Reflections on the Food & Family Conference

Our family was blessed to attend the Reformation of Food and Family Conference this month where Joel Salatin was one of the featured speakers (along with a wonderfully fun French Chef, Francis Foucachon). I went to every single session where Joel spoke so I could get the full picture of what he's doing on his Polyface Farm as well as his vision of food, farming, and ministry.

Photo Credit

I keep trying to figure out how to sum up what I learned, but the more I try, the more I realize I'm just not going to do it justice. I guess the biggest take-aways for me was that Joel is extremely knowledgable on the subject of integrated, sustainable farming (and he has a deep love for the Lord), that I've grown up with some really backwards thinking about food systems on the farm, there's a great opportunity to minister by homesteading to a lost and dying world, and I've only just started to scratch the surface of all there is to learn!

While attending the conference, we had fun staying at a historic hotel... The Menger of San Antonio. Built in 1859, the history behind this place is amazing. I can imagine how exclusive it must have been it's day since even Presidents have graced it's halls. And the location made it accessible to everything... the Alamo, Riverwalk, and Convention Center (where the conference was held) were just steps away, so we never had to get in our car to site see.

The Menger Hotel

Menger Hotel

At the conference, I had the pleasure of meeting and visiting with a few Homestead Revival readers as well as authors, Noah Sanders and his wife (Redeeming the Dirt), and Renee DeGroot (Health for Godly Generations). Wonderfully gracious people... all of them! And we had some great down time visiting with long time friends, eating great Mexican food by the river, seeing the Alamo, and taking a river boat tour.

 

Lots of other well known speakers and homesteaders attended. Michelle Dugger, a couple of the West Ladies of Homestead Blessings, and Nancy Campbell of Above Rubies. But my favorite was Pastor and Chef Francis Foucachon. I had never heard of him before the conference, but he was a wealth of information for cooking, hospitality, Sabbath Keeping, and ministry! And funny!

Unfortunately, I couldn't be in every single seminar, so I was thrilled that they offered audio recordings of the various workshops. And for a limited time, Vision Forum is offering 25 of the most popular sessions on MP3 and CD. You'll need to hurry, because these will only be available until August 7th.

For those who wanted to attend, but couldn't, I hope you will be able to take advantage of these resources. I think the conference was well received and hopefully they'll continue this topic at future events.

In the meantime, there's also some great You Tube videos with Joel Salatin. For me, I'm diving into one of his books that I picked up at the conference as soon as possible because there's always more to learn!

Odds & Ends

Well... yes, I'm still here. Trying to get my act together after a long road trip. Thanks to all the help from friends, the homestead was in great shape upon arrival, but I kind of needed a vacation from my vacation! 

And then there was the news... less than 24 hours after arriving home, we received a call that a young extended family member was tragically killed. Took the wind right out of our sails! 

So instead of a long thoughtful post, I'm going to dive back in with something fun... a photo I took inside this little general store I like to frequent when back home...

I have no real comment other than I just liked it. Texas gave me lots of opportunities to practice a bit of photography composition, so you may get a dose of it all week long while I try to get back into routine around here! 

I've missed y'all! 

Update: Farming in the Shadow of a Volcano

Several months ago you might remember a short post about my daughter and her friend who were headed off into the great unknown... a farm in Java. They worked for three months with nationals and two long term workers, cultivating relationships and lots of strong muscles! Today, I asked her to share a bit about her time on the farm.


I still remember my first day when we were given rubber boots and highly absorbent gloves, then split into two groups to work. I was sent to fertilize seemingly endless rows of carrots, parsnips, kankung (a leafy Asian green similar to spinach), long beans, peas, lettuce, broccoli, kale, and cauliflower. The fertilizer was in containers that reminded me of those yellow roadside sand bumpers. They were scattered all around the farm, so we had to haul the fertilizer in gallon buckets scooping the mixed chicken and goat manure (with a bit of goat urine thrown in) into old cans and recycled bottom halves of water bottles attached to long pieces of bamboo. After this we planted or weeded until lunch. By the time I got back for a meal of rice, tofu, and vegetables I was covered in the materials I was working with! Such was my new daily routine!

Tuesdays and Thursdays were market days where we gathered all the vegetables and fruits and sent them into town to be delivered to those who had previously signed up for the produce (much like a CSA). Because we alternated between harvesting, fertilizing, and planting, we also had to learn how to start seedlings and plant them, and of course, know which plants needed to be sprouted first before planting.


During the afternoons we would take language lessons and go down to one of the two villages located near by to play with the children and spend time with the women who worked on the farm. We walked miles a day, ate at least four times during waking hours, were always starving with in a hour, got up at five, went to bed way later than we should have, and had an insanely good time. There was always something new to do, look forward to, or try.

In other news, we had four (maybe five) new baby goats on the farm. We even had healthy twins – the nationals think that we somehow brought luck. The boys had never seen a live birth before, so they had no idea that goats eat the placenta.  Just the next week they had to kill one of them because it was sick and one of the translators decided to chase us around with the head.

We found a Rhinoceros beetle on our laundry, so after showing it to our field mentor who got bit by it, we put it in the guy's bathroom for fun. We figured since it didn’t kill him it wouldn’t kill them either. We did hear a yelp about an hour later when our Korean friend found it! Apparently those things fly…

Photo Credit of a Rhinoceros Beetle without antennae

As if farming wasn't enough, we built plenty of muscle with laundry duty which was laid or hung on every available ledge while the sun was out and rapidly gathered in when the daily rain began. We eventually had a clothes line rigged in the meeting room above our bedrooms, so they would dry before they molded or mildewed. (I think fifteen minutes of rain there would constitute a year of precipitation back home.)

