The Road To Magnalia
Snapshots of a Homesteader’s LifeSnapshots
Handwritten Notes in the Age of AI
Sep 22, 2025 | PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
Handwritten notes in the AI Age are more a gift these days than ever. We were blessed to help our dear friend Jennifer Way Kloss host a group of...
A World Without Children?
Sep 19, 2025 | PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
WHAT WOULD THE WORLD BE LIKE WITHOUT CHILDREN? ❤️ These snapshots from Magnalia yesterday made us smile -- a joyful son of the Clan Lockhart...
The Gift of a Day
Sep 10, 2025 | PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
Mount Jubilee Heroes came to Magnalia Farm today to help our Master Gardener Dorothy Dockery Clement start planting our Winter Garden. After some...
2025 Homestead Pickleball Championship Winners
Sep 2, 2025 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
The 2nd Annual Homestead Pickleball Championships are in the books! What fun!! Congrats to our 2025 Winners in a great Tournament field: Ben Bowman...
Beauty, Wonder, and Common Miracles
Aug 30, 2025 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
Here's a Swallowtail flitting in a happily overgrown (untended) Lantana plant, and the majesty of one of the many spider webs of August (dazzling...
Pickleballers Warming Up and Food for Sampling, too!
Aug 28, 2025 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
Ladies practicing last night under the cover of darkness falling to get the extra edge 😆 in preparation for the 2nd Annual Homestead Pickleball...
Magnalia’s Winter Feasts Hit the Calendar
Aug 12, 2025 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
The schedule of Winter Feasts at Magnalia Homestead & Farm just published, including the 250th Birthday Bash in honor of the United States...
Happy National Sunflower Day
Aug 3, 2025 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
There seem to be "National Days" for nearly everything now. But. National Sunflower Day (which my laptop informed me upon login is TODAY) seems a...
Farm Life is Spectacular, and Hard
Jul 30, 2025 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
We lost a treasured ewe lamb yesterday. I don't know how, or why, but I found her lifeless in her favorite spot to lay every morn and eventide. I...
The Best Independence Day Eve Ever!
Jul 5, 2025 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
Sweet memories of an important day, worthy of celebration! We think we did our forebears proud. Many thanks to all who made it happen. And thanks...
A Word About Mr. Beaver
Jun 25, 2025 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
For years the TEAM page for Magnalia Homestead has paid homage to our furry Homestead friend known as Mr. Beaver. (The animated version on that page...
We Love Our Sheepish Sheep
Jun 17, 2025 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
Our flock of sheep have taught me much about "the herd effect." The males tend to be out front, all ears are attentive, and the most "sheepish" go...
2025 Homestead Pickleball Championship Winners
Sep 2, 2025 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
The 2nd Annual Homestead Pickleball Championships are in the books! What fun!! Congrats to our 2025 Winners in a great Tournament field: Ben Bowman...
Pickleballers Warming Up and Food for Sampling, too!
Aug 28, 2025 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
Ladies practicing last night under the cover of darkness falling to get the extra edge 😆 in preparation for the 2nd Annual Homestead Pickleball...
Magnalia’s Winter Feasts Hit the Calendar
Aug 12, 2025 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
The schedule of Winter Feasts at Magnalia Homestead & Farm just published, including the 250th Birthday Bash in honor of the United States...
The Best Independence Day Eve Ever!
Jul 5, 2025 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
Sweet memories of an important day, worthy of celebration! We think we did our forebears proud. Many thanks to all who made it happen. And thanks...
Leah + Michael Get Married
Jun 14, 2025 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
The wedding of Leah and Michael Reittinger lingers merrily in our souls, now two weeks afterward. Leah is the last of our four daughters to get...
Independence Day Eve! And Your Narnian Adventure….
Jun 3, 2025 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
As every patriot knows, and as Memorial Day reminds us, freedom is not free. So mark your calendars to celebrate that truth with us on Independence...
Memorial Day Artifacts to Help Remember
May 25, 2025 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
Every time I stop and pause in Semper Fi Hall in front of these USMC WW1 and WW2 helmets (the former showing the full impact of a day gone bad), as...
Feast of St. Patrick & The Ulster Scots
Mar 18, 2025 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
At this year's Feast of St. Patrick & The Ulster Scots last Saturday night, these guys represented, and showed up in family colors! Epic people...
The Engine Room
Mar 17, 2025 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
Behind the scenes at every community meal here there are many helpers, sometimes just gathering up and washing dishes, who bring joy to it all....
USMC at Magnalia Homestead
Mar 1, 2025 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
What an HONOR it was to have LtCol USMC (Ret) Mike West, SgMaj USMC (Ret) Mark Byrd, and LtCol USMC (Ret) Tony Mitchell at Magnalia Homestead for...
The Feast Of St. Nicholas Is A Feast of Gratitude
Jan 6, 2025 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
A week ago we marked the waning days of Christmastide with our annual Feast of St. Nicholas, which specially celebrates children who've been...
Christmas Greetings From The Homestead
Dec 25, 2024 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
Thanks to all of you who've warmed this humble place with life, and light, and love. Merry Christmastide (it's a season, not a day!), and God's...
Handwritten Notes in the Age of AI
Sep 22, 2025 | PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
Handwritten notes in the AI Age are more a gift these days than ever. We were blessed to help our dear friend Jennifer Way Kloss host a group of...
A World Without Children?
Sep 19, 2025 | PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
WHAT WOULD THE WORLD BE LIKE WITHOUT CHILDREN? ❤️ These snapshots from Magnalia yesterday made us smile -- a joyful son of the Clan Lockhart...
The Gift of a Day
Sep 10, 2025 | PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
Mount Jubilee Heroes came to Magnalia Farm today to help our Master Gardener Dorothy Dockery Clement start planting our Winter Garden. After some...
Flashback to an Epic Orphanage
May 10, 2025 | PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
What a flashback experience this week! The director of Eddie's orphanage For His Children-Ecuador, Jen Thomas, came to visit Eddie & Fam at the...
Treasuring the Heroes and Volunteers in the Community Garden
Apr 19, 2025 | PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
We're still treasuring up the many hugs and smiles shared (look at these pictures!) from Mount Jubilee Heroes who help our Master Gardener Dorothy...
Eddie’s 12 Sheets of Transcription
Apr 7, 2025 | PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
Eddie's been talking with us for months about coming to Table for the Lord's Supper. So, we made him a short form catechism to help guide us in...
Neighbors Helping Neighbors
Mar 24, 2025 | PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
When life gets hard, community matters. A LOT. Just yesterday, our longtime farmer friend Rodney Hardy delivered some special feed to us that Rosie...
Work Hard, Play Hard, Rest Well!
Sep 25, 2024 | PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
#ShoutoutSeptember must include a post about our work interns! In young Caleb Vogel's third summer of work here at Magnalia Farm, we wanted him to...
Village Blacksmith Brings History to Life, With Love
Sep 25, 2024 | PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
Our Village Blacksmith, Scott Smith, stewards an age-old tradition (as his last name suggests his forebears once did). Pounding and bending and...
Cold-Plunging at The Homestead
Jul 11, 2024 | PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
Peter Van Eerden, fresh from USMC Basic School, became the first to hit the ice-filled water of the Homestead's new cold plunge tank. Teddy...
Artifacts Matter!
Jun 14, 2024 | PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
Artifacts are little things that remind us of grander things, visible elements connected by a thread to elements invisible. But sometimes they're...
Community Gardeners
May 7, 2024 | PEOPLE, PLANTS & ANIMALS
Oh, how full of gratitude we are for the work of the "Heroes" and staff at Mount Jubilee Ministries for joining in with us to plant the 2024 Spring...
A Visit to “The Wood Between the Worlds”
May 22, 2025 | PLACES, REFLECTIONS
The place at Narnia House we call "The Wood Between the Worlds" Room is still in process, but will highlight the things of earth: plants, trees...
A Peak Into Caspian’s Quarters
May 17, 2025 | PLACES, REFLECTIONS
Caspian's Quarters, "Somewhere on the Eastern Sea," officially opens for guests next weekend! Nautically themed, it's complete with port holes, a...
Kirke’s Quarters at Narnia House
May 4, 2025 | PLACES, REFLECTIONS
In "Kirke's Quarters" at the newly opened Narnia House, we celebrate the Professor who went first into Narnia (he was The Magician's Nephew), and...
Narnia House is Now Officially Open
May 2, 2025 | PLACES, REFLECTIONS
C.S. Lewis wanted all who entered the world of Narnia to know that they, too, were meant to be regent Kings and Queens -- like Peter, Susan, Lucy,...
The Hunter’s Trail
Apr 11, 2025 | PLACES, REFLECTIONS
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BjA5t57qM/ Leslie Shelton - the artifacts of your son's BEAUTIFUL and FULL life mark this place, on Hunter's Trail...
Narnia House Guests
Mar 16, 2025 | PLACES, REFLECTIONS
Tonight we keep the Feast of St. Patrick and the Ulster Scots at the Homestead! ☘️ As we also prepare to receive our first guests at Narnia House...
A New Year Dawning: Further Up and Further In!
Jan 1, 2025 | PLACES, REFLECTIONS
Dear Family and Friends, How grateful we are to step into a New Year knowing that the Lord is good, even in hardship and suffering, and sovereign...
Narnian Magic In The Making
Dec 31, 2024 | PLACES, REFLECTIONS
Narnia Cottage is just weeks from opening for guests like you! ❤️ 🙏 Reepicheep arrived just yesterday, thanks to the felt artistry of Joel...
On the Making of Hesed Hitching Post
Sep 25, 2024 | PLACES, REFLECTIONS
Among our growing number of students who have come to work and learn this summer is a lad from Washington DC named Titus. His earnestness and...
A New Place, Called Ebenezer Creek
Jul 21, 2024 | PLACES, REFLECTIONS
In between Magnalia’s 22-box community garden and the grounds of Narnia Cottage, there’s a (usually) dry creek. It’s comprised of river rock,...
