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The Orchard – Summer 2015 – Permanent Fence – Update I

July 10, 2015 / David & Susan Sifford / 0 Comments

After putting in the fence posts around the orchard for the more permanent fence, it was time to stretch the net wire. It had taken me a while to get to it, because it rained almost the whole month of May! (Wow, thanks to God for that gift of abundant water! It was worth the wait! 🙂 )

I did try pulling the wire after wrapping the t-post corner brace system I was trying; but once tension was on it, enough for this kind of longer fencing where I needed it pretty taught, it didn’t look like the aluminum pieces were going to hold long-term, and it appeared the ground was getting loose around the posts. So, I went ahead and installed a wood post system at that end as well.

And then, it was back to pulling fence.

Here’s a post wrapped and ready to have the fence stretched against it:

Starting Net Wire Wrapped at Fence End Post

For this project, and I assume others at some point, I decided to get a good, metal net wire fence stretcher. It has ended up working great as it really grips the fencing, which has often been a problem for us using 2x4s bolted together or the like. I did find that even though I had chain pulling on top and bottom of the stretcher, I needed tension to be in the middle because the stretcher would bend once tension was applied, so I tied a piece of barbed wire from the middle hook of the stretcher to a middle point on the chain, and this has helped:

I hooked the stretcher to the come-along, and hooked it to the truck’s ball hitch:

Fence Puller Hooked to Truck with Come-along

And then moved the truck forward until the stretcher was standing up straight. Then, it was just a matter of getting the right tension on the fence using the come-along:

And here’s a corner, each strand double wrapped around the post and then wrapped tightly like a cork-screw around the its own wire going back the other direction:

Net Wire Stretched & Wrapped Around Corner Post

With the fencing stretched, it was time to install the gate. Using the crescent wrench to turn the gate lag bolt works great!

Using Crescent Wrench to Screw In Orchard Gate Lag Bolt

And here is the hung gate:

And down that fence line:

It’s all stretched at this time…I just have to go back and install the t-post clips, a job I try to spread out over time, doing a post or two a day.

We’re always grateful to the Lord for granting the provisions to continue on homestead improvement!

— David

Providence’s Perpetuation Provisions: The Fifth & Sixth of 2015 Chick Hatchings

July 5, 2015 / David & Susan Sifford / 0 Comments

God has continued to grant us chicken hatchings, this time they are the fifth and sixth groups!

This mommy Sue found broody up in a goat shed, and so we brought her into the summer kitchen, put some eggs under her, and she hatched out 10 I believe! I believe one ended up not making it, and we also had the same sickness problem run through several of them like with the fourth group, but we kept giving them Angstrom ionic silver, and by God’s graces all nine are still going today!

Here is their video:

This next batch was a surprise group — one day, the mommy just showed up in the middle of the barn with some chicks in tow! Wow, thankfully a cat or otherwise didn’t get them! So, we hustled them into the summer kitchen as well, and here they are, all five still alive!

And here is their video too:

As always, we are very thankful to the Lord for granting these provisions of the new chicks, and for the continued health and safety of those to which He sovereignly chooses to grant those!

— David

Garden – Spring 2015 – Update I

June 29, 2015 / David & Susan Sifford / 2 Comments

In our first garden post of the year, we showed the weeding, planting and beginnings of 2015’s Spring garden. Well, it’s early Summer now, and here is how things are progressing, by God’s graces…

First, here are some green beans and zucchini from about a month ago:

And here is where things are as of the end of June…

This is Garden II, with the green beans on the right, and butternut squash and zucchini on the left:

This is a closer view of the butternut squash, some of which you can see:

And here are three okra plants, two on the left, and one behind on the right:

And here are some random turnips growing from seeds planted in previous years!

Over in Garden I, that zucchini planted last year, which sprouted this year, has done just fine!

And here are the tomatoes:

With some growing!

Several more okra plants:

A few carrots in the hugelkultur bed:

And this monster growing is one pumpkin plant, we believe:

With a little pumpkin!

We are grateful to the Lord for His providence in the food and the rains to keep things growing!

— David

Providence’s Perpetuation Provisions: New Calf “Casilita”

June 24, 2015 / David & Susan Sifford / 2 Comments

The Lord graciously granted our fifth and final calf to be born in 2015! This time, a little heifer calf, born to our cow Casi Blanca!

And here she is:

When I went to video her, all of the cattle were there…except for Casi. Strange, and worrisome. So, Robert and I headed on out to look for her. We drove down one road, and suddenly two of what looked like owls flew away from the trees above, and then we saw turkey vultures flying above, and then one over to the left….and that’s when we saw Casi. We got out of the vehicle and walked up to her, and she was quite dead, on her side, very bloated. Sigh. She didn’t appear to be stuck in the fence, nor did I see any trauma to her:

But, these are God’s decisions, and His cattle, quite frankly.

From A.W. Pink, “Our Attitude Toward God’s Sovereignty”:

A true recognition of God’s Sovereignty will exclude all murmuring. This is self-evident, yet the thought deserves to be dwelt upon.

It is natural to murmur against afflictions and losses. It is natural to complain when we are deprived of those things upon which we had set our hearts.

