Sweet Home ...(A Preview)

It is winter. Therefore I write. My objective is to write and self-publish one book a year. I am now working on my sixth Whizbang book. My eleventh book in total.

There is no time for such an endeavor in the spring or summer or fall because there is too much to be done here on this little piece of earth I call home. There is hardly time to be writing a book in the winter, but I take and make the time and press on.

Marlene resigns herself to being a “writer’s widow” during these winter months. She has been through it before. She knows it is only for a season. She knows it is something I am passionate about. That it is something I must do. Deep within me is this desire to write; and share, and teach, and sometimes even bless people through my writings. I thank God for the ability and the desire He has given me to write.

The books also generate some income. That’s nice too. In time, I hope that income will provide enough money to purchase a bit more than the 1.5 acres of land I now own. That's the dream. That's the goal. To purchase a section of land, debt free. It's still a long way off at this point.

I remember when I first started writing magazine articles for Fine Homebuilding magazine. The publication paid me for simply taking words inside my head and putting them down on paper. Having worked physically in the building trades, freezing in the winter, sweating in the summer, breathing in all kinds of foul remodeling dust, squeezing into cramped crawlspaces or bat-infested attics, climbing up ladders and scrambling over steep roofs, pushing wheelbarrows of concrete, fixing broken sewer drain pipes, and so on and so forth, to make a living, and these magazine people were giving me money just for writing? It seemed to good to be true. It still amazes me.

But don’t you think for a minute that writing is easy, especially writing a book. It’s not. It is, however, downright satisfying.... when it’s finally all done.

It takes hours, and hours, and hours of focused time to write a book. I’ve been at it most all day today. I'll be at it most all day tomorrow. And I have the next day (Monday) off from work but I'll be in front of my computer typing away all day. It will go on like this for weeks and months. Every spare moment of time I will be working on this book. I think to myself that spring is coming. When that happens, I'll not sit in front of a computer all day. That would be torture.

It is now 9:00 at night. Marlene and the boys are 20 minutes away at a friend’s house enjoying a sauna, some good food, and fellowship. That is her Saturday night routine this winter. I write into the night while she enjoys a sauna. So don’t think she’s suffering through this. ;-)

In any event, I am excited about my next book. It is going to be something special. I can not divulge much about it now, except to say it involves a lot of old agrarian history and lore. I am gathering information now. I would like to give you a little glimpse into the sort of thing you will find in this next book. The excerpt that follows is taken from an 1855 farm almanac. It is an essay in the “Farmer’s Calendar” for the month of June. Though it is sometimes a bit difficult to read (the first time through) I love this kind of old writing and, especially, the message that is being conveyed in the words that follow. This excerpt is titled Sweet Home:

What is it that makes home sweet,--the home of the farmer, for instance? What, indeed, is it but smiles without doors, and smiles within. There can be no question about the matter. He goes forth into his fields, and beholds all nature in smiling bloom around him. “With verdure clad” appear the hills and vales; his waving crops, in their rich profusion, greet him with their redolency; the cattle leave their feeding, and hasten to meet him in his walk; the tender lambs frisk and play around, and even feed from his hand! As he labors, the sweat of his brow brings relief, and each gentle breeze meets with a cheerful welcome. When the sun goes down, with his implement upon his shoulder he repairs to his peaceful dwelling. Here no wry faces, no dark frowning, no cool glances of disapprobation meet him at the door; wife, children, and friends, with smiles and cheerful greetings, are all disposed to make him happy. All is peace, sweet peace, and no jarring, while everything indicates order, industry, and pure rational enjoyment. Frank Fretful would have such a home. Let all who want it try for it.

That, my friends, was written 153 years ago. America was an agrarian nation in those days. A Christian agrarian nation. Life for the vast majority of people of that time centered around Faith, Family, and Farming. Farms of the day were centers of diversified production and self reliance, involving the entire family. Life was hard, but it was simpler, and I dare say it was far more fulfilling than the average life lived in 2008.

Yes, the essay above is idealistic and romantic but it was written by a farmer who, I believe, was writing from his own experience. He was writing with a passion about something he knew and loved.

There is much that we can learn from the old writings. I believe a good measure of what we can learn is still applicable to the here and now. And the best of the past is certainly applicable to the futures we endeavor to make for our families. ”Let all who want it try for it.”

Stay tuned...

A Nice Little Family Tradition

In my previous blog entry I wrote about family traditions. In this essay I’d like to introduce you to a very simple, tradition I started in my family 14 years ago. It is an activity that costs virtually nothing, takes less than an hour to do, and is eagerly looked forward to by the whole family. This next picture will introduce you to the idea:



The photo above shows three small scrolls. Each scroll is an 8ft length of adding machine paper held together with a piece of cloth ribbon. There is a scroll for each of my sons. The scrolls are kept safe in a small drawer under a shelf up out of the way. Once a year, around Christmas time, the scrolls are taken from the drawer, opened up, and stretched out across the kitchen table. The whole family gathers around to study and compare special markings that were made on the scrolls in previous years. Then it’s time for our little family tradition.... the official yearly act of measuring the height of each boy.

My sons are currently 13, 16, and 19 years old. They know the routine. Stand up straight against the wall, feet flat on the ground (no cheating), eyes straight ahead, chin up, while I hold a small framing square against the wall above them and move it down until it just touches the top of their head. The boy then moves out from under the square, and with me still holding the square in place, we use a carpenter’s tape measure to find out the exact distance from the floor to the blade of the square.

The measurement is then officially recorded by me on each boy’s scroll. Here’s a picture of how it looks:



There is a base line on one end of each scroll. From that line we have marked each boy’s length at birth. Than, starting in 1994, we measured and recorded each boy’s height from the base line. Here’s another view. This is from my oldest son, Chaz’s scroll.



You can see that when Chaz was 14 years old, he was only 1/8” shorter than his mother. The next year he grew 3-1/4”. Further up the scroll, in 2005, he measured 5ft 9-3/4”. That put him at 3/16” higher than me (my height is recorded on each scroll too). But that’s as tall as Chaz has gotten. His height has not changed in the past two years.

If we were to compare scrolls, we would find out that 16-year-old Robert is now the same height as his older brother was at 17 years old (which is the same height he has remained). So if Robert grows any more he will be the tallest in the family.

But my youngest son, James, who has always been the shortest one in the family, grew 4-3/8” last year. It turns out he is still the shortest but he is actually quite a bit taller at his age than either of his older brothers were at 13 years old. And he is about to surpass his mother in height.

That’s the fun of comparing scrolls. Then we carfully roll them up and put them away for another year. I like to think that my boys will continue this little tradition in their own families one day.

If you have a young family, I hope this story will inspire you to make each of your children a scroll of their own and to establish a similar tradition. It’s just a little thing, but it’s a lot of fun.

Establishing Family Traditions

Did your family have special little family traditions when you were growing up? If you have raised a family, did you incorporate special traditions into the culture of your family? If so, have any of those family traditions been carried on by your grown children in their families? Or, if you now have a young family of your own, have you given any thought to establishing and cultivating family traditions?

I ask those questions because I like to hear about traditions within families. Beyond that, I’d like to encourage those of you who do not have family traditions to give some thought to this subject. So let’s talk about it....

What Are Family Traditions?
Family traditions are things your whole family experience and enjoy together on a regular basis (i.e., yearly). Such traditions typically revolve around foods that are eaten or activities that everyone participates in. Good family traditions are something everyone looks forward to and, if the tradition is not experienced, everyone is disappointed.

Why Have Family Traditions?
Special traditions, unique to your family, are one of the spices of family life. Family traditions bring a richness and quality to family life that would otherwise not be there. Shared family traditions serve to bring families closer together and strengthen relationships.

A Sad Example
As I think back on my own family when growing up, I have a hard time recalling any family traditions. I suppose that Thanksgiving dinner would qualify. My mother was a great cook and put a lot into the meal. One of the things she always cooked for Thanksgiving was rutabaga—only for Thanksgiving. I happen to like rutabaga, but if that's the best family tradition I can come up with, that's kind of sad, don't you think?

It is typical for families to gather each year for a special meal at Thanksgiving and Christmas and it makes those gatherings a tradition. I think that is one of the best aspects of those holidays. But getting together and just sharing a meal, as good and important as that is, doesn’t qualify all by itself as the best example of a family tradition, at least not to my way of thinking.

A Better Example
I believe a family gathering around a holiday meal can certainly be an important part of a family tradition. The other part can be shared activities after the meal. For example, it was typical for my wife’s family (six kids, of which she is the youngest) to gather around the Thanksgiving table after dinner and play the card game, Pitch. I always thought that was neat. It sure beats gathering around the television for non-communicative, passive, brainless entertainment.

I can assure you that few families are going to have fond remembrances of the television shows they watched together the previous Thanksgiving after dinner. There is, however, a whole lot better chance they will remember the rousing game of cards. Those memories (good memories) of shared past family traditions are critically important part of the equation.

Something as simple as all taking a walk in the countryside after the meal can be a special family tradition.

An Even Better Example
When groups of people share in the work of completing a common task, it draws the group closer. When the work involves a whole family, doing something special and productive, with an enjoyable end, and this work is done on a periodic basis, it can be a great family tradition.

For example, I know of a family that gathers each fall to make apple butter in the historical manner. They prepare the apples and spices and put them in a big copper kettle over an outdoor fire. Together, they take turns stirring the boiling apple and spice mix down until it is the right finished consistency. Then they seal it in jars and everyone takes some home. The family is now older, and some live far away, but every year in the autumn, they travel home to make the apple butter, as is their family tradition.

When I heard about that family tradition, I almost bought a copper kettle and butter stirring paddle (Lehman’s has them). But copper kettles are downright expensive. I found used ones are cheaper on Ebay but have not pursued it. I may yet.

In My Own Family
In my family now, with my wife and three teenage boys, there are a few things we do that I think qualify as good family traditions. One example that comes to mind is making maple syrup in the backyard. This has been a fun and memorable family activity that we’ve done for many years.

We build a makeshift sugar shack, tap 25 maple trees in the woods behind our house, collect the sap into a 55-gallon barrel, and boil it down in a homemade, wood-fired evaporator. Stoking the fire, skimming foam off the boiling sap, and hanging out around the warm evaporator on a cold and blustery spring day is a great memory maker. And we sure do enjoy the quart jars of homemade maple syrup that are produced.

Making apple cider is also something of a tradition in my family. It is an activity we all work together at and, together, we enjoy the fruit of our labor.

Another family tradition is our annual 4th of July bonfire. It’s not a big event—just a couple families over for some food and fellowship. When it gets dark, we light a big pile of wood pallets that we’ve gathered free from the local lumberyard. We work together to make the pile of wood. We have fun. We make memories. And we look forward to doing it all over again the next year.

A Quirky Little Example
Some family traditions are more personal. For example, sons and fathers (or daughters and fathers) going hunting together. Then there are the offbeat traditions. For example, It is my tradition to give each of my sons a bottle of hot sauce every Christmas. Maybe that’s more like a custom. Whatever the case, quirky little things like that are akin to tradition, and can be fun.

Tradition of a Wealthy Family
I went to college with a girl that came from a family with money. Each year, during Christmas vacation from school, the family went on a skiing trip. The parents rented a place on or near a ski slope somewhere in the US. They enjoyed a fun week together skiing and doing whatever else you would do on a skiing vacation. The things you can do with money, eh?

I will never have that kind of money to spend in that manner. But if I did, instead of a skiing vacation, I’d opt to take the family to some sort of wilderness lodge or camp, on a lake, surrounded by woods and mountains. It's fun to dream.

