Veiled In Goodness

The Book

Veiled In Goodness Podcast Part 1: Farm to Jesus

Veiled In Goodness Podcast Part 2: The Book & More

Dear followers of The Homestead Kings blog,

I am sure you have noticed, but after 2020 and all its chaos, the homesteading world exploded. People from all corners of the earth started looking inwardly at their lives and longed to “fix” what they could, and many began that fixin’ by jumping both feet into homesteading. It was wonderful to witness! People started relearning traditional skills that were slowly going extinct. They started spending more time with their families and living a simpler lifestyle. They found contentment and beauty where they stood, whether in an urban backyard with a luscious herb garden or a sprawling 40 acres of farmland and animals.

The other side effect of this was… the online world was inundated with homesteading material. A new-ish term ‘Cottagecore’ started trending. A sometimes overcorrection of the consumer lifestyle and defiant boldness to be self-sufficient dominated the scene. People started to see themselves as islands where they had to do everything themselves. They felt they couldn’t rely on their government, neighbors, or friends to help or support them. Understandably so. Our world the past few years has been in quite the mess. But alas, hasn’t it always?

When the censorship of social media tycoon powerhouses cracked down, this online homesteading world was no longer enjoyable to me, so I graciously bowed out. I was weary of making our life a stage for others to comment and pass judgment on. I’d post here or there for those who still wanted to keep up with our happenings, but it was a welcomed time of silence.

During this time, Arthur and I, like many people, reevaluated our life. His father passed away in 2021. In our early 30s, losing a parent felt premature, and we scrounged to find our way forward. We began the podcast as a way to stay focused on what really mattered in our lives. You may even have noticed those first few episodes are a little salty. We were working through what we wanted our life to be in this new world. One thing we knew for sure was that our homestead as a place of peace and refuge would help get us through. And, it did, but it didn’t stop there.

One of my worries of being a “public” face of homesteading has always been that we were just adding to the noise. We’re not exactly experts at anything, but we’ve always tried hard and worked hard. We invited people to join us on our homesteading journey out of the sheer desire to help most people see a different way of life and to maybe join in community with us. It was always shocking to me the people who would come up to us locally to talk about whatever was going on with our animals or garden or who would reach out for advice for their own endeavors. Some people never changed their lifestyles but still thoroughly enjoyed living vicariously through us. Homesteading itself is quite entertaining. My vision of a homesteading rich community locally didn’t come to fruition as I had originally envisioned, and though it was nice to have like-minded people online, it wasn’t the same.

Cue the biggest turn of our lives thus far. In the depths of the pandemic, we yearned to be of service. We yearned to bring people together, but how? We brainstormed night after night until finally it came to us. Maybe not everyone has the commonality of homesteading or cares where their food comes from or how it’s grown, but everyone DOES enjoy yummy food. We know the most delicious food is fresh and local. Why don’t we host a supper party? Great! We’ll do it. But, there was more.

Arthur and I are cradle Catholics, meaning we’ve been Catholics our entire lives. Most of our friends are also Catholics who grew up with us. Many, ourselves included, were non-practicing due to any number of excuses but mostly because we didn’t feel like it. We fell away during college, graced the church occasionally, and thought we’d get back to it in the future at some point because that’s what you did when you got older… Well, nothing like a pandemic to bring you home to God! When we weren’t allowed to go to Mass, many churches put Mass online for their congregations. I started watching a Mass by a priest in Minnesota named… Father Mike Schmitz. You may have heard of him. He’s the face and voice of the Bible In A Year & Catechism In A Year podcasts. It was in this way that God called us home. We went from watching Mass in our home to listening to the podcasts every day to full-on accepting the gift of our Baptism. We became those people, the ones who had a full reversion back into the Catholic church, the ones who didn’t shut up about Jesus all of a sudden. It didn’t happen overnight, but when we finally accepted it, per usual, we jumped headfirst in. So, our little idea for a supper party needed a theme, a theme that would bring all walks of life together over a commonality- Jesus.

Thus was born Farm to Jesus. Its mission statement- To reach and befriend those who are missing and/or seeking that deeper connection with God and His son, Jesus, through wholesome food, God’s word, and fellowship and to spread our love of God to those who may need a helping hand by producing and sharing our first fruits.

