Vaughnshire Farm

Noah Dabney Providence Vaughn

Born at 2:40 PM on May 30th, 2008

There are a lot of issues in our culture today for Christians to wrestle with; but, who should be responsible for protecting and training our children should no longer be on the table for discussion.

If you don’t believe it is your job to educate your children, then perhaps you might consider the following stories in regards to your duty to protect your children.

This is not a biblical apologetic for home schooling.  That has been done many times and perhaps we will discuss it in more detail here one day, but this is simply a look at the culture we live in.  If we cannot be like the Bereans to search the Scriptures to see if these things be true, then perhaps we can at least be like the men of Issachar, “men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do” 1 Chr 12:32

I will state that due to the nature of these links, discretion is advised.  I hesitate to even post these on our site due to the subject matter.  But here is the bottom line.  We live in a corrupt world, where there is sin and wickedness.  We are called to shine a light on the darkness, and at the same time protect our children.  My recommendation is don’t read these links if you are already convinced of those two things.  But if your children are being educated outside of your home or are spending a good deal of time outside of your direct supervision, then I recommend you read these articles and consider the world into which you send your children every time they are out of your sight.

Of course the bigger picture is not just the darkness, but what we as Christians should be doing to shine the light of Christ so the darkness no longer exists.  That is another topic for another day.  But for this piece, let us state clearly, it is not the job of children to solve this problem.  It is most certainly a job for the church, in at least two immediate areas.  First by evangelization and turning people to Christ that they would repent of their sins and secondly by training Godly men to serve in the halls of justice who would deal biblically with people who commit these crimes.

Lastly, for those who think their children are safe in “Christian” school, you should check out this list first:

http://badbadteacher.com/category/church-schools/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24879046/

http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3530&Itemid=48

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49389

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/21/AR2007102100144.html

http://www.karisable.com/crsssstr.htm

Unfortunately, we didn’t get any pictures of the actual disbudding process.  With milking our goats and small children handling the goats, we prefer having them (the goats) with out horns, so we decided to have our friend come over and show us how to disbud our week old baby Alpine goat.  It included putting the baby into a little box with only her head sticking out and heating up something like an iron rod so that the horn buds could be burned off.  She ended up looking quite strange for a while…

… the e-mail envelope please…  Whew, we barely made it in on time.

The Winner 

Congratulations to Mrs. Pear the winner of the Genevan Foundation CD Give away!  Mrs. Pear has already been contacted off list and will receive her free copy of these delightful new CD’s from the Serven Family.

Do not dispair if you were not the blessed winner of such a great prize.  I happen to know where you can pick up your very own copy of these great CDs.  Just stop by Genevan Foundation today to add to your family library and more importantly add to your families repertoire of great psalms and hymns to sing. 

Selection Criteria

Mrs. Pear was the eighth e-mail to request entry in the drawing and since we are about to have (as in any day - if not hour) our eight child we thought that would be a fitting selection criteria.  I know it’s about as lame of a ”random selection” as you can get, but that was as much creative energy as we had around here… did I mention we are about to have a baby.  Maybe next time we will do something real agrarian like putting all the e-mail addresses in a hat an letting one of the turkeys peck one out. ;)  For now random selection of the birth order will have to suffice.

Added Blessing

One last observation I want to make about this drawing.  Beth and I were very blessed by the encouraging comments included in your entries.  We shared them with each other throughout the week and found it to be a real source of encouragement.  For those that included a link to your family blog we spent time this week catching up with your families and were further encouraged by that. 

It seems that many of you are engaged in some sort of agrarian endeavor; either gardening, raising poultry or some other grand adventure discovering God’s food chain.  There are many that have large families (or seem to desire one) and are homeschooling your children.  I don’t have to tell you what a blessing the children can be.  Hard work,  yes.  Challenging at times, absolutely.  But the mortal tests fail in comparison to the eternal joy that will come as we see the children God has entrusted to our care grow into mature faithful Christian men and women.  What worldly pleasure could keep us from an investment that will give such eternal rewards?  It is a blessing to hear your testimonies about God’s faithfulness with your children.

Lastly, your love for the Lord Jesus Christ shows in your writings and your family story as you tell it.  It is refreshing to be reminded of the many others who are walking this path and are on a similar journey.  Many of us are at different places in the journey and we all have different challenges to overcome, but it is exciting to me to see Christ working in so many around the world.

New Vaughnshire Practice 

In fact, it was such an encouragement we are going to start doing something to encourage this more.  I think we will be looking to do a regular monthly give away because that is a lot of fun in itself.  But in addition to that, we want to start a semi-regular link post, where you can all post your site (or a favorite site) for other Vaughnshire readers to enjoy.  If anyone is half as encouraged by the other sites as we were this week, it will be an effort worth while… aka a worthwhile effort.

