• 1846 Homestead Renovation

    Welcoming Additions: Front Steps and Sidewalk Make Visiting Easier

    Once Upon a Time… Once upon a time, our home was a simple four room dog trot house.  It had one door in the front and one in the back.  Those who lived here before us eventually needed to center, open hallway space and they enclosed it, leaving the front porch open.  It was easy for people to see how to get into the house.  See the gate above?  Go through it.  Walk carefully on the (mostly) flat rocks that lead to the front of the house.  There is one door.  Knock on it.  While there wasn’t a real side walk and no need for front steps, it was welcoming.…

  • In the Garden

    Magnificent Mullein Plant…My New Obsession

    Beauty and Usefulness: Magnificent Mullein Plant is Both I love learning about how things were done in the past.  The building techniques used on our 1846 Homestead were fascinating.  I learned how to milk goats so I could authentically make cheese.  Winemaking is also on the list of things I have mastered in the name of learning the “old ways”. Now we can add cultivating magnificent mullein plants to the list because of its usefulness and general coolness. Medicinal herbs and such are fascinating, but I am very much a novice.  As we continue to put in our flower beds and our garden beds, herbs that we can cook with…