Anyone following my homestead blog...

I promise I haven't forgot about it. I now have THREE jobs so there hasn't been a lot of down time. I do have a lot of pictures to post though!

Our Hoosier Homestead

After reading all of Milah's blogs on her family's history, I wanted to dig a little deeper on mine. Grandma is always excited when I ask question's and loves telling stories (she wrote a book on the farm if anyone is interested) so I knew it wouldn't be a problem.

The farm I grew up on received the Hoosier Homestead award in 1992. This award is given to Hoosier families who have retained their farms for 100 years or more. It was created to show the importance of family farms and express the important contributions that these farms have made to the economic, cultural, and historical heritage of Indiana. I was aware that the farm received this award (obviously, that is me pictured above with my eyes closed. Wish we had digital cameras back then so I could protest a RE-DO!!), but after talking to Grandma I found out we actually had 5 farms that have won the Hoosier Homestead award.

Three of them were purchased in 1813, 1818, and 1846. They are all located South East of the farm we live on now and have since been sold to other Fayette Co. farming families. The fourth, McMullen's in Springersville, came into the family when my Great Grandfather Hanson married a McMullen daughter. We also have a farm located in Ridgefarm, IL that has been in our family over 100 years, but IL does give any type of recognition for it.

I do not know much about the other farms mentioned above, so I will tell you a little about the one that holds a special place in my heart. Hanson Heights was purchased in 1892 by my Great Great Grandfather, Greenberry Hanson. The original owner was James Van Horn. Van Horn escaped slavery on the underground railroad. His ancestors actually stopped by the farm in the late 70's and had tea with Grandma and Grandpa. They were friends with Alex Haley. Haley was responsible for the mini series "Roots". They were inspired by him and decided to do some digging of their own.

more on the history of the house and farm to come......

I got skillz

Mom and I are taking a class through the CEC on Monday nights. It's stained glass for beginners. Here is my first project:


Just kidding! Here is my first project:


Just learning the basics right now. We now know how to cut glass, foil, and solder. We drew our designs for our big project this past Monday. Mine will be 12x12 with 22 pieces of glass (and about 1,541,637 cuts). I will keep you posted!

I'm going to write a book.
Just wanted to give everyone a heads up.
I'm not going to change names either.
If you're worried then chances are you will probably have your own chapter.
If you think it's going to be about a girl who thinks her life is awful, but it ends up being ok, you're right.


Hopefully by the time I'm done it ends up being ok....