The latter part of Matthew 10:8, "Freely you have received; freely give," certainly wasn't spoken by Christ in the context of a pea patch.  But the principle got us to thinking here at Alderman Farms.

We have been so abundantly blessed by the LORD in so many ways, tangible and intangible, that we figured it would be only appropriate to pass some of those blessings along to others.

So here's the plan:  the area at the front of our property, pictured above, will soon be planted with peas.  Once they are up, we'll place two yard signs out by the road.  One will be our Alderman Farms signs, and the other will say something to the effect of "Get you some," or "Peas: Free for the Pickin', so Help Yourself."

We certainly recognize that there may be some benefit to doing this: we may begin cultivating future CSA customers (we are considering beginning a CSA for veggies and a "share" program for pork), we may pick up some future Farmers Market customers, and so forth.  But you just have to trust us when we say it's not about marketing, it's about blessing.  Of course, experience and Scripture have taught us that "you can't out-give God," so we know the blessings we give with pure intentions will be returned to us in various ways.  Again, that ain't why we're doing it.  We just really want to share in the bounty.

We'll keep updating our progress here, so hey - when the peas are in, come get you some!

(By the way, the green strip on the right side of the patch above is an electric fence line that doesn't show up well in the photo.  To the right of the green line, inside the fence, we will soon plant field corn that we'll harvest for the critters at Alderman Farms.)

Boy, we've had a tough go of it in the garden this year so far!  From unseasonably cold weather to day after day of 4-inches-at-a-pop rain, and we've found ourselves replanting time after time.  In fact, we've replanted everything twice, and some items three times.  We'll soon even plant some now empty spots for a fourth time in the corn and snap bean rows!

But we finally got a break in the torrential rainfall for just a few days, and yesterday we were able to do a little maintenance work in our main garden plot.  Here are the photos taken yesterday, showing our progress:

Patti has been threatening to buy a seeder for some time now.  She's been shopping online, comparing prices, looking for the best deal.  Hey, we're all about being thrifty and frugal.  A while ago she settled on Earthway's Model # 1001-B Precision Garden Seeder, and today she discovered she could buy one locally.  At $109.00, it was a little higher than the prices she'd found on line so far, but the convenience of being able to get it today, plus no shipping costs, and it made sense to grab it.

I have to tell you, when we first examined the contraption, we didn't have very high hopes that it would work as advertised.  I mean, the little chain dragging behind the thing was supposed to cover the seed?  Really?  Well, yes.  Really.  It worked like a charm, and saved us a tremendous amount of time as soon as we put it together (which was a snap and didn't take long at all)
The blade-looking thing in the photo above is a small plow.  Behind the plow is a groove through which the seeds are dropped from the hopper to the ground.

Inside the hopper, from which the seeds are deposited downward, there are interchangeable wheels designed to fit a wide variety of seeds.  The seeds shown are snap beans.  The wheel, or plate, works in a fashion similar to old-fashioned water wheels that would power grist mills: as the wheel makes a revolution, the little "cups" on the wheel pick up the beans one at a time for delivery down the shoot that runs behind the plow shaft toward the ground.  That delivery system seemed very efficient to us, and Patti noted that she used fewer beans than she expected to use, although each row was fully planted.  It must've been due to the controlled release of the beans, resulting in no wasted beans accidentally cast aside hither and yon.

We timed how long it took us to plant four rows of snap beans, and it took right at six minutes to plant four rows.  In fact, it only took three minutes to plant the first three rows, but we hadn't loaded the hopper with enough beans for the last row, so the additional three  minutes it took for the last row included walking to and from where the bag of seeds were located, and loading the hopper.

We didn't intend on conducting a comparison by planting a row without the seeder, but we ended up doing so because there wasn't a plate/wheel with cups big enough for the butter beans!  We were sorely disappointed by that fact, but were later relieved to learn that additional wheels can be purchased which will fit virtually any size seed.  Anyway, since we didn't have the right wheel for the butter beans, and the butter beans needed to be planted, we took the opportunity to see how long it took for one person to open a furrow, plant the seeds, and cover the seeds in one row.  Answer: six minutes.  Yep, it took the same time to do one row by hand that it took to do four rows using the seeder.  Amazing.

In the final analysis, though we certainly need a few more wheels to fit a few more seed sizes (it came with several, just not the right one for our butter beans), we couldn't be happier with how the seeder performed.  It's not every day you can find a device to cut your effort by such a huge percentage.  Below is our video product review:

And here is the link to the video in case there's an issue with the embed:                                               http://youtu.be/TZZ0XXEM4To

Of all our YouTube videos, the one with the most views (twice as many as the next closest) demonstrates a simple method of tightening 2X4 welded wire fencing.  In fact, the last time I searched YouTube for "how to tighten fence," this video was in the number one spot in the non-sponsored search results.  Here it is, for your viewing pleasure:

My encouragement to you here, if you are a blogger, is this: don't assume your tip is too simple to share!  There are plenty of folks out there who can benefit from your knowledge, and who are hungry for it, however simple it may seem to you.  And remember this: there was a time when you didn't know how to do what you now know how to do!  Aren't you glad someone shared their knowledge with you? ;-)

So, what "simple" tip can you share with the world?  Someone out there needs to know...they're just waiting for you to show them!

