Egg-cellent

“Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!” (Luke 12:24)

After reflecting on the egg-education, I am prompted to write down a few more thoughts about the excellent egg and share some simple ways to prepare eggs for family use. I am hoping to use those ideas and principles for my boys as they learn to cook. Eggs are so versatile, high in protein, easy to make. When I was young, the first dishes I learned to cook all involved eggs. I never heard of cholesterol issues with too much egg consumption back then. Well, back then, having too much food was not a concern for most people in a state dominated planned socialist economy. I remember the transition era when we could buy as much as we could afford without the need for any coupon. The coupons were issued by the government and distributed to individual families for specific items, like oil, grain, cloth, etc.., to limit the amounts you were allowed to buy. It’s kind of like the coupons you receive from Costco to give some control of over-buying, leaving you a sense of scarcity. 

Unlike the forced planned economy, or the false scarcity in an advertisement used to stimulate consumption, God’s economy is liberating and abundant. I am reminded daily what a privilege we have to be entrusted with the responsibility to raise our family on a small piece of land! Many wild animals and plants already made their home here before us, without any human help. How do we live in harmony with nature while taking care of our family and livestock? We are not to follow the fads or strive for short-term gains. There is a lot to think through from a permaculture perspective. 

We enjoy watching our chickens and ducks just do their chicken or duck thing when they are freely roaming around pastures, or playing in the pond. The backyard eggs are way more nutritious than the store-bought ones! Their yolk color will tell you the difference. Our boys can taste the difference as well! As we take care of our loved ones, let us not underestimate the importance of the mundane task of food prep. It always blows my mind to think about how our Heavenly Father has chosen me, someone so disqualified or unequipped, to take care of my family. Feeding my family good food with love is a high calling. Is this a calling for you as well? If so, read on! 

Just to take the pressure off. You don’t have to cook every meal. Don’t deprive other members of this privilege and responsibility. Everyone needs food. With the homestead abundance, the overflow of blessings will give us opportunities to bless others and to practice self-control. Without God’s help, the more we have, the more greedy we can become, which can be very dangerous for our souls. Homeschooling gives us a lot of freedom with education, while homesteading lifestyle is testing our fleshly weaknesses in a variety of ways. With God’s help, homeschooling and homesteading are powerful tools for home discipleship training. A lot of fun and theological discussions can happen in the kitchen while preparing food together. 

As a shepherd to your children, you not only provide for them, but also need to learn to delegate, so they can be independently successful. While they are little, you provide everything for them. They don’t stay small for very long though. I am constantly learning and adjusting as my children grow, be it nap time, food amount, academic goals, or future plans, etc.. Even as I am writing this, I picture my teenage boy could be reading this soon or my baby girl could read this when she is a Mom even if I am not around on earth. 

Nowadays, you can search on the Internet and find thousands, if not millions of egg recipes. No fear about not having a mentor around or not understanding the written recipes. The how-to instructions available also come with detailed pictures, videos and specific tips. Use those helpful resources and share what you have learned as well. I didn’t grow up with those opportunities. Back then in China, where I grew up, people who wrote the recipe books seemed to assume you had some basic knowledge or at least had someone near you to fill in gaps. The recipes were generally very short, mostly to give you the gist of the idea. Special recipes were treasured like a family secret passed down from generation to generation. 

By contrast,  people today are blessed to have access to ample recipes floating around, but, however, not too many people are actually in their beautifully equipped modern kitchen! Perhaps, some simple principles are worth sharing. I have no secret recipe to share, just a few common sense pointers to navigate the egg-cellent genre to get our thoughts going or hands busy.  

First of all, know where your eggs are coming from. Not all eggs are made equal. Cheap low quality eggs can be really bad for you over time. That’s probably why the high cholesterol discussion comes with eggs in modern times. Though you don’t need to prepare your own food, it is always good to control the source of your foods. This principle is especially true for your family’s frequently used food items. Little things build up, good or bad. 

#2 Do the float test. If the eggs are floating, they are not fresh. Too much air has crept into the shell over time. You want the eggs to sink to the bottom if you want fresh ones. You want really fresh eggs if you plan to hatch them with a higher hatching rate. However, if you collect your own eggs, you want to choose the older eggs to make boiled eggs. It will make your peeling job much faster. Don’t boil the freshly collected eggs if you can avoid it, unless you want to test your children’s patience and meticulous work! Put the boiled eggs into the icy cold water after you drain the batch of boiling hot water. This trick will usually make your peeling work like a breeze. 

# 3 Looks and size don’t matter much. The standard size of commercial eggs can be scary! God has made each creature in their unique ways, including chickens and eggs, and YOU! Enjoy the different characteristics of different eggs. Don’t buy into the latest and newest things or ads. Use discernment when things look and sound good. Like avocados, bigger ones are not always better. Also, being open-minded to try different things gives us opportunities to reap new benefits or learning experiences. Do you know many ducks lay more eggs than chickens? Our ducks laid through the freezing cold winter. Duck eggs are not only bigger, but also have more vitamins and minerals than chicken eggs. Many chefs prefer to use duck eggs, including my boys! 

#4 Have fun experimenting and exploring. I like to encourage my children to taste the original taste first, and then explore other ways to flavor or season them. If you know how to cook eggs in a variety of ways, you will know how to cook many other things. A lot of times, you don’t need the recipes, you just need to learn the techniques and cooking principles with lots of practice. If you hold true to your daily health habits, you don’t need to fret about being a purist when you go out. People are more important than food. 

#5 Life is a balanced art. Stand firm to your basic principles even when challenged with a crowd. This is especially true for repeated events. Red dye is discouraged for allergy reasons for shared meals in public settings. How about other dyes? Use your common sense to have fun. Dye is dye. You can paint or draw with it but should not eat it. Just because you can eat something without a problem for the moment, it does not mean you should always do it. God has given our human bodies a lot of grace to recover from pollutants and toxic intake. Maybe you can try to use some natural coloring, like beet juice, turmeric, spinach juice to play with different colors. 

#6 Yes, eggs can be fermented, pickled and preserved. They are delicious! For a long while, I was more hesitant to try to experiment with egg preservation. We bought expensive eggs and I was not motivated to play with them, in case things would go wrong. This spring, I am most excited to try to make some salted duck eggs. I grew up with them and have not had them for decades! We bought salted duck eggs once from an Asian market. It was a horrible tasting experience and I never bought it again! Another preserved egg is called “one-thousand-year eggs”. I don’t have everything I need to make them yet. Perhaps, a fun food project in the future. The principle is to avoid contamination when you start the prep, avoid the oxygen during the preservation/fermentation. During the fermentation, do your best to discourage the growth of bad bacteria and encourage the good bacteria. There are many ways to make the magic happen! With these principles different cultures, or even different families may have different practices. So much to learn! 

Salting raw eggs (cooked later)
Fermenting cooked eggs

# 7 Yes, eggs can be frozen for later use. You can freeze them raw or cooked. My son just made a big batch of scrambled eggs to freeze this week.  If you freeze egg whites and egg yolks separately, you will need to add a pinch of salt or ½ tsp of sugar to every 4 yolks to help with preservation. This way the egg yolk will not change its texture when you thaw them. You don’t want to freeze boiled eggs though. You can, but the egg white will taste rubbery. Don’t freeze eggs with the shell. We have collected some frozen eggs with cracked egg shells in the cold winter! My favorite container for freezing raw eggs is our silicone cupcake mold. They pop out easily. But you can use what you have. I used an ice cube tray, recycled plastic food-grade containers as well. Don’t allow perfection to get in the way. Do what you can to preserve your harvest. 

Getting ready to freeze scrambled eggs

# 8 Methods and techniques are more important than recipes. You can boil, pan fry, steam, scramble, or bake your eggs. You can cook them as a whole or separate the whites and yolks. You can mix eggs with other ingredients, to make cakes, breads, pancakes, quiche, egg drop soups, poached eggs, stir fries. You can add cooked eggs into your favorite dishes to give extra protein and flavor. The sky is your limit! You can also use egg crêpes to wrap other yummy leftovers to make something delightful! Once you get the rhythm, your repertoire of food prep choices will grow and expand. You can make connections with the ingredients you have with the time and opportunity you are given. You will have the confidence to cook without recipes or create your own unique family-favorite recipes. 

# 9 If you know your source of the eggs and how the chickens are raised, even raw eggs are not as scary. You can play with the timing while cooking them. Boil, steam, or fry them for a shorter amount of time, your taste buds may thank you for a softer delight. My boys are always excited to discover the “perfect almost runny” yolk! What is your favorite texture? 

