This is our journal of what we pray is our sojourn of life (Hebrews 11:8-10) along the narrow way (Matthew 7:14), even the old paths (Jeremiah 6:16), submitting to the Bible as a light unto both (Psalms 119:105). It is our prayer that these documented moments in our earthly time benefit whom God might choose to edify, but ultimately that God glorifies Himself through them.

Month: April 2014

Providence’s Perpetuation Provisions: First Chicks of 2014

A couple to a few months ago, one of our hens went broody, we put some eggs under her, and the Lord graciously granted our first chicks of 2014! I’ve been lagging in getting this blog post done and out, as you can see, since they are about half way to being full grown. But, we wanted to acknowledge and thank God in His provisions of granting additions to the flock!

The broody hen hatched out three, and the three have made it very well, and here they are, with their mama. It looks like they are all hens too, and all Australorps as well, which is a nice bonus gift, since the Australorps are also great brooders:

First Chicks of 2014
More of the First Chicks of 2014

And here is a little video of them:


Also, we’ve had another couple of hens go broody just a few days ago. Here’s one in the mini chicken tractor:

Next Broody Hen

And the other in the piano room, although she started in a garbage can in the barn 🙂 :

And Another Broody Hen

As always, we are so very thankful to the Lord for granting any chicks and continuance of food provisions; and we are grateful for Him showing His graces and mercies in these ways.

— David

Passover 2014

This past Tuesday, we celebrated the Passover as a group. Each year we observe this, mostly as a teaching tool for the children, although we pray for spiritual blessings and benefits from it as well, in greater worship of the Lord Christ.

Here are the tables prepared for the evening:

Passover Table Preparation

And we began the Passover seder. We use the Passover section from the book, “A Family Guide to Biblical Holidays“:

Beginning the Passover Seder

Part of the seder involves singing of Psalms 113-118:

During the Passover Seder Psalm Singing

Here is the seder plate. The lamb represents Christ, the Lamb of God; the bitter herbs (horseradish here) represent the bitterness of bondage; the “matzah” is unleavened, representing how quickly the Israelites had to leave Egypt; the “karpas” (celery here) symbolizes the new life for the Jewish people and the hyssop used to sprinkle the blood on the door posts, and is dipped into salt water representing the tears of slavery; and the “haroset,” a mixture of apples, nuts, grape juice and cinnamon, represents the mortar the Israelites used to build the Egyptian cities, and the sweetness of a better world:

Passover Seder Plate

The seder continues:

During the Passover Seder

And then we partake of the Passover meal, the meat even from one of the Bunkers’ sheep they graciously offered for the seder:

The Passover Meal

With drinks and dessert, the wine and grape juice being for the various cups to be drunk or not during the seder:

The Passover Drinks and Desserts

And meal time. It was all very yummy!

During the Passover Meal

And a final Psalm sung:

During Final Passover Psalms Singing

It was a very nice time of fellowshipping together in remembrance of God’s mighty works! We are thankful for the time, pray the Lord glorified Himself through the time, and we pray for His continued light and heat in our lives, and may we be a light to the world for His glory.

Passover Candles Lit

— David

Hogs, Hogs on the Range – Update I

I had originally made an extended area from the pig pen for our pigs to be able to roam more using a solar powered electric fence system. This worked well for a couple of years, but then started to not work, and the pigs would just go under the wire. I even tried stringing a ground wire between the two hot wires, but that didn’t work either. I have a feeling the ground became too dry to conduct well, but I’m not sure what the root cause really was. And so, between that and having to eventually and continually replace the battery on the solar charger, I figured I need to try to do something differently.

I went through several ideas in my head, like rock walls, or goat fencing, but time and costs are issues. Eventually, given we had a whole bunch of cinder blocks left over from the original plan for our root cellar/storm shelter, which didn’t work out, and discovering that 16-foot, 50-inch high cattle panels are only $20 a piece, I thought I could end up with about 30 feet of fairly solid fence line for not too much expense. Plus, I figured that if it didn’t work, we wouldn’t be out too much. And, I could build them in sections, so that I could slowly extend the pig free-range area as I had time and resources to build fence sections.

And here’s how it went…

I cut the cattle panel longways down the middle, and then into about half sections but where no panel horizontals were sticking out:

Pig fence cattle panel cut in pieces

And then I set up the cinder blocks and set the cattle panel piece in place, leaving one section open, which will be an overlap section where I can wire two sections together, although one of the sections would need to not have overhang so it could butt up against the pig pen fencing:

Pig fence piece in place on cinder blocks

It just sort of worked about fairly nicely, except on the last cinder block, I needed one with a groove for the cinder blocks to position evenly:

Cattle panel placed in cinder block groove

Then I set the 3-foot t-posts in place and wire them to the panel. I really was hoping that I didn’t mess this part up because Foreman William was there inspecting!

3-foot t-posts wired to cattle panel

And then it was time to pour in the concrete. I mixed in dirt so I’d use less, although I think I mixed in too much because the concrete above the top of the cinder blocks ended up a little crumbly. Being they were in the sun and it was quite warm that first afternoon, I needed to keep the concrete moist and had to hand-tamp any cracks:

Pig fence piece concreted in cinder blocks

Also, if I had left over concrete after a fence section was poured, I made small concrete piles that would fit in the hole of a cinder block that I could use for the next fence section:

Small concrete piles for next pig fence section

And here are the four sections complete:

4 pig fence sections complete

I built them over by the barn so I was nearer equipment, but that meant I needed to get them over to the pig pen. And then I thought that I could place a board across our goat shed caddy and drag that using the truck. And here are the fence sections loaded. I loaded them by setting a board in place in the back, pulling the fence section over the back of the caddy and onto the board, and then sliding the board forward so I could repeat the process for the other sections:

Pig fence sections on shack caddy

And it worked! Here they are, delivered:

Pig fence sections delivered to pig pen

One of the things I wanted with the design was to be able to move the sections myself. Given the difficulty of getting them on the shed caddy, I wasn’t sure, but by tipping them over and pulling one side at a time, I was able to slide them into place. Here is the back side:

2 more pig fence sections in place

And in front. I’m still not sure if I’m just going to join the sections in front there or put up some kind of gate. Either way, if we need to back up an animal trailer to that front gate of the pig pen, I figure I can just un-wire the fence sections, and move the sections apart to leave enough room:

2 cattle panel pig fence sections in place

I plan to make at least another set of four sections, although I might need a couple more sections to be able to make a nice enclosed area; and then we should be able to give it a real test by having a small, but not too small, area completely enclosed. I think it’s going to work — hopefully by God’s graces it will, and we look forward to seeing the pigs being able to start to roam a little more, Lord willing!

— David