The White Family Homesteaders

     Well its been well over a year since I last showed my face on here and I'm not sure where the time went. Last year was full of changes some good and some not so great.  But I won't bore you with the specifics, let's just say hello again and see what's new.      The biggest change of all is our new business venture, metal signs and decor. We take sheets of steel and turn them into signs, ornaments, home decor and even brackets using a plasma table.  Deciding on that purchase was life changing and one of the many reasons life was in the fast lane these last 18 months.  I had no idea what we were getting into or what the response would be, but so far we've had positive feedback. Plasma table hard at work, cutting some steel.      We've done some shows, selling our metal art and now we've got an online shop on etsy to check it out click here,  along with selling locally at The Coop de Ville and Forged n Found....

        Oops I missed a week, well there was Mother's day and I did a lot of non homesteading things like surprising my mom with a day trip to the beach and then celebrating the next day with my little family which did include gardening so blog went to backseat last week.  Oh right and then there was this tiny little thing that happened, our FIRST MARKET DAY.  I'm sure glad that first day is over, now we know what to expect and how things shall go from now on.  Plus I was so anxious and had so many butterflies I was almost making myself sick.  I don't do well with new experiences, I had the feeling like it was a first day of a new job or first day of school and had my nerves all wound up.      Papa had to work the day before so I was in charge of making sure the last little things were done, for instance pricing signs, list of everything going, and everything organized ready to be loaded up.  I think because he wasn't ho...

     So if you haven't heard we've been accepted into our local farmer's market.  It's pretty big news like scream it from the roof tops news.  Someone pinch me, because I'm not sure all this is real...did we really sign up to grow food for others?  Yes we've talked about it before, about maybe having a little stand to sell our extra vegetables but who knew it would be this season. Oh so many strawberries.      After we first put in our application I began to think about what makes a farm or homestead.  I began to feel like maybe we aren't ready for this step or if people will take us seriously.  When I think of a farm or homestead I think of people raising beef or the massively huge vegetable and fruit producers who have workers because there's so much to pick and plant.  But here on our homestead it's quite literally a mom and pop homestead.  We provide food for ourselves and any extras we give to friends and fa...

     Growing season has begun and my dining room corner has become our temporary greenhouse.  Trying to start seeds in the rain with the kiddos running around can be somewhat challenging and not very productive.  At times I found myself getting frustrated when every 2 minutes or so I hear "mom watch this, mom watch this", but then I would turn around and see lil man sliding down a muddy hillside with an enormous smile and it made me realize I have to go with the flow.  Sometimes we are constantly trying to check things off our chore list that we forget we need to be flexible and goof off.  On my own I was able to get half a tray of seeds started so I waited for our weekend with Papa to get the rest done. Of course before I could get started I had to clean up chicken poop, thanks ladies.      Planting goes so much faster when there's two people.      Since we don't have a long growing season I try to get ...