We got four more rows or sugarcane planted this last week, and that’s IT for planting this year!
Except for perhaps a cane or two more that we forgot to plant. We have bits and pieces of sugarcane all over the place.
This bed is alongside our driveway. The soil is wonderful, and I think it will do excellently when it pops up in spring.
New Lenses
A few days ago I finally, at long, long last, broke down and bought the 24-105mm L lens for my Canon R6. It’s hard for me to spend that much on a lens, but it was worth it. It’s really a business expense, since my YouTube channel is now huge.
Fortunately the lens looks truly amazing. We went to a Christmas parade on Saturday night and I took the camera with us as a test to see how it performed.
The autofocus is incredible, the zoom range is quite good, the clarity is startling and everything I shot looked colorful and cinematic. We’re looking forward to giving it a good video test. The extra zoom range and reliable autofocus will help Rachel immensely.
Along with that lens, I also bought a new (and much less expensive) 100-400mm telephoto lens for shooting better nature photography, as well as B-roll for my videos.
I used it to take this picture of a white heron that visited our pond on Saturday afternoon:
I don’t just want our videos to be “decent,” I want them to be truly excellent.
De-Junking
On Saturday we spent most of the day working on our big, ugly outbuilding.
A ton of junk was left in there from ages of use before we arrived, so bit by bit we’re sorting, giving away, burning, recycling and selling what we find. So far we’ve gathered almost THREE five-gallon buckets of screws, bolts, nuts and nails from the floor and shelves and various containers strewn about the place. we’ve also found dozens of hand tools, lots of random car junk (including a full bag of chrome lug nuts), odd pieces of metal and wood and more. Most of it has very little value, but some bits and pieces will be useful for future building projects.
Sunday Worship
On Sunday we attended St. Andrew’s Eastern Orthodox Church in Pensacola.
Over the years we have been rather dissatisfied with the Protestant church at large, so Rachel and I have been researching the original church. This was the first time we’ve attended any Orthodox congregation, and it was truly a beautiful service. Who knows… maybe we’ll end up in the Byzantine faith.
MORE SUGARCANE
Today, though, I’m working on finishing up a video on sugarcane, which will cover the bed we just planted. This will be the LAST video on sugarcane.
For now.
Other Plans
I also hope to shoot some pictures in the garden. The Grocery Row Gardens are covered with beautiful winter weeds right now and look truly lovely.
This year is coming to an end so quickly. I hope you’re having a wonderful Christmas season.
You can have greener thumbs by this weekend!
22 comments
Your original church comment leaves much room for debate. I hope you find the original church.
Thanks, Bill. I have been in a lot of churches over the years. You’re right… plenty of room to debate.
Mr. Good,
The new sugar cane planting looks great! Excited for you guys and your new homestead. I can’t wait to see what you continue to do with it as we head towards Spring. Also the pics with the new lens look crisp.
My wife and I have had similar church thoughts which is why we’ve been going to a high church Anglican style service in communion with Rome (Catholic Ordinariate parish). Although we did try a Byzantine Catholic church as well, and that one had an incredible service as well. But we ultimately found our home in the West instead of the East. Although I still plan on going back occasionally to the Byzantine one. The chant tones were so other-wordly, really “lifted you up to the divine”. My prayers for you and yours as you continue your discernment. May God lead you to a Good temporary home on your journey home.
Thank you. I have had too many issues with Rome, especially with the modern divided papacy, the change from the Latin Mass, Vatican II, the immaculate birth of the virgin Mary., that I just can’t quite go there. Unless I went sedevacationist, but feel like I might as well check out Orthodoxy instead.
Yeah, those are all valid concerns. Being raised Roman Catholic those (in addition to others) were all issues that I had to contend with/still contending with as I came into adulthood and started navigating these waters myself. Honestly, what has helped me tremendously is the principal of subsidiarity and narrowing my gaze away from the personalities that I can’t control to focus on my family, my “domestic church”. And whilst there are many figures in the church that I take issue with, both in history and today, I have fallen in love with the intellectual tradition of guys like Thomas Aquinas, Augustine, Fulton Sheen, and other incredible thinkers that have plumbed the depths of reality and found it good, true, and beautiful. I’m also a born and raised Cajun from Louisiana and I realized the blessing I inherited from my family’s hometown Catholic culture. Its kind of funny, I think one of the main reasons that I was drawn to your content and books, (aside from your wicked sense of humor and intellect) is that I admire your sense of stewardship of God’s creation. If Christ is to redeem every part of my life, why not redeem the way in which I grow my food and provide for my family.
