New Pig Pen Fencing - Update I

One thing out here is things seem to go much more slowly than anticipated. :) God's providence as first cause -- His bringing about all things according to His will and plans -- but, by means of other priorities becoming more important, other things to fix, etc.

Well, back in 2016, I started replacing our old pig fencing in the main pig pen with new cinder block/cattle panel fence sections I started making as part of an extension to the original pig pen back in 2014.

Last year, I started getting back to working on this main pig fence area, and recently finally finished all the panel sections and got them in place! Yea! :D

In the 2016 blog post above, I show in the video the first few sections being done. And here is a picture from 2017 of the whole one side being done:

And here are some more ready to haul over using our goat shack caddy:

Once there, I opened the previous fence line:

And started dragging them in, sliding one end at a time back and forth:

And stood and scooted them into place:

It's like a parade! ;)

And here's that whole back side done:

Then, it was off to the short sides. After cleaning out the previous fencing and t-posts, I slid the panels in place, and here's the first short side done. What's nice about these cinder block cattle panel sections is you can curve them around, which helps when trying to join with another fence line where there is no corner post:

This is the last side before cleaning out the previous fencing...lots of previous hacking at it to try to keep it acting as a fence: :)

And here's that last side, finally done!

I just have to wire them all together now, and then Lord willing we'll perhaps test it all out with a new piggy or two! :D


Always we are thankful to the Lord for His provisions, and safety in working with these things -- even though one person can move them, they're still pretty heavy, and I have strained my back before, but God mercifully granted that I not this time, and I am thankful!

-- David

Providence's Perpetuation Provisions: 2nd & 3rd 2020 Chick Hatchings

The Lord graciously granted our next two chick hatchings of 2020, the 2nd and 3rd so far!

This mommy was in the barn loft, and so we grabbed her and her eggs and put her in the brooder barn (formerly known as the summer kitchen), and she hatched out a bunch of them! I think only a few eggs didn't hatch, and all her hatchlings are still there, except for one...

At night, I put lanterns with the hens and chicks to give them at least a better shot at defending against small intruders, like snakes, which we've had a lot of problems with, in that, they get in there and eat or try to eat the chicks. Well, one night as I went in there to set them up for the night, one of the chicks already had a small snake attached to its head, and that snake had basically just suffocated it because I don't believe it could have swallowed the chick. So, sadly, that's the one chick we lost of the bunch, and there's one less snake now too :) , but we are thankful for the ones God has granted to continue:

And here's group 3 I believe. Sadly here too, the day after I took these pictures and video below, one of the chicks was very sick, and died just a few hours later. And, there's one chick that seems to have neurological or vision problems, but is able to maintain itself, so we'll see how that little one fares in the end, and we pray the Lord might help it, and help it to be a productive member of the flock, if He might grant:

Finally, here's the video of the two groups:

As always, we are very thankful to the Lord for these provisions, the eggs He grants from them, and the meat as well!

-- David

Garden - Spring 2020

After taking a land sabbath last year, and doing lots of land prep, it was time to get back to planting and by God's graces growing a garden!

And here is where things are as of a few days ago. When I'm watering each plant, I think how each one is a little miracle from God! A little seed, in the ground, a little tender bud, the plant growing, and then being fruitful if God wills.

Can I make these plants grow and make a bean? No. It's God that gives the increase.

And it's the same spiritually:

1 Cor 3:6-7 - "6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase."

Both in the garden, and in the garden of our hearts, truly miracles of grace from the Lord!


But now, back to the garden on our homestead...

Here it is overall:

And sweet potato plants:

Green bean plants:

Zucchini plants and zucchini:

The first haul!

And okra plants:

And a few years ago, we were given a Goji berry plant, and it has hung in there:

With some berries!

One of the valves on our cistern spigot drips slightly, and all Winter we had it dripping on this Goji plant. We heard they send off root shoots, and boy, did it shoot them off! The main plant is on the left, and all the rest of the offshoots. It's starting to spread out nicely!

Here is a volunteer sweet potato plant from, I assume, plantings of a couple of years ago!

And here is one of two black berry plants that were given to us I believe the same time the Goji was. One hasn't come back, but this one has "died" back a few times, but is still going:

Finally, this is our compost pile. That square is probably a couple of feet longer than the length of a shovel:

After "processing" our over-aggressive roosters here, we put the remains in the compost pile, but something has discovered that free lunch and digs them out, and you can see left-overs strewn about:

We are very thankful to the Lord for granting us the opportunity and provisions to plant a garden this year! And we pray for and are grateful to Him for any increase He might grant, in our garden, in our hearts, and in the hearts of our families, friends, those we know, and even those we don't. We pray the Lord grant a great increase in His kingdom, and may He guide and use us in what small ways He might in the planting and watering of people's hearts to that end!

-- David