Last year, as some of the moms in my church were planning to start a private homeschool together, I was asked to teach science for them. It ended up being 5 girls, all middle school aged, and we had a great year. It was a lot of fun to teach them, because we had the freedom to do lots of hands on activities and field trips. I've been asked to teach for them again next year, and I'm really looking forward to it.
One of the girls that I taught lives on a big farm. Her father plants a gigantic garden every year and told all of the teachers that he always plants way too much and can't eat it all, and invited us to sharecrop with him. We can go to the farm and put in time hoeing, weeding, and helping can stuff as it comes ripe, and in return we get free produce. My husband and I, who were already balking at how expensive food is getting, jumped at the chance. So for the last few weeks we've been going out to the farm a couple of times a week and spending an hour or two hoeing. Things have started coming ripe, and we've had so many delicious salads recently! There is a big stocked pond right beside the garden, and we had also been invited to fish there if we wanted. Today was the first day we had an opportunity to take them up on that.
At about 2:00, my husband, my sister Suzanne, her boyfriend Dave and I loaded the boys in the car and headed to the farm. We weeded the two rows of potatos (2 rows! We'll have potatos all year!) in record time with three of us weeding while Suzanne watched the boys. Then we headed to the pond, where we realized we had nothing to use for bait. Suzanne quickly caught a grasshopper and I found some crackers in the diaper bag that we crushed and tossed in the water, and we were off and running. Time ticked by with lots of nibbles but no bites. We decided we needed better bait.
After a bit of mourning the fact that we didn't have a net (because plenty of tiny brim were swarming at the surface to eat the cracker bits) I realized that I had a ring sling made of Solarveil in the car and hey, that's pretty close to a net, right? So we unstrung the sling out of the rings and lowered the center section into the water, sprinkled a few crackers over it and waited. In no time we had caught a little fish, the size of the palm of my hand! Ian thought it was super cool. He rubbed it and told me about its colors. Then we led him away while "Uncle Dave" chopped it up into bits for bait. PG and Dave fished for another hour or so with no luck. A storm was rolling in, so we were getting ready to pack it up. PG was reeling in his line so we could go when BAM! something hit on it! He reeled it in and had hooked a big bass, about as long as my forearm! We were just tickled pink! Dave cast his line out where PG had caught the fish and within minutes he had hooked something big as well. It took his line and pulled it out under the dock and snapped it right off. What a disapointment! The one that got away! The storm was getting closer so we tossed our things in the car, grabbed some potatos, squash, and onions from the garden, and headed home.
PG left shortly after to go on a hiking and camping trip for the weekend with some of our other friends. Suzanne played with the boys while Dave and I cleaned the fish and got dinner going. What a great meal! We had bass filets cooked with onions, garlic, and rosemary, boiled squash with onions, and cheesy mashed potatos. Everything tastes better when you grow it yourself! We can't wait to go fishing there again. Maybe Dave will catch that big one next time!
Praises/Prayers for the day:
Praise God for good food to eat and good times spent with family and friends. I praise Him for sending people into our lives who will share their bounty with us. We can rest in the knowledge that if things get really bad, or grocery money is not there, we can go to the farm and have food.
Please join me in praying for PG's safety this weekend, as well as our friends who went camping with him. They are planning to hike and camp for 4 days in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. They will be back country camping in tents for 3 nights. I'm praying that everyone comes home healthy and with great stories.
God Bless!
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