Make me a blessing,
Make me a blessing,
Out of my life
out of my life
May Jesus shine;
Make me a blessing, O savior, I pray,
I pray Thee, my Savior,
Make me a blessing to someone today.

Out in the highways and byways of life,
many are weary and sad;
are weary and sad
Carry the sunshine where darkness is rife
making the sorrowing glad.

Tell the sweet story of Christ and His love;
Tell of His pow’r to forgive;
His pow’r to forgive.
Others will trust Him if only you prove
true ev’ry moment you live.

Give as ’twas given to you in your need;
Love as the Master loved you;
Be to the helpless a helper indeed;
Unto your mission be true.

 
Earlier this month the Lord gave us an opportunity to go and serve one who has blessed our family in so many ways throughout the years.   

Uncle Bill had over 20,000 Shepherded Guides (a Christian phone/contact book) to mail and deliver. He had only two days to complete this task due to having surgery later on that week. When it was brought to our attention regarding this need, with joy, we piled in the car and headed to Maryland to help.

With many hands, a ton of enthusiasm, and joy, the job was completed in record time. The Lord truly oversaw the work of our hands. We were able to deliver and mail all the guides in two days!

Praise the Lord for opportunities to be a blessing!

_______________________________________________

May the love of Christ continue to abound richly in us all towards our fellow man. May His love empower us to go out and do His work.

A couple more pictures from our time together.

For most the answer is no but for a few solitary individuals the answer is yes.

Yes, they would love to see the heifers, the steers, the cows, the calves, and the glorious old bull, grazing a field of pasture and be able to say: Those are gifts of God placed in the sphere of my stewardship.

Yes, they want to produce good healthy beef and be a benefit to American consumerism.

Yes, they want to see the heaven like result of bringing renovating practices to worn out farm land.

Yes, they dream of observing rejuvenation, vitality, and life breaking out of once depleted soil. 

But as it is with any endeavor there are the necessary prerequisites of both resources and information. It takes serious analysis, prayerful consideration, available factors of input, and detailed planning, to make this agricultural enterprise sustainable, enjoyable, and profitable.

Such thoughts have traveled through the minds of certain Wilkes Team members. Especially after last week, when one the members had opportunity to attend two conference with topics closely associated to cattle farming. The first conference, Virginia Hay & Pasture Summit, occurred on Wednesday. The guest speakers were Dr. Don Ball, and Dr. Garry Lacefield, two out of three co-authors of the world famous book: Southern Forages.

Some of the highlights of the conference were the following:

- Understanding Fescue toxicity (a serious problem for most the U.S. farmers) and how to minimize it’s effect on livestock.

- The importance of legumes and the biodiversity they can bring to the landscape.

- Explanation of legumes and warm and cool season grasses such as, orchardgrass, fescue (K-31 endophyte, endophyte free, and novel endophyte,), bermuda, red and white clover, alfalfa, and a few others.

- Grazing techniques to increase and enhance forage growth and vitality (continuous, mob grazing, rotational, semi-rotational etc.)

The 2nd conference was put on by VFGC (Virginia Forage & Grassland Council) and, though it had one guest speaker from out of state, the rest of the speakers were from this grand Old Dominion.  Some of the topics were the following:

- How to get your cattle to eat weeds. The methods described were quite unique and we’ll say creative!

- Soil fertility and weed control – using certain techniques to down play the need for both fertilizers and herbicides and pesticides – quite educational to say the least.

- The highlight of this conference was listening to a Culpeper farmer (lives only a few minutes away) describe his organic dairy operations and the land healing, forage building, practices he’s using to make the need for grain consumption obsolete – absolutely fascinating!

In response to these conferences and the information gained, there are few first steps that have become clear as preparations are made for cattle:

1. Gather soil from future pastures and send it into VA Tech for soil test

2. Identify grass varieties on fields

3. Decide if legumes are necessary to provide additional supplement for a healthy animal diet.

4. Research affordable but practical water systems

5. Decide on fencing systems which will be most conducive for the operations we will be having in the near future as well as in the next four to five years (most likely a combination of permanent and temporary fences).

