Reflections, Relationships, and Renewal: A Fresh Chapter at York Meadow Farm

Welcome to the first episode of All Around Growth in 2025! Season 6 kicks off with a heartfelt reflection on the past few weeks and a glimpse into life at York Meadow Farm. From preparing for a traditional Orthodox house blessing after Theophany to the simple yet transformative act of cleaning and organizing, this episode dives into the personal growth and new beginnings shaping the year ahead.

Host Rob Kaiser also shares updates on his evolving family dynamics, the progress of his relationship (taking an intentionally traditional approach), and the creative work behind his new video for Patreon subscribers. Plus, he reflects on the surprising peace that comes from stepping back, thinking, and connecting with the All Around Growth community.

Tune in for an inspiring start to the season, and as always, thank you for being part of the journey!

📌 Mentioned in this episode:

• Last episode: "Seizures, Sheriff Encounters, and New Year Reflections"
• Theophany
• Blessing of homes
• The Prayer for the Blessing of Homes at Theophany
• Apolytikion of Theophany in Tone 1
• A Personal Update and Reflections from York Meadow Farm

Connect & Support:

• Join the community: Telegram group
• Support the show: Patreon

Special Shoutouts
Big thanks to our incredible Patreon subscribers Sean, Rachel, Kyriaki, and Brian. Your support is what makes these episodes possible! Also, a warm welcome to all our new listeners—we appreciate your support and help growing the show.

 🎙 Let’s grow together. Subscribe, reflect, and share your thoughts with the community!



Keywords: reflection, Orthodox tradition, Theophany, house blessing, York Meadow Farm, personal growth, family dynamics, mindfulness

