A Maundy Thursday Rainbow
Rachel met with a friend about a month ago who encouraged her to pray for God's protection, for His provision, and for His multiplication of worthy...
On the Road to Narnia
The slab for Narnia Guest House was poured TODAY, in God's providence, as we endeavor to create another place of shalom that is inspired by the home...
Strutting like a Peacock
We’re so glad that our neighbor has a peacock, and we’re so glad that her peacock likes to strut through the Homestead lawns! These creatures are a...
About Daddy-Daughter Date Night
We're still in the afterglow of the first annual Daddy-Daughter Date Night here at the Homestead. It was a priceless celebration of the unique kind...
Celebrating Love in Grand Style
The Feast of Saint Valentine at the Homestead was a grand celebration of "all love's martyrdoms" for 16 couples in the context of a memorable,...
Homestead’s Paddington Bear
With my excess holiday chub and my knee-high yellow farm boots, my family is calling me the Homestead's very own Paddington Bear. (But they're...
On Courage and Faith
As a new week in a New Year dawns may we all have courage and faith, like our three-year-old grandson John-Henry Pierson Van Eerden, who decided to...
Cuddling in the Cold
One of the (few) things we like about the co-ooold is the nightly Snuggle Fests with the sheep in the barn. They almost all want to cuddle. And...
On the Effort to Reclaim Community Tables (through Winter Feasts)
In the 17th century, the English diarist and naval leader Samuel Pepys wrote this: Strange to see how a good dinner and feasting reconciles...
Magnalia’s Walden Pond
Here's the view on a crisp winter day over Magnalia's Walden Pond. One couple visiting had the idea and matched us to bring it to life....
On Creating Community, Together
A beacon is regarded by many people as a symbol. But it’s more. If it does its job, it’s also functional in the way it warns and welcomes travelers....
A Gift of a Guest Journal
Our daughter Elizabeth has blessed us by helping to coordinate guest logistics at Magnalia. What a joy it has been to host people from near and far,...
A Maundy Thursday Rainbow
Rachel met with a friend about a month ago who encouraged her to pray for God's protection, for His provision, and for His multiplication of worthy...
About Daddy-Daughter Date Night
We're still in the afterglow of the first annual Daddy-Daughter Date Night here at the Homestead. It was a priceless celebration of the unique kind...
Celebrating Love in Grand Style
The Feast of Saint Valentine at the Homestead was a grand celebration of "all love's martyrdoms" for 16 couples in the context of a memorable,...
On Courage and Faith
As a new week in a New Year dawns may we all have courage and faith, like our three-year-old grandson John-Henry Pierson Van Eerden, who decided to...
On the Effort to Reclaim Community Tables (through Winter Feasts)
In the 17th century, the English diarist and naval leader Samuel Pepys wrote this: Strange to see how a good dinner and feasting reconciles...
On Creating Community, Together
A beacon is regarded by many people as a symbol. But it’s more. If it does its job, it’s also functional in the way it warns and welcomes travelers....
A Guest List Not Ordinary…and, a Christmas Auction!
A New Winter Feast We hosted a new Winter Feast In the spirit of the historic feasts of St. Nicholas of Myra (A.D. 270-343) this past week. The...
On the Power of Story
In working to create a community at Magnalia that is a "Beacon of Hope," we’re trying to be intentional in creating spaces that prompt people to...
A Framed Letter from Maj. Gen. Purdy
Maj. Curan Clonch and Kristen Nance Clonch just delivered to Semper Fi Hall a framed letter from Maj. Gen. Purdy, US Space Force Commander, and an...
Not an Ordinary Cup of Tea
Epic Annie Talton from Alabama leaves the Homestead today for DC after a great run of weeks working in Magnalia's OnePull Community Garden under the...
Doors Open at Magnalia’s Smithy!
On a crisp winter evening, with the stars near enough to grab, The Village Blacksmith Shoppe at Magnalia opened its doors for a gathering for the...
