There is excitement in the air as we are about to launch our new blogging community just for homesteaders like you! HomesteadBlogger.com is a community for people who long to get back to the old and simpler paths of living—a way of living that focuses on family, home, and land. Whether you are a seasoned homesteader with years of expertise to share, a newcomer wanting to learn new homesteading skills, a city dweller seeking a more natural way of life, or someone who wants to learn more about the lost home arts our forefathers used to live off the land, this community is for you! We will be featuring a resource library that will be an online encyclopedia of homesteading and simple living subjects: grinding your own corn, quilting, raising livestock, building log cabins, natural health, solar power, and much, much more!

Visit our home page—www.HomeSteadBlogger.com—and stake your claim today before all the good names are taken!

By Lisa Barthuly

Pinecones (easily available at most craft stores if you don't happen to have these on your homestead!)
Glitter
Hot glue gun and craft glue (tacky glue)
Ribbon, cut in 3-5" pieces depending on preference
2 egg cartons per person, cut in half and top separated from bottom
Old newspaper to cover your work area

Turn on some wonderful family favorite holiday music!

Take your pinecones, standing them up in an old egg carton, pointed end down, and cover tips with hot glue or tacky glue.

Note on Glues: I have used Elmer’s, and it takes quite a bit of dry time and doesn't come out as well. Hot glue dries quickly and works great, but you have to get your glitter on fast! Craft glue works great too and is a “happy medium.” You can cover the whole pinecone with glue, then shake your glitter on, and not have to work as fast as you do with the hot glue gun. Children can use craft glue without the supervision the hot glue gun requires, too!

Shake glitter all over your pinecone while holding it over the “box side” of the egg carton to catch excess glitter.

Let dry—timing will vary depending on type of glue used.

When dry, shake off excess glitter into “box side” of egg carton to reuse on the next pinecone.

Put a dollop of hot glue (THIS is where I definitely recommend the HOT GLUE GUN) on the top flat part of the pinecone, and take your 3-5" (depending on preference and use) piece of ribbon, form a circle, and place both ends in the glue, pressing them into the glue (make sure these are firmly pressed into the glue, as this will be what they hang from—and be careful not to burn your fingers!) Place into your second egg carton to completely dry.

You now have a pretty ornament, from God's creation—all decorated for Jesus’ birthday!

Blessings for a joyous, Christ-filled Christmas!

Lisa Barthuly lives with her husband and children in the state of Washington. You can visit Lisa at www.homeschoolblogger.com/ourlittlehomestead.

By Carla Klimuk

The winner for the best Homespun Holiday article goes to Catherine Love of Little River, Texas, with her article Christmas Is in the Air. Her craft suggestion of making aromatic heart ornaments as tree ornaments and allowing visiting friends to select one to take home as a remembrance of their time with them is about as homespun as you can get! Catherine is now going from country to urban homesteader as she and her pastor husband forge new ministry ground in the city. Many blessings on your new homestead, Catherine!

Our fiftieth subscriber to the Homestead e-Newsletter contest winner is Jodi Frederick of Kent, Washington. Congratulations, Jodi!

Both of our winners will receive a deluxe package from Crystal Miller that includes two bars of her goat’s milk soap, her homemaking CD “How to Make Whole Wheat Bread,” and a coupon for a free e-book of the winner’s choice from Crystal’s website, The Family Homestead, www.thefamilyhomestead.com.

Our new contest for January will again feature two winners!

One prize package will be awarded for the article that contains the best homesteading books, websites, and/or other resources. We want to know what you think are some of the best resources to share with other homesteaders, and be sure to tell us why. Learning from others’ experiences and firsthand recommendations is one of the best ways to learn homesteading and home arts.

The second prize package will be awarded to the 300th person to sign up for the Homestead e-Newsletter.

Each winner will receive a prize package perfect for the cold and cough season from Marilyn Moll at The Urban Homemaker: www.urbanhomemaker.com.

Each prize package will include 1 bottle of Tri-Light’s Wild Cherry Coffaway, the perfect herbal remedy for dry coughs, and 1 bottle of Tri-Light’s Lungs Plus, a great herbal remedy when stronger lung support is needed.

So get your articles and reviews together and send them to homesteadnewsletter@comcast.net

By Dalyn Weller

The holidays have traditionally been a time when families and friends, and sometimes neighbors, gather together to share old and new stories over the dinner table. Food is an important aspect of our culture. All through the ages it has been a way of expressing our love, hospitality, concern, and care of others.

During a traditional holiday celebration, the women worked and laughed together, proud to make a beautiful feast for their men and children. They traded recipes and stories and formed bonds that upheld them through lost babies, difficult marriages, and other trials of life. The men laughed, joked, and boasted over hunting and fishing stories, all the while being tempted by the delicious aromas wafting from the bustling kitchen. In the meantime the boys gathered ’round the table, hungry for every scrap of the male conversation, and learned how to “be men.”

The women took pride in their cooking and homes, and especially their families, and the men took pride in the work of their hands, their children, and especially their women.

In the evening they relaxed with one another over steaming mugs of coffee laced with cream and plates of fresh-baked pies, also rich with cream. Food and family are both rich!

