The recent headlines read that the Amish community in New York have been under attack (and fighting since 2024) with a ridiculous vaccine mandate that says religious exemption from vaccinations is no longer available. There are five to six states so far that have followed this guideline—California (2015), Connecticut (2021), Maine (2019), New York (2019). West Virginia and Mississippi have never allowed religious exemption. If you didn’t know, the Amish have a strong conviction against vaccinations (as they should). It’s always “my body my choice" with the government, until it comes to something like this.

But this article isn’t about vaccine mandates or requirements. We’re going to go much deeper than that. Especially with the movement of homesteaders across the nation.

Historically, the government has a vast track record of herding people groups, or certain populations, into certain areas—knowingly or unknowingly. One of the more recent migrations that I’ve been watching has been the migration of homesteaders to more liberty and freedom loving states. While yes, much of that migration is Yahweh inspired, there are other instances that are not.

The United States government, especially, is well known for displacement. My own family was affected by it in the last one-hundred years. Let’s start breaking this down.

When They Ran Homesteaders Off Their Land in Virginia

There’s a stretch of the Blue Ridge that people drive every October for the leaves, and most of them have no idea they’re driving through somebody’s old front yard, corn field, or dairy pasture.

Before Shenandoah National Park was a park, it was home to about five hundred families—2,000 people. Some of them had been on that mountain for two hundred and fifty years. They had orchards that shipped apples to market, one-room schoolhouses, churches, post offices, general stores, and cemeteries full of their parents and grandparents. The government tried to frame them as one-toothed uneducated hicks, which couldn’t have been farther from the truth. They were farmers. They knew their land like the back of their hand. And these communities had never had any government interaction since the 1700s.

That was the real issue—community and independence outside of the system.

In 1926 Congress authorized a national park in the east, but with a catch. Unlike the western parks carved out of land the government already owned, Virginia had to buy this land and hand it over. Buy the land from who? Because they barely paid any of the rightful owners.

So in 1928 the state passed the Public Park Condemnation Act, which let officials condemn whole tracts at once instead of fighting each family in court. By the mid-1930s, more than two thousand people across eight counties had been put off the mountain. Landowners were “paid”, though usually just enough to clear the mortgage. Tenant farmers, some of whose families had worked those hollows for generations, got nothing at all, because they held no deed. Most of the houses were torn down or burned, sometimes while the family watched, so no one could come back.

The crazy part is how it was justified. A book came out in 1933 called Hollow Folk, written by a sociologist and a newspaperman, describing these people as illiterate primitives living in mud-plastered cabins, cut off from law and government since the 1700s. It was widely read and it was largely false. Later research, and the families’ own letters, showed exactly what you’d expect: ordinary rural Americans, growing food, schooling children, selling their harvests, living in community, flourishing…without government input. But the story had to be told the other way, because “we are rescuing these poor people from backwardness” reads better than “we are taking their farms.”

Granted, there were some uneducated folks and families, as in any society. But that was not the majority.

Roughly three hundred of the letters land owners wrote survived, sitting in the park archives in Luray, VA. They’re not dramatic. They’re mostly people asking practical questions—where are we supposed to go, why are you doing this? Can we take our fruit trees? What happens to the graves?

That’s what breaks my heart. My own generational family members were part of this, and I have to wonder what was going through their minds. Their children’s minds. The husband who provides from the land and now can’t. The politeness of their heritage. People who had been told their whole lives to be respectful, writing careful letters to the men taking their land. Were they perfect letters? Not hardly. Some of them didn’t know how to spell, that’s the point. But were they educated beyond spelling? Oh yes, absolutely.

Some wonder what’s under the ground, what’s hiding there, or what motive did the government have to displace 2,000 people just to create a “park”. It sounds like a outrageous hogwash to me—why did we need park? But it has happened before, and it happens still. Just differently.

Here are some other examples throughout history of displacement or moving of people:

The Great Smoky Mountains removed something over a thousand families in the same era, including the Cades Cove community. Just like SNP.

The Indian Removal Act of 1830 and subsequent treaties relocated the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole from the Southeast to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). The reservation system through the late 1800s moved dozens of other nations. Much later, the Indian Relocation Act of 1956 did the reverse—it “paid” Native families to leave reservations for cities like Chicago, Denver, and Los Angeles, part of the "termination" policy.

We won’t even talk about the Native sterilization the government did in the 1960s and 1970s on Native women without their consent (and sometimes without their knowledge). Makes you wonder what’s actually in those pills many women take today, and why the birth rate is at an all time low.

Executive Order 9066 (1942) moved roughly 120,000 Japanese Americans from the West Coast into inland camps in Arkansas, Wyoming, Utah, and elsewhere. The Aleut people of Alaska were removed to camps in southeast Alaska the same year.

The Homestead Act of 1862 and its successors deliberately populated the Plains and West by giving land away. The Pacific Railway Acts did something similar through land grants. These weren't coercive, but they were federal policy designed to move populations into specific regions.

The Resettlement Administration (1935) and the Subsistence Homesteads Division relocated “struggling” farm families to planned communities—Arthurdale in West Virginia, Greenbelt in Maryland, the Matanuska Colony in Alaska, which moved about 200 Midwestern families to farm the valley north of Anchorage.

The Tennessee Valley Authority displaced roughly 125,000 people over its dam-building decades; Norris Dam alone took about 3,000 families. Kinzua Dam flooded a third of the Seneca Nation's Allegany Reservation in the 1960s and broke the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua to do it.

In Oak Ridge, Tennessee: roughly a thousand families were given a few weeks to leave in 1942, for a project nobody could explain to them. Same story at Hanford in Washington, where the towns of White Bluffs and Hanford were emptied.

Title I of the 1949 Housing Act plus the 1956 Interstate Highway Act together displaced something on the order of a million Americans. Rondo in St. Paul, Black Bottom in Detroit, Overtown in Miami, the Hill District in Pittsburgh—neighborhoods with churches, businesses, and homeownership, declared "blighted" and routed through.

Poletown in 1981 took a Detroit neighborhood by eminent domain and handed it to General Motors. Kelo v. New London in 2005 upheld taking homes for private economic development, and the promised development was never built.

The pattern—the government has used relocation as a tool for land acquisition, wartime “security”, economic policy, civil rights “remedy”, and humanitarian obligation—sometimes by force, sometimes by incentive, sometimes by deception.

Almost none of these instances were framed as taking. They were framed as improving—rescuing backward people, bringing modern housing, restoring wilderness, developing the economy, integrating people into civilized society.

The point is, it was wrong, and it will continue to be wrong.

But what does it look like now?

Since 2020 many have become more aware of the overreach in the American government (and beyond). But some have forgotten if it is no longer directly affecting them. Year after year we see more and more overreaching laws in our country. Namely vaccines, self-defense, and gun laws, are at the top of the list. Along with high costs of living, it makes it increasingly difficult for folks to stay put.

But what if that has always been the plan?

Naturally, cities and densely populated areas tend to have liberal mindsets when it comes to these laws. They enjoy following the mindset of "lose a little freedom for a little safety”. But it’s a false reality—because there is no safety at all. These policies are driven completely by fear and ignorance.

So when we begin to see people of a certain mindset flocking away from states they once never believed they would leave, I have to sit with that for a little while and ask the question—what’s the motive? What’s the reason? What are the spiritual implications of this?

Now, don’t get me wrong, God is moving people. He is moving people to communities they can trust. He is moving people to regions to advance the kingdom and the gospel. He has always been this way.

I have been saying this for years. It has literally been a part of our ministry. But it only works if you are moving where God told you to move, not the current popular homestead place to move.

On the flip side we have to ask the questions. Where is the balance? Are we witnessing a less noticeable displacement of people who have morals, who grow food, who have faith convictions, and who want to live outside of government overreach?

If God told you to move to Texas, then that’s where you should move. Likewise, if God told you to move to New York, that’s where you should move. Because the reality is that the greatest safety is in the palm of Yahweh, no matter what the politics of that state are.

Not everyone is driven by the Spirit of God, though.

When people begin to start a mass exodus from one state to another, that’s a red flag. We are now basing opinions on politics that are forever changing year to year. What happens if 100,000 homesteaders move to a state that then flips overnight (like my home state of Virginia did) to a democratic governor with over reaching policies? Then what? Are they going to move again?

At some point we have to ask ourselves this question—has God called us to stay, or go? And if the answer is to go, then where will you be safe in the arms of the Creator of all things for the times that are ahead of us?

If you don’t know that answer, then are you falling into a government deception that is simply trying to herd people of like mind into a certain area or region that is popular? Only to find that one day in the future, the motive of this deception will finally rear its head.

I pray this isn’t the case, but governmental history shows otherwise.

As the Amish threaten to leave New York State due to its policies, I have to wonder if the state even cares at all. Principalities could often care less that the ones that disagree with them are leaving their region. This is the point.

When will we stand? If God gives us a territory, are we courageous and brave enough to stand in it and for it?

Justin Rhodes recently said in a Substack note, are you willing to “plant what you won’t sit under”? And then, are you patient enough to wait for it to grow?

Our forefathers knew the cost of freedom. We have reached that point in American history once again. Are we courageous enough to stay? To claim? To declare? Are we patient enough to have babies, grow them well, and support them to be the next generation that stays, claims, and declares?

Never let anyone guilt you out of leaving, this is not the point. If your family is in danger, much like the Amish are, then your focus is your family. I’m not talking about direct danger. Don’t read into something that’s not being stated.

But for those who have no reason outside of safety, I submit these questions and theories to you to consider. And I exhort you to seek the mind of Christ and heart of the Father as you begin to think of these things. He is the only one that knows what is best for your family.

Times change. Be ready to move or stay at a moments notice. Stay within the heart of Yahweh and what He is asking.

And at the end of the day, before making a decision rashly, filter through the lens of history and the Word.

The LORD is in this, my friends. If you seek Him first, you will know His faithfulness and will.

A Prophetic Prayer

We are coming up on the 100-year anniversary of the displacement of homesteaders in the Shenandoah National Park in 2028. Coincidence? I don’t think so. Prophetic word after prophetic word (including what God has impressed on me) have shown that starting in 2027 through 2028 are going to be intense.

Here’s what I will pray for and stand on—a generation of modern homesteaders will see the greatest land restoration and transfer in the current history of man, because God is a God of justice. What the enemy stole from this community and region 100-years ago, the LORD will restore sevenfold.

“People do not despise a thief
If he steals to satisfy himself when he is starving.
Yet when he is found, he must restore sevenfold;
He may have to give up all the substance of his house.”
Proverbs 6:30-31 NIV

This is my prayer. That those who want to steward the land in this new generation will be brought even more land and territory than they could have imagined.

For my family, for your family, for this region, this community, and this nation.

When all of hell and chaos breaks loose, may we be found faithful and stewarding Goshen. Not fearful and weak, but courageous and equipped.

Amen.

As a part of the Homestead Herbalist membership, I am starting a 6 part series about how herbalists historically understood the blood, and why it matters today. As a regular paid subscriber, you are receiving full access to the first in this series. If you are a free subscriber, you are only receiving a preview. If you would like to continue reading the next in this series, you will need to upgrade to the Homestead Herbalist Founding member option in your subscription.

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When we talk about blood today, we tend to think in precise physiological terms. We think about red and white blood cells, platelets, hemoglobin, plasma, coagulation, oxygen transport, blood pressure, and laboratory values. Modern medicine has given us an extraordinary understanding of what blood is, how it circulates, and the many roles it performs throughout the body.

Traditional herbalists, however, often approached the blood through a totally different framework. Their questions were not limited to the composition of the blood itself. They were interested in how the blood appeared to move through the body, how it related to heat and cold, or whether the tissues seemed congested or depleted. They noticed if a person bled too easily, circulation seemed strong or weak, and whether these patterns changed with the seasons.

In other words, blood was often interpreted as part of a broader constitutional picture. If the blood was thick or thin, we could tell if it was hot or cold. Or vice versa.

This way of thinking can initially sound odd or difficult to understand to the modern ear, especially because historical terms such as “thick blood,” “thin blood,” “bad blood,” or “high blood” do not correspond neatly to modern medical diagnoses. Yet these terms make more sense when we understand that older systems of medicine were built around observation and pattern recognition. The practitioner was not necessarily attempting to describe blood chemistry. Instead, the condition of the blood became one way of describing the condition of the whole person.

Understanding that distinction is essential if we want to study the history of Western herbalism. My goal with this series is to help you understand an important method, skill, and trade of the holistic practitioner that we have lost over the last century.

Blood in Humoral Medicine

One of the oldest major influences on Western medical thought was the Greek humoral tradition (established by Hippocrates), later expanded and systematized by the physician Galen. Within this framework, the body was understood through four primary humors: blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. Health depended upon maintaining an appropriate balance among them.

Before you continue reading, you may need to understand the humors and energetics of herbalism a bit more. You can read about the energetics of herbalism here…

Each humor was associated with particular energetic qualities. Blood was generally understood as hot and moist, while the other humors carried their own combinations of heat, coldness, moisture, and dryness. These qualities eventually became deeply embedded in Western medical thinking and remain recognizable in modern traditional herbal language. The National Library of Medicine notes that humoral medicine associated bodily temperaments and conditions with qualities such as hot, cold, moist, and dry, and that these influences were also understood to vary according to age, season, and other circumstances.

This is important because it shows that historical medicine did not necessarily view the body as an isolated mechanical system. Season, climate, environment, constitution, age, and lifestyle could all influence the internal state of the person.

Within the humoral framework, blood also carried a seasonal association, particularly with spring. The precise correspondences varied across time and among different authors, but the larger principle remained consistent: the natural world and the human body were understood to participate in related cycles.

If we believe in the Creator and an intelligent creation, then this doesn’t seen very far-fetched at all. Why couldn’t our bodies demonstrate the same seasonal relationship as the earth? If animals are susceptible to the seasons (example: shedding winter and summer fur), why couldn’t humans be as well?

If we believe this, then it challenges the practitioner to look at even basic blood pressure in a completely different light, doesn’t it? And modern medicine would never allow this. As holistic practitioners, however, we can.

A Quick History Lesson

A major shift occurred in the seventeenth century with the work of William Harvey. In 1628, Harvey published De Motu Cordis, in which he described his experimental observations concerning the movement of the heart and blood. His work helped establish that blood circulates continuously through the body rather than simply being produced, consumed, or moved back and forth according to older Galenic theories. The Royal College of Physicians continues to highlight Harvey’s experiments as a turning point in the history of cardiovascular medicine.

This discovery fundamentally changed the scientific understanding of circulation, but it did not immediately erase centuries of energetic and constitutional medical thinking. Herbalists and physicians could accept increasingly accurate anatomical knowledge while continuing to observe that some individuals appeared hot and flushed, others pale and cold, some congested, others weak, and that circulation seemed to change under different environmental conditions.

The scientific model became more precise, but the habit of observing patterns remained because they were equally as precise.

Many traditional herbal concepts survived not necessarily because every historical explanation was correct, but because the observable phenomena themselves were very real. People genuinely do become flushed or pale. Peripheral circulation does change in response to temperature. Tissues may appear congested, dry, inflamed, relaxed, or constricted. What changed over time was our understanding of the mechanisms behind those observations.

Read more

It’s been a few weeks since the last brief, and a lot happened while the garden kept growing. You may find there are some weeks I take off writing the brief, simply because there isn’t a whole lot to share. And the minute things to share can be consolidated in a large post once there is something really important to share.

So this is a catch-up edition, and a heavier one than usual. If there’s a single thread running through it, it’s this: the distance between what Washington says about protecting the American farmer and cleaning up our food, and what the policy ledger actually shows, is different. Some of the month’s news is genuinely good. Some of it cuts hard against the people it claims to help.

In full transparency as always, I’ve utilized my own research and other modern tools to compile this brief. It helps me pull this all together while saving time to spend on doing the farm and homestead things we preach about.

Key takeaways

• Trump moved to import more foreign beef — a new tariff-free push of up to 300,000 metric tons — drawing furious pushback from ranchers and even Republican senators, because it undercuts the very prices that would let producers rebuild the herd.

• The screwworm border reopens Aug. 24 — even after Mexico’s Sonora state confirmed its first case days earlier.

• Update: The imported-lettuce parasite outbreak became one of the largest on record — nearly 11,000 sick across 17 states, with two deaths.

• The Senate farm bill collapsed in committee on Aug. 6 over a SNAP fight.

• Two “right to know” wins: a court ordered USDA to close the GMO-labeling loopholes, and MAHA moved to close the food-additive “GRAS loophole.”

• But the ledger cuts both ways: glyphosate got a liability shield, biosolids scrutiny was eased, and foreign beef is coming in.

1. Foreign beef is coming in—and it works against rebuilding the herd

This is the story that ties the month together, and it’s the one that has ranchers most upset. The amount of anger over this on my newsfeed and within my farming community alone is insane, as it should be. One massive republican beef farmer we know locally said, “I thought this administration was for us…apparently I was wrong.” No administration is without scrutiny. We should test all things, and hold accountable every admin, no matter what wing of the bird they are.

On Aug. 21, President Trump announced he intends to remove tariffs on up to 300,000 metric tons of imported lean beef trimmings for ground beef, saying he’d secured a commitment that the beef would sell 25% below current market prices. It follows a February proclamation that already quadrupled the Argentina beef quota by 80,000 metric tons. The stated goal both times: lower grocery-store beef prices, which hit record highs as the U.S. cattle herd fell to a 75-year low from drought, wildfire, and the screwworm-driven border closure.

Here’s why it matters, and why it’s not the win it’s dressed up as.

High cattle prices are exactly the market signal ranchers need to justify rebuilding their herds, and importing cheap foreign beef to suppress those prices works directly against that.

