Dear All
It has been a dreadful complicated year here on Certainman Farm since we last wrote. Our seven-year plan for expansion was entering it’s final phase, & we were reaping (quite literally) the benefit. We had a lot of land, most of which was turned over to arable crops such as corn, soft fruits, root vegetables, assorted legumes (beans to the uninitiated!), & of course some fallow fields as well. As we told you last year, we have also invested in livestock (several chickens, some geese & a few young calves, too).
Last year’s problems with tares seem to have faded away, & we haven’t lost so much of the seed we have sown to birds of the air, either. Perhaps this is because we have ploughed-in the paths through the fields, to make sure there isn’t too much growing space wasted in this way; we’ve also cleared many stones & thorns. All this work has meant we had to hire extra labour, but, thank the Lord, we were able to manage that.
All this agricultural success had a downside when, at the start of the year, Johnny came to us & demanded explained that he wanted to take his inheritance & go off to a foreign city. It was a hard decision, but in the end we gave him all our liquid assets & sold a few things as well, to try to give him as much as we could.
For him to make this request was a bit tough on the rest of us, as we now had zero cash flow, & we had to sell some fields to pay hired men & buy seed. So that was doubly hard.
We missed Johnny terribly, especially since we didn’t hear from him at all – although we did get the worrying news that there was a famine in the land where he’d gone, so we feared he might have suffered or even starved.
Meanwhile young Steve was doing well, & apart from making 1 or 2 loathsome undesirable friends who wanted to party with goats, he is a blessing to the farm & the family.
Truth to tell, I didn’t come to terms with Johnny going at all. I thought he would soon be back, but the weeks stretched into months & Claudia began to wonder if I was spending too much time on the roof, watching out for Johnny to return. This became a source of some tension between us, but she is a good & faithful friend, so she only bent my ear occasionally. I must have been very difficult to live with at the time (Claudia agrees!).
And it all paid off. One wonderful day, I was keeping vigil when I saw a ragged, weary traveller appear over the hill, a long way off. It was Johnny, home from his revels! I have to admit that I ran, & was so pleased to see him! He had some sort of speech prepared, but I didn’t give him the chance to say it. I gave him a coat & shoes & a ring, & then threw a great party to celebrate (I invited the whole village). We killed a fatted calf & had a party. I accidentally made Claudia cry (great soft dollop, she is!) when I said ‘This my son was lost, but is found; he was dead, but is alive!’ Steve was angry struggled at first to accept that we had forgiven his brother, but he’s okay now.
Johnny writes: Hallo everyone.
I know I was a waster & a fool, but I know now for certain that my father loves me. I spent all his money on wild living. Then there was a famine.
I ended up reduced to looking after pigs (yes, I know), but then I came to my senses & realised even his hired men were eating well, so I decided I would return home & ask to be a hired man, as I was no longer worthy to be called a son. But my dad was unexpectedly generous to me (Mum & Steve agree).
No comments:
Post a Comment