The photo above is of Miles and I.  I was hiking up a cliff holding my baby boy.  My, has time gone by!  Miles is nearly 14 years old.  I took care of 5 little ones all by myself most of the time when my husband was out earning a living.  I would take my troops on many adventures in the wilderness.  I would haul a little one on my back, climbing over stumps and rocks.  Setting up camp, making a fire and cooking some weenies over the flames.  Oh, the kids have memories to build from.  Miles said to me the other day, "Man, I wish I would have appreciated mom when she was normal."  I heard him saying that, but did not realize I was not "normal".  He said, "Mom, when you could hike and race me across the grass, jump higher than me on the trampoline, ride horses, ski, ice skate, teach me karate, wrestle me down, give me piggy back rides, I am sad those days are over."  Then Molly said, "I can't even remember mom that way."  Yes, I was that way at one time.  I was full of adventure and fun.  Before I married Mark, I hiked 3 days on the Inca Trial in the Andes Mountains.  My hiking fun days are over and I miss it so much because I am still so young and I have only a short time until the kids are grown.  I feel like they are missing out on so much because of my limitation.  In one moment life can change.  One little stitch.  I used to run a wedding photography business where I could climb up a tree or cliff to get the "shot".  I could do almost anything, run the homestead, milk the family cow, take care of little ones, cook, can, butcher, film, photograph, have meetings with clients, homeschool, run, bike, hike, keep a perfectly clean home, I was Super Mom.  Poster child Super Mom.  People still think I do a lot.  But this is nothing to what I was able to do before I was injured.  I do my best.  I try to stay positive, count all my blessings.  It is not easy, but I do not want to be a failure.  
I have had my second nerve relapse of this year.  It flattens me out for a couple weeks.  The nerves flare up and it becomes very hard to function.  The doctor said I could get this lidocaine IV that will flow through my body to get the fire put out.  Then I should be able to start back to normal pain again.  My normal pain is pretty bad to start with.  To be honest, I am in so much pain, I can not do much of anything.  Every step I take adds up.  If I walk to the kitchen, I pay for it.  I want to be able to cook and do all the things that housewives do, but I am limited.  Thankfully, the kids have been doing all the work.  I feel like a bad example, when I just sit there and order everyone around.  Just trying to figure out what to do.  I do not ever want to seem ungrateful, or one to complain, because I know there are such worse situations than I could ever know.  We are not really welcome among the Amish people.  I talked with my amish neighbor who is a very young mother.  She sat and listened to me and just cried.  She knows that the amish are just very exclusive.  It is not right, but just how it is.  Usually, when one of the community is down, they all come to help nurse you back to health.  They only call to see if I am well enough to drive them to town.  I always drive them for free because I want to be neighborly.  I told her, "I have a wonderful husband who loves me even though I sit in a chair most of the day, I have 5 wonderful kids who run the home in my stead, I have Jesus who accepts and loves me more than I could understand, what more could I need than that!!!!!"  It is true, I have so much to be thankful for.  Life surely isn't perfect, but love carries us through.  I do understand how many of you feel on the post about wanting to be around like minded people.  How you would all love to have community.  Community, I have learned, starts in the home.  If you all work together, you can get the job done.  Look at how my kids are carrying me now.  How they work.  They know how to make meals, how to can, how to clean.  They are my support system, my community.  Without their help, I would be a failure.  It is such a fulfilling thing to see that what you raise your kids with now, can teach them how to really care about others throughout their lives.  I wonder if we will ever have the kind of fellowship in community like the Amish have, on this side of heaven, but as long as we have each other, we can make it.  Hope this encourages all you other people out there in the same season of life. 

David Yutzy is an Amish man about 70 years old or around that, I would say.  About 3 years ago, Debi Pearl assisted me on a trip to Mexico for stem cell treatments.  She was my wheelchair pusher, my third arm, and my faithful confidant.  One fine misty Mexico morning, Debi took my arm and assisted me to the second floor of the doctor's office.  We came into a room filled with Amish men taking treatments by IV.  David Yutzy was sitting right across from me.  We introduced ourselves and David knew of the Pearls ministry.  He knew that Debi was a writer alongside Michael, her husband.  After the informal introduction, David started quizzing Deb about her community and lifestyle.  Every opportunity Deb had, she would share the truth of Jesus with him.  It was something so exciting to me.  She had an answer, a quick one, for each and every sneering question after another.  The questions seemed to hold a snare, but Deb was quick and sharp.  She could not be snared.  



One thing he said rings in my mind.  The echo of it resonates deep in my heart.  He sat there and said, "I think of salvation this way...a 50/50 chance."  



Deb, without hesitation said to this man who seemed very confident, "You are 50% sure you are good enough, Erin and I are 100% sure we are not.  That is where we differ, sir."  



He continued, "Jesus is the saving captain of the ship, but I have to row it to shore."



