Farming Faith And Family Life

"When Caitlin Henderson fell in love with a farmer, she learned the important skills of life through refinement in the ever-changing seasons as a mother and farmer's wife. Because Caitlin didn't grow up on a farm, there was a period of adjustment and struggle--intermixed with humorous mishaps--as she learned to navigate this different way of life. The Rural Way is filled with stories and the lessons God taught her along the way about His goodness, grace, love, and redemption. From the big lessons like facing your fears to the simpler ones like the impact of hospitality, adventures such as run-ins with cows, wayward tractors, and a squeaky farmhouse enliven each enthralling story. Woven through every chapter are the scriptures that our weary souls need to be refreshed and strengthened in truth. Caitlin shares how God used the challenges that arise on a farm to refine her, but that each season is one that any wife and mother like you can relate to--even if you're far removed from the rural way of life. Whether you are in the middle of a wheat field, or in the heart of the city, you can grab hold of these moments and lessons as you reflect on a simpler way of life"--

Modern Life tends to mold individuals and families into a grand disconnect from each other and from God and his creation. Where will the fundamental restoration of a multi-generational Christian family culture take place? A small family farm may just be the place for rebuilding a family culture from the ground up.

A young farmer’s wife draws on her life with kids, cows, and a front-porch view to help us see God’s goodness and beauty wherever we are, reminding us that the simple life is not a place to be but a way to be. “Grab a cup of coffee and join Caitlin on her porch to hear the lessons God has taught her through the good and hard of everyday life.”—Vivian Mabuni, speaker and author of Open Hands, Willing Heart: Discover the Joy of Saying Yes to God When Caitlin, a small-town girl, fell in love with a farm boy named Jake Henderson, she had little idea what farm life—or marriage and motherhood—would bring. But raising a family on a farm is teaching her more about God’s goodness and grace than she could have imagined. Faith, Farming, and Family is a rich, story-filled walk through farmhouse hallways, harvest-ready fields, and God’s bountiful dreams for our lives. As Caitlin reflects on everything from wayward tractors to watching a marriage grow from surviving to flourishing, she reminds us to see the redemption in our own stories. Join Caitlin in exploring biblical truth through the eyes of a farmer’s wife, whether you are wrangling kids onto a school bus, sowing creative seeds in a business meeting, or walking the pastures of your own family farm. Faith, Farming, and Family invites us to recognize God’s beauty right in front of us so that we might find the courage to take the next step—or the first step—into His incredible calling.

Our local experts tell the whole story of this remarkable area.

Food, Farming, and Faith looks at agricultural sustainability and Christianity. Using scripture and science, Gary W. Fick—a Christian agricultural scientist—demonstrates that faith can inform decisions about creating, managing, even consuming our food. The book highlights such topics as food and celebration, environmental care, ecology and faith, soil and water stewardship, animal welfare, and the impact of poverty on women and our food supply. Throughout, Fick presents and discusses biblical passages that comment on these areas and provides insight from personal experiences growing up in a ranching family, in teaching sustainable agriculture, and as a scientist. Ultimately, Fick challenges the reader to think about eating more thoughtfully so that we have good food, a healthy environment, and a comfortable lifestyle all at the same time.

An epic story of the American wheat harvest, the politics of food, and the culture of the Great Plains For over one hundred years, the Mockett family has owned a seven-thousand-acre wheat farm in the panhandle of Nebraska, where Marie Mutsuki Mockett’s father was raised. Mockett, who grew up in bohemian Carmel, California, with her father and her Japanese mother, knew little about farming when she inherited this land. Her father had all but forsworn it. In American Harvest, Mockett accompanies a group of evangelical Christian wheat harvesters through the heartland at the invitation of Eric Wolgemuth, the conservative farmer who has cut her family’s fields for decades. As Mockett follows Wolgemuth’s crew on the trail of ripening wheat from Texas to Idaho, they contemplate what Wolgemuth refers to as “the divide,” inadvertently peeling back layers of the American story to expose its contradictions and unhealed wounds. She joins the crew in the fields, attends church, and struggles to adapt to the rhythms of rural life, all the while continually reminded of her own status as a person who signals “not white,” but who people she encounters can’t quite categorize. American Harvest is an extraordinary evocation of the land and a thoughtful exploration of ingrained beliefs, from evangelical skepticism of evolution to cosmopolitan assumptions about food production and farming. With exquisite lyricism and humanity, this astonishing book attempts to reconcile competing versions of our national story.

Embrace Farm Strong, a Heartfelt, 400-Year Story of Family, Faith, and Legacy. Farm Strong depicts the poignant story of the Hatcher family, starting with their immigration to America in 1635 through their present-day life ambitiously running a regionally well-known dairy farm. This deeply personal narrative, told by Charles Wooldridge Hatcher, weaves faith, family, perseverance with a distinctly Southern flavor. Journey through more than four centuries of American Southern history as you enjoy a hefty dose of humor, milk, blood, sweat, and tears. History buffs, business book junkies, and other readers who enjoy a gripping story will embrace the Hatchers' candid walk of faith through dirty hard work, service, ugly times in history, smart risks, innovation and family restoration.

John and Pam Dysinger started life together with the desire to serve. Young and idealistic, they headed to Kenya with the passion to make a difference in the lives of children and youth. For the next eight years the classroom was their platform for ministry. Then the call came. Like Abraham’s call to leave the comforts of home for an unknown destination, their call was to leave the comforts of employment, for an unknown occupation. In a world of fractured relationships, John was called to come home and join Pam in the raising of their children. Farming was God’s appointed vehicle to unite the family. Together they worked toward common goals and experienced the exhilaration of conquering seemingly insurmountable tasks; together they experienced the fears and struggles of “failure” and the financial constraints of “poverty.” Walk with them through this candid account of their experience as they learned to follow God and depend on Him alone. Grapple with them as they faced the harsh realities of learning to farm; cling with them to the promises of God and the desire to be faithful to His call. Above all, come to know that, while your path may not be exactly the same, God wants this same kind of intimate relationship with you.