On the Road to Narnia
Mar 27, 2024 | PLACES, REFLECTIONS
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
Jan 11, 2024 | PLACES, REFLECTIONS
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....
Beauty, Wonder, and Common Miracles
Aug 30, 2025 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
Here's a Swallowtail flitting in a happily overgrown (untended) Lantana plant, and the majesty of one of the many spider webs of August (dazzling...
Happy National Sunflower Day
Aug 3, 2025 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
There seem to be "National Days" for nearly everything now. But. National Sunflower Day (which my laptop informed me upon login is TODAY) seems a...
Farm Life is Spectacular, and Hard
Jul 30, 2025 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
We lost a treasured ewe lamb yesterday. I don't know how, or why, but I found her lifeless in her favorite spot to lay every morn and eventide. I...
A Word About Mr. Beaver
Jun 25, 2025 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
For years the TEAM page for Magnalia Homestead has paid homage to our furry Homestead friend known as Mr. Beaver. (The animated version on that page...
We Love Our Sheepish Sheep
Jun 17, 2025 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
Our flock of sheep have taught me much about "the herd effect." The males tend to be out front, all ears are attentive, and the most "sheepish" go...
What If You Slept, and Had A Dream….
May 28, 2025 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
After days of relentless rain, a neighbor woke me from REM around 6am to say that our cows were out of their pasture, wandering along humble Hilton...
Our Finest Farming Hour
Apr 14, 2025 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
Farm math for us normally does not add up. It just doesn't. But. IF every afternoon was like yesterday afternoon, we could take an extra Sabbath day...
Rosie Birthed a Stillborn Calf
Mar 23, 2025 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
Farm life can be HARD. Our beloved Jersey cow named Rosie birthed a stillborn calf late yesterday. Its hooves presented but it moved no further....
Lambs Morning Milk Shakes
Feb 17, 2025 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
Lambs looking for their morning milk shakes from their mommas! I love it when they get a taste, and flit their tails with excitement. 😉 Ahhh....
The Sheep Barn Hosts Some Kids
Jan 13, 2025 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
In the cold Homestead Sheep Barn tonight... are three kids birthed by our prolific dwarf Nigerian goat that we named, with admiration, "The Momma."...
The Homestead Four
Dec 17, 2024 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
Almost as hard as getting 11 kids or 14 grandkids to smile and keep their eyes open at the same time is this group. It’s The Homestead Four:...
An Angus Calf Arrives, and There’s a Problem!
Sep 6, 2024 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
Thanks to our herd guru, seasoned farmer Rodney Hardy, Magnalia’s herd is growing! Our black Angus cow named Scottie or Scheffler (named after the...
Handwritten Notes in the Age of AI
Sep 22, 2025 | PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
Handwritten notes in the AI Age are more a gift these days than ever. We were blessed to help our dear friend Jennifer Way Kloss host a group of...
A World Without Children?
Sep 19, 2025 | PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
WHAT WOULD THE WORLD BE LIKE WITHOUT CHILDREN? ❤️ These snapshots from Magnalia yesterday made us smile -- a joyful son of the Clan Lockhart...
The Gift of a Day
Sep 10, 2025 | PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
Mount Jubilee Heroes came to Magnalia Farm today to help our Master Gardener Dorothy Dockery Clement start planting our Winter Garden. After some...
2025 Homestead Pickleball Championship Winners
Sep 2, 2025 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
The 2nd Annual Homestead Pickleball Championships are in the books! What fun!! Congrats to our 2025 Winners in a great Tournament field: Ben Bowman...
Beauty, Wonder, and Common Miracles
Aug 30, 2025 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
Here's a Swallowtail flitting in a happily overgrown (untended) Lantana plant, and the majesty of one of the many spider webs of August (dazzling...
Pickleballers Warming Up and Food for Sampling, too!
Aug 28, 2025 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
Ladies practicing last night under the cover of darkness falling to get the extra edge 😆 in preparation for the 2nd Annual Homestead Pickleball...
Magnalia’s Winter Feasts Hit the Calendar
Aug 12, 2025 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
The schedule of Winter Feasts at Magnalia Homestead & Farm just published, including the 250th Birthday Bash in honor of the United States...
Happy National Sunflower Day
Aug 3, 2025 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
There seem to be "National Days" for nearly everything now. But. National Sunflower Day (which my laptop informed me upon login is TODAY) seems a...
Farm Life is Spectacular, and Hard
Jul 30, 2025 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
We lost a treasured ewe lamb yesterday. I don't know how, or why, but I found her lifeless in her favorite spot to lay every morn and eventide. I...
The Best Independence Day Eve Ever!
Jul 5, 2025 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
Sweet memories of an important day, worthy of celebration! We think we did our forebears proud. Many thanks to all who made it happen. And thanks...
A Word About Mr. Beaver
Jun 25, 2025 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
For years the TEAM page for Magnalia Homestead has paid homage to our furry Homestead friend known as Mr. Beaver. (The animated version on that page...
We Love Our Sheepish Sheep
Jun 17, 2025 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
Our flock of sheep have taught me much about "the herd effect." The males tend to be out front, all ears are attentive, and the most "sheepish" go...
