The Wilkes Team

After Grandma had taken us to different places and the homes of various friends, Grandpa’s turn came to share his part of the story. It began with visiting Lone Tree, the town he grew up in till going to college. Before entering Lone Tree, Grandpa warned us to keep our eyes opened. He told us if you blink at the wrong time you might completely miss the wonderful opportunity of observing the old town of Lone Tree. Lone Tree was a very small town in the past and today it’s even smaller. Actually and unfortunately, all that remains of this small town is an old broken down church building. Driving through town doesn’t take more then a few seconds!

This broken down church building was the church Grandpa attended while living in Lone Tree. Being aware of this fact, all of us understood the necessity of stopping at the old place and investigating. Upon arriving at Lone tree, we went to it’s last standing edifice.  After finding a means of entrance, we gathered in in the sanctuary. Surprisingly, the sanctuary was still in pretty good shape. While inside, Dad gave the grand idea of singing in the church. It was quite a wonderful moment to sing in a church that had been closed for so many years and which our Grandpa had sung in when he was young.

Grandpa also took us to different places he had lived, each usually being a mile or two from the previous. For most of them, he’d point to a corner where two roads met or a portion of a cornfield and describe the house which was no longer there. One of the places, however, still stands. It’s a beautiful old Farm house owned by one of his relatives.

These are just a few highlights of our tour with Grandpa. We so appreciated his eagerness to share about his past. He told us about the farm machinery he drove, the animals he took care of, and the family God placed him in. It was truly a wonderful gift to receive.

Thank you Grandpa for filling the important role of passing down the Wilkes’ heritage to the generations following in your footsteps.

3 Comments » | posted in Family News

Grandpa and Grandma have given us precious gifts in the past but recently we received from them a gift which has no price tag. The value is priceless! The gift came during our recent North Dakota trip when both Grandpa and Grandma shared the rich history of their growing up years and the family members they knew and had relationships with. It was a wonderful time to learn what took place in the lives of those who have gone before us.  

The gift giving spanned over a  three day adventure, with Grandma sharing her history for the first day and half and Grandpa the other day and half. There is a great difficulty in trying to capture with only two short posts all that occurred during those three days. But hopefully a few highlights will at least hint at the wonderful time we had in the prairie lands of North Dakota.

For the first day and half, Grandma took us to the home she was born in, the home she lived in during her childhood, and numerous other places. Near the end of the first day, she directed us down some long lonely gravel roads. Surrounding us were fields of such magnitude that they seemed to compete with sky in size. Doubt entered many of our minds, as we followed Grandma’s directions. We all began to wonder where we would end up in this depopulated expanse. Then way off in the distance Grandma pointed out a house. “That is the house my Grandfather built when he homesteaded his 160 acres.” We drove towards the house, carefully walked towards, and then into the old house. It was wind beaten, sagging, and in serious disrepair but it was still there. Grandma showed us where her Grandpa McAlmond would sit when reading the family bible. We trudged over to the barn he built which only had foundation walls still standing to prove it’s existence. Hearing about these places is wonderful but when your standing in or near them it adds another whole dimension of understanding. 

Grandma also took us to the grave sites of many of her relatives, told us stories about them, and described what they were like. A most precious experience was when she rehearsed how her parents died (our great grandparents). I don’t believe there was a dry eye in the group as we heard about their leaving of this temporal life to enter their eternal home.

Grandma – thank you for your love towards us and desire to pass on a goodly and godly heritage. We were inspired by the incredible and priceless gift you so freely gave in those wide beautiful prairie lands of North Dakota.

The Town of Des Lacs

 "Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn…."(Isa 51:1)

4 Comments » | posted in Family News

Two cameras, 10 imaginative individuals, 1 pvc pipe, and large quantities of stored calories, all landed on Cedar mountain battlefield. Nine of us were Wilkes while one was a Staddon – the Master James Staddon himself, dubbed (for the outing) West Virginia Buccaneer.  The resulting proceedings from the aforementioned landing are best described through the following pictorial creations:

THE BATTLE!!!!! 

6 Comments » | posted in Family News

It was Friday morning at the farmhouse. The weather was crispy cool and the landscape sparkled with the sun’s dancing rays. Being surrounded with such settings was awesome and peaceful. Yet a certain happenstance occurred around 8:00am which caused some foreboding thoughts. It all started outside the farmhouse, where stood a group of individuals enjoying delightful conversation. Then Kenan made an outburst and pointed at a wild animal running across a cornfield a 1/4 mile away. Before anyone else saw the animal it disappeared behind a hill.

A white tail deer then shot over the hill… ah, what a sight! “Is that what you saw, Kenan?” “No,” he says, “not even  close!”  “But what else could it of been?” WAIT, HOLD ON! What was coming behind the deer? What was the black lanky creature parading the field as if it owned it? The spectators quickly realized it was nothing less then a black bear! It continued coming our way; our neighbor’s cows noticed it and stampeded off. Binoculars zeroed in on the bear keeping the creature in focus till it changed directions and then soon after disappeared.

Bears don’t live around us – at least we thought. Since this certain happenstance our thoughts are forever changed. They do live near by! There are other big black creatures in Culpeper besides the Angus cows.

