The Enemy

This growing season, we have found many of these ruthless thugs in our garden. Some are obvious, flamboyant intruders. Some are well disguised, greedy giants. These guys are destroyers... seeking the tender leaves and fruit upon which to feast. This week, I have been a little slack in tending to the garden while John was out of town. Yesterday, I went to the garden to pick some tomatoes and was astounded when I saw the damage to one of our Brandywine tomato plants. I noticed the large holes in the fruit and the top of the plant completely leafless! I sat there looking for the culprit for quite sometime. Then, suddenly I saw it... very well disguised along one stem. There was no way I was touching this thing; so, as I sat and waited for John to come kill it, I watched him work. The speed at which this guy can munch away a leaf is amazing. In about 1 minute, he proceeded to eat about an inch off of a leaf! John had a tough time removing it from the plant as it had all of his feet wrapped around the stem.

Many of my farm experiences have reminded me of life lessons. This time I am reminded that just as we fight enemies that destroy life in the garden, we are fighting a truly wicked adversary that wars against us each and every day we live on this earth. I don't think it is a coincidence that my online devotional email for yesterday was about our adversary, the devil. The bible tells us in Ephesians 6:12 "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against ... the rulers of the darkness of this world." He is the Master of Deception as many times he blends in perfectly, just quietly working behind the scenes. Or, he may portray himself as flamboyant, tempting and beautiful. He will try to convince you that he isn't real, or that he is not actively seeking to destroy. But make no mistake, he is out to rob you of joy and fruit in your life.

The major lesson I have learned with this experience is that it takes a daily walk in the garden to inspect the state of the crops to keep the enemy out. This is so true for our spiritual lives as well. It takes a daily walk with my Lord to evaluate my heart, my life and my circumstances to be on guard for the enemy. Pride, selfishness and greed can wrap around us and be disguised as our prerogative and seem like a harmless part of life. But in the end that life will have no fruit! No joy! I pray that I will be diligent in my daily walk with my Lord in the garden of my heart and be on guard for the enemy.

All of this to say, I am thankful for yet another lesson from this farm life I am living.

Smooch!

Boss sends kisses!
Sorry, I just love to photo these guys.

"But Mommy, I HATE Sheep Poop!"

These are the words of protest Emma Katherine whimpered when she saw this pile of sheep manure in "HER" garden. She was truly so sad that daddy and the boys put poop in her garden. Hopefully soon, she will understand that this poop will make her garden grow next year.

Pear Shower

Today we shook the pear tree!!! What fun it was to collect the fruit with the kids. As I think about the pears showering down from that tree, I am reminded of the many blessings my God has showered down upon me and my family. It is my prayer that I will turn those blessings into praise and with His guidance, bless others in return! The following scripture encourages me to seek the Lord in the unplowed areas of my life. I challenge you to do the same.

Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you.
Hosea 10:11-13

Out of Season Surprise

Late last winter I attempted a row of carrots in our hot box. Let's just leave it at that.

(skip several months...)

Blake loves to eat raw carrots... do not give him a cooked carrot. So for his first day of kindergarten, I packed him some fresh picked carrots as part of his lunch! I was really surprised when I went out to the weed infested hot box and found these orange sweeties!

This fall we plan to have another attempt at the carrots. John is with me on this attempt so, I have much higher hopes for a healthy crop!

Tomatoes Anyone?

The tomatoes are in.... and still coming! This is a picture from our first tomato canning. Our sweet friends, the Handley's, gave us a box from their garden and we also had about 20 lbs from our garden. We did tomato juice, tomato sauce, whole tomatoes and salsa. It was fun and tasty! Now I know why John will not eat a "store bought" tomato. I have finally seen the light!

Answered prayer....

You may remember a couple of months ago as we prepared the back pasture for planting, a blog posting entitled, "Praying for Rain". In May, we recored 28 days of rain on the calendar. That was great BUT, we didn't plant the Bermuda seed until June. Wouldn't you know that when we finally did plant the pasture, we had a dry spell. Just when we thought it was not going to be a success, God provided just enough rain at the perfect timing. Just right for germination, then again a couple showers during the early growth and then a couple more showers after it was almost a foot tall. Now we are already bush hogging! Thank you Lord, for answering even the little, seemingly insignificant requests!

"Let's Catch the Easter Bunny, Daddy!"

Rabbits are rampant over here. So this weekend Beau and Blake asked John if they could build a rabbit trap. John came up with this one. After it was built and baited, Beau said, "Daddy, can we catch the Easter Bunny?" As of now, we are still waiting for Mr. Rabbit to visit the trap. I guess Georgia bunnies don't like carrots and celery.

Dog Days of Summer

Here are a few snapshots of the girls playing and RECOVERING from the August Georgia heat! Bella is just loving her new home.... she loves to romp and play ANYWHERE out here. We have decided that Bella's tongue is so long that she may actually trip over it! Both of the girls love to run with the four wheeler.