Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.
Psalm 119:18
Our to-do list on our new homestead has yet to get shorter. I was pretty naïve to underestimate the time and difficulties involved to start a new lifestyle in our forties with four young children. In the midst of house-fixing, homeschooling, mobile baby’s explorations, cooking from scratch, and other commitments, it’s easy for me to focus on the task rather than the beauty around me. It takes time and intentionality to slow down, to observe, to ponder and to change. The devil is very good at taking wandering souls as captives if we are not grounded in the truth.
Thankfully, our good Shepherd is very patient with us. He guides us, leads us, and provides everything we need as we navigate Christian living on earth. I am learning to embrace His laws as protections rather than limitations. I am experiencing more of His grace as I fail to follow the laws. He knows, He sees… What a comfort!
Busy life has its way to teach me to seize the moment, find new rhythms and glorious purposes in daily mundane. The demands of life have been pressing me to establish firmer boundaries and to create necessary routines for this season of life. One of those routines is to be intentional to have some one-on-one time with each child each month on their special days (the day of their birth). I am a firm believer in accumulation effect. Little things add up, good or bad. So far, I am grateful for keeping “the special day” tradition.
Normally, the boys were out with the animals in the morning. On “special day” this week, I came out with the “special child” to do some outside work together. Nothing fancy or big, just a reminder for me to slow down a little bit from normal routines. I suggested walking a loop around the yard before we headed into the house. I am so glad we did!
As we started walking, this observant boy stopped and just stared. I looked around and wondered what was the matter. Even though I desired to slow down, I was so quick to get anxious when things were not moving as fast as I would like to. I saw quite a few “white toilet paper balls” around. A frustration started to surface and I was about to burst out in anger. Yard junk has been accumulating as well! I am not happy about this kind of accumulation and tried to keep the yard-cleaning on the backburner. There is enough to do in the house or around the house already. I don’t go further back on our property often, so out of sight, out of mind.
But at the sight of the “ugly toilet paper balls”, my mind was racing. This was not supposed to be a moment for discipline talk. A gentle small voice inside reminded me to wait on the “junk” talk.
By God’s grace, I held my tongue and waited for an answer from my boy. Quite to my surprise, he said, “I saw something beautiful!”
“What did you see?” I was in dismay.
“Flowers!”
“Flowers?!” It’s getting weirder and weirder. It was already early winter in December. The leaves were all gone.
“Yes! I read about them in the magazine. They are something special here!”
Thank God for holding my tongue! My ignorance and short-temper were not exposed, and His grace abounds even more.
My boy continued to tell me more about the “frost flowers”. I bent down and picked a few. They looked like cotton candy and would melt after a while, especially if I would rub them in my hands. It felt miraculous! I almost missed them. Even worse, I was angry with them. How foolish I was!
I looked up the “flowers” afterwards and appreciated this special encounter with my special one even more. “Even experienced nature explorers have never seen frost flowers. This is because you have to be in the right place at the right time.” (You can read more about frost flowers here.)
I will add that I am particularly in need of the right person with the right eyes to see the beauty. How many more wonders around me have I missed or mis-judged? Lord, have mercy on me! Open my eyes, so I may see the wonderful things of your law! Most importantly, Lord, open my eyes, so I may see YOU! Isn’t Wonder your name? (Isaiah 9:6)
New Bunnies, Processing Chickens, Pilgrim’s Progress, Mushrooms, and so much more. This has been quite a week!
Baptism
Acts 2:38 – And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Yesterday we had river baptisms with 71F and tonight we need to consider our pipes freezing. God is so good in his provision. One of the new members of the church saw his need to be baptized, and with multiple serious health issues and a major surgery coming up, he knew it was now or in the distant future (if ever). So the date was set… and God provided. Beautiful weather, though still cold water. It was amazing being there, to see this step of faith. There was a concern for whether he would survive being baptized, and I’m sure that thought crossed his mind. This made it all the more amazing to see the faith that God has given him and the excitement to publicly pronounce his faith through baptism. A challenge and encouragement to us all to live with bold obedience!
(Update: 2024/12/01 – He was in church today, doing well and excited to be in the Word!)
Baby Rabbits
When we moved in, the pastor gifted us an old rabbit hutch he built and three rabbits to breed. We failed, but learned from our mistakes and by asking lots of questions and traded for two new rabbits with a friend at church, who was just raising them for meat anyhow. This past Thursday, we had the excitement of welcoming new bunnies into our homestead. Mother and babies seem to be doing well. We aren’t sure how many there are yet (As they are enveloped in the nest mom made by pulling her own fur, but we have caught glimpses of them.) One of the things we’ve seen with the homestead is how God doesn’t just give, he multiplies. Plants multiply. Animals multiply. It makes it easy to see how in a world with no sin (oh, the thought!) there would be abundant food, beauty, and provision for all. We are looking forward to seeing and holding the bunnies, but for now we’re leaving them alone for mom to take care of them.
(Update: 2024/12/01 – They are starting to look like rabbits and we can actually see them now without hoping for a glance through momma’s fur bed when they move. So very cute!)
Chicken Processing
On the other side of life’s pendulum, on Tuesday we were reminded of the way that life is given so that others may live. This may seem a bit more formal than necessary, but as we process any animal, we like to take the opportunity to remember that Christ gave his life for us. This time we processed our meat chickens in time for Thanksgiving. This is our first time to prepare and process our own chickens and it went very smoothly. We had 13 meat birds (we did 2 a few days before to see if we needed anything before the big day), which was a good number for our first time. We’ll be faster in the future, now that we have a rhythm. Part of homesteading is learning, so we did it old school, plucking by hand, etc. The boys have processed coons and groundhogs (that were invading our chicken coop, and after asking some of our friends about it), and while birds are a bit different, they did great and did most of the work of getting them ready to head to Elyse for final prep to cook or freeze, and preparing the organs, etc. to make sure nothing is wasted. Like the baptism, God provided a great day. We needed to get them done before the temperatures dropped, and God gave us a great break in the cold to have a beautiful day to set up outside.
(Update: 2024/12/01 – It was wonderful having my mom and sisters join us for Thanksgiving and to serve up two of our own chickens, though they were so large that we only needed one.)
Mushrooms
People have been so generous helping us with animals, seeds, plants, advice, and so much more. We are grateful that our mushroom logs have continued to produce and provide us the opportunity to build connections and be on the giving end to those who like mushrooms. It has also been wonderful having large, fresh, healthy mushrooms in our meals, to have mushroom tea dates after the children are in bed, and a blessing for the boys to get to fill grocery bags with the bounty of God’s provision.
(Update: 2024/12/01 – They keep coming as we picked more today. Such a blessing for a family that loves mushrooms!)
Goat Petting
The goats are getting to where they let me pet them briefly without my needing to hold the leash. This has taken time and training, and it is fun to see. I also have a growing confidence that if I give them more freedom they will come to me when I call (especially if I have their “white bucket” with me :o). It makes me think of our gracious God and my stubborn heart. If I would just joyfully follow my God, even when I don’t know where we are going, he will abundantly take care of everything else for purpose and provision.
(Update: 2024/12/01 – They continue to be more comfortable with me and come to me and are starting to be more comfortable with others as well. The boys and even my mom and sister were able to take them for a walk on their leash recently.)
Pilgrim’s Progress
On the Saturday before Thanksgiving we were blessed to see “Pilgrim: the musical” live on stage. We didn’t know what to expect and were so blessed, though we needed to leave at intermission for bed times. Arise Collective Theatre puts this on as a free (professional quality, donation based) ministry and tours throughout the year. If it comes near you, I highly recommend it. (Though it does have some parts that may be mildly scary for younger children.)
Sunday School for All
Yesterday our church had a special during the main service, so the sanctuary was needed to set up. All of the adults and one of the other youth classes joined our Young Adult Sunday school. It was a big change, and Elyse and I were grateful to see God working in giving everyone a desire to dig into God’s word, participate in the activities and discussions, etc.
Thanksgiving
Tomorrow evening my mom and sisters arrive for Thanksgiving. We are excited to connect with them as they join us out on the homestead! Last year we had a new baby and our heat wasn’t working, so we didn’t do much for Thanksgiving. With our vision being for this to be a place for people to visit, it is always a joy to have people stay.
WWIII
With WWIII being a hot topic of discussion (it’s hard to even believe I’m writing that), let’s first look at Psalm 2, one of my favorite chapters in the Bible, and then look at a few applications that I have been reflecting on.
Psalm 2
Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.”
The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.”
I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father. Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”
Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
Here are two takeaways that I have been reflecting on recently and in discussions with Elyse.
1. God is in control of all things
He knew who were his from before the creation of the world
He had all of history planned from before the creation of the world
The hearts of the kings are bent to his plans
He laughs at the schemes of evil men (Though his “laughing” may not be as I picture.)
2. We can rest and even rejoice in Him and His plans
A good Christian saying is “Don’t worry. God is in control.” While this is very true, I fear that it can miss the grandeur of this truth. God is in control. God is not just passively permitting. God is directing and all of the creation and history follows his plan. When man sinned in the garden, this was not out of God’s plan. The cross was not a “Plan B” to redeem God’s plans gone awry. When Pharaoh had God’s people in slavery, Moses and the Plagues were not a move to get things back on track. God had created Pharoah, and the situation, so that his (God’s) power may be known in the nations, and so that his people would learn to trust and follow him… though that took another long, 40 years, in the wilderness to grasp that lesson.
“God is in control”, does not mean that people won’t suffer and die. It means that God is in control in the pain.
“God is in control” and the “problem” of pain doesn’t mean that God is not good. From outside, we see the pain. For many who have been in the pain, it is often in the deep pains of life that God is most real, most comforting to those who trust him. It is the pain that is used to give us growth and even joy. A joy in Him, not on the passing pleasures of the world.
