Category Archives: Farm Life

Homeschoolers Keep the Flame Alive

Posted on by

homeschooling familySomeone, somewhere had to keep the home fires burning when the men went off to kill some meat for the proverbial table or fight invaders to protect the clan.  Someone, somewhere had to keep the faith alive and the books of learning preserved when barbarians came and destroyed much of the known civilization.  Someone, somewhere has to pass along the basic information of how to grow food, cook a meal, keep a home, and what we believe from generations past…and I am becoming more and more convinced that in today’s world it is homeschooling families who have taken on that mighty task.

Everywhere I go I see kids interacting more with little boxes than with other people, much less with the natural environment in which they live, and even much, much less with the supernatural world which exists all around us.  The closest most kids get to supernatural reality is really supernatural fantasy…and that’s not very real at all.

But when I visit homeschooling family homes I often find things very different from the average homestead.  First, I find a lot of people…kids, parents, friends, other relatives…all working and playing, talking and laughing together….often cooking or building something.  Second, I find shelves and shelves, stacks and stacks of books…real honest to goodness books…books that have actually been read! Third, I find art work of religious beauty…paintings, statues, hand-drawn pictures, embroidery, pottery, words carved in wood and stone which inspire and encourage.  I find pianos and violins, guitars and flutes and people who know how to make beautiful music…people who like to sing and can sing very well!  Amazing. Fourth, I find gardens…flower gardens, vegetable gardens and fruit trees…and even the bees to pollinate those trees. I am finding more and more homeschooling families are raising bees because they care a great deal about our natural world and they aren’t overly worried about a sting or two. They also have a tendency to have a plethora of stray cats, dogs, rabbits, geese or what ever critter has come their way and made a home. Of course some critters are living there on more strictly utilitarian motives…but these families tend to know the difference between animals and humans and that can be quite helpful in a society which has become sadly confused at times. Fifth, I am encountering a quiet steadfast joy in these families and homes.  That is not to say that these people don’t work hard, that they don’t get tired and that they don’t have problems.  But rather that they seem to have held on to the solutions to those problems…which is something in the creative spirit of the human soul…our connection to the God who made us in His image.

I congratulate the flame keepers of this generation.  You are alive…you are living a fullness of life many today may never have had the pleasure of experiencing. May you keep your flame bright and may your joy live on long after you….

Those the Gods Wish to Destroy They First Make Mad

Posted on by

madnessI’ve heard a lot of definitions of insanity but two stick in my mind.  One is that when a person does the same thing over and over expecting a different result…they’re crazy.  The other is that those who hold two opposite positions as both being true at the same time…are in chaos.  Frankly, I’d prefer not to be one, nor live in the other.  Of course there is also the saying that everyone is mad except thee and me….and I’m not so sure about thee…..

Rather than go on and on about how crazy the world is and how you and I are probably the only sane ones left….I’d rather focus on what keeps me in touch with the very definition of sanity. I went outside today and fed cowy and her calf and then I noticed what a mess she had made so I did a little cleaning up…which involves throwing muck over the fence and then telling the boys that once we can get the queen of cows off her throne, (She loves to stand on her manure/straw pile….why?  Don’t ask me….she’s a cow and I don’t see things through her eyes.) they can put the pile in the compost.  Nothing goes to waste.  God balances everything.  Today’s dead waste is next year’s fertilizer.  Nature is chalk full of quaint parables!

Then I took a walk around.  The herb beds needed cleaning and the boys had thrown the weeds from the asparagus patch into a pile but “forgot” to put them into the compost bins.  So, I called the boys back.  The sun came out and we worked together for an hour or so.  Lots of work still needs to be done and we just barely scratched the surface, but we started. Starting is half the battle.  Just breathing in the fresh air and feeling the sun on my face brings clarity to my mind.  I can’t help but slow down when I am working with nature.  Plants don’t grow quickly….though weeds are remarkable at seeming to appear overnight, I will admit!  Still, the point is well taken.  God has no problem with slow speed.  Notice also, even in classic story-land like in The Lord of the Rings, it is Saruman the industrialist who becomes quite mad while he looks down on the humble Hobbits who were very close to nature.