“That added touch of beauty, the extra bit of work, the imaginative creative cooking, if done by the Christian with a conscious love for the Lord, is not only helpful to the individuals for whom we are cooking, but is accepted by the Lord as having been done for Him. How can it be anything but important, and utterly worthwhile?”
(Edith Schaeffer in The Hidden Art of Homemaking)

Nowadays, everybody’s on a diet. People eat more than they work off. Families are too far apart to gather together, for one reason or another. One woman alone, burdened with the task of preparing a meal for ungrateful children used to eating out, or from cans and boxes, shrugs her shoulders in hopeless despair and buys her holiday meal already cooked from the grocery store. The entire thing comes in a big box. It costs only money, not time, and is made by strangers for pay instead of by loving, maternal hands. This year they even have turkeys all ready for you to pop in the oven that come in a bag. No fuss. No mess. No memories.

Instead of sharing dessert by the fire and swapping family secrets and laughing over old times, they gather in front of the television, and Father arms himself with the remote. Maybe the children wander off to their own televisions in their bedrooms, or perhaps video games. The evening is whiled away with each person in the same room, but terribly alone nevertheless.

Sometimes I feel so burdened for these families. It grieves me to see the wasted years. I think that’s why I feel so strongly about making the holidays meaningful and memorable with my family and whomever the Lord brings to our home. Being the “one woman burdened alone,” I truly want more for my own family.

Isaiah 62:4 spoke volumes to my heart one year. It says this:
“And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.”

I determined to be a builder. I asked the sweet Lord to help me.

Even though I don’t have a houseful of family on the holidays, I do have a family in Christ. There is always someone needing a “home for the holidays.” It’s not hard to find other lonely people. They are everywhere. We can make new traditions that will be old by the time our grandchildren come along. We can be the ones with the old family stories to pass down. We can be the women sharing our “secret family recipes” with the new wives and mothers. My daughter will learn from me and then teach her daughters. She will be prepared to come alongside her brothers’ wives and be a sister-in-the-Lord to them. We can be the ones to “build the old wastes” again.

This year I may even work up the courage to butcher the Tom turkey I have been fattening up for Thanksgiving. I am new to the homestead life, but old ways have been placed in my heart, and I am willing to try to build memories to pass down to the next generation. I’m sure this will be one nobody will be able to forget! Mom crying over her pet turkey while rubbing butter and sage from her garden all over his 45-pound body. The oven may not be large enough!

I’d rather have a good laugh and try, though, than go purchase a hormone-laced turkey in a bag.

Give me tradition! I want the old ways and rest for my soul if not for my hard-working body. I want homemade stuffing, not Stovetop! I want real gravy and real potatoes swimming in real butter. I want a real home and family, not a houseful of strangers living under the same roof. I want a home full to the brim of loved ones and friends. I want the satisfaction of seeing them anticipate with delight the feast I prepared for them with my own hands. I even want to grow as much of that food as possible! I want traditions and memories and to be surrounded by warmth and love. I want to walk the old paths, the good way, and find rest for my soul! Even if it means being a first generation builder.

Have a CHRIST-filled Christmas!

Dalyn Weller is the Queen of Quite A Lot in Yakima, Washington, living with her husband, three children, horses, and various other animals. You can visit her website at www.freewebs.com/dailywalkinfarm/ or visit her on her blog, www.homeschoolblogger.com/dalyn.

www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com/e_newsletter/index.php

By Nancy Carter

No more shopping at the toy stores. No more clothes shopping at the mall. No more desire for those things, actually. As we approached our first Christmas still in awe of the farm God had provided us, all we wanted were things for the farm. And of course we needed things for the farm, lots and lots of things. Mud boots. Coveralls for the kids to wear over their clothes when working outside, and a gambrel for my husband to use when gutting the deer. I never even knew what a gambrel was before!

I found myself reading books and magazines to find out what kind of knife would be most practical and useful. I asked my friends with horses what type of shovel was most efficient for cleaning stalls. I learned that I couldn't order chicks from McMurray Hatchery for Christmas arrival, but that I could get my husband a gift certificate, catalog, and Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens.

We purchased a kerosene heater and gas lamp “just in case.” We kept our pantry stocked with plenty of extra supplies if needed. And somehow the holidays were so much more meaningful. Our hearts were filled with gratitude as we realized how God had given us the desires of our heart. With wide open spaces, a starry sky, and plenty of peace and quiet, our lives were fuller than the lives of the richest family with the biggest stack of presents under the tree.

Looking at our old barn and reflecting on the humble birth of our Savior, we thought anew of the greatest gift of all time. And just as our Savior came 2000 years ago, He still comes. He comes with grace and blessings undeserved. He gives our family a new start, a chance to reflect on the important things in life, a renewed sense of unity and purpose, an even greater appreciation for all of God's creation, and a desire to share the newfound joy with others.

Two years earlier, I had taken great delight in decorating our historic home to bless the neighbors around us. I had spent much time in the malls looking for just the right presents. But no matter how much we did, we were still a family stuck in the middle of town. But while God was changing our location, He was also changing us. He changed our wants and needs. He changed our vision for our family. So even though there was a lot of camouflage under our tree that Christmas, our lives were no longer camouflaged with the world and its standards; we had left the mainstream and were off on a new path. Following God and camouflaged by Him.

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Romans 12:2

Nancy Carter, her husband, and three boys enjoy homeschooling and learning together on their Kentucky farm. They are doing things that they never thought they would and learning a lot from their mistakes. You can follow along with their Lessons Learned on the Farm at www.HomeschoolBlogger.com/tn3jcarter.