Hearty Beef Stew

{ January 28, 2026 @ 1:11 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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This stew smells divine while it is cooking and hits the spot on a cold, blustery day. I got the recipe from a dear friend of mine, Mim Haarer years ago.

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 Hearty Beef Stew
I do not have an exact recipe for this stew. I slow cook it in my 6 qt. crockpot for 4-6 hours. I am guessing at some of the amounts I use as I do not measure them. You can increase and decrease the potatoes, carrots, celery, onions to your preference.
Cook Time 4-6 Hours
Servings
Servings
Ingredients
Cook Time 4-6 Hours
Servings
Servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. I use my 6 qt. crockpot set on high or you can cook in a large cooking pot on the stove. I would bring it to a boil and then turn it down to simmer for several hours. The amounts of ingredients can be adjusted to whatever size container you have. Serve with cornbread or grilled cheese sandwiches.

Peanut Butter Finger Bars

{ January 28, 2026 @ 12:29 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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This was one of mother’s favorite recipes and it is one of mine also.

Print Recipe
 Peanut Butter Finger Bars
Cook Time 20-25 mins
Servings
Ingredients
Topping
  • 2 cups Milk Chocolate Wafers melted This is the chocolate your use when dipping candies. You can use milk chocolate chips but I prefer the other. It is a better chocolate
Cook Time 20-25 mins
Servings
Ingredients
Topping
  • 2 cups Milk Chocolate Wafers melted This is the chocolate your use when dipping candies. You can use milk chocolate chips but I prefer the other. It is a better chocolate
Instructions
  1. Spread in a 9x12 inch baking pan sprayed with Pam. Bake 20-25 minutes. Let cool slightly and cover with the melted chocolate. When the chocolate has set firm, cut into squares.

Party Mix

{ January 28, 2026 @ 11:42 am } · { Uncategorized }
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This is a version of the original Party Mix recipe that I have developed through the years. It is our favorite.

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 Party Mix
Cook Time 45 mins
Servings
cups
Ingredients
Sauce
Cook Time 45 mins
Servings
cups
Ingredients
Sauce
Instructions
  1. I divide the ingredients between two 9x13 inch baking pans. Pour the sauce over the mix and stir well. Bake for 45 minutes at 250 degrees, stiring every 15 mins. The yield is 1-1/2 gallon of mix. I figure 1/2 cup is 184 delicious munching calories. You can sprinkle some M&M's in to serve if you like but not to bake. That would increase the calorie count a little!

Snow Day(s)

{ January 28, 2026 @ 10:42 am } · { Uncategorized }
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What do you do on a snow day? What traditions have you embraced through the years that have become family traditions and wonderful memories?

I love watching it snow; the peaceful, quiet beauty of a stilled world. By the time it is done falling, I am done and want it to go away. For those on the farm, it makes so much extra work as there are animals to care for and trudging through snow makes the work ten times harder. Snow means cold weather, frozen nose, toes and fingers, breaking the ice on water troughs, roads to scrape so that equipment can move around, vehicles to deice, sidewalks to scrap and the list goes on and on.

This past weekend snow was threatening to come with a vengance. Not only the threat of unknown amounts of snow ranging from 3 inches to 18 inches but also sleet, freezing rain and ice with brutally cold temperatures and warnings of power failure. All week it is not to go above freezing and the night time dip is in the single digits.

We did everything we could do to be ready. The two generators were hooked up and ready to do their job. All the animals were nestled in extra bedding and their feed was staged nearby. Heat lamps were put in the pump houses and insulation tucked into drafty corners. Gas cans were filled for the generators, tractors and vehicles fueled up. Bracing was added to support the greenhouse roof and most of the vehicles were parked under roof. I joined the other crazy shoppers at Food Lion stocking our pantry-just in case. In the feed store I made sure I had orders placed and as much as possible inventory stocked beforehand. This weeks deliveries were run at the end of last week. Even though we have a generator to run the house, I drew a gallon of water to set on the counter, just in case and turned the computers off to guard against power surges. Saturday evening as we waited for the dreaded anticipated snow to start someone said, “We are as ready as we can be. I can’t think of anything else we need to do.” To end the day we watched a movie “The Lunatic Farmer”. This was a movie about Joel Sabatin, a Virginia farmer in Augusta County who used unconventinal old time farming methods to rejunvnate a worn out farm into a very productive organic homestead. It was very interesting. You can google Polyface Farms, Joel Sabatin or The Lunatic Farmer and find all kinds of fascinating info. He has quite a story to tell.

