This city girl...Florida girl at that...is heading west. Well farther west in NC anyway. It's time to make the transition to the farm, to come out of our cute little tourist trap town and head to where the turkey and hogs run free. There are 10 acres of land just waiting to challenge me to find God in new and more exciting ways.
There is talk of raising chickens... I have done some women's ministry meetings that were what Momma Jan said were similar to herding chickens. However, the only chickens I have ever seen have been wrapped in plastic at the grocery store. No wait how about the ones at the rotisserie cooker at WalMart.
I have never canned a thing. I have eaten some things that my husbands parents have canned, loved them...but my solution for "putting up" vegetables was to put them in zippy bags and put them in the deep freeze. I was reminded that isn't a really good option on the farm. Especially if there is a storm that knocks out power. Because being 20 minutes outside of nowhere means that you aren't going to have service back anytime soon. Just think of my devastation if I woke up and found all those melted strawberries. So I am determined to learn how to can. Ande says the only memories he has of canning is it being hot in the house and his parents fussing. Boy this sounds like fun already.
Why did I agree to this again? 900 square feet of small house love. This is the house that Ande grew up in...well through high school. Mountains on all sides...one of those old barns that is the color of burnt coffee...chocked full of fun stuff. Dogs...I am looking for a Newfoundland and a huskey. Oh and a goat. Ande and I had this conversation about him going to pick up the goat. He said he would just put it in the back of his truck. Well Ande has ladder racks on his big ol' F350 and the thought of putting a goat in the back of that truck and then heading out to the farm made me giggle, but the thought of the goat in the backseat of his crew cab truck with it's head sticking out the window ears just a flapping made me laugh out loud. Can't you just see it? This big old truck coming down the road with a goat in the back seat? Come on...that's just hilarious.
So what I have ahead of me is Christmas...with all that entails to a mother of 3...then the new year is bringing change. A new address, a new way of life...new -new - new... Doesn't anything stay the same? Oh yeah, God does, He is the same past, present and future...it's us, His wonderful creation that must change and conform to Christ. I wonder if Christ chased chickens? What do you do when life hands you lemons...apparently you can them in a mason jar put a dollie on top and sell them to the Florida and Georgia people who head to the mountains for vacation.
Well! Nice to see your pen flowing again, chicken mama. God is going to use you and the crew in an awesome way out there in the country, and I can't wait to be a part of it. Homemade preserves, anyone? :)
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