The Sifford Sojournal

Our journal of what we pray is our sojourn of life along the narrow way, even the old paths, submitting to the Bible as a light unto both.

Category: agrarianism (Page 12 of 21)

Providence’s Perpetuation Provisions: Turkey Surprise!

September 23, 2016 / / 6 Comments

After what we believe is a Spanish black heritage female turkey just showed up on our farm one day, and after finding a local heritage turkey breeder and fetching a tom for her, and after not really seeing much go on between them, something happened the other day…

Trina, our turkey hen, was prone to sitting on her eggs. She tried once in the orchard, but we got her out of there as that’s just a situation for her to get eaten up. She also had sat on eggs on our hay stack in the barn, but we had problems with a big snake that was eating her eggs. And then once more, she started sitting on her eggs in the hay manger we have in the barn stall. She also had a little chicken hen helper who would take her eggs and sit on them, and then Sue would move them back under Trina.

Well, what do you know! About 25 days later…little cheep, cheeps coming out from underneath Trina! Ha! How neat is that? What a nice and gracious gift from God!

I figured it was time to get her and them out of the barn as 1) they’re snake bait, and 2) once she goes mobile they’re cat bait. I didn’t really know where to put her other than the summer kitchen, but all we had were the little chicken cage-pens. So, I took a couple apart and strung them together to make a larger pen, and it created a nice area! And then we moved them — we had found one dead next to her, and we believe there were another two that didn’t make it out of the egg, but she had 3 live ones under her, which Sue scooped up as I grabbed Trina, and now they’re all in there very nicely, all still alive! How neat!

Here is a picture of them:

Our First Turkey Chicks

And a video of the adventure!


We are thankful to the Lord for this very nice, gracious and unexpected gift! May they go to good use, so God would glorify Himself in some way, and that maybe His people might benefit!

— David

Providence’s Perpetuation Provisions: 4 More Rounds of 2016 Chicks (6th-9th)

August 5, 2016 / / 4 Comments

The Lord graciously granted another 4 rounds of chicks to hatch out — our 6th through the 9th of this year!

This is group 6:

New 2016 Chicks, Group 6

She actually hatched out 9. Sadly, this mommy was very over-reactive to everything, and I think she ended up stepping on several of the little ones. We lost 5 that first day, and 1 more the next, several of which had openings through the skin in their little bodies exposing their insides.

They’re so tiny…

Dead 2016 Chicks

One of the 3 left also got out one day and got its foot caught in a mouse trap! I found it running around with it attached. I was worried it might lose all use of its talon, or get gangrene, but over time, God granted it heal, and it’s running around now like nothing happened. We’re thankful!

Group 9 obviously had some interesting things with it, but as for the rest of the groups, things have gone very well, save maybe 1 or 2.

Here is group 7:

New 2016 Chicks, Group 7

And group 8:

New 2016 Chicks, Group 8

And group 9:

New 2016 Chicks, Group 9

At one point, I pulled the mommies from groups 6 and 7 and put the 3 from group 6 in with group 7. A few days into it, I heard frantic cheeping from their room, and when I got back there, I discovered one of them had been basically scalped, I assume by the others. I figure it got pecked at, it caused an opening or blood to show, and then its little head became a target.

But, it’s not dead yet, and so I moved it into the empty room and have been coating its skull with Neosporin morning and evening, and we pray maybe God would grant it healing.

I’m calling it Scalpey: 🙂

Scalped 2016 Chick

Finally, here is the video of all 4 groups. Look for one mommy’s extreme closeup moment! 🙂


As always, we are grateful to the Lord for granting any chicks, and the continued provisions from Him in this way!

— David

Providence’s Perpetuation Provisions: 2016 Goat Kids

July 22, 2016 / / 3 Comments

After putting our bucks with their designated lady goats last November, the Lord graciously granted a nice herd of goat kids this 2016! He granted that we lost no mothers and no kids this year too, and we are very thankful!

We’ll take you around the horn here introducing them, and we do so again in the video below. See if you can guess from where we got some of the names… 🙂

Here is Nellie on the left with Eva and Zsa Zsa:

2016 Goat Kids

Behind the black goat on the right next to the camper wheel is Adeline and left to right her kids Arnelle, Adelle, and Alex:

More 2016 Goat Kids

On the right is Marie, and her kids left to right Maggie, Marianna, Adeline’s Alex from the previous picture, and Marco:

Some More 2016 Goat Kids

Here is Pammy on the left, and her kid Peggy underneath the camper:

Still More 2016 Goat Kids

On the right here is Gracie. Next to her is Eddie, then Theodore, and in the back in the middle next to the barn is Wally:

Another Set of 2016 Goat Kids

Here is Wally again in the front, then on the left is Annie, with Frankie next to her and Annette to the right of him:

Again More 2016 Goat Kids

Behind Annie in the background is Hannah with her buck Haney:

Another Group of 2016 Goat Kids

On the left in front is Lucy, and behind her is Boris, and behind the camper steps is Natasha:

A Few More 2016 Goat Kids

And finally, here is Winnie, whom I call “your highness.” Still the queen of the group if she wants to be, but getting older, and this year she didn’t get pregnant, which we don’t mind because we’d rather have her around than die in kid birth:

Out Nanny Goat Winnie

And here is their video:


As always, we are very grateful to God for the kid crops, and for this year’s, and we are extra thankful for the health and safety of all of the mothers and kids!

— David

Providence’s Perpetuation Provisions: First Three 2016 Chick Hatchings

May 3, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Apparently the memo went out as several of our hens started getting broody this 2016! Sadly, the first mama stopped after 19 days (out of 21) and nothing hatched out. But the next two hens went to completion, and God graciously granted they each hatch out a set of quite a few chicks!

Here’s group 1. Sadly, yesterday I decided best to give a coup de grâce to one little one barely alive, but all of the rest are doing well it appears!

First Chick Hatching of 2016

And group 2, all present and accounted for!

Second Chick Hatching of 2016

Then, one evening, one hen showed up walking around the open area in front of our barn with four chicks in tow! Surprise! So, we gathered them up and put them in the mini chicken tractor:

Third Chick Hatching of 2016

And here’s a video of all three groups:


We are always very grateful to God for the perpetuation of the flock, and the egg and meat provisions He grants from them! Here are some from the other day ready to be made into some chicken tortilla soup:

Chicken Meat in Pot

Again, we thank the Lord!

— David

The Orchard – Winter 2016 – Fruit Tree Pruning

February 9, 2016 / / 0 Comments

January rolled around, and although I got a bit of a late start, it was time to get out and prune the fruit trees! This year, I needed to do all of the ones older than probably a year or two at most, whereas last year I only did the biggest ones.

Here is what it looked like before:

Winter 2016 Orchard Pruning Before

And then, after about three weeks of getting out there in the mornings, here is the after picture. I hacked them up quite a bit…hopefully didn’t overdo it:

Winter 2016 Orchard Pruning After

And here are some of the leftovers, which I think once dried out will make good kindling for the wood burning stove!

Winter 2016 Orchard Pruning Leftover Branches

There are obviously many spiritual teachings and lessons in the Bible that are agrarian based, including trees and taking care of them. While in pruning the tree is cut back, it is a necessary process for the success of the tree. It is the same spiritually, and the Lord prunes the trees of our hearts, which is often painful, but necessary for His fruit to come forth. I mention more in detail about this spiritual example in last year’s pruning blog post, and I encourage you to take a look at it.

We are thankful for God’s lessons in His word, and to be able to experience them and better understand them when actually living the “types” (or physical realities) of the “antitypes” (or spiritual fulfillment of them). And we pray the Lord might grant the increase from the bearing trees this year, in accordance with His will, as we pray He bring forth His fruit in our lives!

— David

Garden – Winter 2016 – Mini-Greenhouses

January 8, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Sue came across this article about sowing seeds in the winter using mini-greenhouses out of milk cartons or two-liter soda bottles (or anything similar). Once again, this is the kind of idea I like: easy to do and inexpensive, assuming you have the containers, which we do, from the club soda we like to drink. 🙂 The nice thing about these too is that the seedlings are apparently already hardened!

And so, I obtained some seeds for vegetables that apparently can grow in the winter — cabbage, broccoli, beats and peas — and started making our little greenhouses…

After removing the label, I drilled 1/8 inch holes in the very bottom:

Drilling Bottom Hole in Club Soda Bottle

And also up about 3/4-1 inch, all to try to make sure water can flow through so it does not sit and rot the seeds and roots:

Drilling Upper Hole in Club Soda Bottle

Then, I made a starter slice in the side, and cut around, leaving maybe 2 1/2 inches uncut for the bend:

Making Side Slice

Cutting Around the Bottle

Finished Mini-Greenhouse Opened Up

And then, it was off to the garden. Here is one with the soil in it, and then set in place in the mulch garden bed:

Soil in Mini-Greenhouse

Mini-Greenhouse Set in Garden Mulch Bed

And here are the first results!

First Mini-Greenhouse Seedling Sprouts

And finally, this is where we are as of yesterday morning:

Garden with Many Mini-Greenhouses

And those same first sprouts! They even survived the snow we recently had:

First Seedlings Growing Some More

Excellent! Thanks to the Lord for granting the germination and seedling growth!

Many of the seeds have sprouted, so we’ll have to see how this progresses through the winter, as God might grant.

We are thankful to Him for being able to work to grow our own food, and new and creative ideas, and we pray He might indeed grant provisions from the garden, in accordance with His will!

— David

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