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.

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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.

"Outside My Window"

I decided that every so often I will blog a little piece called "Outside my Window"--It will be things I can see from the windows in my home--
Here is my first one--We have 3 big windows in our living room--one each outside wall--From the end one I can see our goats--it is only maybe 10 feet from the end of the house to the goat fencing--I love leaving the curtains open all day so I can see nature all around me--This morning I took these from inside my living room--
Below--This is the doe that we are 90% sure is bred--she is my awesome milker!--Her name is AnaBella--"Bella" for short

Below--Here is "Bella" and "Mr. Man" he is laying down--

::Until Next Time::
The Deliberate Homesteader

NIA's Top 10 Predictions for 2011‏

The National Inflation Association is pleased to announce its top 10 predictions for 2011.

1) The Dow/Gold and Gold/Silver ratios will continue to decline.
In NIA's top 10 predictions for 2010, we predicted major declines in the Dow/Gold and Gold/Silver ratios. The Dow/Gold ratio was 9.3 at the time and finished 2010 down 15% to 8.1. The Gold/Silver ratio was 64 at the time and finished 2010 down 28% to 46. We expect to see the Dow/Gold ratio decline to 6.5 and the Gold/Silver ratio decline to 38 in 2011. Later this decade, we expect to see the Dow/Gold ratio bottom at 1 and the Gold/Silver ratio decline to below 16 and possibly as low as 10.

2) Colleges will begin to go bankrupt and close their doors.
We have a college education bubble in America that was made possible by the U.S. government's willingness to give out cheap and easy student loans. With all of the technological advances that have been taking place worldwide, the cost for a college education in America should be getting cheaper. Instead, private four-year colleges have averaged 5.6% tuition inflation over the past six years. College tuitions are the one thing in America that never declined in price during the panic of 2008. Despite collapsing stock market and Real Estate prices, college tuition costs surged to new highs as Americans instinctively sought to become better educated in order to better ride out and survive the economic crisis. Unfortunately, American students who overpaid for college educations are graduating and finding out that their degrees are worthless and no jobs are available for them. They would have been better off going straight into the work force and investing their money into gold and silver. That way, they would have real wealth today instead of debt and would already have valuable work place experience, which is much more important than any piece of paper. Colleges and universities took on ambitious construction projects and built new libraries, gyms, and sporting venues, that added no value to the education of students. These projects were intended for the sole purpose of impressing students and their families. The administrators of these colleges knew that no matter how high tuitions rose, students would be able to simply borrow more from the government in order to pay them. Americans today can purchase just about any type of good on Amazon.com, cheaper than they can find it in retail stores. This is because Amazon.com is a lot more efficient and doesn't have the overhead costs of brick and mortar retailers. NIA expects to see a new trend of Americans seeking to become educated cheaply over the Internet. There will be a huge drop off in demand for traditional college degrees. NIA expects to see many colleges default on their debts in 2011. These colleges will be forced to either downsize and educate students more cost effectively or close their doors for good.

3) U.S. retailers will report declines in profit margins and their stocks will decline.
Although most analysts on Wall Street believe retailers will report a major increase in holiday season sales over a year ago, NIA believes any top line growth retailers report will come at the expense of dismal bottom line profits. NIA expects many retailers to report large declines in their profit margins for the 4Q of 2010 and first half of 2011. Retailers have been selling goods at bargain basement prices in order to generate demand. Americans, being flush with newly printed dollars from the Federal Reserve, have been eager to buy up supplies of goods at artificially low prices. However, shareholders will likely sell off their retail stocks on this news. As share prices of retail stocks decline, retailers will begin to rapidly increase their prices by mid-2011.

