Polyface Farm Field Day

Last weekend I was afforded the amazing opportunity to travel with some great friends to visit Polyface Farm in Swoope, Virginia. It was a productive time of education, inspiration, and, of course, good times. Its hard to remember a day where more information was stuffed into my weak mind. Following are some pictures that do absolutely no justice whatsoever.

Our extremely capable and thankfully jovial pilot…(that is to say, if anyone had been grumpy during our time of travel, things could have gone bad….)

 Arriving early at Polyface…

“Helping” with chores

Beautiful sunrise

Two decent sized hoop coops…

A few chicks in a small brooder…(poor picture, sorry)

About as good of a view as can be taken of Polyface unless in an airplane, but, this still is a small part of the farm.

Perhaps the driving force behind the ability to stay awake from 3:30 AM Saturday morning till 5:30 AM Sunday.

 

Due to noxious fumes on the interstate we were forced to take a rather large detour which resulted in many extra miles, hours, and laughs. I had a great time. Obviously.

Random Pictures

Here are some pictures of things we’ve been up to lately.

Dad working on Grandparents back-porch…

Watering and working in the garden…

Having guests…

And finally sold the Isuzu!

Beaverdam Creek CSA

We recently received our first Community Supported Agriculture basket from Beaverdam Creek. It was a great assortment of beautiful, organic, homegrown vegetables. Having eaten some for dinner last night, I can very surely recommend that you get your own share. We are looking forward to more of these totally nice baskets in the future!

We are deeply grateful for this family and their continued commitment to excellence and high quality products.

Additional quote…

Last, but certainly not least, this immortal quote that I inadvertently overlooked yesterday:

“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains or slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take but as for me; give me liberty or give me death!”

-Patrick Henry

Think about it.

Independence Day

If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.

-Samuel Adams

Any people that would give up liberty for a little temporary safety deserves neither liberty nor safety.

-Benjamin Franklin

Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

-John Adams

Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.

-Thomas Jefferson

Today we celebrate our country’s independence. While certainly our country has lost much of its morality, godliness, and common sense, we are still without a doubt the finest country in the world. No other place on earth offers the opportunities nor freedoms we have here. Sure, we complain about taxes, unjust wars, current political candidates, and abortion; some of us have ceased to see the many privileges of being an American.

However, our founding fathers are likely turning in their graves at the current state of liberty. The previous paragraph notwithstanding, we are losing liberties like I lose iPods. The situation is probably more serious than most people realize.

All this to say, we probably need to slack off on the complaining and step up our prayers for this great country.

Anyways, have a good Independence Day, and Caleb, please, please stay away from pyrotechnics.

News, or, misc.

I preface this post by saying that the sarcastic style of writing occasionally reinforces a point or objective more effectively than alternate methods. Thank you. Proceed.

ITEM NO. 1

A revelatory article in this month’s edition of The Tennessee Magazine has just informed me that, quite contrary to popular opinion, the War Between the States was not fought over slavery, but, shockingly, about states’ rights. And I quote:

Today many students believe the Civil War was fought over slavery. But thats not really true. The main reason the U.S. Army invaded the South was to stop states from leaving the Union. And although slavery was a major cause of strife between Northern states and Southern states, it is important to remember that slavery was still legal in some northern states (Delaware and Maryland, for example) during the Civil War.

ITEM NO. 2

Also, in some equally important but second in shock value news, the Supreme Court has ruled this week that we do in fact have the right to protect ourselves. Wow. I’m at a loss for words. I mean, protect ourselves? We can? Wow. The following is quoted from Iron at 500:

Yesterday, in a narrow 5-4 vote (Scalia, Alito, Roberts, Thomas and Kennedy), the Supreme Court reaffirmed, in District of Columbia v. Heller, that the people’s inherent right to keep and bear arms is plainly enumerated in our Constitution. The Court ruled that the Second Amendment ensures an individual right, that DC could not ban handguns, and that operable guns may be maintained in the homes of law-abiding DC residents.

ITEM NO. 3

This week we processed around sixty-five of our own chickens, succesfully, quickly, and with only one knife incident. Some of our family helped this family process chickens this morning. The garden is progressing nicely, school has been restarted, and, and, an….ok, I lost the last one there. Writer’s block?

Daniel

Well, in this space I have come to write about my brother Daniel, who lately has been pining to earn a space in this here blog. Daniel is a very hard worker who rarely complains about the tasks given him.  We are extremely grateful for Daniel’s work ethic and his integral placement in the family enterprises. You’re pretty much the best brother ever, Daniel!

Fortunately, this is the only picture I have of him at this remote location. It also features his favorite shirt.

Great music, great times…

Saturday evening we were treated to a concert by Nathan Clark George. Mr. George performs acoustic music, based on the Scriptures and his life experiences. His music is entertaining, godly, and uplifting. We all had a great time, of course, and the weather was perfect. Thanks to everyone who helped put this together!

Gardening

Last night we took advantage of the lovely weather and got outside as a family and did some much-needed garden maintenance. As promised, we are working on our blog proficiency.

Dad delivering some tomato stakes

Dad installing the tomato stakes (exciting, eh?)

Randomness…

Squash on steroids…

Recently…

Recent days have been spent collecting and selling gazillions of eggs, processing a few chickens, acclimating a new kitten, restarting school, and just plain ol’ “farm chores”. I’m sorry that we have some pretty lousy pictures, but we all managed to pitch in for Father’s Day and get Dad a new camera, so hopefully our blogging and/or picture taking will increase. Patience as we try to up the blogging ante, so to speak.

Eggs!

A few of today’s bounty…big props to this family for the amazing help!

Preparing school schedules

Caroline’s cat died a few weeks ago, leaving her very upset, needless to say; so while she was traveling we found her another orange kitten, which she has named Rico.