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FACT:
There are more bacteria in a handful of soil then there are people on Earth.
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Meet a Permaculture Garden essential Ingredient: Compost!
This is year 3 of composting onsite at church and we have finished compost to use on our gardens! The first application was in October: filling in around the new sign posts and covering up newly planted daffodil and garlic bulbs. What is compost? It is a mixture of organic decaying mat erial. Decomposition happens naturally- nature's way of recycling, but when humans manage the process of decomposition to turn organic material into soil amendments we call it composting. Compost offers many benefits to soil, bringing nutrients, improving soil structure, reducing erosion, retaining water, balancing pH, resisting disease/pests, sequestering carbon, reducing landfill waste... Keep on composting. Yes, decomposition will slow significantly in winter, but keep adding to the pile and microorganisms will get back to work come warmer weather. Compost Questions? Ask Heather Wolfe (UVM Master Compost intern).
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Quarterly Update
SOLAR GENERATION
@ TCMF
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SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
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This Quarter
Generated: 3,260 kWh
Used: 1,123 kWh
Donated: 2,137 kWh
Estimated Value to BBC: $507
Estimated Value to TCMF: $212
Total Value for Quarter: $719
Grand Totals
Generated: 45,988 kWh
Used: 19,191 kWh (18,029 kWh from Solar, 1,162 kWh from the grid)
Donated: 27,959 kWh
Estimated Value to BBC: $6,763
Estimated Value to TCMF: $3,321
Total Value: $10,084
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MEMBER SPOTLIGHT - Nancy & Russell Pejouhy
Q: What is something you love about creation?
A: I love the unexpected and sometimes random blessings that are an integral part of God’s creation. For example, we didn’t plant the sunflowers in the accompanying picture...the birds that we had fed all winter apparently scattered these seeds. We had clumps of sunflowers sprouting all around the back yard and we spotted these before the lawn mower got them. So we fed the birds, the birds sowed more seeds, the plants grew up to feed the birds and both the birds and the plants feed our souls.
Q: What is something you do to care for creation?
A: We do what we can to help God’s creation. Reduce, re-use, and recycle is my mantra. We limit the number of times we drive places...much easier to do in our COVID world. Solar panels on our roof supply all the electricity we use and then some. We financially contribute to organizations that protect the environment. |
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KID'S CARE CORNER
Save the Polar Bears!
Earth is warming because of human activity. What happens to ice when it gets warm? It melts. Polar bears need the Arctic ice to hunt for seals. We must make changes now to stop warming earth. What helps? Reduce (consume less stuff). Refuse (ask do i really need that? say no more often). Reuse (rather than buy new, support thrift stores or swap stuff with others. Be creative: an empty glass jar can make a nice vase or storage container). Recycle (if you can't repurpose it yourself, recycle it so it gets another life). Rot (compost- food scraps, shredded paper, 100% cotton clothes... return to nature what is nature's.). Also, speak up and remind grown-ups that choices they make matter a lot and that you want to save the polar bears! Read more: Climate change: Polar bears could be lost by 2100 (BBC report)
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DO JUST ONE THING
Take the Creation Care Quiz
This 2 minute quiz will help you determine which Creation Care Action Plan will meet the needs of your congregation. Complete the quiz with your congregation in mind. Pass along the score you came up with to your creation care liaison (Heather Wolfe). She will compile results and has the Action Plans that correspond to the different scores.
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A NOTE FROM STEVE
The Thornbush and the Christmas Tree
As this unusual year--2020-- comes to a close and many of us have already decorated our Christmas trees and placed them in our homes, I am reminded of the significance of trees in scripture--and seeing trees as a symbol of healing.
In the Bible, trees are the most mentioned living organisms aside from humans. They are mentioned in the first chapter of the Bible before humans are mentioned. And in the second chapter of Genesis, we find trees at the center of the Garden of Eden; specifically, a Tree of Life. Then, in the final chapter of the Bible, Revelation 22, we read about a Tree of Life near the throne of God, and it will bear each of its fruit each month and its leaves, it says, will be for the “healing of the nations”.
You might remember us reading “the Parable of the Trees” in September (found in Judges 9:8-15). It draws out the key theme of the Book of Judges. This is a book that can speak to our time, especially in the year 2020.
The trees in the parable are looking for a leader; they want to anoint a king. So they first go to the olive tree and invite the olive tree to be their king, but the olive tree declines. So does the fig tree; and so does the vine. Finally, they go to the thornbush, and the thornbush concedes, if you’d really like to, you can find refuge in my shade, otherwise, let fire come out of me and consume the cedars of Lebanon!
It’s a strange story, is it not?
The book of Judges is about leadership; particularly a desire for good and honorable leadership. Yes, the book describes grotesque violence, and sexual abuse, and scenes of chaos; but it is making a point about the human condition.
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We find ourselves, in this present moment, as a civilization--craving good leadership. We see a pandemic, forest fires, hurricanes, tropical storms, violence in the streets, pillaging and rioting, racism, a cantankerous election year, and stories of sexual violence…I saw a meme circulating online this autumn that said: “2020 didn’t create the crisis that we face at present--we did”. These are all problems influenced and generated by human behavior. Every one of these is a facet of Creation, and concern for all of these examples or any one of them is Creation Care.
But the theme that Judges brings home is that when all of us simply do what is right “in our own eyes” we create chaos. Which is to say: we are accountable to a higher moral order. So, we look for a leader who will guide us in harmony with this higher order.
I don’t presume to know what was going on in the mind of the writer of the Book of Judges when these words were written, but in the parable, we find no other tree is willing to lead. It is the thornbush who offers to be King.
Centuries after the book of Judges is written, one day there will be a leader; a man who gets himself killed while wearing a crown of thorns under the charge of behaving like he was a king; “The King of the Jews” (as he is called). He was perceived as a rival to the most powerful emperor of his day. This Christmas, the decorated trees in our homes are a symbol of the celebration of the birth of this leader. This leader brings light into our world in the darkness of December 2020. Although he will be hung on a tree to his death, the tree that he hangs from will, ironically, be for the healing of the nations. May we find his healing at Christmas and in the years ahead.
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EXPLORE MORE
Wild Church Network
https://www.wildchurchnetwork.com/
Center for Sustainable Climate Solutions
https://sustainableclimatesolutions.org/
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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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