A South Dakota Cattlemen’s leader called it a “gut punch,” saying producers finally reached prices they could make headway on. The contradiction inside the administration is glaring: just before the February order, HHS Secretary Kennedy stood at the national cattlemen’s convention and begged ranchers to stop slaughtering breeding cows and rebuild, saying “we want to make it here in America—we don’t want to be importing it from other countries.”

The backlash is bipartisan and comes from Trump’s own base: the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) said it “cannot stand behind the President while he undercuts the future of family farmers.” R-CALF called it a betrayal, Republican Senators Deb Fischer (a rancher) and John Thune broke with him, and even Marjorie Taylor Greene called it “a punch in the gut.”

It’s funny though, because the NCBA is totally bought by the big 4-packers, so they will end up benefitting in the long run by combining cheap non-America beef with American beef and selling it as American beef. But I digress.

Economists say Argentine beef is only 1–2% of U.S. supply, so it likely won’t even move grocery prices much. Cattle groups have flagged Argentina’s foot-and-mouth disease history and inspection concerns, an irony given how cautious USDA claims to be about screwworm at the Mexican border.

Where this leaves you: It’s the strongest “know your rancher, buy direct, buy local” argument of the year. The cheapest beef in the store may increasingly be foreign; the beef you can trust is the one whose source you know. BUY LOCAL or GROW YOUR OWN. God blessed us with 3 steers this year—now we know why.

2. The screwworm border reopens Aug. 24, which could hurt the U.S. herd further

The livestock story we’ve tracked all summer reached a turning point. USDA reopens the Douglas, Arizona cattle port on August 24—the first southern crossing to reopen after more than a year—with New Mexico ports to follow if it goes smoothly. But days before, the Mexican state of Sonora, which feeds that very port, confirmed its first-ever screwworm case, about 292 miles from the border. USDA said it had no plans to change the reopening. U.S. detections now stand at 44 since June, and Mexico has roughly 1,969 active cases.

Isn’t it interesting how we are importing beef and now opening the border all while screaming to American ranchers “rebuild the herd!” Kind of like the principalities of the nation don’t want us actually rebuilding the herd. They say it with their lips, but don’t mean it with their actions.

USDA points to full inspection of every animal, cooler fall weather, and a new $25 million sterile-fly facility in Arizona (so weird to me); critics like Texas Ag Commissioner Sid Miller say it’s premature. There’s also a new FDA emergency authorization for a drug to prevent screwworm in cattle, sheep, goats, and swine.

What to do: Keep inspecting every warm-blooded animal daily—wounds, discharge, larvae, newborn navels. The border news doesn’t lower your risk; 44 cases and climbing means vigilance still matters. I can’t help but think this whole thing sounds like judgement on America, but I digress again.

3. The imported-lettuce parasite outbreak became one of the largest on record (update)

Since we followed this closely in the ag brief, this is just a final update.

The cyclospora outbreak we warned about in July turned out to be enormous. The CDC’s latest count puts it at roughly 10,930 illnesses across 17 states, with at least 454 hospitalizations and two deaths, both in Michigan. It traces to iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico, sourced from central Mexico, recalled July 17, and linked to both retail sales and Taco Bell locations. The recalled product is off the market now (best-by dates long passed), and Taylor Farms has suspended all iceberg sourcing from central Mexico.

Funny thing…no product sample ever tested positive—an early “positive” was a false positive the FDA retracted—so the case rests on traceback and patient interviews, which is normal for this hard-to-detect parasite. One more reason not to have much faith in the food system. Funny how they can IMMEDIATELY trace back if it’s a raw milk or family local farm grown issue, but not a nationally known brand. Huh, funny.

The lesson writes itself: industrially grown, imported lettuce, nearly 11,000 people sick, two dead. The garden bed and the local farmer were never in this outbreak. Grow your own or buy local.

4. The farm bill collapsed in committee (Aug. 6)

I believe we touched on this last month in posts but not the brief. The markup we’d flagged as the make-or-break moment failed. The Senate Agriculture Committee’s “Farm Bill 2.0” went down on a 10–11 vote, sending it into recess until September, primarily over a partisan fight on shifting SNAP costs to states.

Sen. McConnell and Sen. Tuberville weren’t counted; even with Tuberville present it would have tied 11–11 and still failed. The bill carried year-round E15 and a permanent ban on SNAP EBT fees; also rejected were Democratic efforts to restore $2 billion in EQIP conservation cuts. Boozman blamed Democrats and vowed to reconvene in September, warning that if it doesn’t move soon, a 2026 farm bill becomes very unlikely.

Call your representatives. This bill literally got tabled because they couldn’t agree on how many years to phase out the new SNAP requirements.

Watch: September is now do-or-die for a five-year bill this Congress.

5. Some Wins & Losses Worth Noting

This is where the honest accounting matters, because the month delivered real wins and real losses for the “clean food, health freedom” cause—often in the same breath.

Win — the GMO labeling loopholes are closing. On Aug. 3–4, a federal court ordered USDA to rewrite the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard by Jan. 1, 2028. It closes the loophole that let “highly refined” GMO foods (corn and soy oils, sodas — about 70% of GMO ingredients) skip disclosure entirely, and it ends QR-code-only labeling, which USDA’s own study had found shut out rural, low-income, and elderly shoppers.

Win — MAHA moved on the “GRAS loophole.” On Aug. 10, HHS proposed closing the “generally recognized as safe” loophole that has let companies self-certify new food additives without notifying the FDA, and submitted the first-ever federal definition of “ultra-processed food.” Real progress on transparency—though independent fact-checks note much of MAHA (like the dye phase-out) is still voluntary industry pledges rather than binding bans.

Loss — glyphosate got its shield. Back in June, the Supreme Court ruled 7–2 (Monsanto v. Durnell) that federal law preempts state failure-to-warn claims, meaning you can no longer sue Bayer for failing to put a cancer warning on Roundup beyond what EPA requires. EPA calls glyphosate “not likely” carcinogenic; the WHO’s cancer agency calls it “probably carcinogenic.” There’s a split in the regenerative world here: some farmers defend glyphosate as essential to not disturbing the soil, while the health-freedom side wants it gone. Related pushes—a farm-bill provision and state laws would further shield pesticide makers from liability. We don’t want glyphosate, period.

Loss — biosolids scrutiny was eased. As covered last time, EPA’s July 1 draft guidance walked back the prior risk assessment on PFAS “forever chemicals” in the sewage sludge spread on farmland. The public comment window closes September 4.

Put together, the scorecard is mixed and worth presenting as exactly that. The clean-food movement is winning on transparency and losing on liability and contamination—and it’s not always the “team” you’d expect on each side.

6. Freedom Watch — quick hits

• Biosolids comment window closes Sept. 4 (see above).

• Electronic cattle ID: the federal RFID eartag mandate remains in effect, and the R-CALF/Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance lawsuit challenging it is still active in court.

• Raw milk: the Interstate Milk Freedom Act (Massie–Pingree) is alive in Congress but not law.

• Cottage food keeps expanding (Indiana’s broader food-freedom law took effect July 1); the full state-by-state lives in the monthly Freedom Watch on the Homesteaders of America website (blog).

7. Other USDA moves worth a glance

• RMA crop-insurance flexibility (Aug. 4): up to 60 extra days to pay premiums with interest waived, plus a reinstated 5% prevented-planting option—a usable break if you carry federal crop insurance.

• Roadless Rule rescission (Aug. 18): USDA moved to fully rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule, framed as wildfire-risk reduction; conservation groups see it as opening protected national forest to logging and roads.

• $7.5 million in cold-chain grants (Aug. 17) to expand “access to real food,” a National Farmers Market Week proclamation, more companies joining the Product of USA label, and a USDA–DHS agreement to align border and inspection authorities against threats like screwworm.

8. The farm economy and China

The backdrop for row-crop country stays tough: farm bankruptcies are up, and while China has resumed buying U.S. soybeans under the spring trade truce, purchases remain only about a quarter of the committed target, with Beijing floating new countermeasures ahead of another expected leaders’ meeting. Talk of a $12–13 billion farmer aid package continues. For most homesteaders this is backdrop, not an action item—but it’s the pressure behind a lot of the year’s policy.

Food safety & recalls this week

• Cyclospora / Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce — the big one above; product is off the market, now tied to two deaths.

• City Foods pastrami and corned beef — about 3,215 pounds recalled for possible Listeria (Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, then wider).

• Sprouts — an FDA public health advisory for an E. coli and Salmonella outbreak.

• Enoki mushrooms — ongoing Listeria recalls across major grocery banners.

Most important to remember

Hold the whole month in one hand and it tells a consistent story: the messaging says protect the farmer and clean up the food; the ledger says import the beef, shield the chemical, ease the sludge. None of that is about a team. It’s about paying attention to what’s actually done, not just what’s announced. And the quiet answer running underneath all of it is the same one your kitchen and your garden have always given: the closer your food is to your own hands and your own neighbors, the less any of this can touch you.

Bird flu note: it’s seasonally quiet now, but detections rise with fall migration, so fall biosecurity season is coming for backyard flocks. Prepare yourselves for the whole “don’t have chickens and don't drink raw milk” fiasco like every other year.

Stay watchful, stay rooted, and keep knowing where your food comes from.

Sources include: Roll Call, CBS News, Beef Magazine, AgWeb, Civil Eats, and Farm Progress on Argentine and foreign beef imports; USDA APHIS/screwworm.gov, Drovers, and KJZZ on the screwworm border reopening and Sonora case; CDC and FDA cyclosporiasis outbreak updates and the Taylor Farms recall; NACo, Hoosier Ag Today, and American Ag Network on the Aug. 6 farm bill markup; the Center for Food Safety, Food Navigator, and Feedstuffs on the Aug. 3–4 GMO-labeling ruling; STAT and the Rev transcript on the GRAS/ultra-processed-food announcement; NPR, SCOTUSblog, and the National Ag Law Center on Monsanto v. Durnell and pesticide liability; EPA and WRAL on biosolids; USDA press releases on the Roadless Rule, RMA flexibility, cold-chain grants, and Product of USA; Farm Policy News and Bloomberg on China soybean trade; and FSIS/FDA recall notices. Confirm program eligibility, deadlines, recall details, and animal-health guidance directly with the administering agency before acting.

We can talk about herbs all day long, but when we realize that it isn’t just about a list of herbs and actions, we begin to appreciate and understand herbs a lot more deeply. What I’m talking about specifically are the energetics of herbalism.

When many people first begin studying herbs, they learn through lists: ginger for nausea, marshmallow for a dry throat, peppermint for digestion, or goldenrod for the urinary system. Those associations are useful, but they are only the beginning.

A mature herbal practitioner asks a deeper question. Instead of only asking, “What herb is used for this symptom?” we ask, “What is happening in this person’s tissues, and what qualities would help bring those tissues back toward balance?”

That is the purpose of herbal energetics.

Herbal energetics describe the observable qualities of an herb and the way those qualities tend to influence the body. An herb may be warming or cooling, moistening or drying, relaxing or constricting. These qualities help us understand why an herb may be beautifully suited to one person and their symptoms, but poorly suited to another—even when both people appear to have the same complaint.1

The word energetics can sometimes sound vague or mystical, but it does not need to be. In traditional Western herbalism, it is a practical language for describing patterns we can observe: heat, coldness, dryness, excessive fluid, tension, weakness, sluggishness, and irritation. It helps the home and family herbalist work thoughtfully rather than choosing remedies from a symptom list alone.

Herbal Actions and Herbal Energetics Are Not the Same

An herbal action tells us what an herb does. Terms such as demulcent, astringent, expectorant, diuretic, carminative, nervine, and antispasmodic describe physiological effects or traditional therapeutic functions. You can find the herbal action PDF in your homestead herbalist courses from years back when I first started writing this course.

Energetics tell us more about how an herb expresses those actions and what kind of tissue pattern it may best fit.

For example, two herbs may both be considered expectorants—meaning they help the body move respiratory secretions. One may be warming, stimulating, and drying—better suited to a cold, heavy, mucus-filled presentation. Another may be cooling and moistening—better suited to a hot, dry, irritated cough. The action is similar, but the energetic expression is different.

This is why herbs should not be treated as simple natural replacements for over-the-counter medicines. Plants contain many constituents and often perform several actions at once. Traditional herbalists therefore consider the whole pattern, the whole person’s constitution, the preparation, the dose, and the length of use.2

The Three Foundations: Temperature, Moisture, and Tone

The six-tissue-state model used in modern Western herbalism is built upon three paired qualities: temperature, moisture, and tone.3

Read more

I have personally been wrestling with the Lord for months on this topic. I have prophetically felt an intense impression from Holy Spirit about this, and just like Jacob wrestling, I feel as though I have wrestled within myself. Months of spiritual healing, exhortation, rebuke, correction, alongside nurturing myself and others. When someone asked me at the beginning of the year why I was still hosting fellowship dinners at our home even though many of the people at our table had also left the same church we just had, my answer was this: “Because I refuse to let the sheep scatter again.”

We’ve been through this twice, and the sheep that “scattered” from the first church split are strung to-and-fro. I refused to let that happen again. I hear of some from the first split that play church but are really still feeling empty and alone. I hear of others that are just going through the motions but do not have accountability or anyone teaching them. And it grieves me. And it grieves Jesus. But there are some that have found landing places, too. Places where shepherds are caring for their flock. And that brings me joy.

And so, I refused to stop fellowshipping. Recently when talking to a friend, I said, “I think I need to write this out—God is calling back the shepherds.” And not in the way you may think. For the record, I am not calling myself a shepherd, but I was using my personal recent experience as explanatory imagery to lead into this.

It is no coincidence that the word “pastor” and “pastoral” are used in place of the term “shepherd” today. It is no coincidence that the agrarian way of living is making a come back. And when I finally put two and two together, it was like a rolodex was flipping through my head on high speed. Some people would call it a “download” from Yahweh. Maybe that’s what it was. But I feel like more so, it was a new glimpse of the mind of Christ and what He knows and loves and teaches.

So let’s walk through it.

Here is the American definition of “pastoral”.

pastoral —

[pas-ter-uhl, pah-ster-]/ ˈpæs tər əl, ˈpɑ stər- /

ADJECTIVE

1. (1): of, relating to, or composed of shepherds or herdsmen

   … a pastoral people, seminomadic in their habits. —J. M. Mogey

   (2): devoted to or based on livestock raising

   a pastoral economy

   b: of or relating to the countryside : not urban

   a pastoral setting

   c: portraying or expressive of the life of shepherds or country people especially in an idealized and conventionalized manner

   pastoral poetry

   a pastoral symphony

   d: pleasingly peaceful and innocent : IDYLLIC

   … pastoral dreams were shattered by the year’s round of … unwelcome visitors, ruinous floods and procrastinating workmen … —Betty Fussell

2. a: of or relating to spiritual care or guidance especially of a congregation

   pastoral counseling

   b: of or relating to the pastor of a church

   pastoral duties

3. However, the American definition of “pastor” as a noun is actually “herdsman”. 1

The Hebrew term for shepherd is the participial rō‘eh, and the greek poimēn.2 Taken from the New Bible Dictionary.

As I studied the word rō‘eh more, I realized in the bible it’s actually râʻâh. Ezekiel 34 uses this Hebrew word extensively throughout the chapter. The word rō‘eh actually means “seer”, later to mean prophet. I don’t believe that the New Bible Dictionary has a flaw in this. I believe it very much goes hand in hand with the term shepherd. A shepherd must also be able to foresee what’s coming. In the current century from a spiritual standpoint, a person that is gifted in this way would be able to predict outcomes because they excel in noticing and discerning patterns, movements, intentions, and seasons through Christ’s gifting.

רֹאֶה (roʾeh) designates “seer,” an early title for a prophetic figure who received divine revelation, often through visions, and served as a trusted conduit of God’s guidance to His people. Although later superseded by the broader title “prophet” (נָבִיא, naviʾ), the term preserves the foundational concept of spiritually gifted sight—seeing what the natural eye cannot perceive.3

But let’s go back to the two clearly original roots of shepherd.

רָעָה râʻâh, raw-aw'; a primitive root; to tend a flock; i.e. pasture it; intransitively, to graze (literally or figuratively); generally to rule; by extension, to associate with (as a friend):—×break, companion, keep company with, devour, eat up, evil entreat, feed, use as a friend, make friendship with, herdman, keep (sheep) (-er), pastor, shearing house, shepherd, wander, waste.

You’ll notice that it is not until the end of this definition that it says “pastor”, and even then it is referring to a herdsman/woman. Rachel was a shepherd, as seen in Genesis 29:9. We could go on all day long about how if Rachel was a shepherd, it completely blows the whole “women can’t be shepherds” thing out of the water. But I digress. That’s not what this is about today.

Strong’s Greek 4166 (poimēn) presents the shepherd both as a literal caretaker of livestock and as a spiritual caretaker of people. Across its eighteen New Testament occurrences the term gathers Israel’s pastoral heritage, prophetic hope, Christ’s redemptive work, and the church’s ongoing ministry.4

For those who don’t know—the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, and the New Testament was written in Greek. Which is why we use both definitions.

Homer and other secular writers frequently called kings and governors shepherds (Iliad 1. 263; 2. 243, etc.). Abel was considered a shepherd in Genesis 4:2. And we could go on an on about shepherd examples throughout the bible. Including the most notable shepherd—David. Of which Yahweh uses to talk about Jesus being the great shepherd from the line of David.

So now that we’ve gotten all the technicalities out of the way, let’s look at the historical aspect of shepherds. Because if you want to truly understand what a shepherd is, you must understand what a shepherd was during the agrarian biblical culture. And then, you must understand what it turned into afterwards. I believe you will be astounded at just how closely the physical change in outsourcing “shepherding” in the physical actually mirrored in the church in the spiritual.

