Outside Work

10/26/07 - 6th Day - The Preparation of the Sabbath. Good Morning. Up at 5 a.m. this morning to milk Holga and get the chores done. Some of the boys and I are off again this morning to work at an outside job. We are helping an absentee rancher build his cabin. Yestderday Liviu, Kelly and I worked on siding the cabin, and today and probably a few days next week will be doing the same. The weather has been gorgeous, though a bit chilly in the morning (it is 38 this morning - the coldest morning so far!). Yesterday, by 10 a.m. it was in the high 60's and stayed in the 70's all day. What a perfect day to work. Today is supposed to be 75 and sunny, so it should be great.

The guys and I were commenting on how great it is to live off-grid as Agrarians, so that even when we do go work on an outside job for someone, we work together and, like Liviu said yesterday, "it is like being on break all day long", since even our work time is spent talking about the things we live and what we believe. Too many people are stuck in the thinking that they have to work some industrial job in order to live this life. They cannot see that God will provide whatever work is necessary for us to keep going and moving forward. Let me explain...

Since we have been living here at the ranch, off-grid and in community with like-minded Agrarian believers, we have constantly had people in the towns come up to us and comment on how well-behaved our children are, and how much they appreciate having "us" in the community. Well, shortly after that, we began having people approach us and ask us if we wanted work. We would tell people to contact us, and alert them that we do not work on the weekends (the Sabbath and the Lord's Day) and that we like to work "day to day", being paid for each days work. "No problem" most of them would say. So we will go out and work for these guys, being paid well, and since we work hard and conscientiously, they always want us back (DV). They also tell other people about us, and believe me, people always want workers who work hard, show up on time, do their duty, etc. So we actually usually have more work than the men can do, and that will only increase. Some of the absentee ranchers would have several of us there every day if they could. Each man can usually work when he wants, and as much as is necessary. Those who need to work nearly full time, can still flex their schedule, take off for community work days or days they need off, and if someone else is available on that day, they can work instead. Elder David and I can kind of float and "fill holes" if someone is needed. So God continues to provide, and like Liviu said, since we work together, it is almost like we never left the ranch, and our conversation is still on the things we ought to be talking about. Yesterday, we got numerous building ideas from watching how our employer was building his cabin.

Now, each of us would love nothing more than to be able to stay at the ranch, work our own property, and to live completely off the land. But we are certainly not there yet, and we may never get to the place where we absolutely never need outside work. People are always contacting me and telling me that they would like to go off-grid, and that they would love to live off the land, but they cannot quit their "day job". I don't believe that. I've seen too many people do it, and survive and thrive. C'mon by and see.

You'll probably read the above rant again in one of the future parts of the Agrarian off-grid series.

Anyway, have to get some chores done so I can go to work this morning. Lord willing, it will be another pleasant day of fellowship with the brethren.

Hope all is well with you all.

Michael

Ups and Downs

10/25/07 - 5th Day - After Breakfast. Greetings everyone. It's a bit nippy this morning - down in the mid 40's. Milking went well, and, after breakfast, I am off with Liviu and Kelly to work off the property for the day. On Tuesday I came down with a stomach bug that had been going around and I didn't get out of bed much, and yesterday I was still recuperating and I worked on a sermon all day. We are in the midst of a three part series on the Mark of God out of 1 Thessalonians, Chapter 1, and I have finished parts 1 and 2. I hope to post the whole series in print when I have it all finished.

Things are going smoothly, albeit slowly here. The generator is still working for now, and my laptop started working again, which is nice. The weather has yet to get really cold, and it doesn't look like we will see a freeze in the next few weeks (DV). Elder David got my pasture disced, so we hope to be planting oats here pretty quick. The Gurau's picked up some goats the other day, one that they hope to milk in the future. Liviu has been working on a shed on his property for goats and for catchwater purposes. I haven't gotten much land work because of lack of money, but I hope to get back to work on the roof cover for my office pretty soon.

I made Longhorn butter the other day, and will be making some more today. It is much more difficult making butter from Longhorn milk than from the milk of commercial cows. Longhorn milk has fat, but much less than a commercial cow, and it takes longer for the fat in the milk to separate. I found out today that if I wait until the third day after milking to skim the milk - I get much more than if I skim it every day for three days. Don't know why.

The piglets are doing well, and so are all of our cattle. We hope to get a bull out here really soon.

Ok, I have to get ready to go to work. I hope all is well with you all.