We can not only “rest”, we can “rejoice” in God being in control. In the pains of life, in sudden accidents and death, in loss of job and income, in bombs falling and evil “winning”, we can rest and rejoice. We can rest knowing that God’s plans are good, always, and for the best for his people and for his glory. Not only can we rest, we can rejoice. As we look beyond the pain we can ask, “What is God doing?” What is God doing in that sudden death? What is God doing in the struggle and pain? We can rejoice, knowing that God is working it out for his perfect purposes. We can anxiously look forward to seeing the beauty that he will reveal.
Everyday is just like today… very full and completely unique from every other day! :o) We’ve been amazed at how full every day is, not just busy (though they are), but full. Our prayer continues to be that in the fullness (and busyness) of it all, that we would continue to be focused on Christ, pursuing him and his ways, and living in obedience, not habit or routine (as important as good habits and routines are).
Here are a few highlights of the day TODAY (2024/11/05)… though likely posted a bit later!
Goat Walking – Oh, the goats. I love them and… well, I guess I just love them. I certainly have spent a lot of time with them. At least I can say that I spend a lot of time with my kids. ;o) A friend of ours gifted us two goats. (They wanted to gift three, but we decided two is good for now… especially since the reason the third wasn’t ready is that he was having a hard time catching it and we aren’t sure we want that one. :o)
The two goats that we have are about a year old and have almost never been handled. We on the other hand want them to be ready to be with children, be walked around the property to eat brush, etc. It has been a fun challenge earning their trust. I am the primary trainer until they are more accustomed to people. Our relationship started with netting them and wrestling them into a cage to bring to our house and today was the first time they ate out of my hand (with jumpiness), let me rub their heads and were on a leash with me.
This process has helped me to appreciate God’s love for us. I know they want the food outside the confines of their fence, but I can’t just let them go freely or there will be chaos and destruction. I think I want them to have that feast even more than they want it, but they need to learn to trust me first, to come along with me, so that I can lead them into feasts of food that they can’t even see or imagine from their limited vision in the fence. How many blessings does God have for us that we are simply not ready to receive? This can only come through knowing, trusting and walking with him.
Animal Care – With the focus on goats, as we are training them. I want to also express appreciation for all that our boys do each day to take care of the chickens, ducks, and rabbits: moving chicken tractors, filling water and food, making sure that the free range birds get where they need to be, foraging food for the rabbits, etc.
Mushroom Rains – We just had a lot of rain. And that means MUSHROOMS! We had tried growing mushrooms before we moved, but didn’t have the set up for it. Here, our mushroom logs are blooming nicely and we have a nice flow of Shiitake and Oyster mushrooms when it rains. Josiah loves checking and cutting the mushrooms and it was fun watching him walk up from the woods with Elyse with a big bag of mushrooms and a smile on his face. Mushrooms are wonderful things. They are not plants, they are Fungi and they are one of the renewers of the earth. They can take things that are old, broken and rotting and turn them into soil and edibles. Not only is God’s creation absolutely amazing! It points us to him. Only God can take a broken, rotting life and give it purpose and impact.
Mushrooms!
Flour…cise – You’ve heard of exercise (at least as a distant concept :o). We have “flourcise”. This is where you set up the manual grain mill and go at it. We often take turns with Elijah and Isaiah taking 50 rotations and Rob taking 200 to rest between turns. This time, Isaiah went all at it and kept going, and going, and going and did most of the grinding for us. I was amazed. (As a note: We often buy our flour from Azure, but didn’t get that order in and Costco and Walmart didn’t have quality flour, so we dug into the organic wheat berry stash and started spinning.
Isaiah Flour-cising
Boat Retrieval – Our boat (which we discovered buried in vines on our property), which the boys like to take fishing on the pond was resting comfortably several feet from the water… until it rained, and poured, and just kept coming. So today, Isaiah (our early riser) discovered that we were going to get to wade out several feet to the boat and work on bailing it out and bringing it in. I guess the boys will be back up and fishing.
Gone Fishin’
RV Twister – Finding a water leak in an RV is a fun mix of Twister (the game where you bend into strange contortions to reach areas that didn’t seem possible) and whack a mole (where you nail the problem… just to have another one pop up). I am happy to announce that our RV is back up and ready for visitors (in time for my mom and sisters to come for Thanksgiving). Note: If you’re passing through, or want to come visit, we’ll leave a light on for you. (This works best in warm, or not too cold, weather.)
