So we have been very busy around here that last couple of weeks--here are a few pictures of the things keeping us busy
BELOW--These are the little doelings that were born February 16th--My, how they have grown--They bring great joy to our little farmstead!

BELOW--A few of the hens and the only rooster we have right now--Our buff rooster got killed by the rooster you see in the picture--They were fighting over a hen--we couldn't get to them in time to break up the fight--such is life on a farm I suppose


BELOW--These are the roosters that will become dinner in a very few months--
BELOW--Ok, these will be dinner come end of summer--They have enjoyed playing in the dirt the past few days that it has been really warm!

BELOW--These are the Blueberries--they are just beginning to leaf out--We have 6 plants--2 did not survive the winter--they will be replaced next week or the next--

BELOW--These are the 2 peach trees we have--


BELOW--These are the strawberries--looks as if we lost a few, but no worry as they spread rapidly--we are going to add another bed this spring--

BELOW--These are the taters--we will add more tires filled with dirt as the taters grow



BELOW--The Greenhouse(not quite finished in this picture)

Ok, so thats some of what we have been up to the past few weeks--Busy,but we love it!--as spring progress' we will even busier--we have many plans in the making--we are hoping for this to be the year we complete our homestead endeavors and can sit back and enjoy what we have built--Self-Reliance is on the horizon--God is good!

::Until Next Time::
T.D.H

Self-Reliance and Survival

Hubby and I have many reasons why we want to be self reliant--the 1st reason is because it is what God has called us to do--secondly we have to realize that at some point no matter how much food you stock, if there are no stores or there are rations you will eventually run out of that food--then what?--We are working toward getting stocked up for the here and now, but also preparing for the further down the road--When all those food reserves are gone--whatcha gonna do?--We are hopeful that we will be ok--With a little bit of forethought and planning you can survive for a very long time right where you are--

So here's our thinking--

Hens--We are adding a few more this spring--more of the broody type hens(buffs, bantys) and will let them set clutches of eggs--this will replenish our flock--they may not be the heritage breeds I have now, but cross breeds can lay eggs too!--LOL--All roosters will go in the freezer--period--no if's, and's or "oh mom that one is so cute can I keep it"--nope, can't happen--ain't gonna happen!

Roosters-- We now have 50 roosters that will be going in the freezer in a just a few months--will save 1 or 2 for helping in replenshing my flock--roos in the freezer--hens in the nest box!

Pigs--We are extending our pens to be able to add some females and begin a breeding schedule--this will give us meat, plus a small income from selling or even bartering when needed--

Goats--we are keeping the kids just born since they are does, they will be bred this fall(8 months or 80 lbs is breeding time) and they will help start a small herd--females will be kept, bucks will be sold and or bartered--males could be butchered in a pinch--Does will provide milk if no other source is available to us--could use the milk to make butter and cheese--

We live in the woods--plenty of fire wood--plenty of deer and wild game such as rabbits, squirrels and what have ya--

We have nut trees growing on our property, and wild berries if needed--of course we have our various asundry of berries and fruits that we have planted--

We are on a well, so water is not an issue as long as we could pump it from the ground--we are looking into a hand pump that will pump from a very deep well--Ours is either 360 or 380 feet deep--so we need a pretty good pump--found one just gotta get the $$ to get one--

Of course well know heirloom seeds can be used for years if saved correctly--so we have invested in lots of those not just for our veggies, but also herbs--again, we all know herbs not only serve as great seasoning for foods, but if medication were not available--you could use natural medicine--your medicine cabinet would be your front yard!

Gardening--We are building several raised beds this year for veggies--I also have a greenhouse now for fall/winter gardening--All that we will plant are heirlooms so seeds can be saved for next year--Lord willing--

Fruit-We have 2 peach trees--1 apple tree--and one meyer lemon tree--will be adding a sand plum tree this year--We also have strawberries, blackberries, blueberries & grapes we have planted--more will be added this year


Books--I do think its a great idea to have books about gardening, herbal medicine, survival skills etc... on hand--I think it was Denita that mentioned a binder full of things you find here on the internet--Awesome idea!

Our goal is to only need to purchase those things we cannot grow ourselves--salt, sugar, flour etc--Just like it used to be done--we are almost there!!

Finally it is also important to surround yourself with others that understand why you are doign what you are doing--people that don't get it alot of times will make you feel bad or bring ya down--Find those 'likeminded' indviduals, share ideas and help one another--you may find someone that really compliments what you know and vice versa--I know I have! :0)

Lastly I want to say--choose wisely who share information with--No need to tell everyone you know that you have 467 cans of green beans--LOL--it is not gonna serve the friendship necessarily, but could serve to be your undoing and your going hungry if they decided to rip ya off!--

::Until Next Time::
T.D.H

Progress

The warmer temps have drawn us outside and have started our minds working overtime--LOL-so much to do, so little time seems to be the feeling around here lately--We are making wonderful progress to our goals this spring and summer, but much still needs done--

In December I wrote out these goals--here is we are:

• Get fencing done(property and critters)
• Build the garden beds(will start today)
• Get herb garden started
• Purchase meat birds(DONE)
• Get barn from my dads and reassembled
• Add 2 more dairy goats(MAYBE)--(DONE thru the the mama goat birthing does)
• Get house addition done
• Organize the yard/garden tools etc.. (WILL BE DONE THIS WEEK)
• Continue pantry stocking(STILL WORKING--ALMOST WHERE I WANNA BE)
• Get Greenhouse built(by March) (ALMOST DONE)
• Get at least 3 months ahead on land pymts

We have made quite a bit of progress, I think--Once our tax refund comes in, more will be accomplished, specifically the pantry stocking with that we should be able to finish up what we have started--I am so excited to have this 'extra' money to persue our goals--God has really been good to us since living here--A few year ago I would never have imangined being where we are, right on the brink of self reliance--its a wonderful, satisfying feeling and one you cannot grasp unless you have lived it--There is peace in knowing you can take care of your family in the event of disaster--But we also realize it could all be taken away from us in the blink of an eye--this is where we trust the Lord--He did not bring us this far to leave us--He has a purpose for us here--somedays I think I understand it and then there are days I don't--but like Noah--we do as we are instructed and in the end we feel we will see what it was all for--and it is possible we never will--What we know for sure is that we are working towards a goal--we are still not 100% what the end result will be, we are just following the prompting of the Lord--so many times throughout this past 2 years I have questioned where the money would come from to finance some of our endeavors--I remember one time I was sitting outside just having time with God and I said--"Lord, I can't do that--We don't have the money"--he answered--"you don't, but I do"--and sure enough he provided--It's all about trusting what the Lord says--This year we are getting the biggest tax refund we have ever gotten--it will provide everything we need to meet our goals for this spring and summer--How cool is that?--Many times I don't give the Lord credit for all he has done--it is something I need to work on--that is my personal goal for the year--

T.D.H

U.S. Dollar Collapse Could Occur at Any Time

U.S. Dollar Collapse Could Occur at Any Time

China this morning reported 4.9% price inflation for the month of February, exceeding analyst expectations of 4.8%. With China now mimicking the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and taking steps to artificially manipulate their consumer price index (CPI) numbers as low as possible, it is likely that real price inflation in China is now closer to 10%. China was at least smart enough to raise interest rates last month by 25 basis points to 6.06%, while the Federal Reserve continues to leave interest rates near zero with there being absolutely no talk of the Federal Reserve ever raising interest rates again. China will be successful at containing inflation, as U.S. inflation spirals out of control and becomes the greatest economic crisis in American history.

China this week reported a $7.3 billion trade deficit for the month of February, its largest trade deficit in seven years, which surprised many global economists. NIA believes China's trade deficit is temporary and that China will quickly return to having a trade surplus. The Federal Reserve's QE2 along with China's destructive monetary policies, which artificially devalue the yuan, have led to a massive rise in China's raw material costs this year. NIA believes that in the upcoming months, Chinese manufacturers will raise the prices of their products that get exported to the U.S., to counteract rising commodity prices. With most products used by Americans today having been manufactured in China, this will mean Americans will soon see massive price inflation in just about all consumer goods they use. NIA projects that by the end of 2011, we will begin to see the U.S. CPI increase by 4.9% or higher on a year-over-year basis, with real U.S. price inflation rising north of 10%.


