One of the great things about homesteading is getting to try new ideas. New innovation, a bit of improvising, you name it, it's great and when it's HOLY homesteading, and the idea comes from G-d, it's certain to be a success . . . if I follow the plan. I've now realized as I approach my eight anniversary of homesteading, there have been some plans that didn't work out so well. There have been some expenses that didn't need to happen. There have been some losses that could have been avoided, but and this is a big BUT, there have been some amazing successes that could only have come from the hand of YHWH.
The first two years were definitely more trial than successes, but that was resolved in a couple of years and the direction began to really take shape, then what happens? I have 18 amazing months of success, then I hear I need to do a radio show and within the first two weeks of that project the next thing I hear, "it's time to look for land, I'm moving!" My first response, although excited, was, as always, 'I've made too big a mess and now I'm going to have to start over . . .' But I was so wrong. It was that I had learned and "been faithful" on the small acreage and I was going to be trusted with more. Now, that was exciting!
To make it even more exciting, it was virtually virgin land. A well had been dug at the time of a previous owner's inheritance plans and that was all that had been done. The land hadn't been developed beyond that! No Monsanto crops, no livestock on antibiotics and growth hormones, just basically virgin land in the wilderness with water. This place didn't even have a public access road! Amazingly, the natural grass that was growing on the place just happens to be something the state is now using to prevent erosion in the lower land, and goats just love it. It's a distant "kin" to alfalfa, which is great to keep the goat milk flowing and there was no need to try to sow a pasture. It's a native grass that isn't cultivated or genetically modified!
Moving right along in this bigger opportunity, I obviously new there were certain things to not repeat, and I also knew with the expansion would come more innovation and opportunity. I knew, with opportunity comes responsibility and I immediately saw the correlation in this amazing opportunity that lay before me. I did take one bad set back over a year ago, after my book, "Can We All Be Wrong?" was published. It was a bad turn that I wanted to badly to be a blessing, but it was a test and an attack that cost me about a year, so this year, I'm re-establishing some failed projects of last year. There is something new I've noticed, however; the ideas themselves were not wrong, it was the circumstances that I tried to include in the ideas and plans that was failed. So, even though it's a bit of a set back, the ideas are sound and are already working in implementation.
I am actually starting a second garden spot this year for raising, hopefully, all my livestock feed. I learned from the other place about the amazing value of natural fertilizer in small pens, so, I'm working on fencing projects, one pen at a time to rotate critters, fertilizer, and crops! That way, except for the Sabbath year, there is no reason to leave anything unused! I'm telling you, YHWH doesn't create waste in the plan. Waste is seems to be the contribution of humanity, but I'm reducing, recycling, and rotating . . . I've also learned there is less waste when we implement new plans on a small level and grow, so I tilled up a just a small spot about 800-900 square feet for my feed crop, which can have two plantings and harvests, if I pay attention!
On another note, good equipment is well worth the investment if you're serious about the project. I don't own a tractor, but I have a great tiller. I'm more than willing to do the walking to run the tiller and it does a great job. Although a tractor would save me some physical effort, tilling this way is an excellent source of exercise and tractors are EXPENSIVE! Then you need all those attachments. My Try Built BRONCO was less than $500.00 and this is my 5th year of using it. Consider the price of groceries, it's already more than paid for itself.
So on top of this idea to raise my own feed, I've also envisioned a special "garden." There are fruit trees, two olive trees, a few fruit bearing bushes and a strawberry bed in the making. The special plans also include a bistro table and hopefully a laptop for writing my next book in the garden. We'll see how that all works out, but meanwhile, every time I get behind that tiller, or take Grandpa's hoe in my hands, I am reminded, even without all the modern perks I enjoy, humanity has been sustained by G-d's original plan of creation. What a blessing to get to implement ideas that are new to me, and to be allowed to participate in our Creator's original plan!
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