"Through Their Eyes"---Its time to Listen and Learn from the Real People Going through Tough Times

   In getting ready to do this short series, I had a simple plan. I wanted to hear from real people, who were facing some of the things we have heard about on the news (or not heard about on the news) in their daily lives.

    Every day, as I converse with friends and family, I am hearing such sad and heartbreaking stories from all over the nation as people try to deal with drought, fire, flood, storm damage, etc. SO many many people are facing what we will truly know as a "Long Winter" such as the Ingalls family faced in Laura Ingalls Wilder's famous childrens series. I dont know how the weather will play out this winter here on the prairie, or if we will have snow drifts as high as the house (which has happened) but I do know there are a lot of people across this great nation who are wondering how they will feed their families without the things they have relied on in the past: their gardens and their crops.

source and story

   I hope you tuned in last week for our last post on how the outlook for corn and wheat are bleak right now. I would encourage you...if you have NOT read that article, please click Here to read it. It will give you a good "setting of the stage" for the rest of this week. You see, I have gathered, from all over the nation, personal stories, small paragraphs, and links to news stories for you to see and read.

   And may I remind you, for every story told,
 there are a thousand that remain untold.

   Our hearts and our prayers need to be with the farmers and millions of people who are walking through drought, or cleaning up from terrible natural disasters right now. You would not think, in one of the most affluent and powerful nations in the world, that we could be facing the possibilities that will be thrown out here in this week, but dear readers, I am telling you, these possibilities are very real.

source: National Geographic

   Since January when I started blogging seriously I have shared a couple times about how the Lord has laid on my heart that there will be many people looking for basic resources, ideas, plans, basics, on how to save money on groceries, preserve food, start a pantry, start a garden, etc. That was the whole reason I started doing what I do....because I knew that the skills that I have struggled so to learn, other people will be looking for to learn themselves.

Source and Story

   It has been a blessing doing this, because I know there are a lot of people starting to realize that the time to do all these things is NOW. The window of opportunity is closing, and there will come a time, when some people will go hungry because they do not have a clue how to do any of that.

   But there is always hope. In my life, that hope is that I do not rest on what I can do myself, but that my security is in heaven. I trust both my heart, and my soul to Christ, and as He has done many times before, I know He will take me through whatever I am facing. Many who will be sharing this next week have that same attitude, and you will see it shining through, even in the midst of their dark hours.

   Even if you cant see their faces....pray for them. 

And pray for those like them who did not have the courage or opportunity to speak..

   I want to thank the many many people who wrote private notes of encouragement as I prayed about doing this series. What makes our nation great is not our power....but our people...and that steadfast spirit of hope and determination that has brought us out of tough spots before.

   Today's post is the story of a wonderful, dear friend who is a shining example of taking everything in stride, and showing that attitude that makes our nation great. Her name is Kelly, and she is located in Indiana, and has had an amazingly tough year. I am taking excerpts from her postings of the last few months. She normally has around 400 tomato plants, and three HUGE gardens as they plant most of what they eat for themselves, their children, and to share with neighbors and friends.


    I started getting caught up in her story a couple months ago when the "overspray" from a farmer next door caught all of her tomatoes, and some other parts of her gardens and killed everything in sight. Now for those of you unfamiliar with that term, it means he was spraying weed killer on his crops during a windy day, which picked up the spray from the air and settled it on her plants. They came to an agreement and replaced some of her plants---but the drought that has gripped the Midwest was well underway.

