I'm Hearing Voices!

 

As we head into our week, I'd like to "shout out" a WARNING that the Lord Jesus gave to me this past week...

I seemed to be in a fog after hearing/seeing the tide our nation was taking over the weekend with the election results while on a "day-cation"  our family took on Saturday.  The "silent" but all captivating monitor on the wall of the Chinese restaurant proclaimed to the world the triumph of Joe Biden. Then there was the  comments of the people around us, news on my YouTube feed, my husband's comments from what He was hearing, and the comments in church on Sunday. If you were like me, all these "voices" are running around in your head... along with the "what ifs?". 

As I sat in church Sunday night, I confessed my "fogginess" to the Lord...I couldn't part the waters of truth and lies myself...I couldn't hear HIS voice amongst all the voices running around in my mind, and I needed HIS peace. I needed to hear HIS VOICE. His voice is the only one that truly matters, and in this age I NEED TO TRUST HIM AND FOCUS even more on it.

 I must choose...you must choose who to listen to! HE is the only one we can fully trust to tell us the TRUTH that matters. There is so much corruption all around us as we're in "perilous times" as Scripture calls it. 

How can we focus more?

1. It's been important before, but IMPERITIVE these days to find a quiet spot to read the Scriptures DAILY. When our hearts are seeking TRUTH, He WILL speak peace and direction to our hearts.

2. Purposefully choose who to listen to! I've chosen to ignore the news media that has their own agenda. I am trusting my husband to tell me what is truely important. This is guarding me from the spirit of fear and untruths.

3. I'm not telling you what you need to do, but I've chosen this past year to walk away from social media. I don't need to hear about what you're making for supper, (though it's probably yummy!) or where you went today (It's probably exciting, but it can lead to discontentment in my life). I keep in contact with those that matter the most to me through other means...even a regular old fashioned card with a note tucked in seems peaceful to me these days! I don't need all the voices on social media cluttering my mind and robbing me of my time. 

You alone can pinpoint the "voices" that are coming at you. So take a moment and jot down the ways you get bombarded with news...national, local, even friends posts that are just one more thing that robs you of your time and clouds your mind. Choose a few blogs to follow that will keep you inspired in the areas you are wanting to learn more about. When I've learned what I want, I simply unsubscribe again.

 Here are the blogs/podcasts I follow: 

Farmhouse on Boone ~ Sourdough baking, keeping in touch with what young family life is like, homesteading

The Prairie Homestead ~ Gardening inspiration, Baking, Homesteading

Melissa K. Norris ~ Gardening inspiration, Baking, Homesteading, Self-Sufficiency

Now that I"m not in my garden as much I've stopped listening to podcasts, but I met these gals on my phone's podcast player and got inspired by them as I weeded, planted, and harvested this summer. Who knows? I may find different sources of inspiration this winter, but I find I need to limit the voices I listen to so the MOST IMPORTANT VOICE of Jesus Christ can be heard and heeded.

On our lil' homestead we're about done preparing for winter.... The leaves are piled to be shredded for mulch, 

Our cold-hardy but somewhat tender crops like lettuce, spinach, and our stir fry mixes are under frost blanket on cold evenings....

The last of the apples are made into sauce and canned...

We use a Champion Juicer to grind our apples, peel and all into a nuitrious apple sauce that needs very little cooking down because of the pectin in the skin. (We do core them first!) Then I waterbath them in my large Amish canner. Both of these have been great investments, and have saved me LOTS of time!

We grew one last iffy  planting of squash and zucchini. I covered the 75' rows with a frost blanket. We got a few pickings, but soon the number of hours of daylight inhibited their growth. I picked these babies right before our first killing frost. I made a gourmet meal, lightly sauteing them with some leeks.

On the home renovating front, Steve has installed our new mini-split heater! We've always heated with wood or propane but this super efficient heater will give us freedom in our later years when hauling wood will be too difficult. We have propane and wood heat still, but we're giving it a try this week.

He also began the large project of taking the rotten siding off our "new" home and replacing it with LP Smartside lap siding. This had to be done before the heater could be installed...we're finding this renovation project somewhat like a Chinese puzzle...move one thing to work on another...move it back to work on something else!

