More Thoughts about the Farm

I want to share more about my ideas for each area of the farm.

Kat and I plan to be chemical free in our farming techniques. We probably won't apply to be classified as a Certified Organic Farm but we will keep the necessary records to show that we have not used chemicals in the crop production.

Crop Production
The crop production area will cover about 1 acre of our farm and consist of 3 16' x 48' Hoop Houses to grow crops in during the winter season. Each of these hoop houses will be slightly different in their construction so that we can do some research on the best set up. One will be a normal configuration, one will have the floor 5 feet below ground level and one will be a normal configuration but with a geothermal system used for heating and cooling.

We will have several areas of raised beds and some will have wide enough rows to enable wheel chair access. In the raised bed area we will examples of what people can do in various size back yards. Some of the raised beds will have a non-dirt mix used for the growing material but most will use soil as the growing material.

The remaining part of the 1 acre will be a no till garden.

In both the raised bed area and the no till area we will use a high, medium low planting. The high will be comprised of small apple trees, the medium will be comprised of Black Berries, Aronia Berries (Choke Berry) and Elderberries and the low will be comprised of vegetable type plants.

Goat Pasture
The Goat pasture area will also cover about 1 acre of grass land and consist of a loafing shed for protection from the elements, a small barn with a milking room, a bathroom with showering facilities and a small kitchen for milk production. Outside of this kitchen we will have a nice patio with a wood fired oven for baking breads and pizzas.

Restoration Center
The center will consist of one or two small RV trailers that can be hauled out on the farm and set up for guests. These units will not have water running to them until later but the restrooms will work. Electricity will be provided through a small solar panel and will provide minimum lighting. I will write more about my thoughts about how the Restoration Center would operate and how it could benefit churches, missionaries and wounded warriors.

The remaining acres of the farm will be comprised of woodlands and hay fields. We will cultivate wood for firewood, grow our own hay for our goats and grow plants that thrive in a woodland setting such as mushrooms.

Our plan is to use the farm as a teaching farm and make it available to teens in the local school district who want to join FFA but do not have the property for crop growing or animal care. The raised bed area will be used to provide gardening opportunities for people in wheel chairs or who are suffering from physical conditions that do not allow bending over. Kat will eventually provide soap and cheese making classes at the farm.

Our marketing opportunities will be Farmer's Markets, local Restaurants, Local Customers and Internet Customers. We hope to have an on site market comprised of used Grain Bins.

Please contact me if you have any questions or want to know more.

Larry
lnclark1950@gmail.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lars.clark
Author REAL Men RoCK blog

Faith Heritage

Faith Legacy

By Larry Clark

On April 9, 1865 the American Civil War came to a close and the job of reconciliation began. For Missouri and Kansas the war began in 1855 long before the official beginning of the War Between the States. The history of Missouri and Kansas was shaped by events surrounding John Brown’s raids into Missouri and those of the Border Ruffians into Kansas. In some respects the war has never really ended but is relived every winter when the Missouri Tigers and the Kansas Jay hawks meet on the basketball courts.

On August 25, 1863 Union Brigadier General Thomas Ewing issued General Order No. 11, requiring all people living in Jackson, Cass, Bates, and northern Vernon counties to vacate the area unless their loyalty to the Union could be proven. Those who were forced out had their houses and barns burned and this area became known as the Burnt District.

At the close of the war, western Missouri, which had been repeatedly ravaged by both armies, retained but few of its former inhabitants and scarcely any churches. At the request of Dr. Henry Kendall the Presbyterian Church commissioned Reverend Seth Gold Clark to assist in reorganizing Presbyterian work on the Missouri/Kansas border. What a daunting task the Presbyterian leadership was asking of Mr. Clark, who served as a Union Chaplain, who was captured by the Confederates in the siege of Atlanta and spent time in the Andersonville prison. He was schooled at the Western Reserve College, which was a hot bed for the anti-slavery movement. Could he gain the trust of a people who had suffered so much at the hands of fellow Americans who were anti-slave and who experienced the results of the order by a Union General Ewing? I believe we can by looking at his record reach the conclusion that Mr. Clark let God be the one who guided him and not his life experiences.

Of his beginnings in Missouri he once wrote: " The Board, by my request, made full provision for my salary the first year. I told them that if I went to such a burned-over country I did not want to intimate to any man, woman or child that a missionary needed anything to eat, drink or wear. I did not say money for a year, except when I paid my bills. The people were just as modest as I was—they never said money to me.

I obtained a hardy mustang pony, and went in all directions, preaching the gospel wherever I found an opening." Does that seem a haphazard method, not to be reasonably expected to produce good results?