The magical snow show time was 6 p.m. Saturday evening. A few stray flurries were spotted but it was a good hour before it actually started. I got up several times during the night to look out and make sure our world still existed.

By Monday morning, the ‘storm of a lifetime” was over. The ground was blanketed with four inches of snow, a layer of pelleted sleet and then a layer of freezing rain forming a crust you could barely stomp through. We were so blessed as the freezing rain did not stick to the trees and the wind was not blowing.

Sunday and Monday I became my mother. When it snowed, she always had to put on a pot of white navy bean and country ham soup and made doughnuts. She always said it was the perfect time to make anything made with yeast because it is a low pressure system and the atmosphere pushing down on the dough is lighter.

I choose to make a big crockpot of beef stew, with a batch of cornbread. I just kept baking; party mix, chocolate chip cookies, a tray of peanut butter brownies, doughnuts and a batch of cinnamon/pecan friendship bread for the store. My house smelled so good you wanted to eat the smell!!! In between I ran the vaccum sweeper and worked on a puzzle.

It has been a long time since I made doughnuts. Jill said if I made them, she would help me as it is a two person job. We had fun working together and there is nothing like savorying a freshly made, soft, warm, glazed doughnut that just melts in your mouth. I said, “Mother would be proud!” Did you know that because the doughnuts have a hole in the center the calories all fall out when you deep fat fry them? And even though you fry the holes-the best part of the doughnut- holes can not possibly have calories!!!!

As I reflected on some of my memories of making doughnuts though the years, I remembered years ago when I was young, mother helped Gladys Harman, a good family friend, make doughnuts. She came home with the “best” doughnut recipe we had ever eaten. It became our family favorite. After I was married, sometimes I could convince Gene to help me. He would fry and I would dip but most often I would call a friend to come help me. Mary Flippo was my most frequent doughnut sister. She lived nearby and Watt would bring her over in his four-wheel drive truck when it snowed and it was our moment, our day in our world! It was fun and oh the memories we made along with good eating.

Note: Becky Fox saw my facebook page and she reminded me that she helped one time. I would be curious who else helped me through the years.

Others who helped:

  • Daughter Jill Hostetter-many times through the years.
  • Granddaughters Emily Hertzler and Lauren Hertzler Davenport

Links to my recipes I have mentioned. I will be adding these link later today so if you are interested, check back later.

I’m Functioning

{ November 23, 2025 @ 2:51 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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I saw this picture on facebook this week and I loved it. It just seems to say how I feel when I am hit with a difficult time. I was asked to share a testimony of thankfulness for our Thanksgiving service at church today. The following is what I shared with a few editing changes.

I don’t need to tell you about my last two years (Gene’s long-term illness and our devastating fire this spring) or pretend that they were not difficult. I have felt like that broken sink many times but I can promise you I am still functioning. When you ponder the picture, there is something very revealing about that sink. It is still serving it’s intended purpose by receiving water and it is still useful. Life giving water that flows in also flows out.

Last night I was reading in James (5: 10-11, 13)…..

“For examples of patience in suffering dear brothers and sisters, look at the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. We give great honor to those who endure under suffering. For instance, you know about Job, a man of great endurance. You can see how the Lord was kind to him at the end, for the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy. Are any of you suffering hardships? Then you should pray.”

Through the years I have found great comfort and encouragement from the Biblical heroes of faith. Every one of them faced suffering or great “giants” in their lives, bitter disappointments, and trials that I can’t even fathom. But they clung in faith, to the God they knew and through their suffering they endured. (Hebrews 11).

