New Addition

There is a new arrival on the farm - - a new member of the farm family! It will be making its home in the northwest corner of the machine shed when not making its rounds in the field. It would really like to have a new tractor to follow around the field, but for now it will have to be satisfied with the old one. Special thanks to a trusting banker and a persistant salesman.

Harvest

We ran out of feed corn for our pigs this week, which meant that it was time to start harvesting. We had planted 30 acres of early corn for that purpose, so that was our accomplishment for the week. It's in the bin, dried, and we are making feed with it. I think we got most of the bugs out of the system for now. We had a truck in the shop for 2 days, and the reason the bin fan wouldn't run was a faulty breaker. We opened up 2 more fields, but the moisture was still too high to do much harvesting yet. Besides, we are rained out. We hope we will be able to work in earnest next week.

A farmer was milking his cow. He was just starting to get a good rhythm going when a bug flew into the barn and started circling his head. Suddenly, the bug flew into the cow's ear. The farmer didn't think much about it, until the bug squirted out into his bucket. It went in one ear and out the udder.

surrender

I Surrender All

1. All to Jesus I surrender;
all to him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust him,
in his presence daily live.

Refrain:
I surrender all, I surrender all,
all to thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.

2. All to Jesus I surrender;
humbly at his feet I bow,
worldly pleasures all forsaken;
take me, Jesus, take me now.
(Refrain)

3. All to Jesus I surrender;
make me, Savior, wholly thine;
fill me with thy love and power;
truly know that thou art mine.
(Refrain)

4. All to Jesus I surrender;
Lord, I give myself to thee;
fill me with thy love and power;
let thy blessing fall on me.
(Refrain)

5. All to Jesus I surrender;
now I feel the sacred flame.
O the joy of full salvation!
Glory, glory, to his name!
(Refrain)

As we were singing this beautiful hymn the other evening, some questions entered my mind. After I got to the end of the second verse I stopped singing and started asking these questions to myself. It was a good exercise.

I surrender all. Do I?

I did! Do I still?

worldly pleasures all forsaken. Have I?

I did! Do I still?

Hard Questions.

know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Ready

We have spent the past few weeks here on the farm preparing for harvest. We've been changing engine oil in combine, trucks, and tractors, checking gearboxes, airing up tires, greasing hundreds of zerks, adjusting belt and chain tension, sweeping and repairing bins, testing fans and dryers, and more.
We are ready!
But, even with all the preparation there are often glitches with harvest - unexpected equipment breakdowns, weather related problems,Livestock needs that keep us out of the field, etc. But we do the best we can with what we have to deal with. Harvest is starting later than normal this year because the corn is slow to dry down. August was very moist and cloudy rather than typical hot and dry.
As a Christian, I need to be ready for God's harvest. Is my heart and mind in tune to the Word and Spirit at all times? Preparation for spiritual harvest is continual. I am thankful for God's love, mercy, and grace when I grow lax or when the glitches of life come along.

Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. (John 4:35)

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: (I Peter 3:15)

Rat Poison

With fall weather approaching, mice start making their way in from the fields to find a warm winter home in our farm buildings. They can do a lot of damage if left unchecked - destroy insulation in the walls, eat holes in feed bags, foul feed, chew on wiring, spread diseases, scare women and children, and other damage. I bought a large supply of rat and mouse bait today to prepare for the invasion.

As I was looking at the ingredient list on the packages, I was reminded of the rat poison lesson.
The make-up of the expensive bait I bought started with 99.99% inert ingredients - wholesome, healthy, tasty grain! But, the other .o1% is the poison - that which kills the rats!
When we look outside of the Word of God and sound Biblical doctrine, wanting something more for our spiritual edification, we can be deceived, then poisoned just like the rats. What we find may be 99.99% good spiritual food, but if just .01% is deceptive false doctrine, then great spiritual harm can come to us. Often, it is too late before we realize it, or before someone tries to warn us.
The old standby D-Con bait took days and weeks of feeding before the rats finally died. The new generation baits can kill in days after a single feeding. As our society gets darker and modern theology gets more enticing and deceptive, the danger of the rat poison lesson gets greater! We must be extremely cautious and skeptical when any new winds of doctrine are presented to us.



For such [are] false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
Therefore [it is] no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
2 Corin. 11:13-15

That we [henceforth] be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, [and] cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
Ephesians 4:14

Cider

Earlier this week we dug out the Happy Valley Ranch cider press and made fresh apple cider. The apples started falling from the trees a little early this year, so the cider is not as sweet as some years - but it is still very good. It takes approximately 1 bushel of apples to make 1 gallon of cider. We made about 7 gallons this round. I can't quite compete with Tanner's, Christ's, or Hoerr's on volume, but I think I can on taste(I do like their cider). Mixing different varieties of apples together makes the best tasting cider in my opinion. Two gallons left for U of I, one left for ISU, and one went down with supper that night. It doesn't last long around here unless we put it in the freezer and save it for future enjoyment.

I raise my glass of cider in a toast to the fruit of fall! *clink* . . glug, glug . . . ahh . . .

The old farmer's lovely wife also made apple sauce, apple schnitz, and dried apple snacks. She also pressed grapes into juice to make homemade jelly.

Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him.

Labor Day

I did. All day.

FPS

I first heard of the Farm Progress Show in 1963. My Dad let me miss a day of school to take me to Jim Yordy's farm south of Morton to attend the Farm Progress Show - a farm turned into an exhibition, a regular "tent city" in the middle of a farmers field. It was impressive then, and it still is today. The FPS is the Granddaddy of all farm shows!
On Wednesday I attended the 53rd annual FPS at the Amana Colonies in Iowa. I rode a chartered bus full of old Tazewell County farmers and we spent 7 hours strolling around the 75- acre exhibit field looking at the almost 500 exhibits. It had rained 2 inches on tuesday, so the "streets" and display areas were muddy. But I wore my work boots, so I was good. On display are the newest and biggest machinery( with emphasis on biggest), grain bins, machine sheds(full size!), seed companies, chemical companies, fertilizer companies, truck/trailer manufacturers, and the major pick-up truck manufacturers(of coarse!). There was a 36 row planter, 18 row corn head, 12oo bu. grain cart, 8ooo gal. manure tank, etc. - a lot of expensive iron!
I also got to see Orion Samuelson and Max Armstrong(WGN), and Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns. On the way back home, we stopped at the Iowa Machine Shed for supper. Great food and atmosphere! I'll have to add it to my favorite restaurant list.
It was a good day.