• May 26th:" My heart is so heavy right now and very sad for I fear we have lost all of our gardens ,what the farmers spray didn't get lack of rain is for all has went from green to brown in just a few short days ,it has been over 3 weeks with out any rain and all I see now in my garden is dust ,I have to pull my self up by my boot straps and go on and take care of my animals and lay it all in the Lords hands and have faith the Lord will see us thru this :("
• May 28th: " Up date : Replanting 150 tomato's ,48 hot peppers ,48 all colors bell peppers,cabbage and tomatillo's all going in now ,the rest will follow this week as we get the time ,I sure hope it rains soon here and they make it this time !!!"
• June 9th: " Well it looks like the garden is done for with no rain in over 40 days here all the seeds I planted did not come up ,corn,cucumbers,squish ,zucchini, and on and on not one seed sprouted and all the tomato ,peppers ,cabbage ,cauliflower,and others that we replanted over 400 bed plants to replace the one's that died from the farmer spray has all died from no rain ,we watered and watered trying to save them but no go, the green beans are still ok for now but may not put on any beans with out some rain,our once great soil has turned to powder dust not soil any more , Hubby said it's like the dust bowl starting all over again ,we will have to try to buy from farmers markets this year if there is any that was able to grow this year !!"
• June 12th: " Just wanted to up date , Well we didn't get one drop of rain here yesterday was so hoping and praying for some :( It has been well over 40 days with out so much as a sprinkle "
• June 20th: ".Well here's an up date on what's happening at Empty Nest farm,I went out to day to feed and water all the chickens and found that one of my barred rock hen's is wanting to keep her eggs and all the other eggs (this is called a broody hen )one of my other barred rock hen just hatched some chicks 2 weeks ago and I have 19 eggs in the incubator now due in 9 days so we don't need any more chicks ,but I do need my eggs lol, went out to the garden to look (have been putting that off ) well my green beans are still going and blooming and have runners on them , went where the tomato's and peppers and so no was planted and to my surprise we do have some that has made it around 50 plants of tomato's ,all the others are gone , but I think we will have some tomato's there is some that have green tomato's on them and they have a lot of blooms !!!!God is great !!! so we will have some green-beans tomato's and potato's this year all the others did not come up with no water so we are blessed and thank-full for what we are getting :)"
• June 28th: " Here in Indiana it is very hot will be 106 today ,and very dry we need rain !!"
• July 5th: " Been out side working all day and getting ready to go back out ,making the pens for the chickens new house ,and still have the garden to water ,don't know if our tomato's and other stuff is going to make it it is sooo dry here and well water is nowhere as good as rain water for growing ."
•  Today: "Heather ,this is what our green beans looked liked in may now I went to go and see what was out there 3 day's ago ,was hoping to have some to cook ,out of 4 rows that are 275 feet long i was able to get 10 beans that was half the size they should of been ,out of 300 tomato plants planted only 50 has made it and it is yet to be seen if we will get any tomato's from them ,out of a 100 lbs of seed potato's planted we mite get our seed back , our corn did not come up along with all the things we planted by seed ,all the farmers corps around here is dried up and will be lost , I lay it all in the Lords hands as to what this Country will do for food , went to a friends farm about 40 miles away , (she grows to sale and has a big trade at it for years now ) she told me she lost 95% of her corn crop and about 65% of all her other veggies very sad I was so hoping to get some from her to can and put up but she just didn't have enough to sell to do so ,It's still in the 90's here this week we had about 1/2 inch of rain 3 days ago before that 1/10 of an inch in over 2 months , I have great faith that the Lord will keep us and make a way for us to feed our family ,it is very sad to see our pretty green land turn to dust it looks more like AZ here then Indian."

Here is the pic of her green bean rows. Remember these are supposed to be fully producing, 4 rows at 275 feet long.

   Pray for Kelly and her family and friends. There is no relief in sight, with no rain forecasted, and hot days ahead. Only a few counties out of their entire state are not under a complete burn ban. The woman that put me to shame last year in canning (I remember her posting pics of bringing in wheelbarrows full of tomatoes THREE TIMES A DAY at this time last year) is wondering how those around her less prepared for disaster are going to be faring this winter.

You can check out more of Kelly's postings, and follow along with her story at her blog:

Empty Nest Farm Blog 

or her Face Book page (which is tons of fun with lots of pics and ideas---a way back to the simple life) by clicking on the link below.

Empty Nest Farm FB Page.

Tell her I sent you...and that she is in your thoughts and prayers.

Come back tomorrow for a collection of short stories and links from quite a few people all over the States who chose to share with me how things are where they live. And to top the week off, I will be having another wonderful guest poster who is going to tell you how living through the experience of the Derecho Storms that knocked out power for her family for over a week changed the way she is preparing herself and their home for disasters. Listen and learn from those who have been there, folks.

Keep Looking up. God is faithful.

Many Blessings to you and yours,

Heather

Day Two of Through Their Eyes Mini-Series: Faith the Size of a Mustard Seed

Day Three of Through Their Eyes Mini-Series:Live, Love, and Learn Day One...

Day Four of Through Their Eyes Mini-Series: Live, Love and Learn--Day two