First Winter on the Land

We moved here from Colorado, so whenever anyone mentioned cold winter in Kentucky, we've always brushed it off, as we were convinced that we've seen worse snow blizzard where we came from. Well, that's until we've lived through the Arctic Blast of January 2025. We've seen all over the news that we'd face some of the coldest weather, ranging from single digits to low teens. There had been nights when the water froze our pipes and we'd have to manually fill the toilet tank to flush. Even the creek water froze. But those winter days also brought some of the most spectacular beauty.

A symphony of icicles on the side of a mountain

One of the unfortunate things from this winter was that our outdoor kitchen tent was demolished by the snow storm. The outdoor storage tent also had some damage.

We shifted a lot of our work indoors during the cold days, rearranging our tiny shed cabin to create more space for an indoor kitchen and a family community area. It makes such a big difference to have a place to sit around as a family, as well as see our crosses on the wall again.

Another highlight of this winter was that we're able to send out our very first newsletter! We're proud to say that even the kids were involved in the production and mailing of this newsletter. Those who received the newsletter sent us kind messages of encouragement, as well as a few donations to help us continue our work. If you weren't on our mailing list or didn't receive it, you can download your copy here. And if you don't want to miss the next one, make sure to subscribe with your full mailing address at the bottom of that newsletter page.

First set of Mary's House newsletters mailed out!

God has blessed us with an incredibly supportive community, local and otherwise. We've had other Catholic Workers reach out to support us and let us know they're praying for us. We began working on two sister house connections with other Catholic Worker communities (more details to come). We even had someone from out of the country express an interest in coming out to stay with us in the near future.

We're also happy to share that we got new chickens! Thanks to a donation from our friend in Indiana, we got 7 more chickens to add to the coop. They're a mix of Old English hens that lay smaller-sized eggs. We've yet to see those eggs in real life (as they're not laying during the winter), but we're excited to find them one of these days. They're also happier now that they get to roam outside the pen and forage during the day.

This week, the weather has finally started to get in the upper 50s and 60s. However, we also had some heavy rain that lasted a day and a half and the creek water got so high that it washed away our brand new gorilla cart (we're still mourning over that loss).

Despite all the things we've lost, we've also gained some important lessons. The weather has been a good (and tough) teacher for us and we're learning all sorts of things on how to take care of our land and our stuff better. We've learned a little about insulation, a little about flood mitigation and most importantly, a lot about how to trust God when we can't see past the storm.

As the sun started shining again, we're able to add more personal touches around Mary's House with handpainted signs. We also added more rocks to the rock path from the parking area to our cabin to avoid walking on muddy grounds.

All in all, we are grateful for weeks like these and blessed to enjoy our family time around the bonfire after long days of work.

The bonfire pit deck – a work in progress