Now we're settling in for a long winter of home schooling, indoor crafts, baking loads of goodies,  inside renovating projects, and of course, playing games together as a family.

Banannagrams

As you are gift shopping for your family this year, look at Bannagrams! We love the fast paced word game that stretches our vocabulary and spelling skills...school really never ends for any of us!

May you too find peace as you choose which voice to listen to in these difficult days!

Abundant Blessings,

The Farmer's Wife

Val

P.S. Charity decorated my head with a zucchini leaf as we pulled the plants after a killing frost...how fun!

SHOUTING The VICTORY!

SHOUTING THE VICTORY!

2020 has been a year of seemingly UPS and DOWNS for everyone! Around our new
homestead we enjoyed a lot of "firsts"...going from over a hundred acres to five was a big first for us. But the thrill of new gardens, flocks and renovating our "new to us" home has been a TRUE BLESSING from God! 

In the midst of all the new we dealt with moving, quarentine, graduating a troubled son, broken bones, and broken teeth, a granddaughter passing away, and EVERYONE having the Covid-19 virus! All of these seem negative from our human perspective. As Christians though we can have a different perspective! Each trial that we face is overflowing with a lesson or two that will strengthen us for the future, and focus us more on God's will in our lives.

In Mark 4 Jesus said to His disciples, "Let us pass over to the other side..." of the sea of Galilee. Many of us know the story, but midway out, with Jesus asleep on a pillow, a mightly storm rocked the boat; filling it with water. Fearing for their very lives, the disciples woke Jesus from his nap.  How could Jesus sleep through all that!? The lesson of the storm wasn't for Him, it was for the disciples. He quieted the storm amidst their PANIC and asked this question, "Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?" 

When Steve and I were married Christ gave us direction to "pass over to the other side" together. As I look back over our married life of going on 40 years I can see God's hand protectively teaching me/us IN the storms of life....and not once sinking! At first He taught us to cry out to Him to save us amidst the waves and howling winds of life. Then along the way He lovingly taught us He was with us IN the "ship" of our life and we could TRUST His prescence for protection. Eventually while standing "soaked to the skin" from a storm that CRASHED against our hearts and lives, baffling us to its purpose that waiting on His deliverance while counting each wave a blessing because it brought us closer to HIM! It also deepened our need to STAY close to HIM for protection, strength, and lessons we needed to learn from each one! 

Seemingly for us, we're coming out of a storm right now....We're still getting our footing because "our boat" has come to quieter waters. Like what I just typed, I can look back at its lessons and trace His loving hand once again. 

THEN IT HIT ME! I was having my deovotions in front of the fireplace one morning this week when FEAR of the NEXT storm struck my heart! I knew immediately that it was not from God, and turned to Him for the peace I knew was mine to have in Him. Then He spoke through the page in front of me in Scripture, "Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?"  Mark 40:40 I know I have little faith....but in Him I possessed enough for the test before me. 

If you are ever to be "strong in the Lord and in the power of His might," your strenth will be born in the storms of this life. It was at this point that the Holy Spirit gave me the challange to "SHOUT THE VICTORY in the very face of this storm, and say to the waves of fear that were crashing against me, "Ye can do me no harm, for Christ the Almighty Savior is on board!"

The Spirit is giving you the same challenge..."SHOUT THE VICTORY! " Are you in a storm? 2020 seems to be filled with them...trace God's hand teaching you to TRUST Him to bring you too "to the other side". 

As the spring and summer passed I continued to enjoy all that God was blessing us with amidst the storms of 2020...

In the cottage garden I have a new herb bed that is exciting! I've enjoyed drying  and freezing them, and now saving seed for next year!

I've baked for farmer's markets for years, but I continue to learn new recipes, especially healthier sourdough. 

I canned all season, just stacking farm crates of jars till it was hard to navigate this room. Steve made me shelves and we unpacked all the canning. I thought I'd have extra shelves,(There is more than these in the picture.) but only the floor level is open!