Your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker

Q&A Fridays, Issue #31

I had decided to post the Q&A Fridays post here, but it was WAYYYYYY too long and too involved to post here on the blog. I wanted to post it because it contains some answers to questions I have had here on the blog, including the one about my partaking of cigars and alcohol. So... instead... GO HERE to read it. Sorry for the trouble.

Swings and a Parable

10/22/07 - 2nd Day - After Breakfast. Woke up this morning to a howling wind, some on-again/off-again driving rain, and cooler temps. The temperature around here has been all over the board. Yesterday morning it was in the 50's, then it got up near 90 yesterday. This morning it is 47 and the high today is supposed to be 55-58. I love fall, but this is a bit ridiculous! Fall and winter can be a bit strange around here. It is not uncommon for it to get into the 20's and 30's at night, and up into the 70's, 80's or 90's during the day. A 50 degree swing is not uncommon at all. I was perusing some of the old blog posts, and I discovered that a year ago on this morning it was 37 degrees, so I am satisfied with 47 and windy.

Speaking of perusing old blog posts. Here is a parable I wrote last year that has proven to be eerily prophetic...

Every day a servant boy went to the field and let out a loud whistle to call in all the working stock. Each day after seeing each animal to its assigned task - the horses to the carriage, the old ass to the plow - he would return to the field to work with a stubborn young ass who refused to obey. The boy would try to lead the ass from in front, but the ass would just lock his heels. The boy would try to beat the ass from behind with a whip, but the ass would just cower under the beating, refusing to budge. Eventually the boy would get tired of trying to train the ass, and he would leave him in the field and head off to his own work.

One day a weathered old ass, on his way to be hooked up to the plow for the day, walked by the stubborn ass and said, "ready for another beating today, I see".

The young ass just laughed and said, "I have learned that if I am more stubborn than the boy, then I get to spend the whole day eating in this field. Maybe you should try it."

The old ass shook his head. "That boy works for the master of these lands. However coarse his ways, and however vulgar his methods, he is trying to make you useful to the master, and so long as he doesn't quit, then there is hope for you - but one day he won't even try to train you any more. He will give up on you. And soon the master will come and ask the boy why you are not being used to his advantage; why you are permitted to consume his field and are not profitable to him."

The young ass laughed again. "Let the master come with his larger whip, and let him beat me from in front and from behind. I will not be moved. I have learned if I resist through all the scourging, I am left alone to eat in this field."

The old ass looked at the young ass in the eye and said, "When the master comes he will not bring the whip or the goad. He will bring his shotgun, and he will make you profitable by selling your carcass for glue". The old ass turned and walked towards his daily duty.

Take it from an old ass... when you learn from the whip and count it profitable, you live to be an old ass.

Michael Bunker

Ok, that is enough for today. It's time to go pull the plow.

Michael

Fellowship

10/21/07 - The Lord's Day - After Breakfast. Things are moving along here at the ranch. We had a great Q&A Saturday session last night over at the Sifford's barn, and we are looking forward to singing and fellowship this morning. We have been busy helping the Gurau family get started on the land, and are excited about God adding them to the number here. On the sixth day Liviu went to work with Chris Woods for a man who is building a house nearby, so it is good that he is already having some extra money come in. That same day we here saddled up Pita and worked with her some more. We have been invited to use her as a children's attraction for an event in Santa Anna in the first week of December. We will be giving rides on her and are told that we may keep whatever money we make from giving the rides. That will be nice. I am considering building a sled for her to pull so when we plant our field with oats I can lead her and the children can ride the sled and scatter the oats. We'll see if that dream works out. I received a little money in the Sabbath mail, so I might be able to get a bit of work done this coming week. Deciding where to apply it, when we have so many tasks undone and so many that need doing, is very difficult. Tracy also needs some kindling boxes since her rabbits should be having kits in the next week or so. David has been busy discing up the fields, and some time after he discs my pasture I will need to plant oats in it.

We are in need of rain. Of course we are almost always in need of rain. But some rain would be nice about now. I am still hoping to get the roof on the office shed some time soon, and that would add a measure of roof line for catchwater larger than what we currently have. So actually catching that water will be my next challenge.

Danielle was able to purchase a large washboard from Lehman's, which she and the children have been using to do most of the laundry. She is also making her own laundry soap now, which is kind of cool. The only laundry she takes to town to wash is the denim materials. When we can afford to order the hand washing machine from Lehman's, then we will be doing 100% of our own laundry here on the property, and that will save us about $40 a month, which is significant.

