What is Reformation Day?

Tomorrow, Sunday, October 31, is Reformation Day.  What does that mean for us?

Here is a good article by Robert Rothwell, Associate Editor of Tabletalk magazine.  In this piece he explains what Reformation Day is and how it came to be.

Wishing you a blessed Reformation Day.

Anyone who is to find Christ must first find the church. How could anyone know where Christ is and what faith is in him unless he knew where his believers are?

and

Beautiful music is the art of the prophets that can calm the agitations of the soul; it is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us.


and

I am afraid that the schools will prove the very gates of hell, unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures and engraving them in the heart of the youth.


by Martin Luther
Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/martin_luther.html#ixzz1cD4yMMrV

It's About the Gospel

With Reformation Day just around the corner, I wanted to share this link to The White Horse Inn and an article written by Michael Horton, It's Not About Luther, It's About the Gospel.

"The Reformation isn’t over. Not by a long shot. What we need most right now is not the rehabilitation of Luther, but the rehabilitation of true proclamation. We need it now, even in Protestantism-perhaps especially in Protestantism, more than ever." -- Michael Horton

Potatoes!

As you may have guessed, most of what I have learned about gardening was 'caught'.  Dad didn't say much or explain much so I just learned by watching was he was doing.  That being said, there is a great deal of the technical stuff and the doing it correctly stuff, I just don't know.  Potatoes is one example. 

When I was a young teenager, dad and I planted a ton (well, it seemed like it) of potatoes on a large plot of ground on a neighbor's farm.  He wasn't using it as it was rather small and in an odd area.  So, I learned how to plant potatoes.  Dad dug the trench and I cut the potatoes and put them in the ground.  We then hilled them over.  That was the extent of my learning about potatoes.  Since my dad worked shifts, often times things happened when I wasn't around.  I do remember going out to hill up the potato rows again after a time, but I didn't ever learn when to harvest and what to look for.

Potatoes are not that difficult to grow.  They have few bug issues.  We have had fleas in the past as well as Japanese beetles, but this year we were pest-free.  An older neighbor told me that I needed to wait until the vines were dead before I dug the potatoes.  This season, with our later planting schedule, it seemed as if it would be frost before our vines would die off.  As it would happen, the vines died off just in time to have several days of soaking rain.  It was a big concern that our potatoes were rotting in the garden.

I waited several days, hoping that the ground would dry up enough to dig them up and not have to fight with muddy potatoes.  Of course, the ground was still pretty soft and wet.  But, right or wrong, the potatoes were dug. 

The experts that may read this will see that this is probably not a potato fork.  I understand that there are such animals out there.  But I just use what I have.  I'm not sure what this tool really is, but for me the handle is rather short.  (And yes, those are weeds, too.)

My fears were not unfounded.  Many of the potatoes were rotting in the ground, which is so disappointing.  I love digging potatoes, you never know what surprises you will find from under the ground.  Perhaps I should have dug them even before the vines were dead.

I think this one looks like a turtle!

Between the rotten and green potatoes (I didn't get out to hill them a third time and the sun got on the potatoes that were coming up and they turned green), we lost about one fourth of our crop.  Still, I was able to gather a heaping bushel basket that I'll probably can pretty soon.  The potatoes are curing in the garage out of the sun and where it is cool.  There were so many weird shaped ones, that I'm not sure we will have any normal ones for baking.

Canning the potatoes makes it easy for quicker dinners.  Sure, there is time that has to be spent initially, but when it is dinner time, it really cuts down on the time.  I've used mine for making mashed potatoes and home fries mostly.  It certainly is easy enough to put them in a pot of boiling water and have cooked potatoes.  It is handy to have them for soups and stews, too.

If you are interested in canning your potatoes, here is a place you can explore,  Or you can look here.  (I found this site a while ago and found it helpful to read through the comments.)

