Earth-wise Celebration on Wednesday

The Community Garden is having it's third-annual Garden Feast on Wednesday Sept. 23 at 6pm. There will be some food (bring potluck if you can, but come anyway if you can't). There will be a drum circle, music, food, bonfire, and a special appearance by Native American (Cherokee) Randy Woodley (who teaches at the Seminary). He will give a brief (ten minute) talk about ways of being Earth-Wise. This is co-sponsored by SOPHILO--the student philosophy group on campus.

Boyz in the Wood

Richard Louv's book Last Child in the Woods is a wake up call to our culture of being inside and being 'plugged in.' He says that children today suffer from NDD (Nature-Deficit Disorder) and that so much of our creativity and
social, spiritual development occurs in nature. It has inspired Jill and me to get our boys out hiking or playing in the woods as much as possible. Here is one of our camping trips from the summer when we were in the Redwoods.

Happy Reaper

I was amazed at how delightful it is to get into the rhythm of swinging a 2-foot blade back and forth across the lawn. This thing is solar powered (indirectly--via the food I eat which is produced by the sun), and I've never had so much fun mowing the lawn. I was looking for a way to cut the lawn high (making even longer, healthier roots) that did not involve a gas- powered mower.

I decided to try this and could not believe how well it worked. I was convinced my lawn would be all hacked up, but it came out looking not bad. If you'd like to give it a try, feel free to come over and test it on my lawn (but you'll have to get it away from me first). =)

Post Script: (added 10-8-09). I just read a short 3 page essay by Wendell Berry entitled "A Good Scythe" found in The Gift of Good Land on how much better a scythe is than a power weed whacker. Better, that is, at doing the job, and much more enjoyable to use--he actually finds it a pleasure to use. And I couldn't agree more. Here's a quote:

"The Marugg grass scythe proves itself an excellent tool. It is the most satisfying hand tool that I have ever used. In tough grass it cuts a little less uniformly than the power scythe. In all other ways, in my opinion, it is a better tool because, it is light, it handles gracefully & comfortably even on steep ground, it is far less dangerous, it is quiet & makes no fumes, it is much more adaptable. In rank growth one narrows the cut & shortens the stroke. It always starts - provided the user will start. Aside from reasonable skill & care in use, there are no maintenance problems. It requires no fuel or oil. It runs on breakfast. It’s cheaper to buy than most weed eaters & is cheaper to use than any other power mower. And best of all it’s good exercise."

Christian Pow-Wow

Jillian, Jonathan, Daniel and I had the privilege of attending a Christian PowWow a few Saturdays ago. Richard Twiss (pictured here in red and yellow dancing with one of his sons) has this annual event, helping Native Americans practice a Christian Faith that does not demonize their culture. Randy and Edith Woodley helped us understand what was going on, explaining the dances, drums, and traditions.

Some of the dances were for everyone to join in, so we eventually did, and you can see Jonathan and Daniel, holding hands and getting into it. A few days after the event, Jillian and I heard pounding up in their bedroom, and I peaked into their room to find them doing a circle dance, complete with bells attached around their ankles. Even now, a few weeks later, Daniel or Jonathan will be walking along, and then will spontaneously break into a traditional dance step. We love it!

They were especially mezmorized by Randy and Edith's son, Young, who performed the 'Grass Dance'. Here they are with Young.

6th Birthday at Tilikum

For Jonathan's sixth birthday, we went to Tilikum and had a creation 'treasure hunt' with six different clues hid all around the trails (and one clue was floating on the lake). Each clue was related to one of the six days of creation, and each time we found something, there was a set of prizes related to that day, along with the next clue. For example the fourth clue read, "God made me and the moon on the fourth day. Just ask me for the clue and I'll show you the way." At this point they eventually figured out it was the sun.

I then had them all face the sun and ask for the next clue. I had attached it to a rock and, while standing behind them, I threw it high into the air, and it fell in front of them as if from the sky. Not all of them believed that the clue actually fell from the sun (because it would have been burned up), but they were all delighted, nonetheless.

I had a great time seeing these kids wander around Tilikum, figuring out how to retrieve clues from a tree and exploring the area. A great book about the importance of getting kids outside is called, The Last Child in the Woods: Saving your Child from Nature-Deficit Disorder. It's a great book that shows the importance of kids being in nature and how that is becoming an exception rather than a norm. It also gives motivation and ideas for how to get kids outside.

New Whole House Fan!

I've been wanting to do this project for two years now--install a whole house fan. What is it? Why is it so great and so green? Watch this. But I've been putting it off because I thought it required more work than it actually did. When I watched this video I realized installing it was much easier than I thought. So I bought one and just installed it in an evening and a morning. It would have taken less if I didn't have a lathe and plaster ceiling.

What is it? It is a fan that cools the house quickly and with very little energy. It means we probably won't have to use AC, and it will mean fresh air in the house instead of recirculated air. The concept is simple--it pulls the cool morning or evening air from outside from windows into the attic. This displaces the hot air in the attic (which is what makes the upper rooms very hot in the summer evenings), and it also brings cool air into the house. It also creates a gentle cooling breeze throughout the house.

Jillian, playing a beautiful Vanna, is displaying the fan as it arrived at our house. Our oldest son, Jonathan, is showing the fan after he helped me mount it (taking all of five minutes). Below is me looking through the hole I cut in our ceiling, and then there's a photo of what it looks like in our attic installed. Eazy Peezy, and we're looking forward to a cooler upstairs than we could have with AC--and much MUCH lower use of electricity!
UPDATE: Yesterday was the first really hot day since I installed it, and it was the first hot day (ever in this house) that we went to bed with cool (upstairs) bedrooms. Get this--the other times we were using our central AC, and this time we were not. So compared to our AC, this worked better (and it has a timer switch, so it runs for a few hours after we went to bed, but turned off--so it would not get too cold). I ran it again this morning for an hour, then shut up the house, and it's staying cool. I'll run it again this evening around 8 or 9pm, when it cools down outside.