But, as I think of it, my family has, for the past several years, taken something of a traditional family vacation. We make it a point to take a short agrarian-centered trip to a living history museum. I’ve written of our agrarian family vacations here in the past.

What Can You Do to Create Traditions?
It’s fun to imagine what we might do for a family tradition if... we had more money, or if... we had more free time, or if... our circumstances were somehow different than they are now. But the fact is, you don’t need a lot of money to establish and perpetuate family traditions. And the fact is, we always make time for the things that are most important to us. And where you are right now is as good a place as any to implement this family-strengthening strategy.

I hope this essay has encouraged you to give some serious thought to the matter of family traditions. I hope you will endeavor to deliberately implement traditions into the life of your family, especially if you now have young children.

If you have ideas or examples of family traditions, I invite you to share them here (using the comments feature) for the benefit and encouragement of us all. And I thank you for that.

In my next blog entry I will share with you about a very simple, fun, and inexpensive tradition that I started in my family 14 years ago.

How to Make & Enjoy a Peppermint Zing Sinus Sauna

Colds, flue, and general malaise are par for the course here in the northeastern U.S. during the winter months. I am a proponent of natural defensive health practices. Things like vitamin C, Zinc, and garlic can help keep such sicknesses at bay.

I also believe Echinacea and Goldenseal-root tinctures are very effective at strengthening the immune system and maintaining health. Goldenseal tincture tastes like liquid dirt to me. Echinacea, with its mouth-numbing effects, is preferred over the Goldenseal, but I alternate the use of the two. I also use propolis tincture if my throat starts to feeling a bit “raw.” Someday I will write an essay here about how to make propolis tincture, as it is a favorite of mine. Today, however, I feel compelled to tell you about a home “remedy” that is popular here in the Kimball household during the winter months. I call it the Peppermint Zing Sinus Sauna.

Early on in my marriage, when my wife, Marlene, was feeling the congested sinus malaise, she would boil water, pour it in a pan with Vics Vaporub, drape a towel over her head, and breathe the steam. I had never seen or done such a thing and, when it was my turn to get the malaise, I gave the head-steaming technique a try. It opened up the nasal passages, allowed my sinuses to drain, and was, overall, a soothing experience.

As the winter seasons came and went, I started to give more thought to the whole idea of steaming one’s head for relief from what I think the old timers referred to as catarrh (nasal & sinus distress). It occurred to me that breathing the “fumes” from petroleum jelly infused with eucalyptus may not be the best thing for a body. I wondered, how would it work to leave out the petroleum-based carrier and just use herbs to steam my head and sinuses?

I gave it a try one winter day with some dried peppermint from my garden. The effect was remarkably refreshing. Far better, in my opinion, than Vics Vaporub. Head steaming was, in fact, so satisfying of an experience that I began to do it more often, even when I felt healthy but just a little run down. Peppermint in the head and lungs can really pick you up. When you remove your head from under the towel and breathe in, you experience a natural peppermint euphoria. I call it the Peppermint Zing.

In time, I came up with the idea of not using a wimpy, thin towel to capture steam. I found that a heavy winter coat, draped over the head and sealed around the pot of steaming herbal essence, created a far more effective “steam chamber.” I also formulated a couple of “rules” for steaming the sinuses. And, of course, I came up with that catchy name for the procedure: The Peppermint Zing Sinus Sauna. Here's how to make and enjoy your own sinus sauna......

STEP 1: The Herb



In the above photo you can see the empty steaming pot. It has a flat bottom which provides more stability that a bowl. The diameter of the pot dictates the steam output. Larger diameter, more steam. Around 10” (as shown in the picture) will do nicely.

The dried peppermint in the picture is not from my garden. I never got around to drying any peppermint last year, so I bought some dried organic peppermint leaf from Frontier. The one-pound bad will last a long time.

I do not measure out the peppermint in any exact way. I just grab a small bunch with three fingers and my thumb. It probably amounts to a couple of heaping tablespoons. I put the measure in one palm and, using my other palm, I rub the peppermint into little pieces over the pot. Small pieces of peppermint will more readily release the volatile peppermint oil into the water and steam.

STEP 2: Get Your Steam Chamber Ready



As I mentioned, a winter coat makes a very effective steam chamber. My typical winter outerwear consists of a heavy sweatshirt and a canvass barn coat, so that is what I use for the steam chamber. The picture above shows the proper method for wearing the coat. Instead of your neck and head fitting up through the collar, as in normal wear, you place your head down through the collar so the coat covers your head and hangs down in front of you.

STEP 3: Add Hot Water



I fill the tea kettle with around six cups of water and heat it to a rolling boil on the stove. Then I pour the entire contents into the pot with the peppermint. The steam will rise. You need to get your head into the steam chamber and over the steaming water immediately.

STEP 4: Enjoy the Sauna



So you are sitting down in front of the pot of water which is on a table in front of you. Your overcoat steam chamber is in place and your head is inside the chamber. Snug the coat around the sides of the pot and up to your body. Hold it in place with your arms around the pot, as shown in the picture above. It should be completely dark and steaming hot inside the chamber.

At first, the steam will be very hot. Hold your head as far away from the pot as you can and breathe through your mouth when it is very hot. As the steam cools, you can move your head closer to the source. You can also start breathing slowly through your nose. If your nose is plugged blow out and breathe in through your mouth. Give it time. You will gradually become unstuffed as the steam and peppermint do their loosening work.

The cardinal rule when taking a sinus sauna is to never sniff in. Only out. Blow out your nose into the water. Spit out any throat drainage. Let it all flow out. No one can see this unpleasantness, so it’s okay. Work with the steam. Breathe in, but never sniff in.

Perspiration and condensation will form on your face almost immediately when you start steaming. This is good. It is therapeutic. Let the moisture collect and drip off the end of your nose and chin, into the pot of water.

In time (five minutes or more), as the steam goes from hot to warm, I open my eyes and stare down into the steam. This is when I begin to see visions. I’m just kidding. You won’t see anything. It is too dark in there. But steaming the eyeballs, as objectionable as it might sound, is really a pleasant thing. At least I have found it to be so.

