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.

becoming VERY frustrated with my Internet connection... it seems that there is an issue and so half the web pages I try to connect to I can't... and these are like normal ones... Facebook, Hotmail, etc. I can connect fast to any Google related page, I would assume because WildBlue and Google have some agreement. Anyway I really hope they fire off that other satellite so I can get Excede.... in the mean time I battle for simple Internet access.

The snow & freezing temperatures (minus Fahrenheit temps) have water pipes frozen, wood is low and today I am feeling just a tad discouraged. I do know that it will get better and this is just a momentary issue... I am going to make a blazing fire and hopefully defrost pipes, my husband is going to go get some wood and hopefully we will be back in bussiness today...

It isn't always easy living in a non-traditional setting but we will make it work...

Frozen Pipes and Disasters

Our water situation out here is a bit different...

We have a well and there is a pump... but we have a water tower attached to the house and in the tower is a 1000 gallon water tank where we keep the water that is gravity fed into our house. It is a good system and hey it works...

Most of the time...

Last Sunday the pipes froze... then we discovered the tank had ice in it. We had let it get too low. So David runs some water to the tank hoping that would help. Well it was time to leave for church and still no water... we left the door open to the tower and off we went...

We went to church, to lunch with some amazing folks, and then to the laundry mat so the kids would have clothes for the week...

We were going to stop at my Sister-in-Laws on the way home but my husband decided he just wanted to get home... Good Thing!

We got home and someone had not turned off the kitchen faucet... and the pipes had defrosted... oh what a mess!!!! But we got it cleaned up and we learned something more about our new house... even if the pipes are frozen during the heat of the day they will probably defrost so don't leave a faucet on *grin*

What a Month!

December 7th we started the move... my husband grabbed a friend and the kids and I and we loaded the truck and trailer and off we went... we get to the new place and unload. My husband goes back to the old place to finish packing and get the old place cleaned up and bring the last load up to the ranch. It was suppose to be 2 days... ended up being 4... I was close to a melt down by the time he finally got back. But when he got here he had help and all our stuff.

While I was waiting for him, the kids and I played and I did a LOT of cleaning... there is 30 years of a 2 pack a day smoker smoke on the walls along with layers of dust in all the high and hidden places and the doom room that I will be attacking later... I started in the kitchen. General household cleaning products were not working... and then when David arrived he brought a cleaner that is BOMB DIGGITY...


Dirty Jobs cut through the layers of tar, smoke and dust like it was nothing. My cleaning got so much easier with this stuff!

I don't suppose it ecology friendly but sure does what it is suppose to do and after days of trying to clean and getting little progress I didn't care. It cut through the grime and it got it pretty and that is what I needed. There is so much more to do but now that the holidays and January birthdays are over I can get back to it.

The move, a cleaning, 10 days after we moved our first little storm and then a HUGE storm that brought 2 feet of snow and for days it snowed every day... a bit of craziness. It snowed again last night another 4 inches. This is the most snow we have had up here about 10 years and of course it comes our first month here...

Right now we have decided that we are just going to muddle through the winter the best we can and try not to worry too much about getting things perfect...survival... staying warm and dry and hanging in until spring gets here... then we will get to work and do what we have to do to make this work!

FINALLY

We are back ONLINE!!!!! It is slower than I had anticipated an I don't understand the upload/download limits just yet but we are ONLINE!

The move has been an adventure and there have been a lot of things happening as we get use to living off grid. Tonight I have a lot to get done so I am not going to go into all the details...

Suffice to say we are moved in, we are settling in, winter hit with a vengeance and we had 2 ft of snow before we got all our wood in. But even so we have all we need for the moment and God will bring us what we need between now and when we need it.

Feeling very blessed and I will post details soon!

ANNOUNCEMENT!

 We are moving 1 day early and I will be without internet for 4 days...

We will be taking our truck and trailer up to the property on Friday and then while I unpack and chase kids and do the cleaning that needs to get done, my husband will come back to town and pack up the rest of the old place and bring the rest up.

Ready....
Set....
Let's Rock and Roll!!!!!!

Be good! See ya'll next Monday!

Bible Verses for Dedication

Now be pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight; for you, O Sovereign LORD, have spoken, and with your blessing the house of your servant will be blessed forever.
2 Samuel 7:29

Blessings!

Yesterday a friend offered us our first starter chickens! SO EXCITED! One rooster and a couple of hens.

It is so amazing to watch as all this comes together! 

