Vanilla Extract

I love cooking with real food.. and real food is expensive if we are talking money.
Real food is fun if we are talking saving our money and providing for our own.


Today, I am making a new batch of vanilla.  I made the old batch eight years ago and I have just been adding to it as the years come and go.  This year the beans are finally getting weak enough to justify buying some new ones.  And by justify I mean justify.. they have gotten so expensive.  The tall slender beans that you see in my old bottle, I paid ten bucks for.  This time,  I paid an arm and a leg for these little ugly beans.  However,  when you average it out over the next eight years, the savings is there.



What you need:

1)  a bottle of vodka

If you use ibotta they are offering some really good kickbacks on vodka from Walmart right now.  If you don't use ibotta, it is free to sign up here, They are awesome at supplying rebates on everyday purchases.

2)   vanilla beans



That's it.  oh, and about five minutes of your time.




I like to use bottles with the flip top lid, they last longer than the metal screw on.

Any bottle will work though, even a decorative one from the dollar store.

 unwrap your vanilla beans.

use a sharp knife to slice them open.

Drop them in.  set it on your counter and every so often give it a good shake. Or don't... vanilla isn't picky about the amount of attention it receives. In about 6 weeks you will have oodles and gobs of vanilla extract. As you deplete it add more vodka to the beans.

Simple and basic.  Easier than getting that stupid sticker off my new bottle anyway.  Now, what other plans do you have for the rest of your day?

*I have been asked if you need to let the vanilla sit for an additional six weeks when you add vodka.  If you add to it regularly and in small amounts the answer is no.  I knew my beans were wearing out so I have not replenished this bottle in a long time.  If I were to add to it at this stage, yes, I would let it sit at least a couple of weeks.

Have a great day, Ladies!

Sowing in Winter...

Sowing in the sunshine, sowing in the shadows

Fearing neither cloud nor winter's chilling breeze;

by and by the harvest and the labor ended,

we shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.

She does not fear the snow...hate it maybe, yes, but no fear.  In fact, winter is an excellent time to get caught up on all that went lacking during the summer.  Seeding being one of them.

The frost/thaw action of winter is the perfect time to plant tree and perennial seeds.  It softens those hard exteriors and allows for better germination.  On our farm, we are creating silvo pastures. Multi-storied, tree-lined, alleyways for the cattle to graze in.  We don't plant just any trees, they must meet at least two, preferably three farm needs.  We look for trees, shrubs, and perennials that provide nectar for our bees, nitrogen for our soil and a food source for one or more of the animals living on our place (including us).

Trees are expensive and creating tree-lined alleyways takes a lot of trees so I have had to get creative with my accumulation.   Seeds, cuttings, grafts, layering are all ways that I have acquired treelings.  I am also very familiar with my conservations website that offers native seedlings in bulk for great prices.  If you don't have a lot of space but would like to order native seedlings from your conservation office a quick ad on craigslist will provide you with more than enough people willing to share your order.

For winter sowing you just need to acquire containers that will act as little mini green houses... milk jugs, juice jugs, deli containers, ice cream containers.... if you don't use many of these things ask around there is always someone willing to save containers.

I have dropped some pretty heavy hints on wanting a cold frame like this one for a couple of years now. It would eliminate the need to scrounge containers from other people and stop my back porch from deserving all the "Clampett comments" it receives..  If you don't like it then you know how to fix it. 

This year, my winter sowing includes a tree I am so excited about, bitter orange,  Every year I buy a box of organic oranges and the price was painful to pay, $22 for a half bushel. While I have several indoor citrus trees they don't provide enough for my crew especially when I make my Vitamin C powder.  I need peels and a lot of them. This year the price jumped to $29 because there is a shortage and it finally spurred me to start looking for another source. 

I am that source.  

Some experts say bitter orange is hardy to zone 5 others that it is only hardy to zone 9-10.  I live in zone 6 and I have seen them here so I'm carefully picking a sheltered spot for my new adventure.  The tree it's self is ugly and thorny, the fruit is super sour like a lemon.  The rind is good in marmalade. I bought my seeds off of Amazon. 

winter sowing is easy because this is just temporary housing for them so spacing isn't an issue just toss the seeds in the dirt, lightly cover and mist a bit. Put your cover on and place outside in the dead of winter.  The constant freeze/thaw will push the seeds down into the dirt and bring them up close to the surface.  it will crack the hard exterior and also insure that only the strongest survive.... look at my lil citrus babies getting ready to provide me with organic vitamin C for my crew.

Watch them as the weather begins to warm and soon you will see tiny starts, once they are a couple of inches high you need to separate them out into individual containers....

Winter Sowing is a great time to seed perennials as well.  Remember the Echinacea root you needed for  the elderberry elixir?  Get those seeds in the dirt. but only use the leaves and flowers the first two years.  I add a new group of flowers to my patch every year. harvesting the old and growing the new.

I also put in some milk weed for the girls as well as Sage.  Healthy, hardy seedlings for a fraction of the price.

What could your kingdom use?  Here is a few ideas from our list this year...


Jujube Dates

Echinacea

Sage

Feverfew

Roman Chamomile

Catalpa ~ around my pond for fish food

Chaste tree

American Cranberry

Autumn Olive

Siberian Pea Shrub

I could go on and on..but you've got this.  Just look around, find the need and get it filled.  Seeds are very inexpensive compared to trees and plants, Winter sowing allows the jump start that they need to be large and healthy by the following fall plus eliminates the need for hardening off because they have been outside the entire time.  This also works for tender garden annuals like tomatoes and cukes but wait until the end of Feb and cover if you are expecting a hard frost after they have sprouted.

Please make this a family affair.  Littles love sticking seeds in the dirt and growing things creates ownership.   This way when summer is taking you out at the knees you can ask little Joey to water "His" trees and know he will water and weed them with care because he understands the time that has been invested in them.

Now, girls, let's get our hands dirty.

Vitamin C powder *Extra credit

Vitamins can be a tricky thing. The problem is you don't really know what is in the pills you are popping and while I am not a conspiracy theorist, I do know that vitamin companies are not making pills because they love your family.  They are making vitamins to provide money for their own and they are going to source the cheapest resources available.  I hate to cut them out of a sale but when it comes to nutrition we can provide our own.

Vitamin C is essential to our health and it is found in so many sources.  There are a few that it tends to be concentrated in.  Rose hips, Highbush Cranberries, Seaberries, and citrus peels.

Throughout the year, I think we will cover all of these but today we will make Vitamin C powder from citrus peels.

First, we need to get our hands on organic citrus.  Oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit or a combination of them would be great.  I believe if you have to buy food it is best to make it organic.  I am also a realist and have raised six children... you can't always afford organic. Here, however, organic is necessary because we are dealing with the peels and the peels receive the majority of the spray in a conventional orchard.

As your family eats the fruit save back the peels and toss them in that handy solar dehydrator (that you have an envelope started for, right?)  Until you get it you can place them on cookie racks but it's going to take up a lot of counter space.

Check the peels daily and when they are good and hard drop them in your blender a few at a time.

grind until it is a fine powder.  Store in the freezer.

1 tsp provides your daily need for vitamin C.  Sprinkle it over your coffee in the morning. add it to your cereal or smoothie.  Soups, stews, be creative.  You can even pack it into glycerin soft gels if you feel you are missing something by not popping a pill.

this batch is waiting to be added to my elderberry elixir.


Wow,  we just made health food out of trash.... how did we ever let corporations convince us that we needed them?

Elderberry Elixir

Winter and I have never really appreciated each other.  I'm solar powered and without the sun I run dim.  Without heat, my body tries to hibernate.  I feel bad for our livestock, I feel bad for me.  The cold, the ice, the lack of green growing things just makes me cranky.   It's pathetic really, but true.

You know what else winter brings?  Colds and Flu.  I'm telling ya, nothing good comes out of winter.

I have been hesitant to write this post because I don't want a debate over vaccinations. We have kicked this dead horse enough.  Look, ladies, we have got to get out of each others space.   If you have time to start running someone else's life I promise that you are letting something very important fall apart in your own.  Tend your own backyard, sister, and let's give each other some grace.