Here concludes some random thoughts on two insightful conferences. It was joy to learn at them and maybe some day, if God deems it best, we will enjoy the fruit of this learning by seeing cattle grazing in the fields of Honey Brook Farms!

Some helpful resources:

Southern Forages – Very helpful on grass identification and understanding what cattle need for proper performance.

Grass Fed to Finish – By Allan Nation, a highly respected cattle farmer. The thought processes in this book have become the backbone behind the grass finished beef industry.

Polyface Farm – A Virginian Farm using innovative grazing practices to produce healthy beef. This website provides info about the farm, books written by Joel Salatin, and stories of those who have begun similar agricultural enterprises.

Christmas at the barn! This truly was an awaited day! Ten years ago we bought this land and hoped and dreamed of building many wonderful family memories here. God has been so gracious to us.

We all had such a wonderful day rejoicing in God’s goodness, enjoying one another, singing, and giving special things to each other.

Merry Christmas!!!

May we not forget the greatest gift of all – Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior! 

” For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” ~ Isaiah 9:6

Last Thursday was no exception! Almost all of the extended Wilkes family was able to meet at our Grandparent’s house for a day of making gingerbread houses!

But it wasn’t only about making gingerbread houses. It was also about being together, “working” together , eating together, as well as having time to fellowship and encourage one another in our walks with the Lord.

It was a day we wont forget!

THANKSGIVING DAY

WHEREAS, the first permanent English speaking settlement in the New World was established in Virginia at Jamestown in 1607, as Captain John Smith led a group of settlers across the Atlantic on a voyage that would entail much hardship over the coming years, including disease and starvation; and

WHEREAS, to show their appreciation for the colony’s success and to take stock and give thanks for their own gifts and blessings, and in spite of tremendous adversity, the settlers in Virginia found time to celebrate the first Thanksgiving in America at Berkeley Plantation on December 4,  1619; and

WHEREAS, while reflecting upon the actions taken by the colonists at the first Thanksgiving, we also honor the Indian peoples, for without their presence, the survival of the colonists would have been ever more difficult; and

WHEREAS,  American leaders and citizens have recognized a day of Thanksgiving since our first president, George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation in 1789,  stating “it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly implore His protection and favor”; and

WHEREAS, it is a Virginia tradition for our citizens to come together in unity on Thanksgiving Day and give thanks for the great level of serenity, harmony and abundance with which we, as citizens of a free nation, have been blessed; the rule of law by which we peaceably govern ourselves and by which our civil and religious liberties are guaranteed; and the brave servicemen and women of our armed forces who risk their lives to defend the freedoms and blessings we cherish;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Robert F. McDonnell, do hereby recognize November 25, 2010 as THANKSGIVING DAY in our COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, and I call this observance to the attention of all our citizens; and

FURTHERMORE, I encourage all Virginians to give thanks to our Creator for our plentiful blessings, including the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as well as the unwavering strength of our families and communities.

The Lord blessed Daniel with a stunning 6 point buck on opening day of bow season!!

We are rejoicing in the way the Lord provides!

Living on a farm allows you to experience the “joys” of hearing, smelling, and seeing many different things!

Earlier this year, we bought 70+ chicks and 4 ducklings. We knew that a percentage of the chickens would be roosters however, the only problem was we had no need for 21 roosters! We all agreed that we needed to turn them into something that would make them profitable and useful to us. It didn’t take us long to decide to turn them into meat that we could enjoy this winter.

Much thanks goes to our dear friend Benjamin Horevay. Under his tutelage, we set up our own make-shift processing assembly line and by that evening we had butchered 19 roosters as well as one of our ducks!

Our freezer is now full of meat from off our own land!

THANK YOU BENJAMIN!!!!

Words can’t truly describe the joy we all experienced as we witnessed the beautiful union between Joshua and Lisa.

Proverbs 18:22 

“Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing,

and obtaineth favour of the LORD.”

Revelations 19:7 

Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

Solomon 2:16  “My beloved is mine, and I am his:..”

Job 41:17 

“They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered.”