Making Merriment
As a change of pace, we thought we would offer you a peak into community life here at Magnalia homestead, leading with our first public event at the newly constructed…
Homestead’s Paddington Bear
With my excess holiday chub and my knee-high yellow farm boots, my family is calling me the Homestead's very own Paddington Bear. (But they're...
On Creating Community, Together
A beacon is regarded by many people as a symbol. But it’s more. If it does its job, it’s also functional in the way it warns and welcomes travelers....
A Gift of a Guest Journal
Our daughter Elizabeth has blessed us by helping to coordinate guest logistics at Magnalia. What a joy it has been to host people from near and far,...
On the Power of Story
In working to create a community at Magnalia that is a "Beacon of Hope," we’re trying to be intentional in creating spaces that prompt people to...
A Holy Hush
Sometimes a holy hush is just what we need at the end of a week of bustle, to put us in a Sabbath state of mind. But the Lord is in His holy temple....
A Framed Letter from Maj. Gen. Purdy
Maj. Curan Clonch and Kristen Nance Clonch just delivered to Semper Fi Hall a framed letter from Maj. Gen. Purdy, US Space Force Commander, and an...
Not an Ordinary Cup of Tea
Epic Annie Talton from Alabama leaves the Homestead today for DC after a great run of weeks working in Magnalia's OnePull Community Garden under the...
A Place in Time
Sometimes when we travel we get to visit a Place that inspires us. A Place that gives us a vision of things Beautiful, Good and True. A Place...
On The Passing of Batons
Every family marks those moments when there is a "changing of the guard" -- when a baton of responsibility passes from one child to the next, or...
Mahindra Tractor
Definitely one of my favorite pictures from the holiday season, here's Eddie with his "best friend" and nephew, William James Wolfe. The smiling...
Magnalia Homestead Christmas Auction Now Live!
We’re so very excited, thanks to the creativity and generosity of so many in our generous community, to announce perhaps the most…
USMC Birthday #247!
Semper Fi Hall was a fitting site for a gathering of Marines, their spouses, and special invited guests to commemorate the 247th Birthday of the...
On the Road to Narnia
The slab for Narnia Guest House was poured TODAY, in God's providence, as we endeavor to create another place of shalom that is inspired by the home...
Magnalia’s Walden Pond
Here's the view on a crisp winter day over Magnalia's Walden Pond. One couple visiting had the idea and matched us to bring it to life....
On Creating Community, Together
A beacon is regarded by many people as a symbol. But it’s more. If it does its job, it’s also functional in the way it warns and welcomes travelers....
Setting a Table, For a Better World?
People are made in the image of a trinitarian God and we are, therefore, designed to be in relationships. We become incomplete when we're in a state...
A Framed Letter from Maj. Gen. Purdy
Maj. Curan Clonch and Kristen Nance Clonch just delivered to Semper Fi Hall a framed letter from Maj. Gen. Purdy, US Space Force Commander, and an...
Not an Ordinary Cup of Tea
Epic Annie Talton from Alabama leaves the Homestead today for DC after a great run of weeks working in Magnalia's OnePull Community Garden under the...
A Place in Time
Sometimes when we travel we get to visit a Place that inspires us. A Place that gives us a vision of things Beautiful, Good and True. A Place...
Easter Sign Glory
Signs of Easter are everywhere! Resurrection glory: things dying to bring new life. The Dutch tulips were my favorite sight here, until we realized...
Doors Open at Magnalia’s Smithy!
On a crisp winter evening, with the stars near enough to grab, The Village Blacksmith Shoppe at Magnalia opened its doors for a gathering for the...
Making Merriment
As a change of pace, we thought we would offer you a peak into community life here at Magnalia homestead, leading with our first public event at the newly constructed…
USMC Birthday #247!
Semper Fi Hall was a fitting site for a gathering of Marines, their spouses, and special invited guests to commemorate the 247th Birthday of the...
A Creek Mist Rising
After an autumn rain, the midst rises up from the Hogan's Creek valley and makes a simple pasture view seem epic, almost mystical. It draws me to...