We are apt to regard our possessions as ours unconditionally. We feel that when we have prosecuted our plans with prudence and diligence that we are entitled to success; that when by dint of hard work we have accumulated a ‘competence,’ we deserve to keep and enjoy it; that when we are surrounded by a happy family, no power may lawfully enter the charmed circle and strike down a loved one; and if in any of these cases disappointment, bankruptcy, death, actually comes, the perverted instinct of the human heart is to cry out against God.

But in the one who, by grace, has recognized God’s sovereignty, such murmuring is silenced, and instead, there is a bowing to the Divine will, and an acknowledgment that He has not afflicted us as sorely as we deserve.”

We are thankful for the provisions He has granted from Casi; and we decided to call her calf Casilita, in memory of her mother.

The little one appears to continue to be doing well, and it’s been told to us that her granddam Amistosa is letting her suckle off of her. That’s a gracious gift from God if so!

Here is Casilita’s video, and just to warn you, I did include the video of when we found Casi:

We are once again very grateful to the Lord for granting this new little provision of cattle!

— David

Goat Field Grass – Update I

June 19, 2015 / David & Susan Sifford / 3 Comments

The Lord graciously granted huge amounts of rain in May! Of course, this is great for plant life (as the Spirit’s cleansing and nourishing water is for the soul!), and it really shows in the sorghum almum (Columbus grass) field we planted earlier in the year…

As a reminder, here was Sue planting at the time:

And here is what God has granted as a result of His providence! Wow! Lord willing, the goat bucks in the video will soon be enjoying it, and the doggies, or at least Brodey, in the video are having fun running around in it — he’s soaked with dew every morning! 🙂

We’re grateful to God for what He has granted with this grass, in helping us hopefully get further sustaining here on the land!

— David

Providence’s Perpetuation Provisions: 2015 Third & Fourth Chick Hatchings

June 14, 2015 / David & Susan Sifford / 0 Comments

The Lord has graciously kept a-coming the little chicks to be hatched out! In this post, I’m including both groups 3 and 4.

Here is group 3, in the barn stall. I don’t remember well, but I think she hatched out six, and they’re all still going today!

Another of the Third Batch of Chicks Hatched in 2015

And here’s their video:

Group 4 ended up, and still is, quite interesting. We had this mama in our summer kitchen pantry, with 12 eggs under her, and I think for the first time, we got 100% hatched out! Neat! Thanks to God!

One day though a few weeks into it, I noticed some of the chicks started getting that sick chicken look, where their head starts to rest back on their neck, and they start standing around not doing “chicken things,” and with their wings partially pointed down. With that, we usually start an ionic 600 ppm silver regimen of about 1/4 CC 3-4 times a day; and if they’re not eating, I mix in 1 1/4 CC egg yoke and 1 1/2 CC goat milk. Well, before I could really get things going, two died within a day, and probably half or more of the ones left were showing signs of sickness. Uh oh. We’ve never had a disease sweep through a hatching of chicks before like this, that I can recall.

I figured something in their environment was causing the issue, so we moved group 2 out of the barn into our pen area with group 1 that we had already moved, and moved this group 4 into the barn, and started the silver (and yoke/milk regimen where needed) on all of the sickies, plus silver even for the healthy ones morning and night.

Thankfully, by God’s graces, after over a week now, it appears the “bleeding” has stopped. We’ve lost no more, and most appear to have turned the corner. The “worst” chicken baton has been passed around a few times to different chicks, and there is one holding it now, but thankfully it’s only one, and Lord willing, this one will pull out of it too. As of today, I’m trying to back off the regimen to giving silver for all of them in the evening, and morning and afternoon for only the sick looking ones. Thankfully too, the mommy chicken doesn’t seem to be affected with sickness.

I plan to clean out the pantry of the summer kitchen really well and probably spray down the concrete with white vinegar or something before putting any more chickens in their for brooding.

Never a dull moment around here! But the Lord was merciful in allowing us to keep the ten currently alive! And here they are about a month ago when all were still going:

Another of the Fourth Batch of Chicks Hatched in 2015

And their video too:

As always, we are grateful to God for His continued provisions, and Him granting the healing He has on most of the ailing chicks!

— David

Wheat 2015 – Update I

June 9, 2015 / David & Susan Sifford / 4 Comments

Quick wheat update: the Lord has graciously allowed the wheat to continue to grow!

Here it is early May:

It literally rained almost all of May, so we’re just now getting to a point where things have dried out. Which means it’s that time….harvest! Hopefully we’ll start to get out there very soon to see what we can collect.

Here is where it is as of today:

We are thankful as always to God for His provisions, and for the abundance of rain! We pray He help us in this process to be able to do a good job in saving the gift of this wheat!

— David

The Sifford Sojournal

Page 51 of 96

The Orchard – Summer 2015 – Permanent Fence – Update I

Providence’s Perpetuation Provisions: The Fifth & Sixth of 2015 Chick Hatchings

Garden – Spring 2015 – Update I

Providence’s Perpetuation Provisions: New Calf “Casilita”

Goat Field Grass – Update I

Providence’s Perpetuation Provisions: 2015 Third & Fourth Chick Hatchings

Wheat 2015 – Update I

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