Shepherds Throughout History

We often need to see what the definitions of something meant not just in the bible, but throughout the culture of the times. Homer’s stock epithet for a king is poimēn laōn, “shepherd of the people”—used repeatedly of Agamemnon and other leaders in the Iliad. And in the Ugaritic texts of Canaan, the Kirta (Keret) epic frames the ideal king as the shepherd of his people. This was simply the shared political grammar of the age.

In Isaiah 44:28, Yahweh calls Cyrus—the Persian emperor, no follower of Israel’s God—“my shepherd,” who will carry out God’s purpose. The biblical writers could apply it even to a foreign king when it suited God’s purposes.

You see, shepherds were not just herdsmen, they were also leaders. The term was interchangeable throughout social history. Yet they were mirrored perfectly.

Shepherds should have been strong leaders, selfless, able to fight off predators/enemies, able to foresee a threat before it arrives, alert, strong, wise, caring, consistent, responsible, and have endurance.

In the agricultural sense (from biblical times), they were often tent dwellers—dwelling with the flocks, nomadic, moving from pasture to pasture, well to stream. If there was nothing good to eat there, the shepherd moved his flock to the next pasture or watering hole.

Shepherds were not fragile. In fact, they were often dusted with the dirt they had been walking on. The Hebrew patriarchs are portrayed as tent-dwelling, semi-nomadic pastoralists—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob moving flocks and herds between grazing grounds and wells, and wealth was measured in animals. Rachel is introduced as a working shepherdess; Moses spends forty years herding his father-in-law’s flock in Midian; David is pulled straight from the sheepfold, and describes killing a lion and a bear to defend the flock, sling in hand.

The shepherd led from the front, and the sheep followed his voice, rather than being driven from behind as in much of later European practice. Flocks were often small enough that the shepherd knew individual animals and named them.

The rod and staff were two tools: a stout club (the rod) for defense against predators and the crook (staff) for guiding, catching, and rescuing sheep from ravines or thickets.

At night, sheep were gathered into a fold—often a rough stone enclosure with a single opening, across which the shepherd would lie down, literally becoming the “door.” Multiple flocks might share a communal fold overnight and separate again by voice in the morning.

There was a real distinction between the owner-shepherd and the hired hand: the hireling, with nothing invested, flees when the wolf comes. That contrast underlies the “Good Shepherd” teaching in John 10, where the shepherd knows his sheep by name, goes ahead of them, and lays down his life for them. The prophet Amos, notably, describes himself as a herdsman and tender of sycamore figs—a reminder that these were ordinary working people, not a literary abstraction.

Just read John 10…

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. ² But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. ³ To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. ⁵ Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” ⁶ Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them. ⁷ Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. ⁸ All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. ⁹ I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

¹¹ “I am the good shepherd.” The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.¹² But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. ¹³ The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.”

John 10:1-13 NKJV

I encourage you to pause and read the full chapter.

Continuing on…

Flocks pushed out into wilderness and marginal land in the wet season, and were drawn back toward settled areas and stubble fields at other times—a pattern the region’s Bedouin herders continued into modern times.

You can see an ebb and flow within shepherding. The shepherd knew the seasons—when to settle, when to move. When to fight, when to sit still. When to call, when to be silent.

Can you begin to see the picture that’s being painted as we move into the New Testament meaning of shepherd?

Shepherding changed when Rome industrialized it after Jesus’s time on earth. Wool became common to harvest (before that it was just hair sheep). Records of sheep were intricately kept. And the Roman governmental institution owned most of the sheep in the kingdom.

The Cistercian monasteries of medieval Europe became some of the largest wool producers in Europe (they bred and created wool breeds)—the great Yorkshire abbeys like Fountains and Rievaulx ran flocks in the tens of thousands, and English wool became the backbone of the medieval economy.

On the ordinary manor, the shepherd was a respected specialist, not a generic laborer. Estate-management treatises like Walter of Henley and the Seneschaucy spell out his duties and demand honesty above all—he handled valuable animals unsupervised for months.

A vivid early source is Ælfric's Colloquy (around 1000 AD), in which a shepherd describes his own work in the first person—driving the flock to pasture at dawn, standing over them through heat and cold with his dogs so wolves don't devour them, leading them back to fold, milking them twice a day, and making butter and cheese.

Things really changed in the 1500s. The big structural shift in Britain was enclosure. Common grazing was fenced into private holdings, which displaced many small herders and reshaped the shepherd from a communal figure into an employee of large sheep-farming operations. Sound familiar?

Guardian breeds like the Great Pyrenees and Anatolian shepherd are ancient—big, independent dogs that live with the flock and fight off predators. But the herding dog as we know it—above all, the Border Collie—was refined into a distinct working type in 19th-century Britain (the founding sire, Old Hemp, dates to 1893). A good dog effectively multiplied one shepherd's reach. But unfortunately, it also outsourced shepherding in its intimacy.

And now here we are in the twenty-first century, almost mirroring the change of the shepherd within the church—centralization and industrialization.

The New Testament Shepherd

Moses is trained for leadership by forty years herding his father-in-law's flock in Midian; God calls him at the burning bush while he is out with the sheep (Exodus 3). David is pulled straight from the sheepfolds—the youngest, left with the flock while his brothers are summoned (1 Samuel 16)—and he defends his sheep by killing a lion and a bear with his hands and sling (1 Samuel 17). Psalm 78:70–72 makes the connection explicit and beautiful: God took David from tending the ewes to shepherd Israel, and he did it with integrity of heart and skillful hands. When the elders crown him, they quote God's charge that he will "shepherd my people Israel" (2 Samuel 5:2). The herdsman of animals becomes the herdsman of the nation.

He also chose David His servant,
And took him from the sheepfolds;
From following the ewes that had young He brought him,
To shepherd Jacob His people,
And Israel His inheritance.
So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart,
And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.

Psalm 78:70–72 NKJV

Jeremiah pronounces woe on the “shepherds” who destroy and scatter God’s flock (Jeremiah 23:1–4). Ezekiel 34 is the towering example: a sustained oracle against the shepherds of Israel (secular and religious) who fed themselves and not the sheep, who ruled with force and let the flock be scattered and devoured. So God declares He will remove them, seek out His own sheep Himself, and set over them “one shepherd, my servant David”—Jesus.

Zechariah adds the image of the worthless shepherd who abandons the flock (Zechariah 11), and the stricken shepherd whose sheep scatter (Zechariah 13:7). Isaiah 40:11 holds the tender counterpart: God gathering the lambs in His arms.

The New Testament lands the whole tradition of shepherd on Jesus. Angels announce His birth to shepherds (poimēn) (Luke 2). He sees the crowds as sheep without a shepherd (Mark 6:34). In John 10 He is the Good Shepherd who knows His sheep by name, goes ahead of them, and—unlike the hired hand who flees the wolf—lays down His life for them.

Hebrews calls Him the great Shepherd of the sheep, and 1 Peter calls Him the Chief Shepherd. The word that pagan kings had claimed for their own glory is redirected onto the One who now rules after dying for the flock.

Yet in Ephesians Holy Spirit inspires Paul to write that some are still called to be shepherds.

¹¹ And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, ¹² for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, ¹³ till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God…

Ephesians 4:11-13 NKJV

Notice pastor and teacher (didaskalos) are not the same. The “pastors” word there is the greek word for shepherd—poimēn.

The same word used for the shepherds that were out in the field watching their flocks at night. The same ones who were not fragile, but who guarded the sheep at all cost. They fed, watered, cared for, and guided their sheep. They dwelt with them—smaller flocks that they knew by name.

If there were larger herds, there were multiple shepherds, not just one. So that the sheep knew them all, and knew they were for them, not against them.

The shepherd and shepherdess were absolutely beautiful positions to hold. They were intimate. They were strong. They truly cared for the flock, and they would guard it at all costs. It was their wealth—their inheritance, their livelihood. Their passion.

Yet somehow in this century we have deconstructed the ministry of pastor to “teach a sermon on Sunday and be the leader of the church building”.

My friends, it is so much more beautiful and more intense than that.

And God is calling up the shepherds of this generation.

The rod does not beat the sheep over the head—it beats off predators of the flock.

The staff does not strangle the sheep with its crook—it pulls them out of the pits they fall in, and guides them out of harms way.

The shepherd is not standing behind a pulpit in a stationary position on a platform. Instead, he is moving and dwelling among the sheep. He knows his group by name. He knows when something is off because he is with them regularly. And even more important—the shepherd knows his Father’s voice clearly. The great Shepherd of them all.

The shepherd is fierce, has a natural inclination to when someone has predatory intentions, and understands moving the sheep away from threats. This is why scripture tells us to avoid people who cause division, slander, are immoral, and more.

The shepherd knows when the food and water aren’t enough, and the shepherd adjusts accordingly. The shepherd cares for the flock intimately, guides firmly, and builds up his flock spiritually so that they can be equipped for the seasons ahead.

The shepherd knows how to do confrontation well. This is important.

When I imagine a shepherd within an assembly in my head, I see a person that is extremely sensitive to the atmosphere. They can sense danger a mile away and probably get judged for being so discerning. But when there is a predator near a flock, you don’t try to love the “devil” out of the lion—you move the flock, or you wrestle with and kill the lion (figuratively).

I believe the body of Christ has been so focused on “apostle” and “prophet” for so long that we have greatly neglected equipping and building up the true shepherd. Partially because the shepherd is not only a gentle leader, but a fierce warrior. And for some reason we don’t know how to handle that in the body of Christ….yet. We want them to assume the role but only if they fit into the institution’s box. Yet the biblical shepherd is more than a Sunday morning preacher. So much more.

In fact, I question whether the shepherd/pastor was ever to assume the main leadership role of an institutionalized church at all. Because the church was never created to be institutionalized.

Maybe we will unpackage that in the next letter.

In the end, I feel this strongly—we are about to see the Lord greatly equip and reform the ministry of shepherd in the body of Christ. Don’t be surprised when the least likely in your spheres are suddenly finding themselves pastoring. Not on a stage, but within a community…around a table…within an assembly. The farmers, the homesteaders, the one who are rough around the edges, the warriors at heart, the ones who are courageous and bold but can shed tears when moved.

And for that I am excited.

For His Glory,
Amy

Some weeks the headlines argue your whole worldview for you. This was one of them. The parasite in the salad bowl turned out to be imported lettuce, the screwworm border is reopening even as cases climb here at home, a small-processor win quietly landed, and—while nobody was looking—the federal government moved to keep sewage sludge flowing onto American farmland. There’s more to do than to fear this week, so let’s get to it. Most important first.

A reminder that this brief covers the food, ag, and health systems together, because they were never really separate. It may not all pertain to you directly, but it always pertains to us indirectly.

1. The lettuce parasite had a source—and it was imported

Last week we told you a parasite was spreading through store-bought lettuce and that officials suspected leafy greens. This week it’s confirmed. On July 17, Taylor Farms de Mexico recalled all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico after epidemiologic and traceback data tied it to a nationwide cyclospora outbreak. The recall covered both retail product—including Marketside-brand lettuce sold at Walmart—and lettuce served through restaurants and food service.

The outbreak linked to that lettuce has grown to roughly 1,947 confirmed cases across nine states, with at least 98 hospitalizations and, thankfully, no deaths. And it sits inside a brutal cyclospora year overall: since May 1, the CDC has logged more than 1,645 lab-confirmed cases across 34 states—about six times what was reported over the same stretch in 2025.

The culprit wasn’t some backyard garden or a neighbor’s farm stand. It was industrially grown lettuce, imported across an international border, moving through a supply chain with more hands on it than you could count.

But they are scared that a small local grower will sicken thousands? C’mon, give me a break. We must get back to local food!

Cyclospora spreads through produce or water contaminated with human waste, it clings to crevice-y greens, and washing doesn’t reliably remove it—only cooking to about 158°F kills it. You know what wasn’t part of this outbreak? The lettuce growing in a pot on somebody’s porch.

What to do: If you still have recalled iceberg, throw it out or return it. Beyond that—grow a little of your own, buy from a farmer you can name, and when you do buy from the store, choose whole heads over pre-washed bags and peel off the outer leaves before washing the rest. Lettuce is so easy to grow—do it!

2. Screwworm: 42 cases at home, and the border is reopening anyway

The New World screwworm story we’ve been tracking moved in two directions at once. On one hand, domestic cases climbed to 42—mostly Texas cattle, sheep, and goats, plus dogs in Texas and New Mexico—while Mexico has now documented 34,315 animal cases, 1,823 of them still active.

On the other hand, USDA announced on July 24 that it will begin a phased reopening of the southern cattle ports that have been closed for over a year. Beginning August 24, the Douglas, Arizona port reopens to cattle trade, with Santa Teresa and Columbus, New Mexico potentially to follow. USDA says the move is contingent on Mexico meeting joint action-plan milestones, that every animal will be fully inspected, and that Sonora and Chihuahua—the states feeding those ports—are the lowest-risk parts of Mexico, with the nearest active case about 325 miles away.

Not everyone’s convinced. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller called the reopening welcome but “not the finish line,” arguing USDA has spent a year reacting instead of getting ahead of the pest, and warning against half-measures with billions in livestock production on the line. Reasonable people can look at 42 growing domestic cases and a reopening border and feel the tension there.

What to do: None of this changes your job on the ground. Keep checking every warm-blooded animal—livestock and pets—for draining wounds, discomfort, or larvae, and watch the navel on newborns especially.

3. They want to keep spreading sludge on your fields

This is the one most people will miss, and it’s the one you should read twice.

I touched on this in the last post. A lot of people don’t know that the smell you smell on fields now days isn’t chicken or turkey manure—it’s human feces. And it’s gross. The government convinced American farmers to take free fertilizer. It’s “safe” and effective. No it’s not. They just needed a dumpster to put all of our human waste in because they ran out of room.

On July 1, the EPA released draft guidance on PFOA and PFOS—two of the “forever chemicals”—in biosolids, the treated sewage sludge that’s spread on farmland as fertilizer. The move criticizes and effectively sidelines a risk assessment from the previous administration, a 272-page analysis that had concluded land-applying PFAS-contaminated sludge could pose real health risks to people who depend on that farmland for food and water. The new EPA calls that assessment seriously flawed and “too disconnected from real-world conditions,” defends land application as a “cost-effective strategy for adding nutrients and improving soil quality,” and offers only voluntary recommendations in its place.

Critics aren’t buying it. The Southern Environmental Law Center says the agency is downplaying settled science. The concern isn’t hypothetical: North Carolina testing found PFOS in 85% of biosolids samples and in every soil sample taken from fields where sludge had been repeatedly applied, and farmers in Maine and Texas have already sued EPA over its failure to regulate PFAS in sludge.

The biosolids problem is real no matter who’s in the White House—human sewage sludge carrying industrial chemicals does not belong on the ground that grows your food. And right now the federal posture is moving toward more permissive, not less. You can hold that plainly without it being about party. If this concerns you, the draft guidance is open for public comment through September 4—that’s a door that’s actually open to you.

4. The farm bill markup is at the doorstep

The markup we’ve been calling the real tell is finally imminent. Chairman Boozman said the committee would take up the bill the week of July 20 at the earliest and more likely the week after—meaning right about now—with the timing snagged on Sen. Mitch McConnell’s recovery from a fall, which leaves Republicans short-handed on a committee split 12 to 11. It’s officially still on track for a markup before the August recess, provided McConnell returns for the vote.

The sticking point remains SNAP: Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar and committee Democrats want the bill to address the cost-shift onto states before broader negotiations, and it takes 60 votes to clear the Senate. One number worth sitting with from that fight: SNAP participation fell by more than 4 million people—about 10%—through March 2026, the steepest drop in nearly 30 years.

Watch: If a markup actually lands this week, that’s your signal the bill is real for 2026 rather than slipping to 2027. Still nothing to act on.

5. A win for small processors

Some good news for the little guy. On July 27, USDA and the State of Georgia finalized a Cooperative Interstate Shipment agreement. CIS lets select state-inspected meat plants ship across state lines—something normally off-limits without full federal inspection—which is a real market-access expansion for the small and mid-size processors so many of us depend on. If you’re in Georgia and use a state-inspected locker, it’s worth asking whether they’ll pursue CIS status.

A few more threads worth keeping on your radar this week:

• Electronic eartags for cattle. The federal rule requiring RFID (electronically readable) eartags for certain cattle and bison moving across state lines is still in effect, and the lawsuit challenging it—brought by R-CALF, the South Dakota Stockgrowers, and the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance—remains active in federal court. The producers argue USDA never justified swapping effective visual tags for an expensive electronic mandate.

• Raw milk in Congress. The Interstate Milk Freedom Act (H.R. 7880), from Thomas Massie and Chellie Pingree, would stop federal agencies from interfering with raw milk shipped between states that already allow it. It’s a real left-right bill, though public-health groups oppose it. It’s not law—but it’s alive as Congress works through the summer.

• Cottage food keeps expanding. Indiana moved to a much broader food-freedom model as of July 1, and Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland widened home-kitchen access this year. The one to watch the other direction: a New Jersey bill would slap a sales cap on home producers who currently have none.

• USDA also announced an $80 million timber and forest-health investment in Nevada and Oregon and put out a call for AI-driven crop-innovation ideas (that doesn’t seem like a good idea)—neither of which moves the needle much for a small diversified operation.

No major new executive orders or White House ag actions surfaced this week.

Food safety & recalls this week

• Taylor Farms de Mexico iceberg lettuce — the big one, tied to the cyclospora outbreak above. Recalled July 17, central-Mexico-sourced, retail and food service. Check and discard.