I have found that sometimes God answers prayer during difficult trials  by alleviating the suffering. Sometimes he eases the suffering and other times he shows His sufficiency in the suffering.

Habakkuk (3: 17-18) asked some tough questions… what if?

  • What if…. the fig tree does not blossom?
  • What if…. there is no fruit on the vine?
  • What if…. the olive harvest fails?
  • What if…. the fields yield no food?
  • What if…. all the livestock dies?

What if you lose everything? What if? Job experienced that devastation. All he had left was his whining wife and a painfully ill body. (You can read the story of Job in the Bible).

After the what ifs, Habakkuk (3:19) said, “Yet I will…rejoice in the Lord. Yet I will…. joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord is my strength”.

“What if”…what if the what if becomes reality? What if our business burned to the ground? What if my husband has an extended illness? What if my two of my babies died?

In the midst of Job’s great trial, he said the very thing he feared has come true, that which he was afraid of has happened. (Job 4:25) Often during my teen and young adult years I had recurring nightmare dreams of a fire that usually centered on the big bank barn on our family dairy farm. I hadn’t thought about it for years until our fire happened. What I had feared….

 After much reckoning in Job’s life he said, “Yet I will”.  Have you prepared your heart for the “Yet I will”?

Many times through the years I have preached this message to myself…. “God I trust you.” The last two years I have practiced the “Yet I will” that has been imprinted on my heart.

If you are fearful, you are not trusting. If you are not trusting, you are not thankful.  Let me repeat that…. These are tough words.

But, if I  trust, I will find peace. If I have peace, I will have strength to face whatever hardship comes my way. Strength gives us the courage to move forward, to rise from the ashes, or mucky pit, and to see God at work. Giving thanks is a choice. Do you remember how often your mom had to remind you growing up, “And what do you say?” Sometimes I just have to be reminded what I need to say…even if I don’t feel like it!

I make it a part of most of my prayers to express the holiness and greatness of God and to thank Him for my many  blessings. In the midst of great loss and illness, I saw lots of things to be thankful for.

  • How could I not see God’s mercy when I got Gene to the hospital with mere hours to spare?
  • How could I not see God’s care when dozens of people showed up to help even while the fire was still smoldering.
  • How could I not see God’s provision when a meal train was set up and I didn’t have to cook a meal for six weeks and yet daily I fed dozens of people.
  • How could I not feel God’s peace when people sat on my patio eating and would say, “it is so peaceful back here.”
  • How could I not feel God’s comfort when donations were given because people cared deeply about our huge loss.
  • How could I not experience God’s leading when the market vendors gathered in a circle in our yard a few days after the fire and expressed a deep desire to stand with us and “rise from the ashes”.
  • How could I not feel supported when I was told by many in the community that “I am praying for you and our church prayed for you the morning after the fire.”
  • How, how could I not trust my God to carry me through?

 I am so grateful and thankful I can trust him.

My testimony can best be summed up with….

Psalms: 111:1-4,7-8, 9b

“I will thank the Lord with all my heart as I meet with his godly people.

How amazing are the deeds of the LORD! All who delight in him should ponder them.

Everything he does reveals his glory and majesty. His righteousness never fails.

He causes us to remember his wonderful works. How gracious and merciful is our LORD!

All he does is just and good and all his commandments are trustworthy.

They are forever true, to be obeyed faithfully and with integrity.

What a holy, awe-inspiriting name he has.”

I have a plaque hanging in my bedroom that reminds me every day, “Thankful, grateful, blessed.”

Old Fashion Sauerkraut

{ July 25, 2025 @ 2:49 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Late spring I had an a lesson on making sauerkraut from a master of the trade! Thanks Rob Falt for sharing your culinary skill with me. It was so interesting, easy, fun and a nod to both of our German roots. Rob even gifted me with a “real” sauerkraut crock. The lid sets into a water trough around the lip of the crock that makes a water seal.