She followed, "You row while we cling to our savior." Then she needed to go into an office room to get her teeth worked on.  I was left there with David.  I found out that he used to be neighbors with a family from Bonduel where we live.  So happens that we are very familiar with that family, they are the family that we often butcher with.  This got his complete attention.  He wondered how I knew the Bontrager clan and I shared my stories about that.  I could not share that until I shared my entire life story because we were just sitting there and time was of no effect to us.  We could be sitting there all day, I thought, so why not start from the beginning.  Needless to say, my story got this poor fellow crying.  How someone could have had so many things happen in one lifetime, one short lifetime.  How all those things could bring salvation, an understanding of grace that I did not learn from years of sitting in a church Sunday after Sunday.  How I could truly love Jesus and continue to pursue His path of righteousness even though I was not born with it.  I knew that Deb and I met this man for a special purpose.  I got to share how my faith was in Jesus alone, how it was not by my blood, church,  or by my actions.  Jesus took a woman who was completely broken and made her into something that she was not-a joy filled child of God.  My works are not effectual in my salvation, they are only evidence of that faith.  See, the Amish confuse that line.  They truly believe that, yes, it is by grace that we are saved not of our works, but the works are also necessary in our salvation.  I trust in the finished work on the cross.  Faith without works is dead, I do agree with that.  The works are there to confirm that transformation of heart.  They are not there to add to the work of Christ.  No one could add to it, because it is finished.  Sadly, this is a muddy subject.  On one hand, you have people who say: Faith, faith! and they forget works altogether.  They seem to talk the talk but can't walk the walk.  It is dead as well without the fruit that meets repentance.  Then the other side of the spectrum would say:  Work, Works! not denying the presence of faith, but the works are the predominant force.  Anytime we think we can somehow add to what Jesus did, we are also saying "He owes me!  I have done this for His kingdom, I have sacrificed that for Christ, I have given X amount of tithe each month, I have helped this one or that one, I have read my bible every morning, I have been faithful, I have served at this ministry or that church, I have attended church, I have said this prayer or that prayer, where is my blessing???"  In effect when we say these things, we are also saying that God owes us for our works.  No He does not.  He owes us nothing.  Every good thing we see, or have, or know, is from the hand of God.  It is icing on the cake.  If all we obtain is mercy in life, that is everything.  We owe our entire life to Him.  God owes us nothing at all!  We live to serve Him because we are thankful, overflowing with mercy that we have obtained.  We choose to show that same love and mercy to our fellow man.  When we accept God's plan of salvation and trust in that alone, we are obtaining a precious piece of himself in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.  We no longer have just our mind, body, and spirit, we have another spirit.  The spirit of the Living God that takes a hold of our heart.  We no longer are alone, we have that comforter.  We have the strength to go on when life seems to be at a standstill, we have courage to fight for what is right, the boldness, the joy we could not understand even when all seems to be failed, the temperance, the ability to overcome evil and temptation, and the willingness to love our enemies.  Only true faith can produce those kind of works.  The fruits of the spirit.  I explained this to David in the best way I knew how.  Later Deb saw David again.  Again he had a question for Deb about their ministry.  She said they minister to the abusers like people in prisons, and to the abused, people just like Erin.  Again, David wept.  This time it must have brought everything to light for him in his understanding of what we stood for.  



On this past Saturday, David Yutzy came from Iowa, and his desire was to also talk with me again.  I was not sure what to expect, was he still at 50%?  How could I convince him, or rather, why would he call on me?  So many things I had prepared to say, but nothing could prepare me for what I was to encounter.  I drove my van over to Ezra's where David was staying, as I just sang a song of praise, and prayed the Lord would guide my words.  I sat next to a changed, faith filled man!  He told me how our meeting in Mexico really made an impression.  He told many others about my stories.  I felt like we were on the same page.  Like kindred spirits.  His wife had died more recently but the hope that man had in his eyes, was a hope that only true faith could understand.  He was very intrigued and captivated about our plain lifestyle that we chose.  How we do many of the homesteading things that we have learned from the Amish.  He smiled as I told him how I made the dress I was wearing on a treadle sewing machine, how we teach our children to work with horses, how to milk the family cow, and how much they love to be a part of this community life.  I told him about our situation in Amishland, how we have a hard time fitting in, and he was saddened by it.  He could see how changed the gospel has made me, and how stagnant some of the Amish have become.  They have their dress, their culture, their church, but he could plainly see, without being born again, it is all vain.  Please continue to pray for our neighbors.  For the families that have also found this faith and for their hard journey ahead.  They endeavor to be a light in the darkness.  It is a fight for the truth of the Gospel.  Also pray that more of the Amish could find that same faith in Christ's blood alone.  All things are possible.  I truly can see that.  If God could do a work with me, He can do it with anyone.  Walking in faith is sometimes walking in total darkness, blindness.  For faith is the evidence of things not seen.  It is hard to walk when we can not see what lies ahead.  We must keep walking even when we are unsure of where that path leads.  It is all possible when we stay focussed on our loving savior, holding His hand all along the way.  As Debi said, "Clinging to our savior!"  He will keep us from falling, and from failing.  He will draw us out of the valleys and into his glory!  "Come all ye who labor, and I will give you rest"

Nothing in life is all Cake and Pie.  Sometimes you can have the cake but never get to eat it.  Life is bitter sweet, some things are hard to swallow.  The trick is to make sweet lemonade with those sour, sour, lemons.  So many times when I write here I try to find all the positive things in life to share because no one cares to hear another list of bad reports.  In this present world, there are enough of those, indeed.  Agreed.  There is always a flip side to every situation.  It is good and healthy to know both good and bad so that you can find something to compare things to and appreciate life in other ways.  To give a new perspective sometimes is just what we need.  Now, we have very much enjoyed our little homestead in Amishland but all the while we have been here we have had a very difficult time fitting in.  The Amish are a very exclusive sect.  In fact, I have been told by many of the members here in Amishland that you basically can only BE Amish if you are born into it.  Although we have had very close encounters with some of them, even to the point of feeling as though we ARE one of them, we are still NOT Amish.  It is a beautiful culture with very many great community activities for the families living there.  I shared with you the romantic side of things.  The things that make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  Still, I am one who can't help but share the truth.  After the novelty wears off, reality will still have it's way of shining through.  Reality is good.  Without it we would all be just daydreaming all day long.  And daydreaming can be very unproductive.  I am a doer as much as my body permits.  Truth is, I sit about 85% of my days, not because I want to or because I am lazy.  It is because pain limits me.  I am not out there canning and cooking, hanging out wash, beating out the rugs, skipping down the lane, because I am just not able to do very many things.  I am not supermom.  I do cook meals, but if I stand there long enough, I moan with pain until I have to sit.  Sitting in a recliner is just not very glamorous, it is just not very homesteady or old fashioned.  It doesn't make a great ring of simplicity or hard work to the many listeners out there.  It just is what it is.  But I do the best that I can.  I am certainly not that productive on my own.  That is a lemon.  Lemons of lemons, sour, sour, bitter pain with the want of doing more.  Add in the fresh cool water of family life and the sweetness of community and you have your cup of lemonade.  Without many hands, I could do very little at all.  I surely would not be able to butcher or can the meat.  Reality coupled with a will to pursue more out of life.  It is a different perspective, one that defies reason, I suppose.  Living among people that never have time to kick back their feet and rest their weary bones is very hard at times.  They can help so much and I appreciate that, but I can hardly give back an honest days work in return.  They know that, and yet they are loving and kind towards me.  They do know that I would if I could.  

