In Jesus' parable about the sowing of the word of God he uses the metaphor of seeds on soil and how they take root on good ground. Just as we need to cultivate our faith in a healthy manner we also need to cultivate our lifestyle to bring health to our bodies. The temple of the body and the temple of the soul are united, and at the second coming both will once again be reunited in glorified bodies. In Good Ground we (Brendan and Bobbie) share our journey toward healthy living for our family.
Stone Grinding Flour
One of the tasks of the mothers of the home in Nazareth was to fresh mill flour early in the morning to make the daily bread for the family. Mary, the Mother of Jesus, would have done this and would have used a stone mill. I looked into electric mills, especially ones made in Germany but felt drawn to a hand mill for the fact that it can be used without electricity and gives a good workout as well. Proverbs 31 mentions the woman “girds herself with strength and makes her arms strong” (Proverbs 31:17). There is also the prayerful aspect of something off grid. It isn't as noisy and one can set their mind and heart on God even while milling. It also lends to relationship. It is easy enough to allow even your children to help and be involved in the milling and the kneading of the dough. Not everything we do needs to be by machine and fast. What if this slow process of stone grinding flour and making bread by hand lends itself to an atmosphere of warmth and love? It makes time and room for being present to our loved ones from start to finish of the bread making process. With all the machines we seem to be even more rushed. There's a balance that can be reached here. For myself, I have come to love even more the process of doing things by hand for its quiet, relational and strengthening aspects. It is the sound of a manual stone mill that can still be heard in either the early morning hours or else late at night in the town of Nazareth. It brings me back a little closer to the simplicity yet hard work that made up the life of Jesus, Mary and Joseph the Holy Family.
Wolffstead Rising
We met with a contractor on Saturday, May 24 ('25), and by mid-week the driveway and parking pad were done. We passed an excavator on the road to the property and the contractor said that it was his buddy's. He borrowed it and started the work the next day. I was shocked at his promptness...and on Memorial Day weekend no less. My plan was simply to get a short distance away from the access road and be able to park on a pad. The location we picked I believe was the best place to put it in due to the fact that the property slope was the most gentle from the road. Looking forward to seeing it when we go back to camp on it.
After the completion of the short drive and parking pad I set my mind to what is next for our land. I will probably sit out this fall and winter and in late spring of '26 have helical piers (piles) set as a foundation for a cabin. In doing research I settled on the piers – which usually resemble augurs – that are screwed into the ground below frost level to a depth determined suitable for strength and stability as determined by torque pressure. At least that is the professional way. There are DIY versions that one can install by themselves and watching YouTube videos of guys going around in circles using 2'x4's to screw their cheap home improvement versions is entertaining and horrifying: entertaining because you know it is not going to work well and horrifying because these guys really think (at least initially) that their efforts will support a cabin and are going to be out a lot of money if they get far into the process. It is not beneath me to experiment doing my own DIY version for a shed down the road, but for now I'm wanting a foundation for a family cabin and I want it to last indefinitely so am not willing to cut corners. I was planning on doing a post & pad structure, but since I am not building on the parking pad and have no intention of extending the driveway that means there is no access road to where I want to build up the hill. I thought that meant, in turn, that I would need to do all the work in getting equipment and supplies to the building location to do all the labor myself. Then I discovered helical piers. According to their literature, local professionals who drive the metal piles should have no problem in getting to my building area(s), whether they are driving them using traditional equipment or – especially - their own specialty rig for the job. I like this idea for several reasons. If done correctly (that's always the key isn't it?) these piers should provide a stable and long-lasting foundation for any structure. By not extending my drive up the hill (costing me $15-20k?) there will not be any scaring of the property to create runoff and erosion concerns. The same applies to cutting into my hillside to level a spot for a building pad. The downside is that I will still need to get supplies up the hill with or without a road once the piers are installed and what kind of scaring will be done to the land by that? I suppose a lot of that depends on timing and intensity. The companies that drive the piers say they can do it year-round, but my intention is to immediately build my foundation on the piers once they are installed (which would take a few hours) and for that I want the ground to be dry.
