RuthAnn & Elvin Zimmerman, Live in North east Iowa on 21 acres with our 7 children. They have lived on their acreage for 20 years now.
They have a couple different breeds of cows for milk and beef, Mangalitsa hogs, chickens and 2 Donkeys.
RuthAnns husband works full time but finds time to to the ‘heavy lifting’ of the homestead while her and the children do the day to day chores of the animals and in the summer in their 8000 sq feet garden planting, weeding and harvesting.
Their oldest child, Kristina, is married and lives near by, and their other children still live at home, ages 18,13,11,8,5,4.
Stained glass windows date back to the 7th century. With the earliest known reference dating from 675 AD when workmen were imported from France to Britain to Glaze the windows of the monastery.
Stained glass windows were predominately used in churches, the windows were used to beautify churches, offer privacy to those inside while telling a story to the viewers. In early churches the mystical light that cast through the stained glass was though to represent the HolySpirit.In the early days glass was stained by adding various metallic oxides while it was yet in its molten state.
Todays modern techniques of stained glass windows are said to be much inferior those of the olden days. This little tidbit of opinion makes me want to go visit the great cathedrals of the world and see for myself the beauty of the historic stained glass windows!
Make your own Stained Glass Christmas Window Items you will need:
Tempera paints (Basic colors)
Painters tape (my tape of choice is automotive painters tape because it is more narrow but regular painters tape works well too. Automotive painters tape can be found at most paint stores)
Artist paint brushes
An imagination
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
We first started doing seasonal stained glass windows during the lockdowns of 2020 when the kids were home from school and needed a creative outlet.
For Easter we do a cross on a hill with a stained glass sky. For Christmas we love to do the hills of Bethlehem, adding a tiny stable and a star shedding its light to the world.
No matter what design you decide to go with the instructions are more or less the same. Envision your design and draw it on the window with the tape, and then divide it into stained glass segments using long strips of tape placed at random degrees
For our Christmas window we start with the star. (Use a stencil if you struggle with a free hand star like I do.) Then we make the hills of Bethlehem, curve your tape slightly for these (don’t forget to tuck a tiny stable into the hills.)
Next we make the rays of the star. After these basic things are taped on the window you’re ready to take long strips of tape and place them at random angles over your basic creation. This creates a Stained glass effect. Now you are ready to paint!
We start with the star and it’s rays. (You can either paint them all the same shade of yellow or mix different paints with your yellow and paint various segments different shades)
Do the same for the night sky between the rays, (we use blue and different shades of blue that we have made by mixing other colors with the blue.) The hills of Bethlehem get the same treatment with green.
You may want to allow each color to dry before adding another color, depending on how messy of a painter you are with better quality paints one coat may be enough but we often add more than one coat to get amore vivid effect.
Once the paint is completely dry it is time to remove the tape!! This is a great time to bring the toddlers in to help! Stand back and watch the light shine through your creation.
At night with light from the inside your neighbors will be pleasantly reminded of the greatest night in the history of the world.
Clean up is easy, a bucket of hot soapy water and a rag and the paint dissolves. we have found dish soap to work the best.
Once your window is clean and polished again you can start imagining what next season’s stain glass window will be!!
I began my homesteading journey from the perspective of a Nutritional Therapist, closet herbalist, and beekeeper. This mentally gave me a few barriers to diving into the conventionally accepted tools for animal health such as antibiotics, injectable vitamins, generic minerals and mass produced bagged feeds…
I am not well traveled. I’ve never flown on a plane. I’ve never been north of Ohio or west of Texas.I’m not as well traveled as some may say one should be, but this piece of land has housed all of my fondest memories…
Do you ever worry that your kids will miss out because of this homesteading lifestyle choice? This fear crosses my mind time to time. I’m sure many, if not most of you, could agree that it can be extremely difficult to get extended time away from the homestead for more than a full day, especially in the busy summer months when daily chores demand our regular attention…
“In some Native languages the term for plants translates to ‘those who take care of us’ … the land knows you, even when you are lost.” – Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass…
Babies, Business, and Bumper Crops: How I am Learning to Homestead with Babies in Tow
Have you ever had one of those days? You know the days when you are cleaning the baby’s diaper, milking the cow, scooping poop in the barn, wiping noses, and cleaning more poop off of kids’ shoes…
One year ago, I resolved that I would learn to make all of the bread products my family needed. With an ever-shrinking bank account battling current inflation prices, I would walk the aisles of our local markets frustrated that I did not possess the skills required to make most of the things I needed to purchase…
Hey there, Homesteading Mama’s!
I’m Rachel from @frontier_homesteading. My husband Ryan, three children and I have been homesteading for about 10 years now, first in Wyoming and now in Alaska.
We currently have milk goats, pack goats, sheep, a pig, a cow, chickens, rabbits, bees and a dog. Seasonally, we also have more pigs, meat chickens and turkeys….
Homesteading and growing food is not the easy way out of this life, i would say it is the hard way as there’s nothing convenient about it. It’s a lifestyle, a life change not a trend or hobby. Well, that’s my opinion any way…
Awakino Station is a child’s dream. There is the river to splash in, tussock covered hills to explore, animals to raise and a bustling kitchen with a baking tin full of something yummy to eat…