# 10 If you don’t have a lot of eggs, you can stretch them by adding water, milk, soup, and leftovers. Chickens don’t always lay. Things happen. We need to learn to live in plenty and in want. Be content and creative with what we have. I didn’t grow up with an oven. One of my favorite things to make is the watered-down steamed egg with salt and oil. We had a lot of those yummy steamed eggs mixed with rice. Yum! Now, I do often use the toaster oven, saving only batch cooking for the big conventional oven. If you have extra milk and cheese, just add some leftover chopped veggies with your egg mix, a crustless quiche in the oven is not hard to put together! You can even make extra to give away or to freeze for later use if you have a lot of eggs now. Just be aware of your climate, humility, timing, and appliances available when you try something new. Test it with a small batch first and then move to batch cooking if you would like. 

Last but not least, if you don’t know what to do with your old eggs, unhatched eggs, half-hatched eggs, you can always compost. Our neighbor likes to turn those eggs into dog food since they keep many dogs. I have seen people in the urban Chinese city put the egg shells in their potted plants as fertilizer. I have washed and saved the eggshells along with bones, and other scrap veggie pieces. When I accumulate a good amount of scraps in a reused frozen food bag, I will make a scrap stock in a slow cooker. The shell membranes (the thin skin inside the shell) and egg shells are good sources of collagen and calcium. Adding some vinegar to the scrap bone broth will help pull out more of the nutrients. Your joints and all the connective tissues will thank you! It’s virtually free and still way better than the store-bought stock! You can drink the stock with a pinch of real salt, or use the stock in other liquid-absorbing dishes, like pasta or rice. Plus, you can still compost or feed your birds the rest after the stock is strained. The eggshells will help the laying birds to have the calcium they need to produce more eggs! 

If the birds are kept well, you don’t want to waste anything. Backyard birds are valuable. You and your family are even more valuable in our Father’s eyes. Know that you are never alone. The God Almighty always sees and knows. Do what you can. Pick up where you have left off. If you fall, just like you teach your children, dust it off, keep smiling, because the Father is pleased with who you are. He has not only chosen you but has called you to step out in faith to mother your children by His strength. All glory to the Father! 

Further Reading: “Eggs” from the lunatic farmer, Joel Salatin, and prepare your mind for thinking. Where are your eggs from?

Eggs

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10 ESV 

  • “Mami, there are no eggs on the shelf again! And we have a lot of eggs!!”
  • “The eggs are so expensive! And we don’t need to buy them! Ours are fresher, too!!”
  • “I will make double-egg omelets for everyone today! You made it last time. It’s my turn!”
  • “Look at this egg! It’s wrinkled!”
  • “Wow, the yolk is bright orange!” 
  • “What’s the blood in the egg?!”
  • “The duck eggs are MUCH bigger!”
  • “The unwashed eggs can be stored at room temperature! Otherwise, our fridge will be too full!” 
  • “Mama, now can we make salted duck eggs? We have a LOT of eggs!” 
  • “The bantam laid another egg today! So cute!”
  • “We found a pigeon egg in the chicken coop today!”
  • “Why is the silkie hen still not laying? Is it a hen?”
  • “Why does our neighbor not like to eat fertilized eggs? They taste just the same!”
  • “Those eggs didn’t hatch! Mr. A may want them for dog food!”

…

Aww, countless egg-related farm chats!! Who needs a curriculum when real life can teach you so much more? Notice, it is no coincidence that no statement above ends with a period “.”. If you hear the volume of my children’s voices and their excitement, or if you see their facial expressions, I think you will agree that just one exclamation mark (!)  is an understatement. Life is to be lived to the full. There is so much to explore, to learn, to unlearn, and to share! 

By contrast, it is a totally different learning experience if ample information or dry facts are simply crammed into the brain for short-term memory storage. You may remember some quick facts but don’t really learn anything meaningful or make real life connections. Students under such a dysfunctional educational system are usually required to memorize tons of facts or have countless drills for passing a standardized performance test. Let’s say he passes the test with flying colors, but never had a first-hand experience with the subject at hand, he might be deceived to believe he has all the knowledge needed, or he could feel insecure about his true emptiness at the core. Sadly, growing up from a secular, exam-driven educational system, I had little opportunity like my children now have to freely explore God’s Creation with His absolute loving Truth as a baseline. 

The goal of government-supported Education can only be winning the battlefield of our minds for the government’s benefit. Public education aims to take a hold of the public mind. This is probably true for all governments in the world. The governments have the job to raise a new generation who will support their system and buy into their concepts. I don’t plan to get into the discussion of politics here, but the fact that President Trump recently signed an executive order to start dismantling the Department of Education, is a reminder of the freedom and responsibility we still have in this “land of the free and the home of the brave”. America still offers great freedom in how you can educate your children without government interference. Many countries nowadays are not given such choices. We need His Spirit to guide us and strengthen us as we make educational choices. After all, home education is not for the faint-hearted, and the journey to the Celestial City takes a lifelong commitment, no matter what educational choice you will make! 

I truly don’t want to miss out on the freedom we have been given! If we don’t use it, we lose it. This is also true for the freedom to home educate. What a redeeming gift through the joy of home education! Many of my relatives and friends in China often have little concept of homeschooling. They are frustrated with the heavy academic loads their children have to go through, even from a very young age! At the same time, they have a hard time understanding the functionality of home education. If I want to have a simple way to explain how we home educate, I often say “My children are free-ranged (散养). I am glad they don’t have to be caged.” This way of explanation seems to make much more sense right away. The older generation still has a nostalgic feeling towards free-range chickens, even though most people now end up buying commercially raised chickens at the store. This “free-range” learning style benefits not only the children, but the whole family. It takes time to unlearn what the system has trained, to experience trials and errors, but it’s all worth it for the freedom and fullness in life! 

Let’s get back to “eggs”! What image comes to your mind first, when the word “eggs” is mentioned? Is it the standard sized brown or white eggs in a carton? Or various colors, sizes of farm fresh eggs? Did you immediately think about chicken eggs? How about duck eggs? Quail eggs? Guinea eggs? Goose eggs? Life on a farm rarely gets boring for sure! You will not panic when you see blood spots in the eggs, knowing this harmless discovery happens more often to freshly collected eggs. You will appreciate the individual character and charm of farm eggs, which are not filtered for the public preferences simply based on looks. Even if you don’t have chickens in your backyard yet, you may still be able to find some farm fresh eggs at a local farmer’s market, Facebook Market, etc.. You never know how that personal buy and sell trading relationship is going to be mutually encouraging. 

The agrarian lifestyle is nothing new in human history. Families traditionally lived and worked together. Tribes, peoples, and nations have been formed centered around family farm life. Each day on the farm offers fresh opportunities and challenges as the season changes. It definitely takes diligent work of preparation, and a leap of faith, to answer the call to move to the country. God-sufficient homesteading leads us to depend on His provision in a much more tangible way. If you are called to seek freedom with the land, you are not alone in this movement, as more and more families are coming out of the city and slowly weaning themselves from the consumerism system. We have been so blessed to cross paths with a good number of families taking that step within our short amount of time here in Missouri. 

Actually, as for freedom, forget about farm life. If you are free, you are free indeed, no matter where you are. Many commercial farmers nowadays blindly or unwillingly follow the life-stealing, life-killing system at a high cost. Those industrial farmers are as much in bondage as the caged animals. It is depressing and devastating. No wonder children grown up under such a system have little interest in going after their parents to get involved with farming. Without truth, we are enslaved with the lies surrounding us. People everywhere, in every field of life, need the Truth, the Light to show them the Way to true Freedom. When the Truth comes, there is freedom, abundance and life! It’s exciting to start a day knowing you are in God’s will, the most free and secure place to be, no matter where you are or what you do! 

The Father is abounding in love in all His creation for His children. He made chickens, ducks, geese and all kinds of flying animals. He has given them individual looks with different sizes, colors, feathers, sounds, habits, and even personalities. He has designed them to lay eggs, to mate, to have the instinct to hatch eggs. Life goes on! Eggs are not only nutritious and delicious, but also the means to continue and multiply life. No wonder Resurrection day is celebrated with many Easter eggs around! 
The Father also made you because He loves you and has great plans for you! You are made to bring glory to the Father! He gives us breath in our lungs, a free mind to think and make choices, emotions to express love and hate. He gives, gives and gives… He is calling His faithful ones to Himself because He loves you! One of the greatest joys on the farm is to see all the birds come for treats, as we shut them in the secured coop for the night. How much more our Heavenly Father is offering as we shelter under His wings? He is calling. Are you coming? If you wonder how to approach the Holy God and to even have a relationship with Him, the Father has already prepared the way! Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life! Do you know the Truth? May the Truth set you free, free indeed, both now and forever more!

Homestead Update 2025/03/30 (Part 2)

Due to how much we have going on, and thus a very long post, this was divided into two posts. The first post, which focused on additions to the homestead, can be seen here.