I look at our world today and everything is super-speed. We work fast.  We play fast.  We eat fast.  We don’t have time for slow.  And thus we have no time at all….no time to think… to appreciate… to reason….to converse….to pray… to listen.  When I think of bedlam (a crazy house) I think of people complaining over and over again but doing nothing to really solve anything….repetitious actions that are sterile and meaningless.  When I think of a psychopath I think of someone who gets pleasure out of someone else’s pain…..someone who has no moral compass….someone who can define love with hate.  I wonder if….perhaps….when we let go of God’s hand we are sucked into a vortex of madness that speeds our minds up to the point where we no longer think and perhaps….we no longer feel. Being outside and working the soil does a great deal to pull me back from the brink.  Cleaning house, playing a musical instrument, carving wood, painting a picture, talking to a child….remarkable opportunities to reacquaint ourselves with slow speed and the quiet of our inner life, jumping off the mad merry-go-around for awhile.

How many mass murders will it take us to realize that our society does not live in a vacuum.  No teacher, no government, no parent can replace the sanity offered to us by God.  When we lose Him we lose our minds…and our hearts.  What is best in us comes from Him.  We lose Him…we lose ourselves.

I don’t really think there are other gods (as I mention in the title)….but I do know that there are other powerful beings who want to be God and they will offer us anything and everything if we would just ignore God and treat everything that comes from Him as if we somehow deserved it all. They will speed us up and keep us busy with lots of stuff. The deceivers are clever….and they will reward you with much…but just remember….they are deceivers and…they are mad.

Taking the Time for Home-Made

Posted on by

Now that Cowy is all grown up (I’ll post a more recent picture as soon as I learn how to work the new camera) and the proud mother of a little girl-calf (Noel) she is doing her duty to both baby and host by producing enough milk to make life possible for Noel, and good food options available for us.  So far my husband has had the first glass of fresh (though home-pasteurized) milk and we have enjoyed some home-churned butter too.  That took awhile and some arm work!  But it was pure butter – no flavoring, no coloring, no alterations at all.  Since we feed our cow from fresh pasture when available and good supplements when necessary, we know exactly what has gone into her and we can feel good about the milk and butter.  Now that I am beginning the adventure of making cheese I am realizing that all this takes a lot more time and planning than going to the store.  Rather like gardening and raising your own chickens.  But in the case of cheese – it can take a month before you taste your first sample.  At first everyone suggested I just do the easy cheeses but my kids love cheddar – as do I – and I realized that the concern was mainly because cheddar takes more time.

And so that led me to wondering.  Why am I doing this in the first place?  Because I do not have enough to do?  Nooooope  Because I feel under-accomplished and need to support a weak self-esteem?  I’d be crazy to think that experimenting with food production will boost my ego. (More likely I’ll be dealing with a few failures before meeting success half-way- kind of like making bread – you get a few rocks before you enjoy a great loaf.)  Because I need to prove something to the world?  Well…maybe I want to prove that simple, sustainable living can be done…but more to myself than to anyone else.  Really, when I get down to it I realize that the reason I want to do this, why my kids like the challenge, why my husband thinks this is so wonderful – is because there is something incredibly sane about making your own food.  When you, and your kids) make your daily break (literally or figuratively) – you become involved in a very basic human experience.  I think God knew exactly what He was doing when he made us so that we have to stop and eat a few times a day.  He knew that we would have to work for our food.  When he cursed Adam – really He blessed us - because by our toil and labor we have the chance to remember who we are.  We have the chance to become connected to our past.  No matter how far technology might take us…no matter what moons or planets we travel to…no matter what we might cause or cure – we need to be fed.  Thus we need to make food.

Food is one of our limiting factors in life.  We can’t do without it entirely.  Well…I can’t at least.  When I make food for breakfast I will enjoy or suffer the consequences.  If I fill-up with sugar, and stuff the kids with low quality food I will lag behind all day and the kids will be somewhere between zooming and crashing all day.  If I make a heavy lunch we will fall asleep before the end of the school day.  If I make a fatty meal with loads of carbohydrates and starches for dinner I won’t think clearly and we’ll all get fat….not good for our long term planning.  Also rather poor stewardship – for our bodies are not ours – they have been given to us – we can’t keep them forever – and we won’t keep them for long if we abuse them.  They are our tools to use for the greater glory of God.