The mainstream media is proclaiming that China's trade deficit will silence calls for the Chinese to allow their currency to strengthen against the U.S. dollar. The fact is, China's government has for long been making the major mistake of printing too many yuan in order to artificially prop up the U.S. dollar. Their fear was, if the U.S. dollar was allowed to decline too rapidly, prices of Chinese goods would rise in terms of U.S. dollars and Americans would no longer afford to import them.


The truth is, if China allowed the yuan to strengthen, the Chinese would have enjoyed a much higher standard of living. Sure, prices would rise in dollars and Americans would import less, but the Chinese would have the ability to consume more of their own products. Now, as a result of China expanding its own money supply in order to keep the yuan pegged to the U.S. dollar, Americans will be forced to pay a much higher price for Chinese goods anyway. The same higher prices Americans were going to pay as a result of exchange rate appreciation, Americans will now pay as a result of inflation. For the Chinese, the exchange rate appreciation route would have been a much better route to take than the inflation route, because now the Chinese will also be forced to pay higher prices. In the very short-term, China might actually suffer more than the U.S. because they lack the social safety nets that have been implemented here in America.


The U.S. government has been successful at temporarily paying off Americans into not rioting in the streets like in Arab nations. It was just announced a few days ago that the number of Americans on food stamps in the month of December of 2010 was a record 44,082,324, up 13.1% from one year earlier and 1.1% from one month earlier. That is more than 14% of the total U.S. population! Combined with President Obama extending unemployment benefits up to 99 weeks, American citizens are too busy and distracted playing with their iPad 2s and gossiping on Twitter about Charlie Sheen, to have any time to protest in Washington, DC.


NIA believes the U.S. government's entitlement spending is currently having the unintended consequence of making Americans dependent on government. It is like when you take wild animals into captivity and you feed them, teach them to do tricks and take care of them for a period of many years; if you just dump them one day back into the wild, it will be very difficult for them to survive. Americans who have become dependent on unemployment checks and food stamps will likely soon abruptly find out that they must begin to fend for themselves without any help from the government. The result will be many Americans turning into wild animals and becoming so desperate that they will have to  rob and burglarize their fellow neighbors who were smart enough to prepare, or else they will risk starving to death


As a result of QE2, the Federal Reserve is now buying 70% of U.S. treasuries, up from previously only buying 10% of treasury bonds. Foreign central banks are now buying just 30% of U.S. treasuries, compared to previously buying 50% of treasury bonds. The U.S. budget deficit in the month of February reached a record $222.5 billion or $2.67 trillion on an annualized basis. With the Federal Reserve now monetizing our debt in full swing, a complete and total loss of confidence in the U.S. dollar could be imminent.


Just like how nobody in the mainstream media was calling for the collapse of Egypt's government a few months ago, almost nobody in the media believes a collapse of the U.S. dollar could possibly take place anytime soon. NIA members are educated enough to see that the writing is on the wall. The Federal Reserve can deny all it wants that the U.S. is experiencing inflation, but with the cost to print a single U.S. dollar paper note rising by 50% since 2008, massive inflation is here right under Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's nose. Every day that goes by, China is quietly implementing more and more steps that expand the yuan's use in cross border trade, in order to position the yuan as the world's next reserve currency.



So few Americans are presently preparing for hyperinflation that if hyperinflation broke out today, approximately 90% of Americans won't have the means to put food on the table or put fuel in their automobiles. During the upcoming hyperinflationary crisis, food stamps will no longer have any value at all and all U.S. entitlement programs will come to a complete halt. Americans will take to the streets like the world has never seen before.



The biggest question NIA has today is, will the U.S. government resort to firing at its own citizens, if major riots take place in Washington, DC. On Thursday, police in Saudi Arabia shot and wounded three protesters. The price of oil rose by a few dollars per barrel as soon as this news hit the wire, which shows just how nervous the world's financial markets have become in recent weeks. The fact that the Dow Jones has declined significantly in recent days, in our opinion means that the odds of QE3 being launched as soon as QE2 is over, are now much higher than they were several weeks ago.



The other big question NIA has today is, if in the unlikely event there is no QE3, who will fill in for the artificial buying demand currently coming from the Federal Reserve. After all, with no QE3, the Federal Reserve will go from buying 70% of treasury bonds to being a seller of U.S. treasuries. NIA is 100% sure that foreign central banks aren't itching to jump back in to fill the hole. While in the past, the private sector may have picked up the slack, we believe individual investors will now be more reluctant to jump into government bonds, especially with bond king Bill Gross reducing the government bond holdings in his Pimco Total Return Fund down to zero. The bottom line is, no QE3 means interest rates will fly sky high and destroy the phony so-called "economic recovery".



From April to August of 2010, the last time the Federal Reserve allowed its balance sheet to shrink, the Dow Jones fell by over 1,000 points. If Bernanke doesn't soon begin to leak out the strong likelihood of QE3, we could see the stock market decline by 1,000 points or more, which will force Bernanke into launching QE3. If we see a major sell off in stocks, NIA doesn't necessarily think that precious metals prices will follow. In fact, we could see gold and silver rise along with the Dow Jones falling. NIA projects the Dow Jones to gold ratio to decline to 6.5 in 2011. This means even if the Dow Jones fell to below 11,000, we still believe gold is likely to rise to around $1,600 to $1,700 per ounce this year, with silver soaring to around $42 to $44 per ounce. NIA believes the worst decision any American can make is to sell their gold and silver and go long U.S. dollars, hoping to buy their precious metals back at a lower price in the future.


It is important to spread the word about NIA to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, if you want America to survive hyperinflation. Please tell everybody you know to become members of NIA for free immediately at:

EMP Attack Would Decimate America
Monday, 05 Apr 2010 08:58 AM
By Ronald Kessler chief Washington correspondent of Newsmax.com.
America is totally unprepared for an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack that would set civilization back to the 1800s, Dr. William Graham, who was chairman of the bipartisan congressional Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from EMP Attack, tells Newsmax.

An EMP attack occurs when a nuclear bomb explodes in the atmosphere. The electromagnetic pulse generated by the blast would fry microchips, which are at the heart of electronic devices, throughout North America.

In a rare interview, Graham, who was Ronald Reagan’s science adviser, predicts the vast majority of Americans would die from starvation or disease or would freeze to death. Yet he says that while the military is largely protected from an EMP attack, the government has done virtually nothing to address the effects of such an attack on the civilian sector.

Without that infrastructure, the military would find it difficult to operate as well. Since microchips control vehicles, trains, and airplanes, most would become inoperable.

No one could get to work.

An EMP attack "could not only take down power grids, which are fragile anyway in this country, and telecommunications networks, and financial networks, and traffic controls and many other things, but in addition, there is a very close interrelationship among those national infrastructure capabilities," Graham says.

"So, for example, we need telecommunications to re-establish the power network, and we need the power network to keep telecommunications going for more than a few hours. And we need the financial network to continue to operate to maintain the economy, we need the transportation system, roads, street lights, control systems, to operate just to get people to the failed power, telecommunication and other systems," he adds.

Life after an EMP attack "would probably be something that you might imagine life to be like around the late 1800s but with several times the population we had in those days, and without the ability of the country to support and sustain all those people," Graham says. "They wouldn’t have power. Food supplies would be greatly taken out by the lack of transportation, telecommunication, power for refrigeration and so on."

Yet life would be far more primitive than even that because in the 1800s, Americans had food from their own farms and police who rode on horseback.

