ELCA 'Ethics of Eating' Event

We are excited to be hosting The ELCA World Hunger 'Ethics of Eating' Region 4 Leadership Training October 22–October 25, 2009. You can apply on their website.

The event will gather about 20 congregational and campus leaders of the ELCA from Region 4–which includes the states of Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana. At this event, we will think about ways to respond to the justice and lifestyle issues that arise from the interconnections between what we eat and the food distribution system in this country.

These issues will be explored from this theological perspective: how should we eat such that it is just, and healthy for ourselves and the environment? We will ask this question with respect to urban, organic and conventional farming, and their relation to hunger, worker rights, and the environment. We will then brainstorm about how what we learn should inform the work of the church, particularly with respect to organizing, fundraising, education and the lifestyle of members of the church. Afterwards, each participant is expected to host an event of their choice in their local area.

Here are questions that are guiding our plans for this event:

1. What are a few theological frames for thinking about eating in a way that is just and healthy for ourselves and the environment?
2. How is food distributed in this country? What is the role of urban, organic, and conventional farming in this system?
3. What are some local and regional issues for farmers and farm workers?
4. How do these different ways of distributing food locally, nationally, and globally impact: a) hunger in urban and rural areas, b) the environment and climate change; and c) worker justice?
5. How should we eat such that it is just and healthy for ourselves and the environment?
6. What are facets of individual, synod, and congregational advocacy for policies that would enable everyone to eat this way?

Cheesemaking 101

Our illustrious leader Neil Rowe Miller shared his cheesemaking magic with some of our farmers last week. The results were delicious.

Amy and Sarah getting their hands milky.

Progress!

Learning Opportunities

Two opportunities are coming up in the fall for those interested:

Market Growers Symposium
September 17 & 18, 2009 in Brenham,TX
hosted by HOMEsweetFARM

FALL SESSION: Get ready for your best season!
Join us for this two-day event designed to help new and experienced growers get the job done. Network and meet with experts in the field for technical discussions and then experience a hands-on farm tour to deepen your understanding. Lunch includes seasonal surprises prepared by some of the leading Texas chefs promoting local food...

Third Annual Farm and Food Leadership Conference
WHEN: Monday, September 14 - Tuesday, September 15
WHERE: Pearl Brewery on the Riverwalk in San Antonio, Texas.

Keynote: Sally Fallon
Join us for the Third Annual Farm and Food Leadership Conference on September 14-15 in San Antonio, TX! Be part of an exciting gathering of non-profit leaders, farmers and ranchers, farmers market organizers, local foods activists, and more! This two-day event will feature speakers on issues critical to both farmers and consumers, including:Sally Fallon
* Keynote address by Sally Fallon on the Health and Economic Benefits of Raw Milk
* Food Safety Bills: What's Happening in Congress?
* Genetically Modified Foods and Their Impacts
* National Animal Identification System (NAIS)
* Organic Certification: How do Farmers and Consumers Make the Choice?
* Climate Change and Agriculture
* and more

This conference will also give you the tools you need to take action to protect your farm and your food supply! There will be speakers on how to lobby, create social networks, and approach the media.

the Waste-Not Wagon.

God bless y'all for your support and prayers. as a small renegade on the farm have acquired a bus. i introduce to you the Waste-Not Wagon.



Vision of the Wagon

To bring together neighbors near and far who believe that another Way is possible.

Mission of the Wagon

* Empower communities to become food- and resource-secure
* Support communities to improve health and well-being through growing food
* Encourage communities to share local resources
* And above all, love God through loving neighbors.

Become a Wagoneer

We Wagoneers need all the help the Lord is willing to offer. Hospitality. Prayer. Agricultural and Engineering experience. Stories. Book recommendations. Garden tools. Saved seeds. And friends along the Wagon trail. As Wendell Berry said, “Love the Lord. Love the world. Work for nothing. Take all that you have and be poor. Love someone who does not deserve it.” And if the Lord has blessed you with monetary abundance, please share. If not with us, with your neighbor.

