The Road To Magnalia
Snapshots of a Homesteader’s LifeSnapshots
An Independence Day Eve to Remember
May 31, 2024 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
As every patriot (young and old) remembers, and as Memorial Day reminds us: FREEDOM IS NOT FREE! So mark your calendars to celebrate that truth with...
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 Maundy Thursday Rainbow
Mar 28, 2024 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
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
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...
Strutting like a Peacock
Mar 23, 2024 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
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
Feb 14, 2024 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
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
Feb 9, 2024 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
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
Jan 31, 2024 | PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
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
Jan 31, 2024 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
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
Jan 31, 2024 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
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)
Jan 16, 2024 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
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
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....
On the Power of Story
Sep 29, 2023 | EVENTS, PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
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
Jul 19, 2023 | EVENTS, PEOPLE, PLACES, REFLECTIONS
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
Jun 15, 2023 | EVENTS, PEOPLE, PLACES, REFLECTIONS
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!
Dec 28, 2022 | EVENTS, PLACES, REFLECTIONS
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
Dec 9, 2022 | EVENTS, PLACES, REFLECTIONS
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!
Nov 11, 2022 | EVENTS, PEOPLE, PLACES, REFLECTIONS
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 Floating Lanterns and a Hot Dog Truck
Jul 8, 2022 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
July 4 of 2022 at the Homestead was an Independence Day to Remember for many reasons. We can eat and watch fireworks at a myriad of places. But to...
An Independence Day to Remember
May 27, 2022 | EVENTS, PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
This Memorial Day Weekend, Make Plans for Independence Day! As every patriot knows, and as Memorial Day reminds us, FREEDOM IS NOT FREE. So mark...
Babette’s Feast
Mar 11, 2022 | EVENTS, PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
From a fictional fjord community in Norway in 1871 to present-day North Carolina (and the world over), Isak Denison’s classic short story called...
Forged In Fire: Our Local Village Blacksmith Wins the Prize
On episode 200 of History Channel's #ForgedInFire this week our friend, Chris Moss (fellow churchman at Christ Covenant Church Greensboro, NC...
A New Year’s Toast to Creating Community, Together
Dec 31, 2021 | EVENTS, PEOPLE, PLACES, REFLECTIONS
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....
The Magnalia Homestead Christmas Auction is Now Live!
Thanks to the encouragement of many of you, our Magnalia Elves (all of whom sport big, warm smiles and give lots of hugs) are happy to announce that...
A Place in Time
May 15, 2023 | PEOPLE, PLACES, REFLECTIONS
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
Apr 3, 2023 | PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
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
Dec 31, 2022 | PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
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!
Dec 16, 2022 | PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
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!
Nov 11, 2022 | EVENTS, PEOPLE, PLACES, REFLECTIONS
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...
Gramps Said “A Little Dirt Ain’t Hurt Nobody”
Jun 20, 2022 | PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
Growing up as a boy, some of my favorite memories came from times with my Grandpa. Gramps VE was a hard-working, kind man. A proud Dutchman and a...
Holding on to Ancient Stones and Walking Ancient Paths
Jun 2, 2022 | PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
One of our crazy sons Johnny Van Eerden was playing daredevil recently as the sun set at a local park. His mother did not like the photos. But it...
An Independence Day to Remember
May 27, 2022 | EVENTS, PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
This Memorial Day Weekend, Make Plans for Independence Day! As every patriot knows, and as Memorial Day reminds us, FREEDOM IS NOT FREE. So mark...
Babette’s Feast
Mar 11, 2022 | EVENTS, PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
From a fictional fjord community in Norway in 1871 to present-day North Carolina (and the world over), Isak Denison’s classic short story called...
No Table Is Set Without a Team
Feb 5, 2022 | PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
After another special community dinner last week, celebrating the work of Mount Jubilee Ministries with guests from nearby and from as far away as...
Forged In Fire: Our Local Village Blacksmith Wins the Prize
On episode 200 of History Channel's #ForgedInFire this week our friend, Chris Moss (fellow churchman at Christ Covenant Church Greensboro, NC...
A New Year’s Toast to Creating Community, Together
Dec 31, 2021 | EVENTS, PEOPLE, PLACES, REFLECTIONS
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....
USMC Birthday #247!
Nov 11, 2022 | EVENTS, PEOPLE, PLACES, REFLECTIONS
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
Nov 8, 2022 | PLACES, REFLECTIONS
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...
We Are Like Sheep
Nov 5, 2022 | PLACES, PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
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
Sep 28, 2022 | PLACES, PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
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...