Back to Amishland.  We have been around the trials and tribulations that come to the Amish.  They have their own set of troubles.  By trying so hard to keep what they have they lose the very thing that binded them as a community to start with.  Many of their forefathers were burned at the stake for telling others of their faith.  Although this was hundreds of years ago, in a very different time, they fail to remember what they stood for.  They stood for Jesus.  Anyone who was willing to walk the narrow path, give their lives for Christ were IN.  It wasn't the blood that they were born with that made them a community, it was only by the blood of Christ that they were unified.  There are stories upon stories of the terrible ways these people were persecuted in the 1500s.  Tongue screws were used during executions to quiet these people so they could not proclaim the gospel in their parting words.  That is how serious they were about their faith that it took tongue screws to quiet them.  And now, they are so exclusive, they do not speak of their faith or share it with anyone besides a person who was born with their same blood.  They learn so much growing up about God and his principles.  They pray, they work in community.  So many wonderful things they do have.  Half of the people we have met here do not even know the faith their forefathers bled and died for.  Each generation has to have a revival, for the blood of Christ is not hereditary.  There was a minister here for the past 10 years that literally "hated" us.  Not because we were doing bad things but because we were "English".  That is our crime.  Our kids were not permitted to attend their school, even though they drove by horse and cart, wore the Amish clothes, and lived in an Amish home.  No matter, they do not share the blood of the Amish, or the language.  In trying to keep purity they have become defiled.  For only Christ can make sinners pure.  Some of the families we work alongside here have a sincere walk with God, but they are hindered by what man will say.  Everything that they do is like a merry-go-round.  The same.  Everything is the same as it was when they were young.  These things are great in so many ways, but without Christ it can be all vain.  I love these people so much and I have a heart for them.  I love to look to them to see and study.  So much can be learned both good and bad.  Lemons of lemons the bitterness of legalism and rejection can be so hard to handle.  Add the sweetness of Christ and you can have the best lemonade ever.  We realize that we can not change them.  We do not want to change how they live.  They are so afraid of accepting in something new that it hinders them from really trusting Christ fully.  It truly is a system, we are so sure of this.  We have known them for many years and lived among them.  We would never join such a system that would deny the work of the Holy Spirit.  You would have to deny it to be in any man made religion.  I think the best thing would be to have the cake and eat it.  To have community life on homesteads without the system.  It may never be possible like pie in the sky, but it would be something special.  Please pray for our Amish neighbors as they are having some hard church issues.  Pray for revival.  Pray for their young people.  That they would truly know Christ and be willing to follow him with all of their days here.  We can not call ourselves Amish, we do not belong and we never will.  We are just pilgrims sojourning in a strange land.  There is nothing new under the sun.  It is hard for the kids to be ignored when we go to events.  Only because their blood.  Being the outcast is hard for kids.  I keep reminding them that Christ suffered without a cause.  If He is our example, how can we think we should not experience a taste of this here on this Earth.  I think that if life was all cake and pie, I would not hope for anything better.  I would want to stay just where I am, but that is not the case.  I will so much more enjoy the presence of Christ when I have lived a life that was filled with disappointments, pain, and tears.  The joy on this Earth, though I feel I have so much Joy, I think will be nothing compared with the joys of heaven.  I will endeavor to love these Amish people no matter what, keep trying to share my faith for sometimes that is all I can share.  It is such a great thing to be able to share, even if it can only be done from my chair.  I will continue to enjoy this sweet lemonade.  And I think I may just try to encourage my daughters to help me make some lemon bars.  Sounds really good to me!  And this time I will have my cake and eat it, too!

Rolling hills and fences flowing,
Horses pull wagons for hay mowing.
Smells so sweet the fresh mown hay,
It lays along rows where the grasshoppers play.

The men are in the fields hard at work now,
Workin the land by the sweat of their brow.
They know the land like a mold they did cast,
They furrow and plant, they remain steadfast.

The land yields up her bountiful harvest of food for the year,
And all join in the reaping, the community doth cheer.
Hand in hand the toil is less labor,
When they work alongside every neighbor.

All in a day's work they see the last of the sun's glows,
Until pale morning light when the first cock crows.
Cozy lit mornings, lanterns for chores in the barns,
A child slowly climbs up into his father's arms.

It won't be long till he will in hand shovel hold,
Or drive a team of horses over fields of grassy gold.
Ah, the joys of community life,
No more needs of lonely strife.

Mother's nursing babes in early morning light,
She ties her apron strings ever so tight.
For the day's work and toil, there's much to do,
A mother's work is never through.

Out to the barn, milk maid and her cow,
She milks and pours slop out for the sow.
In with the bucket she skims out the cream,
Churns the butter alongside the cool stream.

The baking, the mending, and many floors to scrub,
And all the sudsy clothing in an old wash tub.
A dusting of flour upon her face as she prepares the meal,
Hot biscuits and gravy, carrots with veal.

Get out her plates and forks and spoon,
For the men will be in to eat soon.
They wash up their face, their hands, and feet,
They say a prayer and sit down to eat.

