And God saw that it was good

Gen 1:29-31 "Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food " and it was so. "

Therefore, at Creation, the world and it's workings were perfect. The process by which man was to eat was lined out pretty clearly. "Behold, I have given you..."

Was it days, weeks or months later that Adam and Eve took the fruit? I often wonder how long was Adam the keeper of a garden with no weeds. What was it like to "farm" in a perfect creation? Well regardless of how long it was, it wasn't long enough. Eve took the fruit and Adam joined her and the world started falling apart right there.

In the curse that God laid on Adam as a result of his rejection of God's holy order, He said:
Gen 3:17-19
Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it';
Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. "Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you shall eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You shall eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return. "

It was then that the problem of food production became the chief goal of man's activities. Before then, agriculture was a way of communing with God. It was a way of enjoying His creation, recognizing His Beauty. After the fall, the thorns, thistles and the sweat of Adam's brow became the focus of his effort to feed his family.

Weeds started to come, wild animals, plant and animal diseases, and so forth. Eating would never be the same.

Fast forward 5000 years or so to today, and our problems with production of food seem understandable when you think of why we have what we have. We are no longer in Eden, that's for sure. Yet, as a family we are committed to gardening the way the Lord intended us to, by the sweat of our brow, old fashioned weeding by hand rather than by the quick-fix chemicals. And, oh, the satisfaction of partaking of the work of our hands! This food just simply tastes better!

We were disappointed to notice we will be running out of our garden onions and home-dried apples probably by February. However, we still have quite a bit of salsa and tomatoe sauce as well as homegrown and butchered chickens in our freezer to last us until summer! We have also allowed our milk goats to dry up due to their preganancies and our upcoming move to Minnesota. However, this spring we will once again be able to partake of the rich, healthy, delicious milk. We've been without it for about one month and our daughters are missing it! Thankfully, the chickens are still producing eggs for us through the winter. 

We definitely don't live in Eden any longer, yet we are thankful the Lord still graciously allows us to produce such delicious food even if it is alongside of thorns and thistles and by the sweat of our brow.

Grateful,

The Farmer and his Wife

11:15 - 2005-Dec-31 - post comment