This past weekend Jordan and I had the privilege to attend our 2nd Homestead Festival, and it was truly amazing. We enjoyed learning from other, more seasoned farmers and homesteaders. One of the best things about this event is that you are surrounded by so many likeminded people and you receive so much encouragement when sitting in each session. There were two main subjects that deeply resonated with me, farm functionality and building a home where you are.
A question that was posed a few times during the Homestead Festival really struck me, "Is the farm working for you or are you working for the farm?" This is something that honestly we have struggled with a lot. The difference between the ideas/desires in my head and the reality of our land, time, and budget is always an issue. I would love to keep all our cows and grow our herd, but our acreage won't support that. I would love to keep more than 3 mama goats but our ability to keep up with their milk supply just isn't there. I would love to add honeybees and pigs to our farm but we don't have the time or the budget. This is when hard conversations have to occur. Who stays and who needs to find a new farm home.
For the past few months we have been a little worn out, I think emotionally because of IVF, but physically because farming is a lot of work. We never seem to be ahead of the to-do list. Large equipment has broken and needed costly repairs. We have limited time for project days and usually when those days come we wrestle with the time we have. As I thought about this more, I was reminded of our transition from suburbia to farm living. It has its challenges for sure. Leaving what you have always known for something that is very different and at times much more difficult, it's kinda like our walk with Christ. Leaving our sin nature behind and choosing to walk in obedience even when our flesh is fighting to bring us back to those worldly comforts. In the same way, we have to fight the temptation to sit on the couch and binge a TV show because we know we have to go out and muck the barn. The change doesn't just happen overnight, it takes effort and energy.
Jordan and I have been having many conversations about what we want out of our farm and reflecting back on why we started this farm in the first place. We wanted to grow in our skills, we wanted to raise our own food and know how it was cared for, and we wanted to escape the life of consumerism and become a producer. Rory Feek talked about this very topic during one of his sessions and it struck me right in the heart. His philosophy on family and faith is so refreshing. He challenged my heart on what it means to build a home.
I want our home to be a welcoming and loving place. I want our home to produce laughter, light, encouragement, and safety. It reminds me of a recent conversation I had with my mom where I referred to my childhood home as a safe haven for so many people. My parents exemplified what it meant to have an open door to anyone who needed a place to eat, rest, or at times even live. Those walls saw deep and hard conversations, they saw immense hurt, but they also provided safety and a place for healing. As Jordan and I build our home here, we desire to build a home where others feel safe, welcomed, and loved. We desire to use our farm as a way to shift from a life of consuming and shift to a life that produces fruit that will last forever. We desire to build a home that is focused on loving God and loving His people.
Galatians 5:22-23
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."
Colossians 1:10
"So as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God"
2 Peter 1:5-8
"For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."
John 15:4
"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me."
How can I pray for you?
Comments