We just got back from a weekend on the homestead. I've got to tell ya, it gets harder and harder to leave it. We need to sell our home in town so we can get out there for good.

This weekend we spent most of our time clearing out the woods behind the house. When we cleared the 1.5 acres in the middle of the 65 acres, we knew we had picked a spot that had not been inhabited in recent memory, but I'm not sure we realized exactly how un-inhabited that area really was. On the upside, most of the woods around the clearing are just loaded with blueberry and blackberry bushes. It was actually sad to me to cut back the berry bushes. The good news is, there are plenty more where those came from! And the area we cleared really looks great right now. We didn't finish it quite as much as we had hoped, but we did get most of the wild vines, dead wood, rocks, and fallen timber out of the way. Take a look at the pictures. The ones of the clearing are at the end right now.

Besides working on reclaiming the backyard, we spread seed and watered to try to get some grass growing. We're really anxious about getting grass growing - walking around in a wet yard amounts to walking around with shoes that weigh 7 pounds each from the mud! Not to mention I am not big on mopping the floors in the house and tracking in mud equates to many more mopping days than I care for.

You would think that with all the work we have to do at our homestead we would simply dread going out there. Nothing could be further than the truth. Working that hard would be a total buzz kill if we weren't doing it for ourselves, or at least making a butt load of money at it! Since there's no money in this for us, there is no doubt we are doing this for ourselves. Waking up early and having a cup of coffee at the picnic table as the day wakes up is more invigorating than any amount of caffeine. Working hard and feeling the blood course through our veins as we labor on our homestead reminds us that we are alive - and why. And after a long day working to make our home what we want it to be, nothing can beat sitting back in a cool breeze and watching the bats devour the mosquitoes that fed on us all day. I've gotta admit, that's one of my favorite times of the day.

Well, we've got another week before we head out to the homestead again. In the meantime, we're going to fix my trike which decided to give up the brakes about 50 miles into a 180 mile ride last weekend. She doesn't mind - I've told you before she likes to go fast. But it was certainly a butt-puckering ride for me for about 130 miles. We'll get her brakes working again this week so she can make it back out to the homestead.

By the way, the Tin Can Campfire I told y'all about earlier is really great for keeping away the mosquitoes and gnats. We light one everytime we sit outside in the evenings. No question you could cook on those babies - they put out quite a flame and a bit of heat. A definite "must" for a survival kit.

Until next time, live free.

Penny