As the steam gets less intensely hot, you can move your head closer to the water. In the next picture, my head is actually resting on my hands which are over the edge of the pot. My face is very close to the warm water. It is a comfortable steaming position.



STEP 5: Finishing The Sauna

After ten to fifteen minutes of the sinus sauna, your sinus passages will be open. You will be able to breathe in and out freely. And you will be feeling really good about that. The next step is to remove your head from the steam chamber, grab a Kleenex, and blow your nose. Don’t sniff in. Blow your nose. Then breathe in deep through your cleared nasal passages. This is when the peppermint Zing will manifest itself. Ahhhhh……

Finally, you need to dispose of the pot-full of water and all the nastiness that was added to it by your draining sinuses and expectorations. The simplest way to dispose of it all is to open the back door of your house and toss the contents of the pot out into the yard. No mess. No fuss.

It might occur to you that you can reheat and steam again with the peppermint water. You can but it is not the same. Reheating is not as good or effective as adding boiling water to the dried herb.

So there you have it-- a step-by-step explanation of the Peppermint Zing Sinus Sauna. I hope you will give it a try. When you do, I’m sure you will become an herbal sinus sauna enthusiast like me.

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I have used other herbs mixed with peppermint to make sinus saunas. For example, I once added elderberry blossoms which I harvested and dried to make a tincture. I’ve also added dried Rosemary. I suspect there are numerous therapeutic herbal blends that could be employed to make special sinus sauna mixes.

If you happen to be an herbalist, I would really appreciate your input regarding other herbs that would be good for a therapeutic sinus sauna.
===========================

One last thought. Here is an idea for those of you who have home businesses making and selling herbal preparations..... Why not come up with sinus sauna blends and provide them in packets designed for one delightfully refreshing, soothing, therapeutic, all-natural sinus sauna session ? Hey, I think it’s such a good idea that if someone else doesn’t run with this idea, I might do it myself one of these days.

Best wishes,

Herrick Kimball

P.S. Have you been to my new Whizbang Books Online Catalog? You'll find links there to all my other FREE online how-to essays. There's nothing else like it on the web.

Happenings at Whizbang Books

I may have made internet history.

Last month I created the Whizbang Books Online Catalog. I did it with a blog. So, if it's a catalog in blog format, does that make it a blogalog? I've never seen another blogalog. If somebody else has, I'd like to know about it.

You can now go to the Whizbang Books Online Catalog and find information about all the Whizbang books and other products I sell. You can even see and read about (and buy) my books from the days before I started Whizbang books.

Why make a catalog in blog format? There are three reasons:

1. A blog is easy to establish, modify, and otherwise work with.
2. Blogs are free.
3. The Google search engine seems to favor blogs.

The only drawback I can see to a simple blogalog it that I can not offer click-and-buy-it-RIGHT-NOW-with-a-credit-card convenience. The conventional wisdom is that if I offered internet credit card purchasing, my sales would at least double and maybe even triple. I do not doubt that. But, still, I resist. I guess I'm just an old fashioned sort of guy. I'll come around to credit cards... someday... maybe.

The blog format does allow me to make a mail-in order form, of sorts. And I will take PayPal payments. A lot of my business is done with PayPal. You can use credit cards through PayPal. So I guess I do take credit cards.

Someday I'll get myself a real web site, not just a blogalog. But it'll do the job for now. Here's that link again: Whizbang Books Online Catalog

Whizbang Garden Cart Contest Winner
Last year's Whizbang book release was Anyone Can Build a Whizbang Garden Cart. To help spread the word and create some interest in the Whizbang Cart, I decided to sponsor a Whizbang Garden Cart Contest for 2007.

The contest ended on December 1st of last year. There was only one entrant so there was one winner. The first prize of a $100 gift certificate to Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds went to Don & Caleb Underwood of Nebraska.

You can read the winning details here.

Whizbang Garden Cart Contest for 2008
So you missed out on winning a prize in last year's cart contest. Too bad. But I've got good news. I will be posting information about the 2008 Whizbang Garden Cart Contest at the garden cart blog this weekend.


New Catalogs Carry Whizbang Books
I am pleased to announce that the Whizbang Garden Cart book is now featured in the 2008 Murray McMurray Hatchery catalog. It's also in the Pinetree Garden Seeds catalog.

By the way, it was a real surprise to see that The Lovely Marlene (my wife) is also featured in the Pinetree Garden Seeds catalog. There is a picture of her with the cart.

Pinetree and the Territorial Seed Company catalog are also carrying my book, The Complete Guide to Making Great Garlic Powder.

I have not yet received my 2008 Heirloom Acres Seeds catalog but I see from the Heirloom Acres web site that they have now added the Whizbang Garden Cart book, The Whizbang Chicken Plucker book, and the Whizbang Chicken Scalder book to their offerings. Heirloom acres already carried my Great Garlic Powder book and Writings of a Deliberate Agrarian. So, now, Heirloom acres and Cumberland Books have the distinction of being the only two places that sell ALL of my Whizbang books. And I am most appreciative!

My Next Book Project
it is January. A new Year. Time for me to get going on another Whizbang book. As mentioned here in the past, I have plans to publish a FREE online how-to book (in blog format, of course). I still intend to do that. But I've decided to first publish another paper and print book.

I'm researching and gathering material for this project now. The book will be something different for me. It will center around American agrarian history and culture. The book will be inspiring, entertaining, instructional, and practical. Anyone who appreciates rural living and rural history will appreciate and enjoy this next book. That's all I can say for now. I hope to have the manuscript to the printer by the end of March.

Less Blogging Ahead
I've been blogging here at The Deliberate Agrarian for almost three years now. I love to write about Faith, Family, & Livin' The Good Life. I have alot yet to say and share and, Lord willing, I will blog here for a long time to come. But for the first quarter of this year, as I focus on my next book, I expect to blog less than in the past. I hope you will be patient with me and stop by every so often.

