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Under Pressure?

jndfancyfarm



We were so excited! I still remember the feeling we had as we hit the road that beautiful May morning in 2020. We were headed on an 8 hour trip to our 20 acres of gorgeous, native, mountain land that we had just purchased. We traveled in convoy form towards our destination deep in the Kettle mountain range. I drove my $3500 03' Ford Super-duty with 320'000 miles plus towing a 32' 1980's fifth-wheel trailer loaded down with all of our worldly goods and my wife followed behind with our 2005 Suburban towing a trailer with the remaining odds and ends of our life. It was a slow trip as we climbed over the majestic Cascade range and headed north through eastern Washington state. We finally made it to the base of "our mountain" and turned onto the gravel road to begin the 4 mile climb to our new homestead. Two hundred yards into the ascent and we suddenly found our progress stopped by a western larch tree stretched across the road. A huge grin lit up my face! I couldn't believe my luck! I was beginning the mountain man experience and it was going to take all the skills and techniques that I had acquired in my 29 years of life. I slid out of the truck seat and grabbed my brand-new Stihl chainsaw, which was just gifted to me from my awesome wife, from the truck bed. After it roared to life and I cleared the road. We continued to ascend towards our great future and adventure. We were now half a mile from the property and I could smell the fresh mountain air and feel the sun on my face. I knew in about three minutes I would be picking a spot to park the fifth-wheel and settle in with Drea and the three Kids we had at the time. BANG! with a sudden lurch forward my truck lost all momentum and my engine revved loudly. It shook me out of my euphoric fog and I stared desperately at the trucks instruments panel trying to understand what just happened. I quickly figured out through a series of scientific procedures which included trying the shift selector in all available gears and depressing the accelerator pedal in a violent manner, and switching the transfer case into low range. All of this was a futile attempt to defy gravity and will my transmission to suddenly engage and propel me to the height of our dreams. I finally accepted that the verdict was grim and the Ford had failed me. I carefully negotiated the Suburban around the edge of the road to the front of the truck and trailer. I attached a chain to the tow hooks of the truck and placed the Suburban into low range. We slowly inched the truck up the remaining half mile to our property and parked it on the first flat spot we found.


It was not a great start to the journey towards the life of dreams but it was O.K. We were resilient and we would figure out a way to repair the truck, build a cabin, establish a source of water, store up firewood and grow a garden to provide food. It would take money away from the already anorexic build budget, but we would work harder and pull through it before the winter snows piled up, and were blasted with those cold northern winds and storms.


Two days later, I had gotten over the disappointment of losing the trucks mobility, so I decided to return to the west side of the state to retrieve our Khaki Campbell ducks as well as the 100 broiler chickens to bring them to the mountain to raise them on green pasture and to live free of cages. It concerned me to leave my wife and children on the side of a mountain, hours away from the nearest care and in a unknown environment. without any mode of transportation but my Wife is strong and wise and I knew all would be ok. So I took our only remaining wheels and joined my ever supportive Father-in-law who agreed to accompany me and to drive his pick-up truck back towing our hoop coop and feed troughs. After loading the livestock and hitting the road by mid afternoon we traveled back across towards our new home. We were back on track and going to thrive. We stopped with about three hours ahead of us to fuel up and check the loads and engine oil. My oldest daughter was my co-pilot as we left the city of Wenatchee. As we paused at the final set of stop lights before our exit onto the highway to homesteading....BANG! ....the transmission clutches broke into several hundred pieces. Now we were stranded three hours from home, on a hot afternoon, with chicks at risk of overheating, and my daughter and I standing on the side of the road waiting for my Wife and Mother-in-law to arrive with a loaner vehicle and attempt to tow the chickens and ducks the rest of the way.

Now this was not the first time I had faced adversity in my life. I remember vividly as a child wearing thrift store clothing and hearing my father and mother discuss how they were going to put food on the table. I've also had moments as a young married father and husband praying for God to provide enough money to buy food and fuel for my family. I remember pulling out the mats of our '98 civic and gathering up $ 4.25 in loose change to purchase a few litres ( We lived in Canada) of fuel to make it to work so that I could get a paycheck. I am not naive enough not to know that most of you have faced much worse times and painful losses of things that matter much more than my first world problems. Nor do I classify these experiences as my worst and I fully expect to face much more adversity and pain in my life to come, but I share this story with you, the reader, merely as a introduction to my theory that trials (pressure) brings positive results.