Election Excitement – Oh yeah, and there is an election today. I almost forgot (as the results map sits on my other screen). I have been amazed how different elections are here from Ohio. One could almost forget that there is an election. Perhaps it’s because we live in the country, and don’t watch TV, but I had an endless supply of fire starter in the swing state of Ohio and I think we may have had one or two election mailers here (but never fear, we don’t order trash pickup, so have plenty of other things to burn). One thing that I have learned with this election is to be excited no matter who wins. Like really, actually excited. Not that I didn’t vote and have strong views on many of the choices that were to be made, but to truly rejoice in the only true cause of peace and joy, the Creator and Sustainer of all things. If Trump wins, What is GOD doing? If Harris wins, What is GOD doing? If Missouri, one of the most anti-abortion states, enshrines abortion in the constitution (which it looks like it will), What is God doing? While I may mourn for some of the results and what they mean (and be grateful for others), and the reflection they have on the heart of man and the revealing of our deserving of judgment and wrath and need of mercy and grace, I can always rejoice in what GOD is doing. None of it is the end of the world as we know it… unless, of course it is, but that is entirely in God’s hands. None of it takes us out of God’s hands, though some choices may result in strong testing of our faith (which, by the way, isn’t a bad thing). Our BSF study this week included Daniel 2: 20-21, “Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others.” Read that a few times and apply it to the election. GOD “deposes kings and raises up others”. Just as God raised up David, Josiah and Hezekiah, he can raise up kings for blessing. And just as God raised up Pharaoh, “for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” (Romans 9:17), God can raise up kings to show his power (in judgement) that His name might be proclaimed in all the Earth. So, while we pray for godly ways to prevail, we can rejoice no matter the outcome (even through possibly mourning) as we can excitedly ask, “What is GOD doing?”.
Life is certainly full on the homestead! We have been hoping to have a slower time to write, but everyday comes with its own unexpected blessings and challenges. Being close to the land does have its own adventurous possibilities. Instead of waiting for a down time, we are learning to rearrange our priorities to create our new rhythm of country living. Hopefully, we can write more often to have time to reflect on and record what God is doing and what we are witnessing. I am always amazed at how God uses difficulties to push us to himself. What a blessing! Here are some of the updates on the homestead.
We are excited that Nainai (grandma) is coming to visit soon. Just wanted to have a brief update about our life to catch up even before she comes. Writing is another way to connect our life with whoever is interested in our lives.
Quick Glance – While we look forward to sharing about some of these in more detail, here is an update on the homestead!
Moriah Crawling and Standing – Moriah (10 months) is everywhere and into everything. She also loves “Where is…”. I (Rob) will hide, recently in increasingly hard places, and say “Where is Baba?”. She will usually drop everything and persist in crawling around to find me, then having a big smile. It’s so fun to be able to play and see her excitement and discovery.
Homeschool Co-op – We are so grateful for our homeschool co-op, Sycamore, and are amazed at how like-minded the group is. The heart of the co-op has proven to be discipleship. Christ is the focus of every class, and the peace and joy of Christ are very evident. We are grateful for this influence not only on our boys, but on all of us. We are all encouraged and challenged to grow in our walk with Christ.
Silkies (which are the ultimate defenseless chicken and often raised as pets), though they also have a draw for our homestead: they are well known and loved in China for their good meat and benefits in bone stock with their unique black bones, which is used in traditional Chinese medicine. They are also very cute and love to be around people, and perhaps our number one reason, they make wonderful mothers. They will sit on eggs to hatch them with great dedication, be it their eggs (which aren’t many), other chicken’s eggs, duck eggs, etc.
Ducks – Oh my! We love our Pekin Ducks. The seven of them (6 girls and 1 boy) are always together. They are so kind to each other and the chickens and us. When our little kiddie pool was too small they would patiently wait for each other to have time to swim, etc. They are so fun to watch.
Goat Shelter – Just today the boys (by themselves) built our goat shelter. We have been putting fence up and are hoping to get milk goats soon. We are grateful that the boys took over the shelter. Life has been so busy that I (Rob) haven’t been able to get to it. The project was on a limited budget and the boys built it largely out of free wood pallets. We’ve seen other’s basic, but someone more expensive, shelters, and after talking with a friend from co-op and seeing theirs, we saw that a very basic structure can work great and be somewhat mobile!
Losses (Death) – Life on a homestead comes with death, most recently a few of our Silkies, and one of our rabbits. We are not only learning from our mistakes, but also get to teach the realities of life. We had a raccoon attack and lost some hens this summer as well. Honestly, I am so glad that our boys have the privilege of facing death on a regular (though not too regular) basis. As one recently said (my paraphrase), “The first one was hard, but now we’re learning that it’s normal.” Death is to be hated, it is a result of sin. However, as Paul wrote, “to live is Christ, to die is gain”. Living on a homestead gives us opportunity to face death and see that it is not to be taken lightly, but is also a necessary part of life. Ultimately our very lives are dependent on death. Every animal food we eat came from something dying. Life requires death. Without the death of Christ, we would not have life. Living on the homestead has given opportunities to face these realities head on. We have been blessed with good meat by neighbors from their hunting or butchering. Our desire is to learn to raise our own meat soon so we can bless others as well.
Gardens and Trees – We recently added Chinese Chestnut trees, thornless blackberries, raspberries and just yesterday a blueberry plant to our collection. We have also been busy chopping the ground to remove the many, many Missouri rocks and will soon be topping it with composted manure (we are surrounded by cows) and wood chips. Our goal is to have no-till gardens, so after this one time land preparation, should have limited need to till much again in the future.