So to start with I have skimmed back through the contest entries and pulled out the links I found.  I included those links for your reading pleasure, below.  These are in no particular order just as I found them and pasted them.  There were a bunch of entries so if I failed to catch your link, or if you have one and you did not include a link in your e-mail please feel free to post a link to your blog or favorite web site in the comments of this post.  In the future, we will pick a day of the week and dedicate a regular post for this link sharing event.  For now enjoy the post below and be encouraged.  God is doing a great work in this world of His!

http://www.servenclan.blogspot.com/

http://tobefruitfulandmultiply.blogspot.com/

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mlbainbridge

http://evanspatch.wordpress.com/

http://tonykonvalin.blogspot.com/

http://www.happygoldenyears.blogspot.com/

http://www.lifetimeblessings.blogspot.com/

http://jacksonmom.blogspot.com/

http://www.sabofamdynamics.blogspot.com/

Birds of a feather flock together.  In this case the birds are those big ugly oil soaked birds that are displayed to provoke anger at the big oil companies when there is an oil spill.  So I am following the media’s lead on this and using those same pictures to represent the slimy greedy symbiotic relationship between the oil corporations and the government.

I talked about the unbiblical nature of corporations here and their relationship with the government here, but the oil & fuel crisis further solidifies the mutual benefit the government and their creatures, the corporations, provide to one another.  In this particular dance there is around $16,000,000,000 to $18,000,000,000 in tax cuts remaining at stake for the oil companies which has been purchased with $638,796,674 in lobby dollars over the last 10 years… Not too bad of an ROI even if the tax cuts were removed today.

According to Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program, who testified on this subject before the House transportation committee:

“Political action committees, lobbyists and executives do not give money to politicians or parties out of an altruistic support of the principles of democracy. They are savvy investors expecting a return on their investments. Politicians routinely deliver on campaign contributions that are provided to them… [by] giving goodies to the industry.”

Of course the liberals like Mr. Slocum don’t disagree with the underlying principle of the government subsidizing various groups, their main complaint is the little guys who do the alternative energy are not getting the money!

If I may be so bold as to declare it, the issue is not the fact that the top 5 oil companies have made $63,000,000,000 in earnings so far this year or the fact they are making record profits while their customers are paying $4 a gallon for fuel.  The issue is that we setup a system that has no checks and balances.  The issue is that man is sinful and needs to be held accountable.  Corporations provide loopholes to that accountability.  Corporations are doing exactly what they were designed to do… make money for the investors.

I don’t know which is more concerning, that Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill thinks that there is such a thing as a corporate conscience, or that he thinks the government should be the corporate conscience!

I’ll agree that we are facing an issue of conscience, but it is not a corporate conscience.  It is the seared conscience of the individuals in America who sent people like Mr. Durbin and George Bush to represent us.  It is the seared conscience of the men who run corporations with no regard for the people their profits are impoverishing.  It is the seared conscience of the stock holder who demands greater returns without regards to the earth God created and entrusted to us.  In short it is the collective conscience of a nation who has turned its back on the God of Creation and His Law by which we rightly order all areas of our lives.

America, we are on the wrong path.  We don’t need to slow down.  We don’t simply need to lower taxes or gas prices.  We don’t simply need new leadership.  We need to change tracks.  We need to go the other direction…  That is to say we need to repent. 

God’s Word is sufficient and binding for all areas of life on all of Creation.  It is sufficient for a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, and it is also sufficient for a sound economic policy for nations.  It is binding, not only on those created beings who have repented of their sins but it is also binding on those created beings who persist in their sins.  The same law will judge both and the same wisdom can prosper all who submit to it.

So the next time you take out a small personal loan to fill up your gas tank, remember the slimy oily birds that are conspiring together to remove your freedoms. 

Then remember we are complicit in their failures and the trouble we face as a nation today because of our sin of not believing the Word of God to be sufficient.  Because we did not believe it we did not expect our leaders to believe it or to seek its wisdom for our nation.  Remember that we did not get into this mess overnight.  It will not be fixed in one election cycle or even in one decade. 

Let us commit to believe the Word of God and re-establish it as the rule for every area of our lives.  Let us commit to establish a multigenerational vision that imparts to our children and grandchildren the truth about how we arrived at this place in history and begin to work to re-lay a foundation future generations can build upon.

Let’s commit once again to let God’s Word be the rule by which we order all of life, not just a couple hours on Sunday morning.

I took my first sip of our goat’s milk not too long ago— very cautiously.  We have heard bad stories about how horrible goat’s milk is…it’s goaty, tastes gamey, you won’t like it…

However, I was pleasantly surprised that the goat’s milk we have been getting was far from the stories we have been told!  Maybe the taste of milk differs drastically between breeds or maybe all the bad goat milk comes from animals that eat all the brush and wild onions?  All I know is our goat milk is absolutely delicious and we are enjoying having an additional supply of milk.  At a later date, I would love to draw up a comparison between milking goats and milking a cow.  There are many things we have learned about milking cows and goats.  Many differences, but both provide great raw milk for the family. 

We enjoyed a meal last week with fresh broccoli and cauliflower from the garden along with some of our farm raised pork.  Not any great quantities of broccoli or cauliflower yet…but a simple start.

