And The Winner Is...

Congratulations Kelli on winning this amazing book! Please send me an email (noel@theshepherdsfarm.com) and give me the address you'd like your book sent to. I hope you can tell me in a while what you like most about this book...it's awesome!

Isn't it fitting that the week I do a giveaway my sheep have their lambs? It's been a wonderful five days of lambing season and last night was the topper.

I got to see and video one of my ewe's lambing. So cool!

As time permits I will try to do a post later today on this years lambing season and will put up the video. I plan on doing another giveaway in a few weeks and I have some pretty good ideas for the prize.

Have a fantastic Monday friends and check back later!

Just a Warning

Hi friends. Before I start this post let me just say, "WOW!" I can't believe I have almost 500 entry's into my little giveaway. Thanks for your support and for sharing. Also, if your new, thank you for 'Liking' the farm. It means more to me than I can say. Honestly, if I could I'd give each and every one of you a book, but I can't so a simple THANK YOU is going to have to suffice. (The giveaway is still going, click to enter ---->)

Thank you.



I am so thrilled with getting the opportunity to raise my children on a farm, I really am. I consider it a great blessing and an answer to prayer. My children get to learn how to work hard, where their food comes from, how to care for themselves in many ways, how to enjoy the simpler things in life, but there is ONE thing that I consider to be of major importance that I wish to teach them. One thing that I think is easily looked over when self-sufficiency is the goal.

Care and consideration for others. If you are puzzled, just hear me out. One of the best ways to get my point across is with scripture:

“Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 16And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

22And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. 23For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?^c 26If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? 27Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,^d yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 29And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. 30For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31Instead, seek his^e kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

32“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. -Luke 12:16-34

Do you see it?

I want my words on this blog to be an encouragement to you and be a place where you can come a read about mine and my family's journey farming. But I also want it to be real, a place where you can read about all of my convictions, and a place that has it's priorities straight.

I am a believer and as such I trust that God will care for me and my family far beyond what we need or deserve. I do not want to place my trust in possessions, wealth, people, government, and yes my own ability to grow produce and raise animals for food. That is not where my hope is and I hope that I make that clear. My hope is in Christ and He is sufficient for my every need.

Christ did make me human however and as such, I need to do the work that He has set before me. The work which He has set before me is that I am first a Christian and must serve God (and I'm happy to), but I'm also a wife and a mama. I have a family to care for and children to raise. My convictions are such that farming is the best way to raise kids because I truly believe this is one of the closest ways to get to 'reality'. I think it a wise thing to know how to plant a fruit tree or how to start seeds and in turn get produce in the summer. I also think it wise to have the responsibility of caring for livestock, of overseeing that your animals are bred, and then when the time comes care for the new life and give thanks when that life can in time, nourish both you and your family. Wisdom is something that I pray God would pour out on me on a daily basis and I hope to emulate the Proverbs 31 woman in the way that I live.

So what more you say am I wanting to teach my children?

I want to teach them that they need to care for others like they would care for themselves. That generosity is a great and noble thing. I want to teach my children that there is more reward in helping those in need than there is in keeping all of your talents and possessions to yourself. I don't want to glorify a life lived for self and I surely don't want to be like the rich fool in the above parable. I don't want to build bigger barns to store my possessions, but I want to use the resources that God has given me and my family to help those that have less than we do. After all, none of this is mine. It's His.

My encouragement to you, dear readers, is to learn as much as you can and become well versed in how to care for yourselves and your families. Whether its learning how to catch rain so you have extra water for your Summer garden, whether it's learning how to help an animal give birth, or even if it's dedicating some of your time to help out a struggling family or a new mama overwhelmed by her new blessing. We all can help each other one way or another.

Let's not be like the rich fool that only thinks about his comfort, but lets be a generous people willing to give of ourselves (and our time) to others freely. After all, Christ gave himself for us so we could have hope and spend eternity with Him.

Lord bless every one of you and I hope you have been encouraged!

Why I Think Country Living Is So Important & Somethin' Special

***Giveaway is over***

Well, it's about time we had this discussion.

I promise I won't be long about it because after all, you and I have A LOT of work to do.

I want to tell you for a minute why I think country living is so important. I grew up farming and at the time I didn't much care for it. I didn't see the importance of raising animals, breeding livestock, tending a garden, and just plain workin' hard day-in and day-out. I just wanted to be like all the other kids who got to go to Disneyland and play every Saturday. Instead I got to clip hooves, fix fence, weed the garden, and when a day of hard work was finished, go swim in the creek. Oh, that was great fun! We were blessed to live on a creek and get to go fishing whenever we wanted and we could swim until we felt like we were fishes. I truly do have wonderful memories growing up.

Looking back, I am SO thankful for all the skills I acquired from our lifestyle. I mean how many people can say that they could pull a lamb if they had to or that they got to go check up on the cows with their dad on horseback? Probably not very many. Now I know some of you may be about to say that not everyone should or has to be a farmer. I agree, but I do think that all of us should have a certain set of skills when it comes to self-sufficiency.

There's a lot to say when you know that you can plant a garden and actually have it produce food for you and your family. We may have our disasters here and there, but it's a great thing to have a good knowledge about plants and such. It is a great thing to know about fruit trees, berry producing bushes, and herbs that can heal, and grasses that can feed your livestock. It is also wise to know how to raise chickens, care for sheep, or even butcher a cow. All of these skills are of benefit to every person.

Are you wondering why I think this way?

When you get down to it in order to live on this amazing earth we need just a few simple things. Food being pretty much first on the list. And friends, farming is about food. It's not about animals or growing plants for the fun of it. Farming in all seriousness is about food, plain and simple. So I think it safe to say that everyone should probably get friendly with their inner farmer.

We all gotta eat, right?

I know that I'll probably never get to meet most of you, but I'm not gonna let that stop me from helping you out in your farming journey. And so, in an effort to give you that extra nudge towards self-sufficiency and find your inner farmer rogue I am doing a giveaway.

Oh yeah, I'm giving away this awesome book to one lucky reader!



Are you excited yet? I hope so, because I can't wait!

In the Encyclopedia of Country Living you'll find everything you need to get started on your journey. I absolutely LOVE this book and I feel like I haven't even scratched the surface of it's contents. You'll know why if you win this...it's HUGE!

Here's a quick glimpse of what you'll find in these pages:

• Live Simply


• How to Buy and Save Seed


• How to Grow Grasses, Grains, and Canes


• The Secrets of Making Pickles


• Herb Gardening


• How to Prune Bushes, Vines, and Trees


• Food Preservation


• Animal Husbandry


• How to Hatch Eggs


• How to Milk Cows, Goats, and Sheep


• Beekeeping


• And Much, Much More!

This is just the tip of the iceberg friends when it comes to what this book contains. There are almost 1,000 pages!

I know, just incredible.

The author Carla Emery, made this book her life's work and so it grew as she grew in knowledge. She wrote the first copy in the 1970's and remained a dedicated advocate of self-sufficiency until her death in 2005.



Alright here's where it gets fun.

Enter to win below. On some entry's you can enter them on a daily basis. If you keep comin' back you'll increase your chances! Spread the word and I hope you are as excited about this as I am!

The contest starts today (obviously) and ends Sunday night which is June 2nd. I'll announce the winner Monday morning, the 3rd of June.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


***If you are the lucky winner, you have 3 days to claim this giveaway item. If you do not claim it within 3 days then a new winner will be picked.