Best wishes,

Herrick Kimball

Follow-up on the Locke Amish

For those who read my earlier posts...

Defending The Amish
Defending The Amish (Part 2)
Fusco's Law & The Amish

... I'm pleased to report that last month the Locke town board met and wisely decided not to accept their attorney's recommendation to implement a law requiring that Amish contractors have liability insurance to do work in the town.

Several long-witheld building permit applications have now been issued.

The people were heard. The democratic process worked. All of which goes to show that the best form of government is by elected representatives on a small and localized level.

2007/2008 Looking Back & Looking Ahead

"Creation & time are the theatre of God's glory."

Last sunday in church, our pastor preached a sermon based on Revelation chapter 22. It is the last chapter of the Bible. At the bottom of the page was the quote above. I wrote it there sometime in the past. I don't recall when. And I wrote the name of John Calvin beside it.

I feel those words are worth keeping in mind as we enter this new year. We all have a role to play in this world and a very short time to play it. It is important to remember that we are not the stars in this "production." It's not about us. We have bit parts. We are "small fish" in a very big pond. We are, at best, only supporting "actors."

The older I get, the more awesome I realize God is, the more I understand that he is a Soverign Orchestrator in this earthly theatre. And the reason for it all, the reason for my being, the reason for your being, is to glorify Him with the life that we live.

That said, I fear that I often miss the mark in this regard. Have you ever felt this way? Sometimes we are dealt hardship and disappointments. Sometimes it seems like life is one disappointment after another. Have you ever felt that way? If not, you will. That's just the way life is. And it's that way for a reason. Pain builds character. Disappointment leads to humility. Pain and disappointment draw us, if we are sensitive to such things, closer to God. Pain and disappointment in our own lives also gives us empathy for others when they experience pain and disappointment in their lives.

Some disappointments and difficult situations we bring on ourselves through disobedience and rebellion against God's laws. Or, to put it in Biblical and agrarian terms, we reap what we sow. When we sow disobedience, the consequential harvest of heartache may not manifest itself until long afterwards. Some people never make the connection. Some do but refuse to think about it. Some do and they go to the Lord, asking forgiveness. And He gives it (John 6:37). Better yet, those who go to the Lord through his son, Jesus Christ, become "new creatures." The old things are passed away (2 Corinthians 5:17). Life takes on a whole new perspective when we trust in Jesus Christ.

The problems and disappointments and pain don't always all go away when we become new creatures. Sometimes life gets even harder. Fact is, it's hard to live a God-honoring life in the midst of a God-dishonoring worldly culture, a culture that is at war with God's law and the truth of who Jesus Christ is.

And perhaps the hardest part of all is raising children within this context. The ungodly culture targets children, especially "adolescents" or young adults. They are prey. They are the prize. I see this with incredible clarity. But do my children? I think that they do not, at least not with the clarity that I do. Certainly not with the concern that I do.

Raising children is easy... when they are young and dependent and easily protected. And every young parent is confident they will do a fine job of it. But when the children get older it is a whole new "ballgame." My children are getting older. More and more, I stand on the sidelines watching them play the game. Hoping and praying and urging, that they make the right decisions. Hoping and praying that they see the snares. Hoping and praying that they sow seeds now that will bring a harvest of joy and peace in their lives. And when one of them fails to see, or fails to heed, or fails to care, it breaks my heart. It is a familiar story.

I look into this new year with the same vision that I had last year. Nothing in that respect has changed. But I have my moments of weakness, of doubt, of discouragement. Even still, I press on because the vision is right. It is, I believe, God-honoring. It is, I have no doubt, right and true and worthy. I see no other course. My only fear is that I am so ill suited to lead my family in righteousness.

God only knows what 2008 will bring to my family, or yours, or this nation. I suspect we are in for a bumpy ride in the months and years ahead. Difficulty, Hardship, Heartache. But in the midst of it, I take great consolation in five life-changing truths: 1.) God is in control. 2.) Jesus Christ (God in the flesh) willingly gave his life on the cross. 3.)Those who call Jesus Lord are God's children (Romans 8:15-17). 4.) God loves His children. 5.) He has promised to never leave us or forsake us.

Here are three verses that I think I'll adopt for 2008:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Proverbs 3:5,6

The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
Psalm 18:2

Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed; for the Lord thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest
Joshua 1:9

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This blog entry has been "off-the-cuff." I wanted to use the quote from Calvin and just started writing. It turned out to be a reflective ramble. I guess I'm in a reflective mood. I guess that's pretty typical when you stand between the old and the new, looking back and looking ahead.

In any event, here's wishing you and yours a blessed 2008.

Taking leave.......

Dear Friends,

The time has come, once again, for this deliberate agrarian to focus less on blogging and more on Faith, Family, & Livin' The Good Life. In other words, I'm taking a break from blogging.

Before I go, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and yours a blessed Christmas season.

Lord willing, I shall return on January 1, 2008.

And I'm looking forward to it.

Herrick Kimball

P.S. Last year I put together The Most Challenging It's a Wonderful Life Movie Trivia Quiz in the World. I invite you to READ IT HERE.

And, if you are so inclined, feel free to answer any of the questions in the comments.

My Deer Boy

The picture above is of my 16-year-old son, Robert, at the kitchen table cleaning fat and tendon off a piece of venison prior to packaging it for the freezer. Robert shot the animal just a couple days after Thanksgiving. It is his first year of hunting and his first deer.

Robert went out hunting many times during shotgun season. He went out alone in a tree stand of his own making and he went out with a couple of young men from our church. This first deer (a doe) was shot while hunting with the other men. Robert dropped it with a well-placed shot in the “kill zone” (right behind the front shoulder). He also, with the helpful instruction of one of his hunting buddies, gutted the deer before bringing it home.