For information on the projects we will have on the Wagon and to find out how to help, visit our website: http://wastenotwagon.wordpress.com.


love, the raggedy wagoneer.

The awesome sweetness of vegetable musical instruments

So this is my first blog, on the World Hunger Relief site. This topic, however, I feel is most worthy. Today Neil Rowe Miller was gracing us with a presentation on plant problems. He showed us pictures and tangible examples of Fungi, Bacteria, Viruses, and other common problems. One quick tid-bit on that is that if you think your plant may have fungi or bacteria and you break it open and its all oozy inside, that's gonna be a pretty good indicator you got some bacteria going on. Bacteria is notorious for oozing. The way I remember that is thinking of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles then thinking about shredder saying with an Arnold voice(who totally wasn't in any of the movies) "stand BACK(bacteria connection), I've got the ooze (tell tell sign of bacteria)."
So anyways that's the taste of agricultural knowledge, if you want the whole meal you should come to class. Back (I still want to say it with the Arnold accent every time now) to the inspiration for this blog. While I was off making a super delicious caffeinated beverage in order to shake the ever oppressive sleep monkey, Neil made one of the coolest things I've seen all week.








YEAH! A squash horn, made from a squash branch, much like a kazoo but way cooler.
By the way you can also use these as straws for sucking in delicious caffeinated drinks. Stinking Awesome.

While I was posting this I was telling my buddy Luke Land they should totally have a vegetable musical instruments class at UNT, music majors would eat it up. Then he told me about these guys.



enjoy my amigos, and always be pleased and praise God for all the coolness He created.

in His grace,
Brandon

Dynamic Children's Theatre THIS WEEK

Glo and Fred Gardner have performed at Farm Day in the past. Their Dynamic Children's Theatre returns to Waco this week with an entertaining, informative African Proverb. This event is FREE. Here are the details:

Central Library
Thursday, July 16
10:30 am & 1:30 pm
“Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock” PLAY

South Waco Library
Friday, July 17
10:30 am & 1:30 pm
“Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock” PLAY

Food in the Bible: Sabbath

When I wrote a post on Joseph's experiment in redistribution, I was stunned by what I found. It is still profoundly disappointing to see such injustice, particularly in our own scripture. As I pondered that, however, I thought that perhaps the Year of Jubilee in Leviticus 25 is the antidote. In Joseph's story he tries to bring about a just distribution of goods and fails miserably. In Leviticus 25 we are given a model that seems to undo this kind of injustice, but scholars tell us it was probably never tried. This idea that Jubilee is the antidote to our failing human efforts at justice brings me to a foundational concept in Scripture that serves as a basis for much of my thinking on food, poverty and justice... Sabbath.

J.D. Crossan in God and Empire says, "It is not humanity on the sixth day but the Sabbath on the seventh day that is the climax of creation... our 'dominion' over the world is not ownership but stewardship under the God of the Sabbath" (53). The reason that scripture gives for observing the Sabbath is not worship, which most Christians and maybe Jews seem to think. The reason given is so that the slaves and foreigners could have rest as well (Ex 23:12; Deut 5:14). Again Crossan says,

The Sabbath Day was not rest for worship, but rest as worship... In summary, the Sabbath was about the justice of equality as the crown of creation itself (54).

The Sabbath Day is extended to the Sabbath Year (Ex 21:2 and Deut 15) and finally the Sabbath Jubilee (Lev 25). Every seventh year both male and female slaves were to be set free and debts were remitted, or forgiven. Provisions are given for both male and females to ensure that they are cared for within the social context of the time. Both male and female slaves are to be restored to a just and equal standing in the community when they are set free. Deuteronomy warns that masters should not consider this a hardship. Lenders are also warned that they should not withhold loans from their needy neighbors when the seventh year is close. "Your neighbor might cry to the Lord against you, and you would incur guilt" (Deut 15:9)

The Jubilee goes even further by commanding that every seventh Sabbath Year "you shall return, every one of you, to your property and every one of you to your family" (Lev 25:10). God had divided the land up between the tribes, but knew that inevitably inequality and injustice would creep in. The Jubilee is the final rule that prevents inequality from remaining within the people of God. Lest we think this applies only to Israel or the church, remember that the purpose of God's covenant with Abraham constituting the people of God was that "all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Gen 12:3). Israel was meant to be a model to the rest of the nations of what it meant to live in relation to God and each other.

