Homestead Heritage marks a community of self sufficiency

By MINDY POEHL | Central Texas Edition

May 5, 2005 - Right outside of Elm Mott a close-knit, self-sufficient community can be found. The homesteading community lies inside of the front gate that reads "Brazos de Dios," which means arms of God. This Christian community is known as Homestead Heritage and is located on 510 acres, where every one is kept busy from farming to woodworking.

The homestead offers many classes in pottery, woodworking, farming, ironwork and soap making, as well as tours. On Monday, April 25, 44 members of the Bell County Extension education club had an educational tour at Homestead Heritage.

Burl Bourgeois, a member of the community who is one of the ministers and a tour guide on the property, led the tour.

"We are a Christian community that, believe it or not, started in Manhattan in 1973," explained Bourgeois. "We got feelings from the Lord to start this community. We are raised with good Christian virtues that this way of living puts in our heart."

Their religion comes from the Ana Baptist religion.

"Ninety percent of our children stay within the church," Bourgeois said. "Our church is different because we have an agricultural lifestyle. Our children are fulfilled. They are happy. They play music together, work with one another and get to know each other."

In fact, the community consists of around 850 people, with 190 people living on the land at Brazos de Dios. The community is full of farmers and craftsmen that have acquired the essential skills of self-sufficiency that helps to support the community's simple way of life.

The Heritage Farm is a working homestead that consists of lambs and sheep, animal pens, ducks, chickens, and a garden with 40 raised beds. Three thousand feet below, on the green land, a larger farm can be found. It has dairy cows, mules and horses, a vineyard, an orchard, pecan groves and hay fields.

"Everything is organic," Bourgeois explained. "And, we have a windmill that feeds the crops. We use all natural power and pressure in the garden."

Heritage Forge is the house of the blacksmith shop. The loud sound of the hammer and the anvil rings throughout the building. The blacksmiths use a traditional 18th century method to hammer raw steel into pieces of art.

"We heat the metal to 2,000 degrees," explained Caleb Nolen, blacksmith. "If you've ever heard the saying, 'strike while the iron's hot'‚ you'll learn where that came from."

Next, the group visited the gristmill. In 2001 the craftsmen of Homestead Heritage refurbished an old mill that was built in 1768. The gristmill is open to the public and the miller grinds fresh whole-wheat flour, corn meal and other grains.

The women from the Extension education club were huge fans of the mill. Samples of homemade porridge and cookies were available to taste and most everyone bought some mixes at the miller's store.

"Two big stones turn to grind the grain. If the stones touch, that's the end of the mill. A fire could start," explained the miller, Shahar Yarden, who is originally from Israel. "That's where they got the saying, 'keep your nose to the grind stone,'"

Paul Sellers, the expertise woodworker (I don‚t know the correct name of it.), was in the middle of a woodworking class. People in the woodworking class traveled a long distance, as they were from California, New York, Oklahoma and Lebanon. Sellers, who is originally from England, has been a wood craftsman for 42 years. And his 15-year-old son, Joseph, is proudly following in his footsteps.

"We focus on using hand tools. They are safer and they bring you in to a relationship with the wood," Sellers explained.

The last stop on the tour was the deli, which serves sandwiches, all natural BBQ, desserts and homemade ice cream made with organic milk, cream and eggs.

The homestead is open Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and they have free horse drawn hay rides every Saturday. For more information about Homestead Heritage, call 254-829-0417 or visit www.homesteadheritage.com.