While there is so much more about farm life I could tell you, the most important work we did was not the manual labor or basic skills we used, but rather more about the relationships we built and the community we formed among ourselves and the nationals. There is so much need. We worked in English centers, spent time in Muslim boarding schools, and hiked all over the place talking to people from Java to Bali. The difference between skin tones, languages, culture, and ethnicity are so small. Whether it is Jakarta or Los Angeles, people still have souls or rather as C.S Lewis said, "You are a soul. You have a body." I want to reach past the body of the person and into their soul. This is why I am getting a double major in anthropology and journalism. I want to develop the skills to reach across the physical barriers and into the soul of the person and the heart of the issue.  

One last note – look up "rambutan". It is the best fruit in the world! (Rambut is hair in Bahasa, which is the trade language of the area.) I have had coconut, papaya, pineapple, mango, sirsap, and good bananas straight off the tree in Indonesia, but rambutan is by far the best! Apparently the national favorite fruit is coming off the tree soon, "durian", and most people can’t stomach it, but they say if you can keep it down three times you’re well on your way to liking it. I kept it down once and I sincerely hope that I will have cause to keep it down at least two more times. 
- Kate 




Thank you to all who supported her on this trip! What a blessing it was for Kate to experience so many things that she would never have been able to here at home. And the opportunity to serve others who have so little... she is forever changed by her adventure! 

Camping Organization: Notebook Essentials

We're off on another camping adventure. Roughing it without any amenities, hookups, or niceties. Just us and nature. Thankfully, it's only for two nights. I think I can manage that!

Actually 3 families are going and we're each cooking a main meal and then doing our own lunches and one of the breakfasts. I drew the other breakfast and because I'm feeding so many, it probably will be calorie laden and not super healthy. And the sourdough starter is staying at home in the fridge. I didn't want to pack it in 100+ degree weather when I wasn't going to be using it. I might do things differently if it was just our family, but once in a while, it's okay just to have fun and eat... JUNK. Hash browns, s'mores, and all kinds of traditional camping food. (Just wait until tomorrow's post!)

I wanted to share a little about my camping notebook that I mentioned in an earlier post. I love notebooks for organizing and so naturally, putting all my paperwork in an easy to carry three ring binder made a lot of sense.

My favorite item in it is a packing list that I can reuse to check off items as I get them in the camper (which we usually borrow, so it's not packed all the time, which is what I'd do if it were my own.) I downloaded a free check list from REI and then slipped it into a plastic protective sleeve that fits into a three ring binder. Then I use a wipe off type pen to make items off. When I'm all done, I just have to wipe it off with a cloth.

Other items your camping notebook might include would be things like...

• campsite reservations
• camper registration and other related paperwork (such as user guide!)
• tent set up instructions (especially if it's new or you haven't used it in a while)
• maps to your destination or maps of the area itself, such as hiking trails
• information on local attractions, shopping (such as a grocery store), land marks you want to see, etc.
• fishing / hunting license
• recipes for meals
• emergency medical information
• emergency phone numbers or locations of nearest emergency services, including park ranger stations
• first aid instructions
• contact information for your ICE persons (In Case of Emergency - extended family members, etc.)
• a running list of things you want to remember to pack NEXT time, that you forgot while camping THIS time!
• a wish list of camping gear to purchase in the future

What items would you include in a camping notebook that I didn't mention? Let's make sure we've covered everything!

Morro Bay

We're home from our camping trip to the beach. Beautiful sites to please the eye. But not a lot of sun. Notice the jackets everyone is wearing? This is the California coast in summer time. Marine layer in the morning and if you're fortunate, a little sunshine in the afternoon before the fog and clouds creep back in. And that Pacific water? Chilly isn't quite the word. Try cold! But then again, we knew this when we planned our trip. 

Other highlights of our trip included some antiquing, a few quilt shops, a local zoo, a hometown aquarium, buying clams on the pier and making my first TRUE clam chowder, golf for my husband, and of course, walking the beach and kayaking. I actually packed my sourdough starter and made sourdough pancakes! I wanted my starter to visit another climate and acquire some different goodies from the air there.

Next camping trip? Near the head of the Kern River in the Sequoia Mountains. And we'll be roughing it; more so than on this trip. But it should be fun. I plan to break out the dutch ovens for some good food!

Where are you camping this summer?

Homestead Style Wedding!

Most of you know I went to Washington for a wedding this past month. And it was definitely worth the drive up north! I just couldn't resist showing you some of the bride's beautiful and simple ideas that made this wedding a real treat.

The Venue

Having the right location certainly made this wedding extra special and a favorite in my books! For the ceremony, a plain white arbor with ivy and white chairs were all that was needed. The trees, grass, and flowers surrounding it all served as the backdrop and cathedral. 

The Decor & Delectables

Simple and frugal didn't make this wedding any less spectacular. Quite the contrary! It made it all that much better! Rustic hand painted signs, photos of the bride and groom on a laundry line, a small cake on a tree trunk stand, old shutters, blackboards, button confetti, and items gathered from home finished off the natural touches of the barn itself. Instead of one large wedding cake, the couple had a small cake to cut for the two of them while guests feasted on cupcakes, pies, and other lovely treats!

The Nature

One nice thing about renting a wedding location is the fact that you don't need to spend as much on a florist. A handful of bouquets and a few boutonnieres, as well as a dash on the tables takes care of the rest. The children found it extremely entertaining. I can't help but think they'll remember this wedding long past many others.