Kinder-GARDEN

I had a lot of fun this spring with Jonathan's Kinder garten class. Mrs. Hutchins invited me to help them plant seeds and watch them grow. We planted tomatoes, sunflowers, beans and whatever else the kids wanted to plant. Then we planted the sunflowers outside. Here we are planting the 'kinder-garden' of sunflowers. They took the other starts home (tomatoes and such), and in the fall when the kids come back, they'll find tall sunflowers! These kids have such a natural awe and love of life--they are so open to the seeds that adults plant--like the love of seeds, dirt and things that grow!

On Washington Soil

A coalition of groups that care about the earth (including Restoring Eden, EarthJustice and the N.O.A.H Alliance) invited me to join in a day of lobbying senators and representatives on issues relating to caring for the earth and endangered species. It was part of the climax of an event called The Irreplaceable Wild. This was a traveling photo show of irreplaceable animals who are near extinction. It was a great show and I met or had meetings about a dozen people--senators (Senator Smith, Senator Wyden) and representatives (Representative Blumenauer) and the legal staff of Representive Wu and Representative Defazio. I also joined others in meeting their members of Congress, including Senator Bennet of Colorado and others. It was encouraging to work with others who cared about the earth for reasons of faith, and to tell members of Congress the stories of young Evangelicals who care deeply about the environment.

Green green lawn

Here we are on a lazy Sabbath afternoon napping, reading, and playing in our new lawn. Even Zooey likes it!

LAND Conference on this Friday

Click this poster to see more details. This will be a great conference on Friday. There will be many of the leading Native American Theologians in dialogue with a few of us 'White Guys' about how our PLACE affects our spirituality and how our relation to the LAND affects our relation to God and humans.

3rd Annual Community Garden Underway

Our introductory meeting for the Community Garden at George Fox is WEDNESDAY at 9pm in Hoover Lounge (2nd Floor). We'll be making plans for the coming season and doing a demo on how to mix soil for getting seeds started, and how to get the seeds going. Good times.

Why mow?

When we bought our first house--a new home without any landscaping done yet--of course we put in as much lawn as possible. But why? Isn't that what everyone does? Yes, but why? It doesn't produce food. It takes lots of time, water, fertilizer and other chemicals to keep looking like it's supposed to. But why do we do it? Why do we mow...and mow...and mow? This question is raised and treated well in this great short article by Michael Pollan entitled, 'Why Mow?'

What's it going to look like?

Newberg wants to know, "What in the world are you doing to your yard?" Well, it's hard to describe, so perhaps I'll just show you what we hope it will look like (sort of). Another question people often want to know is "How long is it going to take?" Well, if all goes as planned, it will take less time than it took to build Machu Picchu.

Children of Sod

Speaking of the earth, I just heard Seth Martin playing songs in concert from his new CD I Stood Upon a High Place. Not only was the music down to earth, but some of it was even about the earth! Not to be missed is the song, "Children of Sod"


Check out this line: "Don't we all feel better when the smell of dirt clings to our skin, pervades us, loves us, and waits for us to ask it to come in?"

This Dirt Soul says, "I dig it"

Grass (and flowers) Growing

Yes, that's right, the seeds have sprouted--grass AND flowers. The 'inter-cropping' is inter-sprouting, and it's fun to see. This fall seeding has been perfect timing--water, sun, water, sun, perfect temperatures. We're looking forward to seeing those strawberry flowers, the white yarrow, the blue bells, the English pink daisies.

Sowing Seed

We got the small plot of lawn seeded this week two days prior to the onset of the rain! We used a seed combination developed by an OSU professor who wanted an eco-friendly lawn that required no fertilizer and little watering. It only needs to be mowed once a month, and can get by with mowing once or twice a year. It has the look of an cottage meadow because it has several varieties of small flowers mixed in with the grass. This allows the different plants to feed each other (strawberry clover returns nitrogen to the soil, eg.), rather than having a mon0-culture lawn which depletes the soil and requires continued applications of fertilizer. It's called 'Fluer de Lawn' and can be purchased at Hobbs and Hopkins in Portland. It will look something like this.

Moving Dirt

This last Saturday, Jillian, Andy Copeland, Nate Hyatt and others moved dozens of wheelbarrows full of soil from one side of the yard, where we'll have a flagstone patio, to the other, where we are backfilling soil behind the growing retaining wall.

Dirt is an anti-depressant?

Yep. This article explains that scientists from Bristol University recently found that despite our obsession with anti-bacterial soap, some bacteria is good for us, and it even makes us happy. The bacteria found in dirt is found to act as an anti-depressant. Many people probably already knew that working in the soil makes them happy, but now it's been shown that this is true. Daniel and Jonathan certainly didn't need this study to tell them that dirt makes them happy. But the study helped keep their Papa from preventing the mud-fest this last Saturday.

Dirt Photos

(Click to enlarge)

A photo exhibit of mine just opened and is now on display at Lindgren Gallery at George Fox University (next to Bauman Auditorium). The title of the show is GROUNDED LIGHT and it helps explain why I think dirt is so important. We come from dirt. We return to dirt. Our food comes from dirt. Our homes are built on dirt. Yet we have a dis-ease with dirt. Why is that? If you see the show, you may understand more about why we're doing what we're doing to our yard. The exhibit has been extended and will be on display through NOVEMBER 6, 2008.

Time to Kill the Lawn?

This article just came out in the Oregonian on Sunday. It asks the question that has partly inspired us to remove all of our grass (and we're only planning on re-seeding about 15-20% of what once was grass).