Walk The Agrarian Path With Us

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Bits and Pieces

This has been one challenging growing year! We have been in a severe drought here this summer which means feeding hay since early June, using all of our hay, and trying to buy hay to feed when noone has any. The pastures were used up long ago. BUT! We were very blessed with a little under an inch of rain last night. What hope that brought! It also wasn't as hot today. We have been in the hundreds so many days this summer I've lost count. About a week ago I put a piece of gutter that had been given to us on the side of the big chicken coop to catch the runoff. It has a metal roof so the water is safer to use than it would be if it came off the shingled house roof. I put rain barrels at each end. I hurried out to look this morning and there was water in them! I know that God is very good and kind so the rain would come sometime. I  feel that we need to be deliberate about everything we do and not be wasteful or take things for granted.
Everything seems to be running a month or two ahead this year. Strawberries and peaches picked much earlier than usual and a couple of weeks ago I noticed that the insects were acting like they do in the Fall. I guess the most surprising thing has been that asparagus started coming up again the other day. That's something I've never heard of. We got more than ever this Spring due to the early warm weather but we've never had it come up again in the same year. I'm going to go ahead and plant Fall seeds now anticipating an earlier than normal one.
A lady that was visiting the other day is a geophysicist and said the earth was thrown off 4 inches by the earthquake in Japan. I could tell that this Spring because the sun was taking a different path. When you're outside a lot of the time you notice these things. We have very little shade now, even on the north side of the house. It worked out better for the neighbor because of the way their house is situated and they have had more shade, which was nice in this hotter than usual weather.
I want to share a recipe for a scrubbing cleanser that my daughter-in-love gave me. It works very well and is safe to use. Smells great, also. Mix baking soda and dishwashing liquid (I like a clear unscented one, but use what you have) to make a paste. Add grapefruit seed extract to kill germs, if desired. I then add orange essential oil, which also kills germs, and makes it smell wonderful. It's nice to use something scented with real oils and enjoy that smell while you clean.
Boots was in town and spoke with an older gentleman  who was selling bushels of his homegrown tomatoes. I was not only excited that someone was selling tomatoes in town but that he was selling them by the bushel! That's almost unheard of now.
Things are out of whack in every area now in our world, but this is  good opportunity for things to get back where they should be.

Psalm 82:5 "They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course." 

Monday, July 2, 2012

The Thread

I was speaking to a young mom this morning and she told me of her and her husband's desire to move to the farm. It caused me to think back to when we made the decision to move our family there. I told her that it was the best time of my life. And our goals were accomplished in our children. There were obstacles and difficulties but the good times far outweighed the bad. And they still do. If you know why you do what you do it will get you through the tough times. Ponder it often and search the Word and other writings for answers. She said that so far when they have made an offer on a place it hasn't gone through. So, as we all do, she wonders if they are on the right track. I told her it sounds like it just isn't time yet. But, if you put it in the Lord's hands it will be just the right timing when it all comes together. And when you are having those doubts that come when you are doing anything worthwhile, you will know that the Lord has taken you there.
There is a thread that runs through our lives that connects everything. Sometimes it is hard to see. It looks more like the broken scattered pieces of a mosaic to us. We see the mistakes and wrong turns and forget that our lives are in the hands of a loving God. He is working everything for our good. And one day we begin to see the pieces come together to form a beautiful picture and realize that God saw it that way all along.
This is a journey that we are on. But, a wonderful journey it is. A woman called the other day taking a Gallup poll and wanted to know how I would rate that day on a scale of one to ten with ten being the best. I told her any day that we are alive has to be a ten.
When you start to think about all of those things that you wish you had done differently step back and see the whole picture. See the thread that runs through it. See the mosaic.