As our eight year old son tells people before they come in our home, "It looks a lot better on the inside than it does on the outside."
The mobile home we bought is a 1984 and we were not even going to look inside when we were looking at all the homes on the used mobile home lot. Once we were inside, we knew that for the price it was a steal. The person had maintained the interior very well and taken pretty good care of it.
Here are some pictures inside:
!["Photo]("http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i256/knittingmommaof5/woodstove.jpg")
!["Photo]("http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i256/knittingmommaof5/livingroom.jpg")
Warm wishes,
Tonya
Hand Knit Natural Fiber Toys and More!
We arrived March 31st - Saturday afternoon with our 1998 Ford Winstar filled to the brim as well as the cargo carrier on top. It is amazing how many books can be put in each nook and cranny! We arrived safely to our mobile home with everything as Michael had left it when he came up to work on it in mid February. The weather was warm and sunny as well! The next day was also a gift as the weather continued to be seasonally warm and clear.
The last four weeks have been very busy. Homesteading and living off grid is a physical and requires much endurance as there is always work to be done. We are off grid but do have a generator that we use to pump the water from the well to fill our holding tanks (otherwise known as clean and new garbage cans). At night we enjoyed our Alladin lantern until we had continued problems with the wick and mantle and decided that it may be a much too expensive alternative. We are still awaiting for the arrival of our hanging oil lantern from Lehmans (it has been on back order for over a month) - that will be a welcome addition. In the meantime candles have been working just fine but before the days get shorter again, we hope to purchase some solar lights.
Michael found a job at a landscaping company based just three miles away from us. His hours are very long during the season but we hope he will be home with us all winter to work on our craft business and help with the homeschooling and homestead chores. In addition, the company offers some plowing work in the winter.
I am going to end my entry for today as you never know when the generator may hiccup and I will lose all I have typed.
I will write more next week - for now we are safe and blessed and happy!
Tonya
Natural Earth Farm - Handmade Natural Fiber Toys and Home Goods
Living "of" the world - as most of our society in America lives, draws us away from God, family, nature and community.
There are many factors that have contributed to this but it has been a continual succession of new norms that have made most Americans more and more reliant on the government, technology, and credit.
Our family has been going through a gradual progression towards rejecting many American standards and we continue to evaluate each technology that is a part of our family's life. Currently, we have spent a lot of time discussing the internet. Truly the internet has become another screen in many homes that takes family members away from each other, their community and doing good works. Used sparingly, it can be a tool for good. However, emails truly are not the way to build community or form friendships. However, the internet can be a tool for a family home based business which could help a family become more home centered. It has made it possible for us to earn a substantial percentage of our income, for example.
Our family's position at present is to use the internet for our online business and to keep up our blog as well as to do some occasional homeschool related research, although we much prefer books. We would like to keep in touch with family and friends through telephone conversations, written correspondence and "live" contact. Because we will need to use a generator to run the computer, our usage will be carefully monitored. Our prayer is to find an affordable lap top with a solar rechargable battery which will also save us a lot of room in our small mobile home. In addition, we only have dial up access and are limitied to a certain duration of local calls with our monthly plan. Therefore, these factors will help to keep us disciplined and help to keep our priorities in order.
We will continue to pray, wait and discuss the internet and its place in our lives.
Warm wishes,
Tonya
While my father took three of our children to Florida last week, Michael spent Monday through Friday working on our mobile home. He built the boys a triple bunk bed. The bottom layer is basically the mattress on the floor, the middle layer is in an L shape to the bottom and against the other wall and the top is parallel to the bottom. They won't have tons on head room, but it gives them much more floor space. He fixed the hallway floor that had buckled due to water damage. He built the front stoop (the stairs and landing by the front door so we no longer have to use cinder blocks). He shoveled the three feet of snow off the roof. Northern Vermont had their third largest amount of snowfall for one storm on record on the 14th of February. We had our phone hooked up!!! We now have a phone number and answering service. He also organized the inside and bought some water storage tanks (galvanized metal trash cans - for the kitchen and bathroom). We plan to use hand pumps with these for dish washing, etc. We will be using bottled water for drinking. As electricity is still not a priority right now - we will be going without. We do have a generator to pump water from the well to fill our holding "tanks".
Still much more work to do - but at least it is set for our initial arrival.
Our plan is to head back on March 31st.
Warm wishes,
Tonya
I guess I just needed a break from blogging and also from the internet. I only used it sparingly for our online business. We have been praying a lot about the use of the internet and whether or not it is truly been beneficial in our lives. Michael and I will be discussing this tonight during our Friday night in home "date night".
The internet is truly being used for evil purposes and we are not sure we want to be a part of that. On the other hand, we get long distance, cyberspace support through "interacting" with other simple and home based living families. In addition, a significant source of our income has come from our online sales.
Will keep you posted.
Warm wishes,
Tonya
During our family's time of reflection over the winter as we prepare ourselves to return to our home in northern Vermont - both my husband and I have been spending a lot fo time in God's word.
We purchased a small book from Rod and Staff Publishers titled "The Rewards of the Faithful" by Raymond Fisher. It is about the rewards of working and saving.
I will share portions as I read and pray about it over the coming weeks.
Right away, in the first chapter the book I read that everything in our life must be surrendered to Christ. Our goals, plans and our ambitions for this life take second place.
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33)
Wow... God has always provided for us - even when we took a huge leap of faith and went out on our own to live a family centered life, we have always been able to eat healthy, nutritious meals, sleep in a warm house (this past winter thanks to our aunt and uncle), and be clothed with clean, neat clothing. God has always surrounded us with faithful Christians since we made the move to northern Vermont. Prior to moving, I had been praying for several years that God provide us with other Christian families to become friends with and learn from. Soon after moving to Vermont, we met three amazing faithful families. Now here in New York, we are living with a family that loves God and a church filled with loving people. My prayers have been answered.
While we continue to work toward moving back to our mobile home in Vermont, we have to remember to put God first and not be clouded by our own ambitions. That by putting Him first, all will be added unto us.
Warm wishes,
Tonya - Wife to Michael and Mom of 5
On Saturdays I am usually blessed to be able to go out by myself or I bring one child with me and do the weekly shopping. This time often includes a library visit and some consignement shop visits in addition to the groceries.
Yesterday in a clearance rack I found this beautiful dress for 50 cents! Here it is on Sarah for church this morning.
Here is a close up:
Have a wonderful Sunday!
Warm wishes,
Tonya
Natural, Handmade Toys and More