With tummies all full and stories told with wit,
They all sit awhile and nod off for a bit.
A rest to replenish for there's work yet to be done,
Everything done together becomes a whole host of fun.

All the women chatter as they set the canners to boil,
All the shelves in the cellar full from all their toil.
Everyone knows everyone, there is nothing to hide,
For in community we work side by side.

Everyone gathers for the butchering bees,
Canning the meat and cutting down trees.
After hard work we yearn for long winter's rest,
And times to get together we are so very blessed.

Many seasons change and children grow up fast, too,
They are learning so much where there is much to do.
They learn to work hard and be honest and true,
Very young they wish to be a part of the crew.

Ah, community life, it has no end,
For we teach each new generation how to fend.
They will know how to put food on the table each day,
By the sweat of their brow and because they pray.

~Erin Harrison ©2013

Erin has asked me to write about myself.  She said that the Post folks would be interested in knowing how Evie and I learned our skills that help us live a pioneer lifestyle.  Right now we are not able to live as complete a pioneer life as we have in the past or would like to.  

Just recently my mother passed away a couple moths shy of 98 years.  What does that have to do with how we live?  Well, mom was born on a gold claim on the Canadian border.  I have a photo taken in 1917 of my grandparents and aunt julia holding mom who was two at the time standing in front of the log house where mom was born.  The interesting thing is the double-barrel shotgun leaned against the log wall within easy reach.  I came from pioneer stock.  I guess I'm the only one in the family that still has it. 

I have never fit into society, even as a child.  Not that I haven't tried, but I was never able to succeed. As far as the modern world is concerned, I am a failure.  My happiest time as a child was were when we would go camping for two weeks every summer.  We camped all over the west.  On top of mountains, in the badlands, dry creek beds that flooded during the night, up in the Northwoods.

Most of our relatives were farmers, some continued to use horses until 1960.  We would go out to the farms and ride the horses, walk through the manure barefoot- call that fertilizer- must be why I'm 6'4", fight wasps in the outhouse, etc... Typical stuff for the times.

Both sets of grandparents were very old fashioned.  Mom's more than Dad's.  Mom's folks had a kerosene lamp in the bedroom and a chamber pot.   They continued to live the way they did when they were young.  They were comfortable with the old ways.  I learned a lot from my grandparents without realizing it.  Do you know why the old table knives had such a wide blade?  Because it was used to eat with instead of a fork.  There were so many little things like that.  How to can, make decent coffee, butchering, gardening (My dad and grandfather were fantastic), how to cook game, make sausage, how to choose the best chicken at the market (look for yellow fat), what old breeds were the best to raise.  It was all knowledge that was commonplace at one time.  We have lost so much by relying on stores and corporations for every need.

When I was a kid we didn't need a lot of toys.  We built log houses out of sticks, fences and corrals too.  We were cowboys, or explorers, or knights with lath swords and garbage can lid shields.  There wasn't a lid in the area that wasn't dented out of shape.  We never owned a t.v. until I was 14 years old.  As I look back now, how gratefull I am for that.  We had to use our imagination a lot.  We learned how to think and make things.  Sometimes it backfired.  When I was 10 or 11 maybe, my folks bought me a chemistry set and a microscope which I still have by some miracle.  My folks wanted me to develop an interest in science and become a scientist.  Never once did the word "mad" occur to them.  When I made black powder it surely gave them some grey hair, but when I made a concoction that was killing mice my chemistry set disappeared.  My parents are to blame that I never won a Nobel Prize.  It's interesting how things you did when you were a kid later on develop into a way of life or a skill.  Because some of my great uncles were black smiths, I would take nails, flatten them out and make horse shoes.  Later, I became a farrier-blacksmith, and a knife maker.  Dad worked in butcher shops when he was young and would take me with him to the butcher to select big chunks of meat, then take them home and finish them.  I too worked in shops and learned how to slaughter, cut up, cure and smoke bacon and sausage.  Because of camping, I learned about living out-of-doors and pioneer skills.  Until we moved to MO, I spent as much as six months a year living in a tent.  I became a buckskinner and learned many of their skills.  ~Owen Newman

to be continued.....

The washhouse is near completion and there are much woes for a homestead lady on washday during the winter months.   After my husband drove me many times in the horseless carriage to my mother's home loaded down with many baskets of laundry to wash in her electric machine, I realized there must be some tricks of the trade.  Although Molly and Megan are very good girls who like helping, even they were regretfully unmotivated on washday.  The reality is that I can not help them, so I must figure out how to make a go of this for the girls.  Because of the woes of winter washday, I have been over to some of my Amish friends' washhouses to see the set up.  We were going about things all wrong, I found out to my surprise.  First off, the wringer washer was not working as it should.  Secondly, when the girls would drip dry the dresses on a garment rack, they were not getting the proper air flow needed to dry.  Thirdly, we needed a good system for drying our socks and things.  Elvesta said it just should not be that our laundry should take several days to dry.  She came to our rescue and gave us the most helpful tips.  All dresses should be washed but never wrung out because this can cause two things: wrinkling which would create more work like ironing, and also this can wear out the dresses quicker.  What she demonstrated was to agitate the load of dresses for approximately 15 minutes (they have also done this with the hand plunger), turn the agitator off and drop each garment into the rinse water that has some fabric softener in it (just plain ol vinegar works great along with some essential oils).  She proceeded to teach my girls to dip, dip, dip, dip the garment about 4-5 times and then grab a hanger.  The garment is put on the hanger fully wet, dripping wet in fact.  The dress is heavy!  She then had Mark extend a heavy duty galvanized chain across the washhouse.  The hanger can be inserted into the chain links about 1 foot apart allowing the optimal amount of airflow.  She said that if you do not have a cement floor like in a basement or washhouse, the next best place would be to suspend the chain or bar across the bathtub for draining.  All shirts can also be done in this fashion but for everyday shirts they can be ran through the wringer.  Sorting laundry is a trick I found as well when she was accessing our situation.  She told us to have two hampers.  One for everyday wash, and one for sunday best.  Always wash on Mondays!  Everyone knows that Monday is washday, so when people in the community plan things, they never do so on a Monday!  Everyday wash would be for Mondays.  The piles are sorted from lightest clothing to the darkest and the amount is crucial.  She recommends using about 4-6 dresses or like garments per load.  All socks are presoaked and towels go together.  Pants are last generally and they would take about 4 pair in one load.  It is important, she says to have less in a load so that the clothing can rumple and slip around freely in the washwater.  It gets much cleaner that way, she says.  If heavily soiled, she said the garments should be presoaked for sure.  The girls like to swish the presoaking tub with the plunger washer.  

