It's Garden Time Again.

Every year when this season rolls around, we all get outside and into gardens to work together. As the children grow, it is so much fun to see them be able to do more and more. They are really becoming a big help, and this year we gave each of the girls their own little plot to plant whatever they like in. They are so excited!

We have several garden plots under cultivation. About a quarter of our front garden is in greens this year. We are currently enjoying two kinds of lettuce, 

radishes, kale, collards, and spinach! Catching up on our B vitamins!:-) 

This patch needed to be worked up before transplanting butternut squash into it and marking off the girl's little gardens. Everyone got involved.

 Conagher says, "Hep, hep!" (help). We might have to find a tool that's more your size, buddy. ;)

Its so beautiful when the flowers start blooming! This is the first bloom that opened on the Echinacea in the herb garden.

Dustin, when mowing the yard, has been going around several of these gorgeous clumps of wild daisies that came up in front of the garden. They are just too pretty, and are so healthy it looks like we planted them there on purpose!

Lilly and Conagher hard at work. Looks like little guy found a garden tool he could actually handle, after all!

This little fellow still gets to take it easy while everyone else works (he he!)! I see you, you chubby lil' lazy bones!

 Peek a boo!

Just a few shots from around the garden and yard, now.

The big pieces of brown paper are what we are using to mulch around our cucumbers. This is going to keep weeding down to a minimum and also should help us have cleaner cukes when it comes like to pick them. We like to make pickles but also hope to be able to sell some at market and in our little farm stand this summer.

These barefoot beauties! I foresee some serious foot scrubbing in the bath tub tonight! I love my country kids :-) 

Looking forward to seeing what this garden produces and what other blessings and adventures come our way this summer. Dustin and I were married in the summer and I always like to count the gardens we have tended together. This one makes number ten!

Making Hay- The Old Fashioned Way.

Well, well, well...

We still exist and we are still homesteading! The past year has been so busy that I have totally neglected this space. I'm sure our poor blog is feeling lonely! We are coming back into cyberspace with a long anticipated blog on putting up hay with horses. We have made hay twice this summer. The first time Dustin did it completely old school and cut it with a scythe, then piled it by hand before we gathered it on to the hay wagon. These first photos are from that time.

P. S. I sewed the dress Ember is wearing. I was so happy with how it turned out!

Getting the horses harnessed.

Just as a side comment, How cute is this Flag art that Dustin created for the barn? Look closely, its the bare springs from an old mattress!

Cutey!

Horse-ing around with Lincoln. Pun completely intended. :-) 

Baby-wearing sure is handy on a working farm. Sometimes we need all hands on deck even if the littles don't oblige by taking a nice, long nap! Conagher sure  enjoyed hanging with mama!

 Forking it up on the wagon.

The haystack must be Spread and stomped down on the wagon bed as you go. This "ties it together" and keeps it from slipping off.

Higher...

...and higher!

The second time we made hay this year, we were putting up much more. So some of our neighbors kindly came over and cut it with their mowing machine. They also let us borrow their old fashioned hay rake ( we had one of these in TN but were not able to bring it with us when we moved). There are some pictures below of the rake in action. Another one of our neighbors came and helped us load the hay before an on coming shower! Here's a big thank you Jimmy! We could never have done it so fast without you!

Hey there, big boys!

Here is a shot of the field with the mounds of hay (mostly) raked up. Next blog, I want to tell you about our Etsy shop! Yes, you can now buy those pretty things like you see on our pinterest with the click of your mouse or the tap of a finger! Exciting stuff! Until next time!

-Home Made Home.homemadehomeshoppe.etsy.com

A Day in the Blacksmith Shop.

Dustin recently had a commission for a reclaimed wood and iron-work coat tree. He spent most of a day in the shop with his little helper, Esther. They documented the project with step by step pictures. 

Above, you can see a bit of smoke drifting out of the eaves of the smithy.

Firing up the forge.

These next pictures show the top layer of hooks taking shape. The stock he is using is 1/4 X 3/4 flat bar. Above, he has just flattened the ends of the forged blanks in preparation for rolling them as you see below.

Putting the curve in. The metal is still red-hot.

Now the bottoms of the pieces have been rolled up into hooks.

A few views of the inside of the shop. Esther was having a ball!

Finished except for drilling the screw holes.

On to the small hooks for the lower tier.

These will be driven right into the wood, hence the sharp ends.

Nicely curved.

Finished.

Now Dustin drills the pilot holes in the large hooks. ( P.S. Esther took these photos! :-) )

Daddy and his girl!

The drilling was done with an old fashioned hand drill.

The horses ambled over for a visit so Esther took a quick break to do a little petting. 

...and a little hugging :-) .

After drilling the pilot holes with the hand drill he finishes the holes with the drill press.

 

A view of the drill press.

Here all all the hooks with the reclaimed wood that the body of the coat tree will be made of.

The foot of the stand is designed to be hard to topple over, as the tree was destined to be in a shop holding merchandise. The lady didn't want it falling over on customers!

 

It turned out so pretty! It has a real nice rustic/western vibe. Below are some pictures of the completed project, ready to be delivered to it's new home.

To order similar pieces, call us at 1-870-283-4002 . Thanks for reading! H.M.H. :-)