We have always grown a large garden & have occasionally been able to “officially” call it a market garden/ small truck patch. We have been blessed to have/ build good soil in most of the places we have lived. We have grown plenty for ourselves , for the winter & to share. Sometimes, we have enough to sell a little bit.

 

It has always been a great source of pride ( bad thing) for me that we have had such plentiful harvests.

  In Dec. 2006 we moved to Pontotoc to be closer to our Church ( the building & the Body). We have a comfortable home (perfect for having guests) with a landscaped, park-like lawn; beautiful 35 acres with established blueberry bushes; a nice pond for swimming & fish; sheds & animal housing; and seemingly endless woods for the children’s adventures.

However, the large ( 4 acre+) garden spot across the road doesn’t have very good soil ( to make a HUGE understatement). It is an odd mix of red clay & gravel.  Last year this soil, combined with an extended drought & the fact that I was away from home much more combined to give us the worst, most frustrating garden year in our experience. The 80 year old lady around the corner explained to my wife one day how to get stuff to grow in this soil . . .
“ I get a pick axe; pick out a hole; dig this red clay out; and go to the farm supply & get some top soil to put in the hole” J

To make matters worse, partly due to my run for Ag Commissioner last year  and other factors, we had a very difficult winter financially & had to sell our tractor . . .. . . hoping to get another one this Spring.

However, we have as yet been unable to get another tractor. But we do still have a tiller ( Plan B).

So, I had intended on much more intensively using the three beds that we/ the previous owners have built up with heavy doses of organic matter & fencing the rest for cow(s) & some pastured poultry pens.  We already raise pork & eggs.

If we could use intensive, raised bed methods, my big ideas of an self-sufficient/ prepared for the “big crash, Agrarian Utopia would be as near to complete as we could achieve this year. . . then the merciful, hand of Providence dealt a blow to plan B. . . . our tiller has bit the dust.

I took it apart & we carried all the offending parts to get replacements.

The Sears Parts Dept: “Sorry, you’ll have to order them. It could take a few weeks. . . .”
My “godly” reaction : “ Argh !!! It is getting almost too late to plant sweet corn already”

Then, plan C is added. . . .

My Dad is a grain-soybean farmer about 100 miles away. I called him Sunday morning before church & asked if he would plant a sack of sweet corn on his farm if we would pay for the seed. “Sure. And don‘t worry about paying for anything. I‘d be glad to do it”

“You want me to come up & help ?” I offered.

“Naw. It won’t take an hour.”

One sack of 50 lb sweet corn will easily plant enough corn for ten large families to have a winter supply. With this knowledge in hand, I talked about my plan to some families after Sunday night book study . . .

“We can get Dad to grow the sweet corn. We still have plenty of time to get everything else in.” There will be plenty for several families for the whole winter if we all work together to get it put up.”

Our friends the Brandons & Baggetts wanted to get in on this project. And we planned a multi-family corn shucking/ storing “party” for this Summer.

Then, on the way home from work Monday night I called my Dad to see if he had gotten the seed yet.

“Son, that is kind of a waste. It will take $500 to grow that much corn. I’ll just give y’all $200 and y’all can buy some corn to put up.”

My heart sank. I later told Christy that my Dad was the least agrarian-minded farmer I knew. (Sorry, Dad)

Why don’t people understand ? Saving money & even healthier, tastier, fresher food is only a small part of the pleasure/ blessing of growing your own food. Making money is only one part of the blessing of life on a FAMILY farm.

 

 Inherit the Land video

“A farm is not a place to make money. It is a place to make corn” — Andrew Nelson Lytle; “The Hind Tit” in I’ll Take My Stand

 (It’s also a great place to raise children — RileyDad)

Looks like we will have another disappointing or non-existant garden.
However, the Lord, in His kindness, had a Spiritual lesson for me in this.

I have often been guilty of the “if only” mental trail :

“If only my Dad/ Grandfather had bought this place or rented that place 20 years ago . . .”
“If only we had made that decision at that point in our life. . . “
“If only we had stayed in Okolona or Crenshaw where we had good land . . “
“If only I could plan/ twist/ manipulate things so that we could go back into farming somehow . . .”
“If only we were able to be better prepared for the crash/ judgement that appears to be on the horizon.” (as many have warned us we should be)

But thankfully, I am not in control. — Acts 17:26

Looking back. I would not trade what the Lord has done in and through our family and church for all the rich farmland & bountiful harvests in the world.

In the last year and a half at least one of my children has been brought into the Kingdom.
We have been blessed to have most of the families in our church on our home. The Lord has used this to minister to our souls & hopefully we have been able to minister to the Body as well. (this would not have been possible had we still been 70 miles away on the better ground).

When Abraham & Lott parted company, Lott chose the “well-watered plain” and ended up living in Sodom & losing his wife. Gen 13:10 – Gen. 19:26
( ** Anthonhy Mathenia’s notes from his amazing sermon on Lott’s wife is in four parts here)

God has used our being closer to the Church to bring us into close relationship with families that have had a profound influence on our life . Had we not moved, we would never have had our eyes opened to the hope that we would be able to bring more children into our home through adoption now that Christy’s womb has been closed. We thought our quiver was full at nine. But it appears that God may be ready to bless us yet again.

We have been able to do things for the Kingdom & make new/ closer relationships.

I would not trade.  “What benefit it a man if he gains the whole world & loses his soul” — Matt. 16:26

Further, all the twists and turns; good and bad. Our losses. Our sorrows. Our trials. Our persecutions (if we’ve had any). Our good decisions. Our dumb decisions. Even our sinful & self-centered choices have made us & our children who we are.

All these have been used by God perfectly to further conform us to His image; to increase our view of & love for Christ; to use us — as He sees fit — as instruments for His glory.

God does, without fail, does everything in our lives in such a way that it will bring the most glory to Christ & the most eternal good to His people. He never does this one millisecond too early or too late or one iota too soon or too late.

Big sorrows like the loss of a spouse or child or small disappointments like a garden/ farm plan gone awry; little “persecutions” like losing a job for a stand we’ve taken or real persecution like martyrs past & present suffer; minor inconveniences and wrenching hard ships; turns in life that seem like the worst thing that could happen; sicknesses and poverty; all these are not only beyond comparison to the hope that we have (Rom. 8:18) but are indeed blessings from God.

He can do more in, to and through us in spite of our “best laid plans” than we ever could dream of doing on our own. . . .

God tells us that if we delight ourselves in Him, He will give us the desires of our heart.  The great blessing in this could never be our selfish desires, but that the more we delight in Him, the more that knowing Him better becomes the ultimate desire of our heart. And He then gives us more of Himself; which causes us to delight more and a glorious spiral upwards grows.