Joy in the Simple Life

 Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. (1 Thess. 4:11-12)

Ambition. Usually we think of ambition being the force that drives people to do great things and become "great" people. It drives us to want to "be somebody". In that sense, I've spent much of my life ambitiously hungering to be somebody. To not be invisible. I struggled to find a passion for something that would fuel a fire of ambition in me to reach for and achieve visibility. What I really wanted was to be an artist. To create. To paint. Art was like meditation to me. But, I was told, "fine artists don't earn a living with their art", "you need a vocation that will support you and painting can be your avocation". I believed these "facts" and so started a life of searching for that elusive career that would interest me and make me ambitious to succeed in it. None did and I moved from here to there, collecting degrees along the way and leaving my art far behind. I feel just as invisible now as I ever did. And, just as disconnected from the person I wanted to be -- want to be.

Lesson learned: never let other people define what "success" is for you! Success is more than how much money you make or how popular you are in the society circles.

Makes it your ambition to lead a quiet life...there is nothing better than sitting on the back stoop in the early morning dawn feeding ducks a little bread. Ducks can teach us so much about how to enjoy simple things. A little spilled chicken or rabbit food can make them chatter and wag their tails they are so happy. Getting a little bread can lead to spontaneous moonwalking in circles.

Chickens aren't quiet. They chatter constantly. But, somehow, it's a sound that is comforting, calming. It isn't a sound that grates on the nerves or rev's up the anxiety. 

Tending to the rabbits in the rabbitry will teach one about walking gently, talking softly, and taking one's time. Rabbits don't like noise or suddenness. They don't like ducks under their cages.

The Simple Life. Simply the life that expresses who you are. A life spent reaching for the contentment found in achieving what inspires you. Or...finding a place of accepting the life that took you on a wayward adventure and making peace with it. Simply accept that through God's grace, even the crazy path of misadventure can lead you to a life of peace and contentment if you trust God to do the leading. God's hands can mold you and make you into a beautiful vessel as long as you are pliable. Trust Him to reshape your mess into something... Simply Beautiful.

minding your own business and working with your own hands... I think the scripture is meaning "don't be noisy about your neighbor's going's on" and that is important. Leave your neighbor's business for your neighbor to deal with and hopefully he'll do you the same kindness. Each of us has our own "stuff" to deal with and really, that should be enough! That all said, there is another way to take that verse...to mind your own business. To work at something that is your's and that fits the way God made you. Do not try to be someone else. There is only one you and that is who you should be. If I had focused on my own business from the start -- art -- my life would have taken a far different path. Whether it would have lead to fame and fortune I'll never know but I strongly suspect it would have lead to a more contented life. Why? Because it was what I was made to do. I can not go back and there are experiences I have lived that are precious to me. So, I trust God to take my misadventures and mold them into a life of beauty and contentment. (I'm lacking somewhat in patience, though....)

I wish with all my heart that I could spend my days working with my own hands in the soil of my little homestead. Sitting at a computer 40 hours a week making someone else rich is just not satisfying to me. I try to fine a way to get ambitious. I've tried to see how I might move up or over or even create a new position that would use my skills in a way that would be more interesting to me. But, such efforts hit brick walls and I lack the finesse to play the corporate games to make a go of it. So, I remain a cog in the wheel and while I am trying to pry answers out of French publishers on how to order their journals for a university library, I dream. I dream of making my living writing and "farming" this little homestead. I dream of making this place a living painting full of color and life and peacefulness. I dream of again taking up canvas and paintbrush and feeling peace with the doing rather than anxiety and regrets.

and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. The goal of every homesteader -- self-sufficiency. Few will reach complete self-sufficiency but we hope to come reasonably close. Actually, I dream of more than that. I dream of abundance. Abundance to share with those in lack. That is what the early Christians did -- they shared from their abundance with those who had need so that no one lacked for anything. Christians should not be on welfare or other government handouts. Christians should be taking care of their own. We should function within community -- each giving of their particular talents and from their excess. When persecution comes to our towns and cities, will we then remember that we are a body?

Epilogue: This is a very different blog entry than I had intended to write. Not surprisingly, the writing took it's own course and I had to follow to see where it would lead. I had intended to write a happy, funny blog about six silly ducks. Perhaps another day. Perhaps I can snap a picture of Piebald sticking his head around the back porch door to see if I come bearing bread...until then, you will just have to imagine him doing just that. Silly duck.

