Homestead Update 2024/10/07

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.

First Year #5: Marriage/Parenting, Church, …

Marriage, Parenting, Growing with God, etc.

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!

First Year #4: Floods, Pallets, Hospitality, Cooking/Schooling

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.

First Year #3: Preparing the Garden

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.

First Year #2: Finding Free Food!!! (Foraging)

Finding FREE Food!!! (Foraging)

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!

First Year #1: Animal Care

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.)

Highwire: How DTaP Vaccine Spreads Whooping Cough

Segment: How DTAP Vaccine Spreads Whooping Cough (17min)

Full Episode 372: Bad Medicine (2024/05/16)

Click here for more about Vaccines.

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?

Poison Ivy & Sin / The Problem & the Cure

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

The Problem

A few months ago, I was picking poison ivy from our property. Honestly, I was being proud. I’d cleaned out poison ivy before once before without a reaction, so I was wearing short gloves (not arm length), shorts, and a short sleeve shirt, as I walked through patches of it, ripping them and stuffing them deep into a garbage bag. I rubbed my face a few times, and had long branches of it brush my face, eyes, and get in my mouth. (To give myself a little excuse, I meant to just pick one plant I saw, that led to two, which led to three, which led to where this story finds us. It was a gradual progression and I kept thinking, “one more won’t hurt”, and then “I’ve done this much already. Why stop now?)

How does the thought of that make you feel? “Stupid!”, “What was he thinking!?”, “Ooooo!”, “He deserved what he had coming.”

If you were there with me thinking you were picking up leaves, and then realized that you had been getting poison ivy all over your body, how would you be feeling (before the itch sets in)? “Oh no. Oh no. Oh no.” “How do I get it off?” “Should I shower? Will that make it better or worse?” “How do I avoid spreading this to my family?” “How bad is it going to get?”

Most people take poison ivy very seriously. They stay away. 

How seriously do we take sin?

How does your emotional reaction to realizing that you lied without thinking much of it compare to your emotional reaction to realizing you just tripped into a poison ivy patch? How about your reaction to finding yourself looking at something you shouldn’t? Saying something inappropriate? Thinking something that made you glad others can’t read your mind? How does your reaction compare to landing in that poison ivy patch?

For many, we don’t see the immediate consequences and don’t take it nearly as seriously.

The Bible however reminds us that, “For the wages of sin is death…. (Romans 6:23)” DEATH! And James 2:10 points out, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.”

The best definition I have heard of sin is, “Sin is everything in thought, word, and deed that is contrary to the will of God.” (BSF) Anything that we think, say, or do, that is not in obedience to, and for the glory of, God, is sin.  And the wages of sin in death!

Where poison ivy may result in discomfort for a short while for most people (from minimal itch, to a severe medical situation for a few), it is usually not a life changing (or ending) situation. Sin on the other hand results in eternal death, separation from God.

My reaction when I stepped back and realized my situation with the poison ivy, helped me to see how flippantly I can dismiss my own sin. Do you dismiss and excuse your sin? Do you see the gravity of the situation?

The Cure

If you find yourself covered in poison ivy and a trusted, experienced, neighbor walks over, sees your plight, and lets you know that there is an antidote for poison ivy, and that they will go get some for you, how do you feel? Perhaps doubtful, but hopeful, considering the source. Perhaps able to breathe again with relief.

There is an antidote for poison ivy. I’m not sure why it’s not more widely known, but there is an antidote. Jewelweed often grows near poison ivy, and is the natural antidote. (Apparently there is a natural chemical in the sap that breaks down the Urushiol from the poison ivy, effectively neutralizing it.) 

Elyse and I first learned about Jewelweed while taking a walk in the park back in Ohio, before moving to Missouri. We took a picture of the beautiful flower (the jewel), searched for it, and had a huge “AHA” moment! God is so good. We had never known it, but he provided the antidote for the dreaded poison ivy right there, and we never knew! (Do you ever wonder what else we don’t know that could help with so many other issues?)

