Bounty

Here is a photo of our thriving garden. This is a year of plenty for those with dirt under their fingernails and in their shoes. The weather has been perfect for gardening and farming. We have teamed up with the Havens' on their 2 acres to grow all of our beans, tomatoes, pumpkins, peppers, greens, pickling pickles, sweet corn, and also fresh lettuce, carrots, peas, squash, etc. We've named it "Fresh Haven Farm" but its really just a big garden (1/2 acre). We're also raising a dozen Rhode Island Reds for eggs and a couple dozen Cornish Rocks for broilers.
The garden is an interesting way to get to know someone. We haven't known the Havens for very long and many people believe that we took on alot of risk by spending so much on seed and plants and chicken house material and chickens that is on someone else's land. You know, I don't look at it at all that way. The way I see it is by doing this together our kids get the opportunity to see a couple families come together in difficult economic times to create some synergy. If it doesn't work out it won't be a lesson in keeping your guard up, it will be a lesson in how to live life as if we are already within the Kingdom of God and if it turns out that life is not a fairy tale with a happy ending we at least feasted on the joy that we've had thus far in this endeavor. Our kids play well all day and well into the dark, catching lazy fireflies while we relax around a crackling bonfire (Mike is the bonfire king and takes the size, color, warmth, and ambiance of his bonfire very seriously). Many times the kids will crowd onto a blanket next to the fire and fall asleep while we talk late into the night. The harvest began when we broke ground for the garden and I pray it continues deep into the winter when we twist off brass rings and open sealed wide-mouth masons of spicy salsa, hearty vegetables, sweet bread and butter pickles, and sweat-beeding hot pickled peppers. These will be the jewels of our larder but the real treasure will never be contained in a jar or sealed in a freezer bag. The real treasure will be written on our hearts and in our memories for eternity.

shalom, grow something