Self-Sufficiency Goals for 2012

While my winter greens garden is still growing, the leaves have fallen and it is time to move them into the compost pile and start focusing on 2012.  Thoughts turn to questions about what steps to take in the coming year to move us closer to our goal of being self-sufficient.

The first part of self-sufficiency is having food to eat. Food self-sufficiency means finding ways to grow, gather (through hunting or foraging), or trade for food.

Growing:  as I consider what foods to grow, I'm looking to build a base of perennial plants; both fruit, vegetable, and herb. Of course, there will also be the necessary annuals -- one simply can not do without tomatoes and cucumbers!

The fruits I hope to plant next year include: gooseberry, blueberries, strawberries, fig, muscadine grapes, passionfruit, hardy kiwi and elderberries. Some of the perennial vegetables I hope to get planted include asparagus, Jerusalem artichokes (aka sunchokes), Egyptian walking onions, garlic, sea kale (if I can find a root cutting), scarlet runner beans, and...well...I'm still working on the list as I read my new book on the subject.

How much of any one thing to plant is always a big question. One issue is cross-pollination -- some fruits simply have to have another of it's kind to set fruit. The other question is: how much will each plant produce versus how much can we use? We like to have some for eating fresh but in most cases, we also want some for preserving either through canning or freezing. We also want to have enough to share and to trade. So, the question of "how many to plant" is not such an easy question to answer.

Gathering. Foraging and hunting are also areas to be considered and improved upon. In 2012, I hope to do more in this area that we did this year. I want to learn where to go clamming and relearn how to do that. I went clamming many years ago but have long since forgotten the process. Fishing is another thing I'd like to do --or find someone who goes fishing that is interested in a barter arrangement. I would love to have more local fish on my menu! Deer is another commodity we didn't get much of this year. We had hoped that Son would get to learn to hunt this year -- we will add that to the wishlist for 2012.

Barter. I recently had occasion to speak with some ladies at church about a potential barter/trade community arrangement within our church family. Some are interested in trying a church community garden which would be great for growing some things that I might not have space to grow. It would also be nice to have folks working together on such a project. The barter arrangement would be wonderful. Not everyone has a "green thumb" or desire to garden but might like to make soaps or candles or perhaps they have or want to have chickens. We have one couple that likes to go fishing. Working with each person's strengths could help each of us be more self-sufficient. Such a community of believers helping each other has long been a dream of mine. We'll have to see what might come of it.

Other goals for the homestead for 2012 are:

* build a berm/swale to separate my growing space from the wall of blueberries the neighbor planted.
* build a chicken dome and finally get my hens.
* get a breeding pair or two of muscovies.
* to work perennial beds which mix perennial vegetables, herbs, and fruits
* improve the health of the pecan trees so they begin producing again
* build the 3 month food pantry and start working on the 1 year food pantry

2011 was a year of struggle but it was also a year of learning. I guess you could say that 2011 was the school of hard knocks. Let's hope that 2012 is the sweet fruit that comes from persistence and determination not to quit.

Of Excrement, Fans, Guns and Christians

So, when the excrement hits the fan and society breaks down into chaos, what is a Christian supposed to do? About self-defense, I mean. I mentioned in my last post that I planned to get a gun and learn to use it. Homestead self-defense and all that. Sounds a bit like some of the militia groups who already are drawing their lines in the sand and protecting it with a cache of weapons, doesn’t it? One might rightly ask: Tina, would you kill another person who came to seek food or help to survive? Would you be generous, kind, and sharing of what you have in your pantry? Is “preparedness” just another code word for hoarders with guns?

These are actually questions we each need to ask ourselves. If we have a three year pantry, and IT happens --and we obviously don’t know how long we are going to need to eat off that pantry – do we share with those who ask or shoot all comers on sight? If we feed one, will others follow? How many can we help without risking the well-being of our family? Do we stand and defend or stand and depend? In other words, in whom do we trust – Smith & Wesson or Jesus Christ? Do we compromise our testimony by strapping S&W on our hip?

