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 renovations. There is still some work to be done on the front door but it's coming along very nicely indeed - thanks Neal.
Of course we all know that us girls like to have things in their place and accessible. To this end we tackled the little shed and did some more tidying, under the supervision of Yohanan who was keen to display his prowess (as long as there were no bugs and spiders!). Don't worry guys, we didn't throw out any valuable 'stuff, just reorganised a bit :)
We also discussed the value of installing solar power this month to take advantage of the rebate, so that will be something we will continue to investigate and discuss with everyone this week. This will support two of our goals; reduce our bills and enable us to become increasingly self sufficient.
After the cars head down the driveway at the end of the day I'm left with a feeling of contentment. Content that I'm in safe and trustworthy relationships, content that we are walking the vision our Father has set before us and content that He is enough and is Adoni over all.
That's all there is to report this weekend, so may Yehovah's shalom cover you all this week.
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 renovations. There is still some work to be done on the front door but it's coming along very nicely indeed - thanks Neal.
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| Before and after photos of the main kitchen |
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| Before and after photos of the 'front' door |
We also discussed the value of installing solar power this month to take advantage of the rebate, so that will be something we will continue to investigate and discuss with everyone this week. This will support two of our goals; reduce our bills and enable us to become increasingly self sufficient.
After the cars head down the driveway at the end of the day I'm left with a feeling of contentment. Content that I'm in safe and trustworthy relationships, content that we are walking the vision our Father has set before us and content that He is enough and is Adoni over all.
That's all there is to report this weekend, so may Yehovah's shalom cover you all this week.
Hi Annette,
ReplyDeleteLove your blog! Brendan has suggested we start up something similar, which is probably a good idea.
Re your comments about solar power. Self sufficiency is an interesting concept. I know where you're coming from, but I think increasing our direct dependance on our heavenly Father and decreasing our dependance on the world's culture is the better goal. To install solar panels in order to get a rebate means a government mandated handout, which comes at the expensive of energy consumers who cannot afford solar panels in the form of increasing electricity tariffs. There is no such thing as something for nothing, and governments do not generate wealth, they just legislate to redistribute it from those who produce wealth to other people as "social services". In addition, to receive rebate money depends on connection to the industrial electricity grid. Rather than looking at ways to generate electricity and save a bit from your power bill, I think a better long term goal is to build a property that doesn't depend on electricity to function. Rather than saying "how will we guarantee electricity supply" or "how can we make our power bill less" you could say "how can I do this the ancient way" (Jeremiah 6:16) and have a goal of one day cutting that umbilical cord to industrial culture. If you invest 10 grand in photovoltaics, you could have installed a very good windmill instead, saving you money by using the wind directly to pump water. Second, with solar panels, they have a useful life of around 20 years. And without rebates, it takes about 20 years for them to pay for themselves in saved electricity. Without govt mandated rebates to prop the industry up, it would collapse instantly. That's not very sustainable. Investigate Germany's mature solar power industry and see. If you want solar panels for self sufficiency, you need a battery setup, and then you're increasingly dependant on this world's culture to manufacture batteries and spare parts. Wheras a windmill for example is proven technology that needs some oil or even rendered goose fat and some leather for the buckets every now and then. Both of which you can produce onfarm.
Anyway, there's nothing inherently wrong with most technology, it's the application we need to look at. Keep up the excellent work!
Hi Nathan
ReplyDeleteExcellent comments and food for thought, which I'll email around to everyone in the group in case they don't check the blog. Life without electricity is certainly an attractive goal. Dad and I were discussing similar themes today.
Oh and definitely need to put up a blog for Zarepath!
Blessings to you and yours.
Hi Netty,
ReplyDeleteHere's an excellent blog I recommend which you may not have seen:
http://thedeliberateagrarian.blogspot.com.au/
Herrick and his wife Marlene live a life dependant on Jehovah Jirah. The latest entry talks about living "Off Off Grid". If you'd like to borrow the book Herrick refers to by Michael Bunker, I have a copy of that too. Michael is an interesting character. He and his family live as part of a "plain living" Biblical Agrarian community near Santa Anna in "the Republic of" Texas. Michael also has a blog, but every year for a longer period he drops off the air as they forgo worldly culture althogether, to test their ability to live dependant only on God. They're off the air this year until the first of Feb 2013 I think.
Cheers,
Nathan
Mm, interesting blog so I've bookmarked it to read through when I've got a bit more time. I wouldn't mind borrowing that book too, so thanks for the offer.
DeleteShalom