I need to bring you up to date!

Whew, life has been busy!  I got so busy with all that we have going on that the blog got overlooked.  Sorry for that!  Here is a quick update on some of that has been going on the last couple of years.

  1. We have added a freeze dryer to our food preservation process.  We have pressure canned and water bathed for years all kinds of fruits and veggies, but in 2024 we tried a freeze dryer.  I was asked to speak at a homesteading conference in Oklahoma (The Okie Homestead Conference) and met a wonderful couple that convinced us we needed a freeze dryer.  We absolutely love it!

2. We have done more traveling doing speaking and teaching events around the states.  We have been in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Oklahoma, etc.  It has been humbling to get to share some of the things we are passionate about and I believe can help our communities.  

3. Because of our traveling we have had to shrink back some of the things we are doing at farm.  Our kids are growing up and one by one leaving for their own homesteads and futures.  That means we are losing some help.  That's okay!  I wouldn't want it any other way.  The kids need to be able to spread their wings and do the things that they are passionate about.  It is cool to see them continue in some of the things they loved while home or them to start their own homesteads.

4. As we travel and engage more and more people, I am so encouraged with the amount of people who are rethinking food and agriculture.  I see other families just like ours that are starting to ask questions about health and the connection to the food supply.  Big Ag is killing the farmer!  I have talked to so many commodity-based farmers who don't want a farm bill (why you ask...because it assures Big Ag will get their overinflated prices for seed, fertilizer, and machinery).  I'm also encouraged that families that are still stuck with Big Ag are starting to grow more of their own food, buy more local meat and support suppliers like Azure Standard.  

5. Overall, the American people are a creative, get-er done, don't push me kind of people!  Bureaucrats, Big Ag, Big Pharms, Big Food has overplayed their hands!!!  And now they are going to pay the price for exploiting the health of the American people.  Mommas are going to break these companies with their pocketbooks and their Instagram accounts.  

I'm more encourage that ever before!  God is on the move in America, people are awaking, lives are being changed and the darkness is genuinely scared!  Keep walking in the light and the darkness cannot prevail!

THE BOOK IS READY!

 Yes, my first book is now available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle.  Look for it ..........

Top 3 Mistakes Homesteaders Make: And Proven Ways to Avoid Them: Hufford, Mark: 9798393554620: Amazon.com: Books

One principle that has help guide our lives!

 One of our life motto's has been "anticipate the best but plan for the worst"!  This principle has guided many of the decisions we have faced throughout life.  I want to live in the positive, living as an optimist.  Looking for the good around us.  It is a healthy way of living and makes you a much more pleasant person to be around.  Looking for the best is found in our faith in God.  It is His goodness and sovereignty that settles our hearts and minds in the midst of life.  It has to start there....with a settled soul!  This place of settledness would be called the peace of God!  Because of the goodness of God we live with hope.  Hope is an anchor for the soul.  It gives us the ability to be optimistic in the midst of difficult times.  The other half of this quote is the planning part.  It is "wisdom applied".  Wisdom tells us to plan, plan wisely!  Be prepared as much as possible in your planning, then trust God for a better outcome.  

A few practical applications of this principle:

1. Plan and plant the best seed you can, nurture and water the plants anticipating a great harvest, but keep some seed back just in case of a crop failure.

2. When taking a road trip, look forward to the great time you will be having as a family.  Enjoy all the sites and sounds of nature, make the best memories possible, but keep a $100 bill in your wallet, gas 1/2 full in your automobile fuel tank, an atlas in the vehicle.  Be sure the spare tire and tools are in the trunk!

I hope that this principle will be a blessing in your lives also..... as we remember to keep "oil in the lamp"!

NEW VIDEO RELEASE - Money saving tip

 (1) Two money saving tips for starting a poultry flock. - YouTube

EXCITING NEWS!!

 We are so excited to announce that we are getting ready to release our first book!  We are finishing up the editing process and getting ready for the next step.  Please stay tuned, the book is filled with multiple personal stories and experience!  Lessons learned from nearly 30 years of homesteading and preparing our family for the unstable times we live in.  You can be as ready as possible also, PREPARE now!

PREPARE! That is the word on my mind recently.

The state of living prepared is intentionality!  Intentional is doing what is needed to be done in the present to be ready for the future.  The intentional farmer plans and prepares for a harvest long before the harvest season.  He or she, starts months in advance!  They are intentional!  A very wise person once said, "Whoever works his farmland will have abundant food, but whoever chases fantasies will become very poor."  Prov. 28:19

Some ways to be intentional that you may be prepared:

1. Start your seedlings early so they are ready to plant when the soil is ready in the spring.

2. Have some extra fuel stored on the homestead 

3. Split next year's firewood this year or two years in advance

4. Keep some cash on hand

5. Start your chicks early as possible in the late winter/early spring.  Remember it takes 18-20 weeks to have eggs from those mature chicks.

6. Build relationships with your neighbors.  You might need them sometime!

7. Prepare your heart & mind for possible difficult days!  Find Peace with God and learn to trust HIM!

8. Learn a new skill or trade that would have value if you needed to draw from it.

9. Exercise thrift!

10. Minimize dependence on the national infrastructure! 

Ben Franklin once said, "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail"!

Let's not be found without oil in our lamps!

Time tested method of preserving pork! Video

 I put a new video over on YouTube showing an excellent way of storing your pork without refrigeration.  You can find it here at this link:  

(6) Century's old method of preserving meat. - Salt Pork! - YouTube

What an experience!

 I wouldn't call us movie stars but.....we did get an opportunity to be involved in a film project.  We learnt so much!  The film crew, cast and production people were great to work with.  We met people from all over the United States, each bringing their expertise to complete the project.  Our part was providing two teams of oxen.  Our big team were the "stars" of the show.  They are in most of the sets with the lead actors.  I (Mark) got the opportunity to "fill in" for the lead and drive the oxen.  Of course, you won't know it is me, since my face is mostly covered with hat and scarf.  It was a lot of fun and we are so grateful to get the opportunity to experience this part of life.  Here are a few photo's!

                         The river crossing scene, wagons going west crossing the Mississippi River.  My                                                              daughter is in the far-left corner in the cape!

                        

                               The filming crew getting the set ready for shooting the river crossing.

Me filling in for the main actor driving!

The scene driving the oxen for the main actor.

Scene setup for one of the shots starting our day.

2023, what will it be like?

 Changes, challenges and choices!

The year has already started out with changes.  Changes in agriculture, finance, culture & faith.  All of these areas effect our personal lives.  We live in a changing world.  Some are good..... many are bad!  Life is full of changes; I like the good ones...like a new grand baby to our married son and daughter in law, the weather changing from several days of gloomy weather to sunny and warm, a newborn calf, the abundant harvest.  We need to embrace change, realize it is a reality and be flexible to "keep from getting bent out of shape"! 😊

Challenges, they come our way.  A 5k marathon, growing a new garden, trying to master a skill can all be challenges.  They can be used to strengthen us, grow us, or do we can allow them to defeat us.  I want to choose to learn and grow by them.  I personally don't like when things are to challenging but am learning, it is in the challenge that growth comes, and I want more personal growth.

Choices!  This is what it boils down to.  How am I going to choose to respond to the issues of life.  Do I choose to walk in the truth, to embrace the goodness of God and the blessings HE imparts to me in life.  Do I choose wisdom and virtue?  Do I choose to overcome evil with good?  Do I choose to change the course I am on to adapt to the challenges of life?  

I look forward to 2023!  I hope you do to?

It is a good day at the farm!

 

The three amigos'!  These three steers are having a good time eating the yummy hay.  One is going to be leaving soon for Kentucky.  A customer is wanting some AMD's on their farm and we are glad to help them get started with such a great breed.

We have fun teaching agriculture and American history!

