INTRODUCTION
Homestead Roots Newsletter - 2/6/2025

The kids are desperately wanting more snow. They are making the most of what we have had, even going so far as to haul in snow to their sledding hill from where it piles up beside the high tunnels! It looks like we will finally get some good snow this coming weekend. We are excited to get out and do some skiing and sledding and all the rest of the activities that make winter in the north so much fun. We are a little more active these days on social media. Here are some links in case you care to follow along.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BarlowRootsHomestead

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/barlowrootsmarket/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/barlowroots/

Enjoy this weeks newsletter!

HOMESTEAD UPDATE
Clearing New Pasture, Skid Steer Repairs, Painting!

We continue to chip away at small projects on the homestead. That means taking every free moment to split wood and stack wood and cut wood for the wood shed. As nice as it is to think we will have time for it in the summer I just know that isn’t the case. So while the conditions are not fun it is important for us to keep plugging away at these tasks.

I started the big process of clearing another section of our land for pasture. The land is currently covered in young red pines and old cedars. There are a few taller white pines mixed in too. The area is about a half acre in size so not huge but the trees are pretty dense which means there is a lot of material! I started the process of cutting trees a couple of weeks ago. I probably knocked down a dozen trees, unfortunately when I went to take the skid steer over and start cleaning up the down trees and branches it died on me. So I was left with a bit of a mess and I do know better than to just keep cutting and making the mess worse! As the trees start to lay on top of each other it becomes a nightmare.

The issue with the skid steer I believe was gelled fuel. We are still using diesel we bought and stored from the summer without the winter additives. We forgot to add the anti gelling product so I think with how cold it has been the fuel gelled up. Thankfully we had a nice warm day last week, giving me some good time to work on the machine. I took out both of the fuel filters and emptied them and then added the anti-gel stuff to the filters and the tank. When I started the machine again it had a few moments of running rough and then found its way and ran perfect. So I believe that was our issue and I believe I solved the issue!

This past weekend with the skid steer running again and the temperatures cooled off so the ground was frozen I took the skid steer and grapple and picked up all the branches and tree tops and started a pile. I took the good logs to our firewood processing area. It is amazing how big of a burn pile 12 trees creates! Instead of creating one massive pile I intend to create a number of smaller piles as I go. This should make the subsequent burning a little less stressful!

On the home front Ingrid and the kids did a flurry of painting! They got both of the kids bedrooms painted and tidied up. It really made a difference! With snow coming this weekend we are planning some indoor work. Maybe it is finally time to get our new kitchen sink installed!

MARKET GARDENING
Overthinking and Then Thinking Some More

We are still very much in the planning stages of our garden. We should know in a couple of weeks if we get the grant for the new high tunnel. I have slightly modified my plan for that tunnel and think we have a better way forward. We were originally planning to take down a tunnel to put the new tunnel in it’s place and then rebuild the old tunnel in a different spot. I am now thinking we will just add 24 feet to the currently standing old tunnel using parts from the new tunnel. We will then build another 48’ tunnel out of the rest of the new pieces and parts. That means we won’t have to take down the current tunnel and can do our spring planting in it. It effectively buys us the time we need to get everything done without feeling super rushed this spring and missing out on precious planting time as we construct the tunnels. I am always wrestling with stuff like this so this may not be the final iteration to this plan! 🙂 

FAMILY
Raising Kids Today

Boy with a title like that, I bet you are all just holding your breath to see what I am going to say. No worries I am not going to delve into the controversial topics related to parenting. I am just here to say that being a parent to todays kids is tough. And don’t hear me saying that it is TOUGHER than before. Because I don’t know what it was like in past generations. But I can just speak for this generation of parents and say… it is tough!

I think for me it just comes down to how complex the dynamics and social structures are today. Technology, cell phones, and social media all play a very big role. As a parent I feel like it is my calling to protect my kids and prepare them. To teach them the biblical principles that we believe in, how to be kind to people and treat people well. At the same time we want our kids to be happy, to have great experiences and to love their childhood. The balancing act created with all of this feels like as a parent I am walking on a razor thin balance beam. Even when I am upright it still hurts a little bit! 🙂 

As parents I think our call is to just do the very best we can. I will say, don’t be afraid to call an audible or make a big change. Sometimes pushing forward through tough things means making big changes and sacrifices. With everything our kids have to face in the future it is our job to prepare them. They are going to need to be tough and they are going to need new and different skills from what we needed.

I am so thankful for my kids. I have been blessed by a fantastic parenting partner. Our values align and we work hard as a team to raise our kids the best we can. I think it is also important for us as parents to work hard to find joy in what we are doing, have fun with our kids and live a good life ourselves. Raising kids is a little blip in the timeline of life, soak it up and make the best of it!

CLOSING
Eternal Perspective

After that whole parenting piece I just wrote I am remembering a wise sentiment Ingrid shared with me a couple of years ago. It is something that still comes up in our discussions. It was around the time we (mostly me) were dealing with the mental and emotional challenges around saying YES to adopting our daughter. I was doing the math on what adding an infant to our family 9 years after our last biological daughter was born would do to my ever shortening “empty nest” phase of life. 🙂 Please don’t judge me! I was just thinking out loud and yes maybe feeling a little sorry for myself. Anyway, I will now have a little one in my house for my entire 50’s. That certainly changes life! To my unstable and clearly selfish mindset I was losing a decade of “freedom.” NOTE: I am feeling so much better about all of that today and am so incredibly blessed by our daughter who is now almost 2! During that time Ingrid shared what a small period of time 10 years is when you think of life on an eternal scale. Living a life trusting in God as our savior means that when our life here is done we start a new life with Him. WHOA! So what is 10 years on an eternal scale, literally nothing. Perspective can be such a game changer. Our time on earth is not our own, it was given to us by God and someday will be taken from us. But we have an eternity with him to look forward to. What a gift!