If you decide that the flu shot is a safe precaution for your family I am happy for you.  In our home, it is not.  Not giving my family flu shots, however, does not mean that I pretend the flu doesn't exist.  Nor am I nervously wringing my hands, fearful that it is going to devour them right before my eyes.  Remember, the prudent wife?  She provides for the future.

In August the elderberries are ripe in Missouri, and in August I make my first batch of flu-fighting elixir.  I will make several more throughout the winter from dried berries but I always have the first batch in the fridge long before I need it because if you wait until you are sick to make it, you won't feel good enough to do it.

First, you need a source for elderberries.  They grow wild in a lot of states if you can beat the squirrels to them.  When we lived in Idaho I bought them here.   

Elderberry Elixir:

2 cups fresh or 1 cup dried elderberries

4 cups water

2 cups raw local honey

several pieces echinacea root  (if you don't grow your own you can find it here)

1 Tbsp organic orange powder  this is the extra credit post for this week

2 cinnamon sticks

few slices of raw ginger (optional)

few slices of organic lemon (optional)

put water, elderberries, echinacea root, orange powder, 

cinnamon sticks, ginger and lemon slices in a pot.

bring to a boil.

reduce heat and simmer until liquid is reduced by half.

strain through cheesecloth to remove bulk material. give the cheese cloth a good twist to get the last of the juice from the berries.  Careful it's hot.

Allow to cool to room temperature.

This step is important because raw honey*  provides many antibacterial properties and if you cook it, it will be of no use.

When cool add honey and transfer to a jar.  Store in fridge.

for preventative, my crew takes one tsp every day.

If they feel a tickle or have been exposed to someone ill they take a tsp every 2-3 hours.

And that is it. 

Easy.  

Prepared.

Now join me in front of the fire and let's pine for Spring......

*the USDA does not recommend feeding raw honey to children under the age of 1 or to people with compromised immune systems.  Again, you are the one qualified to make choices for your family.

Don't Waste Your Teaspoons..

Houses and riches are the inheritance of fathers: 

and a prudent wife is from the Lord.

Proverbs 19:14

Prudent: wise or judicious in practical affairs.

               discreet or circumspect.

               careful in providing for the future; provident.

When we first got married one of Shane's little grannies told me 

"don't be the kind of woman who throws her husband's earning out the back door with a shovel while he is working himself to death trying to put it in the front with a teaspoon."

That image has stuck with me. Man, has it stuck.

And there are days that life drags it out by the shovel full and there is nothing I can do about it.  But the things I can control.... those things, I had better be about the business of controlling.

I want to be a prudent wife.  I want the Lord to teach me to use my resources wisely.  So today as teaspoon-y as it will be we are going to talk about trash.

Think about what leaves your house as trash on a weekly basis.  Now think about the boundaries of your domain and think of where they can be used as resources...  In the near future we are going to be mapping that domain but for now, just picture it in your head.

~

My junk: cardboard boxes because I do most of my shopping online and also junk mail.  

My need:  the pumpkin field... It has poor soil and lots of rocks.

My solution: flatten the cardboard and chuck it in the field just before it rains. I don't toss it out any other time because we have dogs that drag it off but once it is good and wet it begins to break down into the dirt and they can't move it.

My solution for junk mail is a bit different.  I burn it then spread the ash in the pumpkin field.  I don't want my credit card offers accidentally getting into someone else's hands and ash is excellent for bugs and acidity in Missouri soil.

~

My junk: egg shells.

My need: my garden.

My solution is to place a cookie sheet on top of my fridge and train everyone to toss their shells up on it. When the shells are dry I either put them in the blender (this has proven time-consuming)

  

or 

double bag them and set the bag in a high traffic area of my house.    (Hey, I haven't lived through 25 years of broken items without knowing how to use it to my advantage..  just sayin')

The nicely crushed shells are spread on our fields during the winter and used in our garden around plants to ward of snails and add extra calcium during the summer.

~

My junk:  coffee grounds

My need:  again my soil.... I live in Missouri, this is going to be a never-ending theme.