Systems

Taking care of animals, gardens, etc. takes a lot of time. I am growing in my love of systems, especially ones that we can easily, and inexpensively build for ourselves. Our newest systems mostly involve feeding and fencing. As we develop systems, we can more easily have others watch the homestead for us. This would be nice to be able to travel, etc. We aren’t there yet, but are working towards it.

System: No waste goat feeder 

Having better feeding systems has been a life saver (though with some bugs to work through). With our old goat feeders (5 gallon buckets with 5 inch holes cut in them, hung on a pole), I was needing to constantly feed the goats. At the same time, about half of that feed (or more?) was ending up on the ground. I was watching my time, effort and money fall to the ground. Depressing! I found a feeder online that I could easily build that had almost no waste (they put their head inside, so anything that falls is still available) and could hold a large amount. My sons and I built it and it worked perfectly… until the kid (Darcy) learned how to hop right inside and enjoy a feast. That itself isn’t a problem, except that she then dirties the hay and the goats won’t eat it!  Ahhh, right back where we started! This week, we built a new one, with a similar design, but that is able to keep the kids out. It seems to be working well, though I’m keeping check on my excitement for a few days.

We then moved the old feeder to the pen with our buck (Oscar) and one adult female (White Goat). I was surprised to look out our window and see that the female had pushed her way into the feeder. The sides of the feeder can flex in, but can’t flex out, so she was trapped, and I didn’t know how I would get her out. As it turns out, just putting an old tire outside of one of the openings gave her the step she needed to get up and out of the feeder. Hopefully my updated design will work for all of the goats.

This was goat feeder Version 1. We are now onto Version 3, which seems to have solved the problems with earlier versions.

System: Rotationally Grazing Goats

I’m still developing this habit, but we have been working on rotationally grazing the goats. We’ve found that the best way to do this is to tether them to old tires. They can eat everything in a circle around the tire and we move the tire every day. This allows them to eat brush, weeds, thorns, etc. around the property during the day and they are free in their fenced area at night.

Two of our goats tethered to tires works great to give a healthy freedom. (Our field shelter and bee trap are in the background.)

System: Rotationally Grazing Cows

We move the cows (technically one cow and one heifer) into a new area every day. To do this, we first use about 300-400 feet of single strand electric fence to create a perimeter. We then use two shorter strands to subdivide it. Each day we create a new small area and move them in. They move quite easily since the new area has fresh grass and other greens (weeds) to enjoy.

System: Water

Water has been a difficult issue. Everything needs water, which means we need to get it there. With only one faucet (on the back of our house), this has been difficult. A few days ago, inspired by Chinese Kungfu training :o), I found my current solution. I built a yolk for myself that allows me to carry two five gallon buckets of water to where I need it on the property (about 35 lbs each) much more easily than carrying by hand. This is much faster than pulling hoses all over the property as we move the animals around. This allows the hoses to be used for the gardens, etc. Eventually, I’d like to put in some underground water lines and field faucets, but that takes time and money that we don’t have right now, and we’d like to wait until we have a better idea of the best place to put them. 

Carrying water with my yoke. We move the cows every day, so the hay feeder and waterer are mobile.

System: All hands on deck

While one person can handle all of the animals (especially now with the larger goat feeders), having all hands on deck has greatly sped things up. All of the boys are out helping, and things go much more quickly and joyfully. One takes care of the ducks, another the chickens. I usually take care of the cows. Someone gets the goats, or helps me move them to their tires. It’s fun doing it together and also encouraging to know that our work is providing a nice life for our animals.

… the great escape! (Cows! Cows! Where are you?)

Back to our adventure for tonight, we had just gotten home from “5th Sunday Sing” at church and I was doing a routine check of the animals. While heading over to the cows I was playing my harmonica. I’ve done this during the day, and I don’t know for sure if it’s what spooked them, but Red (the calf) started jumping around and went right over the fence. Bonnie followed. They’ve always been very calm, so this was a surprise. (By the way, I love watching them jump and run around, which usually happens when we open a new area for them. They usually stay well away from the fence and it’s so fun to watch… though I’m careful to stay out of the way as they may not know how big they are.) I then watched them split up and disappear into the night. (They are fast, and Bonnie is black, making her (both really) nearly impossible to see at night.) Our whole family joined the hunt, going different directions. Near us there are roads, fields, houses, more fields, etc. and we had no idea where to go. While everyone was looking, I was the one who saw the reflection of cow eyes staring back at me from beside a road not far from our house. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a way to communicate to let the others know to come help. Fortunately, I had a bucket of treats with me. It took a while, but Bonnie followed me (and the treats) and the calf followed Bonnie as we walked up the street towards our house… until a car passed us. They took off running after the car! I was in pursuit (in my clunky rubber boots). We went past our house and continued up the hill on the street. They slowed down and I was catching them… until all of the local dogs started barking and they took off back down the hill! Fortunately, they stopped not far from our house and I got them onto our property. With some patience they then followed me back to their fenced area and we took care of them. Fences (of just about any type) are just a suggestion to a cow. If they want to they can jump over fairly tall fences or just smash through them. Last I checked, they were happily hanging out back in their fence. I think they just got spooked, since they seem to be happy where they are. 

As well as the eventfulness of the homestead, we’ve been blessed with opportunities away from home.

Bible teaching: Fender, Sycamore

As well as continuing on the teaching team at church for Wednesday evening service, I’ve also recently been blessed with the opportunity to lead the weekly devotion at our homeschool co-op. We’ve been looking at who Christ is, using the Psalms that I’ve been teaching at Church. So far we’ve seen Christ as Shepherd (Psalm 23), Savior/Salvation (Psalm 43), King (Psalm 47 ).

New parks: hiking, fishing 

We don’t get out for family outings as much as we used to and probably should, but recently we’ve been blessed to find two new parks near our home.  One is a great park for hikes, and the other for fishing, hikes, etc. With the boys’ excitement for fishing, we’re excited to see how the fishing lake is and possibly to bring home some supper!

As you can see, it’s been quite a month (or so). It’s easy to feel in way over our heads… which is excellent. As today’s proverb says, being overwhelmed pushes us to, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.” (That is from Proverb 3, and today is now April 3. It’s a game, can you figure out our Proverbs reading schedule? :o)

That has been a whole lot about us. We would also love to hear from you. It’s been great to connect with friends during the month. As we head into Spring and Summer, perhaps we’ll get to connect with some who are traveling in the area.

Are any of you homesteading (which can be done on a balcony in an apartment in the city)? What new things are you trying? We largely started with our Tower Gardens and sprouting seeds in the kitchen. It would be great to hear what you are doing or trying. 

We do appreciate your prayers. We need wisdom from the Lord, especially the wisdom to not follow our own plans, but to submit to him in all our ways. Wisdom with the animals & gardens. Wisdom with our children & marriage. Wisdom with opportunities & commitments. It is great to know that it isn’t about our figuring everything out, but in having our full trust and obedience in Christ. How can we pray for you and your family?

Homestead Update 2025/03/30 (Part 1)

Whoa! It’s been a rush. With it being Spring, things are growing and changing all over the homestead. This update might be a bit much to read in one setting, but with this being our journal to our children for the future, I’ll leave it all there. If you want a quick snapshot, the title headings give an idea of what is happening in our lives with a few more details for any sections of interest. (I am dividing it into two posts, the first with things that are happening, and the second dealing primarily, though not only, with some of the systems that we are working on developing to help taking care of the homestead not consume all of our time and money.)

Just tonight (2025/03/30) we had our first cows make a break for it and disappear into the night. More on that later.

So what’s new?

Prayers for Alex

In past updates we have mentioned or referred to our friend Alex. For, so much of our homestead we have him to thank. He brought chickens when he knew we weren’t ready (but needed to get a jump). He gave us goats to help us get started. God had him show up at just the right times when I was really hoping I had another strong hand available. He has been teaching our boys their various instruments. He has been challenging and encouraging us in the faith, and so much more. He and his wife have been a tremendous blessing.

While I don’t think of him as older, with his spunk and activity, he is in his 70s. During the winter he fell, and while he can now stand up and walk for a little while, he still can hardly leave his house. His spirits are up as he learns so much more about living by God’s strength.

Any prayers for Alex are appreciated.

At the same time, much wonderful good has come from this. God has been teaching him so much through it. (I already thought of him as about the closest reflection of Jesus that I knew even before the fall.) Also, he saw the value of the homestead lifestyle when he was older and his children were gone. They live in the city. While we live close and were taking care of his animals for a while, his children and grandchildren have started coming out and learning what to do. Also, another man at church has been taking Alex’s teaching spot in the rotation for leading the Wednesday Bible Study. It is great to see this opportunity for growth of the church.

Cows! Welcome to your new home!

Bonnie and Red when when they first arrived.

