On the Garden Path at 5~Acre Farm: Faith, Friends, and BBQ!

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Faith, Friends, and BBQ!

My friend, Kathy, is visiting from Chicago this week. She left behind 30 * temps and snow for overcast skies and drizzly rain in the 70s here in NE Georgia. Not the 80* and sun she was hoping for, but acceptable.

I am so happy Kathy is here! We've known each other for several years, but have never had a chance to spend time together until now. I am so blessed to have her in my home for this week. She is an extraordinary woman of God. Her testimony is so rich with praises and thanksgiving to God you almost don't hear the story of her life's struggles and hardships.

Kathy lives in the full awareness that "In everything is God." No matter what happens, she sees it as part of God's plan for her life, and she looks eagerly for the good that God is making out of it, even if it is something devastating or heart breaking. She knows God is building a plan of love for her life that will never let her be defeated!

I long to live in faith this rich. I long to see my God in every little thing that goes on in my daily life, and in all the big things, the unexpected as well as those things I see coming, good and bad.

This morning, at breakfast, we were discussing briefly the world situation, and the economy. Kathy said something almost off-hand, but it was really quite profound. She said, "But we do not live in the world's economy. We live in God's economy."

Folks, if we live by faith, and not by sight, then that means that by faith we are dependent on God for all our needs and all our desires. Christ and the apostles made that clear in the New Testament. We should not be fretting over the state of our nation, the economy, or even the cost of gas. Let those who are in this world fret and worry, but let us stand in faith, knowing that our God, who loves us, is (actively, continually) providing for us, knowing, before we even ask, what we need. Can we live like that? Can we believe in God as wholly as He believes in us?

Thank you Kathy for stirring my faith, for reminding me what my relationship with God should be like, and for encouraging me, without even knowing you have, to give God more of me, because He gives me all of Himself every day.


Out of the crockpot and into the oven to dry out a bit

Pulled Pork Barbecue and Fixin's

Tonight we're having homemade barbecue with cole slaw, potato salad, macaroni salad, and curly fries. I like making my own barbecue. It's not as difficult as you'd think.

Throw a big pork butt into the crock pot and season with salt and pepper. Let it cook overnight on low.

Next day, pull it out, draining off the grease, and put it in a deep baking pan. Pull it apart with forks, which should be easy to do! Season the meat with your favorite rub or seasoning mix. This time I used Weber's Smokey Mesquite Seasoning Mix. It's usually for beef, but I thought I'd try it on the pork this time.

Set your oven temperature to 250* and let your pork cook from 1 to 3 hours, depending on how much you have in proportion to how large the pan is. A smaller pan with more in it will require longer cooking, and a stirring about once an hour. I used a larger pan with less in it, and mine cooked today for 1.5 hours.

At this point I add the barbecue to a frying pan and stir it about to crisp it up a bit (we like ours crispy). Once it gets crispy I add some liquid barbecue sauce and cook until the sauce is heated through. How much you add will depend on your own taste of course. I used Williamson Bros. Bar-B-Q Sauce to save time today, but usually I like to make my own sauce.

You can skip the frying pan step and mix your sauce into the pork while it's in the oven, probably for the last 15-30 minutes would do.

Serve as you like!

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John and Michelle, and 5 Acre Farm

How We Came To Be

John was born and raised in Georgia by parents who lived incredible lives of their own, and passed on to John a rich family history from both sides. He was a die hard Boy Scout, and later, spent 17 years as a Troop Leader. He earned a dual Agriculture/Agricultural Engineering degree at ABAC in Tipton, where he also started the college's radio station. After college, John served on nuclear submarines in the Navy, where he once saved the lives of his shipmates, and, rumor has it, did many incredible things in the service of our country. He married and had a family, and after the Navy, worked briefly with the EPA before opening his own HVAC-Refrigeration company. John was inventive as a child, and that carried over into everything in his life. He is a fixer of severe mechanical problems, and an inventor of all kinds of things that improve on or simplify existing machinery, equipment, and ideas. His inventions are unique, and some of them may some day aide humanity, save lives, and save our planet if we can get the right people to listen.

My dad was career Army. I was born in France, and introduced, at a very young age, to the Virginia countryside, where we raised rabbits and chickens. After dad retired, we moved to North Carolina, his home state, where we spent many years on the coast, near Wilmington. Here, we had a garden, raised cows, pigs, chickens, and ducks, and fished commercially. Our freezer was always full of fresh Spot and shrimp, and oyster roasts were a weekly event! As a young adult I lived with my family in the mountains south of Asheville. Here too we had a garden, raised cows, pigs, chickens, and ducks, as well as geese and peacocks. I worked for many years with an arts council, Christian organizations, and other non-profits. I helped train missionaries, researched/wrote grants, produced professional documents, edited newsletters, and wrote a lot of publicity materials. I already had two Associate degrees, but in my late 30s I finally completed an undergraduate degree in English/Art History. For 20 years I was active in community theater, sang solos with a community choir, and danced with a show choir. Treasured memories! I moved to Georgia in late 1998, and married my first husband in 2002. I was 45. Eighteen months later, I was widowed.

John and I first met in 2000. After I was widowed, and John was divorced, we found each other again. Of like minds, spirits, and goals, our hearts came together quickly, and we married in 2005. Each of us has undergone Elijah House training, and we were both ordained into ministry in 2006. I have been a Christian counselor and prayer warrior for probably 30 years. John and I live to put God first in our lives, and in our dreams for this small piece of earth of which we are the caretakers.

We call our place "5 Acre Farm." John's father took this barren, overworked field from a larger parcel of farmland in the mid-70s. He fenced off about three-quarters of an acre for the house, and added plants, flowers, and trees. Elsewhere, he transformed the property through years of hard work, adding an apple orchard, peach trees, pears, two fig orchards, grape vines, and a greenhouse. John and I have been trying to continue his father's work on this land, adding to it with our own hopes and dreams, and our late-in-life efforts. Not a day goes by that I don't feel great respect for John's father, for the man he was, for the work he did here, and gratitude for the bounty we reap because of his hard work.

John and I are in our 50s, just starting life together, but with age and health trying to work against us. We aren't ready to sit down and take it easy. We have a goal to become self-sufficient by growing our own food (meat and vegetables), and getting off the grid. The challenges we face in doing this are age, health, and finances. John's inventiveness is being strongly applied, as is my gift for budget stretching and frugality. Our strength? The love we have for each other, and the trust that we are working inside the will of God.

One of the things we ask ourselves now and then is this: "Is it worth it?" I never had children. John's son has set his own path with family and career. There does not seem to be anyone we can leave this property to who will continue the work and the dream; one of John's grandchildren, perhaps, but they are very young right now, and do not yet notice or care.

So, is it worth it (all the work and expense) if there is every chance this land will end up in the hands of developers after we're gone? Well, our answer to that question so far is always "Yes, it's worth it." It's worth it to us, because of what we are accomplishing here in our lifetime. It's worth it because what we grow here we share with family, with friends, and with our community. And not just what we grow, but our faith and philosophy, our hopes and dreams, and our very desire to leave at least our little part of the world better than it was when we found it. We are living - consciously, and deliberately - a lifestyle that expresses who we are and what we believe. Does anybody care? Why don't read our blog, leave a comment, and let us know.