Is it possible?

Is it possible to learn to farm approproiately within two years and then begin to teach it to others with some expertise? Is it possible to find six students who are interested enough in the 11-week experience that they are willing to pay for it? Is it possible to jam into those 11 weeks 3 full-sized curriculums: Homesteading, Urban Agriculture and Leadership Development? I am expectant. A few days ago, In my journal, I wrote something that I had no idea I was writing until the last 4 letters. I kid you not, it was bizarre... like "writing in tongues" or a glitch in the Matrix. The words that came out of my pen were, "everything is expected". They've grown on me, and in me. They've become a source of confidence. I am expectant. My heart wells up with excitement thinking about what could happen this summer... what 6 energetic, thought-full young adults could bring to our hodge-podge decoupage of large-hearted willing, workers. I am expectant.
Mel


To find the project application and forms, visit Common Ground Church after April 1.

For more information, join the Agri-Culture Summer Project group on Facebook.

Update from A Fire Hydrant ...Love, Melanie

So, I’ve started this blog entry three times now…. So much has happened in the past few months, it’s hard to fathom. The first official student conference in October was the confidence booster we need to proceed with more of our envisioned dreams. We were fortunate enough to host a group from Ohio Wesleyn University for a 5-day student retreat only weeks after the conference. What a gift to have had condensed time like that with college students, a rarity! Then, we wanted to use the “down time” during the winter to continue educating ourselves and connecting with others about those “envisioned dreams.” So, Steve traveled to the ECHO site in Florida with the Pastor for strategic planning and networking. Steve spent 3 days gaining his Wilderness First Responder recertification. We butchered 5 pigs with 12 families as we revisited our quasi-Amish heritage. We both went to the PASA (Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture) conference where we felt like we drank of the fire hydrant of farming information. We attended the Jubilee Conference (Can’t say enough about the learning there!) and made great staff and student connections. Steve interviewed candidates for the Director of Goodness Grows position at Common Ground Church, and re-newed conversations about a graduate program at a semi-local University. The kids and I took a field trip to a seed company in Berlin, Ohio, and we still had a weekend left before our “Spring Harvest Event” (Pig Party!).

Trying to capture the experience (or any experience, for that matter) on paper is somewhat of a “catch 22”. I want to get to it while it’s fresh in my memory, but my brain and body are a bit like mush. Plus, there’s so much decompression to take place still. We spent the last couple of days finding our bearings again: lists of short and long-term goals, details we had completely forgotten for 3 days…. (If YOU were one of those details, sorry)

Yet again, we are amazed at the response of our friends and their friends as they explore, discover and understand why we do what we do. It is a privilege to share in good hard work and “good, ordinary food” with great folks! Based on our mission statement, “To honor the Lord and enjoy Him through intentional Christian communal living, holistic education, and acts of creation care,” Steve introduced the weekend by inviting everyone to feast in the bounty and diversity of God’s creation….that we did! We compared our chickens and our eggs with store-bought ones and pigs raised on two different farms. Ask us sometime about the discoveries! We made about a gallon of maple syrup and enough soap for everyone to bring home a bar. We pruned our fruit trees, tapped more maple trees, fried potatoes in pig lard, and un-intentionally burnt the cracklins! (Literally, all in a day’s work!) Though not always easy, weekends like this honor our heart’s desire to live an “it’s possible” lifestyle! To the King! To the Restoration!!! ---Mel

Upcoming Encounter...EVENT?

A recent quote I found in Comment Magazine's December 08 issue reads, “Hearing Jesus speak was an encounter, a collision of one human presence with another. So powerful was this encounter that it became an event in the lives of those who experienced it.”

With that said, we hope to host an encounter which becomes an event in the lives of those who will attend. This encounter is our Lamppost Farm Spring Harvest weekend. I have pasted the business card sized invite we are handing out to folks.

Here are the details of the encounter. We will start at 5pm on Friday with dinner. Mel will prepare chicken from our farm and from the grocery store. Ever compare the broth from a pastured bird with that of a factory raised animal? We will!

Then, Friday evening, weather permitting, we will slaughter two pigs (one raised on pasture and one from a local pig farm). Will we find these to be different? We don't know, but we are excited to find out.

Saturday morning, we will collect sap from the maple trees on our property and being to cook it into syrup. After the fire is going, we will cut, wrap, and freeze the pork. We will begin the process of making bacon and ham. We will grind sausage and attempt our hand at stuffing it into casings. Then, after the syrup is finished, we will use the kettle to render the lard for soap making and the delight of cracklins'.

To top off the weekend, we will end with a fresh sausage gravy and biscuit dinner. Trust me when I say, "Sausage is never better than the day it is made."

If interested, call us at (330)-482-3246 or email us at lamppostfarm@gmail.com The cost for students is $20. Scholarships are available.

Ok. So now the question is, How does this encounter become an event? I am glad you asked.

Briefly, encounters become events when people are touched deeply in relationship to themselves, one another, God, or God's wonder-filled creation. When people met Jesus, they collided with the God of the universe. Our hope is that Lamppost Farm is a place where Jesus lives through us and those who visit in ways that our lives "collide" and we are forever changed. It is true that relationships foster these encounters. And, encounters become EVENTS because in those relationships Christ is present.

Come. Create and encounter with us. And, watch it become an EVENT.

One other upcoming encounter that I wanted to let you know about: We are hosting our first Agri-Culture Summer Project. More info on that to come.