As mentioned above, we now have a cow and calf pair, Bonnie (who is bred back, aka: pregnant) and her calf, Red. They came to join us on March 1, 2025 and have been a blessing. Both are very calm and came from a very nice family who had more cows than they needed. (God’s system gives ample provision through multiplication!) Bonnie is an A2/A2 Dexter.

Both of those will need another post to explain. Basically, A2/A2 is a genetic quality that is better for human digestion. Most cows on the big dairy lots are A1/A1. And a Dexter is a smaller cow (still quite large in our eyes) that doesn’t give as much milk, but is tough against the elements, good at foraging, disease resistant, births easily, has a rich nutrient dense milk, and was the family homestead cow for many generations. (Most big dairy cows are Jersey cows, which produce more milk than our family could use, and aren’t as resilient.)

The cows also brought our introduction to electric fence, which seems to work great and they don’t get near it… more on tonight’s escape below.

Goats: 2 more does, 1 buck and 3 new kids

God provided a great deal for three more goats (two bred does and our first buck). Just this week one gave birth on Wednesday, and the other gave birth to twins on Thursday. One of our original two females gave birth in January. That brings us to four adult females, four kids, and one buck.

We are working on milking the moms.

A picture can’t capture the joyful energy of the kids running, jumping and climbing everywhere.

Rabbits and Bunnies: One new doe and likely some bunnies coming soon

Our momma rabbit who gave birth to eight bunnies during the winter is likely going to be giving birth again soon. She is pulling hair to get her nest ready for the babies. 

We also bought another breeding age rabbit a few weeks ago. We saw the signs of a successful breeding, so believe she is pregnant (with our buck), but aren’t sure.

Our new doe

Bee traps: In the tree and ready for new tenants

We also set up one of our honey bee traps about 13 feet up in one of our trees, and still need to place one on a friend’s property. While called “traps”, a term often associated with killing wasps, mice, and other unwanted critters, these traps simply offer a swarm of bees a nice place to live. Once they move in, we will move them to an even more spacious hive, where they can build their colony to grow and thrive, hopefully for years to come. (Until they outgrow it, swarm again, and half of them follow a new queen to move into another home… possibly in a new trap or hive that we have waiting.)

Life … and Death (and a chance to learn)

While we have had a lot of new life on the homestead, we have also had some very sad deaths. Last year, all of Mother Hen’s chicks thrived (until the raccoon incident). This year, eight chicks hatched after surviving a -18F winter. We learned about keeping them warm(ish) with setting up a heat lamp, putting wind blocks on the coop, etc. Unfortunately, after being born (with nice weather) all eight chicks died within a few days. There were several different ways they died, including getting stepped on by mother hen, but one by one they all died over a few days. This was sad, and as we were looking forward to refreshing our hens. We’re also looking to learn what else would can do to prevent this in the future. Every failure gives an opportunity to learn (so we have lots of opportunities to learn!). With all that is happening, life goes on and we nearly forgot about this loss until looking back to write this update.

“Mother Hen” as we call her, tends to go broody and sit on eggs to hatch new chicks. Thank you, Mother Hen!

Ducks and Geese (the great battle!)

As well as the death of the chicks, we have also been having an issue with our ducks. I should say, an issue with Canadian Geese. The geese think the pond is all theirs, and geese are known to be territorial. They attack our ducks to keep them off the water, and even fly into their coop at night and attack them. (The electric fence can protect them from coons, foxes, etc.) Unfortunately Canadian Geese are federally protected as migratory birds, so there’s not much we can do right now. We are looking to beef up their night time living area, since they free range during the day and have been going further up the creek instead of in the pond.

Pekin Ducks (Bigger eggs, but unlikely to go broody)
Welsh Harlequin ducks (slightly smaller eggs, but more likely to go broody and hatch eggs)

Wind

There is wind, and then there is wind. A few weeks ago, we experienced the latter. It was so strong that it blew a round hay bale that is up to my shoulders about 10 feet UP a slight incline. It also blew over our two playgrounds that were not tied to a tree and made our shingles look like keys on an automatic player piano, which meant that I was up on the roof gluing them down where the tar strips were letting loose. (Elyse was concerned that I would blow right off the roof, but I knew that it was strong enough that I would gently glide to the ground on a gust of wind. I learned that years ago from Mary Poppins.:-) ) Strangely, instead of becoming a kite, a mobile shelter I built with a tarp over a curved cattle panel just sat there and bent down with the wind. A barn near us seems to have lost its roof (not ours, though ours was flapping). There were tornados around, but not near us (more up in Saint Louis). According to the neighbors, for as long as they can remember the tornadoes come our way then always break to the north or south (or both). They don’t know why but think that there is some land formation that keeps us from getting hit.

Several Ohio friends saw about the tornadoes in the news and wrote to ask how we are doing. It was great to hear from you!

Piano key shingles, rolling hay bales and two playgrounds down. This wind was intense.

Clearing Fence Lines

We’ve previously mentioned that the property was pretty much abandoned for around 20 years. With wanting this to be a place for people to come and have time with Christ through his creation, we are working on cleaning it up. Recently we cleared a long stretch of fence line that was buried in thorns, and ground covered with rocks and sticks. While the thorns were painful, it was a joy working with the boys and throwing it all into a large fire we built nearby. We also found some old half buried barbed wire fence that we’re glad we got out before anyone got hurt. Things are looking much better and are much safer.

With the fence cleared of thorns, we can see the pond. (Also pictured our Hügelkultur garden, Greenhouse, Chicken tractor, etc.)

Hide and Go Seek for the Creek Drain (before our land bridge washes away)

We have a spring fed pond and the creek from that spring runs right across our property. There is a land bridge across that creek with a pipe running from the creek above down about 4 feet to the pond. Unfortunately the intake of the pipe is blocked and covered. We know it is there, but can’t find it. One of my sons and I have been working on finding it to unclog it before the land bridge washes away. We’re getting some clues, from listening on the other end for if we hit the pipe by driving a pole into the ground, but haven’t found the intake just yet.

If you look closely you can see poles jabbed into the water looking for the drain. This should just be a small creek from the spring.

Redbuds & Ants  (Yum, Yum, Yuck!)

The boys enjoyed “helping” our neighbors pick the flowers from their redbud trees. She uses them to make cookies, etc. (… a possible motivation for the excitement to go help pick?!?).  They came back with about two 5 gallon buckets of flowers for us to use for baking pancakes, etc. Unfortunately, we didn’t know it at the time, but they also apparently had ants. The pancakes and other goodies have been delicious… the piles of ants were not so fun… but seem to have dissipated quickly after we moved the redbuds.

Our neighbor’s redbud trees. Beautiful and great for the soil. We’re hoping to grow more on our property.

Fruit Trees… now to wait three years…

This month we added two peach trees, two cherry trees and two plum trees to the mix. At the same time our previous apple and pear trees, and various berries, are really starting to grow. Just today we picked some of the flowers off of our pear trees. (We need to keep them from fruiting for three years so they can focus on root development.) Our fig trees aren’t yet showing signs of life, but it may just not be warm enough yet… or maybe we killed them. We’ll find out soon.

Some of our new fruit trees with our original garden (with temporary fence to guard against the chickens) in the background

Gardens

Our tower gardens are loaded with Kale and Chard and should be ready to start eating soon. One of our in-ground gardens is now loaded with cold hardy crops such as onions, potatoes, etc. and a focus now is planting the other garden.

… This post continues in Part 2 …

Homestead Update: 2025/02/18 – Preparing for the deep freeze

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:” Ecclesiastes 3:1

Having animals, and a house that is not well built for cold, gives some things to think about as it seems that we are heading into -10F tomorrow night. 

Fortunately it’s Missouri, which means that there is a short winter (compared to Ohio) and the weather changes quickly and frequently. “If you don’t like the weather, just wait a few days.” is a common saying. We have recently been in the 50s, yesterday was in the 40s, today and tomorrow are in the single digits with -1 and -10 at night, and then we head quickly back into the 50s and even 60s (and then hopefully continuing on to spring and summer).

Here are some of what we have been doing to get ready for the cold:

1. Cut Our Water Lines – While this may seem a bit drastic, after our lines froze last year I had a plan. Now I get to test how it works! :o)  When we moved in we needed to replace all of the water lines through the house and we went with PEX and built a “Water Circuit Breaker” that allows me to shut off every line individually. True to what they say, even when PEX freezes, it expands and doesn’t break, which was a relief last year when most of our lines froze. That being said, break or not you still don’t have water. So, this year before the cold came, I cut the water lines at a low point, put in a T joint going down to a shutoff valve. I can now turn off each line, put a bucket under that valve, and open it to drain the line. I’ve been doing this on cold days with our laundry and kitchen sink (which were the worst for freezing up last year) and it’s been working great. It’s a hassle that I’ll only need to do a few times each year, so works well for me compared to more complex or expensive automatic solutions. I also don’t need to worry about the electricity going out and electric heaters not heating the lines.