It takes dedication, and determination, and persistence, and patience, and some know-how to successfully hunt deer. It takes some intestinal fortitude to cut the warm animal open and remove its insides. These are good qualities for a 16-year-old boy to develop and exhibit. I am a pleased and thankful father.

Deer for Dinner
Marlene’s brother and sister-in-law were up from Florida for Thanksgiving and several days afterwards. Before they went home, we had them over for supper and enjoyed some of Robert’s deer. Marlene does a fine job of stir-frying marinated slices of the venison, and we put them on brown rice with stir-fried vegetables and pineapple chunks. It is simple, good food. There were no leftovers that night.

Workin’ at the Rat Farm
Robert now works four hours a day, four days a week, at the local rat farm. I drop him off on my way to work in the morning and Marlene picks him up before noon. Raising rats and mice for zoos and laboratories can be a big business. The job is well suited to a 16-year-old boy with a lot of energy. It fits in with his homeschooling just fine.

My oldest son, Chaz, worked at the same rat farm for a couple of years before leaving for another job. The owner hired Robert, without hesitation because Chaz had been such a good employee. That’s what the guy said. Things like that please a father too.

Buying a Shotgun
Robert wanted to buy his own 12-gauge shotgun for hunting season. It’s a big expense for a boy and especially this boy, who is, by nature, careful about spending his hard-earned money. After much research and deliberation, he decided on a Remington 870 Express Combo. It is a reputable and dependable gun for the common man. It should serve faithfully for a lifetime.

So, Robert and his younger brother, James, and I went to a BassPro store not far from our home to buy the gun. So close to the start of deer season, they were sold out. But that didn’t stop the man behind the gun counter from talking to us for a long time about shotguns in general and the Remington 870 in particular. He told us almost ten million 870s have been made. He told us how many he owned (five). He told us about going to buy his first shotgun with his dad a long time ago. The fellow apologized repeatedly for not having an 870 to sell. He told us that he loves to sell a first shotgun to a boy with his father, and added: “It makes me feel like part of the family.” He sounded so sentimental when he said that, I thought he might start crying. The kids noticed it too. We didn’t bother to tell him it wasn’t Robert’s first shotgun. His first was a 20-gauge break action single shot that I bought him for Christmas a couple years back.

We left the BassPro store and went across the street to another gun store. The 870 was in stock at the same price. Once again, we got a salesman who took a special interest in a father and his teenage son buying a first shotgun. Once again, the salesman was a big Remington enthusiast. He was a wealth of information. We had a memorable buying experience, and each of us shook the salesman’s hand heartily on the way out of the store.

Second Deer
Last Friday, when I came home from work, darkness was settling and a storm was blowing in. Robert was out behind the house, across the gully, across the field, past the neighbor’s pond, across another field, and in a tree stand by the edge of some woods. Marlene and I were talking in the house and heard two shots in the distance.

Several minutes later, Robert was in the house. He had shot another deer. But he did not shoot well. He did not kill it. He had gone hunting with only two slugs for his gun (the last two he had). So he came back to the house for my 870, 20-gauge, and ammo for that gun.

The three of us headed out in the dark, over the gully, across the field, past the pond, across the other field, and into a swampy area around where Robert had been when he shot the deer. Using flashlights, we found the big doe still alive but immobile in the swamp. Robert finished the poor animal off with a shot and we commenced to pull it out of the dense underbrush.

I had a hold of one rear leg. He had the other. The beast was heavy. Robert sliced into the hocks and we slipped our hands into the openings to get a better grip. Together, we dragged while Marlene carried the gun and a flashlight. The low-cropped, frost-hard hay field was easier terrain to drag over than the brushy swamp. But we had a lot of ground to cover. Icy-hard snow crystals were in the strong wind. The road was a long way away. I was running out of steam. If I were 16 again, we would have kept dragging, but I’m not. I started thinking heart attack. Getting older is hard to accept.

I suggested we leave the deer in the field, walk to the road, walk the road home (1/2mile), get my Nissan Sentra, then drive back to the field, and load the deer on. As we were walking the road home, our neighbor (the one who owns the land where Robert was hunting) drove by with his backhoe. We flagged him down. He offered to get the deer up to the road in the bucket of the backhoe. Robert went with him while Marlene and I continued home for the car. By the time we drove back, Robert and his doe were waiting in the dark by the side of the road.

With him holding the front legs and me holding the back we swung the doe back and forth and heaved it up onto the trunk. It took a couple of tries to get it there. That’s one of the nice things about a beat-up, $600 used car (affectionately known as “Little Red”)—you can toss a deer on the back and not worry about scratches or dents.

All in all, it was quite an adventure. But there was one more thing that needed doing. When we got home, we turned on the outside floodlights and dragged the deer into position on a plastic tarp. Robert took his coat off, pulled up his sleeves, and proceeded to gut the animal. He wasn’t hesitant or squeamish about the job. He knew what he needed to do and I was, frankly, amazed to see my son do this nasty job without any instruction or encouragement from me. I pretty much just watched. And my heart swelled with admiration. Oh, and I took a couple pictures too (see below).

Butchering the Deer
We have gotten deer from friends and family for several years and have butchered them ourselves. We hang the deer from a ceiling hook in my workshop and slice the meat off. We aren’t butchering pros but we manage. And butchering is something I get involved in. It’s the least I can do. :-)

Robert: On Hunting
My son told me that when he is sitting in the woods, waiting for a deer to show, it gets boring and he gets cold. When that happens, he says he thinks he would rather be inside where it’s warm. But when he’s inside where it’s warm, he thinks about how he would rather be outside hunting. ”Deer hunting is addictive,” he tells me.

Reconnecting With Tradition
I have never seriously hunted a deer. I have certainly never shot a deer. And I have never gutted a deer. My grandfathers, and their fathers, and their fathers before them were all, I’m quite certain, hunting men. But my step-father was not, and I spent my formative years doing pointless modern-boy things in a suburban housing project. So the multi-generational hunting tradition in my family line was broken with me. That’s a sad story.