Strutting like a Peacock
We’re so glad that our neighbor has a peacock, and we’re so glad that her peacock likes to strut through the Homestead lawns! These creatures are a...
Cuddling in the Cold
One of the (few) things we like about the co-ooold is the nightly Snuggle Fests with the sheep in the barn. They almost all want to cuddle. And...
Holy Cow!
That’s an expression I heard often from generations before me. We’ve been using it around here of late, in jest, because the Homestead now has a...
On Listening to Cato
Cato, the Roman legend who inspired our founding fathers in the quest toward liberty, wrote a famous treatise on farming and agriculture for his...
Easter Sign Glory
Signs of Easter are everywhere! Resurrection glory: things dying to bring new life. The Dutch tulips were my favorite sight here, until we realized...
A Festival of Firsts
So this just happened at Magnalia Farm today: our first ewe lamb, and our first calf (endowed with a bull's paraphernalia), were born within hours...
The Magnalia Mark
Magnalia's logo is a silhouette of a recurring moment with our playful black Labrador retriever named Bella June. She's ever the loyal companion for...
Feeling Loved
Our affectionate new Neubian donkey named Davie has quite the personality. I'm not sure our Black Angus, named Scheffler, who once got all my...
When Farm Tough Met an Amateur Farmer…
Farm Tough met an Amateur Farmer, and left said Farmer full of wonder. 😮 What a marvel to witness Davie the Donkey and our other farm animals...
We Are Like Sheep
Our four sheep at Magnalia Farm have made me more aware of the many facets of me being referred to in the Scriptures as A SHEEP. All we like sheep...
Resilient Cosmos
A friend of ours had the idea of planting a large bed of the Cosmos Bipinnatus flower seed (commonly called the garden cosmos or Mexican Aster) in...
A Waystation for Majestic Monarchs
Monarch butterflies have been a family favorite for years. When they were listed as endangered earlier this year, friends Tim and Cindy Wall helped...
A Maundy Thursday Rainbow
Rachel met with a friend about a month ago who encouraged her to pray for God's protection, for His provision, and for His multiplication of worthy...
On the Road to Narnia
The slab for Narnia Guest House was poured TODAY, in God's providence, as we endeavor to create another place of shalom that is inspired by the home...
Strutting like a Peacock
We’re so glad that our neighbor has a peacock, and we’re so glad that her peacock likes to strut through the Homestead lawns! These creatures are a...
About Daddy-Daughter Date Night
We're still in the afterglow of the first annual Daddy-Daughter Date Night here at the Homestead. It was a priceless celebration of the unique kind...
Celebrating Love in Grand Style
The Feast of Saint Valentine at the Homestead was a grand celebration of "all love's martyrdoms" for 16 couples in the context of a memorable,...
Homestead’s Paddington Bear
With my excess holiday chub and my knee-high yellow farm boots, my family is calling me the Homestead's very own Paddington Bear. (But they're...
On Courage and Faith
As a new week in a New Year dawns may we all have courage and faith, like our three-year-old grandson John-Henry Pierson Van Eerden, who decided to...
Cuddling in the Cold
One of the (few) things we like about the co-ooold is the nightly Snuggle Fests with the sheep in the barn. They almost all want to cuddle. And...
On the Effort to Reclaim Community Tables (through Winter Feasts)
In the 17th century, the English diarist and naval leader Samuel Pepys wrote this: Strange to see how a good dinner and feasting reconciles...
Magnalia’s Walden Pond
Here's the view on a crisp winter day over Magnalia's Walden Pond. One couple visiting had the idea and matched us to bring it to life....
On Creating Community, Together
A beacon is regarded by many people as a symbol. But it’s more. If it does its job, it’s also functional in the way it warns and welcomes travelers....
A Gift of a Guest Journal
Our daughter Elizabeth has blessed us by helping to coordinate guest logistics at Magnalia. What a joy it has been to host people from near and far,...