I’ve been learning a lot about gardening and animal care. What I’ve discovered is that we humans like to do things the hard way. We try to create a system that is missing crucial pieces and then artificially recreate those pieces. As many of you may have already discovered, Torah has a lot to say about agriculture. We are instructed to care for our animals to the best of our ability. We are not to mix seeds. Things like GMO are obviously out of the question.

But I was amazed at what we can learn just by looking at nature around us. The plants and animals around us are sustained directly by their Creator. They have no need for us to interfere. How have we managed to create such a complicated system to care for our domesticated animals and gardens? Is there a better way?

I think the key is allowing the animals and plants to behave as they were created. Let them live in harmony with the other living creatures around them. Let the animals eat the vegetation. Let the vegetation benefit from the animal droppings. And that is just the beginning.

My research and experimenting with this way of thinking and doing is just beginning. We have been dumping all the waste hay from the barn into the chicken coop. The birds absolutely love it! We have been mulching our plants in the garden, and they are nice and warm and moist. There is so much to learn from our Creator about how to care for His creation!

Are you able to raise animals or plant a garden? I have found the following resources very helpful in our journey to work more in harmony with creation.

Back to Eden movie – an amazing look at gardening from a Biblical perspective.

The Small-Scale Poultry Flock: An All-Natural Approach to Raising Chickens and Other Fowl for Home and Market Growers

  I find that Torah draws us constantly closer to the land, the animals, the sky above. YHVH speaks to us through His creation, and it is through nature that we often are able to understand Him better. As I care for the chickens and ducks, milk the goat, water the plants, I learn of His care and kindness, His provision, His blessings, His faithfulness. What have you learned about the Creator lately?

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