Saturday, October 15, 2016

Homesteading Field Trip Day


Home. Farm. Beauty. Peace. Work. Country. Family. Church. Friends. Animals. Guests. Gardens. Canning. Cooking. Hosting. Summer. Hot. MISSOURI.
 
That sums up our summer here on the farm.
 
So what a wonderful way to celebrate Fall, but to have a homesteading/farm field trip at our house!
 
When we moved into this house that God brought us, the first thing we did was dedicate it and all the property on it, to the Lord.  We purpose to share what we have and what we have learned with others whenever possible.
 
This is our first event and we had such a good time!
 
We invited homeschooling families from the city to come to a homesteading day at our farm, where they would learn about sustainable, pasture-based farming, about animals and soil.  We also gave the hands-on experience with canning tomatoes and provided a soap-making demonstration. 
 
The response was so great that we had a waiting list of families wanting to attend, so we will definitely have to plan another event like this.
 
Old friends were reacquainted and new friends were made.  And we were SO blessed to have local friends give up their Friday in order to work on our farm and help us serve all these visiting families.  They made it all amazing.
 
Even better was that we shared a little slice of our testimony and how God brought us to this farm, and had a chance to encourage families to trust in the Lord through what He has done in our lives.
 
Here are some photos of the day!
 
We have perfect weather!  A little cool at first, but the tomato canning and fire pit made the cool weather a joy.
 
 
Friends setting up our farm-y casual lunch tables on the deck.
 

A tour of the farm - learning about the greenhouses and the rotation of animals from summer to winter.
 
Of course the baby chicks inside the greenhouse were very popular!






Out on the pasture with the 1-3 year old chickens and learning about how the egg-mobiles work...



 Probably the kids favorite was visiting the goats - in particular our new arrival, a 8 week old doe we named "Sochi".  She sure got a lot of attention this day, and she loved it.  She cried and cried when everyone left!
 
Even the littlest of hands got to give Sochi some loving...
 


Setting up for tomato canning lesson and hands-on experience. 



Everyone got to help with something.  The little kids were busy shaking jars of cream to make butter for our lunches. I wish I had gotten a picture of those little balls of butter, but they were eaten up on the homemade bread we had from a local Mennonite family.  YUM!







Snack time for the littles while tomato canning was going on...




Campfires always area  draw for the boys.  They were drawn like magnets to the fire pit.  :-)

Lunch on the deck, served up by our grandmothers and family friends who came to help.  What a huge blessing they all were.  We couldn't have pulled this off without them.
 
Nearly all the food was prepared from things we grew on our farm, or neighboring farms, right down to the grass-fed beef in the stew and chili.
 
Wish I had a photo of all the food, but it was gone so quickly!


After lunch, my (Sheri's) mom gave a soap-making demonstration and everyone was able to take home a couple of bars of homemade soap.  We are so glad she is willing to share her skills with all of us.





One of the finished soap products... oatmeal lavender.
 
What a fun day we had working and playing together.
 
"Use hospitality one to another.... "
1 Pet 4:9
 
We are as blessed as those who came!

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