First Things, First…
Jul 22, 2022 | PLACES, REFLECTIONS
We had visions of building a barn, first. But, in the months since, we’ve learned more about the principle we’ve had preached to us,…
Walking a Tangled Wood, Into a Painting Worth a Thousand Words
Mar 2, 2022 | PLACES, REFLECTIONS
We know the days are waning when we still can walk my way through the densest sections of our forest – with the trees and bushes nearly leafless and...
A New Year’s Toast to Creating Community, Together
Dec 31, 2021 | EVENTS, PEOPLE, PLACES, REFLECTIONS
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....
The Magnalia Homestead Christmas Auction is Now Live!
Thanks to the encouragement of many of you, our Magnalia Elves (all of whom sport big, warm smiles and give lots of hugs) are happy to announce that...
In the Company of Friends
Oct 2, 2021 | EVENTS, PLACES, REFLECTIONS
In college, I heard an old Swiss-born professor (the inimitable Roger Nicole) once say that when you’re in your library – no matter how big or how...
On Kaizen, and the Momentum of the Next Little Thing
Sep 27, 2021 | PLACES, REFLECTIONS
I saw a now famous American speak at a youth entrepreneurship summit years ago. I won’t soon forget it. A student stood up and told the speaker he...
I Went To The Woods….
Jul 25, 2021 | EVENTS, PLACES, REFLECTIONS
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to...
On Dreaming and Doing
Jun 17, 2021 | PLACES, REFLECTIONS
One of my favorite quotes from Henry David Thoreau is about the connection between dreaming and doing. “If you have built castles in the air, your...
We Are Like Sheep
Nov 5, 2022 | PLACES, PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
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
Sep 28, 2022 | PLACES, PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
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
Sep 28, 2022 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
Monarch butterflies have been a family favorite for years. When they were listed as endangered earlier this year, friends Tim and Cindy Wall helped...
Learning to Like Okra (and Why It Matters)
Sep 4, 2021 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
There’s a lot happening in the news these days, and much of it has most thoughtful people feeling quite unsettled. It’s a time in history when we...
To Make a Better Pesto (or Cobbler)…
Aug 16, 2021 | PEOPLE, PLANTS & ANIMALS
We sometimes read leading lines like, "To Make a Better Pesto (or Cobbler)…" If you're like me, we often read on because we're looking for a...
A Swarm of Golden Wonder
Jun 26, 2021 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
[A Blog Post from John Mark Van Eerden] This is a special report about a call for help from a friend. (And what happened afterwards.) My friend...
On Seedpods, Pine Cones and Trees
Jun 19, 2021 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
Years ago (when I would actually run for recreation!), I remember jogging to the end of our country road with whichever kids were up for joining me....
When Lumber Gets Expensive
May 22, 2021 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
What happens when the cost of building an important building runs out of control? Well. Sometimes, you have to cancel your building project, no...
The Mascot Greeter
May 9, 2021 | PLACES, PLANTS & ANIMALS
Every Homestead must have its official greeter and mascot. Here she is: Bella June, our black lab who inspired the Magnalia logo with her sense of...
The Blueberries are Bearing!
May 8, 2021 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
Thanks to help from our friends at Mount Jubilee Ministries, we have planted 50 assorted blueberries near our bee hives, and a small grove of Brown...
First It Gets Ugly
May 6, 2021 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
My grandpa used to say that "sometimes things need to get ugly before they can be made beautiful." So, it is with clearing a pasture. Dirt, and root...
Magnalia Farm
Apr 25, 2021 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
Our newly seeded pasture, called Golders Green, was not many months ago a field of clay. It has explosed into a salad bowl of Beauty. Through eyes...
An Independence Day Eve to Remember
May 31, 2024 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
As every patriot (young and old) remembers, and as Memorial Day reminds us: FREEDOM IS NOT FREE! So mark your calendars to celebrate that truth with...
A Maundy Thursday Rainbow
Mar 28, 2024 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
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
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...
Strutting like a Peacock
Mar 23, 2024 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
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
Feb 14, 2024 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
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
Feb 9, 2024 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
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
Jan 31, 2024 | PEOPLE, REFLECTIONS
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
Jan 31, 2024 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
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
Jan 31, 2024 | PLANTS & ANIMALS, REFLECTIONS
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)
Jan 16, 2024 | EVENTS, REFLECTIONS
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
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....
On Creating Community, Together
Jan 8, 2024 | EVENTS, PEOPLE, PLACES, REFLECTIONS
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....