I was vehicle-less, homeless, and happy. Happy? Yup. You know I was contemplating the circumstances and I can imagen a dozen ways that it could have been worse! Instead of being alone, my family came along side of us and helped us purchase a good old Chevy truck and get water established and many other things... I could have focused on the negatives just like I could have blamed my parents for their perceived financial woes and my lack luster childhood, Yet out of the troubles and constant moves, the scraping of the floorboards for fuel money, the frozen radiators, the threat of imprisonment for ignorantly harvesting the wrong deer in the wrong spot, the self denial and the hard lessons in life, we discover that we were just fine going without. We discover who our friends really are, we build lasting relationships and character. `

As we met the local folks around our new neck of the woods we shared our story of our loss of both vehicles and experiences as we endeavored to establish the homestead. We were met with a nonchalant attitude and disinterest. Most of these resilient folks had been dumped up here by Veteran's affairs or were second generation homesteaders living on meager incomes and living hand to mouth. They were not surprised as they had been driving hodge-podge trucks and jeeps and had learned to thrive on low income and Freedom. These circumstances had developed them into strong, resourceful people who were quick to lend a hand and offer advice, yet they recognized that the "coasties aint' gonna make it if they think its all easy, winters coming and it is likely to surprise and defeat overly soft folks." They have a saying that you are not a local until you make it through three winters.


The life of planting, growing, and reaping what you sow with meager supplies and resources, the school of "hard knocks", the unforeseen circumstances, and even the choices of self denial, all build character and morals that are the foundation of this nations people. Life can throw us some curve balls that can end up missing, our bats swing only to smack the umpire in the face. But I think that when we chose to put ourselves through discipline or self denial we build a resilience and character that is valuable and we carry on to defeat the next "giant" in our life or character.


The folks that I admire the most, the ones that walk humbly, the wise, one soon finds out that they are those who have chosen to not always take the easy way out or live in constant comfort. They pursued difficult objectives and came out stronger and wiser. These are the interesting folks that we were drawn to and gleam wisdom from. But sometimes I think we fall into the trap of thinking " that was a different time and place."



As some of you may know, we grow microgreens year round In our home and sell our products to individuals interested in and pursuing life changing health ( no one can do it for you.) While growing these greens one soon finds that the seeds do not germinate well unless they are denied light. They must have a period of darkness for the new life to begin. During that germination and early growing process, it is essential to also apply pressure to the seedling, to enable it to establish a strong root system that is capable of producing a strong, erect plant. In-fact, we have the best results if we stack multiple trays of soil one upon the other and wait to remove them until the plants have grown strong enough to lift the full trays above off of the growing medium. The early exposure to difficulty, and denial of light and the deliberate discomfort afforded the plant, creates a root system that is strong and spread wide enough to collect all the available nutrients and moisture. It also causes the plant to mature much quicker and to achieve a greater height without falling over or bending down.


I wonder if this can be applied to our life? Do we wonder why we see so little progress in our life? Do we wonder why we fail to keep our Resolutions? Have we faced the dark or even deliberately choose to deny ourselves some pleasure or comfort? Do we medicate away all our discomfort or eliminate the darkness with a preverbal flashlight? Or do we just distract ourselves or complain so much that we cant see any benefits or enjoy the relationships that develop through hardships. What is my attitude towards adversity be it trivial or horrible. What lessons can be learned from this time? Will I come out better or bitter? Could we chose to remove some precious comfort or addiction from our lives that will help us develop the "roots" to overcome detrimental behaviors or choices in our lives? Do I want to be an asset to my family and the younger generation, teaching them wisdom, or am I a liability because of my selfishness and lack of selflessness? Do we really wonder why our children or peers are skeptical of our advice when we can see the dangers? They may not see the fruit of diligence in our life.


I am a poor example of this but I know one thing! I choose to take it one task at a time! I choose to have a great attitude! I choose to practice discipline. I choose to walk humbly before my Creator. The Giver and Taker away. I want to farm like It matters, I want to live like it matters, and most importantly, I want to be the father and husband that loves, learns and teaches. I choose today!




What are your thoughts? Please pipe up in the comments and offer me your advice and thoughts. I would appreciate if you were willing to sign up so that you will get a notification when I ramble on again! Thank you for taking the time to read this!


Joel Fancy.

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