Welcome back to Kingdom Hunting Dad. Keeping up with a blog post in October is proving to be difficult. Can you tell it's hunting season? My goal when starting the blog was to get something out every 2 weeks. Well, I failed. As I start typing this out, it will likely be over a full month maybe a month and a half between posts. I guess failure is part of life, but at least when your writing a blog based on hunting and the outdoors - it does seem logical to blame this failure on - well - hunting. Getting outside and prepping to get in the woods seems to fill the free time I am blessed with. It's been a fun start to my hunting season, and I can't wait to share what unfolds with you. I am also hopeful my hunting season will be more successful than the punctuality of my blog.
It was around a month ago when I got home from work and saw my two oldest kids riding around with our neighbor on his golf cart. Our neighbor drove over so the kids could greet me and they came hustling - exuberantly proclaiming - "Dad, look at these!" They held up a tattered Ziploc bag full of what I soon found out where Chinese chestnuts. Without pause they continued to tell me how we can roast them and eat them. They explained in great detail how we needed to go to the store and get a nutcracker. My Grandpa Meyer always had a wooden bowl full of various nuts on the counter when I was a kid. We'd play with the tools and crack the nuts - I'm not sure we ever actually ate them though. It sounded reminiscent, and we might have to try it -- someday. As for this batch of chestnuts - I was devising a plan.
I have been reading about chestnuts for a few years now, and the history of the chestnut is pretty fascinating - and even a bit gloomy. "At the turn of the 20th century, the American chestnut towered over other trees in forests along the eastern seaboard. These giants could grow up to 100 feet high and 13 feet wide. According to legend, a squirrel could scamper from New England to Georgia on the canopies of American chestnuts, never touching the ground."
For reasons others can explain better, blight brought over from East Asia pretty much wiped out the American chestnut tree throughout the 1950's and now the Chinese chestnut, amongst numerous other variations, and hybrids are planted due to their blight resistant characteristics. The one fact that really caught my eye in every wildlife related article I read is this - North American whitetail deer go "nuts" over chestnuts. (pun intended) Some say they are preferred over acorns 10 to 1. That's impressive. That's what I've been pondering - I needed some of these giant whitetail magnets in my woods - and my awesome neighbor showed up with a large bag of them.
I set out to make it happen. I watched a few YouTube videos and gathered some supplies. A couple bags of peat moss and some plastic leftover containers. Extensive list. The chestnuts need to be placed in peat moss or dirt, watered, and then stored in the refrigerator to be cold stratified and thus, germinate into baby trees. This is as close as sending them through a natural winter humans can come up with. The next Saturday we were at home and out in the garage. I saw the supplies laying on the counter. My lively children were starting to get rambunctious so I corralled the kids and bribed them to settle down with a project I needed help with. We went out in the yard and began our big buck project:
Fill the container 2/3rds of the way up with the peat moss. Don't compact the peat moss, but lay it in loosely.
Arrange the seeds. We spaced them about 1-1.5" apart. A video I watched said to make sure to lay the seed on it's side. as the root and stem will come out of the same end of the seed. One will grow up and one will grow down.
Finish filling the container up with the peat moss
Water lightly. You don't want standing water or mud, but water makes things happy.
Put on the air-tight lid stack them in the back of the fridge. Luckily we have a fridge in the barn for things such as tree seeds and fishing worms....food chain necessities.
It was a very rewarding 10-15 minute project. My kids really did great and I was actually amazed at their concentration and ambition to do a good job. I really hope - for their excitement and mine - we have some seedlings to transplant and grow in the springtime. I have some reading and research to do this winter and we'll keep you posted with how the transplanting goes.
Planting and Harvesting - Sowing and Reaping. Growing up next to my Grandpa's farm - and now learning to plant food plots and build whitetail habitat - these ideologies run deep within me. These themes are one major way I see God in the outdoors. These themes are seen throughout the Bible. My kids are the seeds. My wife and I water and nurture them. We put in love and time and grow them into our arrows for the Kingdom. Right? Well kind of. In my reading this week - I came across a passage in 1 Corinthians 3. After re-reading a few times, I was humbled by the words written by Paul:
6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.
1 Corinthians 3: 6-7
I need to realize as a parent that I can only plant the seeds, and water them. I'm not growing my kids. The Word says I'm not anything. I can't make them grow into great Christ followers who win souls for Jesus. They need the same surgeon that I have. A gentle reminder for parents trying to raise Kingdom kids: He must become greater; I must become less. (John 3:30) Ultimately my kids are in God's hands - And if I'm honest - that's alot safer place for them to be than in my hands. I need to remind myself that He loves my kids even more than I possibly can. God's promises apply to them - just as they apply to me.
Plainly put, I have as much control over how my kids grow up as I do those seeds laying in a Tupperware in my fridge. There are so many things that will come against them. Getting planted in the right soil. Drought or Flood. The critters of the woods out looking for a snack. Even a greenhorn landowner not paying attention with a bush-hog in tow. There are a lot things that can go wrong. Despite all the odds, I still do whatever I can to give them the best chance at producing a crop that is a hundred fold. I'll keep watering them,. I'll keep loving them, getting them to church, and teaching them the Bible. I will pray for them and ask God for his protection. I will talk about Jesus and what he's done in my life every chance I get with them. I will work to create the best environment for them to grow in. I can create the safest and strongest greenhouse for God to use. Ultimately - He gets to decide how to use them. And I'm okay with that and will trust in my loving Father. I'm already catching glimpses of their growth and I'm excited to watch them grow more.
I want to leave you with one of my favorite quotes. It encourages me to keep planting and watering, and I hope it encourages you the same. Until then - keep Kingdom Hunting.
“Your positive impact on the generations to come will be directly related to the ministry you have in that little place called home.” - Jim George
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