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:06

Well, hi there and welcome back to another episode of the All Around Growth Podcast. My name is Rob Kaiser and I am your host. Today is January 21st, 2025, at the time of this recording, and it is a chilly nine degrees out there coming to you from the office inside the barn here at York Meadow Farm in Medina, Ohio. We are pushing the high of the date at nine degrees, and with this cold spell coming through, temperatures are going to drop into well below zero. So things are chilly. Hope you are staying warm where you are. It's been a little over two weeks since the last recording of the podcast. And if you haven't listened to the last episode of the show titled Seizures, Sheriff Encounters, and New Year Reflections, a Wild Start to 2025, I would highly recommend doing so. Now a friend of mine in a group text message thread wrote that the events surrounding that story, which is outlined in the last episode, were uh a fascinating and somewhat comical seizure event story that should be made into a 15-minute art film or YouTube video, drama, and unintended comedy. And while I didn't necessarily make a 15-minute art film, I did create a video using ChatGPT Generator Text to VideoMaker, which is available for Patreon subscribers only. And speaking of Patreon subscribers, it has been great chatting with all of you in the subscribers only chat on Telegram over the past few weeks, sorting through everything that has been taking place during this time, during that accident or after that accident, since that accident, whatever you want to say. And I just want to say thank all of you for your support. That's you, Sean, Rachel, Kiriki, thank you guys for being paid subscribers. I very much appreciate you, but more so than your dollars, I appreciate what we have in that small intimate group that is a result of the membership, the subscription. So if you're out there listening to the show, you like what you hear, and you want to participate more with people who are doing that, then you can check out patreon.com slash all around growth. You can get exclusive access to little quirky things like the video that was previously mentioned, but also gain access to the telegram chat. And that is where that's that's where the that's where the good stuff happens. So at any rate, um in addition to making little quirky videos and and uh keeping myself occupied with certain things, you might uh be wondering what other things I've been doing to keep myself occupied since the last episode a couple weeks ago. Well, I've been cleaning. I've been doing a lot of cleaning, and I've been making preparations to the office here at York Meadow Farm to get it ready to accommodate guests and prepare for a house blessing. That's right. For the first time in two years, I am in a position to entertain guests, as in my girlfriend and anybody else for that matter. But you you also might be thinking, Rob, you've you've had a girlfriend now for a few months, and you haven't even invited her over into the office over there in the barn? And the answer, my friends, is a resounding no. Why? Well, we are taking a very traditional approach to the relationship we have with one another, and we consider it old-fashioned, you might say, which is a bit of an understatement. But we'll talk more about that later. But right now we will talk about a house blessing and the preparations for that as well. And you might be wondering, well, house blessing, what what is that? Okay. For those who may not be aware, after we celebrate Christmas in the Orthodox Church, we celebrate Theophany on January 6th. So let's take a moment to uh learn a little bit about Theophany before we learn about the blessing of homes and how that factors into this. So Theophany, from the Greek Theophania, meaning appearance of God, is one of the great feasts of the Orthodox Church celebrated on January 6th. It is the feast which reveals the most holy trinity to the world through the baptism of the Lord. This observance commemorates Christ's baptism by John the Forerunner in the River Jordan, and the beginning of Christ's earthly ministry. The Feast of Theophany is the culmination of the Christmas season, which starts on December 25th and ends on January 6th. In mystic commemoration of this event, the great blessing of water is performed on this day, and the holy water so blessed is used by the local priest to bless the homes of the faithful. The feast is called Theophany because at the baptism of Christ the Holy Trinity appeared clearly to mankind for the first time. The Father's voice is heard from heaven, the Son of God is incarnate and standing physically in the Jordan, and the Holy Spirit descends on him in the form of a dove. This feast is also sometimes referred to as Epiphany by English-speaking Orthodox Christians, but that name more properly refers to the Western Christian feast falling on the same day and commemorating the visit of the Magi to the child Jesus. The term Epiphany does appear in some of the service texts for this feast, however. Originally there was just one Christian feast of the shining forth of God to the world in the human form of Jesus of Nazareth, and it included the celebration of Christ's birth, the adoration of the wise men, and all of the childhood events of Christ, such as his circumcision and presentation to the temple, as well as his baptism by John and the Jordan. Now there seems to be little doubt that this feast, like Posca and Pentecost, was understood as the fulfillment of a previous Jewish festival, in this case the Feast of Lights. The Armenian Apostolic Church still keeps January 6th as a feast of both Christ's Nativity and Baptism. Now the services of Theophany are arranged similarly to those of the Nativity, and I'll link to this in the show notes so you can learn more about that if you are curious. But the main feature of all of this is the blessing of the water. And the blessing of the water is prescribed to follow both the divine liturgy of the eve of the feast and the divine liturgy on the day itself. But most local parishes do it only once when most of the parishioners can be present. The blessing verifies that mankind and all of creation were created to be filled with the sanctifying presence of God. Now, in connection with the feast, it is traditional for the priest to visit all of the homes of the faithful for their annual house blessing using the water that has been blessed at the Theophany services. So what is this house blessing all about? Well, the blessing of homes for Orthodox Christians is done each year on or after the Feast of Theophany. And this act is a central sign of God's sanctification of all things through Christ's baptism in the River Jordan and his epiphany to the world. Okay, so here's a little bit of information about the blessing. Okay? The family is considered by the Orthodox faith to be a small church. The family table is the home altar where the members gather each day to receive their daily bread from God with thanksgiving in the name of Christ. The sanctification of the home takes place with prayer and a sprinkling of holy water. The priest at this annual visit asks God to have mercy on the house, to rid it of every evil, and to fill it with every blessing. Everyone of the house prays together for the living and the dead of the family, and all who live and have lived in the house. They all sing the hymn of salvation and make a procession from room to room while the priest blesses the house. Depending on where you are and what church you are in, what tradition you are in, rather, because we are all in the Orthodox Church, but traditions of the ceremony differ according to local customs and the local traditions that you follow, but these general guidelines are generally observed. A candle with an icon and some holy water should be placed in a suitable place, such as a kitchen or dining room table or the home altar, and also a list of first names for whom prayers are to be offered, including members of the family and all those living in the house. And this list should also have a clear distinction between the living and the dead. And if it is the practice to give the priest a gift, it should not be placed with the holy objects on the table, but it can be prepared in advance and given at the conclusion of the service. And the service or the blessing of the home consists of the priest and all who are present in the house gathering around the icon with the candle, and if they can, they should join the priest in saying the Trisagian prayers and singing the triparion of the feast of Theophany or Epiphany. And then a family member leads the priest and all throughout the house with a candle, and as he goes, he sprinkles holy water and prays for a blessing upon each room and the activity that goes on there. And when they have gone through the entire house, the family gathers again around the table, and the priest blesses each person present. Now, as the priest goes and um he may or may not sing the uh traparion of the feast of Theophany, I don't really know because I've never had the house blessed. So this is a first year for this. Nevertheless, before, during, or after the actual blessing of the house and the rooms therein, this is basically what it's going to sound like when the priest chants the Traparian of Theophany.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