I don't know if any of you have checked out Homestead Heritage online, but it is very cool. I don't know much about the group there, although some things I have read suggest that their doctrine is very suspect, but I am not looking to them for doctrine. They have classes where they teach everything from beekeeping to woodworking. We are planning (DV) to go and visit the place the weekend after Thanksgiving to attend their yearly Craft Fair. We are looking forward to that.

Ok, I better go. Lot's to do today, and much fellowship in store.

Your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker

Worldlings and the Amish

10/17/07 - 4th Day - After Breakfast. Scattershooting...

NEWS FLASH! Philistines act like Philistines! I am continually sent articles (and I see them posted regularly on BiblicalAgrarianism.com) announcing with shock the latest governmental or public outrage. They always scream with indignation "When will the people DO SOMETHING?" As if the world is supposed to act in any way other than according to their worldliness. The worst ones usually are prefaced by some angst laden rant about how all these bad things are happening because the corrupted 501c3 "church" will not DO SOMETHING about it. You see, apparently the reason the world acts like the world is because the "church" and its "pastors" will not stand against it. Rather than be outraged by the content of the articles, I am outraged at the outrage of the outraged. Here is my shorthand imitation of these posts:

Subject: GOVERNMENT ORDERS BABY JESUS THROWN OUT OF NATIVITY SCENES!

(personal note preface example) This kind of thing would not happen if the churches had not submitted to the 501c3 IRS shackle scam! If the pastors weren't too afraid to preach against it, the world's baby Jesus's would be safe and sound in their mangers! When (OH WHEN?!?) will Christians stand up and protect the plastic and porcelain baby Jesus's from this outrage!

(Here is where you would find the story about the government banning baby Jesus from Nativity scenes and gay bars)

Ummm... some questions...

1. Exactly why would you expect modern seminary graduates (public schools for pastors) to turn out anyone who would righteously stand for anything other than comfort and security?

2. Exactly why would you expect the corrupt and apostate "church" to be led by anything other than a corrupt and apostate leader?

3. Exactly why are you still calling the apostate religious system of this world the "church"?

4. Exactly why are you concerned for one second what the world is doing to themselves?

5. Exactly why are you still calling apostate goats "christians" and expecting them to act like sheep?

Ok, you will notice that (like in the example I have created) none of the people who write these things ever question the presuppositions of their position. Like... for example... why in the world should we care if the world bans violations of the 2nd commandment from other violations of the 2nd commandment which are placed illegally in violations of of the constitutional amendments? I bring to your attention by way of example the uproar from "christians" over images of the Ten Commandments being removed from courthouses. Modern apostate "christians" want the Ten Commandments of God to still be written on stone and hidden in government buildings (where, by the way, they almost never go) precisely because they don't have them written on their hearts (2 Cor. 3:3)... but I digress...

News flash! It is not news when worldlings act according to the abundance of their wicked hearts, and nor is it news when the apostate religious system either participates in it or refuses to stand against it. The problem is not the wicked world, or the apostate religious system, or the dearth of plastic Jesus's in the world... the problem is that Christians who say they are different and that they have been enlightened and that they are somehow separate from this wicked world, continue to show their love for it and their unity with it by claiming that it should be righteous contrary to its nature, and by calling apostates by the appelations "christians" and "the church" (without the quote marks, of course). Ok, enough of that. Next topic...

I was reading an interesting post about the Amish the other week over at Herrick Kimball's blog when I came across in the comments section the somewhat trite accusation that the Amish are "hypocritical" in what they allow and disallow as it relates to technology. We have dealt with that accusation ad nauseum and have answered it fully, but one of the accusations was interesting and I responded to it. It was stated that, though the Amish do not own or drive automobiles, a cottage industry has arisen which provides rides to the Amish (for pay) to local stores, etc. This, of course, was considered hypocritical, which it is not. I initially responded that there are many valid and even Biblical reasons not to own a vehicle, and that to choose not to own one, while still making use of rides in them, is not hypocritical at all. Once we have recognized the dangers that come from the ready use of certain technologies, it is incumbent upon us as leaders in our families (or in our Churches) to restrict use of those technologies in order to advance our goals and desires for our families. Now, the Amish recognize that the immediate and ready access to a vehicle has many negatives. First, there is the cost of maintenance and insurance on a vehicle. Second, the temptation to misuse the technology is very evident. Most people use their vehicle just because it is gassed up and readily available, and very few count the cost. Third, the Amish believe that ready access to an automobile is a negative impact on family life and peace, and on the life, peace, unity, and safety of the community. In many cases, the imposing growth of the surrounding urban and suburban areas has made it more and more difficult for the Amish to safely and peacefully procure supplies via their usual mode of transportation, therefore some Amish have solved the riddle by paying for rides to town. This allows them to more safely traverse the roads, sometimes for long distances, without imposing what they think would be a dangerous temptation and diversion on themselves and their community. Also, the fact that the Amish must pay for the ride, makes it easier for them to stop and think about the necessity of doing so, and to properly measure the cost - something which the world rarely does. So it is clear that there is no hypocrisy in the decision, though there are other inherent dangers that would need to be addressed by the elders to limit the possible damage of even this freedom.