"We don’t have as many horses, and we tend to depend on radios for communication now, that again need power," Graham notes. "Radios themselves tend to be vulnerable to this if they’re not designed with protection from EMP in mind, because they’re connected to antennas. Anything that looks like an antenna can pick up the EMP signal and conduct it to the electronics, causing it to fail."

Most computers would become inoperable, Graham says.

"Most computers are connected to things that either are antennas or look like antennas," he says. "Even a mouse cable looks like an antenna to an electromagnetic signal. Certainly power lines, telecommunication lines, all act as antennas to pick up EMP signals and check them in the computers. And we have done tests with computers, and EMP tends to burn out the computer circuits."

Stock and banking transactions would also be wiped out.

"Most financial records are stored electronically. ATMs, which depend upon both power and telecommunications, would not be available; banks, which try to back up records but in general aren’t strongly aware of the EMP problem, would face the problem of unprotected storage and computer systems," Graham says. "And so it’s very likely that financial and stock brokerage records would at a minimum not be accessible and might not be available at all."

An EMP attack could be launched by a country such as North Korea or Iran or by terrorists, Graham says. A severe geomagnetic storm — which will definitely occur one day — could cause nearly as much damage.

"The intelligent way to address this is to look at all of these threats and to develop a protection against all of them, not just against one at a time," Graham observes.

Unlike protection against a nuclear blast, shielding to protect against EMP is a relative bargain. As noted in the Newsmax story
"EMP Attack Could Wipe Out U.S.," the 300 transformers that are critical to the power grid could be protected for $200 million to $400 million.

Yet so far, neither power companies nor banks, stock brokerage firms, nor other industries have seen fit to shield their facilities against an EMP strike.

"In talking to the various commercial organizations, they have said, "’Look, it’s not our job to protect the country against a nuclear attack,’" Graham says. "’It’s our job to have the country operate under normal conditions. It’s the military’s job to protect the country in a nuclear attack.’"

Just as the U.S. was unprepared for the 9/11 attack, so is it unprepared for an EMP attack that would be millions of times more devastating.

"Having been confirmed into three different government positions by the Senate, I have some experience in dealing with the bureaucracy," Graham says. "Bureaucrats never like to deal with a problem before it happens the first time. It’s much easier to ignore a problem that might happen, until it happens."

The blame rests with both Democrats and Republicans.

"It was a failure in the last administration; it’s a failure in this administration," Graham notes. "No one has been given the job of marshaling our capabilities — governmental, private, and military — to prepare for this problem."

Ronald Kessler is chief Washington correspondent of Newsmax.com.

Chick Pics

The 50 roosters for the freezer



The free rare chick you get!--It's a top knot!

Kris

Goats

I hadn't shared any pics of the goats since they were born--so I thought it was time--Enjoy!

Greenhousepics

We still need to get the door in and the countertops(which we have) but here it is all covered--We are also going to add plywood about 2 feet up all the way around--so still a bit to do, but its usable now!

20 things you will need to survive...

....The Economy Collapses And The Next Great Depression Begins

Today, millions of Americans say that they believe that the United States is on the verge of a major economic collapse and will soon be entering another Great Depression. But only a small percentage of those same people are prepared for that to happen. The sad truth is that the vast majority of Americans would last little more than a month on what they have stored up in their homes. Most of us are so used to running out to the supermarket or to Wal-Mart for whatever we need that we never even stop to consider what would happen if suddenly we were not able to do that. Already the U.S. economy is starting to stumble about like a drunken frat boy. All it would take for the entire U.S. to resemble New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina would be for a major war, a terror attack, a deadly pandemic or a massive natural disaster to strike at just the right time and push the teetering U.S. economy over the edge. So just how would you survive if you suddenly could not rely on the huge international corporate giants to feed, clothe and supply you and your family? Do you have a plan?