My solution is to save the grounds and like the eggshells, they are put on the fields in winter and our garden in summer. BUT NOT the filters, those go in the compost bin for while they will break down and are excellent for the soil they do not break down quickly and I'm telling you from experience you will find yourself on the other side of winter looking like there is a bunch of used toilet paper strewn all over your field...not a pretty sight..

As a side note if I need to make a trip to the big city I am always on a lookout for the coffee shops and when I pass them I pull in and check their dumpsters.  I have brought home huge garbage bags full of coffee grounds in the past and my land is always thankful to have it.  Just be respectful and don't make a mess of their area.

~

My junk:  food scraps.

My need:  very little.  we have pigs and chicken that eat most of our scraps but there are a few things that I cannot feed them such as potato peelings, avocado pits, pineapple tops, hair either from shaving the dogs or the boys, stuff like that.  

My solution:  I took a lick tub, you can use a bucket, and knocked a few holes in the bottom. Then someone from my crew carelessly ran it over with the 4wheeler.  The last step added no benifit except to raise my blood pressure.

 I simply toss the trash in my beautiful lick tub and forget it. One year the boys had a few worms left over from bait and I tossed them in there too.  But honestly, it is completely neglected until I need it.

 Then I just scrape the unprocessed stuff to the side and scoop out as much as I need from the bottom to dress my tomatoes or add to a hole of a newly planted tree.

~

My junk:   scrap metal, broken parts from the tractor, trucks, cans... it is a joke around here to use a "mom" voice and say "is that recyclable?"

My need:  money

My solution:  designate a spot for recyclables, keep it as tight and organized as possible or my man will make "Clampett comments" Watch your metal prices then make a trip to town when it's high (or when the pile is making you crazy) and claim your money, honey.


*Note: there are no pictures of my Clampett pile.... a girl has got to have her pride,  ya know.



Well, there are a few ideas to get you started.  Get the children involved in looking for teaspoons and see what fun you can have. 

Extra Credit

The Food 4 Less in Springfield had bananas for $.25 a pound.  So last Friday when Shane had a few errands to run in town I hopped in the truck and went with him.  Yes, people stare when you are pushing a cart full of bananas through the store but you get use to it.

my knife was long enough that I could spoon four bananas together and slice them all at once.

They do not require any added sugar just lay the slices out and let them go.

I have an electric dryer that I use in the summer because Missouri is too humid most days for a solar one but in the winter I hang my solar dryer by the fireplace and make our heat pull double duty. This year the price of bananas was so good I'm running both dehydrators.



If you don't have a dehydrator, the easiest way to get one is to start an envelope for one.  Put all loose change and spare cash into it until you have enough to purchase it.  I buy most of my homemaking eguipment this way. A solar one like mine is under $14 and won't take long to get, electric ones take a little more.  Amazon offers several nice solar ones but you'll find my favorite one for indoors  here  These solar dryers are also excellent for drying homemade soap  (that project is coming up soon).

That's it!  Easy and effective and now I have dried bananas to add to my muesli.... at least until the crew finds their hiding spot.


What is on sale this week that you could stock up on?

Breakfast

I love making breakfast for my family... okay, the truth is I don't.  I love my cup of coffee, my bible and the sun coming up while I sit on the deck...... trust me, it is a rare thing for either option to happen.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and while our house has a good supply of bacon, eggs, waffles and yogurt some days just try to rip my feet out from underneath me before I can even get out of bed in the morning...... you too huh?

Well here are two guilt-free cold cereal options to have on hand for mornings when the crew just needs to feed themselves.

P.S. both are good on yogurt too!



Muesli:

mix together Oats,
dried fruit (bananas, apricots, pineapple, dates, raisins, whatever you have)
and nuts (sunflower seeds, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, again, whatever you have)
to make 8 cups of dry ingredients.

then in a separate bowl mix

1 cup honey
1 cup butter (melted)
4 TB brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon


pour over dry ingredients and stir well

spread in a roasting dish and bake at 350* for 30 minutes stirring every 10 until golden brown.

this will brown up quite a bit after removing from oven, do not overcook.