  • Update 2025/02/21 – The drain sort of worked. We still had a frozen line where there was a dip in a line, but that was fairly easy to hit with a hair drier instead of having an entire frozen water line.
Our “Water Circuit Breaker”
Drain out valves at low points

2. Prepare for our Heaters to Shut Down when it Gets Cold – Yep, one of the fun twists of mini-splits with a heat pump is that it shuts down when the temperature gets too cold. A heat pump works by pulling heat out of the outside air and pumping it into the house. This works great when the temps are cool, but above freezing and still works reasonably well even down into the teens, and possibly even into single digits, but at -10 there isn’t much heat to pull from the air and I am fully expecting that (like last year), our primary heaters will shut down when it gets cold. Last year we weren’t really ready for that and, with our new baby bundled up, we were really glad that we had two Mr. Buddy Portable Propane Heaters. These are meant for camping, etc., and were lifesavers for us. This year we are more prepared. We fixed the large pellet heater (which we learned the hard way didn’t work last year). This will heat a portion of the house. We also have space heaters spread throughout the house. And we still have those portable propane heaters for really warming up the area where we are working, eating, etc.

A portable heat lifesaver!
(Nearly useless without the fan)
  • As a note: I have no idea how a heat pump works. There are times that it is quite cold and the heat pump still pulls the heat out of the air and into the house. That is amazing to me. I was recently told that on very cold days sometimes people will build a bonfire outside of their house not far from the heat pump. This creates heat that the heat pump can then pull into the house. Maybe I should move our burn barrel and wait until the cold days to burn our burnable trash. Hmm, something to consider.
  • For the Portable Propane Heaters, I am grateful for refillable 1 pound canisters. Instead of the $5-6 for each canister, we are refilling off of a 20 pound tank for about $1. I have three refillable canisters for each heater so that even if we run them all night (which we did last year, but not this year as we are more prepared), I won’t have to go outside to refill them in the middle of the night.

3. Garden Starts from the Greenhouse to the House – While the greenhouse is wonderful during the day, it gets cold at night and we were losing our seedlings even with a heater on. We moved everything to the house and will move them back after the deep freeze.

Garden Starts under Lights
(in a bathroom we needed to gut)

3. Wind Blocks for the Goat Shelters – Our goat shelters are made from hooking shipping pallets together and adding a roof. This makes for a very drafty enclosure to get out of the rain, etc. For the one shelter we basically wrapped it in a tarp. The other shelter is new and was quickly built for our buck who we recently added to the mix. We didn’t have time or the tarp to build walls and Elyse thought of a great idea. We recently picked up 4 free IBC totes that are filthy and needing to be cleaned on the inside (when the weather is warmer), but that are clean on the outside. We moved them into the goat fence and put them all around the outside of the shelter. This created a great wind block.

The boys built it with pallets.
We put a tarp over it for extra winter wind block.
A last minute IBC tote wind block

4. Wind Block for the Chickens – We recently built a mobile field shelter. I have it out to test how it will handle wind and snow… did we actually build a giant, very heavy, kite? Before the deep freeze, I moved it right in front of the open door to the chicken coop. This not only blocks the wind (I hope), but also gives them a place to get out, and for me to spread their feed, without being out in the full wind, cold, and snow.

Our portable field shelter

5. Wind Block for the Rabbits – Like the other animals, the rabbits got a wind block by having their cages covered by a large tarp (an old billboard sign). We pull it down to cover everything at night and up during the day.

Rabbit Cages with the tarp up

6. Extra Feed and Bedding – All the animals are on extra rations these days. We are careful to make sure that the animals have plenty of feed to keep their body temp up. We also put down straw or lower quality hay in the various shelters for them to snuggle down.

7. Heat Lamp for Mother Hen – One of our hens loves to go broody and sit on eggs. This is a wonderful blessing to have chicks, but she isn’t very discerning about timing. The warm winter temperatures in Missouri keep confusing her and she goes broody when very cold days are still ahead. Earlier this winter we tried moving her to the greenhouse for wind block and warmer daytime temperatures, and put a heat lamp over her. This agitated her and she quit sitting on the eggs. This time we just put the heat lamp over her. We’ll see how it goes and if the eggs freeze. One thing we have noticed is that other hens have been coming to sit with her and help keep the eggs warm. I’m not sure if this is to really be helpful, or if they just want to cuddle under the heat lamp, but either way it seems that it would be helpful. We’ll see how it goes. Hopefully we’ll have baby chicks after the freeze.

8. Metal, Sloping Water Bowls – For many of our animals, especially the goats, a 3 gallon plastic bucket works great for water. However, with the freezing temperatures, it was very slow and difficult to get the ice block out each time we gave them new water. Switching to metal bowls with sloping walls, though much smaller, made it easier to dump the ice and add new water. We need to add water much more often, sometimes just minutes after adding the first time, but this has been much easier to give them water with the freezing temperatures.

One bang on something solid to get the ice out
  • We do have water heaters that can keep water from freezing, but with the small amounts for the rabbits, etc. it was easier to just make regular rounds to check on water and take care of the animals as needed. If we were dealing with larger 100+ gallon stock tanks, a water heater would definitely be helpful.
  • Geothermal water heater! – In the future, once we have a better grasp on our set up and routines, there is a way to easily keep water from freezing using geothermal heat! It basically comes down to digging a 3-4 foot hole and putting the water container directly over it. The heat from below the frost line will come up and keep the water from freezing. (There’s a bit more to it, but that’s the gist of the idea.)

While I can’t say that waking up and heading out into the cold to take care of the animals is my favorite thing, there is a certain joy in it. It is a blessing to know that I am taking care of these animals, that this is really helping them and keeping them alive. It also gives a meaningful start to the day. Perhaps my favorite part is doing it with one of our sons who has taken over the ducks. For him this means carrying water and food down from the house to make sure that they have what they need. He has been dedicated, even when he was a bit sick. It has been nice being able to connect with him as we take care of the animals together.

There are many other blessings to the cold, reducing insect populations, helping to break down the wood chips on our gardens, helping some plants to grow sweeter, etc. God created cold for a reason, and while my fingers may not always like it, it too is a blessing.

Update 2025/02/21 – We are now past the cold with temperatures rising. All the animals (and people) are doing well. We had a friend lose some animals in the cold and we are grateful that ours did well and didn’t seemed bothered much (though everyone stayed closer to their shelters than they normally would have).

Avocados

 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”– 1 Samuel 16:7 (NKJV) 

“Have you had avocadoes?”  I asked the 2 year-olds as we pretended to cook in a children’s class. Some looked at me with a blank look and another responded with excitement, “Yes! I had an avocado before!” Conventiently, there were two fake avocados in the play kitchen. I was able to show them the big seed for the avocado and had some fun discussions about this fruit with the littles. They were all very interested. 

When I am with the children in class, I am always grateful to find “vegetables” and “fruits” among the toys, rather than fast foods, cookies or packaged foods. Children’s work is to play. They learn a lot while they play sub-consciously. The commercials know how fast children can learn, and strategically design advertisements and toys to prepare the next generation to be their faithful customers in the future. Being a parent and educator, we are to either create a safer environment for these tender minds, or to teach them how to navigate the realities when life does happen.  

Back to avocados, they are an interesting fruit to me. A fun name to say for a child or a language learner. I never had a single avocado growing up, never heard of it either. It was not until my young adult years, when China started to put some imported fruit on the supermarket shelves, I had my first-hand encounter with this foreign tropical fruit. Even then I had no interest in purchasing one. Unlike other sweeter fruits, avocados can’t even be enjoyed as a treat. They were not only more expensive than local fruits, and they didn’t look too appetizing from outside. Even worse, since there was not much interest, they looked even sadder, sometimes even starting to rot. I was more amused by the name, and looks of this peculiar fruit.

Avocados are often called “crocodile pears”(鳄梨) or “butter fruit”(牛油果）in Chinese. Perhaps, the outside skin looks like crocodile skin when it is ripe. They look green when picked early and you can usually ripen them at room temperature after a few days. Then they change their color from fresh green to darker green, almost dark black, kind of like crocodile skin. You will need to store them in the fridge before or at that point if you are not going to eat them right away. 

Fast forward a few years, when I first came to America as a new Mom almost fifteen years ago, I learned that avocados make super baby food. They are high in healthy fats, fiber and good for brain development. Unlike the scarcity of avocados in China, I saw the abundance here in the U.S.. Being a curious eater, I gave avocados another try and got hooked on this fruit ever since. The other name “butter fruit” gave me clues on how to use it. I waited until they were soft to the touch, cut it open, and served the creamy flesh directly to all my babies as super baby fruit. They also came in handy when we were on the road. 

