The Hard Times Cafe

Its hard to believe that it has been over 11 days sense I've made a post here at the Hard Times.  I just want to thank everyone who e-mailed me to make sure everything was all right.  Your concern touched my heart.  I found, unintentionally at first that I needed to step back and take a breather.  I had needed the extra time to sit at the feet of the Lord and soak up his peace and rest.

About the time I had taken a break from writing the economy hit home.  My husbands work had been laying off and firing and cutting back hours for those that were left.  It was more taxing than I had realized and a friend encouraged me to remember to find my peace and rest in the Lord.  Sometimes I need reminding.  To make a long story short, God,  Jehovah-Jireh, is our provider and has reminded us through the initial shock that A: my husband still has a job and B: that is really irrelevant in the big picture because God has all things in His control and all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord, those who are called according to His purpose.  With that said, we've had to do some adjusting here.  The Lord has given me a mentality of seeing it being a challenge.  This is a time to show all that peace abounds when God is with us.  And to fine tune our homesteading abilities.

Besides adjusting our budget as we have lost at present about 1/3 of our income we are faced with some decisions of basic utilities.  We heat with wood except for a small portion of our home which we had already decided to change this summer from propane fireplace to a wood stove in that section of the house.  We also cook with propane in the hotter months, heat our water heater with propane for baths, laundry, dishes etc.  We had our tank filled earlier this year.  Over a $1000 for an 80% fill on a 500 gallon tank.  That price to fill now is about $1500.  Hence our reason for changing from propane heat in part of our house to wood.  A couple of weeks ago we realized we were down to less than 10% in our tank.   Now is not a good time to rack up an additional $1500 with pay cut, winter wood cost preparations (we have to buy our wood) and the rise of price with everything else.  So with prayer and an adventurous heart, we have decided to forego our propane.  In the winter its not a big deal.  We heat with a wood cook stove and I cook in and on it and heat water for all types of needs.  But the heat of the summer has made such endeavors lose its appeal in the past.  But now is a different time and well, you got to do what you got to do. Cooking really won't be a big deal.  I have an electric roaster and a crock pot I can use periodically.  I've started campfire cooking which certainly requires more skill but I am looking foreword to fine tuning it.  And we do love campfire cooking.  I think it the time that concerns me most and the labor involved because it is a lot!  But I am going to take this opportunity to connect with others from the past and appreciate what so many people did before we had our easy ways of living.  Lets face it, to heat water over a fire to do laundry in a third world country is not  hardship but here in America where we are spoiled rotten, well that takes some people by surprise. 

This also leads me once again to great gratefulness to the Lord for our pantry because we will need to lean on that heavily.  These are hard times for many.  For my family, well its really more of an inconvenience and just an adjustment of attitude but we are all up for the challenge and looking forward to making it a time of family memories.  But for many it could completely shatter their world as they might not have a heat alternative or a pantry or a relationship with God to help them see this in the proper light.   I'm not saying my family is special in this area, no, many of us as homesteader are up for the challenge.  I think of so many, as mentioned in previous entries, that aren't preparing, that never thought outside of the mainstream box, or that might even live in an area where there are too many restriction that they couldn't even have a campfire.  Those are the ones that I concern my heart.

Let's make it our goal to be prepared so we can be a blessing to someone else.

Blessings from The Hard Times Cafe

The Intentional Peasant