Now, the nice lady who first posted the hypocrisy charge later explained that her objection was NOT that it was particularly hypocritical for the Amish to pay to ride in automobiles, but that if the Amish truly believe that owning and operating an automobile is negative to the institution of the family and the Church, then it is hypocritical for the Amish to cause or enable some non-Amish to do so on their behalf. Now, this is no new charge or philosophy, and there are some very notable adherents to this idea, including Stonewall Jackson who refused to even post a letter if it meant that the letter might be in transit on the Sabbath so that he might not cause anyone to work on that Holy Day. I understand this attitude and position, and I have to say I have some sympathy with it, but it goes down to a question of fundamental philosophy. There are two points of difference between this dominionist philosophy and Amish philosophy that I want to mention here.

Stonewall Jackson (and most others who have this type of philosophy) was a Presbyterian and a Dominionist. He believed that governments have the right (and ought to) impel other people's consciences through the dictate of law. Jackson wanted a law forbidding anyone from working on the Sabbath (and in many places there were such laws) and he wanted the law enforced, even to the point that the mails would not move on the sabbath day. Absent such a law, he believed his conscience directed him to not participate in any way with any act that might cause another man to work on the Sabbath - even if, no matter what he did, that man was going to work anyway. This is admirable, though not particularly Biblical in every case - since often the Reformed sought to enshrine opinion on the same altar as what the Bible actually says. True Presbyterians believe they are bound by Biblical law, but they also add-in many man made traditions and opinions and color them with the same brush-stroke as Biblical law. This is why many of the Reformed had no problem murdering the Anabaptists (from whom the Amish descend) for not baptizing babies. So don't think this is an unimportant historical anomaly.

The Amish have two sorts of "laws". They believe that they are bound by Biblical Law - meaning that law which is specific in the Bible, not the stuff they make up. They have a second law, which is called the "ordnung". Ordnung are the community rules of order. These are rules decided on by the community to promote order, harmony, peace, and to protect themselves from harmful influences. Each community has its own set of rules and each member of the community orders their lives according to the ordnung. The Amish (and we here in our community) live by the ordnung, but they do not believe that they are permitted (nor should they) push their ideas and rules on outsiders. The Amish put a very high value on the freedom of conscience, and they do not believe that any man's conscience ought to be seared or hampered by another. They extend to every man the right the right to worship according to the dictates of his conscience. They resist any attempt from outside to pressure them in the practice of their religion. The Amish believe that the Biblical law ought to rule everyone, even outsiders, but having no power to impel it, they demand it of themselves. The Ordnung, however, is for them and their well-being, and has nothing to do with outsiders. The Amish do not believe that the Bible forbids the ownership or use of automobiles, therefore, they do not judge another man on his use or disuse of one. For themselves, many of the communities have forbidden them through the ordnung, and therefore they do not own or operate them. The ordnung evidently permits them to purchase rides, and they make use of that freedom, and they do not judge the "English" who choose to make a living providing them rides. This is a fundamental difference between Baptist belief and Dominionist belief.

There is clearly no hypocrisy in this, and it is only the ignorance of outsiders that causes them to continue to impute this sin to the Amish when they don't take the time to find out what they really believe. Now, I would agree that there is as much hypocrisy in the Amish as there is in just about every other professing believer out there. Our community is not Amish, and we do not hold to every tenet of the Amish faith. But we do agree with them on their position regarding the ordnung and the conscience, and do not find it hypocritical to do so.

I hope this helps.

