Back in the saddle

I apologize for not keeping up with this blog. I used to write it at work during my lunch breaks, however, our IT department has blocked any web-hosting sites such as blogspot, and I'm usually to beat to do it in the evenings.

Lots of changes have transpired since my last entry. The garden is winding down, although I do have turnips, fall snap peas, cukes, and beets planted. I put them in at the beginning of September to see if I can extend the season.

We have been very busy canning and freezing since about the first week of August. Our pantry is packed with 2 types of pickled beets (spicy and regular), lots of quarts of Tomatoes, salsa, pizza sauce, pickled hot peppers, strawberry jam, tons of pickles, and tomorrow grape jelly!! We harvested a ton of grapes from our arbor and juiced them yesterday. Tomorrow I have the day off so Shelley and I are going to be hard at it.

Speaking of my wife Shelley, that is perhaps the biggest news of all, and the most important to our homestead. Since we married, we have been hoping to find a way for Shelley to be a stay at home mom. Obviously, it would be a wonderful blessing to our kids, but it would also make some of our micro farming dreams possible.

We prayed constantly, asking God to make it possible for her to take this step, the problem was that we didn't listen for His reply. Over and over, we felt "now was the time", then something would happen to cause us to reconsider whether it was an unexpected bill, a needed repair, etc... God is faithful, and His will was for Shell to stay home, we just had to learn to depend on His provision.

Long story short... Friday, September 11 (hopefully not a bad omen) was Shelley's last day at her work. The adjustment has been great so far, although we still have lots of planning to do. As to the farm, we have purchased a chicken coup from my neighbor who is getting out of chickens, and fence posts for the goats we hope to add this spring.

We intend on raising two dairy goats to provide us with our milk and cheese, along with the laying chickens for eggs, and meat chickens for the pot. All these animals need lots of attention, the goats alone must be milked twice a day. It would've been impossible to do with both of us working.

We are taking steps every day to carve the simple life we crave out of the worlds busy schedules and hectic paces. We are not interested with keeping up with the Jones, the Smiths, or anyone. As a society we have lost so much in our quest for progress and leisure, we are paying for it in the general decline of our society. You can see it reflected in the attitudes of our children and the lack of civility in public discourse, and most importantly in the over-all mood of the people.

As a people, we need to step back and reexamine our priorities, and more importantly turn our faces back to God. That is what Shelley and I are trying to do on our little plot of ground. It is our form of revolution, a revolution of the soul, and a rehabilitation of the spirit.