4) The mainstream public will begin to buy gold.
Although the mainstream media continues to proclaim we have a gold bubble, it is impossible to have a gold bubble when mainstream America isn't buying gold. The average American is more likely to be a seller of gold through companies like Cash4Gold, in order to raise enough dollars to put food on their table. Most Americans today don't even know the price of gold. During the next 12 months, we expect to see a huge ramping up in the public's knowledge about gold. More Americans than ever will know the current price of gold and understand that it is real money. By the end of 2011, we expect the general public to begin looking at gold as an investment, just like they began looking at Real Estate as an investment in 2003. Sometime during the next six months, we believe you will overhear a stranger at a restaurant talking about investing into gold. We believe the price of gold could surge to as high as $2,000 per ounce in 2011.

5) We will see a huge surge in municipal debt defaults.
In the closing months of 2010, we saw yields on municipal bonds rise to their highest levels since early 2009. After 29 consecutive weeks of inflows into municipal bond funds, investors are now pulling money out of municipal bond funds by record amounts, with $9 billion exiting municipal bond funds in the five weeks leading up to Christmas. NIA believes there could be a small dip in municipal bond yields over the next couple of months as investors realize that municipal debt defaults might not be imminent, but we expect municipal bond yields to begin rising again by mid-2011 with a huge surge in municipal debt defaults coming in the second half of 2011. Although the Federal Government has a printing press that it uses in order to pay its debts, cities and municipalities do not.

6) We will see a large decline in the crude oil/natural gas ratio.
When we released our top 10 predictions for 2010, crude oil was $73 per barrel and we predicted that oil prices would rise to $100 per barrel in 2010. Crude oil ended up rising by 26% in 2010 to $92 per barrel, coming short of our outlook. However, it is possible our $100 per barrel oil forecast might be off by just a month or two. We wouldn't be surprised to see $100 per barrel oil within the first two months of 2011 and if so, we expect to see a huge movement in America this year towards natural gas. The crude oil/natural gas ratio currently stands at 20. Historically, the crude oil/natural gas ratio has averaged 10 and based on an energy equivalent basis, crude oil and natural gas prices should have a 6 to 1 ratio. Brand new fracking technology has caused natural gas supplies in the U.S. to rise to record levels. Although our country might be flooded with natural gas, the natural gas fracking boom that is taking place across the U.S. today is causing ground water in the U.S. to become contaminated. Americans living near natural gas wells that use fracking, are finding that they can now light the water coming out of their faucets on fire. New government regulations are likely to crack down on natural gas fracking and this will come at the same time as American individuals and businesses begin to convert their automobiles and machinery to run off of natural gas. A large decline in the crude oil/natural gas ratio in 2011 is likely, possibly down to as low as 15.

7) The median U.S. home will decline sharply priced in silver.
For the past couple of years, being able to make ones mortgage payment has been the primary concern for the average American. In an attempt to support housing prices and keep mortgage interest rates at artificially low levels, the Federal Reserve has been implementing massive quantitative easing and buying mortgage backed securities. NIA believes the Federal Reserve will be successful at putting a nominal floor under Real Estate prices. NIA also believes that the Federal Reserve's actions will cause a massive decline in the value of the U.S. dollar, which will allow Americans to more easily pay back their mortgages with depreciated U.S. dollars. However, the Federal Reserve will not be successful at reinflating the Real Estate bubble. In fact, in terms of real money (gold and silver), NIA believes Real Estate prices will decline to record lows. The median U.S. home is currently priced at $170,600 or 5,500 ounces of silver. Priced in silver, the median U.S. home price is down 16% from one month ago and 45% from one year ago. After the inflationary crisis of the 1970s, silver rose to a high in 1980 of $49.45 per ounce. The median U.S. home price in 1980 was $47,200, which means the median U.S. home/silver ratio declined to a low of 954. With the Federal Reserve printing money at an unprecedented rate and record amounts of new homes built during the recent Real Estate bubble, NIA believes it is inevitable that the median U.S. home will decline to a price of 1,000 ounces of silver this decade and possibly as low as 500 ounces of silver. In 2011, we believe a decline in the median U.S. home price to 4,000 ounces of silver is possible.