All the other wash like pants, aprons, towels, etc. are wrung out thoroughly and carried into the house and put on our very own Homestead Drying Racks that are handmade by my husband.  I was so very happy when my husband built our family another large rack because the amount of wash that we go through each week takes up a lot of space.  The girls bring basket load after basket load on into the living room and hang it on the racks.  We do get a touch of drainage on the wood floor so they will sweep over it with a mop to sop up the access.  But all in all, the wringer does a good job getting most of the moister out.  Next to the coal stove, the clothing dries very fast!

Mark is making some "Petsa Rada" for our family with the kids.  Elvesta said, you have to have at least 3 "Petsa Rada" for a family your size.  What this is, is a wheel that holds about 36 clothes pins and you simply pin your socks, undees, rags, wash clothes, hats, mittens, or anything smaller.  "Petsa" means pincher or clothes pin and "Rada" means wheel.  

Mark is securing the chains and hook to suspend the dryer.  

Megan is holding it still so Mark can apply the other pins.  

This is the completed wheel.  I love it.  It is so sturdy and Molly and Megan plan to make more of them for the store.  Everyone should own a few, I tell you the truth!  

Here is our "Petsa Rada" in full use.  Molly and Megan loaded them up and boy do they fit the need we had.  Elvesta has a whole lifetime of living this way, doing laundry this way, and well, she knows best, I should say! We just added the "Petsa Rada" to our online store. Homestead Store — Petsa Rada (Clothes Pin Wheel)

I understand from Mark and Erin Harrison that people on the post have been wondering what has become of us.  Wonder of wonders, some have even missed us.



When the computer crashed it was several months before we could get in fixed and the only connection we were able to get is a very slow dialup speed.  It has become hard for us to get back on, so Mark and Erin Harrison have asked to put up a page for us so that we could still help on the post.  They are running our page completely but will be something that we personally will write.  We send the Harrison's articles that we write and they will type it out and post it for us.  



Several years ago I wrote an article about some of the things we learned about living a simple lifestyle.  It never got sent to a magazine so I'll use it now.  It is primarily to help those just starting out but it should help a lot of people.



First, it takes time.  You are not going to be self-reliant in a week or a month.  We have been doing it for the 32 years we've been married and seven before, and we are still learning.  Think of it as a life-time adventure and it will never grow old or stale.



Every paycheck try to buy one or two items that you will need.  Hunt flea markets, yard sales, second hand stores, and even go to auction.  You don't need to buy new.  Learn how to replace handles on shovels, hammers, etc. and you can save a lot of money.  Buy quality-made, they are cheaper in the long run.  Most tool that were made 50 or more years ago are better quality then new stuff today.  Learn how to use non-electric tools and how to care for them.  The satisfaction you will get from using them to make or repair thing does not have a monetary value.



Also, try to buy books that can give you the knowledge and skills you will need.  It will be more important than a truck load of food.  Learn how to operate a woodstove.  Every stove is different, with it's own idiosyncrasies.  When you buy, ask whose who already have one to find out which brands to stay away from.  A good cookstove or heater is not cheap, you don't want any regrets.  The right one will be a life time investment, not an expense.



Learn how to hunt and fish if you don't already.  Learn how to cut it up and can or cure it.  Learn how to tan the hide.  We've had people give us deer, hogs, even a beef.  Knowing how to process it can save you big bucks.



Learn what wild plants are edible.  Every year Evie cans and dries lambs quarter, purselane, black berries, elderberries, and gathers a sack of black walnuts.  We've also learned how to identify mushrooms such as oyster, chicken-of-the-woods, wood ear, and others which are dried.  She picks chamomile, and peppermint for tea.  We've picked some medicinal plants and dried them also.  There's  a lot out there just waiting to be used, and it's free!



Get rid of your T.V. unless you are going to buy DVD's that teach you skills like the Harrison's Homesteading ones.  You will be having so much fun you won't have time for it anymore, besides, it ruins your incentive and robs you of the ability to think for yourself.  Include the children.  By making this an adventure, you will be surprised at how fast they will learn.  Actually, they will learn faster than you.  Look at Mark and Erin's tribe, they're having the time of their lives.  Their kids are practically running the homestead.



Encourage each other, everybody likes their moral boosted.  Learn to laugh at your mistakes.  If you don't have a sense of humor, develop one.  It will get you over the rough spots.  Expect flak from family and friends.  My family has all but pruned me from the family tree.  In 31 years not a one has come to see us.  Right now your family will think you're a nut case but when the economy goes South, they will be the first ones at our door.  Count on it!!



I wrote up a list of rules for a farm.  They are basic for a self-reliant lifestyle.

