Page 69 of 92

Our First Longhorn Feast

September 18, 2011 / David & Susan Sifford / 8 Comments

With the drought this year, we’ve had to be liquidating many of our own personal herd of Texas Longhorn cattle. We’ve been trying to sell as many as possible, but we also raise the cattle to eat. With one of our cows, Catalina, there seemed to be no interest in someone buying her. She also was also one of our more rambunctious cows, in that, if she wanted to jump a fence to go eat something wherever, she would. And so, given that we couldn’t control her anymore, and that she was getting into areas we couldn’t have her, and that no one bought her, we made the difficult decision to take her to the butcher, even though she might be pregnant.

This was Catalina:

And so, after getting her back from the processor, Sue began the preserving process. When we use the butcher, we have them cube a lot of the meat into chunks all ready to go into the jars:

And here they are ready in the canner:

Here are some of the hamburger meat packages:

And Sue browns it before putting it into the jars to can, which apparently helps get extra oils/grease out which could overflow if not removed ahead of time:

And here she is preserved and ready for the root cellar:

One of the benefits of the Longhorns is the use of other parts of the animal, include the horns; and so we had the butcher cut them off of the head, and hopefully I’ll be able to turn them into something mountable some day:

And so, after the processing, it was time to partake in the first one of our personal cows to be eaten!

One of the joys of living here is the fellowship, and we wanted to share in the further joy of the providence of the meat with the community. And so, we had Catalina burger night at our place!

Here are some of the grilled burgers:

And the trimmings and side dishes, with which several of the ladies graciously helped:

We are very thankful for the grace and mercy the Lord has afforded us in this general time of peace to be able to fellowship together, after enjoying His direct provisions:

We are grateful to the God of all providence in allowing us the healthy food from this organically raised, grass-fed cow; and we are thankful to Him for allowing us the fellowship and community He has here.

— David

Garlic 2011 – Update I – Doing Something About Garlic “Breadth”

September 10, 2011 / David & Susan Sifford / 7 Comments

In our last blog post on our 2011 garlic, we had harvested our first small batch; and I tried my hand at braiding it (which turned out to be very “trying”). Well, since then, we have harvested the remainder of the crop, which we did back in May; and we wanted to share a little more of the garlic processing process.

Here is Dave pulling the garlic plants from the beds and placing them in a big box:

Wow! Our first garlic crop! It sure smelled good:

This time we did a bit more research before diving into it, which paid off. We laid out all of the bulbs in the indirect sun for a few days on our makeshift food dryer:

Here is a closer look:

Then we moved it all into our summer kitchen in preparation to be braided and hung:

I was successful at braiding the larger garlic plants; but as I got to smaller ones, the leaves were just too dry and difficult to braid and handle. So I started gathering them into bunches and tying them at the top. I actually like this method better; and it works just as well, in my opinion. I then hung them on my garlic hanging stand (aka: clothes dryer). I was pleased with the end result:

There ended up being many other small bulbs that either lost their leaves or fell off in the process. So I gathered them up and placed them in a small basket. I keep the basket in my kitchen, and it’s perfect for grabbing as many garlic cloves as I need at any given time. And the garlic smells and tastes wonderful!

Due to the extreme drought we have been experiencing, this is the only garden harvest the Lord allowed us to have this Spring and Summer (in addition to a few tomato plants on which the jury is still out). We are very thankful to God for the gift of this garlic crop and look forward to possibly spreading our garlic “breadth” in the future. 🙂

Susan

David’s Digest: Love of Christ: The Motivator of True Obedience

August 26, 2011 / David & Susan Sifford / 2 Comments

I have read to Sue, as part of our family worship, the Puritan John Owen’s Complete Works, Vol 1, “The Glory of Christ”, which I highly recommend; our fellowship is going through it as well on each Lord’s Day.

Among the many wonderful revelations of Christ in it, one point really stuck out to me that Dr. Owen spends time declaring and defending in chapter 12 of the work “Christologia or a Declaration of the Glorious Mystery of the Person of Christ — God and Man”: the Bible declares that if we love God, we will obey His commandments; but this also means that those acts which are actually accepted of God vs. ones that are not, even though they might be the same acts, are differentiated primarily by the motivation behind them — that motivation being love for Him. Any person can perform an act that outwardly performs a command of God; but if it is not out of love for God, it is selfishly motivated — performed improperly inwardly — and thus cannot be acceptable by Him.