O, LORD,
Thou knowest my great unfitness for service,
   my present deadness,
   my inability to do anything for thy glory,
   my distressing coldness of heart.
I am weak, ignorant, unprofitable,
   and loathe and abhor myself.
I am at a loss to know what though wouldest have me do,
   for I feel amazingly deserted by thee,
   and sense thy presence so little;
Thou makest me possess the sins of my youth,
   and the dreadful sin of my nature,
   I cannot think or act but every motion is sin....
...Help me to be diffident, watchful, tender,
   lest I offend my blessed friend
   in thought and behaviour;
I confide in thee and lean upon thee,
   and need thee at all times to assist and lead me.
O that all my distresses and apprehensions
   might prove but Christ's school
   to make me fit for greater service
   by teaching me the great lesson of humility.

--an excerpt from Need of Grace, from the Valley of Vision

What a Beautiful and Busy Fall Day!

We have enjoyed some lovely days lately.  The trees are turning such vibrant colors, too.

Today my husband and I did a bushel of apples into sauce.   My daughter-in-law offered to pick up some apples for me at an orchard we used to frequent when we lived in that area.  Their prices are a bit better and they offered her "blemished" apples at half the price!  My husband wanted me to mix some apple varieties to get a different flavor.  The orchard owner suggested Jonamac.  She called my husband to see what he thought of the variety.  Since I have never tried this apple, the owner gave my daughter-in-law an apple to try and another variety so she could compare.  She gave her recommendation to my husband over the phone.  I'm sure the orchard lady never did an over-the-phone taste test!  The Jonamacs were combined with Cortlands and we think it tastes pretty wonderful.  Also, my husband is a big fan of "red hots".  These were located at the nearby store and added to help with a bit of flavor and a lovely pink color.  It just takes a bit to get them to melt.  The count for the day is seventeen quarts and a pint (for my dear neighbor) and a wee bit for dinner.  Trying to decide if I should do more.  My total for this year is 27 quarts with just a few left over from last year.

This looks like a fun site to check out different apple varities.

For those of you looking for a website that might offer some help in canning and/or freezing, I found this site that may be helpful.  She seems to have a great deal of information on everything from canning equipment to recipes to try.  (I do miss Granny Miller!)

So often the initial reaction to painful suffering is Why me?  Why this?  Why now?  Why?...{then}.  He comes for you, in the flesh, in Christ, into suffering, on your behalf.  He does not offer advice and perspective from afar; He steps into your significant suffering.  He will see you through, and work with you the whole way....  This reality changes the questions that rise up in your heart.  That inward-turning "why me?" quiets down, lifts its eyes, and begins to look around.

You turn outward and new, wonderful questions form.  Why You?  Why You?  Why would You enter this world of evils?  Why would You go through loss, weakness, hardship, sorrow and death?  Why would You do this for Me, of all people?  But You did.  You did this for the joy set before You.  You did this for love.  You did this showing the glory of God in the face of Christ.  As that deeper question sinks home, you become joyously sane.  The universe is no longer supremely about you.  Yet you are not irrelevant.  God's story makes you just the right size.  Everything counts, but the scale changes to something that makes much more sense.  You face hard times.  But you have already received something better which can never be taken away.  And that better something will continue to work out the whole journey long...

Finally, you are prepared to pose--and to mean--almost unimaginable questions:  Why not me?  Why not this?  Why not now?

--David Powlison

Back at It...

...Tomato soup that is.  There were a few poor tomatoes that needed a home.  Since it is raining, again, my husband was here to help with the cutting and squeezing. 

I found a similar recipe to the one I use online only it had beets in it.  (They call it a "vegetable juice cocktail", but we use it as a soup.) Being that my husband was being so helpful and that he loves beets, we decided to run a pint of our beets through the food processor and dump them in with the other veggies.  We thought that it might be a bit more purple, but it wasn't.  We'll see how we like it when we open a jar.

We were able to can another 11 jars today for the winter.  We are both so thankful to have our canning shelves getting full.

Father of Mercies,
Hear me for Jesus' sake,
I am sinful even in my closest walk with the;
   it is of thy mercy I died not long ago;
Thy grace has given me faith in the cross
   by which thou hast reconciled thyself to me
    and me to the,
   drawing me by thy great love,
   reckoning me as innocent in Christ though guilty in myself.
Giver of all graces,
   I look to thee for strength to maintain them in me,
   for it is hard to practise what I believe.

--an excerpt from Grace in Trials from the book, The Valley of Vision