This year I grew OS Cross cabbage and the heads were big. In the picture is 18 lbs. worth of cabbage. The heads reminded me of Flat Dutch; flat on top and a little loosely leafed but not as loose as Flat Dutch. They were not hard solid on the inside like Stonehead. At first I was disappoint, but then discoved they shredded much easier in my electric Hamilton Beach vegetable shredder than the really solid heads. That appliance is probably the only appliance I have from our wedding 53 years ago!

After shredding the cabbage, we sprinkled it with 1/3 cup of salt (regular not iodized) and in about 20-30 minutes it had started shrinking and drawing it’s own water. After working it with our hands a few minutes, we stuffed it in the two gallon sauerkraut crock and poured the juice over top, laid a few large cabbage leaves on top of the shredded cabbage, and then set the crock weights on top of that. We added just enough water to cover the cabbage, filled the crock trough with water and set the lid. The cabbage filled the crock only about half way. Yes, you read that correctly. My two full bowels of shredded cabbage only filled a two gallon crock halfway. I put the crock in my pantry and marked my calendar for six weeks. (4-6 weeks is the suggested fermenting time).

Every Monday morning I peeked in at the kraut and made sure it was still covered with water and the outside trough still had water in it so that it maintains a proper seal and does not spoil. The Falts said the fermenting cabbage makes gas and you can hear and smell it burp occasionally-just like a fart! I guess I was never in the pantry at the right time as I never heard or smelled it.

Cabbage:

It does not matter what variety of cabbage you use. If you have a variety you like, use it. However, I found this to be very interesting….An internet search on the OS Cross variety of cabbage said that this is a favorite in Alaska and the heads can grow 3-4 feet in width and weigh 70 lbs. Wow! That is absolutely amazing. They must like the rich Alaskan soil and cooler temperature! My plant grower likes this variety as they say it does not split as quickly when hot weather hits it.

Canning:

Canning the sauerkraut is very easy. I dumped the crock of kraut into my large metal bowl. I took my hands and stuffed it into pint and quarts jars. (I have found a pint is a good meal for two people). I used just a few tablespoons of fermented juice to finish filling the jars. I pressure canned the pint jars at 10 lbs pressure for 15 minutes and the quarts at 20 minutes. My one turn was a mixture of pints and quarts so I did it all at 20 minutes.

The end result was 10 pints and 3 quarts of beautiful golden sauerkarut. I can’t wait to taste it. Our favorite dish is porkchops and kraut. I put two porkchops in a baking dish and top with one pint of kraut. Do not add any extra liquid. It makes it own. Bake covered at 350 degrees for 1 hr. 15 mins. I use the thin cut pork chops. Baking time may need to be adjusted for thick cut.

One little warning…. messing with the fermented kraut does make your house smell– not too pleasant. Some of my family thought it plain stank! My son-in-law said, “I can’t imagine anyone eating something that smells that bad!!! Which day are you fixing that for supper? I might just have to be somewhere else!”

Other recipes:

Rueben Sandwiches: Pumpernickel bread, good corned beef sliced, swiss cheese, and Thousand Island dressing.

Sauerkraut and hot dogs. Bake the two together just like how I do the pork chops.

Nutritional Value:

According to the VeryWellFit.com website: A one-cup serving of sauerkraut (140g) provides 72 calories, 1.4g of protein, 18g of carbohydrates, and 0.2g of fat. Sauerkraut provides fiber and is a good source of vitamin C, vitamin K, vitamin B6, and iron. This nutrition information is provided by the USDA.1

Along with being low calories, it is high in Vitamin C. It is full of gut friendly bacteria and its substantial fiber content could help smooth your digestion.

Facing the Giants in Our Life – Rebuilding

{ June 27, 2025 @ 6:49 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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It is exciting to be able to say the rebuilding is in progress. We are rising from the ashes and new things are happening. The barren landscape is starting to change.

I love sitting in my store office and watching the progress out of my window. Benson Construction from Jetersville is our contractor. They are one efficient team and the work they can accompolish in a day is amazing. The farmer’s market pavilion was built in three days.

