Simplify, Simplify, Simplify

I keep running into articles that encourage simple living. I guess the repeated message means this is very important, for I remember that when mom told me to do something a certain number of times, I had better get moving. The article I just read, "The Ten Most Important Things to Simplify in Your Life," certainly summarizes the message I have received so redundantly. I am not sure I want to cut back on screen time, though. Soon I'll be out in the garden more and I will not have time to keep up with my blogs and read what others are thinking. One area of success is within our grasp: " if debt is holding you captive, reduce it." Baring the typical unforeseen crisis, we will have out debts relinquished before summer. I'm not sure if life will be that much simpler, but certainly easier in the financial realm.

Waste Not, Want Not, or something like that

I enjoy finding ways to recycle materials in fun and practical ways. The recent construction of additions to the church building next door has made available some interesting scrapped materials. I took some of the insulated Styrofoam building materials and made a cold frame by placing the old skylight from the torn down addition on top as a lid (see the accompanying picture of lettuce that will soon be harvested). The rest of the Styrofoam building material will become a temporary home for hardening off plants that I am growing indoors under lights. But, today those scraps became the building materials for a makeshift stable for my two little ponies (see grandchildren picture). What fun and how practical!

ravens

ravens
Originally uploaded by KelvinfromKS

The ravens in this photo are the sentinels of the rocks. They miss nothing.

Back in Step

I have felt out of step with American religion, because my interest has been on environmentalism and earth care. Recently, I have discovered a swell of environmental consciousness among Christian leaders. I just read that "Religious activism on behalf of the environment is now common—in some cases, to the point of becoming widespread, organized, and institutionalized." (Engaging Religions to Shape Worldviews, from Worldwatch.org). Among United Methodists there is resurgence of interest in earth care. We used to call it stewardship, but the term connotes raising money. So now, we focus on caring for this planet and even loving the world in which we live. Our leaders, specifically, the Council of Bishops, have released a pastoral letter to the churches and a foundation document called, "God's Renewed Creation: Call to Hope and Action." I am currently leading a study in my church on these documents. Members of the first study session revealed to me just how deep this ecological concern runs. Two farmer/ranchers told me that care for the land is an intelligent stance to take for both successful business and a meaningful life.

Healthy Gardening

We have begun the process of creating a community garden on church property. The legal advice we received suggested that we name it a park. We have discussed making raised-bed gardens that are accessible for wheel chair bound residents of the local long-term care unit. People are volunteering everything from equipment and landscape timbers to vegetable seeds. One of the greatest prospects of this project is the possibility of providing more locally-grown produce for families in this rural community in southwest Kansas. Though we are surrounded by agricultural land, most of our produce comes from great distances. More people place value on producing some of our food near home. The following recommendations reflect this value:

Ways to Encourage Local Food Production

1. Promote the idea of Victory Gardens (both private and community-based) and food co-ops.
   
2. Provide training courses in gardening and permaculture through local community colleges and agricultural extension offices.
3. Remove unnecessary restrictions on people growing their own food (maintaining needed restrictions only to promote health & safety and prevent animal cruelty).
4. Remove unnecessary restrictions on local farmers selling their crops to local markets (often put in place due to lobbying by big agri-business).
5. Encourage the formation of farmers markets.
6. Local relief organizations could provide vouchers or special debit cards for use at local farmers markets as part of their assistance programs.
7. Tree-planting programs and local Arbor Day celebrations could include fruit and nut trees.
8. Support programs to capture organic waste (food scraps, animal & human manure, leaves & other yard waste, agricultural waste) for composting to improve soils.
9. Another great post for churches considering placing a garden on church grounds can be found at http://flourishonline.org/2010/02/extending-the-front-porch-is-your-church-ready-for-a-garden-2/.

Fat Tuesday Run-for-Fun

I enjoyed the annual Pancake Day Race at Liberal today. The woman who won ran a good race. Yet, I was most impressed with four young women who did not win special accolades. Instead, they ran for the fun of running and participating. The excitement and joy on their faces and their clownish attire made this event for me. Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday is the day before Lent in the Christian year. Lent is a traditional time to fast from certain foods, thus Fat Tuesday was the last opportunity to eat really well before the fasting began. Actually, the word Lent comes from lengthen, a reference to the lengthening number of sunlight hours as spring arrives. Christians likely borrowed seasonal celebrations from other cultures in order to emphasize Easter, the celebration of the resurrection of Christ. The resurrection of the Son [of God] mirrors the strengthening of the sun. Such nature-centered roots for our Christian heritage helps establish the Christian faith in the midst of the seasons of the earth. I am excited to see the promise of spring in the lengthening days and the hope of resurrection in Christ. To run with joy is certainly a great way to get ready for Lent.

Complexity and Simplicity are Not Opposites

I love to examine ice crystals on a window or the intricate structures of ice crystals under the thin film of ice at the curb when the water dropped slowly underneath. I am also enthralled with the patterns of ice crystals called "hoarfrost" on the bare branches of trees. These designs are complex and simple at the same time. This seeming contradiction is the reason for the beauty of ice crystals or tree branches covered with frost. In systems thinking a "system" is a dynamic and complex whole, interacting as a structured functional unit. We are all parts of many systems, interacting and interrelating simply and profoundly. We all need each other and truly no one is an island, isolated and independent. Our largest contradictions in life are the result of our attempts to break away from the systems that sustain us. On the other hand, the greatest fulfillments of our lives are the results of acknowledging our place in the cosmos and the beauty of our multitude of complex relationships.