This is both refreshing and encouraging.

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On my recent trip down to @shalomacres with @mericanhomestead, I was welcomed into the home of some people that I barely new, the family @shalomacres. Not only did they welcome this "stranger" in, they made me feel right at home, and allowed me to spend the night sleeping on their couch.

One of the interesting things is that their hospitality and welcoming me in was only part of what made me feel "at home." The rest was observing the similarities that were present throughout their house because they are like-minded individuals living a similar lifestyle. Please allow me too explain.

THIS LOOKS SO FAMILIAR

The first thing that struck me was this sight. A small basket of fresh eggs on the counter. Honestly, this could have just as easily been at where we are staying. Our laying hens actually lay eggs that look exactly like this too. The @little-peppers are often the ones to collect them and bring them home, and until we are ready to use them, often they stay in this unwashed state.

To see the chickens running around outside was another familiar part of the homestead that obviously explains the eggs. Much like us, @shalomacres has a somewhat mixed flock of more than one breed of chicken. I think that the red ones are the same exact kind that we have. With these animals comes the chores, and that is where the lifestyles overlap even more.

While they keep St. Croix sheep and ours are Shetland/Finn, it can sound very similar outside since we both keep sheep. We really enjoy ours and appreciate being able to interact with them. Not only are they cool to watch, but they are nice to pet and feed too.

Here @mericanhomestead is hugging one of the little "bottle babies." He too has a few sheep at his homestead, and, interestingly enough, his actually came from this flock. Much like @mericanhomestead, I too cannot wait to have our own lambs born on our homestead.

Since we showed up at the end of the day, I did not get to check out the whole homestead the night before. However, when I saw a large bag of milk replacer sitting inside, this too brought back memories of home. We too keep some bags of this stuff around, and have already bottle fed some goats and piglets on our homestead.

When it came time to feed the lambs their bottles, their oldest son @randomstuff was given the responsibility, since they rotate that job. Not only does @shalomacres have five children just like @mama-pepper and I, they too allow their children to experience a healthy level of responsibility and expectation. Personally, I think that chores like bottle feeding small animal is an amazing chore. Sure, it can be tedious and redundant, but it builds a rewarding relationship with the young animals, which is an incredible byproduct of doing animal husbandry chores.

Did I mention the fruit trees, grapevines, and other food bearing plants growing all over the place outside? Honestly I wish that more people around the world had their own food growing in their yard. If they have a yard, it is going to be there anyway, so why not at least have it feed you?

BACK INSIDE

Back inside the snack was chips and salsa! Can anyone think of a better way to make @papa-pepper feel at home than chips and salsa. They even had a homemade salsa verde. Now it may not have had any ghost peppers in it, but just because it wasn't incredibly hot doesn't mean that it still wasn't tasty.

Also inside were the familiar sights like these. Shelves full of empty egg cartons and various supplies for canning, dehydrating, and other common tasks.

They even had their own "fire cider" made with garlic, peppers, ginger and other ingredients. "Fire Cider" is common in many homes that I know, and is a welcome concoction to have on hand when winter illnesses set in. The jar that @shalomacres has is bigger than any we ever made, but it still reminds me of home.

If you saw my random collection of dried plants in jars, you'd know why this was an incredibly welcome thing to see. From dried Ginko Biloba leaves to Sassafras roots to Lavender flowers, a lot of the same plants are ready for use at @shalomacres and our house too. We had some good conversation and discussion sorting through these jars and sharing. @Haphazard-hstead would have been right at home too!

The bounty from the last garden was also tucked away in this room. A variety of potatoes and sweet potatoes were stored here. I love this feeling, because not only do they keep a really long time, the ones that begin to sprout before they get used can head back to the garden in the spring and produce the next generation of food.

I could go on and on, but for now I'll leave you with this. There is obviously a lot of overlap in the lifestyles of a lot of homesteaders, and @papa-pepper and @shalomacres can testify to that. Moreover, I must point out that without steemit, I would not have met @shalomacres or several other homesteaders in my area. As I've said before, a lot of the real life friends that I've met lately were ones that I first met on steemit.

Of course, I really do enjoy meeting others online and in real life even when our lives look nothing like one another. I've been blessed to hang out with several "non-homesteading" steemians too in my time. I just wanted to share about exactly how much someone can feel "at home" in a situation like this, and I think that after reading my post, you should now understand. Thanks!

Until next time…

Don’t waste your time online, invest it with steemit.com

GIF provided by @orelmely

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