What an important discovery! An assumed thought (about bears) was proven false. A presumed mental creation was broken and destroyed. It is a good thing that black bears were the subject of thought for such subjects die easily. I’ve found others that won’t! Other subjects, having been created and then placed center stage on the theater of presumption, die hard deaths. Yes, they’ve been purposefully retracted, disannulled, refused, and forsaken, yet they somehow linger.  Lingering and waiting for that moment to return and be received. Once received they begin again where they left off by taking the thought creator further from truth, further from reality, further from relationships that would stand the test of time.

Assuming and presuming are dangerous companions. To be kept from them, God’s truth must be loved and hidden deep within. Of course, assuming and presuming will purpose to linger, hoping for a chance to return. However, this returning will be impossible when the continuous choice is made to love the truth and sell it not; choosing to let it become the greatest friend, sole spiritual sustenance, and only guide. The person that does this, his state will be sure and stable. He will be at rest with the situations God places him in and God will "…after [he has] suffered a while… perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle [him]. (1Peter 5)

So, whether faced with a charging bear or trying relationship, a physical problem or spiritual battle, don’t mentally create on assumption or presumption but build a thought life on the truths and promises of God’s word. Herein is true and lasting security.

9 Comments » | posted in Family News

Aye my friend, that’s the goal – contentment. It’s a worthy ideal, a wonderful pursuit, a fundamental yearning in every human breast, something to die for, a blessing only from above, an impossibility from below, perfected in Christ, evidenced in creation, beautiful when witnessed, inspiring when realized, stronger then any worry, mightier then any fear.  It’s the Christian’s goal, from birth until death, till Christ comes to take his pure bride home, and enjoy rapturous joy in celestial places.

Yet may I ask thee, my friend, do ye know what it means to rest content?

The good Lord commands ye and me to do so. It is not a preference, suggestion, or passing thought, but wholly a command. The writer of the excellent book, Hebrews, clearly lays out the view ye and me should take of contentment:

“Be content with such things as ye have: for he (God) hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

There’s not a hole to be found to wriggle away from this clear truth. It’s straightforward and pronounced! We are commanded to be content.

If ye are like me,  this command often ends up suppressed by the many urgent tasks, priority items, egotistical thoughts, conformity to others opinions, and so on, that whirl around our lives. We know this is not right nor good but it happens time after time.

Because of this oft suppression, the decision was made to write this post so then it could be declared, quite plainly,  don’t ever give up! Just because ye and me don’t have the ideal shouldn’t mean we stop pursuing it. God will bless us in his most precise and wonderful way. Purpose to remember, pray to God that he will lead each of us to remember, that he is right beside us, ready to lead, guide, and empower. Aye, he will bring ye and me into the wonderful rest called contentment. Aye, my friend, I do believe so. Ye know why I believe? Well, let me tell ye one last thing: Because He is faithful!

4 Comments » | posted in Proclaiming the Truth

Three Wilkes Team emissaries were sent off a few weekends ago to garner information, question experts, and take notes for the purpose of initiating the beginnings of Honey Brook Farms.

The place: Chattanooga Tennessee

The event: Southern States Agriculture Groups (SSAWG) conference.

The end result – Synergy developed merging into energy which desperately needs a practical outlet.

The three, Joshua, Daniel, and I, with also our good friend Jon Hynes, were amazed at the amount of information that can be packed into three short days. Daniel and I went on a farm tour to Circle S Farm located in Georgia on the first day. At the same time, Joshua listened to a session on marketing your produce and keeping good records. In the evening, there were eight or so DVD interviews to watch of different farming production, ranging from cheese making, cattle managing, chickens, turkeys, vegetables, and flowers.

The diversity of sessions grew over the next two days. We purposed to divide and conquer as much as possible with the goal of making the most of our time at the Southern SAWG. A fascinating aspect of the conference was that experts were not only the conf. speakers. We found that the audience, the man you talked with in the hall, or the individual you sat with on the bus, were just as prepared to share what they learned from their enterprises. We talked with a chicken farmer processing 10,000 birds a year and learned a wealth of information from him; also the CPA turned Gardener producing food for restaurants; the Auto mechanic/Welder/Farmer/Farmer’s Market President who enjoyed incredible diversity on his farm ranging from chickens, turkeys, fish, 10 acre garden and cattle. He also has compost piles that are so large he’s planning to employ earth movers to turn them for him.

In the end we came away slightly bewildered by the wealth of information but as we’ve started sorting things out a plan has begun to develop. It still needs some further conversations and considerations but were excited about what the future holds.

The way our culture is heading brings us, as a family, to the conclusion of needing to get back to the basics. We need to know how to grow vegetables in a garden, produce fruit, meat, and eggs in a healthy sustainable way. Going to the SSAWG conference helped solidify this conclusion even more and mushroomed an enthusiasm to tackle the first steps and initiate the beginnings of Honey Brook Farms.

I would be remiss without mentioning the additional joy had at the Neely’s home in NC and then also with the Cleator Family in GA. The former before and after the conference. While the latter during the conference. The Cleator family was a joy to meet and get to know. It’s truly wonderful to meet perfect strangers but in a matter of minutes be able to feel like you’ve known them for quite a long time because of the unifying factor of being children in the Family of God. This is how it was with the Cleator family and all four of us were grateful for their wonderful hospitality. The Neely Family also abounded in hospitality and blessed us immensely.

Now the Weekend of Agricultural Synergy Development has become an historical event. Yet it is definitely one we’ll remember and build upon. For in reality, that’s all we can do as the future is engulfed by the present, the present  metamorphoses into the past, and the past quickly grows in proportions.

4 Comments » | posted in Family News, Farming 101