• Maple Leaf Foods smoked bacon — about 12,036 pounds recalled July 24, imported from Canada without the required import reinspection. This is a paperwork-and-inspection technicality, not a known contamination.

• Enoki mushrooms (HH Fresh Trading and IQ Produce) — recalled for Listeria; return for a refund.

Most important to remember

Pull the week together and it says one thing over and over: know where food comes from. The safe lettuce is the lettuce close to home. The healthy soil is the soil you didn’t let someone dump sludge on. The processor worth protecting is the one down the road. None of that requires a headline or a program—it requires paying attention and staying rooted.

Stay watchful, stay rooted, and keep knowing where your food comes from.

Sources for this brief include CDC and FDA cyclosporiasis outbreak updates and the Taylor Farms de Mexico recall notice (July 17–24, 2026); USDA APHIS and the USDA press release on the phased reopening of southern livestock ports (July 24) with reporting from Tri-State Livestock News and KFOX14; USDA’s Cooperative Interstate Shipment announcement for Georgia (July 27); EPA’s Draft Guidance for Reducing Risk from PFOA and PFOS in Biosolids (July 1) with reporting from WRAL, Waste Dive, and C&EN, and EPA’s public comment docket (open through September 4); Agri-Pulse, DTN, and the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition on the farm bill markup timeline; the New Civil Liberties Alliance and R-CALF USA v. USDA court filings on the electronic eartag rule; and FSIS recall notices. Always confirm program eligibility, deadlines, recall details, and animal-health guidance directly with the administering agency or your state animal health official before acting.

Not too much to report this week, but some things worth watching. There’s a parasite creeping north that every livestock keeper should know how to spot (and another one from human feces in our food!), real disaster money on the table that some of you can claim retroactively, and a Congress back in session with a farm bill and a multibillion-dollar aid package on a short clock. Less spin to cut through than usual, more to actually do. Here’s the week that was, most important first.

A reminder that this brief is from the food and ag system, as well as the health system when applicable. This brief may or may not pertain to you directly, but it always pertains to us indirectly.

Key takeaways

• If you keep animals, start daily wound checks. New World Screwworm detections in Texas have climbed past 30 and now include sheep and goats. It’s really easy to spot and treat, especially for the small farmer. But for those not paying attention to their animals, it could become an issue.

• There’s retroactive disaster money worth a phone call if you’re a farmer. USDA’s “Farmers First” updates raise predation payments to 100%, cover unborn livestock losses back to 2024, and lower the drought threshold for forage aid—some of it paid automatically.

• Contaminant testing is expanding to processed foods for the first time, under a new three-agency agreement—a natural-health story to watch.

• The Senate is back today with a farm bill markup and a $15–17 billion aid package on a tight pre-recess clock.

• The “know your farmer” labeling push keeps growing, and Farm to School funding hit a record—both real market channels for small producers.

• A cyclospora parasite outbreak has sickened 840+ people across 31 states, likely through leafy greens—favor whole heads over bagged salad, and it's a real argument for garden lettuce.

• Check your freezer: frozen organic blueberries sold at Publix are under an active E. coli recall.

1. New World Screwworm is spreading in Texas—check your animals regularly

The New World Screwworm is a fly whose larvae burrow into and feed on the living flesh of warm-blooded animals. It has now been confirmed in more than 30 animals in southern Texas, including sheep and goats, not just cattle. Quarantine zones are in place across parts of more than a dozen Texas counties, several states have restricted livestock movement out of Texas, and the U.S. border has been closed to live Mexican cattle since July 2025.

As of mid-week, investigators still couldn’t fully explain how the pest is spreading, though experts point to uninspected cattle movement, warmer conditions, and surveillance gaps rather than any single cause.

Here’s the reassuring part and the practical part. Reassuring: this is an animal-health problem unless you run more cattle than you can handle. Early detection is everything, and it’s on you as the farmer and homesteader. If found, simply remove it and clean the wound or umbilical thoroughly.

2. “Farmers First” disaster upgrades—retroactive money for small livestock, bees, and orchards

Let me preface this—I don’t believe in taking any kind of money from the government. But you may, and so that’s worth sharing with you if you want it. Sometimes disaster happens and a farmer feels the need to take advantage of the disaster grants offered by the government.

Marking one year since the Working Families Tax Cuts Act, USDA finalized a round of improvements to Farm Service Agency disaster programs, several of them retroactive to January 1, 2026—and a few reaching back further. Cut through the commodity-program language (cotton and sugar changes that won’t touch most of you) and here’s what actually matters for a small, diversified operation:

• Livestock Indemnity Program: Payments rise to 100% of market value—up from 75%—for animals lost to predators that are federally endangered or protected. The program will now also cover unborn livestock losses going back to January 1, 2024, and for most 2024–2025 losses the payment is automatic based on records already on file, with no action needed.

• Honeybees: The program will use a 15% normal mortality rate for eligible colony losses—meaningful if you keep bees and have taken heavy losses.

• Drought forage aid: The threshold for a one-month payment now trips after four consecutive weeks of severe (D2) drought, down from eight — so grazing losses qualify for help sooner. The drought has been in insane here in Virginia.

• Orchardists and nursery growers: Tree Assistance remains available to replant or rehabilitate trees, bushes, and vines lost to a qualifying disaster. I know here in Virginia, many orchards lost their trees and fruit this year.

USDA also raised marketing loan rates to help cash flow. This is the rare announcement where the honest read is better than the press release for a small producer, because so much of it is retroactive.

What to do: If you’ve lost animals to protected predators, keep bees, or run orchard or nursery stock, and you want to take advantage of these opportunities—call your local FSA office. Many of you will just take the hit and move on, and I totally get that. We just have to prepare better for next time!

3. Contaminant testing expands to processed foods—for the first time

USDA, HHS, and EPA signed an updated agreement strengthening the National Residue Program, the long-running framework for monitoring contaminants in meat, poultry, and eggs. The stated upgrade: better methods to detect heavy metals and other toxins, extended—for the first time—to processed foods, alongside produce and meat. The agencies framed it explicitly around the “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.

For readers who care about what’s actually in the food supply, this is a genuine thread to follow. Be clear-eyed, though: this is a coordination-and-methods agreement, not a new enforceable limit. The proof will be in what testing and standards actually emerge from it. Like, why can’t we test for glyphosate and then eliminate it from the food system entirely? But I digress.

4. The Senate is back today—farm bill markup and a big aid package on a short clock

Congress returned this week to an unforgiving calendar. Senate Agriculture Chairman John Boozman is aiming to mark up “Farm Bill 2.0”—the Agricultural Act of 2026—in the narrow window between today’s return and the August recess (or whenever they decide to recess).

Riding alongside it is a farmer-aid supplemental in the range of $15–17 billion (the White House requested closer to $11 billion), widely seen as the year’s best chance to get help to producers before updated safety-net programs kick in. And the USMCA joint review formally opened July 1, with roughly $60 billion in annual farm exports to Mexico and Canada in the balance.

For small and mid-size operations, the draft’s most relevant pieces raise FSA guaranteed operating loan limits to $3 million and direct operating loans to $750,000—long overdue updates to caps built on 2012-era numbers—and expand storage-facility loans to cover propane and fertilizer infrastructure. None of this matters for the small guy unless they're looking to go into a totally new bracket of farming.

The Farm Bill is the big one here. We must watch the edits and conversations around this bill religiously.

Watch: Whether Boozman locks in an actual markup date this month is the tell for whether this becomes a 2026 law or slips to 2027. Nothing to act on yet.

5. “Product of USA” label adds ten more companies

Ten additional meat and poultry companies adopted USDA’s voluntary “Product of USA” label—the standard reserved for products born, raised, harvested, and processed here—and USDA notes several also expect to benefit from the SPUR small-processor program. It’s the same origin-labeling thread we’ve been following: an effort to make “American-raised” mean something verifiable on the package.

Watch: If you direct-market beef or poultry, this is the labeling framework consolidating around authentic domestic sourcing. Worth knowing where it settles.

6. Farm to School hits a record $20 million

USDA awarded nearly $20 million to 68 projects—its largest single-year Farm to School investment ever—funding local food sourcing, school gardens, taste tests, and farm field trips, framed as a way to get real food onto kids’ trays. (Note: the Food and Nutrition Service rebranded to the Food and Nutrition Administration as of June 1.)

Act/watch: If there’s a school or district near you building a local-food program, these grants turn schools into a dependable market for small producers. A conversation with a food service director can be worth more than a dozen farmers-market Saturdays.

Food recalls/issues worth knowing

A parasite in the salad bowl—the cyclospora outbreak. The biggest food-safety story this week is the one all over the news: a nationwide outbreak of cyclosporiasis, a gut infection caused by the microscopic parasite Cyclospora cayetanensis.

As of July 9, the CDC counted more than 840 confirmed cases across 31 states since May, with over 80 hospitalizations and no deaths—plus more than 1,500 suspected cases still under investigation. Michigan is the epicenter, reporting its largest outbreak on record, with Ohio, New York, Illinois, Kentucky, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Texas also hit. Investigators haven’t pinned down a source, but the sheer volume has officials pointing to a commonly eaten raw item—most likely a leafy green such as lettuce.

A lettuce. Bought from the store. You know how you won’t have this issue? Growing your own in a big pot on the balcony, patio, or in your garden in the shade.

The parasite spreads through produce or water contaminated with feces (yum)—not person to person—and it favors exactly the raw, crevice-y foods that are hard to clean: lettuce and leafy greens, cilantro, basil, green onions, raspberries, and blackberries. Washing helps but doesn’t reliably remove it, because it clings; cooking to about 158°F kills it.

I would venture to say that the whole “we’ll spread biosolids on your pasture for free” crap that D.C. fed farmers years ago is now coming back to haunt the food system. Biosolids are human manure, in case you didn’t know. They try to market it as safe, but it is not safe. It literally comes from the sewage and waste system of your county or city and is then spread on fields.

Cyclospora cayetanensis exclusively comes from human feces. Humans are the only known hosts for this parasite. The infection spreads when contaminated human feces enter the environment and eventually contaminate food or water, which is then ingested.

https://www.fda.gov/food/foodborne-pathogens/cyclosporiasis-and-fresh-produce

The symptoms are distinctive and miserable—watery, sometimes explosive diarrhea that can drag on for days to weeks and relapse—and it’s usually treated with antibiotics.

What to do right now: grow your own, buy from a farmer, or favor whole heads of lettuce over pre-washed bagged salad mixes, and peel off the outer two or three leaves before washing the rest under running water. Wash cilantro and basil leaf by leaf, trim and peel green onions, and lean on smoother fruits like grapes and blueberries that actually scrub clean. Cook greens when it’s practical.

A small recall

The one to actually check your kitchen for frozen GreenWise organic blueberries, recalled July 3 and now tied to an active multistate E. coli O145 outbreak that the FDA and CDC are still investigating. As of early this week, twelve people had been confirmed sick—eleven in Florida, one in Georgia—and four were hospitalized, with no deaths reported. The recalled berries came from a Chilean (why so far?!) supplier in 10-ounce packages, lot code 60401, best-by February 9, 2028, and were sold at Publix stores across eight states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.

This is certified-organic fruit from a global supply chain—a good reminder that “organic” on the bag isn’t the same as knowing your grower or buying local. The more hands these things touch, the more bacteria they carry.

A few smaller allergen and contamination alerts from the past couple of weeks, worth a glance if you buy these:

• “Street’s Beef Jerky” (teriyaki) — contains undeclared wheat; sold at feed and farm stores in Oklahoma.

• “Private Selection Honey Dijon” raw chicken breast — undeclared egg, a higher-risk Class I alert; sold at Kroger and Fred Meyer across several states.

• TNVitamins organic moringa capsules and powder — recalled over a Salmonella-related supplier issue; one for the supplement shelf.

Stay watchful, stay rooted, and keep knowing where your food comes from.

Sources for this brief include USDA APHIS / screwworm.gov detection updates (through July 12, 2026) and reporting on the outbreak from NBC News and the Albuquerque Journal; CDC and FDA cyclosporiasis outbreak updates (through July 9–12, 2026) with reporting from TIME, NPR, PBS NewsHour, and the Associated Press; USDA press releases on the Working Families Tax Cuts Act "Farmers First" improvements (July 8), the USDA–HHS–EPA contaminant MOU (July 9), the Product of USA label (July 10), and Farm to School grants (July 7); the FDA/CDC frozen-blueberry E. coli outbreak notice (July 3); and Congressional analysis from Ag Bull Trading, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, and Holland & Knight. Always confirm program eligibility, deadlines, and animal-health guidance directly with the administering agency or your state animal health official before acting.

You have almost certainly walked past it a hundred times. It grows along the fencerows and the neglected edges of the pasture, in the ditch by the mailbox, in the disturbed ground where the tractor turns around. In late summer its burrs catch on the dog’s coat, the hem of your skirt, and the wool of the sheep, hitchhiking a ride to wherever they can put down roots next. Most people call it a weed and reach for the mower. But the old herbalists knew better. Under that coarse, bristling plant is one of the most respected alterative roots in Western herbal medicine—plant with three thousand years of documented use and, unusually for a wild weed, a small but real body of human clinical evidence behind it.

Burdock is a plant that rewards the person willing to look closer, which is most of what stewardship of the land asks of us. This profile walks through what burdock is, what’s actually inside it, how herbal traditions have used it, and—just as importantly—where the line falls between what tradition claims and what the research can actually support.

Key Takeaways

• Botanical identity: Burdock is Arctium lappa (greater burdock) and its close cousin Arctium minus (common burdock), both members of the Asteraceae (daisy) family. The two share nearly identical medicinal chemistry.

• The root and the seed are different medicines. Western herbalism uses the root as a primary alterative; Traditional Chinese Medicine uses the seed (Niu Bang Zi) to clear “wind-heat.” Keep them straight.

• Its reputation is as an alterative—an old “blood purifier”—traditionally used for chronic skin conditions, rheumatic complaints, lymphatic congestion, and liver support.

• The chemistry is real: lignans (arctiin and arctigenin), inulin (a prebiotic fiber that can be up to half the root’s dry weight), caffeoylquinic acids, polyacetylenes, and flavonoids.

• Human evidence is modest but genuine for lowering inflammatory markers in knee osteoarthritis. Most other claims rest on cell and animal studies—promising, but not proof.

• Safety matters most in the field: historical “burdock poisonings” were actually cases of belladonna root mistaken for burdock. Correct identification is non-negotiable.

If you want to read this full herb profile, clinical discussion, and learn how to use it, you’ll need to become a Homestead Herbalist founding member to gain access.

Read more

It is no secret—we have been talking about a time of famine and chaos coming since 2023. I released my very first writing about this after several dreams and conversations I’d had with the LORD. It is no coincidence that He has placed me in a position of leadership in the largest homesteading movement across the nation (and world). And I really try not to take that lightly. I fear God too much to not talk about this topic. Yahweh always prepares His people. And, when preparation isn’t possible, He always makes a way.

We now know, after many prophetic voices have been receiving the same prophetic utterance from the Holy Spirit, that something is coming. And at this point, it doesn’t even have to be prophetic—it is now simply expected and seen. It doesn’t take a rocket-scientist to realize the world is spinning out of control.

What is uniquely different about true prophetic voices versus doom and gloom is this—every single one of us feels a significant amount of hope and excitement about the times ahead. Why? Because God has very clearly shown us that He is calling us to a modern day Goshen.

What Was Goshen?

In the time of Egypt’s plagues, Goshen was mentioned over and over again as a place of protection and refuge for the Israelites. Refuge is the key word, here. Since 2008, some prophetic voices have been hearing this word. It was amplified in 2016, and again in 2020, and again right now.

We see Goshen, and God’s providential hand of protection, in Exodus 8:22-23 (NKJV) where God says, “²² And in that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, in which My people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there, in order that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the land. ²³ I will make a difference between My people and your people.”

Yahweh went on to say this about other plagues, too. In Exodus 9:4-6, God said, “⁴ And the Lord will make a difference between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt. So nothing shall die of all that belongs to the children of Israel.” Notice that God says none of His people would be touched, and neither would their livestock. It was clear, God was setting a standard. And it would be a testimony to all of Egypt. We will see later, however, that the story of Joseph was a little different.

An important note—in 1 Peter 2:9, the church has been grafted in and is also now called God’s chosen people—"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…”

This is important to remember in the days that are ahead, because it will remind us the truths of what God has said. We are His chosen ones, and He will take care of us. Two truths, however, can be the same at one time. We can be provided for and sheltered, but we can also die for the gospel. These two truths are important to find balance in.

Let’s continue on about Goshen…

We can go back even further into Genesis during the time of Joseph. In this case, Joseph already knew that a famine was coming due to Pharaohs dreams that he had interpreted. Joseph and all of Egypt had prepared ahead of time, heeding God’s merciful warning. This is important to note, because this situation was much different than the Israelites. There is a difference between a people that have been warned, and a people that had no option (the Exodus Israelites). The Israelites had little land or authority over their property.

The plagues of Egypt was a direct judgement on Egypt. But the famine during Joseph’s time was a very different scenario. Joseph made it very clear that God had decided there would be a famine. For what reason, I don’t know that anyone is really sure. We can make speculations, but from my understanding, there doesn’t seem to be an exact reason. One thing we can all agree on—it vastly settled God’s people in that location, and the Israelites expanded their territory through this movement to Goshen.

Could it be that God will ask the body of Christ to take territory in this same way as we prepare?

Genesis 41 says this, '“This is the thing which I have spoken to Pharaoh. God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do. ²⁹ Indeed seven years of great plenty will come throughout all the land of Egypt; ³⁰ but after them seven years of famine will arise, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine will deplete the land. ³¹ So the plenty will not be known in the land because of the famine following, for it will be very severe. ³² And the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.”

