I have enjoyed reading your stories. They have been encouraging. About a year ago we decided that this was not the way God intended for us to live, so we thought moving was what we should do first. We looked and looked. Our place right now consists of a small house and two and a half acres. We never could find something we thought was the place God wanted us to be, see our home is paid for. I feel like the Lord is telling me this is home for now and this is where he wants us to be for now. So--we have built barns and own nubian goats for all of our dairy needs, chickens for meat and eggs, rabbits and two turkeys(and all have produced us with offsprings). We raised fruit and vegetables from our garden, even though we are having the worst drought I can remember. But all of this has been done through God. I have learned so much but I know I have a long ways to go. This drought even though it has been hard, I believe it was a learning experience. I feel like God has told me if you can't make it on two and a half acres, how can you make it on more. So, I am looking to God and working as hard as I can. I am so proud of all we have accomplished and I know that it was God who showed us the way. See all I have learned I learned from stories like yours and God telling me this is what I should do. So don't stop writing. Keep it up. THANKS SO MUCH!!!!!!
I have no doubt that Robin and her family will see their acreage grow for she is following biblical principles.
Matthew 25:20-23 (New King James Version)
20 “So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ 21 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ 22 He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ 23 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
So again I encourage you to "bloom where you are planted!". Whether you have a large balcony, a small yard or an acre or two...be faithful with it...be a good steward....and gain the experience that will benefit you when God sees fit to bless you with more land.
Robin and her family will be much more likely to succeed on larger acreage because they are stewarding what they have...gaining knowledge and experience. It was hard for my family to come from the city where our growing experience included grass and the occasional tomato plant. We had a long and steep learning curve....we are still learning. Each year we experience more and learn more and hope to become better stewards. Start where you are...follow Robin's example!
Hey Robin.....I am SO proud of you! May God bless and multiply your efforts abundantly!
Posts
Reading Robin's email at first I thought I had written it. We live on 2 and a half acres and have what she has plus a few more animals. My husband wants to move to more land but I feel that God has put us where we need to be. My husband is a truckdriver so I am the one here taking care of everything. I love every minute and the crazy ones. There is so much we can do on our little piece of heaven. As we are in our 50's I think we have been really blessed with the life we are able to have. One day soon my husband will be home fulltime and we will be blessed to grow old together and enjoy our little homestead. I just love all the things I learn visiting your blog. Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteI can so relate to this. For a long time I was discontent always wanting more land and feeling like we could never truly "homestead" unless we had it.
ReplyDeleteFinally, I realized that with my husband working two jobs and my own schedule being quite full that we have never really even been able to keep up with the 9/10 of an acre we already have! But we have found out that we can grow an amazing amount of food even on this small piece of land.
This past summer we grew strawberries, various kinds of herbs and lettuces, spinach and kale, sweet peas, gr beans, summer and winter squash, watermelon, tomatoes, carrots cucumbers, green peppers, sweet corn and a few different kinds of potatoes. There is a 22 acre field behind us that isn't being used for anything so we are able to grow small patches of grain just outside our own backyard as well.
Zoning laws prevent us from having animals on such a small piece of land, but we could probably sneak a couple of laying hens by as pets if we really wanted to.
We weren't able to do any canning this year, but we did freeze some of our garden goodies and look forward to enjoying them throughout the winter. Best of all I've learned to be content right where I'm at!
Theresa
Thank you for posting such an encouragement! God bless!
ReplyDeleteI too enjoyed this post! Thanks for sharing!! Kris in WA
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more! I am 23, and newly married- we live in a tiny little one bedroom apartment with a balcony that faces the north- read: hardly any sun! We tried several vegetable pots on our balcony this spring/summer but my Grandpa so graciously transplanted them into his garden for us once we saw we didn't have enough sun.(So we still had fresh vegetables!!) That didn't stop us! Instead we have a "worm bin" - it requires no sun and we are able to compost most of our food waste! Once we transfer the worms to a new bin we will give the castings to my Grandpa for next spring's garden! We long for the day that we can build our dream house on 5-10 acres and have a wonderful garden! For the time being though, we make do with what God had given us!:)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this encouragement, Cheri. As Mark and I searched for a house, we realized that it was not within our means to acquire the large amount of land that we thought we "needed." We have recently put in an offer (that was accepted) on an almost five acre plot that is zoned for agriculture, will allow us to have animals (a very rare thing indeed in this county), and will be accommodating to a small orchard and large garden. God is good in his provisions, even when we feel as though we need the car before we learn to drive.
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