So why garden? Why raise chickens?  Why mess with cows?  Why bother with milking at 6:00AM on a cold January morning and 6:00PM on a cold January night?  Why read the directions to cheese making?  Why teach the kids to cook?  (Each of the older ones have a night of their own each week to make dinner – we’ve had some wonderful surprises!)  Why all the work and bother when we could go to the store?  Because life is not about rushing through to get to the other side!  Because God intended us to care about everything we do and since He made it necessary for us to eat and prepare food I suspect He intends us to partake (in some measure) to our own care.  Frankly – when I lived in the Philippines I became aware of the fact that most people do not eat as “well” as Americans do on a regular basis.  But ironically – we don’t seem to enjoy our food either.  We eat and rush.  We do not chew…we gulp.  We do not cook….we unwrap.

So – for our family – we have made a decision to slow down.  We eat our meals together.  We make our food together.  We discover old recipes and we learn how to rediscover the joy of making food from scratch.  It is economical as well as healthy.  And my kids know better than to waste food.  They know what went into the food.  They know what it takes to raise a chicken, kill a chicken, clean a chicken and prepare a chicken for dinner.  No wasted food here.  Life gets more sane when you touch such basic realities.  In homes across America – if children did not know that the refrigerator was packed with food – perhaps they would value everything differently; time, energy, money, life (animal as well as human) and the purpose and consequences of our choices.

So, we are taking the time for home-made because…when you really think deeply about it….home-made….makes us.

Are We the Guardians of our World and our Children?

Posted on by

In the world of Hobbiton there was not a lot of temptation to do great evil – gossip was probably the prevailing sin of the shire.  But in our world today we have a lot of temptations which lead our souls into dark places.  I have noticed lately the lack of children in our homes and churches and I am struck by the omission to do a great good – specifically the good of bringing children into the world and raising them to be wonderful productive citizens of our country.

I wonder if the greatest temptation in today’s world is to simply not really live in the world but to live inside our own heads.  I see so many people attached to so many electronic things and kids with their eyes glued to small rectangular boxes and adults who never make eye contact any more.  I have to wonder if the reason people don’t have kids is because by necessity kids require a definite amount of unselfish time and energy – the focus must be on the baby or the baby will not thrive.  Then little ones need conversation – or at least they want conversation, play time, attention time and of course food and clean clothes, a home and all those necessary little things that pull us away from our own selves and our inner thoughts.  Being in relationship with a needy person conflicts with the complete self absorption of an electronic world.  We may e-mail, or tweet, or whatever but it is done at our convenience.  Kids seriously get in the way of such personal time convenience.

But then I wonder about what will happen to us if there are fewer and fewer kids.  I look at the baptismal font and realize it is hardly ever used.  Where are the baptised babies?  Where are the kids learning their faith traditions?  Where are the teenagers apprenticed in the good deeds of serving their society?  Where are the workers who keep our culture alive with creative innovation?

I think one of the most charming things about Hobbiton was the fact that it was full of families content to BE families who lived, worked and played together.  They didn’t need to fill their minds with super-heros, fantastic gymnastic accomplishments, blood sports or fantasy games – but they worked the soil, they grew their food, they nurtured their animals, they knew nature and they fed their souls through the profound reality of the good earth under good stewardship.

The greatest evils of our times may not be in just what we have done to ourselves and each other – but in what we have left untended, uncared for and unloved.

 

Animal Minds

Posted on by

Understanding what is going on in an animal’s mind is a bit like traveling through foreign terrain with the wrong road map.  We have some new hen chicks – we call them Cinnamon Girls because they are brand Cinnamon XYZ from the hatchery and the name fits – they look like they’ve been sprinkled with cinnamon – cute but they are feisty.  I have been going into the brooder house and feeding/watering them several times a day for over two weeks and yet every time I come near they scatter to the four corners of their known world as if I am about to slaughter them whole sale.  Actually I THINK they THINK that I am a hawk though a mighty benevolent one in that I clean out their dishes and leave fresh food every day – but they crane their necks, turn their beady little eyes on me as if to say -”Hey, you can’t fool us – we know you are BIG and pretending to be nice won’t change that!”  In their tiny little minds there are two categories - BIG (dangerous) and SMALL (food).  I guess I should be thanking my lucky stars they think of me as the BIG tough guy!  But it is rather frustrating not to be able to convince them of so obvious a reality that I really have no intention of killing them – hey they are layers – I want their eggs!  Now the meat birds who we did in earlier this summer – they had no idea what was coming.  Everything was FOOD to them – the world was one grand feast!  They seemed to have one motto and one motto only – “Eat, drink and…..uh?”  They never seemed to really fear me though the fact was that we were fattening them up for the kill.  Never saw it coming.