Our wonderful friends, the Servens, have just released two brand new CD’s that we will be giving away here on the blog! 

Glory, Laud, and Honor

And

Nations Praise 

We absolutely love these new CD’s and highly recommend them!  If you are not familiar with the Serven Family and the Genevan Foundation, they have produced several CD’s with the purpose of teaching you how to sing the Psalms and Hymns in 4 part harmony.  It is an amazing resource for families (and churches) who seek to reclaim the lost art of singing in parts.  It wasn’t too many years ago that we were exposed to the wonderful sound and art of harmonious hymn  and Psalm singing from the Serven family.  Many of us have grown up in a church culture void of 4 part harmony and so attempting to sing in parts is quite an daunting feat for many of us!  We have been so encouraged by these CD’s and have been able to learn parts to some wonderful, foundational hymns and Psalms of the Christian faith. 

This weekend the most requested… the only requested CD… our children asked to listen to was Nations Praise and Glory, Laud and Honor.  They put the Psalm book and a couple of Hymnals in the truck so they could follow along with the CD and it was wonderful hearing their little voices singing to the Lord. 

Here is the information on the new releases:

Glory, Laud, and Honor seeks to teach families and churches how to sing the hymns in four part harmony.  The first ten tracks demonstrate the full harmony versions.  The following selections break the parts down to soprano, alto, tenor, and bass, so you can learn your notes and sing along.  All the sections can be found in the Trinity Hymnal, as well as many other fine hymnals. 

Nations Praise seeks to teach families and churches how to sing the Psalms in four part harmony. The first ten tracks demonstrate the full harmony versions. The following selections break the parts down to soprano, alto, tenor, and bass, so you can learn your notes and sing along. All selections can be found in The Book of Psalms for Singing. 

We would also highly recommend their other CD’s found here on their product page…  For your chance to win this give away— both CD’s!!!! — send me your name ( giveaway@vaughnshire.com ) and I will post the winner of the drawing next Monday, May 26th. 

I am still learning the art of how to put bulk foods to use, store them and how to calculate how much I need.  As I get into buying bulk quantities of staple foods, I wonder why I didn’t figure this out earlier.  Though the prices of things like grain, oats and rice are skyrocketing, it is still much cheaper to buy a bulk 50 lb bag of oats than buy little canisters at the store. 

I am have been reading about the proper way to store different foods.  Currently, I am separating out the bags into 1 gallon ziploc type baggies and storing them on shelves in the pantry, which is not ideal for long term storage.  If I have room in the freezer, I will put grain and oat in there. 

There are a couple of downsides of bulk buying that I can think of to one who is not use to this type of shopping.  One would be the fact that it does take up space.  Another reason would be the fact of cost.  You would need to reorganize your budget to be able to spend a large amount of money at one time, in order to avoid spending more money over time with smaller packages and containers.  Another reason might be the fact that if you do not store your food properly, you could loose it to bugs or moisture.  It takes a bit more research and knowledge “how to” when stocking your kitchen with bulk foods. 

But…there are so many more positives, especially for those who have larger families.  In the long run, bulk food purchases are much cheaper.  You are not having to run to the store every couple of days because you are out of some basic ingredient.  You also have security and peace of mind that you at least have some type of food in the house in the case of an emergency.  You can buy organic or natural foods much cheaper in larger packages and you are not limited to just grain.  You can get dried fruit, cocoa powder or carob powder, flax seed and other non-grain type foods in bulk bags as well.  Over all, bulk food purchases save you time and money.   

We have been busily working around here on the farm trying to plant our garden.  With me being 9 months pregnant, I am not gardening….I am trying my hand at managing.  It has given us a wonderful opportunity to delegate tasks to the children and stretch them beyond what they were doing last year.  And for me?  It has been good practice for me to let things go and not micro manage every little detail to my liking. 

My country gentlemen prepared and planted a garden spot for the heirloom variety of corn called Country Gentleman.  A while back they all planted potatoes, onions, cauliflower and broccoli that are thriving and growing beautifully.  This week they worked on planting warmer vegetables like green beans, okra, cucumbers, squash etc. 

Considering the season of life we are in currently, I am pleased with our progress, but I can’t help but be awed by the amazing gardens of history.  Gardening has lost much flair and importance to modern man.  Not too many years ago, gardening was an essential part of life.  Even those who lived in “neighborhood” type areas had garden plants or fruit trees planted in their back yard.  Historically, famous families such as George Washington,  John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, James Madison had extensive gardens on their land.  In the past, the White House was home to incredible gardens.  As President, Andrew Jackson built an orangery to accommodate indoor, year-round gardening.  That has since been demolished.

I love to visit gardens at The Hermitage and The Carnton Plantation.  Of course they have full time gardeners working in them, but they are beautiful and inspiring to say the least. 

Our garden here is absolutely nothing even comparable and may indeed turn into a jungle, but this year and this season in our life, a jungle that produces food, amidst the crooked rows and weeds, would at least be something. 

Maybe I should start a gardening apprenticeship here?