Sharing Rambling, Resources and Recipes for Learning in Life

Sharing Rambling, Resources and Recipes for Learning in Life

Category: Farming

Farming

Picking the date WORKED!!

By Audrea3 Comments

Picking a date to have our garden in by worked this year! It did not work perfectly, but what really does, except salvation with Jesus!! Even salvation, or really the sanctification that comes after salvation is still a rocky ride sometimes due to our humanity! But, back to the garden. Giving my husband a date that I wanted the garden in and ready to plant, got it done. I wanted the garden ready to go by the end of Spring Break this year, but gave us until the following weekend in case we needed it. With the Coronavirus Spring Break never really ended this year. We’ve been home from school since the week before Spring Break. Even though we didn’t know when we’d go back, Adam wanted the garden in by the date I gave him. Also, even though both of us had reservations about actually planting at the end of March, he bought the plants and we not only tilled and put the plastic down for the garden, we planted it.

It WAS too early to plant and we’ve had to cover the garden two or three times. A couple of times for frost and once to protect it from the weed killer being sprayed in our back field. We lost 3 tomato plants to the frost and we’ve had to replant corn, okra and cucumber seeds because the first round of corn only produced about 4 sprouts, which are still going strong and the cucumbers and okra didn’t come up at all. So, we’ve had ups and downs. But now we are seeing the fruits from our labors. We have okra coming up! Our cauliflower is growing like crazy and one is turning purple (apparently that’s kind of normal!!). Corn is sprouting again and much better this time! We’ve picked a few radishes and have more almost ready to pick! The okra have all sprouted this time! We’ve replaced the tomato plants we lost and they all seem to be growing well. We have strawberries on the strawberry plants and peppers starting to grow on one of the green pepper plants.

I’ve been reading and watching videos to help me grow my blog and one of the things mentioned is to just start and another is to keep it simple, get organized and just do the next step. Apparently, picking a date was the one small thing needed to ensure that we started our garden and that starting is ensuring that we will have a harvest.

It has definitely been easy to feel overwhelmed during this virus. With the amount of news coverage and conflicting stories about the virus, homeschooling the girls WHILE virtual schooling about 40 middle schoolers, trying to increase my blog posts and my inventory in my Teachers Pay Teachers store, Basics Rethought, my head spins and I feel lost and overwhelmed often. So, I think this is timely advice and I am grateful for this evidence that it works. It also means that God has a plan for all things in His time. He extends grace when we get ahead of him (He saved all of our plants but three). And He is with us the whole time we work. BUT, we have to move forward, we have to step out and we do have to work! THEN He will supply the increase!

Farming

We’ve (well I’ve) Picked the Date!!

By Audrea2 Comments

I am SO excited that we get to have a garden again this year! We have not had one for the last 3 years because of my husband’s coaching schedule and then because of moving to our new house. This year, I told my husband that I want a garden NO MATTER WHAT! And luckily, he agreed!

We have talked about what we are going to plant and even the perennials we would like to start. We are planting corn, tomatoes, okra, green peppers, cucumbers and radishes in the garden. We are planning to start strawberries, asparagus and possibly garlic as perennials. Maybe I’ll be able to talk him into blue or blackberry bushes also! We have decided to plant all seedlings instead of any seeds with the exception of radishes. We usually do better with plants.

I always get super excited about gardening and want to start before it is time. I am setting a date for us to use as our deadline though. I am giving us until March 29th to have the garden tilled and prepared. If my husband still says it’s too early to plant, that’s fine, but the garden MUST be ready by then!!

FaithFarming

Forever is accomplished by small steps!

By Audrea2 Comments

Since moving into what both my husband and I pray will be our “forever home” (we would NEVER like to build again), we have been working to make it truly into our home! We moved in over Thanksgiving Break and now it is almost July and it seems we’ve only scratched the surface of the “finishing” touches.