 For many people including some in our family, history is boring.  Unrelatable and dry!  Then in 2017 oxen came into our lives unexpectedly.  They created a whole new opportunity to live history.  Wow what an adventure and thrill.  Having the oxen not only took us back to a later day, but it challenged us to research how people thought in those days.  How their economic situation determined their behavior and positions.  How their religious beliefs influenced their behavior and priorities.  We now have the blessing of teaching others some of the things we have been taught.  We educate primarily the American 1760's-1880's timeline.  Focusing on the use of oxen in agriculture & transportation, frontier living, ox training and driving.  We do events all over the Midwest for reenactments, festivals, church groups, school groups, etc.  Here are a few pictures:

A trip to the past by way of oxen!

 It was fun to get the big boys out and put them to work pulling my new/used sleigh.  They seemed to enjoy the beautiful day and brisk winter air.  There is something amazing about working these guys vs. driving a tractor.  Don't get me wrong, I like my John Deere!  The quiet, peaceful connection to our past does something to your mind and spirit.  It has a way of connecting you to what it must have been like to do things the way it was done for thousands of years vs. modern "warp speed" living in 2022.  I wouldn't want to return to full time farming with oxen, but I am so grateful for the lessons these oxen are teaching me and my family!

NEW things coming for 2022!

 We have new changes coming for 2022, please come back and see what is in the works.  Also, check out our Facebook page for updates.  Double-M-Farms | Facebook

What makes him tick?

Have you ever asked the question "What makes that person tick?" or  "Why are they the way they are?"  I have!  I like to analyze or ponder on human behaviors.  My family tells me I should have either become a lawyer, a psychologist or a preacher.  I chose preacher out of that list! 😀  But, I guess what I am saying is I like to see what makes people tick.  Farmers are a group of people that I can relate to, since I am one.  I come from 5 or more generations of farmers on all sides of my family.  Farming goes way back for me in the family tree.  In the coming weeks I want to consider some of the things that I see from my farming family that I would say define "what made them tick."  I have been considering this topic for several weeks and I look forward to introducing you to some of my heritage.  Some of the folks I would call grandpa and great-great grandpa.......!  I will also look at other farmers that I have had the privilage to know and include their behaviors, values and character into this journey to "see what makes farmers tick."  Be sure to come along!

Happy New Year!

We want "Thank You" for helping make 2019 a great year.  We had struggles with things that all farmers struggle with, but each of our friends, customers and family shared a part in helping us make our year what it was.  Now in 2020 we look forward to spending more time with growing even better grass fed beef, pastured pork and other farm products.  Also, lets not leave out the wonderful experience we had with doing living history & other teaching events with the oxen.  We have already been asked to be at more events this 2020 season around the midwest.  We will try to keep you informed with where we are and maybe you can come out and see the oxen.  God bless each of you in 2020!

< Past --------- Future >

Your Heritage is where you came from. Your Legacy is what you leave when you are no longer here!  Heritage ---life lived-----Legacy!  Both your heritage & legacy say alot about you, who you are and what was important to you while you occupied the 70-80 years here on planet earth. 

I recently was discussing heritage with my family.  What is our family heritage, how would you discribe it?  What are the nouns and adjectives that would come with our past?

Here was a sample of the list as they came to me from our family.  Here is a little of the Hufford heritage:

1. Committed followers of Jesus Christ
2. Farmers
3. Faithful
4. Parents that loved their children well
5. Hard workers
6. Honest & Dependable
7. Innovative
8. British, German, Holland, Scotland roots
9. Thrifty

It is humbling!  It is unheard of in 2019!  It is rare!  But, Yes this list is a sample of the words that describe our family heritage.  We are blest!   We are thankful for our past fathers & mothers who stayed the course and finished strong.

NOW, It is up to us!  If you are reading this, it is up to you!  What will your life legacy be?  How will your life effect your families heritage?  You and I only have the ------------ (dash) between our birthdates and our deathdates to define our legacy!  