We like to say that God doesn’t cause these natural disasters, but the scripture shows otherwise. He always has a reason, of course.

Let’s continue…

When Joseph’s family came to Egypt during the second year of the famine, there were a few interesting things to note. Joseph said to his brothers, “Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph: “God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not tarry. ¹⁰ You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near to me, you and your children, your children’s children, your flocks and your herds, and all that you have. ¹¹ There I will provide for you, lest you and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty; for there are still five years of famine.” ‘

When his family arrived and spoke with Pharaoh, Genesis 47 says, “Your servants are shepherds, both we and also our fathers.” ⁴ And they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to dwell in the land, because your servants have no pasture for their flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.”

Hard stop.

This is where we need to become very cognizant that the famine then was not in a grocery store shelf. It was not just food—it was a true famine of the land. God even stated this through Joseph (above scripture). There was a massive drought—no rain, no pasture, no food. This was a judgement on the earth, or at least a larger portion than just Egypt. Canaan, where Joseph’s family had just come from, was not in Egypt. This was not a judgement on Egypt, but a much broader region (possibly even continental, or beyond). Historically, Canaan would have been located much closer to what is now the Israel/Jordan/Palestine/Lebanon/Syria region today. Egypt was, and still is, on the continent of Africa.

Genesis 46 goes on to say, “Then he sent Judah before him to Joseph, to point out before him the way to Goshen. And they came to the land of Goshen.”

I highlighted this portion because I feel it is necessary in parallel to today. When God sends a warning through His prophetic people, it isn’t to cause fear. It is to cause provision. It is to instate leaders whom He has given a vision to. People who will guide and “point out” the way to Goshen.

There are two vastly different scenarios between the Egyptian plagues and the time of famine with Joseph. But the general thread woven through it all is this—God will provide. And often times, He uses His people to provide. We cannot be an inactive people.

When God appointed Moses to Egypt, these things happened suddenly. There was no preparation time. Therefore, God fully provided for His people during that time. One of those places being in the land of Goshen, where they all resided.

However, in the testimony of Joseph, God’s people were spread out abroad, not just in one place. The provision now became a central location through an Egypt that was run by a Godly governor who had planned ahead of time—Joseph. And then, on to Goshen.

The question is not “will this happen again?” The question is, will you be ready? How are you preparing? Why is the church not already prepared?

It is clear that God provides for His people, and He also warns His people to provide in advance. We are in this time right now. Maybe it isn’t for you, maybe it will be for your children. Though the timeline many have been shown says sooner rather than later.

Prophecy after prophecy has come forth that our nations are headed towards a time of “famine” and chaos. The time to build is now. Not out of fear, but out of grace and mercy, and obedience.

The plagues fell on Egypt. The sky rained hail, darkness settled so thick a man couldn’t see his own hand—and in the middle of all of it sat a region called Goshen, where the sun still shone, the fields were still green, and God’s people still had bread on the table.

Same nations. Same famine. Same plagues. Two completely different outcomes.

Goshen was spared because that is where God’s people dwelt—and because a man named Joseph had the foresight to store up grain in the years of plenty, long before anyone felt the years of famine.

That is the whole pattern. Provision prepared before the crisis. A people set apart. A storehouse standing ready when the world runs empty.

So I keep asking: where is Goshen today?

We have built beautiful buildings and polished productions. But when the shelves go bare and the systems shake, will the church have anything in the storehouse? Or will we be standing in the same line as everyone else?

Not me. Not my family. Not the people that sit at my table.

This is not fear talking, this is Acts 4. Land laid at the apostles’ feet. Abundance shared. Not one needy person among them. That church had become Goshen for its own people—and we can be that again.

This isn’t archaic, it is a blueprint for survival and provision.

So consider this your invitation to build. Not another program. Not a ministry ladder to the top. But a storehouse. A refuge. A place of bread and light and the presence of God, right where He has planted you (or maybe He is calling you to move?)

Maybe it will be in your basement with food lined shelves. Maybe it will be in your church building where you are a minister or congregant. Maybe it will be in a shed outside of your home.

Wherever it is, know this—2 Corinthians 6:16-17 says this:

“And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

'I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.’

¹⁷ Therefore

‘Come out from among them
And be separate, says the Lord.’”

I will remind you that in Exodus God said, “And in that day I will set apart the land of Goshen…”

We must be set apart in the times ahead—spiritually and physically.

May God richly bless you as He shows you your role in the Goshen He is calling you to be a part of in your region. If you need help, or if you’re wondering where to get started, we’ve created a website called The Church Storehouse that can help you. Completely free.

Blessings,

Amy

I’ve been thinking about doing this for some time now. Only when it seems relevant. In pure transparency, I’ve employed the help of modern search techniques to find all of these things for me. But I have personally gone through them to make sure they make sense, while also educating myself on the current happenings.

Week of June 29 through July 6, 2026

It’s important for us to keep track of what’s happening in the agricultural and food worlds, even as homesteaders. Most of these don’t affect us directly, but will indirectly.

If you eat, you have a stake in what happened in Washington over the past week—even if no one on the evening news said your name. Coming out of the July 4th holiday, the USDA and Congress moved on beef processing, fertilizer, farm labor, and how the federal government defines the word “regenerative.”

Some of it matters a great deal to small and independent producers. Some of it is being sold as a bigger deal than it is. My job here is to tell you the difference, in plain language, with the hype stripped out and the sourcing kept honest.

Here’s the week that was.

Key takeaways

• A clear throughline: three of the week’s biggest moves — support for mid-size beef processors, a fertilizer manufacturing fund, and a new “lawfare” complaint portal — all lean on the same story: breaking up consolidation and defending the independent producer. There are active federal antitrust investigations into both the meat and fertilizer industries running underneath it.

• Most of this money does not land in a small farmer’s or homesteader’s bank account. It funds processing plants and fertilizer facilities, not producers. The indirect benefit — more competition, more places to get your animals processed — is real, but it’s indirect.

• The big farm-labor bill is not law. It was introduced. That’s the start of a long road, not the end.

• The “regenerative” rule everyone’s talking about isn’t a homestead program. It’s a biofuel commodity-crop scoring framework. The genuinely important part is that Washington is now putting an official definition around a word many of us hold dear.

• No major food-safety outbreak this week — but a steady drip of allergen-mislabeling alerts on ready-to-eat products, which is its own quiet lesson.

1. USDA opens a “lawfare” complaint channel for producers (July 2)

The USDA and the Small Business Administration signed a formal agreement creating a pipeline for farmers, ranchers, and rural small businesses to report federal regulatory and enforcement actions they believe are abusive.

Complaints filed through USDA’s Lawfare Portal now get routed into the SBA’s Office of the National Ombudsman, and the two agencies say they’ll jointly review disputes involving other federal players like the EPA, the Interior Department, and the Bureau of Land Management. USDA says it has already logged more than 600 submissions from producers across 47 states since the portal quietly launched in April.

The administration’s showcase example is the Maude family, fifth-generation South Dakota ranchers who were criminally indicted over a fence-line and grazing dispute—a case the administration points to as government overreach that financially devastated a family. It’s worth being clear-eyed here: the words the agency uses for all this—“lawfare,” “weaponized regulation” —are the administration’s framing, and critics would describe some of these enforcement actions very differently. But underneath the language, the practical fact is simple and useful: there is now a free, formal channel for a small operator to report a federal enforcement dispute and get a second set of eyes on it.

What it means for you: If you or someone you know is genuinely tangled in a federal enforcement, permitting, or land-use dispute, the portal (usda.gov/lawfare) is a real intake point worth knowing about. If not, this is a watch item—the test of whether it’s substance or symbolism is whether those 600+ complaints actually produce outcomes.

2. A $500 million fertilizer manufacturing fund—the “FIELDS” program (July 1)

I place this part in here because it shows how fragile our food system is because we DEPEND on fertilizer, and we should NOT. Let’s truly go regenerative ag all the way!

USDA launched the Fertilizer Investment & Expansion for Long-Term Domestic Supply program—FIELDS—a $500 million effort run through Rural Development to help build and expand domestic fertilizer plants. Individual awards run from $15 million to $150 million, applicants must match half the project cost with private money, and applications are due through Grants.gov by August 15, with awards expected in the fall. Echoing the beef-processor move (below), the program bars the four largest players in the fertilizer market from applying—an explicit attempt to inject competition into a heavily consolidated industry.

The reason this is happening now is price. Fertilizer costs spiked after the war with Iran, when the near-total closure of the Strait of Hormuz caught more than 30% of global fertilizer exports; U.S. imports from affected Middle East ports reportedly fell to zero in May. Phosphate is up sharply on the year as China limits exports.

Here’s the honest part. This is plant-building money, not producer aid—a garden-scale or even a mid-size diversified farm won’t be applying for a $15 million grant. And independent fertilizer analysts are openly skeptical it will move prices quickly. One of the most-followed voices in the sector has argued the effort is well-intentioned but too small and hampered by a thin advice pipeline—USDA’s dedicated fertilizer economist role was effectively lost three decades ago and only re-established this past May. Translation for the rest of us: don’t expect cheaper fertilizer at the farm store this season.

Also, why are you using fertilizer anyhow? Let’s stop doing that.

3. The biggest farm-labor overhaul in 40 years is on the table—SAWA (June 30)

House Agriculture Committee Chairman G.T. Thompson introduced the Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act (H.R. 9535), billed as the first statutory reform of the H-2A guest-worker visa program since the Reagan era, with dozens of bipartisan cosponsors and backing from more than 400 agricultural organizations. The headline changes: it would remove the requirement that farm work be seasonal, opening H-2A to year-round operations like dairy and livestock for the first time, and allow contracts up to 350 days. It would also rein in labor costs—the mandated wage rate for H-2A workers outpaced inflation by more than 70% between 2010 and 2025—by capping annual swings.

What even is H-2A and why does it matter to Americans? The H-2A program allows U.S. agricultural employers to hire foreign nationals for temporary or seasonal work.

The most contested piece: the bill would let some undocumented farmworkers already doing the work apply for legal H-2A status, waiving certain immigration violations if they otherwise qualify. That provision is why this will be a fight, and it’s the part to watch.

What it means for you: If you run a year-round livestock or dairy operation large enough to need hired help, this could eventually matter a lot. For most homesteaders and the smallest producers, the direct effect is limited. Either way—this is a bill, not a law. It’s early. Nothing to do yet but track it, especially as it moves alongside the broader “Farm Bill 2.0” effort.

4. The “regenerative” rule—read past the headline (finalized June 25, amplified July 2)

You’ve likely seen the celebration around President Trump’s regenerative-agriculture executive order and USDA’s accompanying Regenerative Feedstock Rule. I want to save you from a misread, because the word “regenerative” is doing a lot of work in the coverage.

This rule is narrow. It creates a framework to document and score regenerative practices—cover crops, nutrient management, reduced and no-till—but only for four commodity biofuel crops: corn, soybeans, sorghum, and canola. It’s paired with an updated USDA carbon-intensity calculator that growers can use to market those crops to biofuel producers. It carries no payments to farmers and is not a program for diversified small farms or homesteads. Independent reporting has also noted it adds no new funding and largely finalizes and rebrands a guideline that began under the previous administration.

So why care? Because the genuinely significant thing here is that the federal government is now putting an operational definition around the word “regenerative”—tethering it to a handful of measurable practices on commodity fields. Definitions like that eventually shape labels, markets, and what the word is allowed to mean. For those of us who use “regenerative” to mean something older, deeper, and more rooted than a carbon score on a corn field, that’s worth watching closely.

They will probably do what they did with the term “organic”. And now that term is no longer trusted. We should watch this with this word. It would be a shame for this to happen.

One footnote for the record: the four farmers who stood with the president at the signing are now confirmed across trade reporting—Will Harris of White Oak Pastures (Georgia), Rick Clark of Farm Green (Indiana), Jonathan Lundgren of the Ecdysis Foundation and Blue Dasher Farm (South Dakota), and Brandon Bock of Bock Farms (North Dakota). Livestock, organic row crops, science, and a young faith-driven grain farmer—one of each.

5. The week’s connected thread: beef, phosphate, and consolidation

Two moves just before this window belong in the same story:

• SPUR (June 30) — up to $500 million to support small and mid-size beef processors, explicitly excluding the four dominant packers who control the vast majority of the market. This is the one most directly relevant to anyone who relies on regional processing capacity—though note it targets federally inspected and cooperative-interstate plants, not the custom-exempt lockers many homesteaders actually use.

• Phosphate duty suspension (June 29) — a temporary lifting of certain import duties on Moroccan phosphate, which USDA estimates could cut phosphate prices around 22% and affect roughly 100,000 farms. Relief, if it comes, is months out—a shipload takes time to arrive.

Put SPUR, FIELDS, and the lawfare portal side by side and you can see the administration’s consistent message: fight consolidation, defend the independent producer. That’s an accurate description of the stated strategy, and there are real Justice Department and FTC investigations into both the meat and fertilizer industries underneath it. Whether the execution matches the rhetoric is the open question—and the honest answer this week is that it’s too early to tell.

Again, we need to stop using fertilizer in agriculture.

6. Food safety: no outbreak, but a pattern (ongoing)

The holiday week brought no major meat or poultry outbreak and no supply disruption. What it did bring was a steady series of routine allergen-mislabeling alerts on ready-to-eat products—a beef jerky with undeclared wheat, a couple of mislabeled poultry items—plus ongoing FDA work on a soft-cheese Listeria recall and a moringa-linked Salmonella cluster.

The quiet lesson in that pattern: the more processed and packaged the product, the more links in the chain where a label can go wrong. It’s one more small argument for knowing your source—the animal, the farmer, the kitchen. And it’s why we need greater cottage food expansion. Or, as Joel Salatin says, “A Food Emancipation Proclamation”.

Quick questions people are asking

Does any of this put money directly in a small farmer’s pocket? Mostly no. SPUR funds beef processors; FIELDS funds fertilizer plants. The benefit to small producers is indirect—more competition and more processing access. The one direct federal tool remains FSA farm loans, whose July interest rates were posted July 1; check with your local FSA office before any loan decision. Though I’m fully against most grants and loans for farms. Not saying I’d never take one, but, I’d really doubt it.

Is the H-2A labor bill law now? No. It was introduced June 30. It faces real debate—especially over its legalization provision—and has a long way to go.

Will fertilizer actually get cheaper soon? Don’t count on it this season. Even supporters of these moves expect relief to be modest and months away. Could it mean the cost of food will go up? Absolutely.

Does the “regenerative” rule help my regenerative farm or garden? Not directly—it’s a biofuel commodity-crop framework with no producer payments. The thing to watch is the precedent of Washington defining “regenerative” at all.

Most important to remember

The pattern under this week’s headlines is a government positioning itself as the defender of the small, independent producer against consolidation. That’s a story worth rooting for—and worth watching with clear eyes, because the money mostly flows to plants and processors, the biggest bill isn’t law, and the “regenerative” win is narrower than it sounds. Hope and discernment aren’t opposites; a good steward holds both.

Stay informed, stay rooted, and keep knowing where your food comes from. That’s a form of security no policy can hand you and none can take away.

Sources for this brief include USDA and HHS press releases (June 25 – July 2, 2026); FSA July 2026 lending rate notice; FSIS recalls and public health alerts; Rep. G.T. Thompson’s office and House Agriculture Committee; and reporting from Agri-Pulse, Reuters, No-Till Farmer, Ag Bull Trading, Civil Eats, and Morning Ag Clips. Always verify program eligibility and deadlines directly with the administering agency before acting.

High blood pressure can be due to many different things. I have always prided myself in coming from generations of people who have high blood pressure (HBP), yet not having it myself. We eat cleaner than most of society. I incorporate herbs in most of my diet. And we live very cleanly when it comes to using chemicals in products like soaps and farm products.

So imagine my surprise when the midwife realized I was dealing with HBP during the last few weeks of my pregnancy with our fourth child.

Looking back on my pregnancy with our third child, I actually believe I was beginning to struggle then with this issue, but it didn’t pop up until days after I delivered.

In this article, I’m using myself as a client “case”, and will show you how I was able to support my body with herbs, hydration, and nutrition during this time. I’ll also share how important it is to support your body before, during, and after pregnancy so that you may help prevent HBP, pre-eclampsia, and postpartum pre-eclampsia.

You can visit my supplement storefront to order many of the supplements mentioned in this article.

Pre-Eclampsia vs. Gestational Hypertension

Before we begin, we need to distinguish the difference between pre-eclampsia and regular gestational hypertension. The reality is that they are, and are not, the same. I know that sounds confusing, but just stick with me here.

Both issues are high blood pressure. But both issues are not equal in severity.

Your doctor or midwife will begin noting both issues when they see your BP reach 140mmHg systolic or higher, and/or 90mmHg diastolic or higher.

Gestational hypertension can progress to pre-eclampsia if you do not support your body during and after your pregnancy.

Pre-eclampsia is high blood pressure as well, but it becomes a more complex issue because the other organs in the body are now affected.

Medical professionals will often tell the difference between gestational hypertension and pre-eclampsia by seeing if there is any protein present in the urine (which means you most likely have pre-eclampsia). If protein is not present, you either have gestational hypertension (which can turn into pre-eclampsia). Or they will test to see if there are other things present in your urine.

If you have low platelets, impaired liver function (or pain), kidney insufficiency or pain, fluid in the lungs, swelling in the face/hands/feet/ankles, bad headaches, or visual/neurological disturbances, these can all be symptoms of pre-eclampsia.

The reality is that whether its gestational hypertension or pre-eclampsia, high blood pressure during pregnancy can be a major issue.

Is HBP Normal During Pregnancy?

