FACT:
March is National Nutrition Month.
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Meet a Permaculture Plant:
German White Garlic. Buried under a blanket of winter snow and insulating straw are 5 cloves of garlic. These bulbs were planted in October around the Cortland apple. Garlic is a companion planting that helps repel aphids, attract pollinators and protect against apple scab. German White is a hardneck porcelain variety with 4-5 cloves per bulb that peel easily and are great for roasting. Look for the garlic to emerge early spring and send up its scape.
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SOLAR BY THE NUMBERS
This Quarter:
Generated: 1,822kWh
Used: 1,655kWh (1,622kWh from Solar, 33kWh from the grid)
Donated: 200kWh
Estimated Value to BBC: $128
Estimated Value to TCMF: $298
Total Value for Quarter: $426
Grand Totals
Generated: 22,237kWh
Used: 9,834kWh (9,132kWh from Solar, 702kWh from the grid)
Donated: 13,105kWh
Estimated Value to BBC: $3,181
Estimated Value to TCMF: $1,673
Total Value: $4,854
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MEMBER SPOTLIGHT - CARIE GOOD
Q: What is something you love about creation?
A:One thing I love about Creation, which never ceases to amaze me, is the incredible variety in everything. From the tiniest bug to the largest mountain, the details seem infinite, and no two things are exactly alike!
Q: What is something you do to care for creation?
A:Along with recycling, composting and organic gardening, one way we try to care for God's creation is by allowing and creating habitat for a variety of creatures, from birds to bears. We enjoy the hawk in our woods and the mink that lives along the stream (and sometimes runs across our porch); the turkeys that browse under the bird-feeders and the fox that hunts chipmunks in the garden. I haven't yet learned to enjoy mice in the house, however! Maybe God's working on that.
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KID'S CARE CORNER
Protect pollinators! There are 275 types of bees in Vermont and we just added 3 different types of bumble bees to the threatened and endangered list. Bees are a species that needs our protection. Many of the fruits, nuts, and vegetables we enjoy eating are pollinated by bees. Plan a pollinator garden at home or talk to your school about a pollinator project.
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A NOTE FROM STEVE
March 17 is St. Patrick's Day, which celebrates the life of Patrick, a man who was captured by pirates and sold as a slave but--even after escaping--heard a voice calling him to return to Ireland (where he'd been enslaved) and share the gospel with his captors.
During a time when he was threatened with persecution by the pagan king of Ireland, Patrick said these words:
“At Tara today in this fateful hour
I place all Heaven with its power,
and the sun with its brightness,
and the snow with its whiteness,
and fire with all the strength it hath,
and lightning with its rapid wrath,
and the winds with their swiftness along their path,
and the sea with its deepness,
and the rocks with their steepness,
and the earth with its starkness–
all these I place,
by God’s almighty help and grace,
between myself and the powers of darkness.”
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Patrick understood that God's providential care and help was available through nature; not only did Patrick trust that heaven could help him, but that God could use elements of the earth to come to Patrick's assistance.
In the past few decades there has been a renewed interest in Celtic Christianity and one point of fascination is in the understanding of the early Christian Celts with the power of place; this has been symbolized through the Celtic cross-- with its interconnected knots-- representing the interconnectedness of all of God's creation.
In this Celtic way of thinking, yes, it is important to care for creation, but this care doesn't go only in one direction: God providentially cares for us through creation. The land, the water, the rocks, the weather, and all that grows therein are a means by which God's care can be expressed to us:
"You care for the land and water it;
you enrich it abundantly.
The streams of God are filled with water
to provide the people with grain,
for so you have ordained it."
-Psalm 65:9
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CONTACT US
Have ideas, stories, resources you'd like to share related to creation care?
Contact Heather Wolfe,
Taftsville Chapel's creation care liaison
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