Jewelweed Salve

Poison Ivy, Poison Oak, chiggers, ticks, oak mites, and mosquitos... Missouri provides them all and then some. With a farming family, we can't avoid the outside and that also means we can't avoid the irritants either.   Fortunately, Miss Missouri provides something else as well.... jewelweed.

Working with jewelweed is easy.  It can be as simple as grabbing a handful of flowers and stems, chewing them up and slapping it on the problem skin.... yeah, I know.  Nobody wants to walk around with mom spit and weeds slapped on their skin and besides jewelweed isn't always around.  So here is how we make it a little more civilized and portable.


Jewelweeds benefits are found in a sticky sap in its stems, flowers, and leaves. Drying this herb is not an option because you'll dry the sap.  For long-term storage, it is best to extract it into an oil.  I use olive oil because that is what I have kicking around in my soap supplies. Use your favorite liquid carrier oil.

Jewelweed it is easiest to find when it is blooming. Check along creeks and roadsides. It likes water.  Blooms are either orange or yellow. I think the orange is more potent but I will take whatever I find. Pick a little bit of everything, flowers, stems, and leaves.  Jewelweed is an annual so it is important that you do not harvest the entire plant. Leave plenty to bloom and go to seed for next year.

Pick over your harvest looking for bugs and weeds... anything that you don't want in your salve.

Once you are home cram it into a mason jar and cover with your carrier oil. ( I add one or two plantain plants in the mix.  It is not necessary but plantain has added benefits for the salve.)  Make sure the lid is on tight.  Place a small dishtowel in the bottom of your crockpot and add about two inches of water. Lay your bottle on its side and put your lid on. Turn crockpot on warm.  Let it go until the next morning or afternoon... sometime the next day.  If you don't have a crockpot or want to speed things up you can stand your jar in a pan of water on the stove for four hours.  It's just important that you don't let it boil because boiling breaks down the oil and the beneficial sap.  I don't have time to babysit it so I use the crockpot.

When your oil is done place a strainer over another bowl and lay cheesecloth in the strainer.  Slowly pour out your oil  (It will now be a beautiful shade of orangeish green) and the foliage will now looks like the contents of a cow's rumen... if you've never had to dig through the contents of a  cow's rumen then you'll just have to raise your hands to heaven and thank Jesus and then you'll have to take my word for it you, lucky dog, you.

Wrap your cheesecloth up tight and squeeze out every last drop of that wonderful extract.

It can be stored in the fridge (make sure you label it so someone doesn't mistake it for elderberry and chug it on down. This will make a sick person cranky.. learn from the experiences of others, my friend.)

Or you can just make it into a salve right away and be prepared for whatever life tosses at you.

The salve requires  1/4 c of beeswax for every cup of oil you use. and essential oils are optional.

Beeswax is never an exact science.  We use wax from our girls, if you purchase wax it comes in a multitude of styles from pellets to bricks so when I say 1/4 cup...  it's not bible.  don't pack it in your measuring cup tight, if you've got a brick of it grate it first. It's always a good idea to try a small batch to see how the salve feels when it is done before using up your entire supply in a bulk batch. If however, it comes out wrong just remelt it and add either more oil or more wax to get the desired consistency

place a pan on your stove and add water, place a heat proof bowl in the water and to that add your wax and oil. Gently melt them together.

Once the wax is melted remove from pan and pour into containers of your choice.  I really like these little tins found here but this time my budget sent me to the dollar store and that works too.

Once your salve has started to cool you can add essential oils of your choice.  Some of my favorites are lavender, Tea tree, Rosemary or Peppermint for their soothing and healing properties. A few drops per container is fine.

Let your jewelweed salve sit uncovered for 24 hours then put the lids on.  I make it all up at once and store in the freezer leaving one jar out in the fridge.  I'll warn you even with essential oils it doesn't smell the best but it isn't a spa lotion it is medicine.  Medicine that works. Simply apply it to irritated areas when needed.

Jewelweed salve is an item that our farm sells in limited amounts.  It is $6 for a 2 oz tub... highway robbery I know, but I'd rather be slathering it on my kids than selling it. And honestly, you don't need me to make it for you.