But it’s not the end of the story. My sons (two of them) are interested in hunting and I have encouraged their interest. While some boys their age are riveted to video games (something I do not allow in my home), my sons are learning practical, character-building, manly skills. They will, I believe, reestablish the tradition of hunting in our family line. They will, I'm sure, teach their sons to hunt. In this generation we are reconnecting to a very important rural rite. And that is the best part of this story.





More Deer Stories
My congratulations to fellow agrarian bloggers, and successful hunters...

Jonathan Bartlett in North Dakota
Deer
A Few More Pitures For The Day

Scott Terry in Upstate New York
More Meat For The Freezer
The Buck

Pastor Thomas McConnell in Missouri
The Lord Answers My Call For Help

Thinking About Christmas Shopping

A radio news report I recently listened to stated that if Americans do not buy a lot of Christmas gifts this year, the economy will “be in the tank.” That’s the exact wording they used: In the tank.

Well, I haven’t heard how sales are going so far but I can tell you that the economy in my neck of the woods is not good. The cost of everything is going up. I live relatively simply. I have no mortgage payment, no credit card debt, no college bills, and yet, I feel pinched. Gasoline, auto repair, electric, telephone, all the insurances, dentist bills, taxes....I wonder how in the world other people are making ends meet? How is it possible that Americans can purchase a lot of Christmas gifts this year?

When I was a kid I would look through the Penny’s and Sears catalogs around Christmas time and dream of having so many different things. These days, there are plenty of other merchandise catalogs that come in the mail around Christmas. I do not look at them the way I once did. Now I look through them and think to myself how ridiculous and totally unnecessary almost all the stuff is.

Take, for just one example, the Brookstone catalog. It is subtitled, “Innovations for home and life.” There is NOTHING in the catalog that I need, or that anyone else really needs. Granted, there are a lot of clever and unusual gadgets and gizmos that you can spend your hard-earned money on, but few of them are truly useful or necessary. All of them will loose their luster, and end up being thrown out, some in a surprisingly short time. Or they will end up being sold in a garage sale or on Ebay, for far less that was originally spent on them.

So much unnecessary stuff. So much junk. So much eventual landfill fodder. The future of our economy rests on the willingness of Americans to buy this kind of merchandise for themselves and each other this holiday season. I think there is something seriously wrong with that.

Fusco’s Law, The Amish, & Upstate NY in 2050

The local Amish situation is still on my mind.

If you have not read my most recent blogs about the town board of Locke, NY and it’s persecution of the Amish population, I invite you to read about it here:

Defending The Amish

Defending The Amish (Part 2)

Today I heard through the grapevine that the Lock town board fully intends to pass the proposed, Fusco’s Law (named after the town’s attorney, Andrew Fusco, who has drawn it up and recommends that the board pass it). The law requires that all contractors, including the Amish, have liability insurance in order to work in the town. Currently there is no state or local law requiring such insurance. Passage of the local law will effectively serve to drive the eleven recently-settled Amish families out of the town of Locke.

After having been at the town meeting (as reported in the links above), and seen first hand the strong local support for the Amish, and the strong disdain for the proposed local law, I find it incredible that the board would even consider passing the law. I hope the local grapevine is wrong. But there are few secrets in a small rural community.

The next board meeting is December 20th. I will be there and I will report on the outcome here.

In the meantime, with the Amish on my mind, I was Googling my way around the internet and I happened across a most curious web site called Upstate 2050. The subtitle of the site is Fragments From Possible Upstate Futures. The site is a collection of possible news reports from Upstate New York, 43 years from now.

Now, let me do some quick calculating here… Lord willing, I will be 92 years old in 2050. And 43 years ago it was 1964. The world was a much different place when I was six years old, and it will be a much different place in 2050. The continued growth of Amish population in upstate New York (not to mention other areas of the country) over the next 43 years will, no doubt, have a profound effect on those areas.

Here is the text of an “Upstate 2050” report titled, Amish Upstate, posted on September 24, 2007:

After the 2020 census, it was painfully clear that most of Upstate was losing most of its population rapidly. Businesses had left cities, and people had followed. The only stable institutions seemed to be universities, which remained as attractive as ever, but weren't generating new jobs.

One group of residents was growing rapidly, however. Amish communities had started moving into New York in large numbers around 1970, and continued immigration from Pennsylvania combined with their ability to make tired farmland prosper and a high birthrate to create new agricultural communities. They weren't the only farmers in New York, but their numbers grew and grew.

The combination of collegetowns and Amish produced some cultural conflict, but the two groups agreed quickly on food: the Amish produced mostly organic food that fed their neighbors and even a substantial chunk of Downstate.

Amish communities had less demand for social services, reducing the need for government in some parts of New York, and as their numbers grew, the places where they lived were able to reduce their service levels and even their taxes. Roads decayed quietly under the wheels of buggies, and small towns returned to their historic role as centers of agriculture. A few roads and railroads connected the old cores of the Thruway cities with the collegetowns in the countryside, but even they were much quieter, returning to levels of traffic not seen in a century, back in the 1950s.

I don’t know about you but none of that sounds too bad to me. Fact is, I love the idea of peaceful, quiet, Amish communities, and small towns returning to their role as centers of agriculture.

But if Fusco’s Law passes in Locke, NY, the Amish have said they will have to leave. I hope they won’t go far. I live in Sempronius NY, right next door to Locke. I’d love to have Amish families for neighbors. I could care less if they hang their laundry in the front yard or recycle old house trailers into hen houses. They are frugal rural people working hard to make a living and a life close to the land. They deserve a better welcome than they are getting with Fusco’s Law.

Click HERE to check out the web site, Upstate 2050

Broken Limbs & Grant Gibbs

Dateline: 1 December 2007

Aspiring small-scale farmers can learn a lot about how to make a living and a life on a relatively small section of land from Grant Gibbs' advice and example. (Grant is pictured on the far left)

A couple blogs back, I made an offhand comment about the documentary film, Broken Limbs, and Grant Gibbs, a man who is featured in the film. Now I am going to tell you more.

