I finished building my screen door!! I also pressured washed the porch and front of the house last week so now the porch is a pleasant spot to eat lunch.

Just a quick entry to let everyone know I am still alive. I have been busy busy trying to keep the weeds at less then 2 feet high in the field. Thankfully Jeff has had some time lately to help me out a few times a week. Speaking of Jeff.....you gotta see him go with his new "weedeater" (i.e. a scythe). Not to mention he put most of my drip irrigation system in (while I was running back and forth trying to figure out which weeds to pull). I do believe I will make a farmer out of him yet. This is all while he keeps us afloat with his editing until the flowers start to bring in some cash.

Some of the things I am working on: Just about got my screen door finished (made from scratch, thank you). Half the front porch is pressured washed (I ran out of steam this evening). The bedroom will be half painted next week (and I say again...it WILL). Looking for a milk cow. Studying up on my pasture management(it has been a few years since I knew anything about this). Thinking about making a house for my guineas. Soon to come....cheese making ( I loooove cheese!) and roof painting(OK probably not till fall).

Jeff's projects: Practicing up with his scythe to get ready to harvest his wheat. Studying up on switching our water supply from county water to spring water so we don't have to drink the yucky water anymore. Soon to come...roof repairs and ditch digging.

Guineas

OK so this was 2 weeks ago when this picture was taken....but here they are....the guinea keets. Now they are four times this size.

Farmer Boy

Rome Wasn't Built In A Day

This was a tough week for me. The stress and overwork of farming weighed me down. It wasn't until this morning as I worked in the field that this came to me, "Rome wasn't built in a day". It is funny because I wasn't really even thinking about all the work I yet had to do. But I had been...all week. This little saying just came to me and made me just kinda laugh at how ridicilous it is to think I can get as much done as I plan for myself. Much against what seems to make sense, as long as I remind myself every morning that this is a fleeting moment and soon I will not be on this earth, work is not such a chore. It is actually enjoyable to work because I am commmanded to by God and not because I have to make money and support us. Provisions come from God....not from my or Jeff's work. We really just do this as an occupation for God's glory. But if I could only remember this day to day......

Meditation in a Toolshed

I was standing today in a dark toolshed. The sun was shining outside and through the crack at the top of the door there came a sunbeam. From where I stood that beam of light, with the specks of dust floating in it, was the most striking thing in the place. Everything else was almost pitch-black. I was seeing the beam, not seeing things by it.
Then I moved, so that the beam fell on my eyes. Instantly the whole previous picture vanished. I saw no tool shed, and (above all) no beam. Instead I saw, framed in the irregular cranny in the top of the door, green leaves moving on the branches of a tree outside and beyond that, ninety-odd million miles away, the sun. Looking along the beam, and looking at the beam are very different experiences. - C.S.Lewis

The top picture is of the field now. And below is a picture of the field at this time last year. Although you may not be able to tell a lot of difference from the picture, we have twice as much in beds and planted as we did last year at this time. The entire other side of the field (which you cannot see in last year's picture) wasn't even made into beds yet, which it is this year. And that is even with Jeff only helping me 1 or 2 times a week in the morning. We found a more efficient way to make beds which has helped a bunch. And I am a lot less precise about my planting as seeds are relatively cheap as compared to time. For the most part, planting is done...just a few plantings here and throughout the summer to keep a steady supply. Now weeding begins!!

Save the farm from developers

Looking at this article, makes you wonder if rising gas prices may be the beginning of saving farmscapes from development into suburbia. Rural Living in a World with Expensive Fuel