So many things to be thankful for This is the one week in the year when most Americans pause to give thanks for all they have. I love to see on Facebook when others try to keep the spirit of thanksgiving alive for more than one day. This year has brought huge changes in our lives and God has blessed us with a plethora of things to be thankful for. Honestly, I can’t go a single day without thinking of these blessings. Most recently has been the blessing of moving to rural Idaho and beginning a farm lifestyle. We have been blessed to meet so many wonderful and kind people who love the Lord and love the land. We have some awesome animals that are fun to watch as they play, eat, and live their happy lives. Someone asked us how we will ever be able to eat our animals when the time comes. We answered, “Well, one bite at a time probably.” Our philosophy is that we understand we are raising animals for food, but we still love them and treat them like pets. I think they will produce better meat, more delicious eggs, better fiber, and sweeter milk if we help make their short lives happy lives. We don’t have any proof of that, but what’s the harm in being more gentle stewards over the animals the Lord has blessed us with? This week the temperatures ranged between the 20’s and 50’s and the ground went from frozen to a sloppy mess. It gets pretty difficult to feed animals when you pick up about 4 pounds of mud on each boot every time you walk outside. This weeks’ mission is to find as many wood pallets as possible to build a raised walkway from the house to the chicken coop and to all the other pens so we don’t have to get so muddy. We are going through firewood like water and are learning it takes constant care to keep the fire at the right temperature for the house. I split wood every day and I can see why farmers don’t need personal trainers. My arms and ribs are sore from swinging the ax, but it’s a good kind of sore. We celebrated Thanksgiving at our home this year and had family come share the day on the farm. It was wonderful to watch the excitement in our nephews and niece’s eyes as they met the animals and played with kittens, puppies, pigs, and goats. My favorite quote of the week is from David Olsen when he said over and over “We need to move here!” We ate turkey that was locally grown on our friends’ small farm, and mashed potatoes grown locally on a big farm. We are so grateful for the things we have been learning about growing and preparing food, and hope to have an even bigger contribution to Thanksgiving dinner next year. What thanksgiving would be complete without at least one attempt to cut off the end of my finger while cutting potatoes. Thankfully it was just a little cut this year and we didn’t have to make a trip to the ER. Instead we enjoyed sharing our little homestead and our little valley with people we love and we hope they come back soon. Well, the offer still stands. An open invitation for visitors to come and see the exciting things we are learning and doing and to share in the peace of our beautiful little valley. Until next time, remember we’re also thankful for everyone who reads about our little adventure. God Bless!
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 03:20:55 +0000
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