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
