Spring greetings to all!
Spring is in the air and on the way! Birds are beginning to sing again and the “spring peepers” (tree frogs) can be heard chirping too!
| “Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light And your judgment as the noonday. Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger and forsake wrath; Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing. For evildoers will be cut off, But those who wait for the LORD, they will inherit the land.” Psalms 37:4-9 |
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Once again the Psalmist has some special insights in daily living. There are promises to those who “Delight” in, “Commit” their way to, “Trust” in and “wait patiently” for Lord, As we grow to love the Lord more and obey the greatest commandment (“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Deuteronomy 6:5) it will come about that He helps us to delight ourselves more in Him and will through love and devotion to Him commit our way to Him. Through faith we will be able to trust in Him knowing that He knows what is best. Scripture says that the Lord is not slow as we might consider slowness (2Peter 3:9) in bringing about His promises so we can rest in Him, waiting patiently… Some days that is a little difficult for me to do though as His time table is not what I think it should be! I must however take that thought captive, making it submit in obedience to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5) and continue waiting for Him knowing that in the end there will be a reward for those who wait for, seek and love Him. We must also teach all these things to the next generation as well and diligently instruct them in the way of the Lord. After the greatest commandment is stated in Deuteronomy 6:5 verses six and seven state this: 6 “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.” Because our Father in heaven first loved us let us so in return love Him by living our lives for Him in obedience!
Snip! Snap! Pop! Crunch! Fruit tree pruning is complete for the season! It was a full day’s pruning with some help from Jena, but thankfully the fruit trees are pruned for this year! It is really a little late for pruning, but one thing and another has been coming along and I finally set down my foot and said it was either going to be done now or not at all this season! Due to it being so late I was not able to prune quite as much as I might have if we had gotten it done in time, but the trees should be in much better shape for the coming growing season than if they hadn’t had a “hair cut” at all. A couple of plum trees and one apricot were just showing signs of color in the buds which is really too soon. Thankfully some more cool weather has come in which will help hold them back a little.
The first workshop will be on fruit tree pruning and is coming up right away! I will explain the basic principles of pruning as well as the necessity and benefits to your fruit trees. After the lecture you will be able to watch and have hands-on experience pruning some of our young orchard’s trees. Whether you have established fruit trees that you don’t know how to care for or if you simply want to know what’s involved this would be a good workshop to attend. Also learn how the Lord works in our lives through “pruning” to make us more like Him and be more productive. We plan to have this workshop twice, both will be held here on the farm. Starting at 1:00 pm the first is planned for Saturday, February 16th and the second one Thursday, February 21st. I anticipate the workshop being about 3-4 hours long although we will leave it somewhat open ended if there are extra questions and networking that extend past that time. If time and interest allows we may also get in to some of the fertility, cultivation, staking etc. also required in maintaining your fruit trees. Cost of this workshop is $35 per adult and $25 for anyone ages 5-16 and those under five are free. The fee is due when we hold the workshop, but be sure and reserve a spot by calling or e-mailing us!
In our next workshop we will be covering the topic of season extension and simple structures to extend your gardening season. Again, we will offer this workshop on two different days, Saturday, February 23rd and Thursday, February 28th at 1:00 pm. There are many times you can make a small investment and extend your productive growing season by a month or so in the spring and two or three in the fall! Lord willing the wind won’t be too strong and we can construct a simple mini hoop structure for the experience. As the protective cover over our garden crops we’ll also see how the Lord is faithful to cover us and protect those who trust in Him while supplying their every need. I also anticipate this workshop being 3-4 hours but will leave it open ended in case there are extra questions and networking that extend past that time. Cost of this workshop is $35 per adult and $25 for anyone ages 5-16 and those under five are free. The fee is due when we hold the workshop, but be sure and reserve a spot by calling or e-mailing us!
Saturday, March 2nd and Thursday, March 7th at 1:00 pm we will offer a seed starting workshop covering the basics of seed starting and raising transplants to a size ready to set out in the garden. There are a lot of options available for different ways of seed starting and I will be sharing several of them including soil blocks, plug trays, open flat seeding etc. As the seed, we are miracles of God’s grace when we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior and we begin growing in Him. We plant seeds in other people’s lives all the time…are we sowing good seed or weeds? Plan on this being a 3-4 hour workshop as there is a lot of material to cover and we will do some hands-on seed planting. We may get into some soil mixing and advantages and disadvantages of the soil-less versus soil based growing medias. Cost of this workshop is $35 per adult, $25 for anyone ages 5-16 and under five are free. The fee is due when we hold the workshop, but be sure and reserve a spot!