Now, as the children grow, avocados still remain on our shopping list. I use them wherever the recipe calls for butter. Names can be powerful. The “butter fruit” keeps giving me clues for more creative ways to enjoy these creamy and healthy additions. I put them on sandwiches, smash them with bananas to make AvacadoBanana jellies, add them to salads and soups, and if we want to add a kick, we mix some salsa in to make guacamole dips. 

Avocados, you never quite know what you’re going to get.

Over the years, we’ve had a good number of avocados, along with avocado-opening experiences. It is entertaining when we see different sizes of seeds after they are cut open. Sometimes, a tiny little avocados with a huge seed, so it is disappointing to not get much flesh out of it. Being a frugal mom, I tried to make an object lesson out of it. I have my children guess what the inside might look like for the next avocado since the first one didn’t do its job well. I will remind them the appearance can be deceiving. Sometimes, we get lucky and get a huge avocado with a tiny seed! We all exclaimed the discoveries with great enthusiasm and that avocado got “hurrayed” around the house. One boy even ventured out to attempt to sprout the seeds with toothpicks poked in suspended above a cup of water. Simple joy is truly not too far from us in our daily lives, if we stay open-minded for what life unfolds at times. 

On the other hand, life is not full of roses. I may get the ripening timing wrong, or some avocados got picked way too early and can never get ripened well. They look black, rotten and ugly inside. We tossed quite a few of those bad ones as well. Yet, the big seeds after being washed can make a fun game. The boys used them as huge marbles! 

Now being on a homestead, I recently learned the goats shouldn’t eat avocado peels or any part of the avocados. It is like dogs should not eat grapes or raisins. One thing good and familiar for us can be potentially dangerous to the other. That is why it is important to continue learning, understand different needs and resources around us. Being a good steward takes heart, skills and knowledge.  

That being said, have you had a fresh avocado? Do you have another name for the avocado? What is your experience with an avocado? What is the size of your seed? I hope you are having as much fun opening and discovering the inside value of your avocados! 

When I am overwhelmed with so much to learn, it is nice to revisit something familar and learn something new about my old friend. Actually, a fairly new friend who has become an old friend. Being willing to try a new food is simple but not always easy. Food choices can get very personal. However, being open-minded is part of the growth. You never know how things are going to turn out when you give them a fair amount of tries. Um… Perhaps, I should start to think about how to grow an avocado tree in a greenhouse someday! :-) Any growing tips to share?

Goats: A New Life

Yesterday morning (2025/01/16) a loud scream rang out across our property. At the time, I (Rob) was taking care of a few jobs outside before getting ready to leave for our homeschool co-op. At the time, I was smoothing out wood chips that had been dumped for our Hügelkultur and no-till gardens, when I heard the scream. Thinking I likely knew what it was, I dropped everything and ran toward the sound. I was correct.

Our black goat was giving birth to her first kid! I went into the goat shed (built by our boys out of old shipping pallets) and sat in the corner in case any help was needed. One of the boys went in to let Elyse know and to bring some blankets in case I needed to wipe a baby off. One of the dangers of a winter birth is that while momma goat should be able to give birth unassisted, if she has multiples, which is common, the first baby may be born healthy, but freeze to death if not dried off while additional kids are born.

First fairly clear picture of Darcy and mamma goat

After the goat was born, the next concerns became that mama goat, being a first time mother, wouldn’t lick the baby clean and dry, and waiting to see if momma and baby would figure out nursing.

Goats, and most nursing animals, need to have the thick, first milk (colostrum) or they will die. In God’s grace, He created humans to be able to survive without the colostrum, but doing so comes at a great cost, as God also created this to be the ideal start on life for a new baby to boost their immune system and so much more. Our new “scientific” society that promotes toxic formulas, is denying the ideal way that God created. While other substitutes, such as raw goat milk, are much better than formula, there is no substitute for mother’s milk that even changes from nursing to nursing to meet the baby’s needs. Farmers seem to understand this for their animals, and it is good to see an increasing awareness among many for human babies.

Everything went as smoothly as possible. I can’t say if it was a gift of God for the timing, etc. or if God has given animals an instinct to know when they need to give birth, but the timing couldn’t have been more perfect considering we are in mid-January. This whole week is supposed to get into single digit temperatures (Fereignheit). There was a real concern about if the baby would be able to survive. The baby goat was born less than 48 hours ago, but is already jumping around. If she (yes, she’s a new baby girl… which by the way won’t change no matter what anyone may think), would have been born during the freeze, she very well could have died. Instead she was born on a warm day (in the 50s) and had yesterday and today to grow, get moving, etc. before the freeze comes. We are always concerned when temps are going to be solidly below freezing for a week, but the goat has a much better chance of making it. Those two days make a huge difference.

In addition, she gave birth early enough in the morning that we were able to be there for if there was a need, and still to make it to co-op by around noon. (Morning births are normal for goats, which is nice for all involved.)

First Steps

While Elyse and our younger two were there when the rabbits were born (also on a Thursday co-op day), this was my first time to be there for an animal birth. It was also Black Goat’s first birth, which is usually a higher risk. It was great to see momma and baby goat figure things out without any help. Nursing was funny to watch at first. It’s like baby goat knew that milk should be somewhere, but didn’t have a clue where. She was sucking on momma’s knees, face, side, etc. Finally she found one drop of milk and zeroed in on the correct target. Momma also didn’t know what to do. She was balancing on three legs for baby to nurse and kept falling… onto baby. After a short while, they figured it out and momma is able to stand there eating, seemingly oblivious to baby nursing under her.

Figuring it out! :o) Mamma with a balancing act while figuring out nursing

Momma and Darcy (baby goat’s name), are doing well, with Darcy getting more and more active and curious. She is circling trees and looking to climb them. She is dancing around the goat and chicken enclosure. She’s doing great.

Within 24 Hours Darcy was outside running, jumping and climbing anything she could

At first we didn’t know how to sex the goats. After watching some videos we learned that it’s quite easy. We just needed to watch how she pees and boys and girls are quite different.

On a homestead, girl goats (and just about any animal) are more valued than the boys. They can breed. They provide milk (or eggs, etc.), while the boys just eat, have a quick role in reproduction and continue to eat. While boys often become meat, Darcy will likely be with us for a while, so we decided to give her a name.

MOM LAYING, DARCY STANDING IN CRATES 8575 PHOTO

Mamma Goat and Darcy

With all of the work and setbacks on the homestead, it is amazing to also look around and see all of the progress and ways that God has provided. He provided us with the goats, rabbits, and chickens, all of which are now multiplying. He provided for us to have good spots for various food bearing trees and bushes, as well as many that are already growing on the property. There is still so much to do, but even now, in the middle of winter, there is life!

While there is a lot to do to get ready for spring, so we don’t want it to come too quickly, we are also excited to see the world come alive and for the goats (who have only known their new home here in the fall and winter), to experience the whole world becoming a giant salad feast, as well as for the other animals to benefit from the abundant food.

I was blessed to be there for Darcy’s birth, and we are excited about the new lessons that God has prepared for us to see his amazing power and wisdom in creation.

Darcy
Female
Birth time: 2025/01/16 at around 8:45am

Husband

Written on January 4, 2025.

For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. – Isaiah 54:5

I like to look up words when I am not sure about its definition. According to Wikipedia, when “husband” is used as a verb, it means “to manage carefully”, derives from an older meaning of husband, which in the 14th century referred to the ownership and care of a household or farm, but today it means the “control or judicious use of resources”, and in agriculture, the cultivation of plants or animals. Webster’s dictionary also includes “to use sparingly or conserve” and gives more details about how to “manage carefully”, i.e. to “manage prudently and economically”. In British English, “husband” is a synonym of “steward”,  manager of another’s property.

As a homesteader, I have found the definition quite interesting and comforting. You don’t have to be married to husband or practice husbandry. “Husband” has much more meaning than what is commonly known as “a married male mate”. As I home educate my three boys, a recurring concern is “what if I screw up my boys?”. Truth to be told: I often battle with following the world or the Word and a lot of times I don’t know what I am doing, be it parenting, homeschooling, homesteading, Christian marriage, and so many aspects in Christian living. My greatest comfort is His grace is sufficient for me; where I am weak, He is strong (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). 

Today is one of those days! The Lord has once again graciously shown me how He is always able when I am weak. It’s a typical Missouri winter day, cold, humid, and raining. Homeschool routines will gradually start up again after the Christmas break. The baby has been up a few times during the night for the past few days. I am feeling short in my school preparation and sleep deprived. 