Here is a snippet from Dr. Owen’s chapter, which, along with the rest of the volume, I hope you will read in their entirety:

That which does enliven and animate the obedience whereof we have discoursed, is love. This himself makes the foundation of all that is acceptable unto him. “If,” saith he, “ye love me, keep my commandments,” John 14:15. As he distinguisheth between love and obedience, so he asserts the former as the foundation of the latter. He accepts of no obedience unto his commands that does not proceed from love unto his person. That is no love which is not fruitful in obedience; and that is no obedience which proceeds not from love. So he expresseth on both sides: “If a man love me, he will keep my words;” and, “He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings,” Verses 23, 24.

In the Old Testament the love of God was the life and substance of all obedience. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, thy mind and strength,” was the sum of the law. This includes in it all obedience, and, where it is genuine, will produce all the fruits of it; and where it was not, no multiplication of duties was accepted with him. But this in general we do not now treat of.

That the person of Christ is the especial object of this divine love, which is the fire that kindles the sacrifice of our obedience unto him — his is that alone which at present I design to demonstrate.

The apostle has recorded a very severe denunciation of divine wrath against all that love him not:

“If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha,” 1 Corinthians 16:22.

And what was added unto the curse of the Law we may add unto this of the Gospel: “And all the people shall say, Amen,” Deut. 27:26. And, on the other hand, he prays for grace on all that “love him in sincerity,” Ephesians 6:24. Wherefore, none who desire to retain the name of Christian, can deny, in words at least, but that we ought, with all our hearts, to love the Lord Jesus Christ.

I do not so distinguish love from obedience as though it were not itself a part, yea, the chiefest part, of our obedience. So is faith also; yet is it constantly distinguished from obedience, properly so called. This alone is that which I shall demonstrate — namely, that there is, and ought to be, in all believers, a divine, gracious love unto the person of Christ, immediately fixed on him, whereby they are excited unto, and acted in, all their obedience unto his authority. Had it been only pleaded, that many who pretend love unto Christ do yet evidence that they love him not, it is that which the Scripture testifieth, and continual experience does proclaim. If an application of this charge had been made unto them whose sincerity in their profession of love unto him can be no way evidenced, it ought to be born with patience, amongst other reproaches of the same kind that are cast upon them. And some things are to be premised unto the confirmation of our assertion.

1. It is granted that there may be a false pretense of love unto Christ; and as this pretense is ruinous unto the souls of them in whom it is, so it ofttimes renders them prejudicial and troublesome unto others. There ever were, and probably ever will be, hypocrites in the church and a false pretense of love is of the essential form of hypocrisy. The first great act of hypocrisy, with respect unto Christ, was treachery, veiled with a double pretense of love. He cried, “Hail, Master! and kissed him,” who betrayed him. His words and actions proclaimed love, but deceit and treachery were in his heart. …

2. As there is a false pretense of love unto Christ, so there is, or may be, a false love unto him also. The persons in whom it is may in some measure be sincere, and yet their love unto Christ may not be pure, nor sincere — such as answers the principles and rules of the gospel; and as many deceive others, so some deceive themselves in this matter. They may think that they love Christ, but indeed do not so. …

There is much more, and I do hope you will read the whole chapter from the beginning, chapters 13 and 14 also, which continue on this topic, and even the whole volume.

Is your “obedience” truly motivated by love for God? A true love? Are you sure? If it is not, then your obedience is not obedience at all. Have you ever thought about it? If not, then your religious activities and worship might actually be sin. Ask the Searcher of hearts (Psa. 139:23-24 to examine yours and reveal the truth of your motivations toward obedience. Ask Him for love for Him and a true and deeper revelation of Christ, as He is the source of all things spiritual (John 3:6; John 3:27; John 15:5; Acts 17:28; Gal. 5:22-23).

May He grant us love for Him, and repentance for acts of selfish obedience.

— David

Summer Kitchen – Update II – Insulation & Final Cross Wall

August 16, 2011 / David & Susan Sifford / 5 Comments

Little by little, I’ve been slowly working away at the summer kitchen in between everything else going on. The next step was the insulation, and here is a little pictorial of the process…

First, I wanted to cut in roof vents into the cross pieces that were in between the rafters on top of the walls. I drilled 1″ holes and then used a reciprocating saw to cut from the top of one hole to the other, and then the same from bottom to bottom. Here is what it looked like from the inside:

And then on the outside I stapled and glued aluminum screening to keep the bugs out:

Then, I began insulating, starting with the roof:

With the 2×8 rafters, I used R19, which is for 2×6 wood; this allowed for an air gap above the insulation to allow for the air to flow in the lower roof vent out the upper one. This gap is also recommended for proper effect of the solar board:

Before installing the wall insulation, I put diatomaceous earth on the bottom of the frame to perhaps help with termites:

And here is the main area completed:

And the pantry:

Due to my lack of construction knowledge when building the wall frames, I hadn’t done a header over the doorway between the main area and pantry; and it was beginning to sag. And so, I decided to insert one.

I began by cutting the door frame cripple studs:

Here it is with all of the cuts made:

And then with the cutout removed:

Here, the header is in place. I simply used three 2x6s:

And then shimmed them to fit up against the cripple studs above them:

After the header was in place, I was able to insulate the main cross wall. Here it is completed, viewing from the piano room:

And here it is from the main room:

As I noted above, part of the plan for the summer kitchen building was to have about 1/4 of it partitioned off to be a piano room; and so, I added a cross wall from the south wall to the main cross wall using 2×4 wood. And here is a picture of it after it being insulated:

And here is the wall as viewed from the pantry:

Finally, here are a couple of other views, one of the piano room from the main room:

And the other of the pantry from the main room:

The Lord has been gracious and merciful in allowing resources to be able to continue this project, some from the sale of His providential provisions of animal offspring. We thank Him, and we pray for continued help, wisdom and guidance in further homestead development, according to His will.

— David

A House – Update IX – Exterior Walls

August 6, 2011 / David & Susan Sifford / 2 Comments

After the house’s porch posts, it was time to put up the exterior walls. After all of the other much slower-moving parts of the house, like the concrete piers, etc., it’s nice to be at a point where things move a little quicker.

Here is the first wall framed. The window headers, which sit on the cripple studs to which the sides of the windows are attached, we made by “sandwiching” 2 pieces of 1/2″ plywood between 3 2x6s; and the window sills sit on smaller cripples, forming the rest of the window frame. The doors, not a part of this wall, we did similarly. We will double the top plates, using the upper top plate to overlap and tie the corners together:

And here is the wall with the fire blocks in place. The distance that the OSB siding would be lowered down the wall to attach to the floor joists header determined where these went:

This is how we did the corner, to be able to attach another wall to it and to allow for internal siding to have something to which to be attached:

We set a chalk line 5 1/2″ inches back from the edge of the floor, lined up the wall frame to it, and tacked the bottom plate to the floor every 4-6 feet to keep the wall from sliding when lifted into place:

We attached the OSB siding while the frame was on the ground, because placing the 4×8 foot panels when the wall is vertical is much more difficult. I chose OSB because it was cheaper, and I figured would work just about as well, although there are discussions on the Internet that using plywood is better:

And then, we cut out the windows using a router, which made it VERY easy. In the end, even with the siding on, especially with the windows and doors cut out, it wasn’t really too heavy to lift into place:

Here’s the video of the raising of the walls. We thank the Lord for granting us the brethren to help and be a part of this as part of a community:

With the diagonal braces on the outside holding up the walls, we had to come back in later and add a few pieces of the OSB siding. Once placed, the windows had to be then cut out; and here is a video of me doing that. The router is REALLY nice for this process. Judging from the video, this is why we try to do as many of these while the wall is on the ground 🙂 :

As always, we are grateful to the Lord for granting the provisions to be building the house, the strength to do so, we pray guidance and safety in doing so, and for the brethren to help in its construction; and we pray one day the house will be used as a place of worship and fellowship of God’s people.

— David

Providence’s Perpetuation Provisions: New Calf “Clara”

July 29, 2011 / David & Susan Sifford / 2 Comments

And again, the Lord in His graces and mercies granted another calf, this one to our cow Casi Blanca (whose dam is Amistosa); and she too is a little heifer calf. She has a little brown island on her forehead, so we decided to call her Clara, named after Montaña Clara, meaning “light-colored mountain,” which is an islet in the northeastern part of the Spanish Canary Islands.

Here is her picture:

And her video:

We are continuously grateful for the safe and healthy deliveries of the new calves. And we pray for God’s continued guidance in our lives as we work to separate from the world unto Him and His prescribed way of living — the way of life He invented.

— David

Providence’s Perpetuation Provisions: New Calf “Amilita”

July 19, 2011 / David & Susan Sifford / 0 Comments

Once again, the Lord has graciously granted another calf, this one to our cow Amistosa. She’s a little heifer calf, and we decided to call her Amilita (little Ami).

Here’s a picture:

And a quick video:

We are always grateful to God for His continued providence in perpetuating our animals; and now we pray for His wisdom, help and guidance in their disposition during this difficult time of drought.

— David

The Sifford Sojournal

Page 69 of 92

Our First Longhorn Feast

Garlic 2011 – Update I – Doing Something About Garlic “Breadth”

David’s Digest: Love of Christ: The Motivator of True Obedience

Summer Kitchen – Update II – Insulation & Final Cross Wall

A House – Update IX – Exterior Walls

Providence’s Perpetuation Provisions: New Calf “Clara”

Providence’s Perpetuation Provisions: New Calf “Amilita”

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