We have a new website . . . if you can call a 1 1/2 year old website new! For those of you who stumbled here through an old link, we invite you to pop on over to:
https://1000sofrootshomesteading.com/
We look forward to connecting with you there. Thank you so much for stopping by the old blog.
Setting up our Patreon site over the past couple of months has been a bit like planting seeds. You never know for sure if the efforts you put forth will bring about life. You simply put the seeds into the dark soil and hope that they will sprout and grow. It takes FAITH to plant seeds.
Patreon has been a step of faith for us. We are not as “huge” on Youtube as others in the family homestead creators category. But we actually like that we are still small enough to keep up with comments and interact with our viewers. Patreon really isn’t the best platform for classes either, but it is the best that we can do at this point. So, we are pleased to share our very first Mini Class Series: Parenting, over on Patreon.
As a mama of 6, living in an unfinished home, on an unfinished homestead, I have been too busy, working too hard, for too long, much as I don’t like to admit it. My parenting skills have been put to the test! Perhaps our Patreon efforts will one day “sprout” into something that gives this mama a little relief and others a reason to hope when there seems to be none. We hope that you will take a moment to see what we have to offer on Patreon.
For those who aren’t interested in parenting, there are more classes in the works on topics like marriage, gardening, homeschooling, natural health, and more. We look forward to seeing what sprouts!
Blessings,
Carrie and Family
We have a “year-round” spring that wasn’t so year-round this year. And we have 3300 gallons of water storage that was just about used up . . . no significant rain in the forecast. What to do . . . ?!?
We made our need known to a good friend and the result was the Ava Volunteer Fire Department coming to the rescue in the form of a tanker! 
Our two 1500 gallon tanks were filled first and then the hose was moved to our “little” 300 gallon tank that isn’t currently hooked up to any catchment system. A few moments after the tank was full and the lid was replaced, the adventure of the day began. The pallets under the tank gave way and the tank began to fall!
Thankfully, a corner post, some strong arms, and a few two by fours kept the tank from crashing to the ground. We had to drain the tank and ratchet strap it from Kip’s truck, around to another corner post, where is still sits atop the cracked pallet, empty. But, all ended well that day with our two bigger tanks full, plenty of water for BATHS!
We are so thankful to our good friend, Chris, for coordinating the water delivery and to Dilbert and his grandson, from the Ava Fire Department, for hanging in their with us through the toppling tank incident.
This experience has inspired us and given us fresh motivation to increase our rainwater catchment capacity. Our total annual water need for our family is about 15,000 gallons and for our animals is about the same, 15,000 gallons. We have enough catchment surface area to catch about 50,000 gallons of rainwater, based on the following equation:
Catchment Area (sq. ft.) x Annual Rainfall (inches) x 0.623 Conversion Factor
Our goal is to use ponds, our creek, and small catchment systems off of chicken coops to water our animals. But, we need more tank storage capacity for our family. We hope to invest in some IBC totes some day soon. They are not as expensive as the tanks we currently have and we think they will be a little easier to handle and give us the option of positioning them inside our add on and future greenhouse space, to help with winter freezing issues.
Do you catch rainwater? How is it working out for you?
Ever since we moved onto our property 3 years ago, we have wanted to share our journey with others through video. But, lack of time and experience kept us from stepping out . . . until now. Not that we have the time and experience now, we just decided it was time to go for it.
So, we have officially started a Youtube vlogging channel! Our goal is to upload at least 2 videos per week. So far, most of the videos are about our new cows. Yes, we got cows!
Our hope is that our channel will help inspire and give hope to others, if not just make them smile. We also have the long term hope that it will provide us with some extra finances to put toward homestead projects and maybe even help open some doors for a home-based permaculture design business.
We are still undecided as to whether or not we will bring this blog back to life in connection with our channel or start a whole new website. Either way, we will let you know when we know.
Until then, we would like to invite you to join us over on Youtube as we share our permaculture homestead building adventure.
Blessings,
Carrie
It has been so long since we last gave an update of the homestead progress. There is little time for much else but the necessary daily tasks, so we’ll let pictures be worth thousands of words, to make the most of this blog time for you, the reader, and us. Much love and blessings to all our friends and family afar off . . . we think of you often.
Summer 2015 at the creek.
A beautiful place to cool off.
Our first time getting the pasture hayed thanks to a kind neighbor.
“Lucy Goose”, a stay neighbor goose hatched out some ducklings for us last summer.
A sampling of last summer’s harvest.
Joshua in his garden on his 10th birthday last August.
Joseph turned two years old last September!
Mom and Papa Keena came for a much enjoyed visit last fall.
2015 fall family picture on the pasture. Check out that beard! It’s a little more “orderly” now that Kip is back to work full time off the homestead.
Esther turned five years old last December and has been mama’s kitchen helper ever since. Such a blessing!
Not much snow last winter, but enough to have a little fun anyway.
Finally the eggs started coming in again this spring . . . so wonderful to have two dozen eggs a day!
Our stray puppy, “Daisy,” had her first litter of 11 puppies.
Nathan celebrated eight years in March!
The first spring flowers of this year.
Some early spring harvest from the kitchen garden.
The beginning of our first swale system. That was a fun and busy day!
Spot, one of the favorite puppies . . . and our strong littlest man.
This time, “Peace”, hatched out the ducklings. Don’t know if our ducks will ever hatch their own.
Caleb crossed over into young man-hood this April, not your typical “teenager”.
We are so thankful for the abundance of strawberries we’ve been getting everyday!
The kitchen garden is giving us fresh treats daily . . . one of our favorite places to be.
The chickens are finally safe in their own paddock, soon to be the main crop garden.
Spring rains have been filling the swale!
The pond is filling up as well, helping to keep the ducks and geese safe at home.
Last, but not least, the root cellar foundation is in . . . such a relief!
1000's of roots 