Vaughnshire Farm

We pulled some things together for some last minute entries at our county fair. It was a very exciting event for the children. Our boys wanted to go all out and load all of our animals up and take them to the fair. That wasn’t even a consideration here in 105 degree weather!

They did take some of their garden produce as well as some arts and crafts and baked goods. It was very exciting and a great learning experience. They are very excited about preparing for next year’s fair competition.

Our 6 year old entered the youth division lego competition with a unique landscape piece featuring a canoe filled with indians and a cowboy pirate and a helicopter with two space men looking at a dinosaur eating leaves off a tree. He didn’t think he would win 1st place because he said his lego creation has “men and dinosaurs at the same time and if they are evolutionist, they won’t like it!” However, they did like it and he received his first blue ribbon.

Youth agriculture with Vaughnshire Zucchini. It was amazing that any produce survived this summer. With no rain and extreme heat, the outdoors is like an oven and subsequently much of our squash was being baked before it had a chance to get big enough to pick. However, we did have a few plants produce amazing tasting zucchini despite the weather.

Youth division with Vaughnshire jalapenos. We did learn that jalapenos do great in hot dry weather, but unfortunately there are only so many uses for the jalapeno!

Youth agriculture with Vaughnshire tomatoes off her heirloom tomato plant. Usually, tomatoes do very well here in our area, however, the lack of rain really took a toll on them this year and we had many tough skinned and odd shaped tomatoes. We did manage to pick some very nice, ripe and delicious tomatoes as well.

Finally, after much prayer and anticipation, we received a little bit of relief in the area of rain yesterday!  Praise God for His mercy and kindness to us.  Not only did we have rain, you could actually work outside most of the day today with the high temperature only in the low 90s.

Prior to the rain and after investing in a new gas powered 150 gallons a minute water pump we hauled 250 gallons to our holding tank from the creek down the street.  This raised the level in the tank a full 3-4 inches.  After the new rain fall we filled up within 4 inches of the top overnight!  Just to put it in perspective the tank has a depth of about 4 feet.  So man and his pumping and hauling added four inches and God in his mini spigot over the farm added about 3 feet!  It is amazing what a very little bit of rain will do in the middle of a drought.  We are thankful and happy to be able to do laundry and dishes again.  Not a good drinking solution yet with the low running spring and the creek water, but running usable water is better than no water at all.

Least, some think that we are just wimpy complainers and don’t know how to handle the heat, I thought I’d post this weather announcement that was published today.  I got one thing out of it as I read it; it was hot in 1952.  So much for global warming…

AFTER GOING 34 CONSECUTIVE DAYS WITH 90 DEGREES AND ABOVE…NASHVILLE ENDED ITS STREAK YESTERDAY…WHEN THE TEMPERATURE ONLY REACHED 88 DEGREES. THE PREVIOUS RECORD FOR NASHVILLE WAS 31 CONSECUTIVE DAYS BACK IN JUNE…OF 1952…AND TIED IN JUNE…OF 1954.

NASHVILLE ENDED A STREAK OF 24 CONSECUTIVE DAYS OF 95 DEGREES AND ABOVE…ON AUGUST 25TH. THIS SHATTERED THE OLD RECORD WAS OF 19 DAYS…SET BACK IN JUNE 1952.

TO PUT THE RECENT HEAT WAVE IN PERSPECTIVE…THE 15 DAYS OF 100 DEGREES AND ABOVE IN NASHVILLE…IS MORE THAN TWICE WHAT OCCURRED IN THE PREVIOUS 15 YEARS. FROM 1991 TO 2006… NASHVILLE ONLY HAD 6 DAYS Continue Reading »

As I was reading through my drafts, I came across this post that I wrote back before the drought consumed all of our time and energy and way back when we had green grass…evidently I never posted it…so here it is…
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End of May 2007

Today the children will show the Vaughnshire organic chicken feed gathering and processing steps.

What is that out in the field?

Why….it’s children running around in the field with empty water bottles catching June bugs and Japanese beetles.

Here are more children at the processing station. When I asked the 4 year old what they were doing he said, “Torturing the beetles…mom!” The two year old said, “Soup, Mom…”

After they successfully kill or incapacitate the beetles, the 3rd crew takes the fresh organic chicken feed to the laying hens and watch them gulp down and enjoy the fine gourmet chicken food produced right here on the farm.

That’s just one way we incorporate creative play, work and productive organic farming all into one.

Organic pest control, healthy organic chicken feed, increase in egg production, decrease in beetle population, entertainment, play and work for the children makes for happy tired children and an added bonus of mom being able to focus on the laundry mound.

This is a perfect example of what happens when a society makes everything a sickness instead of a sin.  Check out this article:

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070829/NEWS01/70829023

There are so many things wrong with this it’s hard to know where to start.  First, in any decent society, Dustin Chester would be held as a hero, not fired!  Which, by the way, he is a hero regardless of The Home “Despots” opinion.  Well done Dustin!

“The suspect was taken into custody and transported to Middle Tennessee Medical Center for treatment. It was unknown Tuesday if he was charged.”

Secondly, a thief would not be taken to a medical clinic, he would be taken to jail.  Refer back to the Bad Psychology post.

Another point of lunacy is the fact that the author of the article equates what Dustin did with vigilante justice.

“But experts say vigilante justice, or making a citizen’s arrest, is a legal minefield and that dealing with a suspect’s lawyers is often more dangerous than apprehending the suspect.”

Here is the definition Wikipedia gives for vigilante: ”A vigilante is a person or persons who ignore due process enacting their own form of justice when they deem the response of the authorities to be insufficient.”

