Month: August 2021

Making Memories

Posted on by Vicki Goldby

We finally got round to having our anniversary family photo tonight. We’d done one in 2016, when we’d been married 15 years and I was keen to do one now, after 20 years, to see how much everyone has grown.

As today was also the second anniversary of us moving to Shropshire, the day had a very ‘anniversary’ feel about it. Christopher came home (he’s working on a farm 45 minutes away and lives there full time) and we gathered around the table for cake and a time of prayer, thanking God for all he has done, bringing us here.

Our evening devotions were about the Passover, which seemed very apt, as it was all about leaving one place to go to a better place, and it also reminded us that God commanded the Israelites to tell the story to their children each year, so they would not forget what God did.

On the day we moved here, God gave me this verse, ‘When the Lord your God brings you into the land…with…houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord,’. Deuteronomy 6 10-12. That same day, we arrived to find tomato and grape vines we did not plant, a house filled with furniture we didn’t know would be here, greenhouses filled with all the gardening equipment we would need and a bore hole we did not dig and we remembered the words of the Lord to the Israelites and how the same God was providing for us. He has continued to provide miraculously for us, with chickens and pigs arranged by the TV company, a cow in calf from the farm where our eldest son works and even a Christmas turkey from a neighbour. We will not forget the Lord our God, we will tell this testimony to our children, so that they will always know that they are here because this is where God led us.

So tonight we watched our programme, ‘A Country Life for Half the Price’, as we did last August 15th, not to be vain, but to reminisce over our old home and to see the journey we went on to get here. Read more about the miracles God did getting us here in the post, https://www.lifeinallitsfullness.blog/blog/farmlife/learning-to-trust-our-house-moving-testimony/

Over the weekend we have been able to use our property in one of the ways we had pictured. Our friends asked us several months ago if they could use the space here for their 50th wedding anniversary. At the time it seemed that Covid restrictions may prohibit it, but praise God they have lifted and the party went ahead.

The children really enjoyed helping to get set up, ready for the event, and they served drinks, cakes and helped by stewarding the parking.

What a joy it was to celebrate their anniversary with them and to see this home fulfilling the vision we were given for it. This home is not just for us, but for those whom the Lord brings to us, a home to bring delight to many and to use for the Lord’s purposes.

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Harvest’s Coming

Posted on by Vicki Goldby

We moved into our home 2 years ago, as of the 15th August. Two years with so many changes and so much that we’ve learnt. We arrived with tomatoes and apples ready to pick and again today our trees are burgeoning, our greenhouse is full and now we have 14 vegetable beds filled with a variety of produce. We’re starting to live more by the seasons and be guided by the demands that puts are our time. Harvest waits for no one and soon enough we will need to pick the apples and pears and start preparing them for storage. Some will be carefully wrapped and stored and some will be frozen, for snacks, pies and crumbles.

These beautiful pumpkins were a gift, as seedlings, from our generous, green-fingered neighbour.
These chillies have grown from the dried out seeds from last year’s harvest.
Elizabeth is particularly keen to grow watermelons and so far they are making good progress…time will tell if they work, you have to try these things.
We have about 40 tomato plants, which provide for soups and sauces in abundance.
The cucumbers are thriving in the greenhouse, they seem to like the extra warmth.
I love blackberries, they require no work to grow and seem to continually pop up in new places, offering us juicy free food, which also occupies small fingers in the picking process.

Moving onto our hens….After 2 years our original hens have largely given up laying, and so our friends kindly offered to give these ladies a final retirement home. Today we brought home 18 new rescue hens, which we have added to the 5, which are still laying, which we brought home last year. This new lot look somewhat naked, they could do with a knitted jumper each! Hopefully with love and time, these poor ex battery hens will feather up and find a happy place clucking around our orchard.

Two years in and we still feel very much like novices, but I can see progress, so there’s hope that one day we might actually know what we’re doing! Until then we’ll keep learning as we go 🙂.

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Why do I Wear Long Skirts?

Posted on by Vicki Goldby

I haven’t had much time for blogging lately, building work has taken over our lives and we are just keeping our heads down until the extension is finished and we can move into the new kitchen. Hopefully the main build will be completed by mid October. We’ve just learnt though that we will be without a kitchen for about a month, during September, so that should be interesting!

Anyway, back to the title of my post, about my propensity to wear long skirts. I’ve been asked the questions a few times and so I thought it time I wrote a post on it. I’ve been wearing longish skirts for over a decade, before that I just wore jeans. You see, one day I was considering Phil’s and my clothes and I realised that we wore exactly the same clothes, jeans and blue tops, the only difference was, mine were smaller! I decided that I would like to look a bit more feminine, but I didn’t have time to put together pretty outfits, so my jeans were swapped for long denim skirts and it’s remained that way since.

I don’t really have any time to consider what I might wear each day, nor am I really bothered, so having a simplified style of dress makes the task of getting dressed extremely fast, which is rather necessary in this house 😁.

I was thinking about my clothes this week because my 2 denim skirts, which I wear in rotation, are either stained or have holes in them, so shopping has been required. Now, how do I find such unfashionable, or should I say vintage clothing?! eBay is my go to. I search in long denim skirt size 10 and within 5 minutes I have 2 skirts, for a total of less than £20, coming my way. They should last me another couple of years. Maybe one day I’ll have time to consider what I wear more carefully, but now definitely isn’t the time.

How do I stay warm in the winter? I wear thermal leggings under my skirt and long brown boots. To be honest I wear thermals nearly all year because I suffer with Raynaud’s and so my core has to stay warm or my fingers and toes go white and start to hurt.

Are skirts practical? I think denim anything is practical and so fabric wise, they’re great. I suspect some people might find they get in the way, but I’ve never been bothered and I appreciate the modesty the extra fabric gives.

The more I’ve worn skirts the more comfortable I feel in them, I have worn shorter skirts and trousers, but rarely. I wear thin trousers for walks in long grass during the summer and I have one shorter skirt I bought in charity shop, but it’s too pretty for every day use.

I’ve put up this post with the awareness that our new revisit TV programme will be out soon (we’ll let you know the date), and people will be busy googling us again with curious questions, so hopefully this will answer one of the commonly asked questions. Many people think that we are Brethens, or Plymouth Brethren’s because I wear a head covering and a long skirt, but hopefully this post explains that it’s not really a faith based decision, just a personal preference.

Hopefully I’ll find some more time to blog over the next few weeks. Does anyone have any posts they’d like to particularly see?

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