Grateful, D.C. Train Trip, One Second After
I filled in for Amy Saturday at the Abingdon Farmers Market. There was a line waiting when the market opened which only seemed to grow throughout the two hour span of the market. My apologies to those who patiently waited. Amy runs a tighter ship and is far more efficient at managing the market than I am. She’ll be back this Saturday.
As overwhelming as the market was, I was far more overwhelmed by a sense of gratitude. Flashing back to several years ago when we first started selling at the markets, we would often take full coolers of meat and bring full coolers back home, discouraged. We would work our tails off on the farm and then set up at three, sometimes four, different markets trying to make it work. After a couple more years of this, we were still not sure if this farming thing could provide a living for our growing family.
Our debt was and remains our biggest obstacle. When we started out, we owned next to nothing. Which means we financed almost everything: land, house, cattle, equipment, and operating line of credit. This week we made another annual payment on our farm loan of over $76K. Another 12 years of making these payments and we’ll own the farm debt free. God willing. It’s been a heck of a roller coaster so far. We’re thankful to still be along for the ride another year. As we chip away at our debt, we feel increasingly indebted to you. We can raise a lot of good food, but our farming business couldn’t make it without folks in our surrounding communities who value local pasture raised meats. Thank you.
One of the perks to homeschooling is flexibility. Amy has poured countless hours into giving our kids the best education they can get on the farm, but we also want them to be at least somewhat educated about life off the farm. Coming out of the hustle of chicken season and still ahead of winter feeding, we decided to take a train ride up to D.C. and stay with some cousins in northern Virginia for a couple days. I think the kids enjoyed the anticipation of the Amtrak train as much as anything. We drove around some of D.C., visited the Bible museum, and went for a hike. Hopefully we didn’t drive our cousins too crazy. It was a fun and memorable trip, but as with most trips, my favorite part was safely arriving back home. What can I say, I’m a valley boy.
While at the market, one of our regular customers encouraged me to read “One Second After” by William R. Forstchen, a captivating novel about an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack that wipes out everything electrical nation wide.
In the foreword, Newt Gingrich says, “I see this book as a terrifying future history that might come true.”
Here’s a few quotes from what I’ve listened to so far:
“I suspect we’ve been hit by a weapon that has shut down the electrical grid nation wide. That means it might be months before we get power back again.”
“The enemy will never attack you where you are strongest. He will attack where you are weakest. If you do not know your weakest point, be certain you enemy will.”
“They don’t know how to survive without a society that supports them, even as they curse it or rebel against it… Once they run out of food, then the reality will set in.”
“We don’t realize just how dependent we are.”
“What little paper money there is floating around out there is worthless. Our entire economy is built now on electronic money. It’s all faith, and if a crack appears in that faith, then what?… It’s going to be barter then isn’t it?”
“You forget how fragile we really are. The most pampered generations in the history of humanity.”
Have a good week.
Will