Fall is in the Air

What a great time of the year! This is my favorite time of the year when things are changing, colors are brightening up, and its getting cooler! I am not a fan of temperatures above 85 and my comfort zone is 65 deg.

I have posted an economic article here to discuss some of the current events. I was visited by a friend from Colorado. I know him only through youtube, my blog, and a short couple visits on the phone, but he is certainly an interesting fellow to visit with. I relate well with him in the areas of Biology (he's an Aquatic Entomologist), music (plays the fiddle and guitar), and in farming (though he doesn't have a farm, he would have in a different life...so he says).

After surveying the place and going to look at the Bees, we began to play music. We must have played music for over 2 hours strait. Both of us had our recording instruments out. He had a pretty neat Zoom H2 that would pick up sound in a 360 degree direction and you could isolate each quarter into its own unique channel. It recorded very well for the wind that was blowing.

Well anyway I have a few videos of us playing below:

Cumberland Gap:


Whiskey Before Breakfast:



HK Silvie on a Tune (I dont remember the Name of):



As a result of all the fun I have had I have not really made a lot of progress on the barn. But i have made a little. Below is a picture of where it is today.




I am in the process of building some new Rabbit pens. We have a lot of overflow on the rabbit side of things. I want the new pens to be transferable to a "Rabbitry" so I am building them like I would need them in the Rabbitry and the building a stand under and making a roof over. In other words I am converting it to a Hutch style pen rather than a Rabbitry style...but I can use it in a Rabbitry when I am able to build the building. This is a new method for me. I have never built a rabbit pen with the little clips so it was kind of awkward at first but it turned out good.






This is certainly a better method of building a pen. The rabbits in the old style would eat the wood that the wire was nailed to. With this type of pen they cannot. Also it conserves material in the way of not needing to build sections to house each rabbit. To convert this to a hutch all I need to do is build a stand with a roof and slide it in. Then when I build my rabbitry, I just slide the cage out and hang it from the ceiling of the rabbitry.

Well Hope you enjoyed. Take care

Barn Update

I have made some progress on the barn. All the lumber I had purchased for a different project (the big one I never told anyone about) but I decided not to use it for that. A few changes have been taking place in planning and I will discuss in later posts.

The Barn is coming together quite nicely (with only minor mistakes...which I am leaving). Below are a few pictures of its progress.

Short and Sweet!

Take care.

Principles - Prerequisite for Leadership

I write very often and much of what I write never is seen again once it was written. I thought what I am about to post would be one of those pieces however I think it would be a good post in light of what is going on here on our place.

A bit of behind the scenes to let you know whats going on. We have been wanting to either sell our place to get a larger tract of land for farming, or we wanted to sell the Double wide mobile home which is in the middle of the property to make more room for crops and such. We found a couple who were very interested in buying the mobile and when we tried to sell it to them we found that we could not because our mortgage requires that the Mobile home stays on the property. Well they were able to get the loan and it required no deed or title for the mobile home...in other words we could have sold the mobile and the bankers would never have known. Boy was that tempting! Not to mention a strange set of events that almost seem to make the situation seem as though God himself set the things into motion to make it happen. All was ready.

But my conscience was giving me a run for my money. After weeks of prayer and thinking for the decision and against it...back and forth...I thought of this article I wrote months earlier. After this I (we) have decided not to sell the mobile and this makes things even more complicated to figure out. But its the right decision.

Below is the article I wrote but had set on my laptop for months. What I want those who read this to take from it is that principles guide you when you don't know where your going.

I hope you enjoy this.

_______________________________________________________

Principles, a Prerequisite for Leadership

Jeremy Myers

July 3, 2008

The rumbling of thunder crowd for attention amongst the sounds of the night insects, a storm is developing on the horizon and we’re soon to receive the rain. How can we stop it? What a fruitless venture it would be to interfere with a process such as this. As the flashing breaks the night sky, the peals of thunder destroys the peaceful bliss that once was before the day became far spent. It is the nature of storms to create awareness, and to cause us to open our eyes and cause us to pay attention so that the crashes of lightning don’t strike us.

What are the principles of storms? Everything works with a type of order, what is this in comparison?

• Once moving, you cannot stop it. Therefore, it would be unwise to worry about it, since such worry would cloud your judgment to prepare for its arrival.


• Before it’s upon you, take shelter. This would mean that it would be wise to know what a good type of shelter would be for the storm you are in before the storm even comes into view.


• Once upon you, stay resolute in your security and placement. Don’t go running outside to see what the storm is doing, don’t assume you are able to handle what the storm throws at you.


• When fear sets in, be resolved in your foundation and the shelter by which you are covered.


• When it passes, be thankful to weather the storm safely. Plan to be safer for the next storm that will undoubtedly come.