Here again, we were by no means experts on Jesus or our Catholic faith, but we didn’t have to be. We just had to try hard, work hard, and most importantly, love hard. Since the Fall of 2022, Farm to Jesus has been an immense blessing in our lives. It is a way for us to fuse together all the parts of our lives into one beautiful experience. Much like many other things, homesteading leads you to Him, if you allow it to. There’s so much goodness, beauty, sacrifice, and suffering. There are so many moments of pure bliss and a handful of absolute sorrows. They all point to our Creator.

So, the story continues.

We rarely do things half-heartedly, so when I was binge-learning more about our faith, it was only natural for me to reach out to my Catholic high school alma mater to probe whether or not their curriculum had added a series on the vocation of marriage and motherhood since I had been a student. It had not, and they elected me as the perfect volunteer to bring this series to fruition. Much to my inner introvert’s dismay, I began speaking to high school senior girls in the Fall of 2023, and the fruits were astounding to behold. This adventure has culminated itself into a 347 page book which you may have ventured to see more of at the top of the page. Veiled In Goodness is the work of 6 months giving talks and learning as much material as I could about God’s design for marriage and motherhood. It admittedly scratches the immense surface of His design, but it’s a starting place. Many of its points are ridiculed or considered outdated, but despite this, they remain true. Thankfully, ultimate truth is not determined or swayed by the masses. It cannot change and remains a strong and stable foundation. Veiled In Goodness Invites readers to join us in the old convent classroom in the historic downtown Savannah school as we talk through these truths. My intention was originally to write it all down as a kind of cliff-notes for the students at the end of the year. The Holy Spirit had other plans and without my understanding to why or how, it became the full story, warts and all, and was published May 13th, 2024, the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima. It is an outline of life for a young Catholic woman, an invitation to add depth to their present and to imagine their future, and to renew, recapture, and rediscover their love of the Trinity. Though its audience is young women, I have found the universal truths speak to women of all ages. It’s by no means the work of Shakespeare or C.S. Lewis but instead, a gentle conversation. Sometimes we need the warmth of a dialogue to help us feel loved and to let each other know that we matter. In this warped culture that we have the pleasure and duty to be a part of, our dignity as children of God is a radical message but a truthful one.

And now, we come to today.

We started the Savannah Village of the Militia of the Immaculata and host monthly prayer meetings (online & in-person) to pray for lost souls. We host Catholic Wives Workshops quarterly at our home to dive deeper into the topics of the books. I’ve scheduled a few additional speaking engagements. Farm to Jesus comes around every other month and is a relaxing evening of loving community. I have started writing the next two books in the Veiled series and am letting the Holy Spirit guide my pen as He did before. I return to the Catholic high school in the Fall to create a program to go along with the book. Arthur and I will be taking over the leadership of our deanery’s Pre-Cana Marriage Retreats for engaged couples this upcoming Fall. We present the ‘Parenting’ talk in the retreat. Other wonderful couples and priests present other topics such as ‘Communication,’ ‘Interfaith Marriages,’ ‘The Sacrament of Marriage,’ ‘Natural Family Planning,’ ‘Intimacy,’ and more. We’re looking for more volunteers to help enliven the retreat and make it really special for these couples on the brink of marriage. We picked up two Holstein cows to be our new pets last month. We pick up our dairy cow calf, Blossom, this month and are enjoying our goat, Ginger’s, milk until we one day have cow milk. Our garden is a mess, but it’s prolific. We are blessed with abundance. We have so many big plans for all of the different avenues in our lives.

[ Conversations with Kira King by VoyageSavannah ]

In conclusion, our whole lives have been veiled in goodness. Our faith, our marriage, our two little girls, our homestead, and our family and friends are our center of gravity. We are not an island. Our only desire for our putting our lives out there for others to see remains the same- the desire to help others. I don’t want us to be just another voice causing noise in this noisy world. I want us to be a gathering place of meaning, a place of comfort and hospitality, a landing place of refuge where at any moment, we expect to laugh or cry, and a place where we always remember to glance around this incredible masterpiece of a life in absolute awe.

We’re by no means experts, but we hope you have gained some insight, encouragement, or inspiration by being here. Thank you for being with us on this journey. We are blessed by your companionship and look forward to it for many more adventures.

Find More Here…

• Kira G. King, author & novice speaker
  • http://www.kiragking.com
  • https://www.instagram.com/kiragking
• Farm to Jesus
  • http://www.farmtojesus.com
  • https://www.instagram.com/farmtojesus/