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Hi Everyone,
Day by day, and with each passing moment, Strength I find to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment, I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.
He, whose heart is kind beyond all measure, Gives unto each day what He deems best,
Lovingly its part of pain and pleasure, Mingling toil with peace and rest.
Yes, ‘tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, knowing that he knows best how your days should go and just what you really should accomplish in a week. I had big plans for last week, but by the time I went to bed last Sunday night I had a really bad earache. It knocked me for a few days. When I realized that I would be spending Monday inside, my mind began to think about different things that I could do: make salves, sew, clean—but alas, my body said that it could care less about doing anything and I ended up spending my afternoon on the sofa resting my ear on a heating pad. By Tuesday the pain was gone, but my ear was clogged and I was living in a “tunnel” and still didn’t have much energy. I did manage to accomplish a little bit more than milking the cows and deleting old emails—I bottled the kefir, helped package eggs, made yogurt, drained the herbs out of the oil for two salves I had started a week ago, and went to the garden to harvest tomatoes. By Thursday I was all prepared to head back outside to the summer heat where you swim out of water in your own sweat. My ear still wasn’t 100% healed, but I had gardens to prepare for planting—but God had other plans. As soon as we were done milking it began to rain! So I stayed inside and organized the pantry (ever buy in bulk but never take the time to actually put the items on the shelves), vacuumed parts of the house, took a crushed gallons worth of cayenne peppers off of the dehydrator, started the herbal oil for my Radiant Balm salve, and folded a bunch of laundry. It didn’t rain for more than 30 minutes—which gave Mama and Papa the chance to work outside, but it was long enough for me to be convinced that I would rather spend my day inside.
We always have customers showing up here on the farm, and sometimes they are new customers. When I was working inside Thursday afternoon, Mama and Papa were picking up grass in the backyard. All of a sudden Mama started honking the horn at me to let me know that there was a customer that she wanted me to take care of. When I got outside I did not come face to face with a customer—but some friends that we haven’t seen in years and didn’t think that I would ever see again since they had moved to Montana. They were in town visiting family and blessed us by stopping by for an hour or so to catch up and enjoy some sweet fellowship.
While I was inside nursing my ear on Monday, lots of activity was going on outside. Mama was busy mowing. Papa was cleaning up the Brooder Room floor so that the concrete can be sealed, and then he cleaned up the walls and finished putting in screws so that they can be painted. The electricians were here also—they installed the electrical outlets, light switches and lights in the Brooder Room. I had walked out to check the mail and stopped by to see the progress in the room. Just as I walked into the room the lights turned on. Papa couldn’t have timed the flipping on of the breaker any better—and he didn’t even know that I was in there. The Brooder room will be the first room done and ready for use.
Friday was chicken processing day, and we have greatly been blessed this year by most of the chickens in every batch actually surviving until their graduation day. The last few years we have had trouble getting chicks in the mail, and the chick survival rate was pretty poor. This year we are picking the chicks up from the hatchery the day they are born—and what a difference it has made in their health. We started processing around noon and we finished around 6:00 with 36 chickens packaged whole and 30 of them cut up and packaged. We had two helpers—a lady that has helped us once before, and our new worker, Micah. The Lord was really merciful with help this summer. He sent us Jessie for the summer, and the last day that Jessie worked Micah showed up asking for a job. The timing was perfect. Micah will get a month of training before he takes over all the outside chores that Steve does—for come September 1st, Steve “retires” and will only come in for a few hours five days a week (Wednesday thru Sunday) to bottle milk and wash the milking equipment. Micah will work five days a week (Monday thru Friday) and he will bottle milk and wash the milking equipment on Monday and Tuesday along with feeding all the heifers, bulls, broilers, and new laying hens. Once the morning chores are done Micah will help in the gardens too.
Come Saturday afternoon I did make it to the garden—but not to pull weeds. I desperately needed to harvest the cayenne peppers, the pumpkins and the pepperoncini peppers. It was hot—and picking cayenne peppers off of twenty plants that are fully loaded is no quick job. I managed to pick a big basket full. I found two more pumpkins and almost a whole gallon of pepperoncini’s. As soon as we came inside (Mama had been weeding in front of our Cracker shed), the wind picked up, the sky turned black, and it rained. The wind and the cloud coverage would sure have been nice while we worked. As it was I got sunburned right through my dress. I know it sounds funny in the midst of this summer heat—but have you gotten a taste of fall yet? The other day we were eating lunch and I felt it for the first time this year—the sense that fall is coming. The sky looks a little different; the sunlight has changed just a little. You start thinking about fall leaves, pumpkins, and hay rides—yep, fall is right around the corner.
I lost a lot a time in the garden last week—I hope to make up for it this week. Anyone who enjoys heat and doesn’t mind sweating who wants to help in the garden is more than welcome to join in all the fun. There are weeds to pull, old plants to remove, compost and wood ashes to spread, rows to broadfork, walkways to fill with woodchips, and potatoes, carrots, and multiplying onions to plant—and the weather forecast on the bottom of my computer just said, “Hot days ahead!” Yes, it is still summer! But it is time to start planting the fall gardens.
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare