Homestead Update 2025 April-May (Part 4: Other)

Tornados

First, I would like to thank so many for your concern. We (and apparently my family) were being asked how we were when the tornados hit the area in April. We were fine. For the first tornados, in April, Springfield got hit hard. We didn’t know anything about it until the next day, but it was pretty bad. For a while after, when we were in Springfield, we would see downed trees, smashed roofs, fences, etc. Some were without electricity for several days. However, where we were, about 20 minutes north of Springfield, there was some wind, but nothing to cause alarm.  About a month later, people were asking again, this time as the worst tornado on record hit St. Louis, about 3.5 hours northeast of us. That one hardly did anything here. From talking with those who have been around for a while, it seems that the tornados are often coming towards us and everytime they then go north or south. I’ve heard several people talk about the geology around here. Whether that has anything to do with it, I’m grateful that we are in an area that has shown to be safe, sort of like chicks in a mother hens wings, for a very long time. As Isaiah 25:4 reminds us, Christ has been our, “stronghold to the poor,  stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat”.

Chicks in the Wings

This may get its own, more reflective, post at some point, as it was such a fun, insightful moment. One of the mother hens had thirteen new chicks. As one of my sons and I were shutting down the coop, I found only four of chicks. This is obviously a problem. They usually stay close to mom so I looked around the area… nothing. Then I picked up momma hen again… five chicks… where’d that one come from? Reaching under her wings, I found a few more, but many were still missing. Finally I flipped her upside down (she’s a very patient hen), and there were chicks hanging on everywhere, way up in her wings, etc. I couldn’t even shake them out and kept finding more until they were all found right where they should be. My son was laughing as he’s done this before and knew their disappearing trick.

This made me think of Matthew 23:37, “How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” A hen “gathers her brood under her wings”. She doesn’t just bring them close. She isn’t just over them. She has them tucked everywhere. If anyone or anything is going to get to her chicks, it will only be through her. Jesus doesn’t just want to be close, or for us to be near him. He wants us to be tucked away and hidden in him. The storms may come, and we are safely tucked “under his wings”. Yet, unlike the chicks, we often want to go our own way out of his loving provision and protection.

Log cabin

As mentioned, neighbors have been stopping by to say hello. One of the neighbor’s family has lived in the area for around 150 years. They were able to give us some background on our house, including that the old section of the house was a log cabin, that has been covered with other materials since then, so the walls are very thick. It was the first house in the area when settlers came through. That was pretty cool to know, and also confirming that as also mentioned above, the tornados tend to miss this area.

Homeschool conference (lacking a homestead presentation)

The “Teach Them Diligently” homeschool conference was in Branson again this year, and again with our “work our way” approach, we had the blessing of serving as hall guides for some of the time instead of buying a ticket. 

I’ll summarize my takeaway reminder by just saying that if our children are amazing in math, writing, science, and every other school subject, but don’t have a solid and growing grounding in God’s Word, the point of education was missed. As the Psalms remind us, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Psalm 1:7) and “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!” (Psalm 111:10). With the “fear of the Lord” as the “beginning” of both knowledge and wisdom, any education that is not firmly grounded does not even begin to have wisdom and knowledge. This can obviously apply to the public schools, which have rejected the very beginning of knowledge and wisdom. It can also apply to Christian schools and our homeschool when we put the values of the world over the fear of the Lord.

The conference was inspiring and helpful, but we also noticed one thing glaringly missing… homesteading. While a good number of participants and speakers are homesteading, and there are presentations and booths about more ideas than I can count (well, at least that I can count without looking at the program list), there was no focus on homesteading. We’ve found that the two are often connected and the gateway to the other. Homesteading often leads to homeschooling, and homeschooling often leads to homesteading. Now, “homesteading” is a mindset rather than a location, and can be done anywhere, not just with acreage.

RV fixed

Our RV must have had some water in the flushing mechanism during the winter, and broke. We had this last winter as well and from talking with others, this is a very common problem. Rather than replace it again, I completely by-passed the mechanism. The new system uses basic plumbing (no complicated valves) and is easy to completely drain and leave open so that there is no chance of it breaking during the winter. I’m excited for the change as we’ve had several situations where we had guests come for a few days somewhat unexpectedly and the RV toilet wasn’t ready for them. This way, at least that issue should no longer be a problem.

Sycamore and BSF finish

Both our homeschool co-op (Sycamore) and BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) finished on the same week. While we continue to study, learn, and grow all year, and while we will miss these times, it is nice to have the change of pace. These both brought us into Springfield, so we’ve had more days of focusing on the homestead instead of being busy running into town.

First Cheese and Ice Cream

With having our own milk cow and milk goats Elyse has made our own cheese a few times and Isaiah is enjoying making some fresh (and delicious) frozen custard! So good!

Whew! April and May were full. I was just reading through everything above again and it is such a joy to see the ways that God is teaching us, challenging us, and making us to depend on him more and more!