How long will the storm last? No one knows. Am I still talking about the weather or something deeper? Yes. What I have outlined are principles. Principles hold true in spite of the circumstances. I could take the previous statements and apply them to politics, personal journeys, spiritual journeys, and more. Why do I state all this. A leader must understand principles and how they work and why they are formed. Not all circumstances will be the same. Not every problem has an easy solution. When a principle is established, the pathway can be illuminated even when its night time and a storm is blowing in. These principles, taken to heart, can be quickly reintroduced into a situation demanding a decision, and the outcome will be the right outcome. It is of note that I say the right outcome. I didn’t say the most favorable outcome. Someone who desires to lead need only know the principles to do so. All the rest just causes the sheep to be lead astray.

It is a just leader who learns the laws, as the laws of nature are learned to understand storms, and verifies if those laws are in keeping with reality. If it was said today that the earth was flat and that one could fall off the edge, as it was five centuries ago, one would throw it out on the basis that we could not have the seasons which we do or we could not circumvent the entire globe with an ocean vessel if it were so. Therefore, the law of a flat earth should be thrown out for one that is obvious. Or maybe it is a place where a law is not necessary, such as the law of gravity. With respect to our planet it exists, with respect to space, it does not. How then can we have a law on a behavior which does nothing but promote more of the same behavior?I purposely speak in riddles to cause the reader to think about its meaning. We so often read through then go on and it is forgotten immediately. This way in order to understand you must internalize and maybe even educate yourself to find the answers.

Many times I have thought how I can make a difference. And many times I have come to the same conclusion that: I do make a difference, as long as I keep going, though it is not always satisfactory to my desires.

Some day if I were ever to be brought into a situation where a government office was a potential, I would run. As it stands now I do not know what I should do, so I continue on as a steady plow, plows in a large field. The only way the field will be broken up, is to continue forward and not dwell on the crooked rows.

The First Annual "Old-Time, Music and Potluck Get-together"

The sun has set on the first Annual Old-Time, Music and Potluck Get-together for Myerstown Family Farm. This is the beginning of what I hope will be many family oriented get togethers planned for our farm. There were 12 Adults (not counting us) and 9 children who attended.

The turnout was not as I had hoped and the focus was not really on music and visiting. Rather, it was on blacksmithing and visiting...though thats not bad either. While it may have not turned out as I had hoped, it was an enjoyable time for Brandy and I, and from what I could tell everyone else had fun too.

Attendance was about the same as last year’s get-together in August (which was not affiliated with Myerstown Family Farm) but we had a lot more kids this time. So less adults showed up. Go figure and me without any games! Good thing they brought a few.

I had a vision of everyone eating, talking and listening to those who decided to pick up the instrument of their choice and play along with each other, however, it didn’t turn out that way. I tried to get it going but without someone familiar with Old-Time music it was very painful to whittle out a tune (myself on the fiddle and one blues guitar player). So it was about that time I decided to revert to what I knew the Guitar player (Hayward) and I had in common…Blacksmithing.

We got things going on the forge while others gathered around at various times to watch, some played and then came over and then returned to playing again. We got a couple people involved and they made some stuff too! I should have gotten close up pictures of the finished product. There were some awesome things they made!
As we began to get involved a friend had shown up who I play music with down at McClurg. We got a little jam session going (Him and I) while the others did blacksmithing and some of the individuals who were not participating in music or blacksmithing would come and listen to us then go and watch them and back and forth. It worked out so good that I almost thought of it being a festival…almost.

The sun began to set and a shadow covered and as people began to leave some coming inside to visit a few minutes longer, others just leaving, I began to think about what had happened this day and why. How can I change it for next year?

I like how the blacksmithing drew so much intrest and participation I think that next year I want to try and incorporate the blacksmithing into the Get-together, and with his help, and if he chooses to, I really would like Hayward to help out with this again. Maybe have a couple things going at the same time to make it more festival like. If it gets bigger, maybe someone with a different talent or skill could create a third “attraction” where we could have plenty to watch or do.

I think having people get involved in the Art and craft of blacksmithing or in music or whatever else, is the best way for the message that Myerstown Family Farm stands for to be promoted. I don’t want it to become a show, or an attraction (Although those not wanting to participate are free to watch or listen) like Silver Dollar City, I want it to be a message of self-sustainability where people can learn and do different “crafts” that would help them to thrive during a time of economic recession or depression. Who knows we may need to change the name for next years event to account for the different focuses.

Next year I will get some video and if we do blacksmithing I want to try and get pictures of the items made. I should have this year but I forgot to.

I chose the 4th of October this year because it was the first weekend of October and I thought that it would make it easy every year for people to remember that it is always the first weekend of October. Looking ahead next years first weekend of October is the 3rd so those who read this and are interested, mark your calendars. Maybe by that time we will have some new surprises in store for you.