The Hebron Herald

We have had a productive and enjoyable couple of days, firstly at Zarepath assisting Nathan and Joy in erecting goat fencing, and then at Hebron ticking off a number of chores.  The blessing and encouragement given and received at times like these is incalculable and I'm sure gives Yehovah just has much pleasure to see His children supporting common visions. Zarepath - Nathan on his trusty steed in the background. Yakira was a big help passing tools and writing down all the sheep numbers It was time for the annual drenching and vaccination for the flock so this was a big task, mainly because we need proper sheep yards and a race, so that has moved up the priority list. Nathan giving Brendan a hand  We also rounded up Gulliver, our alpaca, who was extremely obliging today, and the boys to give them their annual constitutional. Gulliver willingly came through the race, knelt down and took his medicine like a man :) The boys were surprisingly easy to handle today

Trees.  I love trees.  I love bushy trees, tall trees, spindly trees, blossoming trees, I just love trees.  They are a source of wonder, hope and joy.  No wonder they are used so often in scripture to symbolise life, purpose and vision.  We are naming all the rooms in the Hebron homestead after a biblical tree so we can identify which room we are referring to and as the years go by the views out of each room will be filled with trees of all descriptions.  These are the trees that we grew from seed and watered throughout the drought.  Most of them are now doing well, although one of the wattle species tends to be susceptible to disease and bugs, so we won't plant anymore of that variety. I especially love to see unexpected green popping up in unexpected places.  This little wattle growing amongst the rocks near the power pole has obviously been deposited there by birds.  Another has popped up near the shipping container and even one up near the top water tank.  A bit li

We've been blessed with another three lambs (2 ewes, 1 ram) this week, including one set of twins, which Dad and I vaccinated, tagged and neutered.  I closed off the little area around the water trough and it worked very well for this purpose, although proper yards will be very welcome indeed. Our growing flock - 65 sheep now. This week I seeded two boxes of tree lucerne.  We've been talking about planting these out in all of our paddocks for a few years now so I finally bought some seeds.  Hopefully these will be ready to plant in May next year.  I resisted the temptation to go overboard and limited myself to two boxes, which equates to 110 trees.  There's a lot of good information regarding this valuable little tree at the following URL: http://lucernetreefarm.wordpress.com/ Our inaugral caper bud is doing well and I eagerly awaiting for it to open in flower, which when it does will be the most photographed and welcome event to date :)  There are a few plants

This day is worth remembering - the 2nd of December, the day our first caper bud appeared!  It's been 5 years, or is that 6, and our caper venture has been fraught with unfortunate events, but despite it all they are determined to do their best. You can see the auspicious little bud at the centre of the plant, in front of the leaf with two little holes in it.  Brendan has suggested we could auction it off as they do with the first mango of the season :)  This plant would be the best example of how they're going, but there's quite a few others that are not far behind.  It's interesting that it's the plants that get the most water that are doing the best, so as we fine tune the irrigation with different dripper sizes I'm hoping that the others will pick up as well.  Naturally quite a few have died, but I would say the majority will pull through, although how productive they will be is another question. It's probably a good time to mention that when we bo

Today we had a perfect blend of ticking some chores off the list, good fellowship and simply enjoying Hebron.  This time of year can be a bit busy so it's usually a juggle of prioritising flock management, maintenance, chores and completion of projects.  One of the tasks was to vaccinate, tag and neuter the newest addition to the flock.  This is the first lamb from our new ram, who has grown into a good size and has fully shed the winter coat, so an excellent sire for our next batch of lambs. Brendan cleaned out all the stock troughs, John got the dam pump operational and worked on the fire trailer, Neal attended to household maintenance and continued working on the front door, whilst us girls and kids got a box of tree tubes ready for sowing seeds and cleaned up the little shed.  Christine attended to the kitchen tidy up and made sure we were fed and watered.  All in all, a great team. Here are some shots of before and 'after' of the main kitchen and front door r

Last week we witnessed the solar eclipse, which of course occurred on this month's new moon.  What a brilliant testament to coming reign of our coming King!  This week we have also been keeping up to date with the news from Israel and being prayerful on her behalf.  These events remind us that these are indeed the last days and we are to remain alert and prepared. Trees and infrastructure - fruits of our labour As the days ahead get more difficult we know that Hebron will become a source of provision and refuge, so we continue to be faithful to the vision that Yehovah has set before us, knowing that He provides all the resources, energy and capacity. This week Brendan was given free piping and grow beds for our aquaponics projects.  This has been a long term project and to date we haven't been able to get it underway, however, we now have all the infrastructure necessary to complete the project.  Probably after summer we will be able to get this underway.  Aquaponics i

Here at Hebron things are ticking away nicely.  The grass is long and drying out, which means an increased risk of pink-eye.  This is a condition where eyes can get infected from irritation from dry grass or lodged seeds and is simple enough to treat.  An increased check of the flock is now happening.  What a life this is - how lovely to spend a few more minutes to drive through the paddocks! I inserted these two photos because I never tire of seeing the long shadows in the late afternoon.  I remember the days when there were no trees up the driveway and the only shade to be found was out in the paddocks under the big red gums. As the paddocks brown off the beautiful flowering cactus is a sight to behold.  The fragrance is beautiful and even stronger than a rose.  This time of year also brings out the reptiles.  Thankfully the only one I've seen thus far is a frill neck lizard.  The snakes will be around but as long as they stay out of sight I'm happy.  The ra

You can so easily miss the small signs of life and progress in the midst of life's busyness and our day-to-day routines.  To the casual observer not much has happened at Hebron this month, but on closer inspection you will notice that little apples and apricots are forming and trees are sending out new growth.  Isn't that so true of our walk following the ancient paths.  The excitement and busyness of the festivals are over and another cycle has begun, but the incremental appreciation and growth of the wisdom of torah in our lives continues and fruit slowly and silently forms.  There's no great fanfare to this development of fruit, but the delights of it will be experienced by our Father Yehovah, ourselves and those around us.  This fruit is not the fruit of the 'church', of winning souls to great accolades and point scoring,  but rather it's the fruit of the Ruach HaKodesh, the Spirit of Yehovah who is at work in our lives and bears witness to His kingd

Hakea flowers Christine took some lovely photos of spring's new growth during Sukkot and they were just too pretty not to share.  The beauty of Yehovah's creation never ceases to inspire, restore and rejuvenate. Lavender It's lovely to walk around now and see the bushes of a decent size and flowering.  I must do a blog with before/after shorts to remind us of how far everything has come. Pigface Pinenut tree We planted about 20 tiny pinenut trees during our first year with the hope that in seven years we'll have our first crop of pinenuts.  Unfortunately the goats couldn't wait that long and made short work of them.  However, we have five left and and despite all odds they are doing well.  It takes seven or so years for them to have their first cones so I'm hoping that will be next year. Succulents Today I sprayed weed killer around each caper plant so that they've got a fighting chance of survival.  I was encouraged to see that a fe

 Christina took some great photos and here's a small selection.  Kosher marshmellows always an essential ingredient of a great bonfire. This bonfire was so large we had a courtesy visit from the local CFS :) Aerial shot by Brendan from the top of the ute.  Trevor and Yohanan taking the motorbike through its paces. Duet by Yakira and Makedee Carol and the kids praising. Cousins Yohanan and Riley  Yohanan taking care of business. We enjoyed beautiful starry nights and it's not difficult to recall the promise of Yehovah to Abraham with these vistas.