Welcome to Home Shalom!

Welcome to Home Shalom and Shalom Farm. We pray your visit here be blessed. We are learning to walk in the Ways (Torah) of our Father YHWH and follow Y'shua, His Messiah until He returns to "set things straight". We call it a "Messi-Life". Our walk is neither tidy nor perfect, but it is filled with passion, devotion and desire to serve our King. We are learning to be humble servants, and to be good stewards of the things that He has entrusted to us: His Word, our marriage, our children, our family, our community, our health, and our farm. Hitch your horse and stay a while--our door is always open!

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Our Family Jots and Tittles

It seems as though this week has been packed with excitement as we "get to know" our new tractor and how it works with it's attachments. The farm came with a 6ft bush bog. We didn't realize how valuable it was until just recently, when we priced an equivalent used one for $1250! You can imagine our appreciation grew very rapidly! It was sitting in the field unmoved for over two years (it was very heavy, we didn't have the means to move it and didn't have any place to put it if we did). The rod and pto shaft were jammed pretty good, but Ben dislodged them, and Elijah oiled them up. He took her for a test run in our side yard and it worked wonderfully! So we are very excited about that!!

The (well) pump house was built (YES!). We drilled the well almost two years ago...got the solar pump equipment all gathered about a year ago...then it was a matter of putting up the building to house it all. Now that is finished (almost... Ben is anchoring it to the concrete right now and it still has to be primed and painted. I will so be SOOOOO happy to get off our chlorinated fluoridated town water once and for all. We have been drinking out of a Berkey and bathing with a filter...The animals get whatever rain water we collect...but not if it runs dry...the have to drink from the tap. The garden never had a choice. :-( But this is year...that should all change!! We still have to install the pump and solar and connect it to the house and get the water tested (and possibly filter it) so we are drinking our own water yet...but it is getting closer by the week.

The pump house is 10x10 on a cement slab with a drain and quite tall to accommodate the specific equipment. (13-14 feet in the center I think. So it will be perfect for hanging a deer or other assorted things.) :-) One side is higher than the other by a foot. That is not an error, that was part of Ben's plan, to have the angle right for the solar panel. (He had to remind me of that.) :-) The interior is lined with Tyvek. We had our Amish neighbors build the pump house for us. His mills his own wood. He is the one who built our shed above our root cellar (and may possibly build our turkey brooder house this spring). We are pleased with it. It is so nice to see plans come together (Do you remember A-Team 1980's sit-com?! HA!!).

Eliana is coming along with studying her alphabet. She really enjoys sitting down with me to "study". Gideon's reading is also coming along. My biggest focus with Naomi right now is math. We spent so much time getting language and reading going that, we are now shifting our focus for her. She is ready though. She is enjoying learning how to tell time and count money. I am showing her patterns in math and we found Racko to be a fun game to help reinforce sequencing and thinking skills. Hailey is doing double lessons to finish her math book (Saxon) and Elijah conquering spelling tests quickly as that has become a focus for him...if he can get his mind off of his flock of turkeys coming this spring. :-)

Ben and I have our thoughts wrapped up in the many, many farm projects on deck. Our taxes are done and sent in and we are expecting a sizable return and we shuffled some things around, so we have some money to work with. (YES!!) We finally got our Farm Tax ID number - so that helps with some of the bigger farm investments, because sales tax in TN is pretty high. It looks like we might actually be able to finish the interior of our second floor (after 2 years) and get the sewer system fixed once and for all, as well! YES! (That means I get to move my playset back into it's original spot when it is all finished. YES! But it also means I am going to have my yard torn up a lots more again this spring...But it's so worth it! I'll keep you updated as things unfold.

Some of the ladies and I are starting a Book Study/Discussion together at the Messianic Keepers at Home Forum if anyone would like to join us. The book we are reading/discussing together is Mama's Torah, by Batyah Wootan.

I am on Day 22 of my Juice Feast. Ben has actually joined me in the Juice Feast for a week too! This is his 4th day. If you want to check in on us every now and then, I am journaling our experience at http://www.gettingrawdiculous.blogspot.com/ . So I leave you with this:






Blessings and Shalom to You and Yours!

for the Tribe of Ben

6 comments:

Andi said...

Wow...praise Yah for his goodness and faithfulness! Sorry I have been online for group in a while. So many things...as you know. ;0)

Gail said...

I have that book. Maybe I should join the discussion!?

MommySetFree said...

We would LOVE to have you!

Michelle Gibson said...

Pamela, I've just spent WAY too much time reading through every single post on your juicing blog! I am so excited for you! I have an Omega Fruit and Vegetable Juicer and I have no idea if it will juice greens, but I WILL find out! When I first read your post, I thought, doesn't she mean a juice FAST, LOL! Now I know why you call it a feast. :D Your recipes look amazing! I'm so proud of you for sticking it out this far and will pray for strength for you. So neat that Ben joined you this week, too.

Sounds like you are making wonderful progress on your farm, too. How exciting to get the pump house built, the new tractor put to use and the blessing of the bush hog. Having well water will be such a blessing. I have to use city water to water the garden too. :-/ Ours is not fluoridated (yet), but full of all the bi-products of chlorination. :-/

Sounds like you are doing great in school too! I've had a desire to focus on the basics too this month - wrap up some subjects, focus on others. Yah is good. =)

With our income tax coming, we are focusing on how we will spend it as well - on homestead projects as well. We've decided to put our heart into the property to see what Father will do - His hand has been on it (we couldn't have made it this far without Him!) so I am excited to see what He will do this year. =) I am not sure if we will put it on the market still yet or not. We will work as if we are NOT and see what Father does. Anyways, you asked about this earlier so I wanted to update you (will update next month on the blog).

Good to catch up with you - I'll end my book, now, LOL. =)

MommySetFree said...

So good to hear from you Chelle! I am excited to see what unfolds at your homestead and see how Yah leads you! I pray all is well with you and yours!

Traci said...

Hi Pamela, thanks very much for sharing your juicing journey. Abba is doing so much with us all as He teaches us to honor this gift He has given us to live in...our bodies.

Many blessings of success and health in your Juicing Feast!