One of my subtle hopes as we looked at properties is that we would have jewelweed (along with cattails, and a few other things).

As God provided the antidote for poison ivy (even if most have no idea, or are doubtful even hearing about it), he also provided the antidote for sin, though that antidote was more costly, as the consequences are more severe.

Just as the Jewelweed must be crushed to let the juices flow out and cover the affected area, so Jesus, the Son of God, was crushed for our sins. As Isaiah wrote, “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)

The cost was high, but we didn’t pay it. Jesus did. He didn’t just neutralize the effects of sin, he took them. He died in our place. He took our sin and gave us his righteousness.

The wages of sin truly is death. God did not change that; He just sent Jesus to take that death for us.

If you are covered with poison ivy, how does your response to hearing about an antidote compare to your hearing about the antidote for sin? Think about that. What does it say about how seriously we see sin? For me, it has a been convicting to see how easily I dismiss sin, and take the antidote for granted.

Lord, I pray that you would help me to see your holiness, the horror of my sin, and be overwhelmed at your great gift!

The story ended well. Though I got into the poison ivy early in the season, before the jewelweed had grown (or at least before I could identify it), my arms got somewhat itchy, just enough that it felt good to gently rub my finger nails over them, and a little itchy at night. I didn’t pass it to others. And it passed in about a week. I am grateful for God’s mercy on my pride.

Resources:

Music, Trees, Scraps and Joyful Teamwork

Today (written March 22, 2024) was a great day. Elyse and I woke up to the boys playing their instruments together. Not fighting, but joyfully playing together! We then started with family exercise, family Bible time, family announcements and Breakfast (… as a family). And everything went smoothly and all were involved and encouraging each other, continuing on the great start… It’s interesting how very not well this simple routine can sometimes go, making today a great blessing. :o)

Two of the “Special” tasks for today were to dig holes and plant three fig trees and clean up and sort the siding and decking from removing a rotting deck and siding). (“Special” tasks, not counting all the “regular” activities like preparing three healthy, freshmade meals a day, doing laundry, and keeping the house orderly while homeschooling three ages with a baby in the house and house repairs still ongoing. Thank you, Darling!)

These two tasks reminded me how great it is to work together joyfully. For the trees, I was the full time pick-axer (the Ozarks have a LOT of large stones) and went from hole to hole and the boys shoveled them out behind me (three trees, three holes and three boys). Our neighbor and older friend who has basically adopted our family happened to come by and was working with us for the last hole. It was great to see the boys joyfully jump into the work and be down on hands and knees removing the dirt and stones. It became something of a race, but with them helping each other if wanted.

We then had one hour before supper and decided to see how much we could get done on cleaning up the siding and deck scraps. I had low expectations and was amazed. Everyone jumped in full force. All were grabbing and stacking the siding. One of the boys and I sorted the decking wood for keeping or burning, while another got busy removing nails from the keeper boards, and another was in charge of organizing the finished wood on a dolly.

I thought this would take hours or even days. We went through the piles and cleaned up scraps on the ground in one hour. I was amazed.

It is amazing how much can get done, quickly and well, when everyone sets their minds to do so and works together joyfully.

Now, if only we can learn from today and hit future tasks with such joyful teamwork. That doesn’t always happen (it often doesn’t), but today was a great picture of what can happen when it does.

Our yard is no longer an obstacle course of rotting boards and we now have three different fig trees added to the two apples we recently planted and the two apples and two Asian pears that we planted in the fall (which are now getting leafy with flower buds!).

Between that, collecting eggs, taking care of the chickens and rabbits and the countless other jobs, life is full and a joy to learn more about God’s amazing creation and how we may plant and water, but it is He that makes things grow!