A newly built pavilion for a farmer's market, featuring open sides and a red roof, with vendors and tables set up under it on a gravel parking area surrounded by trees.
The Pavilion was started on June 9, finished on June 11 and open for busines June 12.

The pavilion (stage 1 of the building process) was built the beginning of June. This is an important first step in the larger scope of things. After the fire, we put up two large tents to quickly get the market up and running. Later this summer the market will have a new permanent building (stage 3 of the building process) but for the short-term the pavilion is better and safer than the tents. While we are in the temporary stage, the market is open Thursday and Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays 8 a.m. to 12 noon. When the permanent building is built, the market will be open Monday-Saturday and the pavilion will be available for pop-up or temporary vendors on Saturdays.

Construction site of a farm shop with a red exterior, partially built structure, and a machinery lift in front.

Currently the farm shop (stage 2) is being built. The shop is an intregral part of our farming operation for tools, maintanence, repairs and a place to work on our equipment. A farmer has to have a shop! Fortunately, when the shop burned, we did not lose our tools as the fire was up in the ceiling. We had a metal drop ceiling and the fire got between it and the metal roof. The building and round baler, that was in the back of the shop, were destroyed. They had just finished doing $3,000 worth of spring maintanence on the baler the afternoon before the fire, getting it ready for the hay season. The baler was insured, but somehow the building was not on the insurance policy.

A firefighter inspecting a damaged agricultural machine in a charred structure, surrounded by debris and remnants of a fire.
Burned up baler.

Life has settled into a comfortable routine, we are no longer functioning in stress or emergency mode. Plans are falling into place, change is happening and life is moving on. The incredible financial, emotional and physical support from our friends, family, church and community has been our lifeline. Through it all God has been faithful and we are so grateful. We are seeing so much good come from such devastating loss.

An illustration depicting the biblical story of David and Goliath, featuring a young David facing the giant Goliath, who is armored and holding a spear, with soldiers in the background.

Recently our Sunday School lesson focused on the story of David and Goliath. The giant loomed menancingly large before the Israelite army and the soldiers were in panic mode. Suddenly David shows up. He was just a lad bringing food from home for his brothers and a gift of cheese for the commander of the army. After David evaluated the situation, he basically said, my God is bigger than that giant! I have rescued a lamb from a lion’s mouth and killed a lion and bear with my hands. That giant has defied God, and God will bring him down. David did not have a sword, gun or tomahawk missile, but he had the well-used tool of his trade-a sling shot. He carefully collected five small stones from a stream as he crossed the valley betwen the two armies to meet the giant. He used what he had; a smooth stone and a prayer. That stone precisely aimed sank into the giant’s forehead and he crumbled at David’s feet.

What are you facing in your life? Can you trust God to help you overcome? What tools of the trade do you have in your hand? Can you use the opportunity to show the goodness of God and his divine intervention? For forty days the whole Israelite army, including the king, had listened to the threats and taunts of this haughy giant of a man as he stood on the mountain every morning yelling his mocking words across the valley. They could not see past the giant and trembled with fear. They almost missed what God wanted to do, it took a lad to show them. Our challenge is to allow God to help us see past the giants in our life. To fight them in our own strength is overwhelming, but with God, all things are possible.

I was recently reminded of the verse in Deuteronomy 33:27 that has ministered to me often through the years, “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He will thrust out the enemy from before you…” You have literally been His arms lifting us up. We are trusting Him for our future. God is faithful.

Quarterfield Markets: Relaunch Day-May 10

{ May 16, 2025 @ 7:43 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Our relaunch was a gorgeous day for an outdoor tent city. It felt so good to see smiles on faces, children playing, groups sitting on the grass eating, and the busy buzz of shoppers connecting with vendors. It was a day of joy on the farm and it was what we needed to lift our heavy hearts and fill us with hope that soon we can once again have our indoor market.

A combination of large tents made up the main tent area. Across the driveway and along the edge of the lawn were numerous pop-up tents.

