Chicken Massacre, E&H Field Trip, The Gospel Message
Chickens are not the most intelligent or durable birds in the world. I suppose that’s why we don’t see chickens running loose in the wild. They wouldn’t last long. Chickens raised right are good eating, but unfortunately we’re not the only ones that have acquired an appetite for our pasture raised birds. Our Salatin style shelters give chickens access to grass, bugs, sunshine, and fresh air, while also providing protection from predators and the wind and rain. To further enforce our predator patrol, we usually leave Hazel (our Australian shepherd cattle dog) out with the chickens at night.
In spite of Hazel’s presence on the lower end, a fox dug under and into a shelter on the top end and killed every singe chicken in one of our remaining 14 shelters. About 65 chickens laying there dead. My heart got twisted up in my stomach. How do I know it was a fox? It darted out of the shelter and ran towards the woods when I went to move the shelter. I know that animals in the wild need to eat, but one or two chickens would’ve been more than a feast to fill up that fox. It sure didn’t need to kill all 65. Since then, I’ve made some passes by the shelters at night with a light. A saw it another night, but it was too quick for me to get a shot at it.
Saturday Hasten Buck and I handled chores and on-farm pick up while Amy and the girls were at the Abingdon Farmers Market.
Sunday evening, after a day of chores, chores, and rest, we rode 4-wheelers around to let the kids pick apples from a few old apple trees scattered around the farm.
Monday, after a morning of learning, Amy and the kids left for Knoxville to deliver meat to families down that way. That afternoon I took 10 hogs to the processor. With Amy and the kids on the road, I had to get them sorted and loaded myself. They weren’t much trouble.
Tuesday was the highlight of the week as we welcomed a light rain throughout most of the day. The steady drizzle paused that afternoon as a class of E&H students arrived for a field trip tour of the farm. We showed them the pigs in the woods, the chickens in the field, the cows from a distance, and the brooder and processing area at the barn. Then after the students departed, we continued sorting chicken inventory and filing orders the rest of the evening.
On Wednesday we finished filling this month’s beef herd shares. Yesterday
Amy and I delivered herd shares and meat orders to Bristol and Kingsport, turning it into a date night on the way back home.
I’ve been bouncing back and forth between a few different books, but here’s a few quotes that stood out to me from “The Gospel’s Power & Message” by Paul Washer:
“There is now more emphasis on understanding our fallen culture and its fads… As a result, the gospel is constantly being repackaged to fit what contemporary culture deems most relevant.”
“Scripture is the standard for all preaching, not the contemporary opinions of a fallen and corrupt culture that is wise in its own eyes and that would rather have its ears tickled and its heart entertained than to hear the word of the Lord.”
“Preachers do no service to carnal men by giving them the very things their fallen hearts desire, but preachers do serve men by putting true food before them… True gospel preaching will always be foolishness to every culture. Any attempt to remove the offense and make preaching appropriate, diminishes the power of the gospel.”
“Woe to us if we do not preach the gospel, but even greater woe is due us if we preach it incorrectly.”
“We must not adopt the world’s view and then tweak it to make it Christian.”
“A man is not righteous because he knows what is good or denounces what is evil, but because he does the good he knows.”
Have a good week.
Will