Or I found it on Amazon here and at the time of posting they are offering a $2 off coupon.  Just check and see if they have preservatives in it first.. our skin is the largest organ in our bodies and we should really be careful what we put on it.

That's it, Ladies, we've turned weeds into treasures without even breaking a sweat.  Now, let's go cut some firewood.  Critters step aside.

Tree Fodder

This is a U.S. drought map for July and do you see that big brown burned up blob right in the middle... yeah, that's us...And, honey, it didn't get any better in August.  You see, the Lord chose to grow our faith this summer instead of our pastures and if you could zoom in you'd see our family giving a sigh of surrender and then rolling up our sleeves and making hay while the sun shines. Not grass hay though... no, the grass is all burned up so we are making tree hay.  Tree/Weed fodder to be exact.

Tree Fodder has been around forever.

I haven't.

no matter what my children tell you.

But finding someone to teach you to make tree fodder is hard.  So jumping in with both feet and learning as you go is the best way... perhaps the only way.


The most important part of making tree fodder is to know your trees/weeds... not all are safe to eat. If in doubt google search it before adding it to your fodder pile.


What we use:

willow
mulberry
oak
hickory
elm
small amounts of walnut
redbud ~ pea pods attached add extra value. High protein.
apple
grape vines
kiwi
raspberry/blackberry cane
ragweed... all kinds of ragweed
sericea lespedeza - grows in the ditches
sunchokes
sunflower
small amounts of sassafrass - avoid if your cows are lactating.
garden waste green bean plants, cowpea, sweet potato vine, pumpkin leaves
comfrey
small amounts of redroot before it seeds... don't bring that mess to your pasture if avoidable.

I really think hedge apples, roses and locust would be good too if you could dry them without turning their thorns into piercing daggers in the cow's mouth... I'm still working through this one...


What we DON'T use:

sycamore
peach
cherry
pear
plum
these build up prussic acid when wilting.. it is assumed that once it passes the wilt stage and is fully dry it will be safe again... I'm not putting effort into trees that I may or may not be able to feed but those are decisions that we need to make for ourselves.



Collecting:

you want a chainsaw, a good pair of nippers or even a sawsall to cut the branches.  I love nippers because it stops me from cutting too old of wood on any tree.  The fresher the growth the more nutrition in it.  If you have stumps that are constantly sending up suckers... you, my friend, have hit the jackpot.  The new growth of suckers are tender and fresh and the perfect size for drying. Waterspouts from your apple trees are ideal here too.

Collecting tree fodder isn't the same as raking leaves.. when a leaf falls to the ground during Autumn, it fell because the tree pulled back the sap and all the vitamins and nutrients with it thus killing the leaf.  In making fodder we clip the branch and dry the leaves with all the nutrients intact.  They will feel like soft leather and still be quite green or tones of green when dry.

we cleared trees in this pasture with a chainsaw last winter and then seeded it with grass.. as you can see the new grass is struggling to gain a foothold from lack of water while all of the stumps sent up suckers, the girls are nipping the suckers and loading them.

The key is variety.   Clipping from many different trees adding to the pile and mixing it all up.  One important tip would be to lay them all facing the same way.  It makes it easier for drying and handling.

I know there are some who would think that harvesting branches this time of year will do damage to the tree and I suppose it does leave it exposed to bugs on the cuts. If you feel it's necessary you can cover the cuts with wax but honestly, the lower the water table gets the more the tree struggles and trimming branches relieves some of the burden and allows trees to live that might have otherwise died.

don't forget to grab your weeds.

lespedeza is at its peak at 8-12 inches but if yours is taller, even if it's blooming still pick it because some nutrition is better than none.  High protein.

