THORNS AND THISTLES: 
HOMESTEADING IN THE OZARKS
Written By: Yarden

Farming and living off the land has forever been a way of life, and even the ancient scriptures encourage us to tend the land. It is a way of life that requires dedication, hard work, and a deep connection to the earth. Farming requires a commitment to sustainability, utilizing the natural resources that are available to us, and doing our part to protect the land.

 

By studying the scriptures, we are often reminded of the value in a simple and dedicated lifestyle, however the dreamy allure of living off-the-land sometimes disguises the immense time and energy it takes to subdue that land. With late nights and early mornings laid toward the experience, discomfort is an inseparable element from the hard work. 

 

And just like all things that are desirable, the route by which you acquire that lustrous fruit does involve suffering to one degree or another. Anything from the birth of a child, to the harvest of the garden, sweating and toiling for the end goal, is the path up the mountain of accomplishment we all seek.

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By the sweat of your brow - Will you get bread to eat
Until you return to the ground- For from it you were taken
For dust you are - And to dust you will return

Genesis 3:19

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When treading off toward the thought, that the entire world is a divine creation, the idea arises that perhaps the ticks, mosquitos, thorns, and thistles are not part of that divine creation. However, we can attribute the presence of these brambles and briars to the first worker, in the first garden. Even the labor of birth itself has become immense because of what occurred there. And the ability to view these moments of suffering and hardship, is the tangible proof of paradise lost.

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Every drop of sweat, and sharp thorn in the blackberry bush, should stand as a reminder of how sweet the world will be when King Messiah arrives, and grants us rest in the big Sabbath.

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God blessed them and God said to them

“Be fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it; and rule the fish of the sea,

the birds of the sky, and all the living things that creep on earth.”

Genesis 1:28

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Even for myself, as the summer heat increases, I find myself constantly hiking to my little spring in the valley to lay like a turtle on the sandy shore. Gathering ticks from the trail as I hike down, and defending myself from the occasional rogue horsefly, I think to myself about how I've spent almost 6 years toward an extremely arduous journey. A tough row to hoe, as they say. But the days turned into weeks, then slowly into years as I see my cabin established between the cedar trees, and I know down almost every dirt road, and behind almost every hill, there is another Hebrew like me, towing the line in the Ozarks.