8) Food inflation will become America's top crisis.
Starting a few decades ago and accelerating in recent years, America has seen a boom in non-productive service jobs, mainly in the financial sector. Most of these jobs were made possible by inflation. Without inflation, which steals from the purchasing power of the incomes and savings of goods producing workers, the majority of the jobs on Wall Street would not exist today and our country would be in much better financial shape because of it. With most Americans in recent decades seeking non-productive jobs in the financial services sector because that is where they could access the Fed's cheap and easy money, very few Americans sought jobs in the farming and agriculture sector. In the 1930s, approximately 28% of the population was employed in the agriculture sector, but today this number is less than 2%. Agriculture currently makes up only 1.2% of U.S. GDP, compared to the services sector, which makes up 76.9% of U.S. GDP. There is currently a major shortage of farmers in the U.S. and a lot of land that was previously used for farming has now been developed with Real Estate. To make matters worse, agricultural products now trade on the international market and Americans must now compete against citizens of emerging nations like China and India for the purchasing of food. Prices of goods and services do not rise equally when governments create monetary inflation. Inflation gravitates most towards the items that Americans need the most and there is nothing that Americans need more to survive than food and agriculture. As the U.S. government prints money, the first thing Americans will spend it on is food. Americans can cut back on energy use by moving into a smaller home and carpooling to work. They can cut back on entertainment, travel, and other discretionary spending. However, Americans can never stop spending money on food. The days of cheap food in America are coming to an end. The recent unprecedented rise that we have seen in agricultural commodity prices is showing no signs of letting up. In the past few days, 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. We estimate that it takes as long as six months for rising agricultural commodity prices to be felt by U.S. consumers in their local supermarket. Even if food producers and retailers accept substantially lower profit margins in 2011, we are still guaranteed to see double-digit across the board U.S. food inflation in the first half of the year. That is correct, let us repeat, NIA guarantees that Americans will see double-digit food inflation in the first half of 2011. Shockingly, except for Glenn Beck (who was kind enough to feature our food inflation report), absolutely nobody in the mainstream media is doing anything to warn Americans about the food inflation crisis that is ahead. In fact, left-wing groups like Media Matters (funded by George Soros) have been working tirelessly to try and discredit NIA's research while reassuring Americans that they need not worry about food inflation. The truth is, when Americans realize that they can no longer take food for granted, we will likely see the outbreak of an all out food price panic with everybody rushing to the supermarket to stock up on goods before prices rise even further. The end result will likely be government price controls and empty store shelves, but NIA doesn't project this to occur until later this decade.

9) QE2 will disappoint and the Federal Reserve will prepare QE3.
The Dow Jones is now back up to 11,670, which is where it was in mid-2008 before the crash. NIA believes that most of QE2 has already been priced into the market, before the Federal Reserve even prints the $600 billion. At some point, we expect it to become apparent to all that the U.S. economic recovery is phony and stock prices are rising solely due to inflation. In our opinion, we will see some sort of catalyst that causes the stock market to sell off at some point and the consensus on Wall Street will be that QE2 will not be enough to save the U.S. economy. By the end of 2011, we expect the Federal Reserve to begin planning QE3. QE3 might be the final dose of inflation that causes the U.S. economy to overdose into hyperinflation.

10) Sarah Palin will announce she is running for President as a Republican.
NIA believes that Sarah Palin has been setup perfectly to run for President in 2012 and that she will announce her candidacy for the Republican nomination with great fanfare from tea party supporters in 2011. We give Sarah Palin credit for recently speaking out against the Federal Reserve's QE2 and warning Americans about the food inflation crisis that is ahead. Unfortunately, we believe Sarah Palin is not a true independent and is being controlled by the Republican establishment, which is just as responsible as the Democrats are for the financial crisis we have today. As President, Palin would be unlikely to implement the measures that are necessary to prevent hyperinflation. In our opinion, we need to elect a true libertarian candidate as President who will cut government spending, balance the budget, and restore sound money. NIA intends to support Ron Paul, if he decides to run for President. 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: http://inflation.us