1. Do not buy what you can grow or make yourself.
2. Do not buy brand names or packaging if you can help it.  Buy in bulk and buy scratch ingredients where ever possible.  Do not buy on impulse, always ask yourself "Is this a need or a want?"
3. Get as much data into your brain as possible.  Line your library shelves with books on things mechanical, biological, horticultural, financial, horse farming, seasonal.  Be weather wise and market wise.  Use as many of the old ways as possible.
4. Treat your wife as an equal partner.
5. Don't make pets of your farm animals!  They are your partners, treat them as such.
6. Buy good, used, older machinery and learn how to rebuild and repair it.
7. Put back all you take out of the soil and build it up with natural fertilizers, and in abundance.
8. The best fertilizer is the seat of the farmer.  Every part of your land should have your footprints on it.  
9. Learn from the Amish-dedication, frugality, self-discipline, and obedience to what they understand as natural law.
10. Above all, seek and trust God daily.  © 1999 Owen Newman

Find some one who has been living like this for awhile and make them your friend, and listen, and learn.  They can save you a lot of wasted time, energy, and money.



You will come to the place (sooner or later) where you suddenly realize that you are no longer dependent on the "system" for all your needs.  The freedom that this will bring will empower you in ways you cannot imagine.



~Owen Newman

Here is a quote from a book I more recently read and thought I would share it with you all hoping you can understand that in it's time the book was written, homesteading was more of a standard way of living in the 1890s...



"No farmer or his wife need fear any king (or government) when on every home farm was found food, drink, medicine, fuel, lighting, clothing, shelter."  ~Alice Morse Earle  Home Life in Colonial Times 1898

It has truly been a beautiful time of year here in Amish Land.  The children have been spending much time outside in the fluffy white snow building snowmen and forts, sledding and sleigh riding.  The crisp air and blue skies make an almost dreamy feel.  When the sun shines, it glistens over the snow making a sea of white diamonds for our eyes.  For the first snowfall, the children woke early in the morning and peered through the window with an eager hope of all the play they will have.  All the things they will do now that the season was changing before their very eyes.  After, what seemed to be a long morning of school, the children bundled up for the snow.  

Rolling big boulders of snow across the blanket of snow out in the front yard, slowly the images of snow people emerged.  Heaving boulders one over the other to make a family.  Joe's wife, Anna Mae, asked the little boys to make her a snow family.  After she saw the children happily creating them on our side of the road, it was a neighborly thing to share in.  They made a mommy, a daddy, and two little boys.  It was so cute.  We later saw little Anna Mae all bundled up and sticking a orange hat on daddy snowman, calling him "Enos Lee".  She placed a shovel on is arm branch with blaze orange mittens and coal for the eyes.  She named his wife, "Martha", as she placed a scarf and tied it about her head and under her chin.  The tiny snowboys were decked with little blue caps and they all had coal for their eyes and mouth and a carrot for their noses.  It was so cute to watch her scurry around in the frosty weather to decorate her snow family.  What fun to share as friends and neighbors.  

Miles built a shaft that could fit onto the harness setup on his painted pony. I was sitting near the coal stove when I heard the laughter outside.  I peered out the window to see this wonderful site.  Miles was happily giving sled rides to his little brothers and sisters all through the fields on his pony.  It just thrilled my heart to see them working together, building things and making fun from almost nothing.  That is the beauty of raising kids in the country. They have room to be creative in ways we never knew were possible.  After Joe saw the setup Miles created, he had the boys pull all the buggies out of the shed until they came upon the sleigh!!!!  The SLEIGH!!!  Joe fetched our "Abby" and hitched her to the sleigh.  Away he sailed loaded down with all of our children.  They went all the way, way, way back at the end of the field, until all we could see was just a small black spot moving along the horizon.  You could faintly hear the giggles and squeals of happy children.  

Joe then began to tie big long ropes to the children's sleds and then tied them to the back of the sleigh.  Miles drove the pack of sleds behind the sleigh round and round the field.  The little boys zoomed back and forth and once in a while they jerked off around the corner.  No one was hurt, for the laughter and smiles were almost endless in the joy of the one horse open sleigh.  

The girls were enjoying making cookies and candies for their were lots of community butchering bees and the school program.  We wanted to have nice things to share.  The girls favorite candy to make is the bacon and eggs.  You just melt white chocolate, make a circular blob on parchment paper, press a yellow m&m in the middle and finally press stick pretzles into the side of each "yoke" as pictured below.  Once they cool, they harden and last a long time in a cookie tin.  Fun for folks of all ages.

Did you ever smell something that smelled like Grandma's house and it would take you on a journey in your mind back to a simpler time?  Or taste something that brought your mind to a sensation of traveling back in time?Sometimes a song or photo can bring you back, and even a taste at times!  This year I wanted to make some "memory foods".  I made my Grandmother Julia's homemade bread that she taught me before she died.  It uses white flour which is something I typically never buy or have in my home since Molly is so alergic to it and because I know better than that, of course!  But, I was thrilled to make it and give my mother a loaf and her brother because he was never married and always lived at home.  He always had fresh baked bread and now that Grandma is gone, I was sure that this would fill his heart and belly.  I also made her cutout cookies which are more like a pie dough recipe.  You roll them out super thin and bake them.  We frosted them with a cream cheese frosting.  Just use your favorite pie crust recipe and try it sometime.  It is really light, crisp and flakey.  Finally, the girls and I made my Grandma Isla's chocolate eclairs.  Oh, were those delightful.  My grandma Isla always made those eclairs any time we came to visit.  I wanted to give my dad some because it was something he really loved about "home".  

As the sun sets over the snowy yard, we see figures of snowy little boys and girls dancing and digging in the snow.  Some come out of holes in the snow and others scurry around the tops.  The golden sun cascades over the treetops in Amish land.  It is time for butchering in the community.  This season we had two butchering bees.  They all happened the same weekend.  Harry's butchered a couple hogs and so did Floyds.  Sausages were ground and baked before canning and smells were so warm and delicious.  Hams were cured and smoked to keep for the long winter.  Lard was rendered and canned up for pie baking and soap making.  Liver worst was boiled and ground for canning.  Best of all, it was more time in fellowship with community.  Men, women, and children all cutting, shaving, and grinding the meat together as a family.  Can anything be more productive while being fun.  It sounds like it would be hard but many hands make light work.  As a community shares in these "big work days", it makes a lot of work seem nothing and besides, all the meat the family will enjoy for months to come is very rewarding, indeed.  Many of the Amish have gone gluten free to help with some health issues and I can say it has been fun to talk about. It is that topic most discussed at our gatherings these chilly days.  I enjoy sharing what little I know but all along the way, as they speak in German, I enjoy learning more and more each time.  We were invited to the Christmas program at the little Amish school house and that was such a treat.  We all got dressed up and met at the school house.  It was a blizzard that day, so we took the suburban because we are beginners at horse carriage driving and did not want to end up in a ditch for lack of experience.  We did find out that when it is very cold, they will usually heat up bricks and place them along the floor to keep warm.  That is good to know!  The way my foot is so dreadful cold, I sure appreciate that piece of wisdom.  The women sat on one side and the men on the other.  The children lined up to sing songs of the birth of Christ and poems of good character building.  After the children were done, we all went down to the basement for a "finger food feast".  There were cold sandwiches, cookies, pies, bars, and lots of snacks.  The children all bundled up for play outside.  For hours they chase and run and play snowball fights.  It was a great time of community life!  Making the most of our wintery wonderland!

We are so excited that two very special blogs have featured or mentioned our new Homesteading for Beginners DVD.  I have provided links to check out their wonderful blogs and also what nice things they wrote.  ~Mark and Erin Harrison


SurvivalBlog.com

I just heard that until December 31st, the complete set of the excellent Homesteading for Beginners DVDs is currently being offered for $30 off retail. FWIW, we use a couple of their large clothes drying racks here at the Rawles Ranch, and we love their videos.  ~James Rawles

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Little House on the Prairie Living Blog


Homesteading for Beginners Volume 4: A Review & Giveaway! ~Little House Living
Homesteading for Beginners Volume 4: A Review & Giveaway! - Lit...by MERISSA on DECEMBER 6, 2012


Enjoy this review done by my mom, Julie, on the latest video in the Homesteading for Beginners Series! ~ M

I am so excited about this review!! I could hardly wait to continue on with the DVD's by Homesteading Productions. A little over a year ago, I sat down and watched Volume 1, 2 and 3 non-stop. I love watching the Harrison family as they brought us the basic of homesteading through this video series. I was very anxious to continue that, once I heard that a Volume 4 was in the works and being produced. Finally, it came! It is a beautiful full 6 disc set that not only continues on homesteading basics, but also contains step by step instructions for many of the projects included.

Each volume in this series can be a stand alone, depending on what you are interested in. Together, these 4 volumes provide an extensive library to homesteading. Volume 4, alone, has over 8 hours of projects and lessons!

While watching the videos for review, I took notes on everything. I have a binder filled with notes for the different volumes. Volume 4 is extensive, covering so many different areas and projects.

Here is just some of the many different areas covered:

• Raising and Caring for Sheep
• From start to finish with wool and turning it into yarn
• Knitting with your wool
• Gardening from starter seed to planting
• Canning basics including: jelly, jams, apple pie filling, peaches, beans, pickles, corn, tomatoes, ketchup, and working with dried beans
• Raising and Caring for Pigs
• Making soap, a mold, and laundry
• Raising and Caring for Cows, Goats, and Turkeys
• Making Cheese
• Felling trees
• Making fire starters and heating with wood
• Raising and Caring for Rabbits
• Building Shelving units
• Raising and Caring for Ponies
• Sewing basics
• Sewing a complete skirt
• Making Sock Dolls
• Quilting and making a Memory Quilt
• Making Bread
• Soaking Nuts
• Protein Bars

These are jammed packed with learning experiences. My kids, age 12 and 10, loved watching them alongside with me. The lessons were easy enough for them to understand and do. They especially enjoyed the Harrison children explaining many of the different homesteading areas. Very entertaining along with educational.

This set, or any of the Homesteading for Beginner Videos, would make a wonderful addition to any family library. They are wonderful to have and be able to return to for refreshing yourself on that particular project. They would also make a wonderful gift. I would highly recommend coming alongside the Harrison family and other friends and experts, as they show you the basics of Homesteading through video.

Until next time, Julie

Homesteading Productions would like to give one Little House Living reader the chance to learn all of this for themselves, one winner will win a copy of Homesteading for Beginners Volume 4 on DVD! (Value of $39.95!) Just fill out the Rafflecopter form below to enter the giveaway.

If you don't win this giveaway you will want to head over and check out the awesome sale that Homestead Productions is currently having on the entire set of Homesteading for Beginners DVDs, get all 4 for only $69.95! (regular retail of $99.95!)

If you are reading this in your inbox or on your smartphone please click over to the site to be able to enter this giveaway.

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From Jill at the Prairie Homestead Blog

 http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/How to Homestead | Simple Living | Homesteading | Homesteaders | Ho...

Homestead Drying Racks

Homestead Drying Racks is a longtime sponsor of The Prairie Homestead– and for good reason– I LOVE my rack! I have the largest one available– The Homesteader. I use it on pretty much a daily basis in the summer– it even prompted me to write abreak up letter to my clothesline. 

But this family-owned company has more than just drying racks– check out theirother off-grid laundry items (I’d love a plunger washer!), homesteading DVDs, grain mills, and more.



This set of beginning homesteading DVDs would make a fantastic gift for any budding homesteading family– get $30 off of the set until January 1st!