Grapenuts:


2 cups water
2 cups milk
1 cup honey
4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
7 cups wheat flour

mix all ingredients together to form a cake like batter.

divide between two lightly greased rimmed cookie sheets.

Bake 350* 35-40 minutes switching and checking half way through.

after baking and while still warm break cake into small pieces and grind in a blender.

I drop small amounts into the blender and use the ice chopping button. once ground I dump those and add more chunks to blender.

You can also wait until it is completely cool and run through a meat grinder but I find it to be too much to clean up.

after it is all crumbled up put back in the oven at 300*  stirring often until dry and crisp.
This one takes a lot longer than the Muesli to brown and dry out but it is so worth it.

Both recipes can be adapted to your needs.  We use honey because we keep bees. You may have maple syrup or molasses on hand neither are unpleasant.

It is a great idea to make both of these on the same day because you will only have to wash the roaster pan once.... and that is a win in my book any day.

Enjoy your kingdom today, Ladies!

1Tim 5:8

Fifty-Two

When Shane and I got married I had no idea how to be a wife or a mother... I was a latchkey kid from a broken home who was later taken into foster care..... firm foundation would not describe any part of my life.  I was determined, however, to give it my best and care for my own. Twenty-seven years later I have learned a thing or two.... mostly of what not to do.  I look at my daughter and they are years ahead of where I was at their age but I know that there are a lot more gals like I was....

I wanted to be a Proverbs woman, a crown, a glory to my husband, a blessing to my children but  mostly a woman who could rely on her God to give her wisdom.  There were no older women so I learned by falling on my face.... a lot...

I want to offer something different.   I am certainly not confessing that I fill the role as an older woman teaching the younger but here is my goal for 2018.

Fifty-two weeks.

Fifty-two skills.


one a week.

precept upon precept; line upon line; here a little, and there a little.


blessing our children, loving our man and providing for our own as God's word instructs us.

I'm scared to death to make such a commitment, providing for your own takes a lot of time and leaves little time for writing about it.... my blogging has already been spotty at best but I am stepping forward in faith.


join me, won't you?

Throw up the Flag

A while back I found this hive queenless.. they had several queen cells formed and I thought they had the situation under control.  When a hive is growing and breeding a new queen you need to give them space.  If you open the hive on a newly hatched queen you can cause a disruption in pheromones and cause a riot that would make Ferguson look like five year olds on a playground.


Several weeks later I decided to check and make sure the hive was queen right.  It wasn't. Why, it wasn't I don't know...perhaps she was eaten on her madien flight. perhaps she grew weary and couldn't make it back. Maybe she never even made it out of the hive. Maybe the rest of the hive followed her and none of them returned. There are a million "could be's"

Regaurdless, when I opened the hive instead of finding a thriving body I found this...wax moth. box after box.  frame after frame. covered in putrid filth.

While the bees were busy dealing with life, they had turned their back and the enemy crept in.

The hive was three boxes high and I began to disassemble it rather roughly.  In the bottom box, however, I found a cluster of bees maybe the size of a softball still trying to live in all that mess.

It broke my heart.

my bees do that a lot.

with tears in my eyes I started to move slower, quieter. I pulled the two frames they were gathered on and speaking softly to them I looked for a queen. No queen.  So I shook them gently into a neigboring hive to rest and recover and then get back to work.  Some of the bees flew into the air rather than dropping into the hive but I knew that with their hive gone and their sisters in the other hive they would soon join it.  I finished my disassembling.

Much to my surprise when I went back to the fourwheeler with my last armfull of stuff, hanging on the bottom of one of the boxes was a small cluster of the bees that had flown.  "Girls, this won't do.  you can't live here." and I scooped them up and dropped them on the porch of the other hive.  They threw up the white flag and went in.

Driving off,  I got to thinkin'.

So. much. like. me.

So. much. like. you.

us.

So. much. like. Him.

Do we understand that when our Saviour sees us living in our filth.  Struggling through this life caught in the webs of our sin.  Trying to do it on our own.  Giving our million and one excuses as to why we are where we are.

It breaks His heart.

I do that a lot.

But (I love the but) His compassion moves Him towards us.  Our repentance, our surrender,  He cannot refuse.   He lifts us.  He gives us new life.

We don't have to continue living in our filth.

We don't have to return to it.

He wants only good for us.  To give us life and to give it more abundantly.

"And He that sat upon the throne, said, behold I make all things new.
And he said unto me, write: for these words are true and faithful."
Revelation 21:5

How blessed we are that He is willing to wade through the filth to find us.

How blessed are we that He is true and faithful.

All we have to do is throw up the flag.

Tibbers

Over the last year, the word "hedgehog" has been one of the most used words in our home... second, I believe, only to the word "chicken".  And "chicken" wins only because at diverse times people other than Grace use it... such as. "hey memaw, what's for dinner?"  and I will reply "chicken."  It's close people, very very close.

Grace has never been big on academics, she's a natural kid.. arts and animals.  But her hedgehog obsession has done wonders for her desire to learn.  She had a jar to keep her money in and ran a strict budget, shopping on line and buying things as they came on sale.  She kept a ledger of all her funds.  She read articles and visited websites to study hedgehogs and then gave oral reports on her hedgehog findings to anybody willing to listen.

Did you know there are 17 species of hedgehog?  She only studied 9 because the rest were ugly.

Did you know a group of hedgehogs is called a prickle?

Did you know baby hedgehogs are born with a layer of skin holding down their quills and the mother then cleans it off allowing the spikes to be exposed?  Don't you think that momma hedgehog is thankful that the Lord thought of such things?

She made lists and graphs and charts of foods (good and bad), of colors and characteristics, of what she would accept and what she would not accept as far as looks and temperament.

An entire year of saving and planning.

So on Tuesday when she got home from the berry farm and added her wages to her jar you can imagine the excitement that ensued when she found out she finally had enough to buy her critter.

Wednesday morning, after chores, we cleaned up and headed for town.  Half way there my phone died (I always forget to charge that thing)  and we had no gps.  I was ready to turn back but she was determined we would make it.  

"We must look at this as an adventure." she tells me.

suicide... I'm thinking it's suicide.  I can't find my way out of my driveway on a good day.

But, crazy enough we found the pet store.

They had one hedgehog.

one.

who just happened to be the perfect color, the perfect age, and almost the perfect temperament...

She is standing in the middle of the store holding this little hissing, spitting, ball of spikes and turns to me with eyes so big  "do you want to hold him, memaw?"  I'm thinkin' ... I'd rather run my bare arms through a thicket of blackberry bramble thankyouverymuch...no, I'm good.

The last requirement was that he had to have a black nose because they were the cutest... she rolled that little ball around until she could see inside his cocoon and when I heard her muffled squeal, I knew he passed and we headed home.

The entire ride home was chatter..

"He's spikier than I thought he would be..."

"sis, he's a mini porcupine!"

"Not really, they are not related,  I told you this already. and I know, I just thought he would smooth down better. Maybe after he trusts me...."

"I think he is a four-toed hedgehog, I will have to post his picture and ask someone.. I hope he is."

"why don't you just count his toes?"

(blond moment pause)

"Oh. yeah.. (counting) HE IS! a four-toed hedgehog!"

*sigh*

So after a year of plotting and planning the Holverson family has a new addition. His name is Tibbers and surprisingly he has warmed up to Grace pretty quick...although, I'm not sure that he has a choice.

  

now, how am I going to keep her interested in math and reading???

  

Chasing...

It's Spring.  The farm is bursting with babies.  Calves, chicks, bunnies, ducklings and piglets.  I love this time of year.

so. much. life.

Our hives are also bursting at the seams... Sarah and I have been making splits as fast as we and our equipment will go.  But it hasn't been fast enough. We breed Russians.  Russians are known for their fast build up and swarming tendencies.  It's why I love them, they are prolific, it's also why I hate them, we are always pulling them out of trees.


The past few days the swarms have landed in the tops of our oaks...  fifty feet in the air.  I resigned myself to letting them go after we cut one tree down and it failed to result in a capture. With sixty hives on the ground, it wasn't life and death that I retrieve them but still, they were mine and I felt bad that they were hanging in a tree exposed to the birds and wind and rain.

Then my wonderful hubby, feeling bad for me, rented a 55ft boom lift.  His reasoning was it was cheaper than if we were to buy two packages and the bees above us were better than packages because they were my genetics, Missouri genetics,  that I had been working on for the past five years.

This old lady did NOT get in the boom lift.  I am too well grounded for that but Sarah and Andrew went in my place and the photo credits all belong to them.

The bee yard they absconded from.

It is a pretty view up there.

See, I did help. I got them set up. lol

let's catch some renegades.. but first, let's take a selfie.

If you look real close you can see Preston and Daddy 

in front of the gas tank watching.

The first batch of girls was pretty easy, just a bump with the bucket.

Speaking of buckets, Grace and I made sure these two 

didn't get away while the kids were up the tree.

The second batch had been hanging there for about three days when

they decided to move into this little guys house.  

Needless to say, he was less than impressed and 

I think a little thankful to see the bees captured.

there was a hole in the tree that Andy enlarged with a chainsaw.

They then used a modified shop vac to suck the girls out.

It is guaranteed when you live on a farm.  At some point in your life, you will be chasing animals... Maybe it's the bull running through a fence or chickens that get out of their pen. or pigs... don't even get me started on chasing pigs.  And even a little more frustrating bees hanging just out of reach... Sometimes it is bothersome and other times it is downright exhausting.

One thing that is constant, however, is the chase always reminds me of our Saviour's love...  To know the pull on your heartstrings from a wayward critter.  To give up your time, your resources, your energy to bring them back safely into the fold.  To care for them enough to pursue them.  A small picture of a Redeemer's mighty grace.

Have you thought lately, of what Christ gave up for you?  To leave glory and all the comfort it provided to chase and pursue you.  The love He must have felt to go to the cross just so He could bring you safely home... Amazing love. How unworthy we are of it... maybe even more unworthy than a wad of balled up bees...

So I praise Him for redemption.  

I praise Him that when I run He doesn't rest until I am safely back in the fold.  

I praise Him for making a safe passage for me.

Maybe today, you could take a moment to praise Him for not giving up on you until you were saved. And if you are not saved maybe today you could give up the chase and become fully His.

"For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16

He gave all he had for you.

"I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture."  John 10:9

May you surrender to Him and finally find rest in His pastures.

Come Bless the Lord.....

Recently, I was attending a bible study and the conversation turned to having a close and open relationship with our children....I was making a statement that a we had to put our embarrassment aside and have deep conversations with our children to guard them from outside influences.  A friend turned to me and said "yes, but you grew up in a broken home therefore being a close family is important to you where some of us who didn't just take it for granted."

I hate yes buts.. either what is being said is truthful and to be agreed upon or it's not... no but.

I grew up in an extremely dysfunctional home.  My friend doesn't have a clue.... The depths of depravity that my Saviour pulled me out of  would take several blog posts to write and most gaurdian filters would block the posts after they were written.  And the worst part is I was on a crash course to repeat some of those vile mistakes with my own children.

Until.

One day my Saviour asked me to follow Him.  and I did.

He asked me to read and live His word. So I did.

Not perfectly, I assure you, but there were

No "yes, buts".

No "I crave unity" so I will create it.

No  "I learned what not to do" and did something different.

No "by my own might"

Nothing.


If there is anything good in my family ALL   and.  I.  mean.  ALL.  the credit and glory goes to God.

to imply anything else is invective.

Our Saviour walked us through the book of Deuteronomy.  He led us into Joshua and said "This book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein, for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success."  Through Proverbs, Psalms, and in all sixty-six books of the bible He taught us to worship Him and let everything else lay where it falls.
Matthew 6:33


Line by line, verse by verse we fell in love with our Lord, together.

and that made made us fall in love with each other.

Do we have our days where everything is far from lollipops and rainbows?

you bet.

And THOSE... Those are the days we can take credit for.  That is human in action. Those our the days we are walking by "our might".


But our blessed days, our one accord days.  Those are God's... and there is no rock that is going to take my place.

~Luke 19:40

The Blessing of Work...