In less than three years he organized churches at Holden in Johnson county: Greenwood in Jackson county; Harrisonville and Austin in Cass county; Butler, Lone Oak and Papinsville in Bates county; Hudson (now Appleton City) in 8t. Clair county, and Lamar in Barton county. Each of these churches he supplied until they were able to obtain regular services otherwise. Some years later two of these towns, unable to obtain expected railroads, died a natural death, as did their churches. Two other churches were outstripped by later organizations by other Presbyterian denominations. There remain today five good churches organized before 1870 by that one missionary " settled on horseback."

From 1871-76 Mr. Clark was financial agent for Highland University. The last two summers of that time were spent with a missionary tent outfit, furnished by Sunday schools in the East. He traveled through northern Kansas and southern Nebraska, preaching daily to congregations averaging 100 on weeknights and from 150 to 300 on Sundays. This was strictly pioneer work in regions beyond ministers and churches.

He was everywhere gladly welcomed. This tent work he was accustomed to regard as the most successful work of his life. During 1877-78 he supplied the churches of Iola and Carlyle, Kans.; 1879-80, Baxter Springs, Galena and Empire, Kans.; 1881-5, Rich Hill, Rockville and Hume, Mo., all three of which he organized.

He then spent ten years in southwestern Kansas, where he found nine counties adjoining, in neither of which was an organized church. During those years he organized eight churches, seven of which, in spite of drought and consequent depopulation of large districts, are still on our " Minutes."

The year 1895 was spent with the Church of Raymore, Mo., which under his labors was much revived, and built a beautiful house of worship.

At last, when nearly eighty, with mind and voice unimpaired, he was forced by physical infirmities to give up his active ministry. It was an affecting scene, when by vote of Presbytery he was " honorably retired," and recommended to the Board of Relief. All knew of his active life, and realized that it was not boastfulness, which led him to rise and say that, able as he then supposed to preach better than ever before, he would gladly sacrifice his right arm rather than go onto the Board, if only he were physically able to continue in the ministry. No service did he ever shirk as too hard, no field as too unattractive. Always and everywhere he loved to proclaim salvation to the uttermost through Jesus Christ. Like every other true missionary, he recognized no bounds of race or clime, but worked and prayed for the universal spread of the gospel. No wonder Miss Mary Clark, the daughter of such a home missionary, should be found today a foreign missionary in distant Persia.

What a record! It will never be fully written on earth. His mission work in at least five states, the organization of 31 churches, most of which during the time of his ministry erected houses of worship, his army chaplaincy, his evangelistic work in prisons, battle fields, mining camps, frontier settlements, and in well-established communities east and west, his vigorous advocacy of education at home and abroad—these are a few reasons why he will be long held in grateful remembrance. A few months ago he modestly wrote of himself that his had been “a very busy, checkered life; possibly some good may result.”

This is the story of my great, great grandfather who was a son of a small farmer. It is very interesting to me because today I am an ordained pastor who is getting ready to become a small farmer. This is a true legacy of faith.

I hope the above story has inspired just one person to take the time to trace their family tree and find out what nugget of interesting history they might uncover.

Restoration Farm Vision and Mission

Kat and I attended the Small Farm Conference in Columbia, MO recently and we feel we need to update the mission and vision of the Restoration Farm.

Restoration Farm

To be operated by Larry and Kat Clark

Vision

Restoration Farm is going to be a small farm that has three separate operations. Each operation has a focus of restoring the lives of people. We will grow healthy foods and educate in their use, we will sell soothing lotions and soaps for the body and we will provide a safe place for God to heal servants from the battles of ministry.

Location

The farm will be located in either Kansas or Missouri within a 90 mile drive to a metropolitan area with a population of 35,000 or more. Our target audience will be customers who attend farmer’s market, local restaurants and other fresh vegetable outlets.

Target

Although our customers who shop at farmer’s market and our restaurant customers have many vendors who offer fresh vegetables to choose from during the summer months they do not have any opportunity to purchase those same fresh vegetables in the winter. By growing some vegetables during the winter by using hoop tunnels we will be able to provide a select group of customers those same vegetables in the winter.

Mission

The Farm will have three different areas of operations:

Restoration Farm will sell vegetables grown without using chemical sprays or fertilizers, goat milk products and range free eggs. In addition we will bake in a wood fired oven fresh breads using milk from our goats and herbs from our gardens.

Restoration Farm will be an educational farm that provides opportunities for teens and the disabled to get their hands dirty in the gardens or with feeding and caring for the animals. We will also teach others the techniques we use on our farm.

Restoration Farm will have a not-for-profit center for the restoration of Christian servants and wounded soldiers. Our aim will be to provide a safe place for wounded or tired servants and soldiers to come and seek healing from God. It will be free to those who come but we will welcome their help in the barn or hoop houses. Working on the farm will not be required but we will always accept a helping hand. The approach to helping these servants will be one of encouragement and not counseling. We are not seeking to be fixers of people but servants of servants.