Mason’s Lobster Roll and the Powhatan Fire/Rescue Department were our food vendors.

I

It seemed so right to invite the fire department back for a “good” day on the farm and let them have a fundraiser. The children enjoyed seeing the trucks and fire fighters up close and personal. There were lots of little “future” fire fighters running around with smiles on their faces and plastic helmets on their heads.

The hours for our outdoor market is Thursday – Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays 8-12. (Weather permitting). Once we are back into a permanent structure, we will go back to our original plan of all week shopping.

Behind the scenes…..to prepare for our outdoor market, we took this……

and made this to as a shelter for the refrigerators and freezers for our meats (beef, poultry, pork and lamb), cheese, butter and other dairy products.

Samson welcomes you to the barnyard and he is so glad to be home. He was taken to the Stauffer farm after the fire where he and his little family were treated with the best of care.

Quarterfield Markets: Launch Day-April 5, 2025

{ May 12, 2025 @ 8:40 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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The anticipation and excitement was high for the launching of Quarterfield Markets. It was the first indoor farmer’s market in the area with 42 vendors and 8 outdoor vendors making its grand debut on April 5. The plan was to be open 6 days a week matching the hours of Hertzler Farm and Feed. We had worked hard rennovating an existing room at the farm supply store creating a welcoming and unique vendor space.

We painted yellow shelving black, created new shelving using pipe and boards, reoiled pine board floors, and found creative ways to repurpose and give new life to shelving and items we had around the store and farm. It was a lovely inviting space.

The dynamite team-the shakers and bakers-behind the market. The market was the vision and dream of our daughter Jill Hostetter (on right) and granddaughter Lauren Hertzler (on left) quickly caught the vision.

Our team of vendors was exceptional and chosen with care. All products had to be homemade, handmade, hand produced/crafted or created. Each vendor had their own designed space with a centralize checkout station. They fully embraced our concept and were so excited to promote and be a part of our grand adventure.

The overall view of the main market space.
The food area we called “The Pantry”.
Lamb, beef, poultry, and pork.

The day of the launch was gorgeous and over a 1000 people came to enjoy the day and shop.

Instead of shopping carts, we had shopping baskets.

There were food trucks and a barnyard with chicks, a bunny, sheep, a goat family and a trio of baby pigs.

“Too Dippin’ Good”, a dessert food vendor.
Archer’s BBQ: The best barbecue in town!
Beverage Vendor: “Sippin’ Spot”
Outdoor Pop Up Vendors
You can drop your knives, clipper blades, scissors, almost anything that needs a sharp edge at the store and he will pick them up and sharpen them.
Our Transportation Manager: Obe Hostetter

Exactly one week later the market laid in ruins, burned to ashes.

On Wednesday evening we invited the vendors to a meeting on our front lawn and also to give them opportunity to see the devastation first hand. The mandate was clear. We would rise again and rise quickly. The date was set for one month, an almost unseemingly possiblity, with a tent market. Ideas were tossed around and the vendors pledged their support and help.

Hertzler Farm Fire: From the Ashes We Will Rise

{ May 11, 2025 @ 8:18 pm } · { Hertzler Farm & Feed, Quarterfield Markets }
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We were alerted to the fire at 6:54 p.m. on April 12, a Saturday night. It was a night we will never forget and crawled into bed at 2 a.m. on Sunday morning full of grief and exhaustion, mixed with lots of questions about the future and a sinking feeling of total helplessness. Sunday morning we realized it was not just a bad dream but a horrible stark reality. A stinky, acidity, smoky smell lingered in the air and the view from the kitchen window was witness to the stark reality of the overwhelming task before us. A firetruck had spent the night and was still maning the smoking ruins.

Our retail store-the main room.
Looking in the front door of the store.

There was no way we could drag ourselves to church. We were physically and emotionally drained and needed to be just us-a family in grieving. In the afternoon an amazing thing happened; cars and pickups started pouring in filled with caring friends and neighbors wanting to help.

For the next two weeks there were 25-45 people each day sorting through the ruins, picking up trash, cleaning and drying photos and personal items.

We had a storage room where Jill and I were storing household items and keepsakes as they were in the process of moving to Powhatan.

Track loaders, dump trucks, and excavators arrived. The farm shop and baler were also destroyed but most of the tools were salvagable and had to be moved to another building.

The burned up round baler that was in the shop. They had just finished maintanence on it earlier in the afternoon and had it ready for this year’s hay season.
Only a handful of treasurers were spared. An old milk can from Gene’s home in Denbigh.
On the left is a quilt made by my Grandmother Heatwole (Fannie Belle Heatwole) and on the right by my mother (Fannie Showalter Heatwole). I had put them in plastic totes to “protect” them in storage.
A bed spread made by my mother from scraps of material from my “homemade” dresses as I was growing up!!!
We had to build a new space for the pressure tank for our well water system.
The shop with the burned out storage area on the left.

An existing warehouse had to be readied to serve as new storage for the feed store. There was so much to do and so many willing hands to do it.

Repairing the dock.

Mealtrain was set up to provide food and for one full month I did not fix a meal. Many people benefited from those wonderful, delicious meals delivered with love. Go-Fund-Me and private donations provided the necessary funds to keep us surviving. Our church had a community barbecue fundraiser. We needed so much and so much was given. Boxes and boxes arrived from Amazon with office supplies and equipment. One Amazon driver said, “I have never delivered so many boxes to one place”. Local businesses helped us get our new office set up and flooring put in. Another got our water restored, another replaced an electric pole and another removed some trees.

A team of fifteen students came from Liberty University for a Saturday workday. After a hard day of work, a full belly of food and relaxing on the lawn they enjoyed a hay ride.

People were truly the arms of Jesus holding us up and helping us get back on our feet. The community of Powhatan and beyond truly was amazing.

A friend and former pastor came from Pennsylvania to sit with us. It was what our weary souls needed. Thank you Tim.

The transformation has been amazing. It is now been a month and the ruins are cleaned up. We have felt a strong mandate from the community to rebuild. Social media buzzed with a desire to see us rebuild and to pledge to help that happen.

Our feed store reopened in five days in a revamped version. The Farmer’s Market relaunched yesterday, exactly one month from the fire, in an outdoor tent setting.

An Old Hickory storage shed came in two days after the fire. It has become our new office and sales for feed, lawn and wildlife seeds, fertilizer, lime, shavings, hay and straw.

Our vendors from our Farmer’s Market, that had been open for only one week, gathered on our lawn several days after the fire and the mandate from them was clear. They were solidly behind us and wanted to be a part of a relaunching. A blog post about the relaunching will be coming soon. After the fire, channel 8 and channel 12 (local news stations) came out and interviewed us. One reporter said, “We heard about the fire and began to look at social media. We saw the support of the local community and noted that something special was going on and wanted to cover it.”

Relaunch Day-May 10: The market is set up and ready for business.

It was an amazing Relaunch day with absolutely perfect weather, lots of excitement and crowds of people. Until a permanent facility can be built, the market will be open Thursday and Fridays 8 am – 5 pm and Saturdays 8 -12 noon weather permiting.

We can never express our thanks adquately. Caring and sharing is never about public praise and so we are refraining from publicly naming people or businesses. You know who you are. May God bless you and please accept our humble and grateful thanks

This puzzle piece that was found among the ruins seems a fitting ending to this post. I had a puzzle library of over 500 puzzles that people could check out. The fire was furious and almost nothing survived it’s consuming fury. But the few finds were surprising and this puzzle piece was one of them. A fragile thin piece of cardboard, charred black, but still intack. I just wonder how! Sometimes it takes more than a fire to bring total ruin. From the ashes, we will rise.

The following verse is a comforting promise from God….good can come out of bad…. joy and beauty where they are ashes.

“To bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” This verse is often interpreted as a promise from God to replace sorrow and despair with joy and beauty.”  Isaiah 61:3

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