Ragweed is the poor man's alfalfa... if you don't believe me send one in for an analysis. you'll stop spraying, at least in the field, I promise.  It is best to let it grow as big as you can get it without it blooming. I, however, am also a beekeeper so I don't have that luxury.  The same drought that is starving my cattle is starving my bees so I let mine bloom and when the girls have had their fill of pollen then I pull it.  The ragweed in the picture is giant ragweed and it will hold it's own when dried.  If you get a bunch with the feathery type leaves tuck them into the tree fodder before drying.  It dries up quite small and the tree leaves will hold it in shape whereas otherwise it may just powder up and be too small to be of use.  High protein.

sunchokes and sunflower leaves can be pulled from their stems doing this allows for regrowth if possible.  high protein.


I guess I don't have a picture of comfrey..but just cut the leaves and lay them in your bundles.  comfrey is high in protein.

here's another handy tip.. having a cute helper sure makes the work go easier.  Only don't give him nippers... he is only two after all.  A pair of pliers look just like nippers though and he'll stay busy bringing you back the cutest little bundles of nutritious weeds for his cows that you've ever seen.  Man, that dude melts my heart.


Drying:

can be done multiple ways... it obviously isn't raining or you wouldn't be this desperate so pile them in airy piles in your driveway.. or barn, garage, living room floor..... you know your limits.

Our barn was empty so that is where we started. We cut for an hour every morning.  then stack the dry and lay out the fresh.  with no humidity, it dries completely in 2-3 days don't pack it tight until then because you don't want it to mold.  If it rains or gets a heavy fog a willow will plump back up so you want them cut.dried and stored away on a dry day or you will spend your life bouncing back and forth....fortunately willow is the only one that gives me fits like that.

later when we finally scrounged up a few bales of hay I had to dry them tighter.

notice the variety in this bundle and the plastic underneath.. sometimes oak and hickory will shuck their leaves while drying.  especially if you bounce them around too much when checking moisture. It doesn't happen very often but trust me, no one wants to work like this to have their leaves sitting in the dirt.  a piece of plastic is just extra insurance and you can dump the loose ones in a gunny sack.

As they dry you can compact them into a tight corner and that leaves room for more.  Here are dried bundles in a feed bunk waiting for winter. See how green they are even though totally dry.

also, notice the stinking Japanese beetle chew marks... lack of water didn't slow them a bit.

and then, notice the psycho photo bomber... it's okay, her antics make the work a little lighter. and now I have this picture preserved right here for me to show her man someday... appreciate it, sis!


and then there is my last tip of the night... don't cut your fodder in the same pasture as your cows... they will make you feel so guilty that they end up with half your fodder fresh and you know come January you are going to regret it.

Feeding:

when feeding be prepared for twigs to be left behind, this isn't a perfect system.  The best way to feed is to think about the way you eat. When you fill your plate you take a little bit of everything, veggies, carbs, meat and so forth and that's how you stay healthy.  Now you are filling a plate for your cows and you need to mix the high protein foods with the fibers.  I find it is easier to mix the bundles fresh and let them dry together.  Cows are not overly fond of ragweed (kinda like I'm not overly fond of kale but it is good for me) so having it dried into the bundle helps it all stick together and it gets munched down before the cows realize it was in there... I raised six kids... I know how this works.  Stack a variety of foods together and then lay them flat or hang them and you will be surprised how they shrink up into a nice tight bundle that is easy to handle and feed. When dealing with the weeds that I have listed above please remember that they are very high in protein and you do not need to use very much of them per bundle.. an example of mine would be

3 oak branches
3 Hickory branches
a full ragweed shoved in the middle or 3-5 leaves from a sunchoke
a piece of grape vine or raspberry
maybe an apple branch or mulberry
3 willow branches- willow branches hold together really well so I would use on bottom and top. like a sandwich.

 You will find that some things are just not ready for harvest all at the same time and you'll have to mix them as you feed.  Most of the garden waste is that way.


That's really all there is to it, except I left out the part about the sweat and the whining but you will figure that out all on your own.  The first year I made tree fodder was the drought of 12... I had five cows and a dozen goats, it was easy.  Since that time we have sold the goats and the Lord has blessed our cattle herd.... there are quite a few more mouths to feed.  It feels a little overwhelming, kind of like trying to store water in my pocket.... which is ironic because if I had any water, my pocket is not where I would be putting it. Yet, every bundle is one more day that one more cow stays on our place and the Lord promises to work all things for our good so I'm going to hold Him to it.