The Sabbath was not just about people either.

"For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield; but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the wild animals may eat. You shall do the same with your vineyard and your olive orchard" (Ex 23:10-11).

The whole of creation rests on a foundation of balance between work and rest. This passage also clearly indicates the relationship between the work and rest of the land and the people as well as the implications for equality and justice. Thus the right ordering of relationships, between people and between people and the earth involves a balance of work and rest which ultimately results in just distribution of resources.

Crossan sums it up by saying that through the progression of Sabbath laws "we can see clearly the demand of God for a just distribution of land-as-life based on the creation theology in Genesis 1:1-2:4a" (71).

Originally posted at What Would Jesus Eat? this is part of an ongoing series reading through the Bible with food as a lens.

Honey Harvest 2009

Here are some pictures from today's harvest. We should have 20+ gallons when it's all done and it will all sell out in the next couple weeks. After trying to find a good link about the benefits of local honey for you it seems that there is some debate about its health benefits, particularly relating to allergies. What is not in debate at all is the deliciousness that comes from that sweet comb. Now I know why Samson was so willing to break his Nazarite vow for some local honey (Judges 14:8-9).

prayers for the mad farmers.

some of here at the farm have a dream. this dream involves a bus. and the Lord's opened the door and led us into conversations with fellow dreamers (like these and him and others). but we don't currently have a bus. and so we need prayer. and $$. but mostly prayer. thanks for loving us, the mad farmers.



for more on carl's corner and willie nelson and kinky friedman and all things alternative fuel in texas, check out npr's story Deep-Fried Fuel: A Biodiesel Kitchen Vision

Food Independence Day

Declare Your Independence!

Farm Update: Heat Edition

The number one topic of conversation these days on the farm is the heat. Texas can be brutal and this summer is turning out to be a scorcher. We've had mostly 100+ days for the past 2-3 weeks. We're scrambling to find extra shade and relief for all the plants and animals... not to mention ourselves. I grew up in Texas and in the past I would have been primarily concerned about keeping myself out of the heat and comfortable. At the farm we have to set aside our own comfort for the good of the whole system, plants, animals and soil.

It was a blessed morning this past Tuesday when I went to feed the chickens... in the rain. A cold front brought us a break with highs only in the 90s. Rain is usually an opportunity to hole up inside with a good book or movie and be lazy. At the farm it was a good day to be outside and enjoy a refreshing shower. I appreciate so much more the life and refreshment that the rain brings.

That morning I also remember praying and thanking God also that the rain is a reminder of our common humanity since it falls on the just and unjust alike. Now the sun gives us the same reminder as it beats down on us. This also a reminder that although God sends rain and sun equally to everyone, we have made sure that such equality does not continue. The homeless, poor and elderly are beaten down by the dangerous Texas heat while the wealthy relax in their air conditioning. Part of getting back to God's intention may be suffering in the heat more as we also try to help those who have no choice.

Some recent highlights:

• On our field trip to Stephenville we visited Tarleton Agriculture Center and Veldhuizen Texas Farmstead Cheese, and learned tons from both. Unfortunately we didn't make it in time to get a tour and samples from Wiseman House Chocolates.



• Urban Gardening Benefit Dinner w/ Angela Medearis was a big success. (We're still enjoying the leftovers)



• Matt Hess returned from a consulting trip to Malawi (report coming soon hopefully).



• David Cole is in Haiti and will also hopefully have a report for us as well.



• A farm contingent made their way to Bushnell, IL for the annual Cornerstone Festival put on by JPUSA. They should be back tomorrow.



• Finally we will be at the New Baptist Covenant Regional Meeting in Oklahoma August 6-7. Mark your calendar you Baptist types!

Originally posted at What Would Jesus Eat?