Week 9 What's Going On on the Farm

Week 9

Slicing Tomatoes

Cherry Tomatoes

Okra

Basil

 Lettuce

Potatoes

Yellow Crookneck Squash

Zucchini

We're in the middle of our busy growing season here on the farm. It's odd...days begin to blur; chores mount up quicker than a chicken jumps on a Junebug, and breakfast looks oddly like supper! (Really! We had scrambled eggs w

ith sausage, a whole chicken, sliced tomatoes, hash browns, and cinnamon breakfast bread for breakfast this morning!) We'll turn around twice and we'll be harvesting fall crops and buckling down to our home school schedule. 

Our days are full, and one project this week was getting the new flock of broilers out on pasture. We've got a record number of chickens on the farm right now with around 700 birds needing daily attention. We like them to have fresh grass daily. So when the new broilers left the brooder they were introduced to GRASS!

The guys built two new movable pens and got them pulled to the  field. Sorry guys, this is not one of the new pens...but this is how they position them in the field. They place them in a row and work their way down the field, moving a pen's length each day. This gives the birds fresh grass, bugs, and a clean growing space.

Our new egg layers also have been enjoying the insects and grass seeds as they daily move across the field. You can tell the hens (brownish red) from the  roosters (white) easily. 

Levi (10 11/12) is the lemonade chef for Dixie Lee Market. We were given an antique lemon/orange juicer that works great! He now has his own recipe that will satisfy even the deepest thirst.

I've been learning to ferment vegetablels this season. My concoctions are food, but also medicine for our "guts"! It's amazing what God has created for our benefit! 

Left: fermented squash & onions with garlic and peppercorns, Middle: Cherry tomatoes, garlic bulbs and basil, Right: layers of cucumbers,carrots, corn and tomatoes. Eat a little each day (use them as a side dish) will add the right kind of bacteria to your digestive track for overall heath! Go to Cultured Food Life for more information and great cultures to add to your vegetables. In just a couple of days your vegetables will take on a new life and give you a new life!


Like I mentioned earlier, breakfast has been taking on a touch of supper...These yummy breakfast tostadas can utilize any stray vegetables lingering in your frig, and give you a great start to your day!  I've listed my ideal ingredients, but don't wait to get them all! There are many variations on this recipe, so make yours with what's in your frig.  These are farmer boy tested and approved!

Breakfast Tostadas

Corn Tortillas

Breakfast Sausage/Bacon, crumbled or chopped

Shredded Cheese

Lettuce, torn in small pieces 

Onions, diced 

Sweet/Hot Peppers, diced

Black Olives, chopped

Tomatoes, chopped 

Shredded Crookneck Squash or Zucchini

Salsa

Sour Cream or Greek Yogurt

Your choice of boiled, scrambled, or fried eggs

Choose to either bake or fry your corn tortillas. You can spray them with olive oil cooking spray, sprinkle them with salt, and bake them in a 400 degree oven, or pan fry them in a bit of coconut oil. Drain the fried version and salt them well. 

Since this is a fun meal, I put all the vegetables, cheese, and salsa into small bowls and place them around our table as I set it for breakfast.

As the tortillas are "frying" I make my eggs. The Farmer only lives for scrambled eggs, so we OFTEN (that means daily) have them. I try and vary it for the teenagers that like "something different than THOSE scrambled eggs EVERY DAY PLEASE", so I like to fry, poach, or boil some for this also. (My favorite is poached.) If I'm using leftover boiled eggs, I simply chop them and put them on the table with the other condiments.

To serve I simply put a hot egg on each toastada  and serve them. The children add their toppings to "own it" as the saying goes. 

The only problem I had when first trying this idea was I didn't make enough...a big change from not wanting any more scrambled eggs!

We offer all you need for the best BLT (Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato sandwich) you've ever had! 

We've been baking up old fashioned cookie recipes and adding new twists that will satisfy your cravings...the chocolate chip ones are even Gluten Free!

We have a large family...13 children...13 blessings. 13 instruments in the hand of the Lord to fashion me into His image. 

I hesitate to share my heart, knowing satan is just waiting to bring me down again in this area...but I pray for my family. He will often tell me that my pleas are not prayers. So there was a period that I stopped writing in my prayer journal for each child and their spouses....a time of hopelessness. 

Prayer is a Christian's lifeline to THE Savior. We are taught in Scripture to "pray without ceasing", and if you look at the verse before this it says "Rejoice evermore." (1 Thessalonians 5: 16,17) My time of hopelessness was a direct result of my ceasing to pray. 

This morning as I was reading Psalm 33:15 I read, "He fashioneth their hearts alike...". (That's you and me!) This brought back to my remembrance 1 Corinthians 10:13, " There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

You and I are a lot alike..we have the same wishes, dreams, weaknesses, and areas of temptation. This thought totally changed my prayer life a few years ago. Now I can pray...really pray for others. 

But when it comes to family, I want to be like Job who brought his children before the Lord "continually".  (See Job 1:5) Why was it harder? Why did I hear these whisperingS that my list of needs... my list of heartaches that needed the Lord's touch that I prayed over were not REAL praying? 

This week as I was reading Ephesians, Paul wrote (as he often did in his letters) "Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;" THAT'S what I wanted! I wanted to be able to give thanks for my family...those I know the best...those I can see flaws in...those that I struggle to teach...those that I LOVE. 

That's when God gave me a "way of escape" from satan's desire to stop my prayers! (Thank you Lord!!) As I continued to read, "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him." My flesh cried out to Him, "I want that!...I want my children to have that!" That's when He showed me how to pray for my children and their spouses. 

Prayer List 

Ephesians 1
~ Verse 16 ~Lord, please give me endurance, and not cease to pray for my children (I can insert a personal name here when praying for one in particular.) 
~Verse 17~ Lord, please give.... spiritual wisdom straight from the Holy Spirit. Protect them from the "wisdom" (foolishness) of the world.
~Verse 17b,18~ Open their eyes to salvation, or their position in Christ.
~Verse 19~  Please open their eyes to the power which is theirs in Christ. Bring them to the end of "themselves" so they can experience Your power through them.
~Chapter 2:1-3~ Lord help them to live differently from "times past" once they get saved. If "all things haven't been made new" in their lives, and everything is a struggle, open their hearts to salvation (see verses 4-10).
~Verse 14~ Lord please give us Your peace because of Your work for us!
~Chapter 3:6~ I praise you Lord that we are fellow heirs, may ... "walk worthy" this day. 
~Verse 9~ Lord, when "storms" blow through their lives, teach them to "hide in You".

And my list goes on...

I challenge you to pray for your family through the book of Ephesians as the Lord has directed me.  Ask the Holy Spirit to show you how to pray! Grab a notebook or paper and make your list. You can insert the names of those you love in the pleas like I couldn't do here.

 I'm still reading, praying and making my list of things God wants me to pray for. After listening to satan for so long in this area, it's comforting to know that the Comforter is showing me the way to peace of heart. Then when satan whispers to me that I'm not really praying I can say, "But God told me to pray these things for my child!" That will make him flee!  

"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made know unto God." Philippians 4:6 

Abundant Blessings In Jesus Christ,

The Farmer's Wife,

Val