Now the dogs and the cats of course are a little better.  They come here from where ever stray dogs and cats come from and they figure out pretty quick that we are a soft touch.  If they kill an occasional mouse, raccoon or rodent of some form or another they figure they have earned their keep and they deserve to be fed and loved and pet and fed and loved and pet….actually they are gluttonous for attention more than any thing.  It is almost as if, being strays for the most part, they have all talked it over in some kind of animal therapy session and decided that frankly they really NEED attention to serve humanity best and so they get under your feet, they climb on every available part of your person and generally they are so HERE you’ll never forget them and when you actually do notice (like they leave any room for meditation on the trials of a lonely life) they are sooooo grateful.  To them everyone is a friend or just someone who hasn’t yet realized they are their FRIEND.

Finally - there is the cow.  I won’t mention the bees and the wild birds because well….what can I say.  They live in their own sphere – fascinating – but not mine. But in Cowy’s mind it seems that all other living creation come in two sizes – big and small.  If you are big you are a source of some level of goodness.  Cowy likes to be fed, to be watered and to have her head scratched.  She’s spoiled – I’ll admit.  But if you are small – dog, cat or kid size – you are a pernicious pest that should be stamped out of existence.  I have had to work hard to convince the kids that it doesn’t matter what clothes you wear, how nicely you talk or the gentleness of your heart – if she sees you get too near she will charge.  So stay away – on the other side of the fence.  Actually – I am no fool – I know any women can have moods and a large bovine is not to be cajoled out of a bad temper easily so it is always best to be very precautions when walking up to a large animal.  But for some reason she seems to really like me – she trots over to where ever I am and lowers her head for a quick head rub.  I had no particular love for cows – I admire their strength and beauty as an animal but I was totally unprepared for this sentimental side of our cow.  Odd.

When I think of it now – I may be the odd one. Animals live on the planet earth but they live in another universe altogether at the same time.  I cannot figure them out and perhaps I am not meant to.  After all God only told Adam to name them – not psychoanalyze them.  I guess I’ll just enjoy them.

Bees and Beyond

Posted on by

John was once called by the other home school fathers an “Amish Paul Bunyan” because he is so strong and loves nature so much.  Cancer has changed a lot of things but his heart still beats true for the things of nature – and he still tries to take care of his bees.  It has been a hard spring though because we haven’t gotten enough rain so the bees are raiding the chicken waterers and using up their stores of honey.  But we do what we can to accommodate their needs because frankly bees are remarkable little creatures!  They are so organized and their system works very well except when too many things go wrong but even then they will try to survive against all odds - all the while making one of the sweetest and best natural remedies known to man through out the ages.  Honey is good for all sorts of things  – a natural sweetener, a balm for a soar throat, a helpful remedy for allergies.  Bees are tricky though, they make the sweetest food yet they can sting fiercely – rather like the rose and the thorn.

We have a garden, chickens (laying hens, too many roosters! and meat chickens), bees, a single cow that acts like an enormous dog and wants to be pet, dogs and cats, kids, husband and wife, home and school….a little bit of our own Heaven on four little acres in the country.  Neither John nor I grew up in the country.  He was raised in Los Angeles, CA and I was raised in Milwaukee, WI and we met in church in LA when I was teaching for LA-Unified.  God makes remarkable things happen!  He took us two city people and put us in the country on a little patch of earth and blessed us with eight kids and we have learned so much that (Frankly there should be a PhD in relearning family sustenance farming) we can now manage to process a fair amount of our food by ourselves- if the rain comes of course!  We have a long way to go but we are willing to learn still – tiring and irritating as that can sometimes be.  I make a lot of bricks before I learned to make a decent loaf of wheat bread.  Now my daughters can bake better than I ever could.