~ Tommy

The Biblical admonition to "raise up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it" is not, of course, a direct command to teach my grandson how to operate a tractor & front-end loader.  Nor is it a promise that he won't forget, either.   In fact, Solomon wasn't making any sort of promise, but simply expressing a principle.  Dr. John MacArthur explains it this way:  "How many times have you seen a parent cling to that verse in desperation as they watch defiant children forsake all they were taught?  Some children sit under loving, prayerful instruction from their parents, only to later shame them with a scandalous lifestyle.  It’s heartbreaking, isn’t it?  But Solomon’s proverb is not meant to be a gilt-edged guarantee your child will eventually trust Christ and live righteously.  Solomon is simply saying early training usually secures lifelong habits. It’s a charge to give great care and consistency to how and what you teach your children.  God promises to bless us for parental faithfulness, but that doesn’t necessarily mean our children will be saved.  They have their own relationship with God to work out. (emphasis mine)" [Source, "Parental Mythbusting]  

Certainly, our primary responsibilities as parents and grandparents is to teach our young ones to love their Creator, to help them understand their need for a Savior, and to train them to be obedient servants and courageous witnesses for their Master.  When we do such, we pray that the principle spoken of by Solomon will hold true for our little ones - that the lessons will take hold, that the Spirit of God will use the implanted Seed of His Word to draw them to the cross, and that they will live their lives as active, attractive Believers - even into old age.  But the principle has value even beyond those primary, most-important considerations.

We should also be teaching our children the value of hard work, the truths associated with sowing & reaping, how a single grain produces abundance, and other such agricultural principles - all found in scripture, and all having application in life, as well as the garden.

"In all toil there is profit,but mere talk tends only to poverty."  ~Prov 14:23 (ESV)

"Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox."
  ~ Prov 14:4 (ESV)

"Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it."
  ~ Prov 13:11 (ESV)

"As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same."
  ~ Job 4:8 (ESV)

"Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap."
  ~ Galatians 6:7 (ESV

"The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully."  ~ 2 Corinthians 9:6 (ESV)

"For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life."  ~ Galatians 6:8 (ESV)

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."  ~ John 12:24 (ESV)

It's never too early to begin imparting truth to children.  When they are young, they soak it up like water into a dry sponge.  Their ability to grasp hold of concepts is astonishing:  our grandson, who is not yet two years old, has been learning sign language for months.  Patti has taught him how to say "please," "more," "food," "I love you," and "on."  The last one is his favorite anytime he gets near Paw Paw's tractor, as he frantically slaps the back of his left hand with his right palm as if to say "ON, ON, ON, ON!!"  It's entirely too cute.  And there's nothing sweeter than for him to sign "I love you" without being prompted to do so...except for when he offers a kiss on the lips, just because he thinks about it.  My heart melts.

And I am amazed at what he picks up just by observation.  You should see him when he sits on my tractor: he works the steering wheel, then his little hands go from knob to knob, grabbing and wiggling every lever within his reach.  He doesn't understand what they do, but he already knows they do SOMETHING.  Well, he knows for sure what one of them does:
                          Click here--> watch him in this video clip.  ;-)

Yeah, it's too early to really teach him the meaning of the scriptures quoted above, but it's not too early to begin preparing the soil of his heart.  How can I do that?  By involving him.  By loving him with my time.

Parents, take note: when your children are little, they want to be like you.  They want to do what you do, so bring them in.  Sure, part of the reason my grandson loves PawPaw's tractor is because he is a little boy and there's just something about little boys and big ol' machines.  But I also believe that he loves PawPaw's tractor because it's PawPaw's, and he loves PawPaw.

We spent a couple of hours yesterday, just walking around...climbing on and off the tractor...sitting by the woodpile...sitting on logs...watching the dogs play.  As "work" is measured, I didn't get much done.  But my prayer is that the soil of his little heart was turned yet again, making it more and more receptive to the Good Seed headed it's way.

~ Tommy

This post shared at Homestead Abundance Blog Hop

We don't have enough mulch in our Back to Eden Garden yet, but Patti found these little alien egg-looking potatoes in our outside fridge (which we use for chilling milk), so we decided to plant them and see what happens!

We filmed the process, and the video can be found here:  Plantin' Taters

 ~ Tommy

If you've been to our Acknowledgements page, you know how much we owe to Mr. Thomas Carl "Stump" Easley.  We think about him often, but especially today, which would've been his birthday.  In honor of his memory, we are reposting the very first instructional YouTube video from Alderman Farms, "How to Set a Corner Post WITHOUT Concrete!"  (Click the title to open the video).

Mr. Stump taught us many things, but setting corner posts without concrete has by far been the most useful and time-saving thing.  Thanks, Mr. Stump!

The man upon whose gardening techniques the "Back to Eden" film is based, Paul, talks about the properties of tree limb mulch in great detail.  One that caught my ear is that when there is too much water, it spreads it out and eliminates mud.  The pathway that leads from our back deck toward the barn has long been a muddy mess, staying muddy long after a rain, so we decided to cover it with tree-limb mulch and see how it performed.

It POURED rain here last night.  There was enough rain to drown fish, so it was a perfect test of the mulch and I couldn't wait to get a look at it this morning.

I certainly wasn't disappointed - it worked just as we'd hoped that it would.

I walked to and fro (I love saying "to and fro"), and though there was standing water all over the yard, there was none squishing beneath my shoes - absolutely none.  You'd have to really know how much rain we got to fully appreciate that, I reckon, but color me impressed.

Here is the link to a video I just uploaded:  Mulch Pathway Update.

Thanks for reading!

~ Tommy

The 116 acres of land that is "Alderman Farms" just outside of Brookhaven, Mississippi was originally part of an entire Section of land (640 acres) obtained by Tommy's great-great grandfather, Enoch, as a land grant from the United States government in the 1800's. Through the many years since then, a good many of those original acres wound up in the hands of now distant relatives, plus the section of land directly south of the original came into the family through marriage. Eventually, approximately 360 acres of land remained in Tommy's line, from Enoch to William Thomas Alderman, then to John Wesley Alderman, Tommy's grandfather.

Tommy's father, Ralph Thomas Alderman, was one of four children born to John Wesley Alderman. When the time came for John Wesley to distribute the land to his children, he did so in the following manner:

The oldest son was to get 80 acres and a house.
Each of the two daughters would also get 80 acres and a house (one of which was in the southern section mentioned above).
That left my Dad's portion, which was 120 acres instead of 80 for two reasons - there was no house on the portion, and it was covered with "worthless timber." Funny how things change. In those days, pine trees were things that got in the way of farming - they needed to be removed in order to plant crops. Today, however, pine trees are the number one cash crop in Mississippi. Tommy's father smiled about that turn-around many times.

It was also just as well that there was no house on the portion deeded to Ralph, as he had no intention of living there. When the opportunity to move to Baton Rouge for an excellent job at the Exxon Refinery (now ExxonMobil), he jumped at the chance. He would ultimately retire from Exxon after a long and prosperous career.

Ralph settled his family in Baker, LA, just north of Baton Rouge. Tommy was born in Louisiana, and his only sister, Sheila, spent all but her first few years there.

Throughout most of his younger days, Tommy can remember only a few trips to the "family property" in Mississippi. With both of his parents growing up during the depression, working their fingers to the bone from daylight to dark, neither held particularly fond memories of the land. Therefore Tommy didn't have much of a chance to develop fond memories of it either. Until he met Patti, that is.

Patti's father, who died when she was eight years old, had instilled a love of camping in his youngest daughter. Though Tommy hadn't done much camping in his life before marrying Patti, he was happy to take up the pastime in order to please her.

Coincidentally, a favorite childhood camping spot for Patti's family was the "Clear Springs" recreational area near Roxie, MS, not far from the land of Tommy's heritage. After several camping trips to Clear Springs, Tommy said to Patti one day, almost in passing, "You know, we have some property not too far from here."

It was love at first sight, and they never camped at Clear Springs again.

Before long, in fact, Tommy solicited the assistance of several friends with carpentry skills who chipped in to build a camp house on the very spot where the "old house" used to sit - the house in which Tommy's dad was born. That house burned to the ground when Ralph was 10 years old, and was completely consumed except for portions of the brick chimney and brick walkway.

After spending an entire spring holiday in the cabin, camping for a little more than a week in the fresh air, it wasn't long before Tommy and Patti knew that they'd found their home.

So in the fall of 2000, Tommy & Patti loaded up the family (including the goats & chickens), and headed for the hills.  The rest is, as they say, history - but it's history...and heritage...still in the making.

Edited to Add:  Here is a link to a video supplement to this blog, filmed at the Alderman Family Cemetery: 
       Homestead Heritage - Alderman Ancestry - How we ended up here at Alderman Farms


[Note:  the Alderman Family Cemetery was established by W.T. Alderman, who deeded 1 acre of the property to the cemetery itself, thereby ensuring it could never be sold.  That transaction cut the 120 acres down to 119.  Additionally, he deeded another 3 acres to establish a small church nearby, which explains the 116 acres Tommy & Patti now occupy.]

What a gorgeous day here at Alderman Farms!!!  Sky is as clear as a bell, blue as "all get out," with Spring temperatures.   Birds are chirping, baby goats are bouncing around, and there are young 'uns in the woods chopping things.  All is right in our world.

So the question is, when the clock strikes 5PM, what to do, what to do???  Do I split wood in order to get a head start on next year's supply (or more for this year if we hit some more cold weather)?  Do I hit the woods to search out downed trees for the same purpose?  

Do I work on the pile we'll use for a bonfire tomorrow night, or put that off until tomorrow?

Or do I grab a folding chair, a big cup of sweet tea (hey, Jack!), and enjoy the day among the goats and other critters with my lovely bride?  Decisions, decisions.

Tell me what YOU think I should do - and while you're at it, tell me how you'll spend your evening on this fine day, and what plans you have for the weekend.

~ Tommy