For most people, time off is fun. We are no different when time away from the ace means spending time with Family.

Saturday we went to a gathering at my Sisters and it was wonderful. Sunday it rained, Monday we did something important that took us away from the place, and yesterday we went to doc visits.

It's nice to see the sun shine and watch the chickens, we'll be chickens, again today. We have some cleanup from the storms to do and some garden work.

The pics are of a ome unknown grass/grain that grows here that the girls LOVE!

What are you doing today?

Today we put up a greenhouse to start some seeds. For now it's beside the shed. We might move it to a new location.

This is the one we decided to go with.

Life after a move like this is a series of adjustments. You have to find your way around AND figure out the sometimes cryptic directions that country folk give. "It's over there past where Jimmy Dale used to live. Not the place he died at but the one before that" (yes that's a real set of directions) (I swear!!)

This time though, it's my hometown. So I understand those cryptic direction. I already have some idea where to go for things.

Hill Hardware is one of those places. Not that it's hard to find. It's on Main Street. It's been there over a hundred years and I hope it'll be there a hundred more.

Walking in is like stepping back in time. The seed boxes, custom built shelving and antique register are exactly as I remember them. The customer service too. They greet you at the door and offer to help.

Now, this is not the polite. "I have to say this but don't mean it so please don't ask me to actually stop what I'm doing and help you M'kay?" stuff that society has gotten used to. These guys and gals are there-to-help you.... And they do it a smile or a laugh and are genuine about the whole deal.

Sure it's a little more than box stores, but keeping service like that going is priceless.

Safety tip: if it comes with a hand guard, use it!!

So I wanted to dehydrate some veggies for healthy snacking. Bob said, "mandolins make it easier ". So he got me one for Valentines Day.

I cut the tip of my finger off like a big dummy. On the bright side, we stopped at the bakery on the way home and got these treats:

Yep. I'm officially happy to get food grade buckets rather than food treats for a gift. Lol

On another happy note, I still got the dehydrator going!!

Deb Berning sent us a pack of wonderful heirloom organic seeds.

I'm ever so grateful for this! Thank you hon!!

No live pics yet, but we had a used glass top stove given to us. It's similar to this one but not self cleaning.

They didn't know if it worked. We hauled it home today and three of the four burners work! Woohoo.

We hauled the old one to a repair shop and gave it to them for parts.

A good day at the homestead.

It dawned foggy this morning. Things are still a bit wet to burn but maybe this afternoon we'll be able to burn off some limbs and paper trash from the previous owners.

Pics this afternoon of progress today but I wanted to share the dawn and a cuppa with y'all.

This lovely surprise came in the mail from my friend Deb. We are part if the Honesteading Plain and Simple group on Facebook. I love this group. Thank you Deb!

... Abd in going through the mountain of stuff in the shed. I found these brand new muck boots. Woohoo

I've already put them to work today picking up trash in the yard.

We spent Sunday afternoon cleaning along the fence line and picking up glass in the barn.

Small things but we can't do a lot until the bush hogging and we are there.

We'd often talked about living a simpler life, going back to the land so to speak. So after a search that took us all over the southeast, we chose family over having more land. 

It's been months waiting to close but as of today at 2:30 pm, we own a plot of land that we are going to turn into a microfarm!!  

Homesteading here we come.