Unless you already live in a cave or you are a complete and total mindless follower of the establishment media, you should be able to see very clearly that our society is more vulnerable now than it ever has been. This year there have been an unprecedented number of large earthquakes around the world and volcanoes all over the globe are awakening. You can just take a look at what has happened in Haiti and in Iceland to see how devastating a natural disaster can be. Not only that, but we have a world that is full of lunatics in positions of power, and if one of them decides to set off a nuclear, chemical or biological weapon in a major city it could paralyze an entire region. War could erupt in the Middle East at literally any moment, and if it does the price of oil will double or triple (at least) and there is the possibility that much of the entire world could be drawn into the conflict. Scientists tell us that a massive high-altitude EMP (electromagnetic pulse) blast could send large portions of the United States back to the stone age in an instant. In addition, there is the constant threat that the outbreak of a major viral pandemic (such as what happened with the 1918 Spanish Flu) could kill tens of millions of people around the globe and paralyze the economies of the world.
But even without all of that, the truth is that the U.S. economy is going to collapse. So just think of what will happen if one (or more) of those things does happen on top of all the economic problems that we are having.
Are you prepared?
The following is a list of 20 things you and your family will need to survive when the economy totally collapses and the next Great Depression begins....
#1) Storable Food
Food is going to instantly become one of the most valuable commodities in existence in the event of an economic collapse. If you do not have food you are not going to survive. Most American families could not last much longer than a month on what they have in their house right now. So what about you? If disaster struck right now, how long could you survive on what you have? The truth is that we all need to start storing up food. If you and your family run out of food, you will suddenly find yourselves competing with the hordes of hungry people who are looting the stores and roaming the streets looking for something to eat.
Of course you can grow your own food, but that is going to take time. So you need to have enough food stored up until the food that you plant has time to grow. But if you have not stored up any seeds you might as well forget it. When the economy totally collapses, the remaining seeds will disappear very quickly. So if you think that you are going to need seeds, now is the time to get them.
#2) Clean Water
Most people can survive for a number of weeks without food, but without water you will die in just a few days. So where would you get water if the water suddenly stopped flowing out of your taps? Do you have a plan? Is there an abundant supply of clean water near your home? Would you be able to boil water if you need to?
Besides storing water and figuring out how you are going to gather water if society breaks down, another thing to consider is water purification tablets. The water you are able to gather during a time of crisis may not be suitable for drinking. So you may find that water purification tablets come in very, very handy.
#3) Shelter
You can't sleep on the streets, can you? Well, some people will be able to get by living on the streets, but the vast majority of us will need some form of shelter to survive for long. So what would you do if you and your family lost your home or suddenly were forced from your home? Where would you go?
The best thing to do is to come up with several plans. Do you have relatives that you can bunk with in case of emergency? Do you own a tent and sleeping bags if you had to rough it? If one day everything hits the fan and you and your family have to "bug out" somewhere, where would that be? You need to have a plan.
#4) Warm Clothing
If you plan to survive for long in a nightmare economic situation, you are probably going to need some warm, functional clothing. If you live in a cold climate, this is going to mean storing up plenty of blankets and cold weather clothes. If you live in an area where it rains a lot, you will need to be sure to store up some rain gear. If you think you may have to survive outdoors in an emergency situation, make sure that you and your family have something warm to put on your heads. Someday after the economy has collapsed and people are scrambling to survive, a lot of folks are going to end up freezing to death. In fact, in the coldest areas it is actually possible to freeze to death in your own home. Don't let that happen to you.
#5) An Axe
Staying along the theme of staying warm, you may want to consider investing in a good axe. In the event of a major emergency, gathering firewood will be a priority. Without a good tool to cut the wood with that will be much more difficult.
#6) Lighters Or Matches
You will also want something to start a fire with. If you can start a fire, you can cook food, you can boil water and you can stay warm. So in a true emergency situation, how do you plan to start a fire? By rubbing sticks together? Now is the time to put away a supply of lighters or matches so that you will be prepared when you really need them.
In addition, you may want to consider storing up a good supply of candles. Candles come in quite handy whenever the electricity goes out, and in the event of a long-term economic nightmare we will all see why our forefathers relied on candles so much.
#7) Hiking Boots Or Comfortable Shoes
When you ask most people to list things necessary for survival, this is not the first or the second thing that comes to mind. But having hiking boots or very comfortable and functional shoes will be absolutely critical. You may very well find yourself in a situation where you and your family must walk everywhere you want to go. So how far do you think you will get in high heels? You will want footwear that you would feel comfortable walking in for hours if necessary. You will also want footwear that will last a long time, because when the economy truly collapses you may not be able to run out to the shoe store and get what you need at that point.
#8) A Flashlight And/Or Lantern
When the power goes off in your home, what is the first thing that you grab? Just think about it. A flashlight or a lantern of course. In a major emergency, a flashlight or a lantern is going to be a necessity - especially if you need to go anywhere at night.
Solar powered or "crank style" flashlights or lanterns will probably be best during a long-term emergency. If you have battery-powered units you will want to begin storing up lots and lots of batteries.
#9) A Radio
If a major crisis does hit the United States, what will you and your family want? Among other things, you will all want to know what in the world is going on. A radio can be an invaluable tool for keeping up with the news.
Once again, solar powered or "crank style" radios will probably work best for the long term. A battery-powered until would work as well - but only for as long as your batteries are able to last.
#10) Communication Equipment
When things really hit the fan you are going to want to communicate with your family and friends. You will also want to be able to contact an ambulance or law enforcement if necessary. Having an emergency cell phone is great, but it may or may not work during a time of crisis. The Internet also may or may not be available. Be sure to have a plan (whether it be high-tech or low-tech) for staying in communication with others during a major emergency.
#11) A Swiss Army Knife
If you have ever owned a Swiss Army knife you probably already know how incredibly handy they can be. It can be a very valuable and versatile tool. In a true survival situation, a Swiss Army knife can literally do dozens of different things for you. Make sure that you have at least one stored up for emergencies.
#12) Personal Hygiene Items
While these may not be absolute "essentials", the truth is that life will get very unpleasant very quickly without them. For example, what would you do without toilet paper? Just think about it. Imagine that you just finished your last roll of toilet paper and now you can't get any more. What would you do?
The truth is that soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, toilet paper and other hygiene products are things that we completely take for granted in society today. So what would happen if we could not go out and buy them any longer?
#13) A First Aid Kit And Other Medical Supplies
One a more serious note, you may not be able to access a hospital or a doctor during a major crisis. In your survival supplies, be absolutely certain that you have a good first aid kit and any other medical supplies that you think you may need.
#14) Extra Gasoline
There may come a day when gasoline is rationed or is simply not available at all. If that happens, how will you get around? Be certain to have some extra gasoline stored away just in case you find yourself really needing to get somewhere someday.
#15) A Sewing Kit
If you were not able to run out and buy new clothes for you and your family, what would you do? Well, you would want to repair the clothes that you have and make them last as long as possible. Without a good sewing kit that will be very difficult to do.
#16) Self-Defense Equipment
Whether it is pepper spray to fend off wild animals or something more "robust" to fend off wild humans, millions of Americans will one day be thankful that they have something to defend themselves with.
#17) A Compass
In the event of a major emergency, you and your family may find yourselves having to be on the move. If you are in a wilderness area, it will be very hard to tell what direction you are heading without a compass. It is always a good idea to have at least one compass stored up.
#18) A Hiking Backpack
If you and your family suddenly have to "bug out", what will you carry all of your survival supplies in? Having a good hiking backpack or "survival bag" for everyone in your family is extremely important. If something happened in the city where you live and you suddenly had to "go", what would you put your most important stuff in? How would you carry it all if you had to travel by foot? These are very important things to think about.
#19) A Community
During a long-term crisis, it is those who are willing to work together that will have the best chance of making it. Whether it is your family, your friends, a church or a local group of people that you know, make sure that you have some people that you can rely on and work together with in the event that everything hits the fan. Loners are going to have a really hard time of surviving for long.
#20) A Backup Plan
Lastly, it is always, always, always important to have a backup plan for everything.
If someone comes in and steals all the food that you have stored up, what are you going to do?
If travel is restricted and your can't get to your "bug out" location immediately do you have a Plan B?
If you have built your house into an impregnable survival fortress but circumstances force you to leave do you have an alternate plan?
The truth is that crisis situations rarely unfold just as we envision. It is important to be flexible and to be ready with backup plans when disaster strikes.
You don't want to end up like the folks in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. You don't want to have to rely on the government to take care of you if something really bad happens.
Right now the U.S. strategic grain reserve contains only enough wheat to make half a loaf of bread for each of the approximately 300 million people in the United States.
How long do you think that is going to last?
Now is the time to get ready.
Now is the time to prepare.
The United States economy is going to collapse and incredibly hard times are coming.
Will you be able to survive when it happens?

May I never forget

Today for me is another quiet day--seems I have many of those lately--Somedays I like it, somedays I am bored stiff--LOL--Soon I will have semi-full days again--Destinee will be discharged from the hospital on February 10th if all goes well--she begins making her 23 hour visits home next weekend--if she does well she will be discharged--she will begin attending  public school 1/2 days when she gets home--After 14 years of homeschooling it will be hard--but trials grow us--when you have a special needs child you are constantly evolving and changing even when it seems you can do anymore--We have been unable to attend church for a very long time for various reasons(some in here know about them), but when Destinee comes home we will once again will begin attending the church we attended for so many years--I have missed the fellowship--I posted at the end of the year(http://deliberatehomesteader.ning.com/profiles/blogs/looking-forwar...) I felt there would be a renewal and revival of sorts not only in churches but in individuals--I see that happening in my own family unit--We are very conservative here and it is so very hard to find a church that just does not allow anything and everything into their congregations--The church we attend is wonderful and the people are just "folks"  tryin' their best to serve the Lord--it's a small country church--with about 50 members--I am excited to renew my relationship not only with people, but with the Lord--
While I am not good with change, the changes just over the horizon for us I am looking forward to--I am looking forward with a sense of excitement and anticipation--I feel the Lord is working overtime in my little family and I am ever so grateful--he has really done a work in recent months--from provding a way to purchase our home cash, to providing a way to pay off my car, to finally getting well after 18 months of no running water, to finding a great place for Destinee to get help, to finding Alan a job, to speaking very clearly we are to go back to the church we attended, to finding a public school that will serve Destinee's needs quite well--Wow!--I am humbled just typing it all out--May I never, ever forget where we have been and what the Lord has brought us through--ALL the glory goes to HIM--may I never feel like any of this happened by our own might, but ONLY by the Lords loving Grace!!

::Until Next Time::
Kris

Outside my window

OK, so these picture were taken with me outside not really looking through my window outside, but nontheless I will share them!
BELOW--Look closely and you will see 2 hens one looking at the other as if to say---

BELOW--The goat field & Barn

BELOW--This part of our land is actually the old hiway--it divides our 'garden yard' from our 'home yard'--looking from this direction--our garden yard is to your left and our house sits on the right

BELOW--Cedar tree


Enjoy and
::Until Next Time::
T.D.H.
Orgianlly Published Jan. 20,2011

Thursdays Thoughts

Well we woke to around 2 inches of snow--*blech*--but it is winter time so I suppose it is to be expected, but that doesn't mean I have to like it--LOL--This morning as I look out my window the snow was falling, the ground was covered and snow was hanging to the trees it look so clean outside--so fresh and new--I began to reflect and think about sin and forgivness--


When we are living in sin its kinda like winter time to me--cold, barren, nothing but dirt--its ugly--nothing pretty about it--then the Lord comes along when we hearken his call--he scoops us up, wipes us off, makes us as white as the fresh fallen snow--all that ugliness and dirt is gone--its all nice and fresh and clean--how wonderful--we are no longer bound by sin, but free by his grace--


So while I do not like the cold snow that this time of year brings--I equally do not like being bound by sin--I am blessed to serve a risen savior, that cared enough about me to dust me off, clean me up and free me by his wonderful grace--What a wonderful God we serve!


