Post by Ally

This place is so beautiful! I'm from the Pacific Northwest. I've never seen the kinds of flora and fauna that abound here, nor have I been somewhere so warm in March. The tomatoes are already planted, and many of the greens have already bolted! It is a strange and awe-inspiring environment. Every day I notice a new birdsong, see a new insect. I am confused by two types of flowers that have seemed to fall from the sky; no evidence of a tree or bush for them to have fallen from, yet they are scattered on the ground in flat, pink and white, or orange, yellow and bulbous. Haven't identified them yet!

This morning we witnessed the collection of cow pies by a host of dung beetles! Mike says many people in this area do not have dung beetles on their property, because they use too many chemicals. The idea that giving poisons to your livestock would kill the thing that eats and raises babies in their poo makes all the sense in the world. But another clue to healthy soil cropped up today: fungi! A couple big stands of them showed up in the goats' pasture, large and healthy and lookin' good enough to eat! Unfortunately they too are unidentified as of yet.

A couple who had decided to move here has come to visit! Dara and Michael have a farm in Minnesota and are full of good stories, information and tricks of the trade. Here is a French coil that Michael made, and placed under a wisteria to help straighten out its growth. Dara is a professional cook and has brought the gift of baking bread to the homestead, among many other skills.





And here's Poppy, who's almost ready to POP! Mike says she's almost due. We'll probably wait another week at the most. So exciting! New life on the farm! Doesn't she look like she's going to start labor any second?

Garden work and oxen training

Hello this is Frank to give you a progress update in expanding the garden. More beds have been tilled and planted as well as more area cleared for plots. Some of the items planted include beans, corn and asparagus. We have been eating some greens from the garden and they are great! Here's a picture of Mike and Sal doing the work. While I sit back and take pictures.

Brien and Ally have been at the Homestead a few days now and have been helping out with garden work as well as training the Oxen and working with the goats. I think the goats and Oxen have been much happier since they arrived. In about a month the goats will be having their kids and we will be learning about goat milking.

Here are a couple pictures of some local flora.
Check back soon for more updates, thanks for reading!

Planting time on the homestead

It wasn't easy to get the money together for the forest restoration project, but we did and it was the right thing to do. We planted 1000 long leaf pine trees, 50 wild plums and 50 wild Persimmon trees. Thank You, Frank and Sal for your hard work help planting all the trees. These 3 tree types were very important to the Native Americans that had their homesteads here for thousands of years and we are happy to be a part of trying to reestablish them back here. Now back to clearing, tilling and planting the rest of the garden, the greens that Reed and Kat planted are ready to start eating, and the chickens are laying more eggs than we can eat. The goats will be having their babies next month and that means fresh milk, butter and cheese.

Some very good sites

www.wwoofusa.org/ www.homesteadheritage.com/ www.ruralheritage.com/ www.crazycrow.com/ www.realmilk.com/ www.prairieoxdrovers.com/ www.draftanimalpower.com/ www.localharvest.org/ www.dairygoatinfo.com/ www.attra.ncat.org/ http://www.southernexposure.com/ http://www.territorialseed.com/ http://www.rareseeds.com/ Christian Biblical Church Of God - http://www.cbcg.org/ or http://www.churchathome.org/ Permaculture Info http://www.permies.com/ http://www.homestead.org/ http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/ www.ecoseeds.com www.womacknursery.com www.victoryseeds.com www.taxidermy.net/ www.ic.org/ www.joyofhandspinning.com/ www.survivaltopics.com www.southernsyrupmakers.com

See our new web site

www.sabinehomestead.org/

What a birthday present I got! Two very nice future homesteaders, Reed and Kat, stopped here on there bike ride from Austin, TX to Florida. We had a great time for the 2 weeks they stayed here. They worked very hard cleaning and planting the garden, working on setting up the tipi, caring for and training the oxen and the other animals. Plus we drove over to the Homestead Heritage in the Waco area for their fair they put on the weekend after Thanksgiving, to show people about homesteading and a better lifestyle. We talked homesteading late into the nights in front of the fire place. What fun! They also built the web site! I hope after their bike ride they come back and make this their home. Thank you Reed and Kat!

Also I would like to Thank Fred and Barbara for the laptop computer and printer that made making the web site possible and thank you for the Troy Built rototiller and Craftsmen shredder. The garden area is getting bigger and better!

Thank you, Dustin! Thank you for the Nubian milk goats and all your help.

THANK YOU!

Long Leaf Pine Tree Planting Project

Long leaf pine trees, once growing all over the east Texas area, were logged out over about a 100 years of logging. It takes 100 to 150 years for this tree to fully mature. They grow about 300 years. Here at Sabine River Homestead we have dedicated several acres to replanting long leaf pine trees to help reestablish them in this area. We are working with the Texas State Forest Service and the federal agency Natural Resource Conservation Service to help with the ecosystems of East Texas by participating in the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program. If you would like to help, we need a small amount of money, tools and labor to get the planting done in the coming months of November and December of 2010 and January 2011, as well as maintaining the trees after planting. To help you can call 409-625-3641 or send a check to:

Sabine River Homestead
P.O. Box 5
Hemphill Texas 75948

Thank You All For Your Help Making A Better World

You can see more info about Long Leaf Pine Trees here, or by Googling Long Leaf Pine Trees.

The Dream For Sabine River Homestead

I have dreamed of having a homestead for over 35 years, and back then I wanted just my homestead for my family and I, but over the years I have come to realize the importance of working together and sharing, what we have learned , and giving the opportunity to others to learn from what we have. For we have learned from others and its up to us to give that opportunity to others too. It has taken a lot of time, hard work and money to get to the point of having this place and it being payed off, but nothing worth anything comes easy and if it did, would not be as cared about.

I wish to set this place up as a sustainable eco-agriculture homestead for teaching and learning. A place to show others how they can set up their homestead through agri-tourism, educational tours, u-pick operations, farm store, agricultural festivals as well as bed and breakfast opportunities in cabins, tipis or yurts.

Teaching "back to basics" like training oxen, farming with oxen, pottery, raising livestock, tanning and taxidermy, blacksmithing, cooking and canning, arts and crafts, soap making, cheese making, carpentry, boats and kayak building, wilderness survival, butchering and preserving meat and a lot more.

I would like this place to be the focal point for the intentional community set up here and nearby, giving those working and living here the security of a stable lifestyle that a homestead should provide. A place producing what it needs and buying what it can't produce with money made from what we make and sell. There are lots of opportunities here with the Sabine National Forest here and Toledo Bend Reservoir, which is almost 80 miles long and 3 to 5 miles wide , with its great fishing.

Because this is not just about me , I'm hoping that people wishing to be part of this will put in their ideas. With their help there's lots of possibilities. One of them could be a horse Trail ride into the Sabine National Forest, as well horse stables. The possibilities are endless. We just need people wishing to be a part of it all.