By the way, we are under contract for a homestead! Its not quite as magnanimous as yours (only 2.5 acres), but for being on the Space Coast of Florida, that’s pretty large. If we could do as much damage as we have on our little 1/11th acre that you posted on, I think we should be able to make a real good dent on 2.5 acres.
Oh man, what a climate you have there. Congratulations!
And yes! God is in all that we do. I have to keep reminding myself that THAT is why I don’t spray RoundUp, even though it would be way easier. The easy way is rarely the good, true or beautiful one.
Heh. Way to know your audience, D. Want to up your engagement? Toss out a comment raising both theological concerns and the near universal feeling of dissatisfaction of the modern American church… That recipe won’t work everywhere, but we are your people, apparently!
Congrats Josh. That’s going to be incredible! Your yard was already a temptation to envy and covetousness. You on 2.5 is going to be like I dream about. Ya’ll still up on the North end?
PS: One of these days we should actually get that cup of coffee.
I wasn’t thinking about “engagement,” but it did get some interest. You guys are my people for sure.
I am glad you found a place, though.
I looked into Orthodoxy for a while. Like any Bible-thumper, I choked on their doctrine of Mary (still much, much better than Catholic, almost ok, even) and picture-kissing. Good folks, and beautiful liturgy, but no. I can maybe do something about the errors I see among my own people, in our own traditions. It’s not the worship or even the doctrine that is really lacking. It’s the watered-down belief.
Yeah. I am mostly just hoping for a place where I never, ever have to hear Chris Tomlin again.
Hahaha, I second the Chris tomlin sentiment….and the minimum 3 guitars to lead worship with 3 backup vocalists and a drummer in a plexi cage.
Fo shizzle!
Love the new lens! … that shot of the heron is a killah, but what makes it even more special is the turtle you got on the log as well ..sweet!
This kind of discourages me, bro. Me and my family have enjoyed your content for years and thought it was really cool that you were Reformed.My problem with Eastern Orthodoxy isn’t with their worship style but(among other things) their false gospel. Second to that, their iconography is completely inconsistent with the very word-based convictions of the Apostles.
Yes, I get that. I’m floundering in the modern church, though. The Reformed churches around here are lousy. Closest we have is a milquetoast PCA church that is near dead. They told me I had to wear a mask to attend. I want a congregation that rejects modernity and the poison of the Enlightenment. I’m just researching right now, though. I’m still a 5-pointer. I don’t like the leftward drift of the PCA, or the SJW infiltration in the OPC, and the PCUSA is dead. I tried a CREC and was really turned off – it was cultish.
So here we are, looking for something… anything… with guts. Even if I have to grit my teeth and tolerate icons. Something with history, something without horrible modern slop music and “chicken soup for the soul” blandness.
FWIW, back in the day when I was first getting to know Orthodoxy, one of the nice things about it was that everybody seemed content to let me hang around the church services as an observer indefinitely, without kissing anything or knowing any of the prayers or going to communion. I did that for like two years before I joined up. Nobody was in a hurry to convert me. It’s pretty chill, and there are a lot of people checking out Orthodoxy right now, so… you’re in good company.
Anything you have questions, reservations, outright objections, or ghastly recoil reactions to… by all means ask someone about it! Most of us are converts, have dealt with many of the same reservations ourselves, and won’t be offended.
Did we meet on Sunday?
We did!
Prayers for you and your family in your search for the one true Church founded by Jesus Christ. Regarding your concerns about Mary, I have heard good things about Tim Staples’ book Behold Your Mother. Re: finding the original Church you might read Bl. John Henry Newman’s The Development of Christian Doctrine.
Lastly, despite the flaws in the human element of the Church I highly recommend attending a traditional Latin Mass. The reverence, beauty, and transcendence of the Holy Sacrifice are so spiritually nourishing.
Thank you, Alex.
It was lovely to have you visit our church! Whether you end up Orthodox or not, I hope you find a church that meets your family’s spiritual needs, and may God bless you in your search. Go where God calls you, and you’ll end up in the right place.
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