On the other hand, farm work is slowing down a little bit, which has given me a chance to reflect, to write, to pray through goals and needs for the season. Each busy mom can benefit from a moment to pause, to reorient, and to embrace the gift of life the Lord has given. As I am counting my blessings,  I am especially proud of my boys and of course my husband for taking care of the land, managing it carefully in so many ways. Their prudence and diligence shine even brighter during those darker and colder days. (I should add dark nights too, after the duck chasing at night episode.:-) )

In the morning, the boys will get food and water for the birds and rabbits, collect eggs, move the chicken tractor, and move the goats to fresh grass. At night, they will shut the gate and check on food again. As the temperature drops, getting outside is not as comfortable but is even more important to make sure the water is not frozen. We may have different seasonal jobs as animals or garden needs vary. For example, we recently moved the six bunnies with their mom in a rabbit tractor my husband built. We move the rabbit tractor to give them fresh bedding like we did with the meat chickens. 

Rabbit tractor with mamma rabbit and her six bunnies (Also used for chickens, but we take the bottom slats off.)

Occasionally, the boys may report about any unusual happenings. A goat may get tangled and will need help to get untangled. Last week, another strange thing happened. Our favorite hen decided to go broody as we entered winter. Perhaps, she got confused by the few warm days we had earlier this month. We are fine if she quits and actually tried to discourage her from going broody. So far she is doing well under a heat lamp in our greenhouse. She seems a little confused and misses her old coop though. We will see what happens next. She is one of our original three chicks gifted to us when we first started living in the country, and hatched a flock of chicks last spring. She took a risk to initiate the multiplication and we decided to support her endeavor as much as we can. (Note: The mother hen agreed with us a few days ago that it was too cold to hatch chicks in the winter and stopped sitting on the eggs. Hopefully, she will try again in the spring.) 

Speaking of the original three chicks, one hen was killed last year by an unknown wild animal, another is a rooster (or we called him Roostie). Roostie deserves his own separate story. To keep it short and sweet here, he has become our dinner tonight. It was delicious after two days of marinating and hours of slow cooking. We have too many roosters for our hens and attempted to give a rooster away but without much interest. Roostie served us well and gave us many first fond memories of chicken-keeping. We have his picture on our wall and he has inspired my son to crow for Christ. 

Roostie

Unfortunately, Roostie became more and more naughty and pecked us, our neighbors, and visitors. It hurt, but thankfully, no serious harm was done. However, he killed several of our hens, and one duck, too. We were thinking of the necessity to let Roostie go for a while, but one boy did not agree. We had asked experts, read books and knew once a rooster starts to peck people, he would need to go immediately. Our wishful thinking still had a hope that this rooster might be different and could convert. It is an unavoidable process for a new homesteader to cull an animal. We are taking each step slowly as we are pretty slow learners. Finally, our whole family agreed that Roostie needed to go before the weather would get too cold to process him outside comfortably. 

I am amazed that all the boys took it fairly well when the timing was right. The reality lesson speaks much louder than reasonings! The boy who didn’t want to remove Roostie even initiated collecting the feathers. He made a Chinese kicking toy, Jianzi, out of feathers! I love the simple joy to honor Roostie! We had previously processed meat chickens, but Roostie was our first typical farm animal being with us for over a year. It was a “tough” first-time experience, literally. We didn’t expect Roostie would have a MUCH thicker, almost rubbery skin. The tough decision gave us opportunities to discuss and learn more about husbandry basics: to manage carefully for most production, to protect people, other animals, and to consider faithful stewardship through calculating feed cost, overall benefits for sustainability, etc.

Jianzi, Chinese kicking toy

The boys spent more time inside today. The aroma of the chicken/rooster stock was floating around when everyone found their own passion to pursue. One boy was helping to rip worn-out clothing to strips for garden use or just for fun, while saving buttons and pockets for other projects. Another boy was figuring out how to use the sewing machine and made a gun strap. He was pretty proud of the end product and excited for the money saved. Another boy took out pencil and paper and started to draw garden plans for the spring! The boys were discussing where, when to grow what with great anticipation and excitment. They worked hard with my husband to dig the rocks out and prepared a new garden for this year! I am excited to hear that they are taking ownership of the new garden in their planning. Again, the word “stewardship” (or “husband”) came to my mind for areas to work on. 

Life does not get boring on a homestead, even when we are all inside! Another exciting first-time experience for today was the double-duck egg omelets! The boys saved up a dozen for a weekend special. I had veggies chopped up in advance to speed up the meal prep. The older two boys were the chefs! What a treat! It’s even more of a treat that they served with great enthusiasm. Yum, yum! Those duck eggs are extra special because they spent hours herding the ducks back home from the pond! We had to give up chasing the ducks near midnight and one boy was thrilled to find the duck eggs near the pond the next day. I am happy to report that after all the labor, the ducks are happily contained within an electrical fence in their new home, giving us duck eggs each day even in the cold winter. (My husband and son also wrote their own thoughts about the duck adventure.) 

As I am meditating on our current training focus for home education, a verse came to my mind, “… if a man knoweth not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?” (1 Timothy 3:4-5). The Lord has entrusted those precious boys under my influence for their early years. What a privilege and great responsibility! My sons have proven to be very capable in various unprepared circumtances. With a teenager in the house now, I need to learn to let go and allow them to have more room to experiment, to learn, and to steward the land. 

Just like the ducks were excited to find the pond, able to swim without any instructions, children need to get outside, to be exposed to great living books, to apply what they have learned to meaningful work, to make mistakes, and to experiment within boundaries. Ultimately, we don’t home educate just for schooling, but we are called to make disciples with our children. I am grateful that the Lord has blessed us for this season of child-rearing to be so close to plants, animals, all his creation AND like-minded friends. 

How to raise boys in a fallen world with an increasingly blurry gender definition? If a boy does not know he is a boy, how can he know what a husband truly means? Perhaps, when “husband” as a noun is losing its original definitions, we could find some roots from its verb form. For a man to take care of the land is nothing new. Men did that for centuries in different parts of the world. The first man, Adam, was placed in a garden. Noah had a vineyard. Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, Moses, David, and Amos were farmers or shepherds. Elijah and Elisha did homesteading. Wealthy men like Job and Solomon lived a full life while working on a number of homesteading projects. Naboth was killed for guarding his own vineyard. Jesus went fishing with the fishermen. No wonder that Proverbs and Psalms have so many references to husbandry or land management.  

Knowing real homesteaders here have made those Bible stories not so ancient. His living word has made its vivid forms of illustration by being closer to the land. If I think about it, the homesteading lifestyle is not just recorded in the old but true stories in the Bible. Only one or two generations ago, most people were working with the land in some way or the other. America’s first president, George Washington, would rather be a farmer and was reluctant to be the president. The urbanized lifestyle has only been common for a brief time in the grand scheme of history. Many parts of the world still practice making a living off the land. What if the ancient wisdom is not so far away from us like we thought? What if we can be closer to the Creator by exploring more basic off-grid living options and homesteading skills? Isn’t “husband” qualified to be a simple but profound goal for raising my boys? So much to learn, or should I say unlearn?

As I sip the herbal tea preserved from our container garden, my heart is more rested and refreshed. I know my earthly husband is embracing his role to husband, AND my heavenly Husband will keep me to the end. May the Lord help me respect my husband in a way that will reflect a Godly union for His glory. I pray my boys will learn to “husband” by working with their father, and know their Maker as their Husband no matter where they are or what they do! 

Which word would you like to use for your new year focus? 

Further reading:

David Platt explains much better here for how to pray with delight to our “Husband” through the Scripture verse from Isaiah 54:5. May your love to the Redeemer be ignited. His love is truly immeasurable.

Herding Ducks on a Pond

Have you ever:

  • herded a flock of ducks
  • into a fenced in area
  • on land
  • from an over 1 acre pond
  • in a canoe
  • at night
  • when you can’t see where they are without a flashlight
  • with your children on shore to help?

Neither have I, but man we sure gave it our best shot for hours on end. They would get sooo close, and then slip around the canoe, or even get on land and then split and head to the pond. Ahhhhh!

However, the next day, when I am gone all day for a car repair, I come home and all of the ducks are in the net, and my boys have the biggest smiles on their faces! What!?!?!?! (One of our sons wrote about this on his new blog.)

This happened a few days ago and it brings a huge smile to my face as well as a dose of humble self introspection.

A little back story… our ducks found our pond, which is great for them and we’re excited, but it’s not great for continuing to have duck eggs, and racoons and other predators having an evening meal is a concern. They need to be in the new pond side home we built for them and to learn (be trained) to come back home at night.

Okay, about my learning.

The night before my boys were all in (and sometimes Elyse with our 1 year old), we were going to get these ducks into their new fence (as opposed to the chicken coop, where they had been, but had started getting harassed by the chickens). It was going to happen, so until 11pm we were out there and managed to catch one duck, which was known to be the largest and slowest. Not even close for the others.

I had taken control and handled it quite well. My sons admitted that my canoe handling to herd the ducks was doing quite well. We even got them up onto land near the fence. My boys were nicely directed to the best spots, all would go well… until it didn’t and we started all over… again… and again… and again.

You learn about yourself in a time of near success and failure. I learned that I can be a “bit” bossy, and then can blame when someone didn’t do what they were supposed to do (or that I pictured them doing).

My boys were real troopers and stuck with it, but it didn’t work and more importantly, it didn’t create a family bonding and sense of being valued that will keep my boys excited about the family team.

The next day, without me, they succeeded where we had failed. They worked together as a team. They were smart and led the ducks not to the net, but as far from the pond as they could, then cornered and caught them one at a time and brought them back to the fenced area.

Everytime I see the ducks I smile, not because they are there (though that is also exciting), but because of the teamwork that I know was required to get them there. I love that my boys were working together and creating a bonding time. I also love that Elyse let them try. There is some concern with having them out near the pond and out with the canoe in January.

I am also convicted. Our ducks were scared from their home in the chicken coop due to being attacked by the roosters. They had no intentions of going back “home”, and they found a better home (aka: the pond).

If my children are the “ducks”, is our home one they will want to come back to? Is this a place where they are safe? Is this a place where they are loved? Is this a place where they have value and purpose? OR will they find that place somewhere else, out in the world?

Does my attitude draw them in or push them away? Is this a place where they can grow, have purpose and value, or will they find that fulfillment in the world?

They will grow up. Our goal is that they would love to be here, that they would follow Christ wherever he may take them, but that their default is to stay and grow our family team rather than fleeing from it. This is not that they would be children forever under my direction, far from it. It is that they can grow to pursue who God has made them to be, that they could surpass me.

I am still reflecting on this together with Elyse, so don’t have answers (though I have some ideas), am I living in a way that reflects Christ to my family and draws them in, or am I living for self, or for accomplishing a task and driving wedges into relationships?

This is something I am praying about, repenting about, and hopefully truly changing, by the power of God.

Venison

Whoever is slothful will not roast his game, but the diligent man will get precious wealth. — Proverbs 12:27 ESV

You know you live in the country, when you have neighbors and friends, who offer you their overflow of abundance, be it fresh garden produce, gallons of raw milk, Morel mushrooms, dozens of fresh eggs, or various kinds of animals and meat. It is not that we don’t have kind offers in the city, but the overall feel is different. It feels more down to earth, practical, spontaneous and more country. In some way, it strangely reminds me of life in China. 

Thus, this transition process of country life has led me to think about learning a second language. I started learning English in the 7th grade (middle school in China). I practiced, practiced and practiced, using books, tapes (yes, it’s hard to believe I am that old:)), radio programs, and a variety of opportunties I could find. All the practice served me well and prepared me one step further into a new culture. It was not until college, when I became an English major, I was able to work on my oral English more. I was blessed to have native speaking teachers, who not only helped me with my language skills but also led me to the Truth! 

If being able to communicate with native speakers was a big jump for my language skill, coming to the States to live, to serve and to home educate my children has made English my second language rather than a foreign language. It’s challenging yet rewarding, just like a lot of hard but good things in life. 

That being said, we are blessed beyond measure that the Lord has made our path clear to move out of the city, despite all the setbacks for the past year and challenges we are still facing ahead. One of the huge blessings by simply being here is to see my boys thriving. Just like learning a new language, the younger a child is exposed to the target language, the easier it is to learn. It warms my heart to see my family working hard together to build our homestead, despite the hardships and uncertainties. Deep or simple joy through the trials is crucial for the young and the old to learn.  

A mother’s attitude can be influential at home. By God’s grace, we are learning to count our blessings in different seasons of country living, as the Lord guides and provides. Right now, we are blessed to have water, heat, a new roof, functioning appliances, one working bathroom, most furniture that can stay at one place for a while without the need to make room for another project, no mold in the wall, working septic, flushing toilet, working water heater, a working six-seat truck… The list keeps going! 

The Lord has provided abundantly in so many ways. Yes, our Heavenly Father has blessed us through visible gifts through our kind friends or opportunities by orchestrating unique circumstances. But most importantly, as the Holy Spirit leads us walking in obedience to His will, we are being changed and sanctified through the trials. The man of the house is being transformed into a jack-of-all-trades. I receive many conveniences I used to take for granted with more gratitude and appreciation. I am grateful that my boys get to grow up with those fixer-upper, make-do, repurpose, thrifty experiences with joy and even excitement, as life unfolds unexpectedly. 

One major addition to our weekly activities this year is to join a local homeschool co-op. We were on the wait-list last year and spots opened up for all of our children after the wait. Instead of joining another co-op, we had a gap year without a co-op. I am so glad we waited. This co-op is much more Christ-focused with a homestead feel as well. A fitting community for where we are now. 

My oldest took a huntsman basics class and came home with venison. (The teacher did ask the parent for permission first.) I cook almost everything from scratch. The boys have been testing my cooking capacities as they harvested different kinds of meat. I will save the details of meat processing for another time. For now, I will just say nothing is wasted and all parts have their purposes. If my boys are going to eat it, I have no problem figuring out how to prepare them as long as they are foods God created for us to eat. 

It’s interesting for me to find out the term “venison” comes from the Latin verb venari, meaning “to hunt or pursue.” It can refer to a variety of hunted wild game, but is most commonly applied to deer meat. In China, deer meat is considered a delicacy, not as fatty, but nutritious red meat. It has a lot to do with all the running a deer does. The lean meat takes time to prepare with a lower temperature so the meat will not go tough. 

My boys smelt the aroma of meat cooking in the kitchen, and kept asking me, “Are we having deer meat TODAY?” 

“Yes, but you have to wait all day.”

Waiting has many unseen benefits, including building expectations, growing our patience, and strengthening our faith. Not bad, eh? The truth is: Waiting, however, is the hardest work at times! Waiting is harder when we don’t see, feel or taste. The reward at the end of waiting makes the time in between seem a little more bearable. Waiting is particularly harder in this modern culture, which exalts the speed and convenience. Children not too long ago could learn about the cause and effect through diligent work by simply observing life. Nowadays, parents need to be extra intentional to include or create rewarding slow processes in life. I am more old-fashioned and believe delayed gratification deepens the memory and happiness.

Cooking from scratch everyday is work but worth it! Believe me, when I saw the big chunk of meat to marinate, and to prepare for the oven cooking, I could actually better understand why the Proverb says “Whoever is slothful will not roast his game”. This venison preparation helped me have more sympathy for the man not willing to roast his game, while before I could scoff “who would do that?”. Life is to be lived fully. When living a more agrarian lifestyle, the ancient wisdom has made its fast track to my mind through real life references. My slothfulness was convicted and my hands got busy. An interruption to my normal meal plan didn’t seem to matter any more when I heard all the exciting chats between the boys about what is for dinner! 

You know another blessing for cooking venison at home? 

If you guessed leftovers, you are correct! Meat has its way to satisfy you and make you full. No wonder feasts tend to involve meat. We don’t eat much meat, so occasional meat addition made a normal day celebratory. Plus, you can collect the bones and make bone broth! Okay, bonus point for being homestead-minded if you are already making broth! :-)  Again, nothing goes to waste for a homesteader. Our hearts and minds are as, if not more, stimulated as our taste buds! 

What’s for dinner today? How do I make the most of my “game” and pursue a little deeper?The prep is not limited to the food. Perhaps, some “food” for thoughts during the dinner? The food nourishes the bodies, the minds and the souls at the table. Eating together serves its purpose to start a conversation and fellowship with your loved ones. 

Know that your labor is not in vain, dear mothers! In due time, you will reap a harvest from your diligent work if you do not give up (Galatians 6:9)! 

Dear mothers, your thoughts and efforts to shop smart, to prepare healthy/hearty meals, and to make memories together are all glorious. Your children will thank you even when they don’t express it now. Those memories serve me well across the ocean and the span of years.  

Dear sisters, do you truly love your Master? Then, feed the lambs under your care, as the Lord instructed his beloved disciple (John 21:15). If you want your lambs to mature, feed them not just milk, but also solid food (1 Corinthians 3:2). May your soul delight in the riches of fare, as you listen to the Master, and eat what is good (Isaiah 55:2)! Once your soul is satisfied as with the richest of foods in His living Word, the overflowing joy cannot be concealed. You will be singing songs of praise despite your circumstances. Do you have a hymn you would like to share as you gather your loved ones to the table? If you are alone or your children are grown, try to think of someone you can dine with and give praises together! I believe your joy will be more than doubled when it is shared! Okay, you have been diligent to read to the end. It’s time to get the “game” going! Enjoy!!