::Until Next Time::

T.D.H.
Originally Published Jan. 20.2011

Tuesdays Tidbits

Looks like we may be getting another round of snow Thursday--*Argh*--Shouldn't really amount to much though as the temps will be warming back up nicely after that--I can handle the snow as long as it doesn't stay around--


It's been a long while since I really updated things here so I will do that today--


We have pretty much esptablished our goals for this spring and are well underway into getting what we need to accomplish them--we have the lumber for the greenhouse and all we need to buy is the plastic sheeting--


We are making the plans for adding onto our home--again the lumber is bought, all we have to do is build and of course we will have to purchase small things as we go--we just haven't decided if we wanna add the entire lenght of the house or just add a room or 2 on--We are continuing to pray which way to go--We will also be doing some small remodel jobs here in the house this spring--there are a few things I would like to update--we have most of what we need--its just finding the free to time to get it done--


Alans job has been a real blessing and we are doing wonderful--the hours are hard, but we must all make sacrifices--the bills are all paid and money left every month so it makes it all worth while!--Many people in this economy are jobless--we are so truly blest!--God has been very good to us!


The pigs are doing well and growing good--probably around June or so they will be ready for butcher and that will sustain us for a year or longer--


The hens are laying very well now--I am getting anywhere from 10 to 15 eggs daily--many more than we can eat so we trade them to a friend of ours for the round bales of hay--don't ya just love bartering?


I will be ordering meat birds next month or the next depending on the weather and by fall I should have birds ready to butcher--and those should sustain us for a good year or better--


We have looked into buying a half of beef from a local guy, but haven't made the decision to do that yet--if we do that will pretty mcuh take care of our meat needs for a year--I really should say hubbys meat needs--I couldn't care less if I have meat or not--LOL--I could survive on veggies!!


The goats, well what can I say--they are goats--we will be selling off the buck since we do not want to use him again next breeding season--we will probably replace him with 2 more does--We were going to get out goats all together, but Alan decided he really wanted to have a milk source and since we don't have a milk cow--goats the next best thing--Bella our doe is getting very close to kidding--I am excited to have even more new life on the farm--


The cavalier puppy's that were just born are getting fat little tummy's and are growing well--Mama is doing great--We have been so blest by having her--mama is 5 now and will be retired from having puppy's she will simply live out her life and be absolutly spoiled plumb rotten--LOL--she's a great dog--We will be adding a female or 2---or 3--- to the mix this year--I just adore this dogs and cannot imagine having any other kind myself--I don't watch the Ellen show but turned on the television yesterday and she was on and she was interviewing a guy that had a cavalier and talked about how great they were--good advertisment for me--LOL


Fencing is something on the list this year to finish up--most of this 18 acres was already fenced--we only have 2 sides that need fenced and one of those is more than halfway done--we will be fencing off the food yard and the herb yard to keep the chickens out while they free range this year--so much to do!


The berry plants are doing well, I do believe I lost my raspberry plants to the japanese beetles last year, so those will need replacing this spring--and even though I don't like it I will spray to save my plants--everything else is great--I am looking for some white grape plants--I did find a place to order them but they are a bit pricey and a friend of mine was saying Aldi's carries them in the spring--so I will be looking for those--


I saved the best for last--It looks as if DD will be coming home the end of the month or so--she has made great progress and I am looking forward to her being back home--she has been gone over 6 months now--She seems to be stable on her medication and has learned alot--I feel are fortunate and very blest to have found a place that deals with autistic children--she is very high functioning but still not without issues and then of course we have the bipolar issues with her--*sigh*--I will continue to update as I know more--


All in all we are so tremendously blest here--its a quiet, simple and productive life we live--I would not trade it for anything--God is so good to us!


::Until Next Time::

T.D.H
Orignally published Jan. 18,2011

Simplicity, Separation and Quiet

Weekly as we travel to Tulsa we pass thru the Amish community that I so adore--yesterday as we traveled we passed the community only this time there were horse and buggies on the road heading to church--I was so happy to see that--so simple, so peacful, such a slow way of life--I told hubby that I was just really drawn to that way of life and he agreed that there is something that seems to draw people--so we begin discussing why--he knows me and the fact that I crave simplicity, I crave seperation and I crave quiet--We also dicussed the pitfalls that their lifestyle carries but at the same time we personally feel the good out weighs the bad--While I will most likely never be Amish or even Mennonite I can certainly apply their principals to my life here, on our little 18 acres--I am so blessed as I read the bible and find references to working the land, plowing the fields and tending to amimals in scripture--it does my soul good to find that agaraian lifestyle is rooted in the word--maybe that is why I am so drawn to this life--maybe that is why I feel so very blessed to be living it, maybe that is why I have a peace and satisfaction that others don't get--maybe that is why I crave simplicity, maybe that is why I crave quietness and maybe that is why I crave seperation--I don't know--What I do know is, is that I do not live my life out of naturalisitc or humanistic tendencies, we live our life here to please God--We are not into consumerism or many of the other things people are in to--we are living a quiet life, minding our own business and working with our hands--while we understand that people of today cannot be totally self sufficient, we can do more than we think--We do not like 'depending' on others to meet our financial needs, which is why we have no credit cards, no line of credit and we opperate in cash only--not that it is wrong for everyone, but this is what we are called to--It was not easy getting to this point, much in our lives have been lost, but so much more gained when we gave in and followed God--We are not strangers to debt, loans and struggling to make ends meet and dealing with 'to much month at the end of the money'--After years of struggling we now have turned all that around--How? by letting go and letting God--When I look around and what all a person can grow and raise it truly is amazing that we all depend on the grocery stores and government to provide all that we expect them too--We still rely on them far more that we want to, but slowly we are changing that--it does not happen over night--Can you imagine if all you ever had to buy was truly those things you cannot grow or raise yourself--things like salt, baking powder etc...--What a true blessing it would be not to mention the health benefits!--We are working daily, deliberately to get to the point we sustain ourselves, but only with God blessing--We have made great progress in the past 2 years, but much more needs to be made--and if the Lord sees fit we will reach those goals and use our lives and accomplishments to minister to others!--When I do discuss where we started with this land and where we are now it is my sincere prayer that I never forget to mention that it is only our Lord that has allowed all of this and it is only our Lord that will continue to allow us to move forward in our endeavors here--
Done Rambling
::Until Next Time::
T.D.H.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This article is resposted with permission--After I wrote the above rambling I was looking up scripture and I found this while studying about farming and the bible--It was a great read!--So I added to save for later--LOL--
T.D.H


Farming Based on the Word of God

A condensed version of a study by the Myron Horst Family

In Isaiah 26 God says that He teaches the farmer how to farm. Therefore, Christians should be the ones with the answers, and the best methods on how to farm. However, today many Christian farmers do not have the answers and are not using the best methods because they are not going to God to learn how to farm but rather have gone to non-Christians. The secular corporate business world and the state universities have dismissed God from the farming picture. While the methods of the secular mindset are appearing to work as farm production has steadily increased, in reality they are not as successful as they appear because farm profits have not even been keeping up with inflation. Many farm families have off farm jobs to make enough money to farm. That kind of farming is not profitable nor is it sustainable. It is not successful.

