What happened to May?

The end of May finds me with most of the garden planted. I have to plant some tomatoes and peppers yet, as well as my butternut squash. We had decent rains once again this month, in fact, we have had above normal rainfall for the past three months. This is resulting in a lot of lawn duty, as well as an increase in the number of mosquitoes.

The chickens are entering puberty! They are growing very quickly and have most of their feathers by now. The boys and I built a fence for them last Saturday and I will soon let the chickens out of doors. They are rather comical to watch, although I have to confess that it takes little to amuse me!

The boys are turning into good little workers. Their grandpa always tells me to "work the living tar out of them." While building fence, Aaron wanted to know if this counted. Not being much of a softy, I told him "No, this is still like playing!"

I built the fence by bolting treated 2x4 to steel posts. This should provide a long term rigidity for the 4' tall poultry netting. It will also make it rather easy to adjust the penned in area for size. Presently, the fenced in area is 13 by 16. I could also add a screened "roof" rather easily if I so desired. I am not sure that we want 101 chickens running wild over our place, so for now I am kind of planning to keep them within the confines of the house and pen.

We found out that Rachel is pregnant. She has had some complications, but everything is fine for now.

We have been discussing eschatology the past few Sunday evening at church. I presented the view referred to as postmillennialism, which I might add is a view that has a lot of appeal for me. In a nutshell, postmillennialism views that Christ will return after the millennium, a period of time in which the gospel will slowly advance throughout the world until the world is largely Christian. It considers much of the prophetic passages contained in the Olivet Discourse and the book of the Revelation of already being fulfilled during the destruction of Jerusalem. This is a view that I hold to as well. I have little time for the "Last Days goofiness" that we see prevalent in the church today.

I also have been teaching through the book of James, which is a wonderful book full of simple exortations that are difficult indeed to observe. James warns us to be doers of the Word, and not hearers only. We always like to discuss and debate matters of the SCriptures. There are those times we need to just be quiet (James urges us to be "quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath) and start putting into pratice that which we are reading and being taught.

Rain

Considering that the past year and a half have offered drought conditions to the midwest, it is pleasant to see a rainy spring for a change. These past few weeks the faucet has rarely shut off, which has contributed to our catching up on the rainfall deficits.

I have done nothing in the gardens due to the mud. The potatoes are coming up and the peas and radishes are marking the rows well. Not to mention the rain, it has also been cold - with the past several days only realizing highs in the 40's. One night last week we actually even had some snowflakes!

The mushroom season is nearly over. The abundance of rain has led to nice morel crop. I probably had overall my best year hunting them. A friend of mine found one the other day that measured 10" tall!

Our chickens are growing quickly. They have feathers on their wings now and they are really starting to go through the feed. I enlarged their pen the other day and raised the heat lights up a notch. I suppose it won't be too long and I'll be wanting to make a pen for them out of doors. I kind of enjoy having a few "livestock chores" to do in the morning!

The kids are nearing the end of their school year. We do give them a break for the summer, although they still are required to maintain a daily reading regimen. They are looking forward to concluding their remaining text books.

We received our property tax bill in the mail yesterday. It was up a significant percentage. I also noticed it is taking over a $50 bill to fill the van up. It would seem that the time is coming that due to inflation and rising taxes that soon the average working guy will not be able to own a home, unless he decides to get into one of those treacherous interest only loans. Considering the tremendous debt load of America and her citizens, I have concerns that our days as a prosperous nation economically are nearing a close. "The borrower is the lenders slave." Thus far our slavery has not appeared particularly onerous, but I fear that we be filling the bite of usury soon.

Farming?!

This past Friday we received a shipment of 104 Barred Rock chicks. They were desposited into our brooder house and now they are running around investigating their pen as they hop from feeder to waterer.

We purchases a straight run and we intend to butcher all but a couple of the rooster and to attempt to keep the hens to see if we can a get a few eggs. We wouldn't mind seeing the hens set on some of the eggs to sustain our floc, but since we are rather new to raising birds, I suppose time will reveal how successful and industrious we are.

The kids, of course, are rather infatuated with them. A few days into the project and we have had already had to compile a consitituion and a bill of rights. We have had only two birds die thus far, but perhaps their biggest challenge will be surviving the love that kids can offer! We also will need to see if we can afford the feed at the rate the kids get it spilled all over the place!

We are grateful that the kids have an opportunity to be around some animals. Rachel and I have always desired to raise kids out in the country where they can play in the dirt and learn how to enjoy the fruits of an agrarian lifestyle. The kids are already efficient little laborers...they have carried and stacked several loads of firewood and sometimes I am amazed at what they can done. Of course, sometimes I am amazed at how desparate they are to try to get out of it as well!