Stopping someone who was caught in the middle of the crime from running away until the police arrive is not vigilante justice.  It is simply justice, which we are all responsible for.  Either the author, Brandon Puttbrese, is ignorant or he is one of the Tennessean’s usual communist crew that has an agenda against anything to do with justice, decency or right.  I’ll leave dealing with the criminal’s lawyers for another day.

Lastly, you have Kyle Evans of the MPD who says that good citizens should stand by and watch a crime being committed.

“Murfreesboro police spokesman Kyle Evans said the best thing for employees or citizens to do is to be a good witness by making observations about the suspect to help in identifying them.”

In other words, “By all means don’t try to exercise any form of your own judgment because we know the government school education we gave you does not give you the mental ability to make sound judgments.  Only the Gestopo…uhm I mean the police department is trained to handle the complexities of a coke machine robbery.”  Do they honestly think that little of the people of this country?

I’ll leave Don Harrison alone except to say he is a spokesperson for one of those pagan corporations that do nothing to help the problems we face in society.

So let’s see what we learned here. Dustin Chester is a hero.  Brandon Puttbrese, Kyle Evans, and Don Harrison are mental.  And I’m still disillusioned with the world in which we live.

I just found my favorite message from last year online!  If you haven’t heard Voddie Baucham speak on the “Centrality of the Christian Home” you will be blessed by this short 20ish minute message given to the Texas Southern Baptist Convention in February of 2006.

Voddie, gives a panramic view of the nations and nationalities along with their birth rates and then proceeds to examine Christians in light of their birth rates.  Not only does he identify the problem we will have in our churches in the next generation, but he lays out a powerful solution.  I’ll give you a hint…. it has to do with fathers.

http://www.gracefamilybaptist.net/Podcast/4B50BCF2-09AF-4153-A8A1-57D434FD5558.html

The 1/4 acre didn’t last long with those 3 green blades of grass.  Monsanto and Bonnie are on to the next lot to see if we can keep enough forage going to save the hay for winter.  Still praying for rain.

As a side note to the farm journal we bought a nice 150 GPM gas powered water pump today to help move water from the creek to our fields…. we’ll see how that works over the next couple weeks.  Just as a side note, 150 GPM will wash a truck in about 15 seconds… it was a good thing we put the windows up when we got out at the creek!

Or How Calvin Led Me To Repent of Psychology

This is a great read.  In recent months we have briefly discussed the topic of “Christian Psychology” in our fellowship time after church.  So when I stumbled upon this article I was delighted to have such a well stated review of the subject.  Written by Pastor Steven J. Cole of Flagstaff Christian Fellowship this is a fast 16 page read and is well worth the family discussion time that can follow.

Here are some of the headings he deals with in detail:

1. The Christian psychology movement is built on an inadequate view of salvation.
2. Christian psychology focuses people on self, not on God and His glory.
3. Christian psychology denies the sufficiency of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.
4. Christian psychology undermines the sufficiency and authority of God’s Word.
5. Christian psychology minimizes the biblical view of sin and personal responsibility.

So while the topics are not light subject matter, the article was a great help in analyzing how we rationalize the sins we commit. But isn’t that human nature..uhm I mean sin nature itself; to rationalize sin. Go ahead, lay back on the couch, relax on the pillow and tell me once again, why do you feel you should not read this article?….That’s a very interesting observation.

On a recent trip to Middle Tennessee, the Schiffman family from Indiana called on us and were able to stop by and visit Vaughnshire with their 4 children (who are 4 years old and under!)  before they headed home.

We had a great time even if was a short visit.  We gave them a brief tour of the farm which looks similar to a desert right now.  The boys decided to build a “bobcat” cage to catch all those “bobcats” we have around here.  Our 4 year old is convinced he hears them at night in the woods.  Of course, young master Schiffman was all interested in building a bobcat trap with the boys and though they didn’t get very far in the short visit, they had a great time playing and running around the farm getting very dirty.   We hope to visit again very soon with them and are very grateful for the families who we are providentially crossing paths with!

As my wonderful wife pointed out here, there is some concern about what we should be doing amidst the worst drought on record.

Singer and song writer Michael W. Smith has gone on record with his view of what needs to be done.  Although I don’t often have the pleasure of agreeing with very many folks in the CCM industry, I want to be quick to stand with Smitty in this call.  He has shown an understanding of the character and nature of God and the seriousness of the day that most Christians miss completely in our modern American Christianity.  (See the link from yesterday’s post to elaborate on this point.)

What does Smitty say we should do? 

“I think we have a real emergency,” he said. “There are a lot of droughts in the Bible and talk about people repenting and talking to God about rain. Nobody ever talks about that. Nobody ever says, ‘Maybe we should stop and have a day of fasting and prayer.’ I feel like that is the answer….

…”I believe God plays into the affairs of mankind on probably more levels than we even think. When you have a bit of an emergency or tragedy for so many people in this state, you have to go, ‘OK, God, where are you in all this stuff, and what are you trying to say?’ Or is he trying to say something at all? To blow God off is a big mistake. It’s a big mistake to say, ‘It’s no big deal. This is life; this is nature.’ I don’t think that is the right answer or response.”

The entire article can be found in the Tennessean.  Smith has also recorded a Public Service Announcement that is being played on local media outlets.  Click here to listen to this announcement and consider joining in prayer, fasting, and repentance before God for our families, our states, and our nation.

Got the electric fence run and moved Bonnie and Monsanto into the first paddock.  We counted and there were three extra green blades of grass in this area.  This is about a 1/4 acre section.