Rise and Shine!

Good Morning Readers!

Rain Rain and more Rain (and some snow up at the ranch)

Four more days and we will be up at the ranch! I struggled a bit yesterday- didn't pack a single box after all my intention to get as much packing done as possible.

It came about as several comments were made about our new place, it's location, my adult children having doubts about this... just a lot of dirt being thrown about to cloud my intentions.

Later I was BLESSED to hear a message where the speaker said something to the affect that if we look at the negatives thrown at us as soil needed to set our seed in the ground, it will lose the power to stop us and give us the power to sprout and grow <3 I like the analogy and this morning I am using it to get things moving after yesterday's struggles.

So the plan today is to wash everything in the kitchen and pack all but the absolute necessities needed to get us through the next four days. I am also going to finish packing the kids room, leaving out only a couple of toys to help them stay occupied. If I can get those two things done I will feel very accomplished.

It's THIS WEEK!

 Packing packing packing! Getting everything ready to go to the new house! We are almost there! Boy I had not realized how many electronic gadgets we have until I started packing...
Most of this will never be used again, so I am donating them. I did keep the waffle iron 

While packing, I have discovered some treasures that had been tucked away. I am excited that in the new house these treasures will be able to bless our family. I am really trying to discard anything that isn't needed or loved. It isn't as easy as it sounds (at least for me) since so many things trigger memories and so then I put an emotional attachment to the item because of the memory. Not sensible, but a battle I have.




Yesterday, in town, we had a flood. Most of Northern California is wet wet wet. A good thing given the drought we have had. This is really exciting for the new property. With a wet year, I will be able to do so much more this spring to get the property to the self sufficiency model we desire. Water is the most necessary thing in raising plants and animals (and children).

When I talked to David last night (he is at the property helping get things done there) he told me they had sow instead of rain. This is a good thing. God is so good!



I am trying to come up with some strategies for the food storage issues we are going to have at the new place. I think for winter we are going to be stuck with a lot of canned foods. Not my first choice, however until the issues of food preservation are resolved I am not seeing what else we can do.

Next year we will have an advantage. We will can and preserve our own foods and by then we will have come up with some sort of way to freeze foods. I am looking at a couple of different possibilities and also hoping that perhaps my husbands water wheel will supply the power to run a convention freezer. It is still a wait and see situation.


I am so excited! Even though we will be without so many things that people take for granted, I know that this move is going to be such an amazing thing for my family!!!!

Can I have one?

Can I have one? I have decided that I would like a horse driven plow for two reasons. One it would justify having a horse (something the kids and I want) and second it allows us to plow our property with out the purchase or borrowing of a tractor and the expense of maintenance and use they require. To be truly self sufficient we need to get away from the use of gasoline and oil and this would be a step in that direction...



So now on my wish list is a horse pulled plow....

Bentonite

Bentonite- I need it. To seal the pond!

So the story goes if you sprinkle bentonite on the floor of the pond, it will seal. We also have to pull up the trees in the pond area and up on the dam and seal that area too. 

If I have calculated correctly, if this year is the rain fall predicted, we should have a nice stable pond. Not sure about year around but at least

 it will be pretty stable during winter/spring/early summer. If we get some moisture it may last all summer! 

I am really hoping that this can be a source of year around water for critters... we will have to see what happens in the next few years. If it works the way I am hoping, my husbands desire to make a waterwheel that produces electricity could happen in the pond. Because as I have discovered in my research, you don't have to have a river or stream, just a constant source of water and then you can make a pump that cycles the water to feed the water wheel and make it spin.

Oh what an amazing adventure!!!!

Closer

The time is getting closer and closer! I am so excited to be moving to the land the Lord has provided!  I thought this morning, in just 2 short weeks, instead of waking up to the noise of cars driving by, neighbors hollering at each other, we will wake up to the stillness of the Lord.

December 15th we are dedicating our property to the Lord. That will be a very special day! We will be dedicating our lives, our heart, our property to serving the Lord. To know from that day forward, everything we do on the property is for the Lord. Yes, it is exciting.

12 Days left!!! So excited! Later today we will discover if we will have peacocks as our first animals on the ranch... that would be rather fun. Oh sure peacocks aren't food and they don't do much but look pretty~ but pretty would be nice... They have been abandoned by the previous owners and are looking for a new home. It is a first come first get and since we don't get to move just yet... anyway it is a matter of God's choice in our lives not ours at this point.