What will yours be?

We are Thankful for this past year!

Here are a few things I am thankful for this year:

1. The harvest we DIDN'T expect!  Rain was how the spring started and the rain continued and continued....continued........continued!  Yet we had a harvest!
2. The safety we experienced!  Many long days in the field, on the road, at events that were opportunities for an accident to happen.  We were safe!
3. The old friends we got to see again!  We have been able to experience some of the best friendships anyone could ask for.  Good salt of the earth people.  We are sooo grateful for our old friends!
4. The new friends we made!  We met some of the nicest people who quickly became our new friends this year.  Wonderful people who love God, their families and nation!  We are thankful for our new friends!
5. The trial of our faith!  Yes, 2019 was a trial of our faith in several ways.  Did we really trust God to give us a harvest?  Would there be any crop to put up this season?  We thank God for the trial of our faith, because HE is faithful!
6. Renewed Hope!  For over 40 years we had hoped for change in our family legacy.  My parents had fought all the years I can remember.  They hadn't divorced, legally....but were in action!  My hope was lost, my prayers seemed unanswered!  BUT GOD, reached down and changed everything!  My parents were reconciled, they are happy, in Love.  We thank God that HE reminded us to NEVER give up on the impossible!  Hope was renewed.
7. The gift of an amazing wife!  We have been happily married for over 20 years, never a regret of the day we committed ourselves to one another.  My wife is the most amazing woman in the world.  She is beautiful inside and out, an encourager, an example of virtue and godliness.  I am thankful for an absolutely amazing wife.
8. Pioneering children!  Our children are growing up!  They are living out their faith!  They are venturing out into their own pursuits, dreams, goals and families.  We are starting to harvest the fruits of our parenting.  By Gods grace, the fruit is good!  I am thankful for my pioneering children who now are becoming awesome adults!
9. Patience!  This is a hard one, but something I find myself in need of each day.  I need it towards others and I need others to have it towards me.  I am thankful I serve a patient God, have a patient wife and family, and I can see the growth of patience in my own life.  I am thankful for patience!
10. The gift of grace!  I know I don't deserve it!  It's not purchased, negotiated or demanded.  Every morning before my feet hit the floor I ask my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for grace for the day.  Grace to respond with kindness, patience and self-control!  Grace to sustain me in my weaknesses, hard places and times of trial.  Grace, it is powerful!  It's free to those who ask for it, it's necessary for anything of good or virtue, & it's roots are found in a Gentle Shepherd whose life was full of grace, Jesus Christ.  I am thankful for Grace!

Happy Thanksgiving 2019!

Whats up with "Thanksgiving?" Come on really?

In a few days our nation will celebrate another "Thanksgiving" holiday.  It seems to be one of those holidays smashed between Halloween and Christmas.  One that isn't as popular in gross sales or promotion.  It is often remembered by Football, turkey and family.  We love the dressing, the pumpkin or pecan pie. On this day we can gorge on food and then lay around not feeling guilty.  NO WORK!😋  Thanksgiving day has not always been as we have known it to be the last few generations.

Before this land was even a country, our forefathers left their native, mother country and came across the sea.  They wanted a place were they could worship their God freely.  They knew the trip would be hard, but they believed their God was mighty and able to deliver them safely.  The passage was dangerous and difficult, and many died.  They wrestled for 63 days with sea sickness, disease, doubt, and damage to the vessel.  But they finally arrived at this new promised land!  Most of the 102 souls made it alive and ready to start new.  Before they left the Mayflower, they wrote and agreed to this simple covenant:

In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereigne Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britaine, France and Ireland king, defender of the faith, etc. having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honour of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northerne parts of Virginia, doe by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civill body politick, for our better ordering and preservation, and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enacte, constitute, and frame such just and equall laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meete and convenient for the generall good of the Colonie unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape-Codd the 11. of November, in the year of the raigne of our sovereigne lord, King James, of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fiftie-fourth. Anno Dom. 1620.

