The Polyface experience

We just came back from a weekend workshop at Polyface Farm in VA. What a trip! 14 hours to get there on Thurs., up at the crack of dawn, greeted by a breakfast cooked over a fire pit, and then into the business of chicken processing. I'll spare you the details, but I can say we learned so many more things than what we could have read in the book. It is always so good to see it with your own eyes. I was supposed to go with my childhood friend Dawn Waltonbaugh, but she had to cancel last minute and graciously offered Bill her place. What a blessing to have him there too to see it all. I want to take some before pictures of our land so we can compare them to what will become of our depleted, sandy Florida soil. I have high hopes.

The shed is almost finished. It needs a window put in and trim around the cracks, but it's already being put to use. We were slamming down nails as fast as we could to get the roof on before, you guessed it, another rain storm. Mom and Dad are coming up tomorrow with their camper. Yee haww.

Rain, Rain, Rain

Boy, does it rain up here! It's either getting ready to rain, just letting up for a little while, or black as pitch and storming. Micah was out in his tent last night and his front door blew in. Still zipped, the rain didn't come in, but the wind beat against it hard. It beat against the RV just as hard and I was up at 3:30 am putting towels in the window. I need to get up on the roof with more bondo.

I took a picture of the shed we are building through the rainy window. As you can imagine, the weather has slowed the process. God did provide a big sheet of plastic just when we needed it. (Doesn't He always know what we need.) We went to Ace Hardware to buy a tarp and guess what was in the dumpster--loads of heavy duty plastic that came off of their roof. They said we could have as much as we needed. I went back again last night to get more. Who knows where else it will come in handy.

And, just in case you were wondering, yes that's my wet laundry hanging in the background.

waking up in the country

This is our third day waking up in the RV. The wild turkeys are keeping just out of site behind the trees on Mom and Dad's land. Yesterday we heard them gobble in answer to the thunder and lightning that took our power out for an hour. We weren't sure how to get the sample of water to take to the Health Dept. without the pump running, but it came back on in time for me to wade through the downpour and hand it to them before noon.

Bill and I both agree that one of the biggest blessings God has given us is in the water the pump is bringing to the surface. Today we get the formal results, but in an area of notorious iron ladden, yellow drinking water, ours is as clear and cold as the bottom of Fanning Springs. Thank you Jesus!

Today I am waking up to more boxes to unpack so we can sit on the couch, and watching a bluebird play on the back of our pickup truck. Looks like clear skies today. Thank God the ac works.