From Dirt to Dirt

Zooey has been with us for 16 and 1/2 years. She has traveled with us to 8 different places we've
lived, including driving all the way to the East Coast and finally back. I think each place cost her one life, and her last one ended yesterday. She hadn't eaten in four or five days, and she picked out her final resting place--this corner in the sun where she has sat and slept a lot in the last week. It also happens to be just a few feet from where we buried her sister, Franny, five years ago. If God is going to bring about a new heaven and a new earth, I can hardly imagine that it won't include trees, grass, apples and animals--including cats. May she rest peacefully in her corner in the sun next to Franny.

I Heart Oregon

This is a rock I found in the rock yard and picked it because it looks like our beloved State #33.

I've since placed it in the center of the walkway to our house. I sure love this place!

Corey

FLOATING CLASSROOM

As one student said while we were kayaking & canoeing down the river, 'It's hard to believe this is CLASS!" The Praxis class I'm beginning to teach this semester (and it lasts for four semesters with the same twelve students) is confirming that I feel called to INTEGRATED (and experiential) learning. We were able to do so much more in one overnight river-camping trip than I think we could have accomplished in half a semester in the traditional classroom. We read, we talked, we observed, we reflected on things as we paddled down the river and sat around the fire on the river beach, and slept under the stars. I'm looking forward to the next two years of learning 'in motion' and 'in practice' together with these great 12 students.

Below is a slide-show of the trip. Each slide is default set for 4 seconds (too long), so you can speed it along by clicking the forward button.

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Tomatoes!

We've been eating heirloom tomatoes for a couple weeks now from the place in our parking strip where there used to be grass! Our tomatoes (not cherry tomatoes but larger ones) have ripened before most gardens I've seen or heard about in Newberg, and I was wondering why. Wayne Adams said it was because the street serves as a 'heat sink' which means our tomatoes have been exposed to more heat than most other spots. That has meant lots of 'Caprese' Sandwiches (basil, tomato, mozzarella--or sharp cheddar--and balsemic vinegar). We've also been having tomatoes in salads, tomatoes on pasta, and there's nothing like picking that tomato and eating it like an apple right there on the spot. So I just discovered one more reason to grow a garden in the parking strip!! Enjoy the taste of summer!

Agrarian Phenomenology

This May Term I taught a class called Agrarian Phenomenology and we spent a great deal of time experiencing the land and studying the various ways that humans relate to the land. This involved field study every day--everything from visiting big farms to small farms to family farms to wilderness areas to urban and suburban areas. Admittedly, it sometimes included field 'play' such as this field in which I required the students to run through with hands raised high. =) I really enjoyed teaching in this concentrated way--which involved meeting every weekday morning for three hours for three weeks. It was so good to have sustained attention on one subject, and to sustain our attention by immersing ourselves in reading and experiencing what we are studying.

One excellent work we read from was The Embers and the Stars: A Philosophical Inquiry into the Moral Sense of Nature by Erazim Kohak (a Czech Philosopher of Ecological Phenomenology). It is beautifully written and is a different type of philosophy. His goal is not to use arguments to reach a conclusion. Instead of seeking to argue, he seeks to "evoke a vision"--that is a different way of viewing the world and our place in it. There is a certain awareness of oneself and one's being that occurs when the embers are dying out in the campfire and one is gazing up at the stars--an awareness that is not argued TO (trying to prove or justify our existence in this world) but an awareness that argued FROM--or an awareness that helps us see our own reality differently.

NEWBERG FARMER'S MARKET IS HERE!

The Newberg Farmer's Market is here! Every TUESDAY from 1:30-6pm at the Cultural Center (next to the library and the park). And that means local Oregon Strawberries! Our strawberries didn't make it home before being eaten. That also means fresh organic asparagus and spring onions. We had some on the grill last night (a little olive oil, salt and wow--so delicious!) That also means fresh flowers--we got a huge bouquet last week for just $10 that are still on our table, and they are still opening up. That also means fresh eggs from chickens that are fed naturally and live a good life. And we can taste the difference! We had egg friitatta for dinner tonight--along with fresh greens and spinach (all fresh and available for great prices at the Farmer's market, too).

And here's a cool thing about Farmer's Markets. You run into really cool people! It's cool for kids, cool for parents, cool for students. Cool for anyone who loves fresh, organic, local food. And it's cool for June. Maybe next week, it'll actually be sunny! But all these people came out in the cool (and rain). Just think how many will be there when it gets sunny!

GOT WORMS?

