Preaching Again

Linkage for sermon preview.  Busy weekend.  DW on the road back home after an overnight with the Greek Wives from Seminary days.  She’s due in with the youngest later tonight.  Had an interesting but good day with four eldest.  Sermon notes all ready for tomorrow, which is also our 12 Anniversary!  I’m definitely married to a wonderful woman who does great things around the house taking care of everyone.  Love you, dear!

Solo Deo Gloria,

jason

 

Preaching and Linkage

This week, I’m preaching again.  Finishing up Ecclesiastes 7.  I’ll try and offer a few more thoughts on last Sunday’s sermon later.  But, in the meantime, enjoy this list compiled by the good folks at Monergism Books.  It’s a great list of resources that are standards in the Reformed world.  Great as well for any Christian – incredibly valuable books!

Solo Deo Gloria,

jason

 

Preaching

Today’s preaching is done.  Audio is up.  All in all, it was, from my end, OK.  I tend to grade myself instead of focusing on other elements, such as feedback.  I could have been clearer on a few points, logic should have been tighter.  But, from what I could tell, folks at church seemed to be challenged by it.

Solo Deo Gloria,

jason

 

Busy Week

With a three-day weekend on the road back home, allergies attacking like Confederates on Pickett’s Charge, T-ball with the kids, gardening and a sermon to write, I’ve been a bit distracted.  So, you can take a gander here to see what’s upcoming.

Solo Deo Gloria,

jason

 

Update

Spent the weekend travelling to catch up with long lost family.  Well, they’re not lost, but we haven’t seen some for several years.  I was able to get some sermon writing done – preaching on Ecclesiastes 7 the next two weeks.  The biggest ‘issue’ with the trip was the shift back several weeks in pollen count and kind that’s send my head haywire!  Hopefully, it will abate soon.  I have quite a bit to do this week: finish some garden beds (roughly 12 tons of beautiful soil delivered last week), finish 1-1.5 sermons this week and offer service designs up (hymns, readings, etc).

Now, though, I’m listening to The Chicken Whisperer’s show from this past Saturday with Shelly Roche regarding HR857 and NAIS.  One of the great things Shelly mentioned on this show was the giant loopholes in HR875.  One in particular is glaring, in Section 406:

SEC. 406. PRESUMPTION.

In any action to enforce the requirements of the food safety law, the connection with interstate commerce required for jurisdiction shall be presumed to exist.

Wow!  So, if the Feds raid you, it’s to their discretion if you’re garden has interstate commerce implications?  Doevetails nicely with some other things I’ve been keeping up on.  Namely, via Glen Beck: The 912 Project and The Patrick Henry Caucus.  The danger with all this is that the Federal Government exerts all it’s force upon all of us, beyond the scope of the US Constitution’s allowings, via the “Interstate Commerce” in Article 1, Section 8.

So, beware, pray and keep informed.

Solo Deo Gloria,

jason

 

Additions

Over the past week, the little farmstead has seen an alteration in its avain population.  First, an Americauna rooster was killed by our soon-to-be-leaving Spaniel mix.  She shows too great an interest in killing smaller things to keep around our home.  Saturday, we attended a small animal event and picked up two hens and two ducks.  The chickens are mix breed: one favors a bard rock, and the other is white, but there no evidence of the Cornish-Rock cross issues.  The ducks are black and that’s about all I can say now.  I don’t recall what they are and haven’t narrowed it down with google yet. The quackers appear to be Cayuga mix ducks.

Our plans to harvest one particularly agressive and large rooster, a barred Rock, was foiled: he has been fed to the forest next door.  All other fowl are fine.  We may still progress with harvesting some roosters via  a co-worker who has an abundance of bantam roosters.  Time will tell and we shall see if and when this occurs.

Our goat count is four now: two milkers and two doelings.  Milk output is roughly 1.5 gal/day.  Some of that is going back to bottle feeding one doeling, rest for the family.  Soon, though, DW is taking a few gallons to a friend’s house to try butter making and some will probably make it into yogurt and/or kefir.  As well, we checked out a Nubian doe with a Nubian/Boer buckling to bring onto the little stead.  Debating that one internally.  One great benefit would be for a higher fat milk for our youngest once she is weaned.  The fat content is essential for some brain development and the greater than 3% Nubian would be advantageous.

Otherwise, there’s a yard to keep, garden to plant (many things started), and a sermon to write over the next few weeks.

Solo Deo Gloria,

jason

 

Trooper

I’m checking in from Texas, a long way home from the little homestead.  My trooper of a wife is handling it all by herself.  She’s tired, I’m know.  But she is a wonderful wife,  mother and milker.  From her reports, we are netting about a gallon per day from our two does.  Some goes to the feeding of our doelings, but we’re in good nonetheless with milk.  Eggs are slow and steady as well.

This has been my first trip without taking homeroast along.  Gasp!  Yes, I know, in some circles, this is sacrilige.  Since I’ve dropped to drinking so little anymore, I just couldn’t muster up the desire to pack it along.  But I am looking forward to the Ethiopia Organic Bonko Black Sun when I get home!

Solo Deo Gloria,

jason

 

Herd Growing

The milk stock needs to be upped.  We’re not getting much output since the kid is still in with the milker.    But we’ve also heard we shouldn’t seperate the kid from her surrogate mother, lest she be overly stressed and ultimately, possibly kill herself in an attempt to re-join her surrogate.  So, in order to up production in milker, we need to seperate the two, but will need another kid to keep her company.

So, now that explains the growth of our mini-herd.  We will soon add a yearling who recently “freshened” along with a 3 month old doeling.  All will come from a local goat farm and will give us another breed: Alpine.  Our existing two are Toggenburgs.  Both are good milkers.  Alpines are quite popular around these parts.  Our plan is to try cross breed some of these girls for the next freshening with a friend’s Nubian buck, to give a bit more butter fat.

We’ll see how it goes.  A couple of weeks and they should be joining the herd.

Solo Deo Gloria,

jason

 

Food Bill Commentary

Picked this up off of an OpenCongress bill page related to the food issues that are before Congress now.  The way it’s laid out on this site is quite disturbing.

What to do?  Write your Congressman regarding H.R. 875, your Senators regarding S425.  Call them both.  Email them.  Hound them to make the idea stick that you DON’T WANT THIS LEGISLATION!

While political action seems to be the most effective means, prayer is still an option, and the best.  That God would turn the minds of the folks in power to see how ridiculous this scheme truly is.  May it be so.

Solo Deo Gloria,

jason

 

Happenings

Well, it’s spring.  That means all sorts of things developing around the house.  We have garden sites under construction.  The pizza garden is still developing, and should be finished soon.  Then will come the terraced strawberry beds in front of the house.  Then, another rased bed out back, 12″ deep for some things that don’t do terribly well in my existing rasised be.

On the animal front, we’re discussing adding a couple of more hens into the mix.  There’s a swap this Saturday, but we may not go.  Still trying to decide.  Also, we’re in the search for another milking goat, preferably already freshened.  Things are going well with our Toggenburg, but we need to get another kid in by the time we wean the doeling we have now.  We’ve been advised that the anxiety may be great enough, that, if seperated alone, the doeling may end up dead trying to get back to her surrogate mother.

Milk production is moving along nicely.  We’re getting between 1 quart and 1/2 a gallon per day.  We could use more for certain, but we are making due on what we have.  An additional milker will add more milk, up to twice as much.  But there’s nothing clearly in the works as of now.

T-ball tonight.  The season has started, despite being rained out last week, and looking like day two this week may be.

Solo Deo Gloria,

jason