Michael

Ranchfest Roof Pics

10/15/07 - 2nd Day - After Breakfast. Ok, here are some of one of our Ranchfest projects. I have not yet taken pictures of Josie's cabin, so these are just of the office roof cover project. This first pic is from day one as we were starting to sink the 4x6 poles for the frame. Basically we are building a big shed roof over the camper...


This next pic shows Elder David as he digs holes with his fancy space-age post hole digging device. It is so fancy, that most of us do not know how to use it, so David demonstrates the proper use of modern hole digging technology...


Here we have the corner posts in. Bill is waiting for further instructions...


At the end of day one we had all 11 of the upright 16 foot posts up and in concrete. This pic is at the end of day two when we have most of the structure squared and ready for rafters... someday...


This next pic is taken from the creek bed which runs to the south of the camper.


This pic is from day three. We have now put on the bottom supports which will keep the structure from torquing in the winds, and which will one day (Lord Willing) serve to support the floor if I decide to make this structure into a cabin. We also have the 2x10 rafter supports up. You can also see the door opening where there will be a door when we get this structure screened in...


We received about 1/2 inch of rain so far this morning, so I haven't gone over to Josie's to take pictures of her cabin roof. I hope to do so today sometime. We are about $700 short of being able to have the roof on this office project, and about $1000 shy of having it screened in and enclosed. Hopefully we will be able to finish this soon.

The temps here have remained warm, and have only been a slight bit cooler today because of the rain. David and I got the two sows loaded up in the trailer to go to the butcher early tomorrow morning. The piglets are doing alright so far without momma. Yesterday, for fellowship, we had a ham from the Ante's pig which was butchered a week or so ago. It was very, very delicious. We also drank some of the watermelon wine from this summer's watermelon crop. Also delicious.

I hope to work on the other promised posts this week.

Your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker

Ranchfest Re-Cap

10/14/07 - The Lord's Day - After Breakfast. This is a Ranchfest re-cap prepost. By that I mean that I am not going to post the pictures of the projects yet, because I am too lazy to get up and get the camera right now. So my plan is to post the pics sometime after fellowship today.

We had a great Ranchfest, and we had such a great time that it was bittersweet to see it end. It is tiring though, and it will take me several days to recuperate completely. Everyone here enjoyed themselves immensely, and we sat around the fire last night and discussed how blessed we are to have these opportunities.

The last of our guests left yesterday, and during the week we gained a new family here in the community. Liviu Gurau, his wife Mary, their two boys (Iulian, Elisei - *uncertain on the spelling) and another one on the way - have arranged to buy 4 acres in the community and are here with us to stay. We welcome the Gurau's and pray for their success and happiness in their new agrarian endeavors.

We were able to finish most of the framing of the shed roof for the office. We could not afford to buy the rafters yet, but the rest of the frame is done and is awaiting the rafters and roofing. We finished the roof on Josie's cabin, which was a great blessing. We also mostly finished our north pasture fence, and we got one of our generators running down at the office.

On the 5th day we received some rain (less than 1/2 inch) which was nice, and the prognosticators are calling for 70% probability of rain this evening and 80% tomorrow. We'll see. We could sure use the rain.

Milking is going well, and we have had Liviu up with us every morning to learn the milking system. He is hoping to get a milk goat very soon.

I have to run and get ready for singing. I hope all is well with you all, and I will attempt to get some pictures up soon.

I am your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker

Ranchfest Update

10/10/07 - 4th Day - Early Morning. Ranchfest Greetings. I haven't updated in awhile but we have been pretty busy here at the ranch. By 2nd day evening everyone had arrived who is going to arrive for Ranchfest. I'll give you a quick update on what we have been doing.

On the Sabbath we had a large breakfast at Double H Dining in Santa Anna. Then, as we do every year, we went to the Fiesta de La Paloma in Coleman. The Fiesta was a bit bigger than last year, but if you ask me, there wasn't much to see. So we decided to go into one of the antique stores on the main street there in Coleman. We looked around for awhile and on one of the back shelves I found a little area with some old books. I perused through them, not expecting to find anything of interest. Most of the books were put there just because they looked old and not because they had any real value. That is one of the problems with antique stores. On most of the books you couldn't even read the spine to see what the book was. So I was about to give up when I saw a book entitled Joshua Gianavello. The name sounded vaguely familiar to me. I have about 3 or 4 books about a Waldensian hero with a similar name. Sometimes the name is Joshua Juneval, and sometimes you see it as Joshua Janaval. I wasn't sure if it might be the same guy, so I picked up the book and opened it up. The title page said Joshua Gianavello: The Waldensian Hero. I was excited! I couldn't believe my find. There was no price on the book, so I quickly went up to the counter to inquire as to the price. I was afraid it was going to be beyond my means so I prayed silently on my way to the register. Well, they only charged me five dollars for the book! Amen. That afternoon when we returned home I began to delve into the book, and though I was familiar with the Gianavello story in a rudimentary way, I was not prepared for how powerful this book really is.

We had a great Lord's Day fellowship with singing and food and a lot of talk. We had a good campfire that night and I asked everyone if they wanted me to read in the Gianavello book and they all did. So I read two chapters that night.

On the 2nd Day we got to work on our projects, knowing that funds would be really tight and that we might be standing around most of the week. We divided into two teams and one team went over to Josie's cabin to start putting the roof on it. My team went down to my new office camper in the woods. Our project would be starting to build a large shed roof cover/catchwater over the camper. We had a pile of 16 foot long 4x6's and we began digging the holes for them. It was quite a job, but we got all the upright 4x6's put in concrete during the day. The other team was really moving out and finished Josie's roof the first day. The good news is that we worked hard and got a lot done. The bad news is that we were virtually out of money already and we still had the whole week still to go! Our back-up plan if the money came in was to put the sheathing on Josie's cabin. That night we gathered around the fire again and, by demand, I read three more chapters in the Gianavello book.

On Tuesday we stayed together as one team since we didn't have the money to work any more on Josie's cabin. I had a large stack of used 2x6's from when we tore down an old house, so we all went to the office work site and began working on the shed roof structure. Once again we accomplished all we had planned for the day. In addition, we found that several of the folks had skills that came in useful. Bill Braley was able to identify what was wrong with my pickup truck and he told me what to do to solve the problem. Bill and Larry got together and got the generator in the office motorhome working and running like a top. We were also able to do some troubleshooting on the electrical system in it. Larry also began work on getting another generator that we salvaged from an RV running. So all-in-all we had a great day. Last night we read two more long chapters in the Gianavello book and everyone is really enjoying it. Elder David said "It's a hit!".

So, here I sit on the morning of the 4th day. We have 3 more working days of ranchfest and not a dime to work with. So today we will be helping out with some of the other projects we had going before ranchfest. Some of the guys will be stretching pasture fence on the north end of the east pasture. I am sitting here trying to think of some other projects we can work on. If some money comes in today, we will get the rafters for the shed roof and get back to work on that.

The ladies have made some dynamite food this week, and we are all eating really, really well. We are all looking forward to the Longhorn hamburger cookout on the evening of the 6th day. The butcher called last night and told us the hamburger would be ready to be picked up this morning.

The pigs are doing great and (Lord willing) we will be taking the momma pig to the butcher on the third day next week.

It turned a bit cooler last night, and was about 14 degrees cooler this morning. This was our first morning in the low 50's and everyone is walking around like it is the dead of winter.

Anyway, Ranchfest is going great. We are all having a blast and the fellowship is really good.

The Joshua Gianavello book was written by Russell H. Conwell and was published by the American Baptist Publication Society in 1884. I recommend it highly, but don't know if you'll be able to find one. I did a google search and didn't find any online, though it is listed at Amazon. We are discussing either transcribing it, or having me read it and making it available as a free audio download. We'll see.

Hope all is well with you all,

Michael Bunker

Ranchfest and the Feast of the Dove

10/05/07 - 6th Day - Midday. Preparation of the Sabbath. Today is the "official" first day of Ranchfest, though most of the folks won't be here until later. We had a lot of cancellations once again, but still will have a pretty good showing. The Gurau's from Portland arrived yesterday evening with their 2 children. We had a great, but short, time of fellowship last night as well. Today we got up at 5ish as usual to milk the cow, then we began our ranch chores as usual. We expecting at least two Ranchfest guests to arrive today, and another couple tomorrow. More will arrive during the coming week. Tomorrow we are having a community breakfast in Santa Anna, followed by the annual "Fiesta de La Paloma" (Festival of the Dove) in Coleman which we go to every year, which rings in the annual hunting season. I'll try to keep everyone abreast of the happenings as they happen.

I hope everyone is reading and studying my mini-series on going off-grid. I hope to have another part up in the next day or two. I also will be sending out a mini Q&A today and posting it here, so look forward to a two-post day today on this blog.

Weather is beautiful - or as my dad used to say "The weather is here, wish you were beautiful".

Your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker