Okay, I admit...I did 4 loads of laundry, a load of dishes, bathed the dogs, the kids, myself, and my hubby got a shower...all of this on top of watering the garden with the hose the night before! That's a lot of water usage in one day and I usually spread things out a bit more than that! Anyway, God has chosen to bless us with a full cistern and a watered garden today and we are very thankful!

I thought I'd share a few pictures with you from our home:

This is our place. On the inside, there are exposed 200 year old beams that were removed from a barn in Virginia that was built when George Washington was president! The floorboards were hewn from trees on our property and are rough and natural...nothing shiny in this place. We like it rustic!

Here is where we eat dinner most nice evenings. You'll also find me here in the mornings having coffee and reading my Bible. The kids love to do school lessons out here when the weather is cooperating. It's very peaceful!

This is the inside of our chicken house. My hubby and my dad just built it back in June when our chicks were big enough to leave the kitchen.

This is Deitrich. He's a great looking rooster, but he's not very nice! He likes to pin the hens down and peck at them. I think he will be the first to grace our freezer!

This is Oswald...he is the low man in the coop and is always being chased by the hierarchy...poor guy!

And here are a couple from our garden. I was jumping up and down when I found these two pumpkins and a zucchini!

This is the pumpkin/squash patch. We also had some watermelons in the middle, but they didn't do well so we tilled them under. You can see the chicken house/yard in the background. We have since taken the fence down and they free-range now.

Here's the other half of the garden. This year we planted corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, green peppers, and jalapenos. We've eaten several meals of green beans and harvested a couple of jalapenos, but the japanese beetles have infested our corn and the chickens have eaten the tomatoes...looks like some pest control and a fence will be necessities for next year! You can see our compost bin behind this section.

Hope you've enjoyed a quick tour around our place. It's not much yet, but we've only lived here for a year. We have big plans for more animals and a bigger garden next year! Plus, we have about 3 or 4 acres of flat area we can raise hay and wheat on. Then, hubby will have an excuse to buy a tractor!

'Til next time...

Brandi