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July 2018

 

SUMMER ROUND UP

  • Green Drinks: On June 21st we presented our solar story within our larger creation care context at Sustainable Woodstock's monthly Green Drinks event. It was a progressive event that started with wine and cheese sampling at the Taftsville Country Store and then we walked down to the Chapel for presentation followed by a show and tell of our going solar experience to 10 non-TCMF community members. Representatives from 3 organizations were also present with us:
  • Go Questing!: Looking for some outdoor summer fun? Try a Vital Communities Valley Quest. Valley Quest is an award-winning, place-based education program that uses treasure hunts to celebrate community, natural history, cultural sites, stories, and special places.  There are hundreds of local quests you can explore at your leisure. Or team up for the 2018 Aquatic Adventure Super Quest (10 quests highlighting various water features)!
  • Sustainable Summer: Check out these suggestions from Blessed Earth on how to honor God's creation this summer.
  • Jump in....is this summer's theme at BBC. Remember to pray for Bethany Birches Camp over the next two months as they provide an immersion experience where kids can meet God. Come to church at camp on Sunday July 29th. 
Rivers! Summer 2018 
Save the Date: Sunday July 22nd 
 
We have answered the Mennonite Creation Care Network call for churches across the continent to apply tender loving care to their local rivers during the summer of 2018. We are planning an after church picnic followed by paddle on the Ottauquechee to harvest trash by canoe and kayak and see our local landscape from a new perspective. Heather Wolfe was interviewed by MCCN about our involvement and you can check out the article on their website, or Facebook page!
Fact: 
40% of the U.S. population lives in coastal area that may be vulnerable to sea level rise. A new study reveals that Antarctic's ice sheet is melting much quicker than we realized. Projection are for an additional 6-inch sea level rise over the next century.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
MEET OUR PERMACULTURE PLANTS:
Lupine. Can be found going to seed under our Cortland apple. As a member of the legume family they fix nitrogen which helps to enrich soil and acts as a green manure. Lupine is deer resistant and attracts butterflies and bees, a popular and beautiful choice for a pollinator garden. If we want apples, we need pollinators! Lupine seeds are edible but require soaking and cooking first. Our lupine was dug up from North Chapel's edible forest garden in Woodstock.

SOLAR BY THE NUMBERS

This was another great month!
This Month
Generated: 1602 kWh
Used: 305 kWh
Donated: 1297 kWh
Estimated Value to BBC: $288
Estimated Value to TCMF: $56
Total: $344

Grand Totals
Estimated Value to BBC: $2246
Estimated Value to TCMF: $952
Total: $3198
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT - BOB AND JAN 

Q: What is something you love about creation?
A:Nature and all the earth’s species, in particular the Monarch butterfly, which has recently been threatened. 
Q: What is something you do to care for creation?
A: Scientists have pointed to the shortage of milkweeds as a factor in Monarch declines. We have been making an effort to allow milkweed to grow and survive in our yard and Jan’s flowerbeds in order to provide food for the Monarch.  We have also been avoiding the use of pesticides or other chemicals that are often used to control weeds.
KID'S  CARE CORNER

Catch rain. Put a bucket out where rain runs off the roof of your house. See how much you get after a rain storm. Use that water to water plants or wash off sandy toes rather than turn on the hose. 
A NOTE FROM STEVE
 

Bethany Birches Camp’s theme for the Summer is “Jump In”. The theme is an exploration of various ways that the attributes of God are displayed in the properties of water. One example of this comes by way of Jesus speaking of the water that he gives as “a spring of water gushing up to eternal life” (John 4:14); this water is sustaining and life-giving. I’m told that this story--the encounter of Jesus with a Samaritan woman at the well-- will be a key lesson that BBC campers will hear about this summer.
  
But reflecting on this theme of water also makes me think of ways that water has been understood as purifying, cleansing, and even an expression of divine judgment. In Genesis we read the story of the great flood in the time of Noah. This story has produced polarizing interpretations and feelings. For some, the story evokes images of cute animals on a floating zoo (an ark of God’s preserving grace) and for others it is seen as a disturbing display of divine wrath (wiping out almost all of the life on earth as a result of human sin and corruption).
 
 Today we hear reports from environmental scientists about rising

 
 
ocean levels and increased flooding around the world as aresult a warming climate caused by human behavior. These scientists tell us that unless we change our ways, we will reap further consequences of destruction and flooding. This relationship of flooding, rising waters, and human behavior is not new.
 
For early Christians, the story of Noah’s Ark was seen as a foreshadowing of the waters of baptism (e.g. 1 Peter 3:20-22). Water is purgative; it wipes away dirt (from the body) and the water of baptism cleanses the conscience (e.g. 1 Peter 3:21). Baptism can be seen like the ark in that it is a symbol of God wiping away corruption and wickedness, and redeeming us into a new, fresh start. The warnings of floods (from scientists) and the promise of God that all of the earth’s inhabitants will not be destroyed as they were in Noah’s time (from Genesis 9:15), might both serve as an invitation--an invitation that although we are warned about the threat of flooding based on human corruption, that even this warning can serve as a hopeful reminder of God’s promise that another way of life is available to us.
EXPLORE MORE 

Mennonite Creation Care Network 
https://www.mennocreationcare.org/

Bethany Birches Camp
www.bethanybirches.org


Suggestions for Honoring God's Creation:
Water  (Blessed Earth Tip Sheet)
http://www.blessedearth.org/wp-content/uploads/wordpress/Water.pdf

 

CONTACT US

Have ideas, stories, resources you'd like to share related to creation care?

Contact Heather Wolfe,
Taftsville Chapel's creation care liaison
EMAIL HEATHER
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Copyright © *2018*, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
P.O. Box 44, Taftsville, VT 05073

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