When our Lord was baptized in the journey, the worship of the Trinity was made manifest, for the voice of the Father bear witness to thee, and call thee his beloved Son, and the Spirit in the likeness of a dove confirm the truthfulness of his word, O Christ our God, who has revealed thyself and has enlightened the world for me to me.

SPEAKER_00 13:00

Now we will have the blessing of homes done soon, and that will be the last of the the major preparations and celebration of the festal season for this winter. But all of this, this this cleaning, the celebrating and the preparations that have been made have it's gotten me thinking. Thinking a lot about a family meeting that we had together recently, but thinking a lot more about something else. And that thinking has resulted in the creation and writing of a blog post that was published last Thursday, two weeks after everything that everything occurred with the episode titled Seizures, Sheriff Encounters, and New Year Reflections, a wild start to 2025. So two weeks of of cleaning, two weeks of celebrating, two weeks of preparations resulted in a blog post titled A Personal Update and Reflections from York Meadow Farm. And it reads as follows. Last year I updated you on my diagnosis of intractable epilepsy, which means my seizures have not been fully controlled despite ongoing treatment. Unfortunately, over the past several months, I've continued to experience seizures roughly every three months. These episodes have sometimes resulted in falls and hospital visits, making day-to-day tasks more challenging. Recently, I experienced a seizure behind the wheel while running errands and making deliveries. The seizure caused me to drive off course through a field on our property and into a tree on the tree line dividing our land from the neighboring field. Thankfully, the accident was contained on our property and no one else was involved. The impact wasn't severe enough to deploy the airbags, and I was fortunate to escape without any serious injuries. However, this event has resulted in a significant change for me. Under my doctor's orders, I am not permitted to drive for at least six months, and I can only regain driving privileges if I remain seizure-free for that duration. While I'm grateful that no one was hurt and no significant damage occurred, this situation has naturally brought new challenges to our operations. One immediate effect of my inability to drive has been our absence from the indoor winter farmers market at Boyer's Greenhouse and Farm. For now, I am working to assess how natural ferments in York Meadow Farm will continue serving you during this period. Rest assured, I will keep you informed as we navigate these logistics. On the day of the accident, my brother Matt stepped in to save the day. He ensured all deliveries were repackaged and completed on time, and I'm incredibly grateful for his support. Likewise, my sister Kate and my mother have been there for me during hospital visits and emergency situations. Their love and assistance have been invaluable, and I cannot express just how much they mean to me. Despite these setbacks, I am recovering well and remain in good spirits. I have faith that this is all part of God's plan, and I'm grateful to be able to share this update with you. Your patience, understanding, and continued support means the world to me during this time. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns. I value our connection with each of you, and I will do my best to keep you updated as we move forward. Thank you for being part of our journey. Your kindness and encouragement remind me of the strength found in community, and for that I am truly blessed. God bless. Rob. Now, like I said, I wrote that article, and it was published last Thursday, Thursday the 16th, two weeks after the accident on January 2nd. And it took a few days, a few weeks really, for the reality of what happened and what I described in the last episode to sink in. During that time, I've been processing what life looks like here at York Meadow Farm. A life without driving, and a life with family dynamics that are changing. And changing again soon. And sometimes when I think about this, it it feels like I should feel more stress about my life circumstances. Yet by doing very little and not reacting to the situation and simply stepping back from things and thinking and reflecting on them and ultimately talking about them with the people in my life and with each and every one of you out there that are just like this, what I've found is an increased sense of peace. And what I feel is an increased sense of peace. It's been quite the journey, and I am extremely grateful to be sharing it with each and every one of you. Thank you guys for listening today. I look forward to catching you on the next episode. This is Rob Kaiser, and God bless.