God teaches the farmer how to farm
Isai 28:23 Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech. 24 Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground? 25 When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rye in their place? 26 For his God doth instruct him to discretion, [and] doth teach him. 27 For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cartwheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod. 28 Bread [corn] is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break [it with] the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it [with] his horsemen. 29 This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, [which] is wonderful in counsel, [and] excellent in working.
Insights on verse 23:
One of the most important things we can learn is to hear God speak to us.
One of the best places to hear God speak is when we are outside.
John the Baptist's father, a priest, took him to the wilderness to be educated rather than to the seminary of the Pharisees.
David as a shepherd boy learned to hear God speak to him while he was tending sheep.
Moses first heard God speak to him at the burning bush. His success as a leader was totally dependent upon hearing what God said. His one failure was when he did not follow God's specific instruction.
George Washington Carver's success was totally dependent upon hearing God speak to him.
If we are going to keep our life from being wasted, we need to learn to hear God speak.
Insights on verse 26:
Discretion - a verdict, formal decree, divine law
Instruct - to chastise with blows or words
We need discretion to sort through information and to know what information to follow.
We need discretion to see cause and effect sequences, to see long term consequences and benefits.
We need discretion to judge truth from error and to judge between what is good and what is best.
Discretion is needed to know when to stop. There is no end to perfection. There is a point where the next level of perfection or quality requires more time and expense than it is worth. A perfectionist needs to learn when something is good enough. This is something God can teach us.
God teaches the farmer how to farm!
Have you asked God on a regular basis to teach you? Do it! You will be amazed at what you will learn.
Having read these verses we as a family were challenged to go to the Bible to learn from God how to farm. We also asked God to teach us what to do with our farm and what to grow on it. It has been very exciting seeing what God is teaching us and how He is leading us on the farm.
It is exciting, looking at the Bible and seeing a bigger picture, seeing farming from God's perspective, from God's high tower. God has an enormous wealth of information for us on farming. The Bible is literally a gold mine that is inexhaustible in gold. What we have found is just a scratching at the surface of what God has for us farmers to learn in His Word and from Him. The insights that we have listed are neither complete nor exhaustive. Even a lifetime of study by many Christian farmers will not exhaust the hidden gold nuggets of instruction that God has for the farmer in His Word. Each time you study the Bible ask the Holy Spirit to give you understanding and new insights.
We have been encouraged by George Washington Carver and his testimony of how he over and over again went to the Creator and asked Him to teach him what the peanut was for. One of the most important things that George Washington Carver learned was to hear God speak to him and to teach him how to make products from the peanut. As a result, Carver was able to help the farmers of the south in ways that no other person has been able to single-handedly do. God has that kind of resources available to each one of us, to teach us how to farm better and to help others to farm better.
In the first part of the 1900's the boll weevil brought economic ruin to the south. The soil had been depleted after years of growing only cotton. George Washington Carver, a black scientist, looked for a crop to replace cotton as a cash crop that farmers in the south could grow so that they could survive financially. He tried a number of crops. The peanut he described as a "no-account." It was too hard to bring to peanut-manhood and as a food it was more satisfactory for hogs than humans.
George Washington Carver described his work:
"I get up every morning, winter and summer at four. First I go into the woods and gather specimens, and listen to what God had to say to me. After I have had my morning talk with God, I go to my laboratory and begin to carry out His wishes for the day, and if I fail it's my failure, and if I succeed then God's will has been done.
"Years ago, I when into my laboratory and said, 'Dear Creator, please tell me what the universe was made for.'
"Said the Creator, 'You want to know too much for such a little mind as yours. Ask for something your size.'
"Then I asked, 'Dear Creator, tell me what man was made for.' Again the great Creator replied, 'Little one, you are still asking too much. Bring down the extent of your request.'
"'Tell me then, Creator, what the peanut was made for.'
"Then the great Creator taught me how to take the peanut apart and put it together again. And out of this came all these products which the Creator taught me to make."
George Washington Carver in his lifetime discovered:
32 different kinds of milk from the peanut
300 different products from the peanut
300 products from clay
Over 100 products from the sweet potato.
A few years before his death, Dr. Carver explained the secret of his success: "It is not we little men who do the work, but it is our blessed Creator working through us... Other people can have this power, if they only believe. The secret lies" — touching his Bible — "right here, in the promises of God. They are real, but so few people believe them to be real."
"He said, "I always sleep over a problem. I go to sleep with it on my mind, and the next morning I see the method and the new perspective which usually clears it up. I did not do it. God has only used me to reveal some of His wonderful providences."
(From the book George Washington Carver: God's Ebony Scientist by Basil Miller, Zondervan Publishing House; 1963.)
More importantly, I believe that as people see that God has answers and better methods for farming, as they see that the Bible is a living book and applies to us today, it will draw them to place their faith and trust in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. We must not be silent in telling others the source of our wisdom and successful methods of farming that God gives to us. People need to see that God is real and that we need Him in life as well as in death.
Farmer
Gene 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which [is] upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which [is] the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein [there is] life, [I have given] every green herb for meat: and it was so. 31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
The first job God gave to man was farming.
There is a lot more potential for food production than what we now realize. According to verse 29, there are a lot of plants and trees producing food than what we now are using. We need more George Washington Carvers to discover how these plants and trees can be used for food.
Are there plants that we have overlooked for animal feed?
Are there ways we can utilize weeds that grow in abundance for a good use?
Are all plants that we call weeds part of the curse or with some of them is God using their abundance to get our attention to use them?
There are also medical uses of plants for people and animals.
2Kin 25:12 "But the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land [to be] vinedressers and husbandmen."
Around the world, it is often the poor who are farmers.
The poor do not have the education, or the other resources necessary to produce maximum production from the land.
While money is often viewed as the solution to this problem, in Proverbs, God says that wisdom is more important than money. Wisdom can provide the creativity for witty inventions to do things cheaper and more efficiently. Easy money through debt often suppresses creativity in finding a cheaper more efficient way.
Farming
Gene 3:23 "Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken".
The first occupation was farming.
Farming is an occupation that is commissioned by God. It is essential for life. Therefore, it is important that as farmers we view our job as a very essential and important job. We must not merely have a focus on making money and increasing production, but rather have a focus on producing quality crops and food that will provide the nourishment for life and health that others need.
The word "till" means "to work, serve, labor". All farming requires labor and often lots of it.
It is interesting that God mentions the ground from which man was taken.
It is important that we keep in the front our minds as farmers that we still come from the ground today. Everything we eat ultimately comes from the ground. Therefore our bodies become whatever quality the quality of the soil is. If it is poor soil, our bodies will not be as strong and healthy as if the soil is very fertile and full of nutrients. Often the focus of being healthy is placed on eating right. But the real focus for health must be placed on building up the soil and making it very fertile. Rich, fertile soil is not only important for increased production; it is necessary for increased health. Eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables that are commercially grown in impoverished soils is not near as healthy for us as eating fresh fruits and vegetables that are grown in rich fertile soil.
Gene 6:19 "And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every [sort] shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep [them] alive with thee; they shall be male and female. 20 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every [sort] shall come unto thee, to keep [them] alive. 21 And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather [it] to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. 22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he."
Noah had the ultimate farming challenge: to build, stock and operate a floating barn that was totally self-contained and was capable of holding two of all animals and birds for one full year.
Noah had a mega crop storage job. He stored enough feed for all the animals on the ark to feed them for a little over one year. He also had to have food for eight adults for one year. Building the ark was a big task in itself, but providing all the supplies for the voyage was no small task. Noah had to finance the entire building of the ark and the supplies out of his own pocket.
Noah did all that God told him to do, and he did it the way that God told him to do it.
God taught Noah how to run a farm on a boat!
Not only was there need for feed for one year, but they also needed straw or other bedding for the animals. They also had to have a manure handling system to handle all the manure generated in a year's time of total confinement.
Prov 27:23 Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, [and] look well to thy herds. 24 For riches [are] not for ever: and doth the crown [endure] to every generation? 25 The hay appeareth, and the tender grass sheweth itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered. 26 The lambs [are] for thy clothing, and the goats [are] the price of the field. 27 And [thou shalt have] goats' milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and [for] the maintenance for thy maidens.
Sheep and other animals need to be cared for. We should not just put them out to pasture and forget about them.
If you don't take care of your sheep, your riches will go away.
Sheep and cattle are like a bank account. If they are well cared for they can be readily sold in the time of need for a good price.
The lambs are for your clothing - the more lambs that we can produce, the more money we have to buy the things that we need.
The herbs of the mountains have significance.
The tender grass is the best.
Today many pastors/shepherds are focusing on feeding their sheep (sermons) but are not evaluating the condition of the flock. A pastor needs to be like a shepherd who is interested in the long-term welfare of his flock. He must not be like a feedlot owner who gets lambs for a short time and then gets rid of them. It is not as important to the feed lot owner the state of his flock. His focus is in large numbers and the proper feed to get the profit he wants for himself. The long-term condition of the flock is not important to him because he is getting replacements on a regular basis. For a true shepherd pastor, It is important to evaluate cause and effect sequences and see if what is being done in the church: Sunday school, youth groups, Bible school, age segregation, separating singles and married, etc.; is producing the results in older young people and adults that is desired. It is important that a pastor is diligent to know the spiritual state of his flock. If he does not make the necessary changes to improve the spiritual condition the church will eventually decline, young people will leave, the love of many will grow cold, and it will be a disgrace to the cause of Christ.