I purchased a copy of Broken Limbs a few months ago. It is a low-budget but fine-quality independent film about the decline of small apple farms and traditional apple agriculture in Wenatchee, Washington.

Wenatchee’s once prosperous small-scale apple farmers have, in recent years, been hard hit by consolidation and globalization of agriculture. What small farm in America has not been negatively affected by consolidation and globalization?

This story of the decline of small apple farms in the Pacific Northwest is poignant and heart wrenching. It is an emotional experience to see a family lose their land, their home, and their way of life, as does one family featured in the movie.

But this is not a documentary of despair. It is one of hope and promise. After showing the dismal economic reality of debt-bound, small-farm agriculture that relies on the selling of its crops at commodity prices to survive, the movie offers a solution.

The solution is presented by professor John Ikerd, a learned man with an incredibly perspicacious grasp of the historical, political, economic, and social dynamics of agriculture. Ikerd also has the ability to speak clearly and compellingly about the problems and solutions.

Professor Ikerd makes it clear that industrial agriculture is rapacious and unsustainable. He repeatedly states throughout his vast body of writings (see link below) that in order to be sustainable, agriculture must be ecologically sound, economically viable, and socially responsible. He has termed this new vision of sustainable farming as New American Farming and those who pursue it are New American Farmers. Ikerd says:

“The kind of farming we’re talking about in terms of sustainability requires the creativity, it requires the imagination, it requires now determining what you can do in terms of recreating agriculture in a particular area.”

and…

“There are literally thousands if not hundreds of thousands of farmers across this country and around the world that are thinking in different ways. They are working thinkers, thinking workers if you will. These are the New American farmers”

After introducing professor Ikerd and his ideas about New American Farming, the movie introduces some New American farmers, one of which is Grant Gibbs. Gibbs is the real deal—a successful, small-scale, diversified, organic farmer with 30 years of experience behind him.

From the movie and this internet article I learned that Gibbs owns 80 acres of land, 60 of which are wooded, in Chelan County, Washington, 100 miles east of Seattle. The Gibbs farm produces cattle, hogs, chickens, vegetables (2-1/2 acres), fruits (apples & pears), Christmas trees, and timber (he has his own sawmill). Gibbs markets his farm products direct to neighbors, through farmer’s markets, and to food co-ops, all within a 20-mile radius of his farm.

Here is an interview excerpt from Gibbs on the Broken Limbs DVD:

My main thing in farmin’ is to farm food for poor people. Organic food for poor people. I’m not trying to hit the higher end Microsoft spectrum of high end incomes. Let some other organic grower do that. I want to grow organic food that people in Chelan County can afford.”

From the documentary we learn that Gibbs does not abide by commodity pricing for his apple crop. He sets his own price and holds it. When the commodity price once dropped to $21 a box, Gibbs refused to sell his crop for less than $26 a box. That was what he needed and if he didn’t get it he figured he would just feed the crop to his hogs. Out of ten small-scale-store customers, eight stayed with Gibbs and paid him the $26. That kind of story underscores the value of relationship marketing.

Gibbs lives simply and debt-free. He says, I live within my means. I farm within my means. In an interview segment on the DVD titled, “Grant: On Living Simply,” Gibbs says:

“I’m not plugged into the mass media and all the pressure from the outside, say it be a chemical company or John Deere tractor company, or Monsanto, or whoever. It does not matter. I’m not plugged into any of that. I’m isolated from it. And if I want to drive a 1969 pickup ‘till I die, I’m gonna do it. There’s no pressure for me to go get an F350, 1999 Powerstroke Ford diesel. I don’t want it and I don’t need it. I don’t need the debt. I don’t need the higher license. I don’t need the higher insurance. All that would drag my farm profit down, right? We’re selling this whole apple crop out of a pickup that only cost $300.”

Gibbs built himself a solar log home with wood from his property, and no bank loan. It took him three years and cost $18,000. We get the impression that Grant is a multitalented and capable man, much like the yeoman farmers of old. Sitting at the kitchen table of his solar log home he tells the interviewer:

“I got the skills, mechanic skills, I could be down in Wenatchee diesel mechanicing for some truck shop down there. I could be a welder/fabricator over on the coast doing, you know, fabrication work. Or I could be a Wyerhauser forester. You know, I got all these different things I could do. But I’m not a money-driven person. I’m a happiness-driven person. And happiness to me comes from being on the land, and working with the land.”

Gibbs is an endearing example of the New American Farmer. His objective is to create a farm that suits his land and takes care of its own needs. He believes he is close to being completely self-sustaining on his property. The biggest threat to this is the rising cost of property taxes.

One of the greatest things about Grant Gibbs is his desire to teach others what he knows about sustainable agriculture. For the past twelve years he has hosted seasonal interns at his farm.

“I want to teach these kids how to grow a crop without going to the credit union to borrow the money. I want to teach them how to save the seeds if they want to and not have any money in growing it other than the fuel to turn the soil [and] make the seed bed.”

If I were a young man again, with my life ahead of me, and a desire to learn and establish myself on the land, I would find my way to Grant Gibbs’ farm and learn from this man. Such apprenticeships were not around when I was 18 years old and yearning to be a farmer, but not having any idea how I could possibly make it happen. Gibbs is doing something remarkable on his small piece of the planet. He appears to be a fine example of the pioneering New American Farmer

If you have an interest in New American Farming, I encourage you to read the internet writings of John Ikerd. One of the bonus features of the Broken Limbs DVD is a keynote address by professor Ikerd.

To learn more about the documentary, click here: Broken Limbs Documentary Movie

Updated Information

You can now watch the documentary online at THIS LINK. (Grant Gibbs is featured at 37:28  to 44:15 in the 57-minute movie)