On Finding Treasure Buried in the Fields of our Fathers and Mothers

The other day we found a cache of my great-grandparents journals. Had you been there, you would have thought we struck gold—and you would be right. The several medium sized notebooks were bound up in a rugged leather wrap cover with a wrap around string holding it all together. They were like treasure buried in a field.

+ The pages told stories of life and gardening (which are kind of the same thing, right?), noting the particular varieties of tomatoes—the ones we call "vintage" today; + Journal notes about particular strains of watermelons to never plant again; and notations of rainfall amounts and the date of the last freeze of the spring.
+ A few torn out pages from the year's Farmer's Almanac tucked in here and there amid notes about loved ones on their birthdays.
+ There was even a sketch of an old barn in one of them.
+ And to our great delight, the journals were punctuated with scattered bible verses and short written prayers throughout—like seed planted in the soil of those now weathered pages—still blooming a hundred-fold yet a hundred years later. On the inside cover of one of the booklets were these iconic words in ALL CAPS KJV:

THE GRASS WITHERETH, THE FLOWER FADETH, BUT THE WORD OF OUR GOD SHALL STAND FOR EVER. ISAIAH 40:8. 

It brought us great joy to peruse these precious pages, and then came conviction—that we weren't writing down more of the ordinary details of our days and capturing the convictions of our life and times and gardens. How could we deprive our grandchildren of such delights?

Something about a journal “grounds” our ordinary lives into living history—sowing humble legacy long into the future. 

In that spirit and craft, we decided to make a journal for ourselves, to inspire and encourage our own practice of the ancient art of journaling. And we made a few extras for you. You will love the premium Horween leather that will age from grace to glory. 

We’ve got a couple dozen from the first run and if you order soon we can get one to you in time for Father’s Day.

You can see all the details and order here (link).