Lisa has wanted to learn the art of canning for some time now and she found that opportunity with Lois Guthrie (another staff member of Harvest Home Farm - and Becky’s mom). Together they canned 24 jars of pickled beets from a “special” recipe from Mike. Now Lois and Lisa are not beet lovers and neither is Becky. Come to find out MIKE is the ONLY member in the family that actually like beets. So… beets anyone?
Well Drackley Downloaders we are please to bring you more news from the farm. As described in our last post the farm has a new water trough that is unique. It is based on geothermal energy (earth heated). Here are some pics that I hope are worth a thousand words 
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On August 16th, we pulled up onto Mike and Becky Poulos’s driveway also known as Harvest Home Farm. Our “home” for the next six weeks as we are starting out our sabbatical leave from Camp Forest Springs. Already we are learning the every day chores of Harvest Home Farm and the flexibility of what comes and goes throughout the day.
Here is a link to www.harvesthomefarm.org. Take a look around and see where the Lord is leading this ministry.
Well I (Michael) had the opportunity today to work with Mike and two other volunteers today. Mike has a automatic water trough that his cows and sheep share between pens. The other volunteers, Russel and his grandson James, installed a more economical water trough that is based on a geothermal concept. Roughly there is an insulated pipe surrounded by dirt on the out side and a large gap of air surrounding the actual water line. We busted up the concrete under the old trough and dug down 4 feet, placed the insulated pipe around the water main, back filled and concreted today. They say that this trough will not freeze up in the winter as easy due to the heat the earth. Other farmers in places like ND and even Canada have used these and have claimed the total electric bill (a small censor that kicks in if needed to heat the water) is about $4 dollars a year. So we are eager to place the new trough in on Wednesday after the concrete has hardened… While our backs were turned some of the cows thought it would be fun to place nose and hoof prints in the fresh concrete. We didn’t take it as being too fun