Ten pounds of worm castings costs over $30 because it is black gold for the garden. One pound of red wriggler worms costs $20 because they are in demand--they can turn your kitchen waste into this black gold. They eat half their weight in food waste PER DAY! So, two pounds of worms can eat one pound of food in one day, or seven pounds in one week!

TONIGHT at 5:30pm at George Fox Plant Services, Clyde Thomas is giving a demonstration on how to worm compost and while supplies last, we will be doing a 'worm loan' program where you get a pound of 'starter' worms and a container. The goal is to have worms propagating (yes, having sex, and multiplying) so that we can get enough worms to compost all of the food waste that goes through the George Fox dining services. Denny Lawerence, the director of Bon Appetit is working with us on that but before it goes full scale, we need enough worms to handle the hundreds of pounds of food waste that is generated each week. SO, after the worms multiply (one pound of worms turns into two pounds of worms in a few weeks) you'll be able to give a couple pounds of worms back to George Fox and continue multiplying your own worms. If you are interested, come tonight, and get some worms! Start making black gold.

What is Earth Day, Papa?

On the way to his first T-ball game, I told my 7-year old son that it was Earth Day, and that it was great that he'd be playing on dirt and grass on this day.
'What's Earth Day?' he asked.
'Well, it's a day where we remember to take care of the earth,' I explained

'Why don't we do that EVERY day?'

'That's a very good question, son."
And a little child shall lead them.

FARM MEET 2010

This Tuesday (April 20) we are having a great event at the Cultural Center here in Newberg from 6-9pm. It's a follow up event to the FOOD MEET 2010 which had 23 tables (farmers, restaurants, organizations) and over 150 people who came to the event. Check out this COOL VIDEO on the Food Meet that was posted on YAMHILL TV.

This event is going to be even bigger with 30 vendors and over a dozen different presentations/demonstrations you can choose from addressing the following questions:
1. WHY get local food?
2. How to BUY local food?
3. How to GROW local food?
4. How to COOK local food?
5. How to PRESERVE local food?
6. How to COMPOST local food?
7. How to CELEBRATE local food?

There will be a variety of local music and lots of GOOD FOOD to sample or buy. Food brings people together. Local food is not only delicious--it helps our local economy, our communal health, our local justice, our environment. It's all good. So come check out the NEWLY remodeled Cultural Center (near the Newberg Library). Lots of great things are brewing in Newberg--come be part of the GOOD FOOD MOVEMENT! Click HERE to find out more about the FARM MEET.

Unplugged tonight!

Tonight the campus is unplugging from electricity (lights, computers, phones, etc) and joining in the Quad for home-made music and home-made smores. Bring a can of rocks to make music (or some other instrument) and join in the fun. It's not that we're against electricity or virtual reality; it's just that we are FOR real community. Please join in the fun! Tonight from 8-9pm.

Can you TASTE the TRUTH?

Can you TASTE truth? Can you SMELL truth? When listening to music, can you HEAR music that is true...or false?

In a book I'm writing on truth, I'm exploring these and more questions. MONDAY night at Quere Verum (8pm) I'll be discussing the ways that we might discern truth with our senses.

Philosophical views of truth in the last 300 years have often limited truth to something that we only say about sentences or statements or propositions. But can THINGS be true? Can PEOPLE be true? How do we live out truth? Does truth live in my BRAIN or in the rest of my BODY?

I'd like to know what you think--come join in a conversation about what is truth and how we encounter and discern it.

FOOD MEET 2010

Wednesday night was our first ever Food Meet at GFU. And what a lot of fun we had. We viewed clips from the excellent film FOOD, INC. and heard from local farmers and from local businesses and organizations--all doing great things to help us stay connected with our food by eating good, delicious, local food.

We had over 23 booths with everything from goat cheese, truffle oil and fair trade chocolate cupcakes to activities such as sticking your hand in soil, planting native flowers, getting jars with sprout seeds in them. There were books, coffee, many different colored eggs, more food samples and fun, easy ideas for how we can eat more ethically, locally, healthily--all while eating more deliciously.

There were over 130 people present and everyone I talked to spoke of the great energy in the room. I was inspired by it myself, and am looking forward to an even bigger event where we'll dig into these same things more deeply on April 22, 2010.

If you missed the first ever FOOD MEET, you can:
a) talk to others who went or ask me about it
b) visit the website, where shortly, we'll have a list of many good places to get produce, eggs, meat, honey, cheese, truffle oil, and much more from good, local sources.
c) come to the next Food Meet on April 22, 2010.
d) watch Food, Inc. yourself--find it at Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, or NetFlix, or borrow my copy.
e) read Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma which was the inspiration for the film.