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Hi Everyone,
When the children of Israel were heading into the Promised Land, Joshua told them:
Jos 3:4-5 “. . . ye have not passed this way heretofore. (Therefore) sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”
The year 2020 was a year that we will not likely forget—the same trial faced every family on the face of the earth (the coronavirus), but not every family responded to the trial the same. Some families joyfully embraced the time spent together as a family, while others found the time together more than they could handle. Now as a New Year begins we wonder what 2021 will behold. We wonder if we will continue as a Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave—or if we will find ourselves face to face with the reality of very little freedom. We do not know what tomorrow may hold, but we do know that:
Deuteronomy 31:8 “. . . the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.”
As the year 2020 came to a close, we found ourselves doing some things for the last time:
1. On Monday we processed the last batch of chickens. As I looked over the records of recent years I was amazed to see that we only raised 400 to 500 chickens each year—but this year we raised over 1200. When the lock downs arrived in March we couldn’t keep chicken on the shelf. Thankfully it only takes eight weeks to raise more. Starting in April we processed 50 to 70 chickens every other week at first, and every week toward the end. The Lord blessed us with a family who volunteered to come and help us process chickens—and what a blessing they were. That family is moving away, but the Lord is merciful and knows our needs and has raised up another family who will help us not only process chickens, but also package eggs.
2. Yes, packaging eggs may be something that we do every week, but last Tuesday we could honestly say that we wouldn’t have to package eggs again until next year.
3. Gardening is one of our favorite pastimes, and to my dismay I didn’t get to spend the last week of the year working (playing) in the garden. Mom and Steve were able to spend Tuesday and Thursday in the garden preparing a bed to plant onions next Saturday. The two rows that I plan on planting have been growing broomcorn all summer. Then the luffa sponge vines took over the broomcorn—and all of it needed to be cleared out. Then they harvested the rest of the Christmas lima beans, and took down the trellis—being careful not to step in the carrots that were coming up in the bed beside the trellis. In the back of the bed we had fenced in a section to make leaf mold—but the nut grass and the luffa sponges totally took over. They decided to take down the fence, and they did find some pretty nice soil once the vines were all removed.
4. While Mom and Steve worked in the garden on Tuesday, I worked on making the last batch of lip balm, kombucha and yogurt for the year. I also put in all the orders for the last delivery to Jacksonville. I told our customers that this was their last chance to order until next year.
5. Thursday found me giving the last farm tour of the year, and my first chance to show off the newest members of Shepherd’s Hill Farm—lambs. Since Steve used to work at the campground down the road, from time to time they get campers looking for some fresh food and they send them our way. Most of the people are from down south and really enjoy a chance to get out and enjoy farm life and the country. They might spend their mornings on the river, and then come visit the farm in the afternoon. Our farm tour people on Thursday were from south of West Palm Beach. While they were here a new customer pulled up to get some goodies. He lives in his camper and travels throughout the west and the south. Right now he is in Jacksonville and he told us that he drove 80 miles just to come get some food from us. The other family was amazed that someone would travel that far to get food. I told them that we have people from Tampa travel up once a month—which is a three hour drive. We probably spent over an hour driving around the farm in the Gravely looking at the cows, chickens, lambs, garden, dogs, pond and milking parlor. We did get out and look at some plants and pet Yasha who just loves people.
6. Wednesday found me taking the last batch of cayenne peppers off of the dehydrator. I was really pleased with the production of the cayenne’s—and they would have done better if I hadn’t planted them in the tunnel and then have to transplant them out when the summer heat got too hot and the plants began to suffer in the tunnel. I had another goody on that dehydrator— orange peel. We got three buckets of oranges and I “zested” most of them and put the peels on the dehydrator. When they were dry and crispy I sent them through the blender and made powder out of them.
7. The last thing we did last year was stay up too late! We didn’t plan to stay up until midnight—it just happened.
As the year 2021 began we found ourselves doing some things for the first time:
1. The first thing we did this year was soak oatmeal for breakfast, put the laundry in the dryer, put some soaked pecans in the oven to roast—and go to bed!
2. Having stayed up way to late, we chose to make the first day of the year a relaxing one—that is after we milked the cows for the first time this year. Papa worked on putting receipts into QuickBooks for our taxes, Mom shelled pecans and I worked on paperwork. I had a calendar to print for our milk house so that the workers can keep track of their hours and we can keep a record of how much milk we get each day. Then I needed a calendar for the Poultry schedule—when to bring chicks in and when to process them. There was also a calendar for the garden—to know when to start seed trays, when to transplant, when to start the spring garden and the fall garden. I also needed 2021 charts for the milk cows so that I can keep track of who calved when and what they had—heifer or bull, along with another chart that has all our milk cows on it and I can keep track of when we sell one or one dies. Then there was the poultry paperwork so that I could see how each batch grew, what the average weight was, how much money we spent, and how much we earned. Yes, farming is more than just going to the milking parlor every morning to milk the cows, gathering eggs, pulling weeds and harvesting vegetables. There is a lot of planning that goes into it all. Over the next few weeks I shall be utilizing those charts and calendars as I plan out the poultry schedule for the year, figure out what plants we shall be growing this year and figuring out when to start them.
3. We had our first customer for the year on Friday, and they bought the first batch of collards that I sold. The collards have struggled this year. My first planting had only 18 plants come up out of 72. I planted those 18 plants, and they were doing fine until we put up the new caterpillar tunnel. Mom said that the bed was off centered by one foot so we moved everything over a foot. That meant that half of the collards were now in the walkway and I had to transplant them into the new row. They all survived the move, but it stunted their growth, and the woodchips that got mixed into the dirt are robbing them of nitrogen. My second planting of collards did really well, and they are now growing in the tunnel—but they are way behind in size. We have had a few meals off of the collards, and I have been able to sell a few meals from the 9 plants that are thriving
4. Saturday we made our first delivery to Gainesville for the year, and Mom used the canners for the first time this year. She is slowly getting some bags of dried beans canned for easy use. She finished the bag of kidney beans on Saturday, now we have white beans and pinto beans.
5. Tonight Papa came in with our first bottle lamb. He couldn’t find any mama ewe who was claiming it, so he brought it inside to us—anybody want to be an adoptive mother?
6. Don’t tell anyone, but I have yet to make my bed this year. I do not expect this to become a habit, but I must say that it is time for me to close and go and climb into that bed so that I am refreshed and ready to start a new week.
May the Lord bless each one of you this year with His Peace that passes all understanding, and a Hope for tomorrow that is not based on our present circumstances—but embraces all eternity!
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare