This weekend the family and I went out to the property to do some tidying up. It’s been raining here a lot and couple that with our southern sunshine, a lot of growth has happened. Unfortunately, we don’t own any heavy farm equipment yet. So, we had to make due with what we could get our hands on, and at that moment, that was a truck and a brush hog rental.
The last time we saw the property, which wasn’t that long ago, there was just some overgrowth of the field. This time, in that same field, TREES were growing up. We grossly underestimated the work that was going to need to be done that day. At any rate, we did what we could with the equipment we had. Our original intent to go out there was to cut some brush away so that we can get our culverts placed. But we ended up also clearing out the area around the shed too. The kiddos got in on the action and they did great! The girl-child learned how to use the weed-eater and the boy-child did what he does best – mow the lawn. Of course, that was only done after Antoine cut in front with the brush hog. I of course took on managerial duties, was in charge of equipment hauling, and documentation 😉
Right after, Antoine cut a path to lead us toward the front of the property. We ran into a complete wall of green. He, with the help of the brush hog, managed to get us a few feet in. However, between the heat and our lack of heavy machinery we decided to call it quits. BUT not before I caught a glimpse of what I thought were…wait for it….ELDERBERRIES!! I was too tired and sweaty to try to make sure. I was just ready to get some water and sit down somewhere – carrying equipment and thermoses and gas cans is heavy work for a little person like me.
The next day Antoine’s mother came into town and we took her out to see the land. I decided to use that opportunity to see if those really were elderberries. I grabbed my handy-dandy book, Nature’s Garden, on wild eats and we headed out.
Low and behold, those were indeed elderberries! And not only did we discover those, but his mother discovered three more pecan trees, grape vines, and berry bushes. Y’all, I think we hit the mother-load with this land!
God truly provides. For the children of Israel He gave them land flowing with milk and honey. For us, He gave land loaded with nuts and berries! LOL This just gives us more motivation to get out there. Winter is coming. With those elderberries I can make some nice syrup for almost free instead of buying it at the store for an arm and a leg. And with the pecans…my daddy can make his Thanksgiving pecan pie!
Stay tuned. We hope to bring you more discoveries from the property as we begin to clean it up and prepare it for living on – hopefully very soon.
Take care!