Lord, grow in us a spirit of love. Love for you and for one another. Thank you for the snapshot of “how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1)

Update (2024/05/06) – Today we finally finished picking up the piles of rocks that were created by digging those holes. Again, it was a joy seeing the boys jump into picking up the rocks, trimming the weeds (to find more rocks), etc. This doesn’t always happen so joyfully, but this whole project with the trees has been such a joy. We have been rewarded by seeing all of them growing well. The apples and pears are already showing fruit, but we picked them off to promote root growth this year instead of fruit growth. We are looking forward to seeing how our mini orchard grows and how our family, through hard work, persistence and the work of the Holy Spirit, can grow along with it.

Azure Standard

We have been members of Costco for quite a few years. As it was, the amazing price on steel cut oats and whole grain brown rice alone covered the cost of membership. With both of these now being gone (and having been gone for quite some time), we started looking into options. The best option that came up, which seems to be well known in the homesteading community, but we had totally missed it, is Azure Standard.

Basically, you place your order online and the Azure trucks make their rounds throughout the US once a month to drop off at a central point near you for everyone to pick up their orders. There are no minimum orders, just order as you have needs.

The secret we found for great pricing is to buy in bulk. The website breaks down the price per item/weight/etc. and buying in bulk can save quite a bit for most items. (Enough to invest in some food grade buckets and twist lids for storage. :o) Buying in bulk takes some advanced planning, but reduces costs overall and may also reduce impulse shopping, if that is a temptation.

We picked up our first order and are seeing that this works for our family. We haven’t completely dropped Costco yet, but that may be coming before too long.

This also helps with our desire to be more on the homestead and less in the city. With buying bulk and delivery nearby, we aren’t spending a lot of time shopping and in the city. Eventually our goal is to be more “community sufficient” and decrease the needs for outside resources, but for now this seems to be a good way to provide for many of our needs.

(Our focus for now with Azure is on dried products, grains, rices, etc. as we see what works best for our family.)

We may post an update on this once we have more to say, but for now we have been happy.

If you should want to try Azure, we would appreciate your using our Referral link for a credit towards our purchases (https://www.azurestandard.com/?a_aid=0e932062e4), or go to https://www.azurestandard.com/start and use our referral code (RobertGoll2).

Helping to unload the truck. Grab a package and find the pile for that family. Fun and a chance to connect.

Update (2025/04/22 – Over one year using Azure)

Additional positives that we have found:

Clearance – Each month, it can also be fun to see what they have on clearance. Sometimes things are just a small discount, but occasionally there is something on deep discount that can make a nice treat for the family. We don’t usually end up ordering clearance items, but it can be a fun bonus sometimes.

Community – As we’ve been there for quite a few pickups, we have also enjoyed talking with others who are there to pick up. It’s a nice group and tends to have some similarity of thought with desire to stay healthy and being organized enough to make the plans for shopping in advance once a month. We’ve enjoyed connecting with others in line. (Speaking of the “line”. The line is to help unload the truck. Everyone who would like to help unload, stands in line on the ground while the driver is in the truck. He hands you a box and you go put it by the name markers that are on the ground. (Don’t worry, if you can’t help with the line, that is no problem. Others have fun doing it.)

We have found two potential negatives:

Timing of the pickup – You know when you order what week the truck will come (Monday-Friday), but not specifically which day, that isn’t known until a few days before (and could change if the truck has issues). This can make planning a bit difficult. We did need to miss one pickup due to a scheduling conflict. The organizers of our local pickup were kind enough to take our bag (fortunately a small order that month) to their house for us to pick up later. Some organizers may charge a small fee for this. As we get to know more people using Azure, we can help each other to pick up if there is a conflict.

Rain/Snow – We have been using Azure for a year and I don’t think we’ve run into this, but rain or snow could be an issue. The truck comes when the truck comes. There may be some cover at your drop-off point, or perhaps not. That could be an issue with bulk dry goods. We’ve had this in mind some months as it looked like it could rain, but I don’t think it has been an issue.

We have continued to enjoy Azure. It has been a good fit for our family.