Well, if you are expecting me to hand you an easy answer to those questions, you are going to be pregnant a long time. I wish I could say I have the definitive answer to give you. Okay, well, I guess the first thing we need to do is look at scripture. Here are a few relevant passages:

[25] "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? [26] Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ... [31] So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' [32] For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. [33] But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. [34] Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. - Mat 6:25-26, 31-34 NIV

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And do not lean on your own understanding. Pr 3:5

[32] Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. [33] Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. [34] You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. - Hbr 10:32-34 NIV

[39] But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. [42] Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. – Mat 5:39,42 NIV

Does that help you any? How do YOU interpret those passages in light of each other and as they may…or may not…apply to our dilemma? Some would, and have, argued with me that I’m taking a “doormat” position if I interpret or apply these scriptures to mean that I am to literally allow anyone to come and take my stuff if they want it. To some extent, my willingness to “be a doormat” depends on just which “stuff” is at risk of being taken. I see no reason not to stand aside and allow the taking of material possessions such as electronics, furniture, car, money. It’s all just so much stuff. As I see it, what matters more to God, a TV or a soul? Where are my treasures stored, here or heaven? Doesn’t scripture admonish us to be willing to forfeit our “rights” and our “stuff” for the cause of Christ?

But, more to the point, what about the one who comes to take away the food, water, or medicines I’ve stored up for my family? If I learn to shoot a gun as a homestead defense measure, how does that measure up to the scripture about “they who live by the sword, die by the sword”? Some have argued that being willing to protect and defend my homestead and family is the essence of being a good steward. To be a good steward, according to their view, is to protect those provisions that God has given me to provide for my family. Scripture also tells us that not to provide for our own families is to be worse than infidels. Even Jesus (Luke 22:35-36) told his disciples to carry a sword – even to trade their coat for a sword if they don’t have one. He understood that His disciples were going to need to defend themselves. Since Jesus is God, He cannot change. It is impossible for God to be of two minds. Knowing this, we know that, somehow, His words in Luke 22 are not in conflict with His words in Matthew 6. There is a time to stand and defend. There is a time to stand and depend. And, always, it is time to trust in His wisdom.

So, all that said, where the rubber meets the road is that preparing for “in case of” is a practical, good stewardship, wise as serpents thing to do. Learning to defend the homestead also falls in that category. Knowing when to defend and when to depend will require reliance on the Spirit that indwells me. One of the benefits of being a Holy Spirit indwelt child of God is that we can trust that His power and His wisdom are available to us at all times and in all seasons.

Trust and obey. There is no better way. That is what we do here at the Not Quite There Yet Homestead.

A Few Changes

You may have noticed a few changes to this blog. The biggest change is to the name. The name change is to reflect a bit of a shift in focus. But, the destination is the same.

Why the change? Well, to be honest, I have decided that I don't like a strict macrobiotic diet although I do like many of the foods that it includes. I don't want to remake myself to fit a diet structure. I want a diet -- a lifestyle -- that molds to fit me. Trying -- and miserably failing -- at macrobiotics only added to my stress and that is the complete opposite of what I was trying to achieve. So, healthy diet --yes. Strict macrobiotics--no.

Also, I found that I had things I wanted to talk about that weren't fitting neatly into my blog. That's rather silly. Either I bore you to tears with post after post of whining about macrobiotics not working for me or about how mean my trainer is (and he isn't really THAT mean!), or I didn't have much to share! Clearly, I needed to loosen the ties that were binding me and allow myself to be me.

But, the question became, what to call it? I thought "Hoe'ing around" could be cute but really not workable for a web address. So, I spent some time thinking about my little mini-homestead and all the weeds and how far I have to go to get it where I want it. I thought about my life and how I'm far from where I want to be in many ways. And, in all that thinking, I thought of the question children often ask their parents when on a road trip: are we there yet. Children aren't much into experiencing and enjoying the journey. They want one thing: to reach the destination. I don't know about you but I know that my child-like heart still asks God, "are we there yet"? I want to reach the destination. God wants me to enjoy the journey.

My homestead is not quite there yet. Actually, it is just beginning. The garden is mostly depleted soil only fit for growing weeds. The chicken coop is only a twinking in my eye and the rabbitry and beehives are concepts on the site map.  These pictures were taken last October. I'll get some pictures of my weeds...I mean vegetable garden...and of my twigs...I mean fruit trees to post soon.

Future apple/pear orchard

Front of House

Pecan "Grove" aka shady side of house

Sunny side of house



Garden area for vegetables, herbs, and fruit

 My healing journey has not reached it's destination, either. I'm not quite there yet. I'm stronger but still have good days and bad days. I forget to take my supplements and still prefer sweets over whole grains. As for the gym, well, I still think the best part is the sauna.Life is a journey and if

we are wise, we will try to enjoy the journey on the way to the destination. I'll share my journey with you. I hope we both find gems along the way.