~Shell 
Proverbs 31:21

Sumac Summer...

Well, it almost wasn't a Sumac summer this year... like every other sentence that has come out of my mouth.... it is just too dry.  Our Sumac flowers never opened.  Just dried up and turned to powder on the stem. Poor bees....poor us.....  BUT while we were out checking bees in an off farm yard....Preston, his momma and I found some.

If you have never tried Sumac berries you are in for a treat! I guess I should say if you like all things lemon... lemon heads, lemon aide, za'atar.... then you are in for a treat.

Pick the whole cluster, they are best when they look like they have been rolled in sugar but even if they don't just pick them.

 Now you are faced with two choices..1) pop them in your mouth immediately and enjoy the refreshing taste of summer or 2) carry them home to be dried.

Preston chose to eat his immediately, he has done this before, my friend, and knows what it's all about.

be like Preston.
you can thank us later.

I will add a disclaimer here, about feeding sumac to littles... last year he was barely over a year old when I gave him a cluster like that. He and I wallerd in the wonderful flavor and got it all over us.. we were sour and sticky and..... and then... he rubbed his eyes... and it burned.  I'm not sure who was crying harder by the time we made it back to the house to wash it off  ~ Memaw or the dude but it was not a pretty sight.  have a washrag ready.

P.S.Yes, his hair is wet.  We got caught in one of the two rainstorms that we have had this summer and it was so gloriously beautiful we kept right on working in it.


back to sumac...

If your sumac made it home it now has lots of wonderful uses

You can make Sumac-aide.  just inspect those clusters for critters and plop it in a glass of ice cold water for a bit.

the stem is kind of piney tasting so if you don't want that use a fork and scrape the berries off.

OR

you can share them with your little brother...

and be rewarded with big smiles and sour shudders

Or you can dry them...

If this is your first time with Sumac you can get away with tossing them on a cookie sheet and letting them sit on the counter until the next morning... If not and your family knows what's up then just head straight for the dehydrator because if you leave them sitting on the counter they will eat them all.... the voice of experience here, ladies.

once they are good and dry you will  use a fork to rake them off the stems and toss them into the blender

It's not really the entire berry that you will use for cooking but the outer shell. the blender will bust them apart and inside your blender, you will have red powder and seeds... lots and lots of seeds.

Dump that into a flour sifter or on top of a fine screen and shake it around until the red powder is on a plate below and the seeds are dry on the screen.  Chickens love the seeds or you can plant them to grow more bushes.

This powder can now be used to season your food.  I like to mix it with smartweed and make a wild version of lemon pepper chicken or rabbit.  It can also be used in Za'atar.  Za'atar can be used to season any kind of meat and eggs. I sprinkle it in soups and on popcorn.

2 Tbs dried thyme or oregano (or one of each)
2 Tbs ground cumin
2 Tbs ground coriander
2 Tbs sumac powder
2Tbs ground sesame seeds

*just a quick tip. herbs and spices are best stored whole and then ground in a coffee grinder when ready to use.

mix it together and store in an airtight container. The sumac powder is the dark red at the top... I somehow didn't get a picture of it alone. I know... you're surprised.

I got to eat this for lunch just because I needed a blog picture.... I need to blog more often.

Just not today, I gotta run and put up more tree hay, this drought has me scrounging like a beggar trying to keep my cows.  I will, however, be posting about tree hay here in a few days so make sure you stop back by if you have livestock.. or even if you don't because I miss ya when you're gone.

Have a great day!

Eggs

Spring is a time of abundance, it is also time to make your plans for providing during the dearth of Winter.  Today we are talking eggs.

When you live with Grace eggs are supplied in abundance but it does not happen without planning.  Such as, early in the year (Jan/Feb), much to her joy, we add six to twelve pullets to our flock.  These birds will begin to lay in late summer and will skip the winter molt and lay right through providing us with fresh eggs for eating.  Now don't let that number fool you the girl will hatch out a million more throughout the summer but they will not begin laying until the following Spring and they provide the backdrop for the rest of this post.