Things have certainly been busy as you can see in the above drawing.  Molly drew this picture of her perception on daily life.  Children often draw things that they are interested in or things that are extremely familiar to them.  It was a joy to find this drawing, knowing how happy the children really are in Amishland.  One week ago, we woke up earlier than usual to start our Monday wash.   It was freezing outside but the sun was shining bright.  Miles was milking the cow with dad by hand, Mikey was gathering the eggs, Junior was sweeping the floor, Molly was washing dishes while Megan was helping with the mountain of laundry.  It is just so surprising how much laundry a family can go through.  We separated out the darks from the lights, the dresses from the pants.  Once we ran all the wash through the wringer, the children bundled up to hang out the wash.  Well, this was our first day to hang out for freeze drying the wash.  Oh how the children had fun with it.  The crisp, frozen pants, and socks became swords and rifles in an instant.  The boys were pretending they were on a hunt with their stiff pants.  The girls were modeling their frozen aprons and holding them up as they laughed.  The giggles and the frozen wash is something I think we will always remember with joy.  It was cold, and the wind was something fierce, but the kids found that work, too, to be play.  After the wash was on the line, they started to have snowball fights and had fun sledding down to the garden.  After a time of play we all went back into the house to start our schooling.  Schooling is so important to us.  We like to stay focussed and get our learning in for the day.  We are thankful for our new table lamp.  It is a leacock mantle lamp which burns white gas.  It is 300 candle power, so the children can see their books really well.  On cold days, a lamp like that helps to keep everyone cozy warm as well.  We all sit around our dining room table and plug away, each in their own grade.  I like to be there to answer all the questions they have each day.  It is so much fun for me to learn with them.  
Last Wednesday I was invited to Elvesta's home to show her how to make some gluten free flax bread.  Martha came to learn, too and I talked for awhile about fresh real foods.  It was a lot of what I learned while taking care of Molly when she was sick with kidney issues.  We also made some grainless granola and sampled it.  They were very skeptical that it would actually taste good.  But they very much enjoyed it.  

Mix the dry ingredients first and then add the wet to it.  The batter ends up acting like a really thick pancake batter.  I highly recommend using parchment paper or a silicone baking mat to spread the batter on evenly.  Bake at 350º F for 20 minutes or until you can insert a toothpick and it comes out dry.  It is really good with butter fresh out of the oven or a little honey.  We did this for Molly because it has virtually no active carbs in it.  The fiber and protein offset it so much that it has a very stabilizing affect on one's blood sugar levels.  Plus it tastes pretty good.  Try it for yourself sometime.  

Cleaning Bees


What is a cleaning bee?  It is not a bumble bee that is cleaning the hive, rather it is a major house cleaning that involves many women in an Amish community.  On Thursday I went over to Edna Ellen's home to bring her husband Milo some kefir whey for his stomach flu.  Kefir whey is the cure for stomach flu, diarrhea and stomach upset.  All you need is a cheese cloth and some homemade kefir.  You run the kefir through the cloth and the clear substance that drains out is the whey.  It is plenty powerful and can knock out the worst of stomach bugs in a hurry.  In fact, Milo choked down a teaspoon of it and his diarrhea stopped as well as the vomiting.  It really works!  As we were talking in the kitchen about the upcoming church meeting at Milo's home, many buggies started rolling in the lane.  Each buggy was filled with willing help to conquer the house cleaning in time for church.  It is tradition for the Amish to have church in their basement or shop and a part of that tradition is cleaning every nook and cranny.  She asked if I could stay and help.  I was so honored because usually only members of the family were involved.  This is a two week process before church.  They spend many days cleaning out all the barns and sheds.  The yard is worked over until it is free of debris, weeds, or dead plants.  The house is cleaned from top to bottom, walls are washed, pantries are organized and cleaned, all closets, drawers, cabinets are all wiped down inside and out with complete order in mind.  They have church about two times a year, so this gets to get done twice a year.  Kind of like a spring and fall cleaning, if you will.  I do not even get that done very thorough because with just me and the girls, it is so slow.  There was day when I could do it, but with my leg the way it is, I have to really pace myself and the work is a lot slower being that I must sit most of the time.  They put me on the detail work.  I sat in a chair and detailed the wringer washer until it shone.  I used the good old Bar Keeper's friend and a little elbow grease.  It looked new again. I also managed to sit there to detail the wash tubs and stand as well.  I was glad to help what I could.  We focussed on the basement that day.  Edna Mae was busy washing windows, taking them completely out to clean with a tooth brush every little small space in the window frames.  Orpha was busily washing the walls with a wall mop, first going over with much hot soapy water and then over for a clean dry rinse after wringing out the wall mop a couple times.  Edna Mae's daughters were busy taking down all the curtains and washing them by hand and hanging them out on the wash line while Martha was cleaning out the back room.  Elvesta was washing the foundational wall with a broom and some dish soap and hot water.  Edna Ellen was running to and fro with supplies all the while nursing a newborn baby.  It was sure a busy day.  The shower in the basement was totally orange with rust stains and I thought the toilet cleaner would get it off (the Works), and I sat on the toilet while I brushed the sides with a toilet brush.  You would not believe how white it came.  It was like a brand new shower when we were done with it.  It almost looked like a busy bee hive that day, women running around cleaning, scrubbing, and toiling for the ones they love.  It just made me love them all the more.  I think it is such a lost art, women working in bees together.  I am sure I read many historical accounts in my lifetime about how the women hundreds of years ago would join together for work.  That is how they survived and how they socialized.  Now, it seems that has almost died out in our culture.  Women have a dishwasher, a washer and dryer, electricity, vehicles, slow cookers, and hand blenders, but they do not have time for helping their neighbors with their spring cleaning.  That is sad.  It just amazes me how the Amish have preserved such a custom until this day and how it "works" so well yet.  Working bees may be a thing of the past, but with a little encouragement, maybe all of you could start your own working bees.  There may be some other ladies in your church that would like to give it a try.  You never know, maybe we can bring this custom into the modern world.  Many hands make light work.  Cleaning bees, if you please, for me!