The weeks and months that followed were hard.  Their faith in God was tested again!  They didn't have adequate shelter or food for the difficult winter that was upon them.  More died!

God sent a blessing to the new settlers through friendship with the Indians.  In God's providence may years before, He had been preparing for this time that the Europeans would come to this new land.  One of the natives had been to Europe many years earlier and learned the English language, ways and life.  He had since returned to his home.  Now God used him to minister blessing on these struggling people.

The spring brought forth new hope!  Green appeared on the landscape and with the natives help, gardens and crops were planted.  The "three sisters" (corn, beans & pumpkins) were planted together.  Corn to support the climbing beans and pumpkins to cover the soil to help with weeds.  The harvest was abundant!  This next winter would be much different than their first one.  They would be ready, with plenty in store to carry the through the coming season of freezing temperatures.

I am sure hearts were overflowing with gratitude for the abundant crop they had harvested.  They also had secured better housing; homes that would keep them warm and safe.  These people had trusted their God  They had been tested, proven and found faithful in their purpose and dependence on a gracious God.  No doubt Eph. 5:20 "Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,"  was on their minds when they first considered a celebration to give thanks.  A specific time to give thanks to God Almighty and their new friends, the Native Americans.

Let us learn from our forefathers!  We haven't always HAD abundance!  We have not always had fat bellies, full grain bins, super Walmarts, strip malls, Amazon, etc.  Even today, for some of our own people, things are STILL hard, it's difficult to make ends meet, more month than money, and yes, even fear for where the next meal may come from.

This Thanksgiving I challenge you to stop!  Give thanks to Almighty God for His kind providence provided to you and your family this past year:  your health, your harvest, your family, your good memories, your work, your dreams and hopes, your salvation, just to name a few things.  Give thanks to others for the many ways they have blessed your life; then show to others you are grateful  by going out and blessing those around you.  Share some of the blessings you have to those who may be in need.  A heart expressed by gratitude is always appreciated!

Martin Luther once said "See that you do not forget what you were before, lest you take for granted the grace and mercy you received from God and forget to express your gratitude each day."

Having a heart of gratitude and thanksgiving should be an everyday expression as we each remember how much we have been blessed with!

Happy Thanksgiving!😉

A look at the past in farming!

The John Deere tractors on our farm are a blessing.  They help us get our chores done quickly, they provide us power to till, seed and harvest the crops.  I really do appreciate them!  In fact, I couldn't imagine farming without them, although it would be possible.  It would be a step back in time!
A couple of years ago, we I got the opportunity to step back in time and welcomed another power source on our farm.  A power source that dates as far back in history as is recorded.  This power source is OX power!  Yes, two 2200lbs/each milking shorthorn or Durhams (their historical breed name) working steers.  Percy & Carter are 5 years old, trained to work in the yoke together.  I have found it very enjoyable to work with them, they are so pleasant, determined and willing to please.  Spoiled for sure!  Our family has fell in love with these two big giants.  Here are a few pictures of them showing off! 😏

 Percy and Carter spend more time teaching others about the history of oxen that working on the farm

 They love doing living history!  Ancient world - 1900's are the years oxen were used in America.

             Indiana State Fair Pioneer Village.  They teach the progress of the American farmer!

What a year 2019 has been!

My family has been farming for several generations.  As far back as I can remember I can still hear my great grandpa tell stories of how he would farm, each story included the various challenges and joys that go along with farm life.  Yes, 2019 has been a challenge farming!  Just like other years in the past.  Wet springs, dry summers, wet falls, early frost, etc.  Each year we pray daily, go to work, do what we can and trust in the blessings of God to give the increase.  The harvest this year has been unbelievably bountiful for the many challenges that faced the farmers.  As my dad told me the other day "son, we have never had a year with NO crop, God has always provided"!  Yes, my dad is correct, this great nation has not had a total crop failure in years, if ever.  We have much to be grateful for, God is good!