My prayer is that my kids grow up with the knowledge and the understanding which is fundamental to a healthy journey in life – mostly that there is something wonderfully freeing in doing the humble duties of the day – feeding animals, cleaning house, educating the young, respecting the natural world God has given us, loving your family, taking time out for walks and rambles through the tangled woods, giving a cracker to a friendly squirrel, folding the laundry, washing the dishes with your own two hands, feeling the soil between your fingers, getting wet in the rain when you have to close up the chick pen during a storm, loving storms, praying to the God of Heaven who made it all and getting to know Him through all He has given us.

Everything in this world will pass away except the spirit of God in each of us.  Yet some of us turn from Him and refuse to give ourselves back to Him.  What a tragedy – for God does not call us to consume us but to fulfill us.  Everything is always in some part of the natural cycle of decay (Life- to Death) except the human spirit – the heart that loves God. Then – when we freely choose Him – we grow and we are transformed from mere creatures to children of God.

John still loves bees and nature but he loves God more – for it is in loving God first that we love every one and everything else best.  He does not know what the future holds for his body but he knows his spirit will live on and in serving his family, and even the little bees, so he serves God.  Knowing that makes the difference between hope and despair.  May we all choose hope.

Where has Reason Gone?

Posted on by
I watched this year’s batch of chicks grow up with all the care that humans can offer little critters. They lived good lives – on green grass and in the fresh air and sunshine most of the time. Yet when they were full grown we butchered them and processed them and they are now nicely tucked in the freezer awaiting the blustery winter months to feed and nourish our bodies.

I have friends who spend a lot of money on their pets. I have friends who tell their kids that when their dog died he went to Heaven. I too have lost beloved pets and no one takes better care of their animals than we do but I have had to wrestle hard with the whole notion that animals have souls that go to Heaven. Frankly, I have to admit that my reasoning brain takes me on a pretty wild ride the minute I put a dog in Heaven

If I put a dog in Heaven then don’t I have to put the chickens in Heaven too? And what about cows? Goodness knows I can’t decide who goes and who gets left behind so I pretty much have to open the doors pretty wide. But then…..what about killing animals for food? If animals go to Heaven then have I cut short an innocent life? Have I decided the fate of an immortal soul? When I thought I was merely feeding my family was I participating in murder? If that is the case then I had better become a vegetarian right away. I better boycott all the restaurants and food stores that exist because they all deal in the market place of mass murder.

But just for a moment – let’s imagine that animals do not have immortal souls. They are still creatures of God and thus deserve the respect of everything that God has made. But then I have to consider – do human’s have immortal souls? If not then there is no murder. We are much like the animals and there is no real reason to hold back from killing each other as need be for we are just smarter animals and our final end is much the same.

But if by chance we do admit the possibility that humans do have souls and that we really do exist beyond this life then that supposes a Creator – and what is more – a Creator with a purpose. Whoa! So, if humans are created with souls by a God and we will live forever – somewhere- and if we cannot have dominion over each other, like we do over animals, then who decides when we become human? Are we human as eggs, as babies, as adults? Hmmmm…if we don’t know – then do we still have the right to kill someone when we aren’t sure if we are committing murder or not?

By this reasoning, the minute we admit that animals are different from humans we admit that humans must be different from animals and new rules apply. To kill an animal is not murder but to kill a person is – even when another human tells us it is OK to do so. Humans have souls that will live forever – we will never know the exact moment when the soul comes into a particular human being because we do not make it happen – we only know that when we do kill a human life, at any stage – we have committed murder.

Food for thought.

Growing and Preserving Food for the Body and the Soul

Posted on by

The garden looks a whole lot greener now than it did when this photo was taken but since I am not very “techo” orientated I am still using the old fashioned type of camera – and that means I might have summer pictures processed before the snow flies – maybe.

The garden is looking great and doing wonderfully thanks to my house hold of personal serfs – also known as my family.  My husband plants the seeds and nurtures them until they go outside.  Then each of the older kids has quadrant where they water, weeds and harvest the fruits and vegetables from their section.  So far we have been very blessed.  The asparagus did great this year and as they were the first green things to come up they were very eagerly enjoyed at almost ever dinner.  The strawberries also came up very well and now I have several jars of strawberry jam resting comfortably on the pantry shelf.  Hands off!  The snow peas are now coming on in great abundance and though I know that death by snow-peas is never good it is a real trial to keep from eating more than I should – especially when they are sauteed in olive oil and garlic.  The lettuce is a appetizing row of spring green and it is a lucky thing that I have friends with whom I can barter – this or that for extra snow-peas and lettuce – or death by lettuce overdose might haunt me as well.  My abundance becomes their gain and we all benefit!  The corn and green beans are ripening and I am looking forward to canning days where I can put away enough green and yellow vegetables to hold us over for the winter.  What a wonderful gift good food can be.  I know what effort and went into ours and that makes it even more special for we try to do everything as wholesomely as possible and though that makes for more work it also makes for less worry in the long run.