Ezek 34:30 Thus shall they know that I the LORD their God [am] with them, and [that] they, [even] the house of Israel, [are] my people, saith the Lord GOD. 31 And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, [are] men, [and] I [am] your God, saith the Lord GOD.
God likens Himself to be our shepherd and us His sheep.
The flocks are pastured. Many times the word for feed means to pasture flocks.
The concept of a shepherd feeding the flock by leading them to pasture is different than the way a feedlot owner feeds his lambs. With the feedlot owner, the sheep are totally dependent upon him to choose, grind, mix, balance the feed ration, and give their only feed to them. A shepherd leads the flock to pasture and lets the sheep feed themselves. He protects them from poisonous plants that they should not eat. The feedlot owner can feed thousands of sheep but the sheep receive little personal attention or care. The shepherd gives the sheep much more personal care and attention. The feedlot owner and the shepherd illustrate two different leadership styles of pastors. The feedlot pastor has a large church with many people. He feeds them with interesting sermons that he has chosen, chewed, mixed, and fed out to them. For many it is the only spiritual food they receive. He has very little personal time with each person. The shepherd pastor shows his people how to read and study the Bible for themselves. His sermons are a significantly smaller portion of their spiritual food. He has a pastor's heart and personally cares for each person. He is available in sickness and trouble.
Jere 11:19 But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.
Cattle should be killed in a low stress environment without them knowing what is happening. They should not be chased around when trying to kill them. They have found recently that buffalo meat is more tender and tastes best if the buffalo is shot in the field where it is standing, and then processed in a portable slaughter house that is taken to the field.
Psal 22:12 Many bulls have compassed me: strong [bulls] of Bashan have beset me round.
Bashan was well known for its excellent pasture. See Mic. 7:14, Jer. 50:19, Ez. 39:18, Amos 4:1.
Bashan means soft fertile land. It had an extraordinarily rich plain.
Rich soil with excellent pasture produces strong healthy animals.
To produce strong healthy animals, we need to build up the soil and make it soft and fertile.
If we take care of the soil, the animals will take care of us. Building up the soil should be our priority.
Psal 104:14 He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth;
God designed cattle to eat grass as a primary feed source.
God makes grass grow - Man does not make grass.
Cattle are food for us out of the earth. Therefore the quality and health value of the meat is dependent upon the fertility of the soil.
God "invented" grass primarily for animal feed, not for lawns.
Grass is a "green" feed that is harvested by four legged "combines". It does not require diesel fuel to produce it.
Farming Education
Gene 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which [is] in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6 And when the woman saw that the tree [was] good for food, and that it [was] pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make [one] wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they [were] naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 11 And he said, Who told thee that thou [wast] naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
Adam and Eve disobeyed God's farming instructions to them of what fruit they could harvest. They reaped the consequences of their disobedience.
What looks good, and looks like good for food is not always good for us. We need instruction to know what is good and what is not so that we do not have to learn the hard and potentially disastrous way.
Job 12:7 But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: 8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.
We need to spend time observing our animals or poultry and see what they prefer and what they don't like. It is important to use an animal or bird's natural instinct to our advantage in handling them and in raising them. It can save us a lot of time and effort.
It tells us to ask. We need to take the initiative and observe with a goal of learning from the animals, poultry, ground, or fish on our farm. Too often we do things in farming because others are doing it that way or because it has always been done that way. It may not be the best way or the best for our farm or our ground.
George Washington Carver put this verse into practice. He would go out early in the morning on his walk with the Lord and gather specimens of plants and observe the earth and the plants. He made many useful products from the different clays that he found. (This was not pottery but products from the dirt itself such as a deep rich colorfast blue pigment for paint.)
There is much for us to discover/learn from the animals and ground on our farm. Becoming better observers will make us better farmers.
Animals
Gene 8:17 Bring forth with thee every living thing that [is] with thee, of all flesh, [both] of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.
God designed animals to multiply much faster than people.
Every animal has a significant purpose on the earth. God had a chance to eliminate any "unnecessary" animals and insects in the flood.
All the bugs and insects also have their place and purpose, even though at times we wonder what it is.
Levi 11:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These [are] the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts that [are] on the earth. 3 Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, [and] cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat. 4 Nevertheless these shall ye not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof: [as] the camel, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he [is] unclean unto you. 5 And the coney, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he [is] unclean unto you. 6 And the hare, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he [is] unclean unto you. 7 And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he [is] unclean to you. 8 Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcass shall ye not touch; they [are] unclean to you.
Clean and unclean animals referred to what animals the Jewish people could eat and which ones they could not eat. It also referred to which animals could be used for sacrifices and which could not be used.
There are some meats that are healthy for us to eat and some that are not.
Meat eating animals were all unclean.
The clean animals were those who ate grass and were a ruminant. A ruminant chews the cud and has a complex three or four part stomach.
Recent research is showing that the meat of animals raised and fattened on fresh green grass is healthier for us to eat. There is a lower risk of cancer and heart disease.
Levi 17:10 And whatsoever man [there be] of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. 11 For the life of the flesh [is] in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it [is] the blood [that] maketh an atonement for the soul. 12 Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood. 13 And whatsoever man [there be] of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust. 14 For [it is] the life of all flesh; the blood of it [is] for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh [is] the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off. 15 And every soul that eateth that which died [of itself], or that which was torn [with beasts, whether it be] one of your own country, or a stranger, he shall both wash his clothes, and bathe [himself] in water, and be unclean until the even: then shall he be clean.
Eating blood is an abomination to God. God will set His face against anyone that eats blood. This was not just a command for the Jewish people, but also for the stranger/non-Jewish person.
In butchering, God says that blood should be composted - cover it with dirt.
We are not to eat meat that has not been properly bled out, such as an animal that died on its own or was killed by an animal.
God's Judgment
It is important that we do not go to extremes in our thinking on God's judgment on farms and the land. One extreme is to think that every drought, infestation of bugs, etc. is because God is bringing judgment on a person or group of people because of unconfessed sin and then using that situation to judge and condemn others. Job is one example where what looked like God's judgment was actually God allowing Job to be tested. God condemned Job's friends because they accused Job of sinning. The other extreme that most of us find ourselves in is to ignore or discredit the possibility or probability that crop failures or the lack of rainfall, might be God's judgment for sin.
Gene 3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed [is] the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat [of] it all the days of thy life; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou [art], and unto dust shalt thou return.
Be careful what advice and instructions that you listen to. A beginning farmer, like Adam, can suffer the consequences of wrong advice the rest of his life. We need to get our primary direction for farming from the Word of God. All other advice needs to line up with the Bible and build upon it, not contradict it.
Weeds, thorns, thistles, and bugs are part of God's judgment on the earth for sin. We will never be able to totally eliminate them.
Understanding the source of weeds and bugs is important for us in dealing with them. Universities, secular publications and writers do not commonly recognize that weeds and bugs are the result of God's judgment for sin. Understanding the cause and effect sequence is an important first step in dealing with a problem. Our first step in dealing with weeds and bugs needs to be repentance for our sins. Then we need to ask God how we should deal with them and for Him to remove or lessen their effect. Since weeds and bugs are a result of God's judgment, herbicides, insecticides, mechanical and physical controls do not address the source or the cause. Therefore they will be limited in their effectiveness and will be costly.
Farming will always be hard work because the ground is cursed because of sin. Even those who do not farm reap the consequences of sin, because they also are "enslaved" to a job to provide a living and to buy their food.
God provided vegetables for us to eat.
All plants, animals, and people come from the earth. It is an amazing thing that dirt can produce all kinds of plants, trees, fruits, vegetables, and flowers. These plants in turn produce animals and people. Our flesh, muscles, body organs, nerves etc. all come from dirt! There is not one bit of us that will not compost. God designed the ultimate recycling program model. He used dirt and water to create living things. When these have fulfilled their usefulness they convert back to dirt. Today we have a major waste problem because we have not followed God's example. There is an enormous amount of plastics, glass, and metal that does not compost back to their original state. Therefore they have to be hidden in the ground to create problems for future generations. Imagine what the world would be like if plants, animals, and people would not decompose. The world would have shut down long ago.
We need to follow God's example and make things as much as possible out of materials that decompose back to dirt. This is a totally different mindset then that of the "save the earth" environmentalist mindset. Our focus is on following God's model rather than worshipping and serving the earth and the creature more than God.
Psal 107:33 He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground; 34 A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.
Well-watered land does not necessarily stay watered.
God can turn the fruitful land of the wicked into a desert.
Wickedness is a great destroyer of productive farmland.
God leads farmers into chemical farming to destroy the long-term productiveness of the land.
The most successful answer for land that does not produce because of the wickedness of the ancestors, is evangelism.
2Chr 7:13 If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; 14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
God brings judgment by causing a drought or causing bugs to devour the crops.
The solution is not to spray more chemicals or to buy irrigation equipment. The solution is for us who are called by Jesus' name to humble ourselves and pray God brings judgment by causing a drought or causing and seek God's face, and turn from our wicked, compromising ways.
Christians often quote verse 14. However, it is not usually recognized as being in the context of farming problems and God's judgment upon farms and gardens.

