A Personal Thank You

We have THE BESTEST readers ever!  I tell ya!  And every once in a while, one of them goes above and beyond to do something extra special for us.  It is time for a personal thank you!  This past winter was a particularly difficult time for me.  Not because of the brutal weather, but more because of my mother’s passing.  Yes, the initial shock is over and the long process of getting back to normal is well underway. There are still good days and bad days.  Fact remains that I have been a bit negligent in issuing thanks to those who went out of their way to brighten my day in some way or another.  And that is what this post is about … I want to thank my readers, friends, and followers!  That said, I am reluctant to write this post for fear I will inadvertently leave out someone!  I apologize in advance if I do that, but PLEASE send me a note and let me know!  I would love to come out and revise this post to add you.

Before I go any further, first I want to thank ALL of you for following our blog, being a facebook fan, signing up for our email list, and for reading our posts.  It means the world to me to know you are all there and part of our community.

REVISED!  I almost forgot one of the most important Thank Yous of ALL!  Sheesh!  I want to thank Heather at The Homesteading Hippy and Erica at MomPrepares for holding down the fort for me on our Facebook page while I was out of town tending to my mother’s final wishes!  They posted for me and monitored things and just made sure my facebook friends didn’t think I just went off the radar!  These ladies have no idea how much it meant to me to not have to worry about our page.  Erica says it was mostly Heather, but still … I appreciate them both more than they will ever know!

I have a personal thank you for my dear friend, Rachelle Washington.  As you may know, she has been active on our facebook page almost since day one.  She likes, comments, and shares almost daily and then recently began to contribute some wonderful articles to our blog.  It seems she always has something positive, caring, and helpful to share.  She is highly valued around here and has worked hard to participate and contribute as much as she can.  She also sent me a lovely box full of handmade crochet!  I have so much enjoyed using and displaying them and I often point to them and say, “Rachelle made those for me … check it out!  Aren’t they beautiful?”

Handmade Gifts from Rachelle.

So far Rachelle has published these articles:

• Installing An Indoor Watering System for Seedlings
• Crocheted Dish Scrubbie Pattern

Rachelle has forwarded me drafts for several more articles that will be published in the coming months.  I am so grateful to have them to share with you on those days when, for whatever reason, I am unable to write for myself.

I also want to send a personal thank you to my friend, Chris Dalziel.  She recently wrote a wonderful guest post for me on a topic that was of great interest to me and many of my readers:  How To Grow Amazing Onions and Be Onion Self-Sufficient.  Chris is a dear friend and fellow blogger at Joybilee Farm.  She has sent up many a prayer for me and my family in times of need and always seems to be there when I need her.  Thank you, Chris, for your special friendship!

I would also like to personally thank Angi Schneider of Schneiderpeeps, too.  Also a friend and fellow blogger, Angi sent me — the very week my mom passed away — a gorgeous box of the highly coveted meyer lemons from her very own lemon tree!  I was just delighted!  In spite of everything going on, it brightened my whole day!  Thanks, Angi!

Meyer lemons from Angi.

… Aaaaand then, there was this INCREDIBLE box of yummy herbs sent to me from my friend, Michelle Miller, at J&M Herbs.  A personal thank you goes out for the numerous different fresh herb blends that she sent to us … all of which she grew & blended herself.  There were also two all natural chocolate chip granola bars from her friend, Naomi at The Granola Bar.  OH MY GOODNESS!  They were wonderful! And the timing was perfect because we had a 12 hour road trip to attend my mom’s funeral and were able to take them along as car snacks!  YUMMY!

Herb blends and chocolate chip granola bars from Michelle and J& M Herbs.

Anyway, I took a photo of all of it together, but cannot seem to find it right now (I will find it); however, I have been taking photos of each meal I prepare with herbs from J&M Herbs and will soon be publishing a J&M Herb review.  She does a wonderful job of knowing just which herbs to blend so that all I needed to do was thaw the meat, sprinkle it on, and pop it in the oven!  Made my week go so much more smoothly at a time when cooking was NOT on my list of priorities.  Thanks, Michelle!  You have no idea how much that helped!  I cannot thank you enough!  Anywhere near the Acadia, Florida area?  You should look up J&M Herbs!

As though all this was not enough . . .

Another personal thank you goes out to Kathie Lapcevic from Homespun Seasonal Living! She sent me a package with some new beans I have yet to grow! Both Arikara Yellow beans and some Jacob’s Cattle beans!  So excited to try them both.  We love bean soup in the winter and she tells me that both of these make a rich, tender, tasty bean soup.  Thank you, Kathie for going out of your way for us!

Joey’s new sweater by Anna at Mommy Made

Just as winter was turning as bitter cold as it possibly could get and my little dog,  Joey, was pretty much wearing out most of his fleece jackets, my friend, Anna Wilson at Mommy Made Crochet, sent me this for the poor little guy.  This is important because this little dog just cannot take the cold.  Poor little fella shivers like he is going come right out of his skin and all he wants is to be held and cuddle up with anyone who will sit still for a minute.  I cannot hold this dog all day, as much as I would like to.  This beautiful sweater, handmade by Anna arrived just as winter got its coldest and HE LOVES IT!  It is thick & warm and of very high quality!  A special thank you goes out to Anna!  Is this not the cutest thing you have ever seen?  Anna was even careful to be sure he could not wet it when he went out to pee.  That is what I call attention to detail! Thank you, Anna!  It is such a lovely gift!

And last but CERTAINLY not least … Krystyna at Spring Mountain Living graciously shared with us some wonderful organic sweets, a handmade crocheted dragonfly (how very cute!), and a bunch of other fun and interesting handmade things! And she included the sweetest hand written letter and she even thought to include a map of the UP marking their homestead so that we would “know where to go” if we ever get to Michigan. First off, I have not seen a handwritten letter in many years so that was a very special treat!  But the map?  Wow.  I am so flattered!  Thank you, Krystyna, for your warmth, generosity, and hospitality.  We hope one day to pay you a visit!

One last but HUGE thank you goes out all the members of Homestead Bloggers Network.  Without your support, insights, prayers, and kindness … we would not be here!  A very special thank you goes out to ALL of you!

Like I said, I have this nagging feeling that I may be forgetting someone important.  The last couple months have just been a whirlwind.  So, please … let me know if I didn’t mention you here and accept my sincerest apology. But DO let me know so I can revise this post.

For now, I just want ALL of you to know that we humbly receive and are honored by all your caring gestures and I hope one day to pay it forward!  We have the BESTEST readers ever!  Love you all!

Jo & Eddie