While I Was Away.....

We actually went away! We got out of town for a few days at Thanksgiving. I'm sure that contributed to the madness of the past week or so, but it was so worth it. We went and stayed at my dad's hideaway in central Texas. It is 100 acres of woods and solitude. It was the nearly frozen north this time. That was the week our cold front came in and blew us all away for a few days.

We took one day and drove up to a Homestead Craft Fair put on by a community of Anabaptists. I don't know if they actually call themselves that, but they are an off-shoot of that group. They live mostly on 500 acres, a few have farms in outlying areas, and live off the land. They also teach others to do what they do. They have this huge fair every year, but they also offer classes all year long.

Here is a sample of what we did.

We made baskets.


We made jump ropes and dog leashes. And we were very cool doing it.


We went on a hay ride. Of course, when we stopped for a scenic view, the boy had to chat with the kid that was driving the horses. "Never met a stranger" was never truer about anyone than my boy.




We saw goats. Such cute goats. It was all I could do to not stick one in my coat and smuggle it home. Just look at these babies! These are Boer goats. They are raised for meat, but they also had Nubians which are dairy goats.


And then there were these puppies. Oh. My. Gosh. I really wanted one of these Golden Retriever puppies. They were so laid back and snuggly. So soft. They also had Lab puppies and some other breeds I couldn't tell what were.







And of course, what homesteading weekend would be complete without a barn raising. This particular one was salvaged from New England. They tore it apart and brought it down here. If you look closely, you can see a certain carpenter friend of mine wielding a big stick.

Some of us just sat around being cold and cute.


We also drank fresh, hot, apple cider and ate freshly made kettle corn. We saw sheep shearing, queried the chicken genius about our chickens, and watched all sorts of demonstrations.

Such fun. It was just a good time.