The three MAJOR finishing touches are the fences, the detached garage and the barn. Right now he is outside finishing the front left pasture (thank you Jesus for dead weeks)!! Once that pasture is done we can bring our horse and pony home!! We’ve gotten two bids for finishing the garage, but nothing actually nailed down to get it built on the foundation we have gotten completed. The barn just will not happen until next summer as long as we stick to God’s best principles about money, spending, stewarding, borrowing and saving. And, as we were putting mulch into the flower beds my husband designed, formed and welded for me (yes, he’s that good!!), I thought this is a GREAT step forward. Now maybe you’re wondering, like my mom did, what plants we put in. And maybe you’ll be slightly confused, like she was, when I say, “None!” But our flower beds are now beautifully finished with black mulch that contrasts amazingly with the stone work around the bottom of the house and porch and our lovingly transplanted Iris leaves poking out in the corners! We will look for deals on perennial plants at the end of the season and plant some in early fall if we find any. And, although it is tempting to see what isn’t done, I am coming to realize that the joy is found in seeing what is done and looking excitedly forward to what is yet to come.

So, instead of lamenting the fact that we only have a pad for our garage we should celebrate that that pad is fully paid for and that it means a garage is coming. Instead of wondering or worrying or being frustrated that our flower beds lack flowers I will rejoice that my husband can build flower beds for me, that we had left over metal border from our “old” house, and that he thought to make them for me without my asking. I will rejoice in finding mulch for the sale price we hoped to find at one store and didn’t, but found instead at the next store as the “always” price! And that fencing, well it’s the most amazing part because it’s all paid for too…. AND by this evening will be far enough along that all of us can live here!

So, our forever home may not totally be here yet, but we are here in it. And every new step brings us one more step closer to forever. So it is just up to us if we want those steps to be light and joyful or heavy and hard! It’s all about perspective and choosing to rejoice instead of worry, brood or lament!

FaithFarming

Fencing Freedom!!

By Audrea1 Comment

I was struck with a thought about our freedom in God while my husband was working to finish the fence for our back pasture. We recently built a house on 15.8 acres of land. This has been a long time dream for my husband and something I treasured for his sake. Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of having land set off from town, a place to just “be” and a kitchen designed to host and serve! We had various ups and downs through the process of buying the land and definitely through building the house!!

Before we bought this property, we signed on another property that would have needed more work to accomplish our goals, but seemed to be in a better and ideal spot! After we signed, the seller backed out and we were told that he could even though the contracts had been signed by both parties. It was a pretty big blow to us as we wondered if it meant we should stop looking for land, stay where we were, or just buy a house that was already built. We continued to pray and seek God’s plan as we wondered. He brought us to the land we have now. Land that needed no clearing, the other land was almost entirely wooded and we want pasture, and was less per acre and bigger. It also happens to sit right between very good friends of ours who also happen to be our plumbers and a wonderful lady (who actually sold the land to us) who is turning out to be another Grammie for the girls! We are EXTREMELY blessed!

Like always, building took longer than expected, but we moved in over Thanksgiving break. Both my husband and I teach and he coaches football and track. So, between school and sports he has been VERY limited in time to devote to the fencing we need to add to the property. Spring Break was the first time he was able to get time to devote to it. So he spent almost all of Spring Break (Thank you Jesus for the beautiful weather!!) fencing off the back pasture.

One of the days he was out there working, I stopped to take some pictures and it struck me that although it looked like he was making our land smaller by adding a barrier, that very barrier would free us to fulfill more of our dreams. And that struck me as just like following God. To an outsider, it looks like all God does is set up road blocks and boundaries that keep us from being free to do whatever we want. Things like: Go to Church on Sundays, Only Marry a Believer, Abstinence Until Marriage, Be Holy as I am Holy, Don’t Be a Stumbling Block, all scream Boundary Line, Restriction, Rules, and Limits! BUT, EVERY single one of those things bring us to true freedom, realization of ACTUAL goals and dreams, AND protection from SO MUCH pain! That fence that Adam built did make our yard smaller, but it also opened up the possibility to run cows when we’re ready and to bless our neighbor by running his cows on it until we do. These rules from God may limit us from something that seems good right now, but they free us from guilt, shame, fear and give us the freedom and strength to gain SO MUCH more and SO MUCH better! Just like our children actually feel safer and freer when we give them boundaries, because it lets them know we are there and they are safe, we should revel in God’s boundaries. They do not limit us! They simply reassure us that we are loved, He is there and we are safe! Then, that reassurance allows us to GO and DO ALL things through Christ who strengthens us!