So, What's so great about it?

A few days ago I was talking with my best  friend, she and her husband are selling their home and downsizing and working toward getting back to a more simple life--as we were talking she was telling me how rude a realtor treated her and her husband--when they told the realtor they were selling to downsize and find a smaller acreage and get back to the basics, the realtor ask her--Whats so great about that?--Needless to say they did not use this realtor--

Well that got my brain to working--imagine that--So what is so great about living simply and in the country?

I could probably sit here all day and tell you, however I won't bore you with that, but I wanted to just list a few--

I love, love, love getting up on a warm spring morning, making coffee and going outside to enjoy it--It is quiet, the birds are chirping, butterflies are out and there are all things new--Often we have new'critter' life spring forth here on the farm--goat kids, chicks, puppies,--then there is plant life--the tiny leaves on the trees, grass begins to get green, seedlings begin to poke their little heads out of the earth, wild flowers too wake up and turn their little faces towards heaven--

There are the goats playing goat games and you get the sense they are in their own 'critter' way, thanking the Lord for once again for bringing about warmer temps--

The hens proudly lead their chicks around the barn yard as if to say 'see what the Lord gave me'--

The butterfiles flutter around from flower to flower in a frenzy as if they are just soooooooo excited to once again partake of the sweet nectar the Lord has made for them--

Squirrels scurry and scamper from tree to tree taking in the warmth and enjoying the sunshine once again--

Rabbits hop from place to place, teaching their young to gather food and entertain us in the process--who doesn't like to sit and watch a wild rabbit?

Oh, and lets all not forget the feeling and smell of the fresh, spring soil that offers a coolness on our hands as the sun beats down on our backs--

The sheer excitement of putting a seed and or plant in the ground and watching it grow and bring forth food for our tables--

The skies turn a beautiful hue of blue with no clouds around--no smog, no city noise, no sirens, just pure, unadulterated nature--

These are but a few of the wonderful and simple blessings that you can find in the country--I told my friend, God truly can be found in the country--he's is shouting from everything and is not over shadowed by the noise of elsewhere--

::Until Next Time::
T.D.H.

Outside My Window

I know many of you have much more snow than we do, but I like taking pictures to add to my blog for future reference--anyway this is my "outside my window 2" post--remember they are litterally taken looking outside from my window so if they seem a bit blurred that is why--I like doing this to watch the changes that take place here over the year--there is no grass in our yard right now as we just cleared this area last June I think it was--so it's pretty bare and 'ugly' right now--but this spring should bring around at least some grass and we will be planting things--Makes for a good "progress journal"

BELOW:Behind the house--the blue tarp is covering lumber for the addtion--

BELOW: This is looking out  my bedroom window


::Until Next Time::
T.D.H

Who Knew

As I ventured over to the laundry house today I decided to look at my strawberry plants--WOW! did I ever get a shock--I have strawberrys growing in my yard--the runners left the bed and found their way into the yard--LOL--soooooooo need I say I have tons of strawberrys to transplant this spring--Alan and I knew we needed another bed, but it looks as if we may need 2 more beds--LOL--Its a good thing we like strawberrys--I should be able to freeze plenty and have tons of jam this year--What a blessing!--We started out with 25 plants, then my mom gave me 25 more--so I had 50 plants now I probably have about 60--LOL--So much for worrying that I wouldn't have enough--I will find someone to bless with our abundance--I guess I should go in and re-do my garden plan to include a couple more strawberry beds--LOL

::Until Next Time::
The Deliberate Homesteader

This morning when I got up and opened the shades I noticed the goats had finally broken their 'play toy'--it was an old wire spool that we have had for a couple of years--It was getting rather worn out and they finally did it in--
As I stood there and watched them--apparently they are having just as much fun with it now as they did when it was 'whole'--it kinda reminded me of the whole "make due and re-use" concept--LOL--we can learn alot from critters!



::Until Next Time::
The Deliberate Homesteader

'Bella' our doe will be having a kid or hopefully kids soon--I checked her again today and no doubt she is making an udder--Wooohooo!--I am so very excited--I would say she is due within the month--I am hopeful for twin doelings, last year she has twin boys--we could really use some doelings--But we will take whatever the Lord allows--

::Until Next Time::
The Deliberate Homesteader

It is my ambition

As I read my bible this morning I came across this verse--I have read it many times but today it really struck a chord with me--

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12
This should be your ambition: to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we commanded you before--12. As a result people who are not christians will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others to meet your financial needs.--NLT Version

This sums up the homesteading way of life for me--Be quiet, work with your hands, mind your own business, gain respect and you will no have to depend on others to meet your needs--WOW!--If all the world would live by this what a change there would be!

'Nuff said!

::Until Next Time::
The Deliberate Homesteader

Food Prices Reach Record High

Food Prices Reach Record High

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), their index of of 55 food commodities has surged to a new all time high of 214.7 points, surpassing its previous highest record from June of 2008 of 213.5 points.

In other words, food prices (nominally) are at a record high, despite the fact that the BLS claims that current year-over-year food price inflation is only 1.5%. According to the FAO, “It will be foolish to assume this is the peak.”

NIA is projecting that the U.S. will see double-digit food price inflation in the first half of 2011. In 2010, Americans were lucky with most of our food price inflation being exported to China. With riots breaking out in China over food prices, food riots in the U.S. could be next.

During the past week, sugar futures reached a new 30-year high, coffee futures reached a new 13-year high, orange juice futures reached a new 3-year high, corn futures reached a new 29-month high, soybean futures reached a new 27-month high, and palm oil futures reached a new 33-month high. NIA believes that Americans will fully feel recent agricultural commodity price increases at their local supermarket within the next six months. NIA predicts that food inflation will become America’s top crisis of 2011.
Click here to see NIA’s President on FOX Business discussing food inflation.
Click here to see NIA’s food price projection report.

For more information from the FAO on the World Food Situation, click here.