Often times your BP will be slightly more elevated than normal while pregnant. This is because blood flow is so much more prevalent than before. Blood volume increases by up to 50%, the heart pumps 30% to 50% more blood per minute, and your circulatory system goes through a complete overhaul in order to help support your growing uterus, fetus, and placenta.

The issue, however, is when you are either already struggling with elevated BP before you get pregnant, or when your body is struggling to stay healthy and shows extreme changes in BP.

The Issue Begins Before Pregnancy

My pregnancies take a lot out of me. But the truth is that most HBP issues begin before pregnancy. Your kidneys are already struggling to cope. Your liver is already sluggish. Your nutrition and hydration are probably already lacking.

So your body does what it knows to do when trying to grow a new life—it takes from your reserves. If you lack reserves before you even get pregnant, your body becomes depleted.

HBP doesn’t just suddenly happen because you’re pregnant. We must come to terms with the fact that our body could barely support ourselves before pregnancy, nonetheless growing another human within it. A human that needs to be hydrated, detoxed, and more…just like us.

Your body is now doing the detoxing and filtration process for two humans, not just one. And what are the main organs that do this?—the kidneys and liver.

What are the two major organs that suffer during pre-eclampsia? Your kidneys and liver.

Coincidence? Not at all.

As we look at the human body and understand how it works, we realize that HBP is actually a symptom of a deeper issue.

The good news is that you can support your body before pregnancy to help prevent the issue of HBP. You’ll also learn that you can support the body early in pregnancy to help your body filter, detox, and grow your little one.

What Were My Symptoms

I personally believe my symptoms started with our second child. I began “showing” very early in my pregnancy, but began to really stick out there after my twentieth week. My BP, however, was perfect. I never had any HBP issues. But looking back now, hindsight says that I was holding more fluid (in this case, amniotic fluid) than I should have been.

With our third child, my amniotic fluid was even greater. I was much bigger than I was with my second pregnancy, and I could barely fit into many of my pregnancy pants. I had even lost twenty pounds at the beginning of the pregnancy, so it didn’t make sense as to how large I was. I chalked it up to hormones and it being my third baby.

When my midwife palpated my stomach one day, she told me I had an abnormal amount of fluid. She wasn’t too concerned yet. My BP was fine, though maybe once or twice it would spike to 160/75. But that happened maybe just four or five times my entire pregnancy.

Large amounts of amniotic fluid can mean that your kidneys and liver are struggling to filter, causing higher blood sugar levels in your body. It then causes extra amniotic fluid.

Amniotic fluid is continuously replenished every few hours. The baby swallows the fluid, filters it through their kidneys, and then urinates it back into the sac, creating an ongoing cycle that helps maintain healthy fluid levels. And then, your kidneys do the same thing in your body. But when pressure is being put on the kidneys and liver, they have a hard time doing what they are supposed to do.

When my water broke with that pregnancy, there was so much fluid pouring out that I literally looked like I had lost 20 or more pounds. My stomach was so small. My husband even commented that it was a little weird that I now looked skinny while I was in labor.

After I delivered, the next day or two I felt like my ribs were going to come out of my body. It felt like they had been stretched so far and now they were stretched without support. I have a very high pain tolerance, but this hurt. I calked this up to just being so big with this baby, and I didn’t even think about taking my BP. I also had headaches for a few days, but then everything got better after the first week. I didn’t know this then, but these were signs of postpartum preeclampsia.

Remember, the difference between HBP and PP preeclampsia is that preeclampsia (or eclampsia) means your organs start to become damaged because of the HBP.

It wasn’t until my fourth baby that I began to really have clinical symptoms of HBP.

I had not lost all of the weight I had gained during the first 2 years of my last baby’s life. When I am breastfeeding, I gain weight. My cortisol levels were probably through the roof too (should’ve been my first clue!). Our third baby was very sleepless and my body took a great hit because of it. I was very surprised to find out we were pregnant again with our fourth baby.

It is important to note that our family was also under very high stress during my fourth pregnancy due to a health issue with my husband. This really set me over the edge in my lack of healthcare.

Once again, I began showing very early. But this time my pregnancy pants simply would not fit. I thought it was because I was heavier than I was pre-pregnancy all the times before. But that wasn’t it.

We noticed that I had a lot of amniotic fluid earlier, but didn’t really pay much attention to it until the end of my second trimester. I tried eating more protein, less carbs, and that helped bring it down a bit.

But suddenly at each midwife appt, my BP was high. I would consistently stay around 160-180/90 at these appointments. When I would get home my BP would be ok, around 140/80, but that’s still higher.

My midwife legally has to refer me to a specialist, but I declined. Which is the beauty of privatized healthcare. As an herbalist, I knew I could handle this. I know the limits of my body, and how to care for it.

In my third trimester my BP would no longer go down. I consistently stayed around 160-170/90. Some days I’d have headaches. I’d become tired. And I felt like my kidneys were struggling a bit. I stayed hydrated and began looking for ways to support my body (which we’ll go over in the next section).

One of the greatest things was only drinking clear liquids with the exception of herbal tea when necessary.

After I delivered, that was when the real issue began.

I had an aching pain (some days it really hurt) under my right shoulder blade in my back. I thought it was from needing an adjustment, but I quickly realized it was probably because my liver was struggling.

My kidneys were also hurting (I used to be prone to kidney stones), and I knew I needed to began supporting my body more seriously.

I struggled for six months after I delivered our fourth child. But praise the Lord, He gave me the wisdom to use the plants and natural products He gave to us to help support my body so that I can teach you how to do the same!

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Hello friends!

This has been a long time coming. I’ve even briefly shared this idea with some of you here. I am constantly in conversation with so many of you within this movement. And so many of you have expressed interest in having a homestead leadership group that is geared towards discerning the times, sharing and encouraging, praying together, and building and networking across the world (but especially in our country).

If you are follower of Jesus and you are a pioneer in the homesteading movement—a teacher, pastor or minister, church leader, event organizer, business owner, farming advocate, community leader (dare I say, politician), or another type of leader connected to this movement, then we want you in this free group that I am beginning to build from the ground up.

We will meet regularly online (and even in-person when it is feasible). We will share what we see happening within the movement and the body of Christ. NO MATTER what your denomination may be! We will rally the masses when they need to be rallied. And much more...

The times are changing. Like the watchmen on the wall, we can see and hear in part. We need every watchman in this sphere. We see chaos and more on the horizon, but we know our God is greater, and He is speaking to each of us. He has anointed so many for such a time as this—farmers, homesteaders, pastors, ministers, politicians, and more. We refuse to let the generations after us start on a rocky foundation by inheriting broken stones. If you feel the call to pioneer the food system, homesteading, farm relations, community, the land, local government, and more, this is for you.

One watchman on the wall is only efficient in what they can see. But when all of the watchmen see from every angle and distance, we begin to see a much bigger picture.

If this is you, I want you to fill out this brief application and I’ll be in touch!

Apply Here

Over the last week or so of Passover and Easter traditions, the topic of communion has been so richly on my heart and mind. It is often reduced to a small plastic cup of grape juice and a small paper thin wafer. The pastor or priest in a church service will imply that it is time to take communion, and then read the scriptures from the last supper in Matthew or Luke. You’ll be prompted to eat of the bread (His body) first, and then the juice (wine, His blood). At times the minister will encourage you to have a time of reflection or confession of sin, or search your heart for hidden bitterness, before taking communion. Though, that is less common today than it used to be.

Communion at its biblical core, however, is so much more than this.

When we look at the very first example of “communion”, it doesn’t look anything like sitting in a church service with a tiny cup of juice and a paper thin wafer. Jesus sat around a table with His disciples for the very last time before His death. He knew their hearts. They had discussion, they probably laughed and told jokes, and they had a time of fellowship. They gave thanks for each other and their food, and then they “broke bread”.

This particular event was the celebration of Passover. It is where our original sacrament of communion begins to set its place in the history of the early church. Remember, Jesus’ church did not exist before then, just jews and gentiles.

It was already common practice—breaking bread and drinking wine together in fellowship. But now it had an actual meaning—Jesus said “do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). He was speaking of the celebration of passover, but also communion. Both acts mirroring deliverance from death.

Just as communion isn’t only grape juice and a cracker, it also isn’t just Passover. It’s now something so much more.

Communion in the Early Church

We begin to see the true depth of communion for the early church after Pentecost. That is, after Jesus died, rose, ascended, and then sent the Holy Spirit to be poured out. Throughout the book of Acts we begin to understand that communion didn’t just happen on Sundays in a church building (in fact, church “buildings” didn’t exist yet). It didn’t even happen just once a month, or quarterly, like many churches do today. In the early church, communion happened daily. Or at the very least, multiple times a week. And it did not happen alone. Though it can happen alone.

Acts 2:41-42 says “Then those who gladly received his [Peter] word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.⁴² And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.”

And Acts 2 goes on to also say, “⁴⁶ So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, ⁴⁷ praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”

Do you see a pattern? Communion almost always includes discipleship and the advancing of the kingdom. At least in these two cases. Why? Because the body was coming into unity regularly. Betty wasn’t talking about Anna behind her back, because she couldn’t. She was in accountability and learning to love multiple times a week. Communion together forced individuals to learn one another, and bear each other’s burdens.

It is extremely significant to understand that communion with one another—fellowship—was so important to the advancing of the early church (ἐκκλησία/ekklēsia). At every meal, they broke bread in remembrance of Jesus. Most often around a table in homes. Remember, Jesus broke bread and drank wine and said “each time you do this, do so in remembrance of me”. There were literally thousands coming into the kingdom every day, which means there were a lot of people meeting in a lot of houses during the week.

They knew each other, just as Jesus knew the hearts of His disciples.

There are not many accounts of the sacrament of communion taking place in just a “Sunday service” in the New Testament, except this one.

It is clear that in Acts 20, Paul already knew that they would come together on the first day of the week (Sunday) to break bread. He had prepared a message to speak to the assembly of believers and it lasted until midnight. Many will recognize that this is the account of when a young man became so tired from listening, that he fell asleep in a window and fell to his death. Paul was not worried, and the young man became alive once again. Paul went on to fellowship and speak with everyone until day break, then he departed.

Later in the New Testament, in Paul’s letters to the Corinthian church, we begin to get a greater understanding of communion. This, however, is where be begin to also witness the gravity of unworthy communion. It is not just a “sacrament” in the way that it is portrayed in so much of the church now. It is an act—a coming together of the body of Christ—in remembrance of Him. But not just a coming together—a coming together in unity.

1 Corinthians 11:17-18 says, “¹⁷ Now in giving these instructions I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse. ¹⁸ For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it.” And in verse 20 he says, “Therefore when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper.”

Those coming together were simply coming together in act, but not purpose or likemindedness. They were not setting aside their divisions and quarrels. Some were even getting drunk during fellowship, which is the exact opposite of what we are told to do. This is why we must be careful how, and who with, we take communion.

Before this, Paul said something very signification in 1 Corinthians 10, which I think every believer should read and understand.

Communion, therefore, is not a flippant ritual. It is not something to just brush off or do randomly. Communion, at its very conception, was the evidence of the love of Jesus—for us, and for one another.

Communion in this verse uses the greek word koinōnia. This word means fellowship, communion, communication, distribution, community, and joint participation. But clearly Paul was also taking about bread and wine, the elements of the sacrament of communion. We learn here that it is both—not just one or the other.

Communion was to bring the body of Christ together, in like mind and one accord—to proclaim the death of Jesus until He comes. The elements (bread and wine) were the visualization of this, but so was the body of Christ itself. It is a both/and scenario.

The church (ekklēsia) and fellowship (koinōnia), then, are two different things entirely. The church is a people. But communion, or fellowship, is the act of coming together in unity of the people—both individually in Christ, and corporately.

The gravity of this comes to full fruition when we read what Paul says later in 1 Corinthians 11…

Are you beginning to see what “communion” is now?

What an incredibly heavy word from Paul. We are all one body partaking of one bread/body—Jesus. Yet if there are divisions among us, then we must examine ourselves before we take communion with one another. When we read this, we realize this is less about a sacrament and more about coming together for alignment to the mind and Word of Christ in order to proclaim the death and resurrection of Him—Jesus. There is power in that. Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 11:26, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.”

Therefore, communion is not just an action of elements or fellowship, it is a proclamation that Jesus is Lord, and that He is coming back again. It is truly proclaiming the new covenant that we are now under. This covenant is with a people, not a building. And those people should come together regularly to “break bread” and commune in one mind and accord—proclaiming and giving thanks to Jesus our Lord.

There’s a reason Matthew 7 says, “Judge not, that you be not judged. ² For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. ³ And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? ⁴ Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?⁵ Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

We must find balance in this, because the word also says in 1 Peter 4:17 “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?”

This is why it says that before we can judge righteously, we have to judge ourselves first.

We are to judge and correct righteously. But we are not to condemn others over various divisions that are not clearly wrong. Jesus doesn’t condemn (Romans 8:1), but He does call us to correct righteously. That’s very important.

When we are coming together in bitterness, judgement, anger, sin, and more, then Paul clearly states that judgement will come upon the ones that partake of communion in an unworthy manner. This is why there is sickness, weakness, and even those “asleep” among the body. And it is for their own good—sounds crazy, doesn’t it?

Side note: God does not make you sick, but He does allow things to happen. Sickness is from the enemy, and when you have given the enemy a foothold, sometimes God allows the enemy to take it. There are laws of the kingdom that God Almighty will not go against—giving the devil a foothold is one of them. Read Ephesians 4—it explains all about how giving the devil a foothold, specifically by not coming together in unity, causes issues.

When we think of the verses like 1 Corinthians 5:5 where we are told to “pray them into the hands of the devil”, those who fall away from the faith, then it doesn’t seem so harsh. Because it is better for us to be judged individually to bring us back to dependency in Christ than it is for us to stay in bitterness, division, and sin.

It reminds me of where Paul says in Ephesians 4….

When Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11 that “he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body,” it is very clear that it is mirrored again in Ephesians 4. He is once again stating that we must walk worthy of the calling set before us. We should walk in lowliness, gentleness, longsuffering, bearing with one another in love. And maybe most importantly in all of that—endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

There is one body. There is one Spirit. There is one Jesus—He is the head, we are the body. Don’t get confused—the body has many parts. Every part is needed to make up the whole body. But our unity should be the foundational teachings that are in Christ. With no division and back biting among those things. Actually, no back biting at all. If you know the truth, you simply release it without bitterness and back biting, and the truth shall set you (and others) free.

Confidence is often silent and calm, but insecurity is often loud and obnoxious. It’s why we are told that if we have all of these things (spiritual gifts and knowledge) but we do not have love, then we are like a resounding gong (1 Corinthians 13).

These divisions and quarrels were such an issue that Paul even says that there is sickness, weakness, and death among the body because we come into communion in an unworthy way. This is something that has truly been on my heart for so long. How much less would we see sickness and death in the body of Christ if we walked in unity in our specific body of believers?

Communion Brings Healing

Communion brings healing, both spiritually and physically. I have seen so many miracles, healings, signs and wonders in my life. There are even paintings depicting the church administering communion as people were dying of the plague.

There are documented healings in connection to taking communion. One testimony involves Miss N. Kennedy, who encountered Christ’s healing power at communion in a Canadian Pentecostal church, where she was healed of anemia. A woman in Oklahoma, dying of tuberculosis, requested communion as a final act. Instead of succumbing, she experienced healing when receiving the elements of communion. Many testimonies suggest that while healing can occur through communion participation, the primary invitation is to meet with Christ and proclaim His death, with healing representing a potential outcome rather than the guaranteed purpose.1.

Make no mistake, Jesus wants you healed and delivered. But communion itself is to proclaim His death and all the promises that are included within the new covenant. This is where healing can take place.

If Paul says that there are many among the body that are weak, sick, or dying because we come into communion with one another in an unworthy manner, what does that say about the importance of living in unity?

PSALM 133

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brethren to dwell together in unity!

² It is like the precious oil upon the head,
Running down on the beard,
The beard of Aaron,
Running down on the edge of his garments.
³ It is like the dew of Hermon,
Descending upon the mountains of Zion;
For there the Lord commanded the blessing—
Life forevermore.

Jesus is the head of the church. I want the precious oil that is running down His head and beard to run down upon us, the kingdom of priests. I want this blessing, and we see this blessing.

I love reading the word and how beautiful it is. In almost all of scripture, when we see unity, we see life, favor, and anointing. When unity happens, we see blessing.

James 5 goes on to say this, “⁹ Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! ¹⁰ My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. ¹¹ Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.”

We are called to long suffering in the body of Christ—even among and with our brethren. Patience brings blessing.

Communion—the sacrament and the fellowship—therefore is not just drinking juice/wine and eating a cracker/unleavened bread. It is not just about passover. And it is not just an action. It is all of these and more.

Communion is the declaration of unity in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Even more so, it is the proclamation of these things and the new covenant.

Communion is the body of Christ coming into unity (true unity) without argument, grumbling, or flippant condemning judgement. But instead, coming into unity on the things that matter.

Communion is the act of reflecting and discerning what and where the body of Christ is spiritually when assembling. We must reflect together, come into confession with one another if we have something against our brother or sister (or they have something against us), and then pursue communion.

Communion is the act of reflecting and discerning individually. Where we become real and raw before Jesus and let Him show us any bitterness, judgement, anger, lies, or condemnation we have against others, or even so, ourselves.

Communion outside of bread and wine is the coming together of the body of Christ regularly. Not just on Sundays.

Communion is a blessing and brings healing—spiritually and physically.

Diving deeply into the word about communion and the history of the early church over the last week has brought me so much love for the body of Christ. Which is so funny, and so like God, because in our women’s bible study last week we all prayed specifically that God would give us a love for His bride. It is hard to see all of the imperfections and not condemn her. But we must find a way to start with ourselves, and then teach the truth in love.

