Closing this Blog

After my husband kidnapped our son, I left the property and so I am back in the "city". So this will be the last post and I will delete the whole blog in a few days.

Thought this was nifty

So God Made a Farmer

And on the 8th day God looked down on his planned paradise and said, "I need a caretaker!". So, God made a farmer!

God said I need somebody to get up before dawn and milk cows and work all day in the fields, milk cows again, eat supper and then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board. So, God made a farmer!

I need somebody with strong arms. Strong enough to rustle a calf, yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild. Somebody to call hogs, tame cantankerous machinery, come home hungry and have to wait for lunch until his wife is done feeding and visiting with the ladies and telling them to be sure to come back real soon...and mean it. So, God made a farmer!

God said "I need somebody that can shape an ax handle, shoe a horse with a hunk of car tire make a harness out of hay wire, feed sacks and shoe scraps. And...who, at planting time and harvest season, will finish his forty hour week by Tuesday noon. Then, pain'n from "tractor back", put in another seventy two hours. So, God made a farmer!

God had to have somebody willing to ride the ruts at double speed to get the hay in ahead of the rain clouds and yet stop on mid-field and race to help when he sees the first smoke from a neighbor's place. So, God made a farmer!

God said, "I need somebody strong enough to clear trees, heave bails and yet gentle enough to tame lambs and wean pigs and tend the pink combed pullets...and who will stop his mower for an hour to mend the broken leg of a meadow lark. So, God made a farmer!

It had to be somebody who'd plow deep and straight...and not cut corners. Somebody to seed and weed, feed and breed...and rake and disc and plow and plant and tie the fleece and strain the milk. Somebody to replenish the self feeder and then finish a hard days work with a five mile drive to church. Somebody who'd bale a family together with the soft strong bonds of sharing, who'd laugh and then sigh...and then respond with smiling eyes, when his son says he wants to spend his life "doing what dad does". So, God made a farmer!

A little prayer... well because prayer is important!

Lord Jesus, you are the God of all, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love You and keep your commandments. Every good and perfect gift comes to us from Your hand.

I thank you for all that I have received. Lord, I ask that you would bless me so that I can be a blessing to others. That You would fill my house with Your peace and Your Presence. Give me wisdom to make the right decisions in every situation so that You can prosper me in all that I do. Give me favor in all of my relationships, with family, friends and coworkers. Help me to be a testimony of your love to everyone around me. Fill my life with Your purpose, Lord Jesus.

Help me find joy in every day, even in the smallest things. According to Your word, surround me with Your favor as with a shield, and guard my going out and my coming in. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit, and empower me to walk in the fullness of my destiny. I pray in Jesus mighty name, Amen!

Off-Grid Laundry Day

Found a great site that had some interesting things to say about the history of laundry... around our house we are experiencing an issue with fossil fuel and so laundry is being done by hand. My husband referred to it as a Chinese laundry but it wasn't quite that production.

It was the old 2 bucket laundry system of a long gone era... heat a large bucket of water on the wood stove, add some soap and dirty clothes, bring to a boil, stir and stir the clothes. Then plop them into the second bucket of nice clear water and rinse. Once they have been rinsed, ring 'em out and hang them on a line strung across the room near the wood stove.

It isn't like tossing them a machine and letting it do all the work, but it keeps us in clean clothes. Of course they were hung in the house because we have been experiencing temps below zero fahrenheit at night and under 20 during the day. As weather warms up we will hang outdoors on the clothes line out in the sun and wind.


I will be planting a selection of fragrant flowers around the clothes line this spring. That will make laundry day a delightful aroma of beautiful things... better than any "fragrant" laundry soap or fabric softner.

Realities of Off Grid Living

So you wake up at 5am and there is only darkness... clouds have blocked out the few stars that might give a little light. You don't get to just flip a switch. You get up in the dark, grab your flashlight (because I am a girl and don't like to stumble around in the dark)  and gather your clothes... in the dark you get dressed, you have to stoke the fire (in the dark), you fumble with lighting the propane light so you can see a little bit. Pour your coffee as the kids start whining about getting the generator going so they can watch early morning cartoons. You get your boots on, find your gloves, and grab your coat and head out to the generator... for the next 3-4 hours you get to pretend you live like regular folks with electricity, tv, internet and all that...

The rest of the day is spent doing chores and playing with children. Then as the sun slips down past the mountain, generator goes back on for another 3 hours or so. And then we slip into darkness to wake up and start all over in the morning.

Actually the whole TV/Internet thing is the only thing that is different than when we lived on grid. Instead of being on all the time we are limited to a short period in the morning and in the evening on short winter days and it will be even less time when the sun is up in the sky longer.

6 weeks

6 weeks... It has been six weeks since we moved in to the ranch.

I have so much to get done still! I looked around and realized I had taken a vacation from unpacking and oh there is much to get accomplished yet! We have started a list of "SPRING/SUMMER TO DO'S" things like wrapping pipes, finding a way to limit ice dams on the roof, protecting the walkway between the well house and generator from snow/ice... the list is growing as we see things that need attention.

This weekend my attention goes to getting things in order in the house. I still have a bathroom that hasn't been unpacked. Maintenance cleaning in the living room (dusting has to happen just about every day or you have a problem) Kitchen is in need of tidying and some reorganizing as some arrangements for pots and pans isn't working so well.

I am looking forward to spring... I know we need another eight weeks of winter and another 6 feet of snow and so I will be patient.