Greenhouse – We have been so grateful for how God provided for us to have a greenhouse. This has been one of our prayers and we have been working on figuring out the best way to make it happen. God provided in a wonderful way, and we have seen plants (and currently 16 chicks) enjoying the warmth and sun of the greenhouse. (I already wrote a longer update for here, but will save that for a separate post. :o)
Mushrooms – Last fall we inoculated logs with Shiitake and Oyster mushrooms. A little less than a month ago, we started enjoying the fruit of that time. We should now enjoy mushrooms for several years from those logs. We had tried this in Strongsville but didn’t have a good spot for the logs, here we have a nice spot in the woods near a creek and pond to have shade and moisture. It has been exciting seeing the mushrooms starting to fruit!
Bees – We were unsuccessful in catching a bee swarm this year, but are now ready to get our traps up early in the spring. We are going for a more natural way of beekeeping which isn’t as beekeeper intensive, instead setting the bees up to live more like they would in nature with minimal intervention.
House – Our house is still a construction site and I’m sad to say that the pile of drywall leaning against the wall in the dining area has become a shelf. We’re working through some setbacks, but things are coming along, and we’re hoping the boys will have a bedroom soon, though they have been so patient for the past year of camping in the house.
Church – We have been blessed to see the church grow from our being the only regularly attending family to now having three ages of Sunday School classes. Elyse and I are grateful for the opportunity to teach the Young Adults class. I also have the opportunity to be part of the teaching rotation for Wednesday evenings, as we go through the book of Psalms.
Chinese Radio – For the past few years Elyse has been deeply involved in a Chinese Radio/Online program on TWR, focusing on Scripture Memory, broadcasting throughout Asia. The program will continue to broadcast with a 3 year loop, however the prepwork is transitioning to an end. Please pray for His will to be done using this program however He pleases.
Elyse’s Family – Elyse’s family has had a hard year. A major area of prayer is for her aunt, with whom she was very close, who is very sick with cancer. She, and most of the family, do not have the hope of Christ. Our prayer is that this, and other situations, could be used to draw her and others to Christ.
Trampoline – Our trampoline, which we bought even before Elyse and the younger boys moved down, has been a true blessing. We got it to give the boys a safe place to play before we tamed the yard a bit. Though they now have plenty of places to roam, the trampoline (specifically Gaga Ball on the trampoline) are a huge hit for all of the boys (including the biggest of the four).
A big theme of this year has been “Setbacks”. With not having a reliably working car for quite a few months, things slowed way down. However, it also had many blessings and we learned greater dependence on Christ, had more forced time at home instead of constantly running around, and also learned to humbly receive rides from friends and neighbors for church, shopping, looking for a vehicle, etc.
One reason for moving was God’s nudging us to leave the suburbs and move to the unknown land in the country. He guides us and teaches us to trust Him one step at a time as we answer His call to learn more about land stewardship. Being closer to the land, our family gets a front seat to see Christ through His amazing creation. We are blessed with great freedom and responsibilities. Just like homeschooling, homesteading is not for the faint-of-heart. It is rewarding to see the great difference after or even during the toil. We are also blessed to see our place is starting to become a place where others can come to know him more and fellowship with each other. We have been so grateful for his provision in these ways, and look forward to seeing what he has around the corner that we still don’t see.
How are you? Is God leading you to a new uncharted area? How can we pray for you? Any setbacks in your life? Another answered prayer is that we were able to connect with friends from Ohio through text, email, mails and even visits!! We are grateful and looking forward to deepening our friendships over the distance and years. Let us know if you travel this way. We didn’t know when we first moved here that where we are is a tourist area with caves, restaurants, hiking, Laura Ingalls Wilder’s home, Sight and Sound Theater (and all the theater and entertainment of Branson), Silver Dollar City, One of America’s largest aquariums, Bass Pro headquarters, etc. It’s quite interesting that all of this is surrounded by a large and growing homesteading community that are looking to simplify and learn to live with the land, faith, hard work, and the local community, not dependent on the fragile systems of the world.
There is so much new in life that it would be easy to lose ourselves in endless work, while letting the investment into other important areas go. What is meant to help us draw near to God and to each other can easily become all consuming and bring separation. This has been a chance to see our own weaknesses, and to repent and slow down (or sometimes speed up), and be about what God has called us to.
We continue to pray for God to convict us of our own selfishness and lack of faith, and to pray that he will help us to work hard at what he has called us to, in the time and way he calls us to, while also having the restraint to slow down and know that relationships are more important than pure productivity.
Church
Our church here has been such a blessing. It has roughly tripled in size since our first time and it has been exciting seeing God’s bringing others to worship together. With being a small church, God has also blessed with opportunities for me (Robert) to step in for the pastor a few times, and to teach in a regular rotation on Wednesday evenings. Yesterday was my week and we were at Psalm 19. Such a blessing! Each week Elyse and I have the blessing of teaching the Young Adult Sunday School class, and we will be teaching one of the classes for VBS in July.
And More…
As you can imagine there is so, so much more. Hopefully this captures a small glimpse into what is going on at the homestead! God has lead, provided, and protected in so many ways. It is a joy to have opportunities to connect more deeply with him and to see his amazing work in Creation as we step out the door each day. We are so grateful and blessed. His creation points to it’s Creator… if we have eyes to see!
The following are a few that have to do more with the past few weeks than the first year (from my starting with that intent as I started writing this post). However, they give some insights into the past year as well.
Floods
This past Saturday it rained, and rained, and rained. We have a known leak in our roof (that we can’t fix until we take care of some other related issues), so this made me nervous, but we’ve prayed and surrendered it to God, so didn’t worry about it much.The leak gave us no problems! At the same time, a number of our friends had flooded basements. One who lives near a river had the river bank expand over 100 feet and flood their fields and basement. Others in our church had similar issues. With roads being closed, church was canceled on Sunday morning. It was great to be together on Sunday evening and to worship together and hear how God protected and gave joy through the floods.
Free Pallets
While out running errands one of my boys and I came across a lot of free wood pallets. These are like gold. For now we are collecting them to build a free and movable goat fence. Goats are the escape artists of the animal kingdom. (They can climb trees!!! Just picture looking up at the sound of a singing bird and seeing a goat! The thought makes me laugh. :o) Anyhow, we’ve heard that crates, if used correctly, are a good way to keep them in.
Hospitality
One of our big goals is to have our homestead as a place for people to come, draw near to God through his creation, to fellowship, and to learn. When we first moved in, with all of the issues that came with that, that goal seemed like a distant dream that was running further away. It has been a joy recently to have people come visit. We’ve had several visitors from Ohio, some staying the night, and some passing through, as well as starting to meet and connect with others in the community. It is a joy to see this becoming a reality and seeing God’s provision.
Cooking, Schooling,
With all of the above, everyone still needs to eat. We all need to be intentional in learning, etc. I am so grateful for all the Elyse has done in these areas, not only to somehow get them all done (cooking from scratch for every meal!), but to involve our boys. It is wonderful seeing the boys taking responsibility and learning these important skills. Teaching slows things down, but is starting to bear great fruit as well.
With so much native, freely growing food around us, it hardly seems necessary to plant a garden, but we’re excited to do so anyway.
Not long after we moved, we trimmed a section of a field and covered it with an old, very large, billboard tarp to kill off the weeds, etc. below. That should have been there for about a month or two, but with the busyness of fixing the house it ended up being there for closer to 10 months. For the past month or so we’ve been figuring out the best way to get wood chips. When our van broke down, we picked up a used truck and made trips filling the whole bed with wood chips. To prepare the garden we chopped it up with a mattock and then got down on hands and knees to pull out the large stones (LOTS of stones in the Ozarks) and weed roots. It’s been a slow and tiring process, but also a joy to do it together with the boys and very fulfilling to see it getting done, and the pile of stones growing larger and larger. We then mixed in a decent layer of decomposed cow manure. (We are surrounded by cow pastures, so this is easy to come by.) Finally topping it off with a thick layer of wood chips. (We’re shooting for about 4-6 inches over the whole garden to suppress weeds and breakdown to build the soil year after year.)
One fear was that with the tarp having been on for so long (too long), that the soil would be dead underneath. This was far from reality. We found it to be very much alive! There are tons of worms. With each swing of the mattock, we find a whole new crowd of worms! Wonderful! The weeds and grass had broken down, and the worms and various soil critters had been turning it all into wonderful soil!
We’ve been doing it in sections and hope to finish the last section today. The first section is already planted with asparagus (growing wonderfully) and strawberries. These are both perennials, like to spread, and can grow well together.
Update: We finished preparing the garden and planted Buckwheat over all of the unused parts as a ground cover and to help the soil. It also provides great feed for the chickens.
One goal (for now) is to have the base of our garden to be perennials, in a very well mulched garden. This captures the water, resists drought, is easy to weed, and comes back year after year. From that base, we can then add annuals elsewhere in the garden and as we start another garden spot.
Learning from our Chickens and Rabbits, we have been learning to find our own free food as well! (Who would have thought that it would come to this! :o)
When we left our yard in Ohio we knew we would miss our developed gardens, producing mulberry trees, grape vines, apple trees, nearby walnut tree, and even the dandelions (which are actually an import from Europe and a wonderful food source). What we didn’t know is that God had SO much more in store.
We have been learning so much about the plentiful food God provides (when you don’t need to keep a perfectly cut suburban yard). Each of the following has been a joyful discovery on our property over the past year (and quickly growing as we have been focusing on learning more over the past few weeks):
Over the past year we found : Mulberries, Walnuts, Persimmons, Red bud, Pokeweed, Dandelions,
We have also found the following healing herbs: Lambs Ear, Plantain (the “weed”, not the banana type fruit), Jewelweed (the antidote for poison ivy… which we also have… and need to get goats to manage for us)
We have also planted: Apples, Pears, Figs, Goji berries, Elderberries,
This past week we have been excited to find: Echinacea, Black-eyes Susan, Sumac (actually we knew that we had LOTS of sumac, but didn’t know how good it can be), and several other fun discoveries.
For the Echinacea. Elyse had just been commenting that she would like to plant some echinacea, and we saw a bunch growing wild in someone’s yard just yesterday. This morning Isaiah came over with something behind his back. He pulled it out and asked if this was what she was looking for. It ends up a bunch came up on the other side of the pond and we didn’t even know it!
Have you noticed that time moves WAY too quickly!!! Actually, it’s just as God intended it, I just need to learn to invest it wisely. :o) I keep meaning to write an update on a specific event, thing learned, way we’ve caught a glimpse of God’s glory, etc. … and then time slips by and it’s a few months later. In just a few days we will be at the one year mark of our move from Ohio to Missouri, June 19, 2023.
The following started off as just writing a week in review, but I realized that it turned into more than that. Rather than trying to catch everything and edit and overthink, it’s just some ideas of where we are now and things on my mind. It won’t be perfect… but it will get done! :o)
One thing I’ve been learning is that perfectionism kills (as nothing gets started and nothing gets done). I need to remember this for myself, and for my family and giving too much advice. :o)
I’ll post it over several days to keep it from being too long…
Daily Animal Care
Two of the regular daily activities are taking care of the chickens and rabbits. One of our boys is often up, has finished much of his school work and is out with the animals before breakfast. It is wonderful seeing his joy to start the day.
Chickens:
We now have ~22 chickens including 1 grown rooster, 8 grown hens and 13 chicks. That number changes as more are born and some die or disappear (at times leaving a pile of feathers). (We’ve only lost four so far, so that’s pretty good. We’re happy that the others seem to have learned not to wander into the woods. The over adventurous ring leaders tend to run into issues, which actually helps the others stay safe once they are gone.)
Each day we let them out and collect eggs around noon, and they come in on their own and we shut the door in the evening.
They basically take care of themselves finding bugs, grains and whatever else to eat since they are totally free ranged.
Speaking of free ranged, we also get to round them up from the neighbors’ properties at times. They like to visit one neighbor (whose yard is perpetually wet, so full of easy pickins on the worm smorgasbord).
The rooster occasionally likes to act tough and pick a fight with Robert (and sometimes Elijah), but he’s easily put in his place and we still love our “Roostie”. :o)
Rabbits
While our chickens are producers… our rabbits are consumers.
They need to be caged (though we’ve heard of people free ranging rabbits… maybe in the future).
We’ve tried breeding the rabbits, but that doesn’t seem to be happening. (We thought we would have babies this weekend, but that doesn’t seem to be happening.)
We cut “grass”, which is whatever is growing in our fields: wild onions, various grasses, etc. and give them to two of our rabbits (which are in normal cages). We have one rabbit in a rabbit tractor, that we just pull around the yard occasionally during the day and she has a new buffet with each pull. (We’re hoping to build two more tractors, but haven’t gotten around to it yet.)
Update: One of our rabbits died yesterday. While we have some guesses, we’re not sure why. Apparently this is somewhat common. Homesteading gives great opportunity to face life and death.
Goats
We’re looking forward to adding goats to the mix. The land could use them. With poison ivy as a favorite treat, these will be happy goats. (As I’ve mentioned before, we also have Jewelweed, the antidote for poison ivy, growing in abundance, so it’s not a big problem. God’s amazing provision.)
The original airing of this information a few years ago (referenced in this updated version) has stuck with me, and made me glad that we had a child with Whooping Cough a few years ago. It also helped me to see that while the wheezing breath sounds like the child is going to die at any moment, it really isn’t that dangerous (as one of my friends, who was also a pediatrician also comforted me at the time). As well as better understanding that time, it also gave me great insight into the problems with the vaccine (and possibly all vaccines). In my opinion this video is worth watching.
We need to get back to realizing that God created us with an amazing immune system that has kept generations alive and adapts to what comes at it. The more I learn about any area of God’s creation, the more amazed I am at our amazing Creator.
Robert’s Summary of the video
The DTaP (Pertussis / Whooping Cough) vaccine is advertised to stop the spread of Whooping Cough (Pertussis), with a focus on getting the vaccine to make sure that you don’t spread the disease to a baby or someone who is immunocompromised.
IT DOES NOT!
What it does is block the symptoms. It does NOT stop the disease from growing. It does NOT stop the disease from spreading. It only keeps you from feeling sick.
It also keeps your immune system from learning to fight the disease. This means that while someone who had whooping cough can only catch it once and then is immune for life (and can never catch or spread it again), those who had the vaccine can catch and spread it over, and over, and over again… without even knowing it.
Also, the vaccine wears off after a few years (apx. 4 years) so that you can now get the disease and feel sick and pass it along, over and over again (instead of just once from having actual natural immunity).
Even experts are starting to admit the mistakes that were made… while the same vaccine continues to be given.
This video goes into more details about the research and science supporting the above claims.
Robert’s Conclusion after the video
The same people who promote the DTaP vaccine are the ones promoting all of the vaccines (which have no long term safety or efficacy studies). It is very important for parents to do their homework before blindly vaccinating their children.
Robert’s Notes while watching the video
New Whooping Cough pandemic coming?
