Going home, new rules, Chase’s expectations, non-normal conditions

Brittany and Andrew stayed over at the farm through yesterday evening. They both napped through the afternoon and left around 10 p.m. At least, that is what I knew as I went to bed. I tried to call this morning but did not get an answer. We should hear from them sometime later today.


I picked the peaches from one of our trees. I think there were nine in all. Not an orchard by anyone’s definition but it is the first fruit we have harvested from the trees we have planted. Grandpa and I are learning some hard lessons about farming and growing in this area. What we had learned in West Virginia does not necessarily translate to the requirements of local agriculture. Grandpa is watching, asking questions and learning a new set of rules. I am getting it second hand, but I am getting it. We are both reading a lot.

For instance, we are not going to plant any trees or bushes in the spring any more. If we cannot afford to make the purchases in the fall all such purchases will wait until the following fall when there is sufficient rain to help the plant get established. We also are figuring out where to plant certain plants and trees. Some of those places are not the most aestheticly pleasing locations, but they are the most practical. Landscaping will be a major challenge. Some plants will not flourish where Mama will want them without requiring constant watering. We will work it out but we may kill a few plants in the process.

Chase gets to go back to Amarillo on Thursday so he is patiently enduring the farm until them. He is certainly not enjoying it the way Mama and I do. Mama said he described the work they were doing in the garden as “boring” and in all likelihood, it probably was. They were pulling up the dried up bean plants to clear the garden and gather the dried pods so the seeds could be set aside for next season’s planting. Such work is certainly not exciting but it is necessary if we are to have a garden next year without the price tag of new seed being involved.

Much of the work we do in not exciting; laundry, washing dishes, scrubbing toilets, mowing the grass, etc. But is all has to be done if we are to get the full benefit the many blessings God has given us. I like what Pastor Chadwick says, “The real reward of work is work.” In our youth we might have seen working a job for the money alone as the reward, but as life increases our responsibilities and assignments, we who have a good work ethic, go to our jobs for reasons that stretch far beyond the money we earn in that persuit; dependability, trustworthiness, both to our employer and the loved ones for whom we are providing, self-worth, independence and most of all prudence.

In a society where it is no longer necessary to work in order to eat, it is difficult to convince a person that the sense of self-worth derived from personally providing for the needs of your family cannot be accurately measured; even when that provision is in the form of gathering and drying seeds to be planted next year. It is an enormous sense of accomplishment for me and Mama as well as Grandma and Grandpa. That little victory goes a long way to offset the sometimes larger failures we have suffered through in our attempts to learn to make a farm in this area.

Norman, as well as much of West Virginia, is without power. He said one of the local service stations opened briefly yesterday to sell off the freezer and refrigerated items getting ready to spoil. It was a madhouse. Without power everything had to me done with pencil and paper. People were not patient. Without power there was no air conditioning. People were hot. Without power the gas pumps could not be operated so people looking to fill their tanks got angry enough to ram their cars into each other and the store building.

It makes my insistence on purchasing some freeze dried food for emergencies seem more urgent. We do have several shelves of canned food and are getting ready to butcher two hogs. We have chickens, eggs and ripening fruit and vegetables in the garden. We even have one hen setting on some eggs to hatch out little ones which will perpetuate our flock. So we would be okay for a short while if things got like they are where disasters have recently struck. After all, that is why we are buying the farm.

It does show that it would not take long for things to get really, really crazy when those who have not prepared are faced with the needs they cannot supply - even basic needs. I remember hauling water from our creek to flush toilets and being thankful for the nearby creek and the buckets to haul the water in.

Right now a little preparation would go a very long way.