Some of the things we've canned are:
Okra

Salsa 

Applesauce

From the left: Okra, Pickled Okra, Tomatoes

Spaghetti Sauce

Bone Broth

Stew Beef

Green Beans

Corn

Italian Sausage, Ground Beef, Breakfast Sausage and my personal
favorite...Squash Relish!

Dry Blackeyed Peas, Pinto and Black Beans

Mixed Greens
(2 kinds of kale, Fod Ha, Collards and Kohlrabi Greens)

Spring in the kitchen cottage garden.

Some of the things we grew:
White turnips, 8-Ball Zucchini, Yellow Summer Squash
Green Beans

Green Onions

18 Varieties of Tomatoes

A LOT of red and Russet Potatoes

I dug potatoes for days with Steve grading them one handed as he was
still in his cast. We've got them stored in a temporary "root cellar" with the 
winter squash and garden supplies.

Okra

Watermelons

Onions

Lots of melons!

Corn

Red Russian Kale

Dino Kale

Early summer in the cottage garden.

Early Summer in the canning garden

The sugar snap peas grew up and over the supports before growing down another 3 feet! I use the Square Foot Method and can fit radish, greens, green onions or the like at the base of the peas.

We'll enjoy our bumper crop of sugar snap peas all winter!

Both pole and bush green beans

We had purple and white kholrabi. I also canned their 
greens along with Fod Ha and Kale for a tasty
mixed greens for the winter.

Radish

Charity also picked a few new varieties to grow, with this watermelon radish being one of her favorites!

The cucumbers grew up arbors in the pathway, reminding me daily to pick.

White turnips

Several varieties of heirloom lettuces

I chose several "new to me" vegetables this summer to keep things interesting. This is a small 
Fod Ha patch. It's Chinese broccoli, grown for the leaves more than the tiny flurets. I loved this in stir fries!

We grew our first planting of squash and zucchini in our kitchen cottage garden with two more plantings in the 
larger canning garden. Our last planting is still slowly producing fruit in the last week of October!

 We have hoops over the beds of tender annual vegetables that are being protected by the cold snaps.

Yellow Squash

zucchini

Our fall canning garden is full of a mixutre of tender and cold hardy
vegetables. The 225' of green beans, 75' of both squash and zucchini, and also Swiss
Chard are under a protective covering of frost blanket each time a cold wave hits our mountain. 

Those green beans in the fall garden are now beginning to be processed! We've gotten 56 quarts so far with our daughter -in-love getting close to 30 qts also!

We've canned pear slices, pear butter, and applesauce.

We had to get creative with our fall planting of zucchini that
excelled the other 2 plantings by far! I dried more "zoodles" and "zucchini
lasagna noodles" and finally canned this "mock pineapple"! I'm always 
experimenting and learning new things!

 

We had problems purchasing enough flats this year (I do reuse used ones IF THEY ARE UNBENT and the rubber is in good condition. I began drying things that really don't freeze or can well like squash and zucchini. 

The noodles made from zucchini, diced peppers and peas.

From the left: Italian squash slices, cajun squash slices, zoodles,
and mushrooms (We grew these on our farm in the past and they needed preserved) with oxygen absorbers to help reduce deterioration. 

I learned new recipes this summer using my sourdough and its' discard.
These Parkerhouse Rolls were a BIG hit and now a regular. They make
great sandwiches too! Try this recipe Sourdough Parker House Rolls

I fermented my liquid stevia sweetner, and ground my steveia into green
stevia sweetner. 

My kitchen is last on the list of indoor renovation projects, so I 
made do this summer. Here I'm working on a large batch of granola for my family.
I make 100+ cup batches that lasts a couple months. By doing large batches of my family's pantry basics, it frees me up to do larger projects each day.

I could go on and on with my pictures...my cottage flower garden, my medicinal and culanary herb garden, ETC. but I'll let you rest.  God enabled me to "bond" with our new mini farm while working alongside Him in the gardens.

We've been going through a long-lasting storm as a family, but we're learning to "stand in the bow of our ship" and SHOUT THE VICTORY into the wind.  Jesus Christ has been faithful to speak peace to our hearts and bring us out onto the other side. Praise His Name!

Abundant Blessings,
Val Colvin
The Farmer's Wife