"There seem to be but three ways for a nation to acquire wealth. The first is by war, as the Romans did, in plundering their conquered neighbors. This is robbery. The second by commerce, which is generally cheating. The third by agriculture, the only honest way, wherein man receives a real increase of the seed thrown into the ground, in a kind of continual miracle, wrought by the hand of God in his favor, as a reward for his innocent life and his virtuous industry."- Benjamin Franklin

The picture is of various greens that I just harvested out of our garden today. It's the 11th of January with 41 degrees temp., which feels like a tropical heat wave considering the -9 degrees this past week. I have a cloth over 2 4x8 beds and the other beds are various sizes with different amount of Remay over them. Some have only 1 layer while others had up to 4 layers. What I noticed that each were producing well! All but the 2 4x8 beds had snow piled on top of them and yet they are growing and thriving. Amazing! It's so inspiring to know that I can and will continue to grow various greens, onions, lettuce for my family, so that we can have the most nutritious foods throughout the winter months.

Gardening is a metaphor for life, teaching you to nourish new life and weed out that which cannot succeed.” —Nelson Mandela

         Chick'n Style Seasoning (Vegan)                                                


2 cups nutritional yeast flakes
1/3 c. salt
1/3 c. onion powder
1/4 c. Italian seasoning
1/4 c. parsley
1/8 c. raw sugar such as: sucanat or cane juice crystals
1 1/2 Tlb. garlic powder
3/4 tsp. celery seed
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

1. Blend all ingredients in a blender to a fine powder.
2. Store in an air tight container

Can be used in place of  bouillon. Add 1 tablespoon of Chick'n style seasoning to 1 cup of water. You can double this recipe easily and it stores very well as long as you keep it dry.

This morning while I was preparing breakfast I heard the familiar sound of a bird hitting the window. This one sounded particularly hard and I went to see about the creature. I lifted the shade and there was a Cedar Waxwing laying on the porch with his mouth open gasping for air and the bird could not sit up and its feet were drawn tight and unable to support its weight. . I quickly went out to see if I could make this birds last few moments more comfortable and as I picked it up it defecated which could be another sign this its life was passing. I stroked the bird gently and begin to implore God to heal this tiny creature. I took the bird and placed it on the dogs pillow outside and moved the pillow into the sunshine. I returned back into the house and began talking with God how he had shown me many miracles in my life and that I never tire of seeing them and that I wasn't a person who chased after so-called miracles. I then ask him to heal this tiny bird and that I knew that he loved this creature and wanted to heal it...so , I ask him once again to heal him because I knew He could. I would look out from time to time to see if there was any change in the birds  condition and each time i looked out the birds breathing was less laborious and he began to look around!  Eric and I discussed giving him some water and Eric reminded me we had an eyedropper that would be useful, so I went and found the eyedropper. I filled the eyedropper with filtered water and went out to see if the bird would take some water and he looked at me and the eye dropper and flew away...What Joy!! Miracles are evidence that God is Creator of all living creatures, and let no man steal away the preciousness of this truth. Keep Awake! Your Miracle today is just waiting for you to see it.

Love,

Sheila