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

That is, work was part of the unfallen life in Paradise.

It was never meant that men should have nothing to do. Idleness was not part of the Edenic happiness...

Some people have the impression that work is part of the curse which brought sin into the world but this is a mistaken impression, which a careful reading of the story of Eden and the fall will quickly remove.

Therefore, work its self is not a curse but a blessing.  All of life testifies to this.  Everywhere we find work to be one of the conditions of good and happiness. God himself is active 'My father works hitherto and I work'  God is never idle. The Decalogue enjoins work as a divine ordinance. Six days shalt thou labor....

~J.R. Miller 

Praise God for the ability to work. For limbs that take dominion.

Idleness is the enemy of the soul.

May we fill our children with skills that establish order, that they may use their God-given governance over the creative world and take their God commanded dominance over the earth.  May we create bonds through the experiences of working and providing together. May we find ways to establish our family empires and build upon our family economy.

May we build.....  ~Proverbs 14:1

As long as ye do well...

I have been reading a little book by Genevieve White titled "Daughters of Sarah".  I love this quote from the "Our Heritage" chapter...

"If we are wishy-washy in our obedience towards God and disrespectful toward our husband's place of authority in the home we create confusion in the minds of our children.

Children need to know that God designated fathers as the head of the home.  I believe they do know it instinctively. They will respect his position if they see that their mother respects his position.  If they see their mother obey their father and submit to his authority, they will be obedient children. If a child sees a constant tug of war over issues in the family and sees Mother winning out, disrespect for Dad's authority will result.  If Mother is setting the rules for the family, disrespect between father and child will be created.

If Mother allows a child to do things Dad doesn't permit behind his back (such as, watching certain T.V. shows, purchasing certain clothing *even if only worn in the home or saved for when dad is not around*, eating certain foods, going to certain places etc...) she is contributing to that child's lack of respect for his/her father.

If a wife is living in submission to her husband "as unto the Lord" child rearing will be a joy."



....

Wives submit yourself unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.  Eph 5:22

Do you believe the bible is the holy word of God?

Do you desire to live it?

Then submission will be part of your life..

You must live what you say... If you want your children to take their fathers council.  If you want your children to respect and obey their father, you must do so yourself.  Children are not fooled. They live with you day in and day out.  They hear what you say... and what you don't.  Believe me when I say this... more is caught than taught.

Rebellion in the heart of a child will first be found in the heart of a Mother.. we must get this right, ladies.


God's word goes on to tell us in 1 Peter 3:4  that a meek and quiet spirit is an ornament and one of great price in the sight of God...


so does meek mean door mat?  No.

let me give you a perfect definition of meek.


Meekness is the silent submission of the soul to the 'providence' of God concerning us. ~ Matthew Henry

Meekness is calm confidence, settled assurance, and rest of the soul.  It is the tranquil stillness of a heart that is at rest in Christ.  It is the place of peace.  Meekness springs from the heart of humility, radiating the fragrance of Christ.  ~Nancy DeMoss Wolgermuth

When you obey God by submitting to your husband with a meek and quiet spirit, God makes it His business to be your defender. He protects the obedient.  Your submission to your husband is your submission to God. (Ephesians 6:7,8)

God honors that.

God honors that in your marriage and your testimony to the lost.

God honors that in your children. Their relationship with you, their father and most importantly Himself.

When you stand in defiance of your husband (even quietly)  you become clamorous (Proverbs 9:13).. odious (Proverbs 30:23).

God cannot honor sin.

You marriage will no longer give life but rather suck life out of those around it.

And your children will follow their leader in rebellion... you.

Does that mean "if he beats me I should stay?" No. God has placed authority over your husband, if your husband is truly abusing you or your children,  you have the right to contact law enforcement  and allow them to move as God sees fit.  But if you perceive a harsh word or lack of attention as abuse, then you need to examine your heart.  Selfish desires have no place at the marriage table.

God save us

from being clamorous.

from being odious.

from being silly women laden with sins.


God help us

to be crowns

to be virtuous

to be submissive.



The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he will have no need of spoil.  She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.


Let us do well, without fear.