We have made it to Amelia and are starting to settle in to our new home. We are living in a small cottage on 7 acres in the woods. It is down a gravel road a short ways from a paved two lane country road (about a half mile or so). We do have some neighbors-but they are few and far between. We understand there is a family living in the house behind us (a young Christian family with several children and a rooster-we know about the rooster for it crows early in the morning-it is one of many we live around). We are hoping to get out and meet them soon. We can hear the Mom call the children from time to time, but we have yet to run into them. There house is off the same one lane road ours is-bit we have yet to see them drive by (which with all the trees it is not hard to miss them). There house is also owned by the Alexander family-they rent it out to this family.
We have been here lest then a week and Alison has already baked several loafs of Carol bread. She has also made granola, banana bread and canned several pints (and one quart) of our fresh strawberry jam. We stopped by Winchester on our way home from Disney to cut the grass and pick strawberries. It stopped raining long enough for us to get the grass cut, pick our berries (and our first batch of lettuce) collect Millie and head south again. Our plan is to return every couple of weeks to collect some of our garden goodies (Thom and TJ spread a lot of hay in the garden before we left and it is working to keep the weeds down) cut the grass, see family and fiends and the like.
We spent last evening at the Farm. They had one of their monthly farm tours in which they invite share holders and others out to the farm for a tour and demonstrations. It was a fun visit. Thom got to spend some time with the boys (at one point he was deep out in the field checking on the laying hens with Tim and surrounded by several large cows getting acquainted). Alison spent some time with Joy and learning more about the farm operation while the kids played.
Tim and the boys are due out tomorrow to prepare the field so we can plant our garden (we are a little late since we are further south-the growing season already started for the summer crops). They will also bush hog the road around the barn on the property since the grass it about 4 feet high. We have not ventured far out in the area of the barn for fear of snakes and ticks. Margaret Rose seems to be the winner so far since she has had two tick bites. We are using some essential oils to try and ward off the bugs-it has not worked for her yet. Any suggestions would be helpful.
Tuesday is our big day-it is time again to process chickens. This will be our first time. The kids are excited and ready to go (Margaret Rose wants to know when she can chop a chickens head off-I am not sure she knows what that is although we have watched some videos). TJ is excited for he gets to work with Harrison (the Alexander’s 9 year old boy) and chase the chickens to be processed. They have some 200 to be done. Pray for us as we work to earn our keep.
We have ventured beyond Amelia-which is truly a very small town. We did find Chesterfield VA which reminded us of Waldorf MD. It was more metropolitan then Winchester VA. They had the nicest Walmart we have ever seen-it was incredibly fancy. They also have a Chick-Fil-A which actually had fancy dessert menus on each table. It is a sharp contrast to the rest of the area and only a short 30 minute ride.
Well-it is time to go to bed (we tend to get to bead earlier around here-we know the roosters will be crowing early and there is a lot to do). We are amazed at how dark it is at night. With all the changes we are experiencing we feel the presence of the Lord. Although we have seen more chickens then people in our short time here (there are chickens everywhere here-Tyson has many farms throughout the area) we actually have DSL for our internet-which is significantly faster then our wireless broadband in Winchester. Go figure. One of the many ironies of life.
God Bless!
Thom M.
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