Some ask us why we bother to grow our own food since it is so much easier to go to the store once a week.  But when pondering their question I came to the conclusion that actually – it would not be “easier” to go to the store.  First of all I have to admit the fact that without a garden we would probably be filling in our time with something else – probably with something less rewarding.  Also, I have to consider the fact that getting food from sources we do not know, and at times do not morally agree with, is not easier anymore than being lazy or a coward is easier.  You pay in the end. And finally – it isn’t all about feeding the body.  When we nurture a garden it seems to me that we are imitating our glorious Creator in that – as He nourishes us - so we are able to nourish each other as well.

 

 

 

 

 

A Traditional Chicken Day

Posted on by

Well, it is done!  Amazing how time flies!  I am not including pictures of chicken day in all its grandeur because frankly killing chickens, gutting and bagging them us isn’t so very grand!  But as the entire family helped to get the job done from the oldest to the youngest we enjoy a tremendous sense of accomplishment.  My eldest daughter helped me in the kitchen with some of the more difficult work and she said, “It is good to know how to do this – not everyone does – you know.”  And it is too true.  She asked me how old I was when I first “did” chickens and I had to admit I was a grown adult before I learned to raise food of any kind.  I didn’t even know the basics of gardening when we began this business.  But oh – how I have learned!  And in learning I have grown.  I pass on my limited skills to my kids but most importantly I feel like I have reclaimed an almost lost heritage.  We touch the soil, we work the soil, we nurture animals, we raise animals so we can live, we process our food so it will keep over the year and we learn from mistakes even as we make some improvements each year.

But despite the difficulty and challenges in raising your own food (which is why many people do not do it) we manage to have some real fun.  We always have coffee and doughnuts for a pick-up during the day, some simple lunch meat for the noon meal and pizza for dinner. No chicken tonight!  The kids call each other by their service names for the day – “plucker” ,”bucket carrier” etc. We laugh and we sigh and we tease and the job gets done!

So, clean up and relax, kids, until the next batch. Oh, but don’t forget the garden!

Home Life

Posted on by

I just drove through the country side on a little errand and as I looked around I could not help but rejoice in the beauty of the abundant fields just beginning to turn green. I came home and found the kids had finished their early morning chores and were now spending time together in a game - so I went on the rounds to check on the animals and the garden.

The chicks are getting big!  We have three sets now.  One will be “finished off” this weekend and the other two will be finished in the following weeks as they get to the right size.  We have used as little medicated feed as possible and they get on the green grass in a movable pen as soon as they are feathered out enough.  They spend most of their lives on green grass out in the fresh air, eating and drinking to their chicken hearts content.  It takes work to grow your own chickens for the year but even on four achers it is not only possible it is quite wonderful.  The kids learn where their food comes from and we know exactly what went into them.  We also treat the birds as a part of God’s creation and that means we are respectful and kind.  It makes a difference. Not only do we feel better about our food but the food is actually better for us in that the birds are grown up in a more natural and healthy environment.

The garden is growing out well too.  It takes a lot of work to keep up with the weeds (thank You God for giving me so many strong kids) but it is worth the effort!  The asparagus is almost done for the year and the strawberries are almost finished too but we have had a lot of good eating lately and we have enough homemade strawberry jam set aside for the winter now.  Potatoes, green beans, corn, snow peas, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and plenty of herbs will help to keep us healthy and fed through the summer and into the winter months.  We do not have a lot of space on our little bit of land but we make the most of what we do have and that has helped us to reap wonderful abundance.

Home growing is the way to go in my mind – be it home grown kids, home grown food or home grown lives in general.  When we are home we take the time and care to nurture and develop the life all around us – and the life all around nurtures us right back!