The older birds will take a break and their laying will be spotty from the end of November until the end of January and the younger hens will not lay until the following Spring.  If 6 -12 eggs provides breakfast, what can we use for baking?  Well, we put up the Spring abundance of eggs.  After the family and the Hogs are fed we freeze the rest.  If you don't have chickens your abundance will be Easter, watch the sales adds and grab as many as you can afford.

You need to gather a few ice cube trays and your eggs.  The first time you do this you will need to determine how many ice cubes equal one egg... I find that in most trays it takes two cubes per egg and those that are not exact are close enough that it doesn't make a difference but check so you don't have a disaster.

Break your eggs into a large bowl or picture.

lightly whisk them and add either a sprinkle of sugar or salt... you do not have to add the sprinkle but it helps to hold down the frothing.  I usually just give a shake or two from my salt shaker and call it good.

Then pour the whisked eggs into your ice cube trays. As you can see I was very scientific in choosing my ice cube trays... they all match and give me precise measurements.... sorry for the sarcasm I just want to point out that we try to make life much too complicated by making it "right" when close enough really works and is less stress.

And then slide them in the freezer.  The next morning pop them out and put them in a storage container.  If they are sticking in the tray run the back side under hot water for a short second.

For use just pull the desired amount out and defrost in the fridge.. or on the counter if you're like me and usually remember an hour before you need them. 

That's it, Ladies, don't forget to save all those wonderful shells for your garden and Happy Baking.

Now, get back to your family. <3

Rendering Lard

Well, it's happened.... Spring!  I knew I would be in trouble when it hit because there is so much to do that there is no time to write.  We had a couple of rainy days so I was able to get our lard put up and I actually remembered to take pictures.


Throughout my married life, those in the "know" have proven one thing to me and that is ~ they don't know. 

"fats are good for you"

"fats are bad for you"

"Olive oil is good, vegetable oil is bad"

"Coconut oil is good, olive oil is bad"

"Wheat is good"

"wheat is bad"

"eggs are good"

"eggs are bad"

"butter is good for you, margarine is bad"

"margarine is good for you and butter is bad"


It's exhausting.  exhausting.  How about running our families according to the bible?  How about all things in moderation?

That being said.  what of these "all things" can I produce on my own?

For my family, it is butter and lard.  Both of these I have complete control over and to me that makes them as healthy as a fat can get.

The only fat I purchase is coconut oil.  I can get it from Country Life Natural Foods in 50 lb buckets and it stores well.  But the majority of our fat comes straight from our land.

I wanted to post about butter right after the yogurt but it just hasn't worked out well for me... My blog tends to be about real life and real life just isn't perfect.... like I forget to take pictures all. the. time.
Soo.. you get lard today but! keep this little butter churn on your radar and for less than $40 you have a way to make butter and we will get back to it, I promise.

I am blessed in that we breed pigs so I can control my fat source from conception.  It hasn't always been that way and even if you do not have a way to raise your own pigs, you can visit a custom butcher and ask him to save you the fat from healthy farm raised pigs.  Most people don't keep their lard and often he will just give it to you for free or for pennies.

The only tools you need for rendering lard are a ladle, a slotted spoon, a crock pot, and a sharp knife.

A quick tip, Walmart puts crockpots on their black Friday ad every year for around $10 without fail. You don't even have to fight the crowds to get it.  Walmart.com and it shows up at your door two days later. I own three because when I do things I tend to do them in mass quantities.  It's an illness, really.


Your fat will come in long strips.  Just chunk it up with a sharp knife.

and toss it in your crockpot.  a word of warning... lard does not smell like frying bacon.  If you can put the crockpot outside on a nice day or in your garage great, if not ... oh, well... just ignore the comments from the rest of the family.  turn your crockpot on low if you don't have time to babysit it and high if you will be around all day.

The fat will start to melt and the impurities will sink to the bottom.  You can begin skimming any time you wish.  After skimming you can add more fat to the pot if you have it and allow it to heat back up.  I ladle mine off into cake pans but you may have canning jars or something else you wish to use.

The lard is hot and not something you want little children around.  Lard is shelf stable and how you chose to store it is completely up to you.  I cool mine in the pans and then cut it into three cup sections and store in my freezer because I can't spare canning jars or shelf space.  If there are any impurities left in your lard it will sink to the bottom and can be cut off before freezing, if it's in a jar the last little bit in the jar will be gritty. still good for frying with but not so much for making cookies.

The lard turns pure white when set.

And finally, the cracklins.  It is the leftover meat and stuff from rendering.  You can salt them and they taste like pork rinds, only, the texture is all wrong and we don't much care for them... They can also be fed back to your pigs (oh! the horror, Shelly!) chickens or dogs.  At the very least toss them in your compost, don't waste it.

And that is it, ladies.  For a few hours of work, you can have your fat supply for a year with minimal outsourcing and cost.  Plus, we are making soap here shortly and lard soap is one of the recipes I will be sharing.

Now, to get back outside it's almost time to plant the pumpkin field.... and pumpkins are excellent pig food for next years lard.

Dear Young Mother...

I have been invited to a baby blessing for my grandson... Basically, it is a group of ladies that gather around the baby and pray for him at different stages of his life.  The church we are attending has had them for decades but I am new to the whole business.  Personally, I am not so sure of how I feel about it either.  I am all for praying for children and pray for my children and grandchildren daily but I'm not so sure about this once for all approach.  At any rate, I was asked to give a short devotion and these are my thoughts...

Dear Sarah,

One of my favorite quotes from Tozer reads "Our prayers will become effective when we stop using them as a substitution for obedience."

Prayer is good.  Prayer is vital.  Prayer is not the totality of our work as a Christian. All the prayers we offer up here today will be of none effect if we ignore the plain precepts that our Lord lays down in scripture.  You, sweet momma, and your man are the feet of the Lord's plan.  You are His mouthpiece, His arms, His enforcer.


let's read from Deut 6 verse 2

That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; that thy days may be prolonged.

As I watch you raise and love my son's sons.  I seek to encourage you that the time is short.  As a woman of God, you do not have the luxury of living for today... none of us do.  Living for today is a lie that Satan feeds our world to lull us to sleep.  It is imperative that we catch God's vision and to see down the telescope of time so that we not only raise godly children but  that we also raise godly children that will raise godly children.  What a waste if our work dies in the next generation.

Let's skip down to Deut 6: 4- 9

Hear O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord:  And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently to thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way and when thou liest down and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.  And thou shalt write them upon the post of thy house and on thy gates.

Our Lord then repeats this entire message again in Chapter 11...

The Bible gives a very clear picture of raising a child for God and the picture it paints is that of a child underfoot...so beautiful and so contrary to what society teaches us about child rearing.  Satan hopes to cause us to run from our children. Let the pastor, youth leader, coach, school teacher or group peers be responsible for the training of your child.  And yet, God, lovingly in his word encourages us to run towards our families.  To work beside them, to dive headlong into their messy, chaotic, vibrant world and to teach them that they are a valued and important part within their family and within the family of God. 

By keeping them underfoot we are constantly available to point them to Christ, to remind them that they live in the presence of a holy God,  we serve as the frontlets between their eyes. 

I am reminded of a story that Christ told in Luke 11.  A man ended up with an unexpected visitor late at night and had no bread to give him so he ran to his neighbor and beat on the door asking for bread.  The neighbor answered, "trouble me not the door is shut and my children are with me in bed.."  If that isn't a picture of a child underfoot then I don't know what is.... and if you have ever had one of those little buggers turn sideways and take up all the room turning your spine into a pretzel then you know what I am talking about. When thou risest up and when thou liest down....cherish every moment and use it... even pretzel time... to teach Christ.

It is not enough to keep our children from evil.. to simply remove "bad" from their lives.  Further down in this same chapter we find a man that was healed from an evil spirit and he wandered around finding no rest for his soul.  His rooms were clean and swept but he had nothing wholesome to fill them with and so he went out and took to himself seven more spirits that were worse than the first.

A mother's duty is to fill her children's days by speaking words of light. Fill their lives with the presence of a Holy God.  Remind them that they are ambassadors for Christ and that they must serve Him with love, honor, and respect.  She must infuse every part of their being with Him.  Be watchful of their souls, sweep out the evil and replace it with good.  Examining their hearts and allowing them to see hers. 

We must walk with our children underfoot and constantly be leading them back to the feet of Christ because before you know it their feet will bring them to a path beside ours instead of under ours and that footing must be secure.

Stand By Your Man....

Not too long ago I bought a milk cow from a young dairy farmer. He was selling out and moving.  His farm was beautiful rolling hills dotted with Holsteins.  I had my choice of probably a hundred cows.  As we walked, I imagined his kids flying kites, catching frogs and coming home dirty and tired every night right before dark.  A hundred cows take a while to walk through so it wasn't a quick trip.

His wife joined us while we were walking and as we talked the conversation led to why they were quitting...


He shook his head and looked off into the distance.. "I need to drive truck for a while, to pay a few bills, and she just doesn't want to help me anymore."

She stood there, arms folded tight against her chest, staring at the same unknown spot on the horizon..  she didn't deny it but simply said.  "This was his dream, not mine.  I'm going back to my career."


There was a deep, hurting sigh from the farmer and I stood there feeling like an intruder as I watched an unspoken conversation take place between the two.  After what felt like an eternity of silence I asked about her career choice.


"I have the chance to become a manager at McDonald's and I am going for it."

Ladies, this is going to show you what a horrible excuse for a Christian I am... because I simultaneously wanted to give her a big motherly hug and ....I also wanted to slap her upside her head....hard.... the battle was real.  I did neither. Go Shell!


Then it was my turn to let out a big sigh... I couldn't help it.  This man sitting in his field with his hopes and dreams laying in a crumpled heap all around his feet.  And her.  We can give her some excuses.  It's just the age she's been raised in, her lack of biblical knowledge.. her will.  Maybe he is just a big, fat jerk.  Maybe she doesn't like cows. Not one of those excuses lessens the pain she is causing her family.  Not one of them validates her behaviour.

We stand around and lament that men aren't men anymore... good heavens, ladies, let's give them some real women and see what happens.

 In an instant I watched those same tired, dirty kids move from sitting in the cow bunks to sitting on the couch at some daycare, playing video games and popping pills for their ADHD  while she handed greasy fries and overpriced burgers to strangers who didn't even bother to look up from their phones to say thank you.

Would my opinion have changed if she would have said Lawyer? Doctor? ... No.

and I know there are some men who ask their wives to work outside their homes.  I'm not talking about working at home or away.... I'm talking about vision.

Purpose.

My man.

Your man.

Her man.

they were created for greatness.  It. Is. In. Them.  It's in you.  And while each person can achieve a certain level of greatness on their own.  When a man and a woman enter into a covenant relationship together, they become one flesh.  One team.  Every good team has a team leader and teams only win when they work together towards the same goal.

Don't punish your family.

To be drawn and quartered was a punishment ordained in England for treason. They would take the condemned person, tie him to horses and send those horses running in different directions thus ripping his body mercilessly apart. It is considered the epitome of cruel punishment.  Ladies, we draw and quarter our families when we pull against our man.


Let's contrast that with the words of our Lord in Ecclesiastes,

The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh.
Better is an handful with quietness. than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit.
Then I returned, and saw vanity under the sun.
There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither saith he, For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good?  This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail.
Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.
For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.  Again if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?  And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.  Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king.


Stand with your man.  It is better to live a quiet and poor life at your man's side than it is to have the best career in the world,  live like a king and leave your children to their own devices.  Money is temporary and replaceable.  If you took all the money you have and burned it today, tomorrow you could earn more. For all that matters, you can steal more (please don't) or find more... money is always available. always somewhere. That man that lays beside you each night and those children across the hall?  They are irreplaceable.  They are God's gift to you and your gift to the world.

Do you ever wonder why in Proverbs 31 when the Lord is extolling all the character qualities of a virtuous woman one of them is  "Her husband is known in the gates"?  Because she put him there.  She freed him to be a leader by lifting instead of dragging,  by praying instead of nagging, she stood on her own two feet and became a woman of strength by becoming the woman of her man's dreams.  He owed her everything, and he knew it.... and a few verses down we find he praised her for it and so did her children.

Did the Lord give you a business mind? Skills?  Talents? Why would you ever waste them building a stranger's empire?  Get behind your man... square your shoulders, my dear, and boost. See his vision and give it all you've got.  Oh, it'll be hard work,  I know.   Some of it isn't going to be any fun.

We will be exhausted and some days reduced to tears.  But let's give that man of ours a wink even through the tears. Give our children the ultimate picture of a strong woman by filling their lives with peaceful joy.  That trail that our fella is trying to lead us down? Let's jump on it with both feet, girlfriend, and let's keep trusting in God because he has great things planned for us.

Crown Up.

~Proverbs 12:4   

Grafting...

We have been praying for the Lord to give us an additional piece of property for several years now, so far He has been asking us to wait. 

I hate waiting but wait it is. 

I decided that while I wait I can prepare though.  The piece has a spot on it that will be perfect for another orchard the only problem is is that when He finally gives us the green light we will be so broke paying for it that I won't have the funds to buy the new trees.  I don't want to buy the trees now because I have no place to store them until we get it... it's a mess, really.  So I decided to use the fruit trees that we already have and love.  I will graft branches from them to rootstock in preparation for the property.  They will be small so thus easier to stash until the Lord sees fit to bless us.

Grafting is a lot easier than it sounds.  first, you need rootstock.  you can find them online for a fair price and buying them ensures that you can control the height of your tree. Or you can buy seeds to grow grafting stock here.

The cheapest way is to just plant seeds from the fruit you are eating.  The girls and I are constantly throwing fruit seeds and pits in random pots of dirt and forgetting about them until they are big enough to graft... or in some cases bear fruit. don't laugh, someday you may be eating a Holverson apple and lovin' it.   The only drawback to this is most of them are standard roots so they will be tall. It doesn't bother me, I figure I can either trim trees or my husband's wallet and I would rather trim trees, the trimmings make good grafting starts.  Yes, it's a never-ending cycle.

Today, I am grafting apple. I grab my rootstock.

A dormant plant is ideal but today, this is what I had. Life is full of compromises, girls

full.  of.  them.


I  also grab a fresh limb from the tree I wish to duplicate... at least one of them is dormant.  You want the branches to be as evenly matched in size as possible... if one has to be bigger make sure the root side is the bigger diameter. A small root cannot support a large tree.

I then cut the root and the limb at an angle to expose as much cambium as I can.  Cambium is the green layer under the bark and before the wood.  That is the part that grows so you want to line up both layers of cambium touching as much as possible.

yes, I have pulled my rootstock out of the pot.  This is a much more graceful process when you don't have to photograph the entire thing with your cell phone, I promise.  

It helps to cut a second groove into the backside of the branches this will allow you to slip them together like tongue and groove. Giving added support.  I had to recut this branch after I pulled it apart to show you the slice.  It should not be this dramatic just a thin strip to wedge together.

Gently slide the two pieces together until they are well matched. 

When the cambium matches up as best as possible wrap it tightly with a rubber band (it will weather and crack off).   On the last wrap tuck the tip under the loop and it will hold itself.

Next you will want to heat some bees wax.  If you don't have bees you can get some here for a good price.   I use a dessert dish in a pot of boiling water like a double boiler.

once it is melted I can lift it out and pour it over the rubber band to seal it, unless I am grafting a branch onto a mature tree and then I use a paint brush to brush it on.

make sure both sides are coated.  This will all crack off and weather over the next year.  Don't pick at it for at least twelve months and then if it is growing well and you feel that you need to you can help it a little but it is really not necessary.

Then replant it being careful to keep the graft above the dirt line.

It is important to graft several trees even if you only want one.... any time you are dealing with living things you should expect a certain amount of failure. Having to find another spot to put a tree is much easier to swallow than not being able to dig a hole for any.

And that is just another easy way to fill your paradise with safe, wonderful, food.  Have a great weekend!