We must begin teaching the right things so that the right things overcome the wrong. The imperfections. Because imperfections can’t just be covered up, they must be healed. And we heal the bride when we teach her the better way.

I pray this letter finds you well, brings you hope, and lets you see just how beautiful communion is in every way.

The next time you are in fellowship or a church service and are served communion, I encourage you to take it seriously. Reflect on yourself individually. If you harbor anything that does not align with Christ, make it right with Him, yourself, and your brother or sister. Bring your life and thoughts into alignment. It’s not behavior modification, it is a true change. And it begins with love.

If you are a leader in the body of Christ, I encourage you to see the seriousness in communion. And then, discern the body of believers you’ve been entrusted with. Remember, leaders and teachers will be judged more harshly. Do not fear man if you must change your entire church service during communion. Only fear God.

Lead them into the better way. Come together in unity and teach them how. If you don’t know how, learn how. Reflect on yourself first. This is truly a prerequisite of being a leader in the body of Christ.

I encourage all of you to take communion weekly. Not just a cup and cracker, but true communion—individually, and in fellowship with the body.

To God be the Glory,
Amy

China quietly made a major move this month that literally no one is talking about. Without any announcement, its Ministry of Commerce told exporters to stop shipping key fertilizers overseas—urea, nitrogen blends, NPK, and potassium.

The reason? Protect domestic supply.

The impact? Global.

At the same time the world was focused on oil disruptions, behind the scenes, this decision removed one of the last major backup sources of fertilizer—right before spring planting (for many).

We don’t need these ingredients to feed the nations, but we do need time to adjust. Big Ag farmers have their soil needs documented and need ingredients to amend them. With regenerative agriculture practices, this isn’t necessary. Unfortunately most Big Ag companies aren’t regenerative.

China produces about 30% of the world’s urea. It also accounts for ~29% of global ammonia production (the base for most fertilizers). Roughly 1 out of every 3 units of nitrogen fertilizer originates in China.

China doesn’t supply all fertilizer to the world, but it supplies enough that when it steps back, the whole system feels it.

The Middle East (another 20–25%) was already blocked due to shipping issues in the Strait of Hormuz. Now both sources are offline.

That means over half of global fertilizer supply became inaccessible in just a few weeks. And it’s not just nitrogen. China also restricted potassium (potash)—a key nutrient for crops (though they use a lot of this on their own). Belarus and Russia (other major suppliers) were already limited.

When global prices rise too much, China keeps supply at home, protects its farmers, and lets the rest of the world absorb the shortage. Can you blame them?

Back in February I warned that some of the reasons the recent agricultural orders were being put in place in America was due to war, not due to health and wellness (see glyphosate post).

Do I agree with glyphosate and fertilizer? Not one bit. But I’m not naive enough to believe that the system can be changed overnight without it. We have to deal with the emotional and mental side of the American farmer being immediately cut off from these “tools of the big ag trade” they were counting on, and then they can be efficient in not using them.

In the past, the world had backup supply. But, not anymore. Let’s not even talk about the amount of money it will now cost to purchase supplies that are limited. It’s projected that some big ag farmers could see a $50,000+ increase in their costs this year.

In 2026 China restricted exports (source gone), the Straight of Hormuz disruptions blocked Middle East supply (route gone), and Europe is producing less due to high gas prices (production down). This creates a full system breakdown, not just a shortage, and prices will skyrocket.

Fertilizer shortages → lower crop yields

Lower yields → higher food prices

Higher prices → global strain

And because of timing, decisions made this spring will show up in fall food prices, so you (the consumer) should prepare for that.

This wasn’t random.

It’s a repeatable pattern:

• Protect domestic agriculture

• Restrict exports when needed

• Let global markets adjust

But this time, the system it depends on is already strained. That’s what makes this moment different.

Scripture tells us to watch.

To discern the times.

This wasn’t just about fertilizer. This was about supply being withheld in a season when the world thinks it needs it most. Spring planting. Seed in the ground. Farmers preparing to produce what will feed nations.

But hear this clearly:

This is not a call to fear.

This is a call to prepare and position.

God has always warned His people before seasons of lack, but they must discern the times first.

Joseph stored grain before famine.

The wise virgins had oil when others did not.

Preparation is not panic—it is obedience.

This is why we do what we do—teach you to take back your food source.

Start buying local. Start growing your own food. Start supporting your local farmer and homesteader. These people don’t depend on fertilizer and overseas ingredients to grow food.

This IS the better way. I say it over and over again, but I can’t say it too often!

When someone says to me “homesteaders won’t save the food system”, I chuckle every single time. Because headlines like this show us that, every single time, homesteaders WILL be the ones people turn to as the world continues to spiral in chaos.

Many will ask “did your prophetic dreams come true?” In this letter I’m writing you today, I want to go over exactly what happened during the time frame I mentioned in my March 11th substack here. I think you’ll be surprised at some of the things you may not have heard!

I’ll first go over what the “call to prayer” was about (if you don’t want to read the entire thing). Then I’ll show you what happened this weekend. And from there I’ll show you briefly what all of this actually means in New Testament prophecy.

What Did We Say in the Prophetic Call to Prayer Post?

1. Something significant would happen this past weekend to cause nations to reach the brink of war. Drone attacks seemed very significant.

2. There was a plan to execute the taking out of a significant leader.

3. There was a great significance in relationship and happening between America, Israel, and an asian country—possibly Jordan (specific reasons not listed in this post), or another Asian country.

4. What you are currently seeing in the headlines (on that day and over the next few days) was/is a distraction from the real plan.

5. Do not eat the fruit that was/is about to come forth from this plan. Smoke and mirrors—deception—will run rampant.

Which of these things came to pass?

Well, it depends on who is reading this post, what you’ve seen, and what your objective is. Most of these came to pass, but not in severe mass destructive event, or the exact way presented. This is why it was a call to prayer, not a prophecy declaring that these things would happen and there would be mass chaos. In fact, in the dream you may remember that the dream said “something bad is about to happen, but not catastrophic.”

1. Many significant things DID happen. You’ll see shortly.

2. There is still an ongoing rumor that Prime Minister Netanyahu is dead. This in and of itself is extremely significant in timing. Is it a rumor? Is it a distraction? What is the purpose of this? Time will tell. Sometimes prophecies begin to unfold and take time.

3. There was a great significance in relationship that took place. New countries joined the support of this war, or are now affected directly, including several Asian countries (Jordan, Lebanon, UAE, Oman, Bahrain)

4. The California drone attacks were just a distraction, as we mentioned before.

5. Do not eat the fruit—this is ongoing. There is massive amounts of deception and smoke and mirrors happening right now.

What Happened This Weekend in the War?

Below is a detailed bullet-point briefing of the major developments from the Iran war over the weekend (roughly March 14–16, 2026) based on the latest reporting.

Major Military Developments

• DRONES OVER MILITARY BASES (updated 3/19/26)

  • Multiple unidentified drones were spotted over Fort Lesley J. McNair in Washington, D.C., on a single night within the 10 days prior to March 19, 2026. The drones appeared over the military base where top officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, reside, sparking security concerns.

• Israel and the U.S. continued large-scale strikes inside Iran

  • Thousands of airstrikes have reportedly been conducted. Israeli forces say they have destroyed large portions of Iran’s missile launchers and air-defense systems.

• Ground escalation in Lebanon

  • Israel expanded operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, targeting infrastructure tied to Iran’s proxy forces. Bombings and fighting have displaced over 800,000–1,000,000 people in Lebanon.

• Large U.S. airstrike on Kharg Island

  • U.S. forces bombed Kharg Island, Iran’s most important oil export hub. This is major!

  • Over 90 Iranian military sites were reportedly hit in that raid.

• U.S. Sending Military to Gulf (very significant)

  • Approximately 2,500 Marines, including thousands more personnel, were reported to be heading to the region to secure the waterway. It is said that it will take TWO WEEKS for them to get to the gulf. This part is ongoing.

• Many Countries Now Involved

  • Shipping lanes, oil markets, and multiple countries (Lebanon, UAE, Oman, Bahrain) are now involved. Many countries are struggling HARD with the oil prices surging.

Iranian Retaliation

• Drone and missile attacks across the Gulf

  • Iran has launched hundreds of missiles and more than 1,600 drones since the conflict escalated.

  • Targets include:

    • Israel

    • U.S. military bases

    • Gulf nations hosting Western forces.

• Drone strike on Dubai airport (very significant)

  • An Iranian drone hit a fuel tank at Dubai International Airport, causing a major fire and temporarily halting flights. UAE air defenses intercepted multiple additional drones and missiles.

• Attacks on energy and shipping infrastructure

  • Iran has targeted ports, tankers, and oil hubs in the Gulf region.

  • Iran says the Strait of Hormuz is closed to its enemies, threatening global shipping.

Economic & Global Effects & Happenings

• Oil prices surged above $100 per barrel due to supply fears.

• The Strait of Hormuz (≈20% of global oil shipments) is severely disrupted.

• Gas prices in the U.S. have begun rising again due to the conflict.

• Cuba is collapsing. For years Cuba survived economically because of cheap oil from Venezuela. Recent U.S. actions have restricted Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba, worsening shortages. They can not afford the oil coming from the Middle East.

U.S. & International Response

• The U.S. is urging other nations to send warships to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

• Several allies—including some European states—are reluctant to join the naval coalition.

• The U.N., EU, and regional leaders are pushing for de-escalation talks, but none have succeeded yet.

Military Situation

• The war entered its third week this weekend.

• Israeli officials say they have plans for at least several more weeks of operations.

• Iran’s leadership says it is prepared for a prolonged conflict and continues launching retaliatory strikes.

Netanyahu Death Rumor

• A rumor began spreading like wildfire that Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu was dead. So far this seems to be a rumor, but with the advancement of AI videos, many people believe he has not personally confirmed he is alive.

Three Major Airports Shut Down

• Three major U.S. airports grounded all flights on Friday afternoon. I had people messaging me after I shared about my dreams saying they felt very concerned about travel on Friday. And this ended up being absolutely relevant.

Understanding New Testament Prophecy

We often like to bring up the scriptures about “false prophecy” when often so many don’t understand prophecy to begin with. Let’s begin with this specific set of dreams.

Many in the body of Christ, not just our group, were feeling a call to prayer for this specific weekend for the same reasons. Not just because of sensing the things that would happen, or could happen, but also the sensing of things that will be ongoing.

Something shifted this weekend. The fact that the United States is now sending its own military into the Middle East is very significant. We will look back and mark this weekend as the beginning of these things.

The fact that there has been a rumor for days about the death of Prime Minister Netanyahu is very significant and is not a coincidence. We felt this very strongly when we were putting together our call for prayer—that a very prominent leader could be taken out this weekend.

But we also know that the Spirit of prophecy is Jesus. Revelation 19:10 says that “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy," which means that modern prophecy is pointing to the heart of Jesus—that all should come to the understanding and acceptance of salvation.

Because of this, we didn’t declare that ALL of “these things will happen”. On some of these things, we left them open ended to prayer, repentance, and hope of life extended. The things that we did not leave open ended did indeed happen, or happened with far less casualties (praise God!).

Old Testament vs. New Testament Prophecy

In the Old Testament, the Spirit of God would come and fall onto the prophets. This was normally to declare judgement, words of the coming Messiah, or declaring the law.

In the New Testament, God’s Spirit is now in us—His Holy Spirit. That means that we now have access to God and His Spirit wherever we are, whatever we are doing. He can warn us all, not just His “prophets”. We can sense something that may happen personally in the store, at a football game, washing dishes, or on a national level.

Paul greatly states that out of all the spiritual gifts, we should want to prophesy. But having a prophetic dream or vision does not make you a prophet. It simply means God is speaking to you.

This is where people often get confused.

Prophecy does not always equal “prophet”.

Prophecy does not always equal “future telling”.

Prophecy always has a redemptive purpose. And in this case, we were called to pray. And literally, thousands of you prayed for, during, and after this weekend for these specific things. In fact, it was incredible to see this in action. Many travailed in prayer. This is what we are called to do when God shows us the plans that the enemy has.

Someone asked in the comments of the other post—”what happens now that none of this came true?” And my response is, “what part didn’t come true?”

One of the greatest issues with American christianity is that we often seem like we want something bad to happen. Many are addicted to drama and crisis happenings. Many are addicted to fear. It’s an adrenaline rush.

That isn’t what prophecy is about.

Praise God that He heard our prayers! Praise God that people turned to Jesus. Praise God that He will continue to work through His word, the things He shows us, and when we share them.

I would certainly be praising God if I were living in one of the countries and spared by the hundreds of drones that were being deployed.

Prophecy is for today. It is to call us to pray. It is to warn us. It is to confirm that God is working and doing and showing us Who He is.

We must continue to pray for the war that is happening. And when God shows up and answers prayer, we must praise and thank Him for this!

UPDATES TO THIS POST HERE

Dear Reader,

Over the last few days it has been evident that the Lord is speaking much of the same thing to various prophetic people in the body of Christ. Through your messages to me—and in my own small “prophetic company” group of friends that share dreams and encounters with one another—we have sensed a rumbling in the atmosphere for a specific timeframe. We felt it necessary to call the body of Christ to prayer for a certain time period for a certain reason.

Let me try to unpack this as clearly and intently as possible. I will intentionally leave things out so they are not confusing, but believe you’ll see the main point of the urgency to pray and prepare.

I am giving a broad timeline of March 13-15 because of varying parts of dreams and how different people may count from a certain date. We feel specifically that something significant will happen March 14/15, but may be different timing based on location of the reader and the country in which it happens.

A Dream During Purim

During Purim, one of the people in our prophetic company group had a dream. The dream was simply this—the two words “decim purim”. Decim means ten and also tenth. They awoke thinking of this word, “ten” and “tenth”. Ten days from this dream would be this weekend in March.

Decim can also mean a few different things. But ten and tenth are the main definitions. Decim is also the root word of “decimate”.

A Dream Early Morning 3/9/26

I tend to dream very long. Or at least, it feels that way. This dream is my personal dream. I have redacted names since they are people I know personally. It was not about the people, it was about the meaning of their names in the dream.

My son and the teens at a local church were planning to go on a trip to Israel. My husband, Mark, was going with them. It was night time and myself and the our other kids were driving to [name redacted]’s house for some reason.

Pulling into the driveway I saw hundreds, probably thousands, of tiny white lights in the sky. They were in several groups that were making oblong hexagon shapes in the skies. There were 3 hexagons altogether.

I sat parked for a few minutes wondering what they were. I called Mark and he seemed concerned. He stayed on the phone while I got out and talked to [name redacted]. Just then, these lights started coming down one by one, randomly, and I realized they were “drones”. But they turned off their white lights so they blended into the dark. All I could see was a tiny red light on them when they were close, almost as if they were recording.

We walked inside the house and looked out the window to watch. She said “something is going to happen in 3 days—well, 2 days and two 2/10ths of a day”. (Which would equal 4 tenths of a day, but it is significant that 222 is represented.) I shook my head and thought “what’s with the tenths thing? [Name redacted] just had a dream about tenths.” For those who are not used to dreaming, or being active in their dreams, this was my spirit-man taking over and evaluating what was happening.

Back to the dream. Mark was still on the phone and I had asked where the meet up was for the teens that night. He said the city name, and at the park. The drop off was Thursday. The next day was Friday, when they were supposed to leave. In my head I was thinking that today was Monday (which it really was), but in the dream it was already Thursday, and they were trying to find the drop off.

[I share this now because I believe God is showing us that the plan is in motion ahead of time]

I said to everyone “don’t you think your trip will be canceled with all the commotion happening with Israel?” And [name redacted] said no. She said “something bad is about to happen—not like ‘catastrophic’, but still really bad”.

I was concerned about my family and tried to figure out how to get Mark to see they shouldn’t go. But it was almost like they didn’t have a choice—if the trip wouldn’t be canceled, they were going.

I get the kids in the car and drive home. But our home looked more like a warehouse.

The scene switched to being in an actual warehouse but it was more like a restaurant/buffet. Mark and the kids were now with me. We stood at the buffet, only a few people were there.

[redacted part of dream]

I felt like I was annoyed. There was hardly any food and it all looked like Asian food. But not like rice and chicken, more like weird things I didn’t know what they were. The people serving at the buffet said “I know there isn’t much for you today but what would you like?” I saw a lot of fruit. Much had been fermented or spiced in some way. I chose pears that were sliced and spiced. The woman at the end of the line had more pears and tried to get me to take a whole one. I did but didn’t really want it.

Back to our table we went. I at some point had asked the waitress for a drink. She had already served them. Two totally different drinks. They were also fruity drinks. Almost like smoothies but decorated like cocktails in cocktail cups. I couldn’t understand why this was so elaborate when it didn’t need to be. Mark sat across from me.

I believe now that what was happening was “distraction”. Both parts of the dream had very important pieces that were set aside because elaborate things (headlines, flashy lights, etc) are a distraction from the real plot.

The tables were cafeteria style tables. There were maybe just a few people scattered about and they were all talking together. There was a man at the table behind/across from us talking loudly to some people at a table behind us on the other side. He was talking about governmental things, corruption, plans, etc.

Some women came up to our table. One laughed and said “I just had to ask, are you drinking alcohol?” And I made a face and said no, it was just juice drinks for breakfast. More distraction.

I went back to my plate but never actually remember eating the fruit.

I did not want to eat the fruit.

I woke up.

An Important Breakdown

When prophetic dreams like this begin to collide, it must be expanded upon clearly. There are still some things we are “unclear” about, but we feel we have a large enough picture, and a large enough urgency to pray, that we believe even just sharing and calling the body of Christ to prayer is important enough.

After several people reading and meditating on these dreams, and taking them to the Lord, there are two very real things that we sense.

1. Something significant will happen this weekend to cause nations to reach the brink of war. Drone attacks seemed very significant.

2. There is a plan to execute the taking out of a significant leader.

3. There is a great significance in relationship and happening between America, Israel, and an asian country—possibly Jordan (specific reasons not listed in this post), or another Asian country.

4. God speaks in multiples and numbers often to show that He is “in” something. In this case, that He is showing us something is about to happen and He is allowing it. But we should still pray (more on that in a minute). I believe the plan is also threefold.

5. What you are currently seeing in the headlines (on this day and over the next few days) is a distraction from the real plan.

6. Do not eat the fruit that is about to come forth from this plan. Smoke and mirrors—deception—will run rampant.

There was also another encounter with the Lord from our prophetic group where Ezekiel 17 consistently came to the forefront. This is the parable of the eagles and the vine. That week, several eagles were seen flying over the Capitol building before President Trump’s State of the Union address.

A few important notes:

• 3 days (or 2 days and two 2/10ths of a day) until something happens
  This could either be from the day of the dream (the 9th), or the day in the dream (the 12th). The day from the dream would align with the Purim dream, bringing the date to this Saturday. Two tenths of a day (or 1/5th) is 4.8 hours. So that would equal a total of 9.6 hours. Which would be 9:36 am. (222 is consistent with God confirming what is seen)

• The name of people in the dream had various meanings:
  “resurrection fruitful/productive”—there will be life and good fruit, but do not eat the fruit until it is GOOD.
  “lily/rose” or “purity/beauty”—God is the one pure and perfect source when looking for direction. You must focus on HIM and what He is doing.

  “warlike” or “God of war”—we are being pushed to war

• Consistency in numbers.
  A hexagon has 6 straight sides and 6 angles. 6 is the number of man. But these drones were also in perfect unison. There were 3 hexagons total. (333 is again consistent in confirming this particular thing seen)
  We do not practice numerology. However, God is a God of numbers, He always has been. It’s pretty amazing to see Him confirm what He is saying by consistent numbers. This doesn’t always happen, but when it does, pay attention.

• March 15th is the Ides of March when Ceasar was assassinated in 44 BC.

How We Should Take Action

First of all, God will often show His people and watchmen something not so they can just sit on it and talk about it, but so that they can be an active people. There are so many instances recorded in scripture where friends of Yahweh pleaded with Him to spare others. Abraham pleaded for Sodom, and Moses for the Israelites. Hezikiah’s life was extended when he pleaded to God. We can do this too—PRAY.

So how should we pray?

• Pray that the plans of the enemy would be exposed by the light and thwarted. (Luke 8:17, Job 5:12-13)

• Pray that leaders would come to repentance and their lives would be extended (if possible).

• Pray that Satan will not be allowed to prematurely change the times and the seasons—only God. (Daniel 7:25)

• Pray for God to reveal His plan and desire for you if you are located in any area that may be involved in the plans of the enemy. Learn His voice intently.

• Pray for a clear vision and understanding of the times we are heading into. Deception will be very prevalent.

Here’s the reality—sometimes God allows things to happen. Look at Israel and Iran in constant battle right now. But He consistently covers His people with His presence and under His wings. There is refuge for those who abide in Jesus.

Please take heed to this call to pray!

For His Glory,
Amy

When I first started sub stack, I used to call these posts “letters”. Here I sit, writing a letter to you. The words that are within me where, if I can find just one quiet moment, I can express them well. I think I’ll go back to calling these “letters”. Maybe I should even consider mailing them to you personally.

I—like many others—have come to a point in the world of online everything, where I just want all of the noise to be quiet. Does it seem more “loud” recently? I feel it has. If my businesses were not mostly run online, I wouldn’t even be in this space.

But today I write this letter you, maybe not even about what you think it will be about. But a letter from within me that warrants more than a Facebook post.

I started Homesteaders of America in 2016—well before the craze of homesteading and food system exposure began. Back then, no one cared about their food at all—what was in it, or where it came from. Homesteaders were weird and insane—at least that’s what we felt like.

There were two groups of homesteaders—those who homesteaded because of their health, and those who did so because they wanted greater independence. My family fell into both of those categories, and still does.

Over the years homesteading trended and became a lifestyle for pretty homesteading photos on instagram. So be it, it is what it is.

But when 2020 hit, suddenly homesteading went completely mainstream. Rightfully so.

Suddenly we were teaching tens of thousands of people how to grow tomatoes on their back porch. How to connect with a local farmer to buy a chicken (alive or frozen). Many have forgotten those days—including homesteaders.

I haven’t forgotten, though.

I want you to take a moment, back away from your phone or computer, close your eyes and just sit still. Think about what you experienced in 2020. Relive it in your mind. Force the thoughts to come back to the surface. It was only just six years ago. Yet so many new propaganda agendas have filled that space and made you forget.

What did you remember?

I can remember my phone ringing off the hook from people living in Northern Virginia asking if I sold chickens (I didn’t at the time). People blowing up my inbox trying to find natural remedies to avoid the hospitals and doctors offices. I had stores calling me asking if I could connect them with farmers to fill their shelves because the stores had zero food on the shelves.

I can remember so many people living in fear while we sat there wondering why it was so scary. It didn’t seem scary to us at all.

My family already had a healthy stock of food on hand, but before it all went down hill fast, my husband discerned at the perfect time—”we need to stock up more”. The world had not yet seen what was about to come, but we did. A week later, the shelves were empty.

I’ll spare you from all of the things I remember, the conversations I had, the ludicrousness that was constant, the people who scream freedom but caved to a shot in the arm. Admittedly, we have a hard time trusting those people even now. Because if fear and compliance ruled them once, it could rule them again.

Just a gentle reminder—we cannot forget, because it will happen again, but worse.

It is no secret to those of us who see the writing on the wall that the government systems of the world are fragile. They are broken. They cannot be rebuilt outside of starting from the ground up.

We saw this with the recent glyphosate debacle. I continue to ask people—why are you so shocked? Who even cares? The world does not care what it eats. This is who the government systems feed. We must look at it this way, not from the perspective of a homesteader.

Why do we continue to make it the government’s job to make your food healthy? Why did we hand over our food system to the government anyhow? I digress.

I am of the mindset that if we continue to scream “government reform” we will get exactly what we don’t want. We scream for government reform, but I assure you, we will get it at the worst level.

We are concentrating so much on big ag, that we are forgetting that small farms and homesteads are what feed communities. Smoke and mirrors, my friends. We must start fighting on a local level, otherwise this is all for nothing.

Eventually if you beg the government to “make America healthy again”, it will do so by ripping away every raw milk herd share, every natural food source, and more. Because, science will say it is “not healthy” and “not easy to manage”.

Moving on…

The world is going to see more turmoil than it has ever seen in the coming years. I personally believe that the Lord has given us a grace period in which to build the systems ourselves—food, health, financial, community.

The question is, what are you going to do about it?

What part are you going to play?

We may not see a complete collapse in our lifetime, but it is almost inevitable in our children’s lifetime. We must think in generational timelines, not just the here and now. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and Rome knows that. But Rome cannot control what it does not own unless the people refuse to stand up. We live in modern day Babylon, and we cannot let her overcome us.

And so we know this first—the system will one day completely collapse.

What now?

Now we build.

If we can be like the sons of Issachar and discern wisely, it is not good enough to only discern. It is to act accordingly.

When the system begins to collapse fully, which I believe pieces of it already are, who do you think the communities of the earth will run to?

They’ll run to homesteaders and small farmers….and the church.

Are you prepared for that?

Are you prepared to minister to them?

Are you prepared to use wisdom and help who God says to help, and turn away the ones that should not be in your camp?

We cannot complain when Yahweh gives us a period of grace yet we’ve wasted it arguing about or chasing after frivolous things.

And so we can see, finally, that the homesteading movement was never just about living a better life closer to the land. That was part of it.

The homesteading movement will be used in the earth to bring about a great revival of faith when the lost and dying world needs someone to feed and care for them.

Are you hearing what I’m saying?

If it does not happen in my generation, I want my children and grandchildren’s generation to be so solidly set up that all they have to do is open and door and say “we’re ready”.

And the church should be spearheading this.

With every fiber of my being, I want you to hear me well.

The world is not getting any better. The world will do what it has always done. It will sacrifice to its gods. It will try to kill you through food, water, and medicine. It will get you off track on stupid agendas and people of influence.

Focus.

Breathe.

Put your blinders on.

See the truth through the fog.

And the truth is this—we are not ready for the government systems to collapse….but we can be.

Start by reevaluating your relationship with the Lord—be a student of His word, not just a reader and hearer. You must be a student and doer.

Pray without ceasing. Daily. Many times a day.

Husbands, wash your wives in the word, daily, and lead your home well.

Wives, honor your husbands and make sure your home is organized and in order.

Raise your children in peace and hope, but wisdom and knowledge. Your children should understand the word and spiritual realms. The fight we are preparing to fight is not against flesh and blood, but the spiritual principalities and strongholds in the kingdom of darkness.

Prepare your farms and homesteads. Get them in well working order with systems that can run smoothly. Don’t overdo it, make it work for you.

A house divided against itself will not stand. Be undivided. Learn how to communicate well.

Find or create networks with like minded homesteading believers in your region. You’ll need one another.

Create networks with other leaders in the medical and financial fields. Home calls will once again become necessary.

Make sure your currency is in food and supplies first, monetarily second.

Get out of debt. Only incur new debt if it advances your mission wisely (land, warehouses for food storage, etc).

Commune with one another weekly. If your church only meets on Sundays, make sure you are meeting with like minded (in one accord) believers at least twice a week. Often times the best time is around a table full of food. If you don’t have a church, at the very least fellowship weekly with other believers.

Are you ready?

I have been assembling a team for our new ministry, The Church Storehouse, where we hope to teach you all about this. We already are. I have met many people already building the storehouses of their regions—on farms, homesteads, or in their churches—for the times that are ahead.

We want you to be prepared, and in return, prepare others.

The time for building and equipping is now.

Use discernment—not everyone should be in your camp. The enemy will absolutely sow tares.

Find out more about The Church Storehouse here.

Consider donating to the mission we are on while you’re there.

And friend, prepare accordingly. Don’t forget 2020.

In this episode, Amy Fewell explores the true meaning of revival, its biblical foundation, and how believers can participate in bringing life to dead regions through repentance, unity, and the Holy Spirit.

In this episode we explore:
• What is revival according to the Bible
• The difference between revival and emotionalism
• The role of repentance in revival
• Historical examples of revival like Charles Finney and Azusa Street
• The importance of unity and discipleship in sustaining revival

LINKS & NOTES FROM THE SHOW:
• Blue Letter Bible App - https://www.blueletterbible.org/
• Charles Finney's Revival Books - https://amzn.to/3ZMxk1S
• REMNANT & REFORMER hats - https://homesteadersofamerica.com/product/reformer-remnant-hats/
• Lexicon :: Strong's H2421 - ḥāyâ -- https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h2421/kjv/wlc/0-4/#lexResults

SCRIPTURES USED:
Hosea 14
Habakkuk 3
Isaiah 57

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“I had a dream!” In this episode of the Homesteading for the Kingdom podcast, Amy shares personal updates and reflects on a significant dream that speaks to the current state of the church and its future. She emphasizes the importance of discernment in these times, the need for a solid foundation in faith, and the call for unity and maturity within the body of Christ. Amy encourages listeners to actively participate in their communities and to seek a deeper relationship with God, highlighting the ongoing reformation within the church.

Key Takeaways from this episode:

- Amy shares her personal journey over the past year.

- The world is becoming increasingly chaotic, requiring discernment.

- A recent dream revealed insights about the church’s current state.

- The church is still immature and needs to grow in unity.

- God is laying a strong foundation for the church’s future.

- The era of reformation is upon the church, calling for change.

- Believers are encouraged to actively sow seeds into others’ lives.

- Resting in Christ is essential for spiritual health.

- The church must move away from entertainment-based practices.

- God is doing a new thing, and believers must be ready for it.

Scriptures used in this episode:

1 John 4:18

Hebrews 12:6

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Over the course of my time being an herbalist, I have been a family herbalist (just for my own family), and an herbalist with a practice (seeing clients). My hope has always been to educate others on how to take back control of their health, and I have often found that it begins in showing them how to do the things a doctor does. Some of the most efficient ways to stay away from the doctor is to learn how to use the tools that a doctor uses. Once you can see or hear what is happening in the human body, your mind can be at ease and you can choose a protocol accordingly.

As a family herbalist, you may be single, married, or have an entire family. No matter how many, it will do you well to understand a few tools to keep on hand, and how to use them. It’s the difference between thinking your child has a virus that needs addressing, versus a simple ear infection that can be healed with a basic garlic oil.

Let’s look at a few basic medical tools that you need to keep in your home medicine bag, and how to efficiently use them.

Stethoscope

A stethoscope can be expensive, but it is one of the first tools I recommend purchasing, especially if you have younger children. You will need to learn what the lungs sound like when healthy, when they are beginning to succumb to illness, and when they are fully diseased. It isn’t very hard at all. Healthy lungs sound exactly like that—very open, like wind blowing in and out freely. When you begin to hear crackles, pops, or like someone is shoveling large rocks, that is when you begin to deal with things like pneumonia. There are other sounds as well, but you most likely won’t be looking for those as a home herbalist.

To hear simulated descriptions of these lung sounds, you can click here for a great video.

You’ll need to listen to the lungs in the front and the back. I always start in the back, working my way from the bottom up to the top. Then I listen to the front, close to the top of the chest. Often times you’ll hear irritation in the top part of the lungs, without pneumonia. But even still, I begin to treat for pneumonia as a preventative, especially in babies and young children.

You can purchase my recommended stethoscope here.

Otoscope

One of the best ways to avoid the doctor is to learn what an ear infection looks like. Most ear infections sort themselves out in about three days. When I see the beginning of an infection, I immediately begin putting garlic oil in the ear. The infection almost immediately goes away within a day.

So often, parents are running their little children to the doctor for antibiotics for an ear infection. It is absolutely unnecessary to do this when ear infections are so easy to get rid of. And honestly, they go away on their own 95% of the time.

You can purchase the Dr. Mom otoscope by clicking here. This is typically the first otoscope I recommend, as it comes with a little chart that shows you what a healthy and unhealthy ear looks like. There is a learning curve in how to use it, but you’ll quickly get the hang of it.

Blood Pressure Cuff or Monitor

Often times you’ll need to check blood pressure levels. We do this when people are sick, or when they are feeling off. It is especially helpful for those who are prone to having high blood pressure, or for pregnant women who want to make sure their levels are still normal. I also like to check BP randomly as a precaution in life. If you see it trending upwards for no apparent reason, it’s a signal to get your body back in order.

Blood pressure issues are often kidney and hydration issues. When your kidneys are not filtering well, or when your body is dehydrated, your blood pressure will naturally begin to rise. At the first sign of climbing BP, it’s important to hydrate and give kidney nurturing herbals and cleansers.

I recommend purchasing a blood pressure monitor if you do not feel comfortable using a cuff. You can purchase a monitor here.

However, a BP cuff is more accurate than a monitor. If you feel comfortable learning how to use a cuff, I recommend purchasing the adult and child sizes. You can purchase that here.

You can learn how to use a BP cuff here. Remember, you will need a stethoscope to use a manual cuff.

Tongue Depressors

This tool is pretty self explanatory. I cannot tell you how many times I have tried to see someone’s throat, only to be met with their tongue being in the way. I highly recommend keeping tongue depressors or popsicle sticks on hand so that you can gently press the tongue down or out of the way in order to see the throat.

You can purchase those here.

Glass Eye Cup

This is probably not something you have heard of unless you’ve had an eye injury. However, having a glass eye cup on hand will help you cleanse the eyes, or treat the eyes, very effectively. We especially use eye cups when we are trying to treat long term issues with the eye. It is used to administer herbal tonics to the eye so that it can sit longer than eye drops.

You can purchase one here.

Thermometer

This should go without saying, but keeping a thermometer on hand is essential. You should also consider keeping a non-electric thermometer on hand in case you do not have access to batteries or electricity. I recommend this one here.

Nebulizer

We have utilized nebulizers for years. Sometimes when you feel that a respiratory issue is getting away from you, the first step is to utilize the nebulizer. The mist alone from a nebulizer can help break up stubborn mucus in the sinuses and lungs. You can also add medicinal liquids to the nebulizer for an ever greater efficacy. One of my favorite ways to nourish the lungs and bring rich oxygen to the much membranes is to nebulize 3% food grade hydrogen peroxide in a saline solution (just a few drops of the peroxide in a solution works well). A nebulizer is especially helpful for those who have asthma and other breathing conditions.

You can grab a nebulizer from your local medical store or here.

Enema Kit

Enemas are for more than just helping you goto the bathroom when constipated. We use enemas to help clients detox, to quickly rehydrate, and to help quickly reduce fevers (especially in children). Not all enema kits are the same, so I encourage you to purchase a kit that is proven safe and effective, and especially mold free if you are doing a coffee enema.

Giving an enema is a little more detailed than what I will share here today. We will go over the process of giving an enema in another post (especially for children).

I recommend the Happy Bum enema kit. They also have glass options instead of silicone options. You can grab yours here. OR Use code REFUGE when you check out.

Suture Kit

A suture kit is pretty self explanatory, and it’s a great thing to have on hand when you need to manipulate the skin and wounds.

You can purchase a basic kit here.

Hopefully these basic tools can get you started with your home tool kit for yourself or your family. What would you add to this basic list? Comment below!