Homestead Heritage in Waco, Texas
One of the greatest advantages of homeschooling is the opportunity to learn by doing. Instead of simply reading about traditional crafts and pioneer life, we spent the day experiencing them firsthand at Homestead Heritage near Waco, Texas.
Nestled in the Texas countryside, Homestead Heritage is a working community known for preserving traditional skills such as blacksmithing, woodworking, pottery, weaving, farming, and other time-honored crafts. It's a wonderful place to slow down, ask questions, and watch artisans practice skills that were once part of everyday life.
Traditional Skills We Watched
- Blacksmithing
- Pottery
- Woodworking
- Wool spinning
- Natural dyeing
- Candle dipping
- Leather work
- Soap making
- Spoon carving
Our homeschool group took a field trip today to Homestead Heritage. The last time I was out there was on Thanksgiving weekend and it was PACKED.
This time, we enjoyed the farm practically to ourselves. We watched demonstrations on wood crafting, black smith, pottery, and wool yarn weaving. We even learned how they dyed their wool - deriving their colors from native flowers and beetles.
This time, we enjoyed the farm practically to ourselves. We watched demonstrations on wood crafting, black smith, pottery, and wool yarn weaving. We even learned how they dyed their wool - deriving their colors from native flowers and beetles.
After watching a video about the farm, taking a horse drawn hayride, seeing the petting zoo, the kids wrapped things up with hands-on soap making, leather, candle dipping, and spoon making.
While having lunch, I got to visit with the people who live at Homestead heritage and ask them about their faith, home schooling, and some history on how Homestead Heritage came about. Some of the things I found interesting was the fossils and arrow heads that were found on the farm, not to mention wagon trail tracks. Also, we were shown the ancient pecan trees that were at least 150-200 years old. They said the pecans taste AMAZING.
Interesting stuff and nice people!
The sun hid most of the day and the skies threatened rain. We dodged mud puddles over the whole farm, but all in all, it was a rewarding day. My only regret is that we didn't get to dwell much on the gardens, nor did I have a chance to visit the general store. Maybe next time!
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| blacksmith at Homestead Heritage |
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| Hayride at Homestead Heritage |
3 comments:
How neat you got to take advantage of quiet time there! We did the mobs-of-people Thanksgiving adventure ... wow ...
What Fun!!! I would so love visiting that place.
It makes me wish we all could live in such a peaceful place.
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