News summary
Infants & pregnant mothers
Pregnant moms and parents of babies being lied to
Study: Association between the COVID-19 pandemic and pertussis (Whooping Cough)
Limited B. pertussis in the community
May cause lack of herd immunity due to lockdowns
Comments:
There is less pertussis… but be afraid and go get vaccinated
News no longer directly blaming unvaccinated
What’s the answer? The vaccine?
Study: Acellular pertussis vaccines protect against disease but fail to prevent infection and transmission in a nonhuman primate model
Jump to Del explaining how the vaccines work in an earlier episode
Pediatricians tell you to get the DTAP to protect your baby? STOP!
Ad for DTAP comparing grandma to the big bad wolf
It’s actually the opposite!
Study: Acellular pertussis vaccines protect against disease but fail to prevent infection and transmission in a nonhuman primate model
Explains the study using three colors of stuffed baboons
Colors
Pink = received DTaP Vaccine
White = totally unvaccinated
Blue = Natural Immunity = had Pertussis ONCE, now immune for life
Expose all to Pertussis
Results
Pink (DTaP) have the entire disease, carrying it, etc. just without the cough
White (unvaccinated) have the entire disease, carrying it, etc. and feel sick
Blue (naturally immune) are perfectly healthy, not carrying the disease, not sick
The ad says Pink (DTaP) is the safer group to visit your baby
It’s a LIE!
White and Pink are equally contagious and dangerous to baby
White feels sick and stays home
Pink feels fine, Goes to see baby, and infects baby
Side study
Pink (DTaP) with Pertussis alone with White (unvaccinated)
White got sick every time.
Pink (DTaP) is the real wolf, spreading the disease without anyone knowing.
Pink (DTaP) can also never be sure if it is safe to be around the baby. They can’t know if they are carrying the disease or not.
White will have pertusis ONCE, then will never have it again and will never need to worry about it in the future.
Ad = False advertising
Same with COVID vaccine
You cannot create herd immunity if you have a “leaky” vaccine, where you have and can spread the disease, but just don’t feel sick so don’t know it.
They say to get the vaccine to protect others… the opposite is true! Now you are spreading the disease without even knowing it.
This same argument is winning in court.
That study was from 2013, is there more research now?
2019 study (right before the Pandemic)
Study: Pertussis Prevention: Reasons for Resurgence, and Differences in the Current Acellular Pertussis Vaccines
“Preventive measures such as aPVs that do not induce a valid mucosal response can prevent disease but cannot avoid infection and transmission.”
“Lack of mucosal immune response after aPV administration favor infection, persistent colonization, and transmission of the pathogen.”
Vaccines do not do a good job of “mucosal immune response”. Herd immunity (from catching the disease) does a good job of that).
“Finally, aPV pertussis vaccines do not prevent colonization. Consequently, they do not reduce the circulation of B. pertussis and do not exert any herd immunity effect. These findings at least partly explain the resurgence of pertussis.”
NOTE: Jeffery Jaxon’s computer having issues, so Dell finishes the related slides
Summary of Studies
Not only are the vaccines not stopping your from getting infected. They are priming you so that you get infected more often.
Study: The 112-Year Odyssey of Pertussis and Pertussis Vaccines – Mistakes Made and Implications for the Future (James Cherry)
This will be hard for many to take because so many were vaccinated thinking we were doing the right thing. We need to face reality, even if hard.
“Because of the small number of antigens (3-5 in DTaP vaccines vs >3000 in DTwP vaccines), linked-epitope suppression occurs. Because of linked-epitope suppression, all children who were primed with DTaP vaccines will be more susceptible to pertussis throughout their lifetimes, and there is no easy way to decrease this increased lifetime susceptibility.”
The DTwP vaccines were before DTaP and were very dangerous in other ways.
“All children who were primed”!!!!!
Once you have this vaccine, you will be infected more and over and over again for the rest of your life.
Study: Resurgence of Whooping Cough May Owe to Vaccine’s Inability to Prevent Infections
“This disease is back because we didn’t really understand how our immune defenses against whooping cough worked, and did not understand how the vaccines needed to work to prevent it,” said Christopher J. Gill, associate professor of global health and lead author of the article. “Instead we layered assumptions upon assumptions, and now find ourselves in the uncomfortable position of admitting that we may [have] made some crucial errors. This is definitely not where we thought we’d be in 2017.”
We’re still here in 2024 with the same vaccine.
Same vaccine allowing mothers, children, etc. to get infected over and over and over again. You’re not protecting your baby. You’re putting them at more risk.
What if all the vaccines are doing that? How many are doing that? I am now infected and can spread it, but just don’t know it since the vaccine covers the symptoms.
Note: Jeffery is back online
Study (CDC): Prevention of Pertussis, Tetanus, and Diphtheria with Vaccines in the United States: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)
“Another study that calculated Tdap vaccine effectiveness among adolescents found that, within the first year after vaccination, effectiveness with 68.8%; by ≥4 years after vaccination, vaccine effectiveness was 8.9%.”
Del’s thought (not a statement of fact/science): Is it possible that since the vaccines are so bad that we get back our natural immunity after several years?
3rd Culture Living 