A TENTATIVE EFFORT IN OCTOBER, 2011

Life at the moment

If life were ideal, if my faith and joy were as consistently healthy as they should be, each day I would thank God for allowing me to awake and enjoy a new day. Unfortunately, little stresses preclude me from waking up in a joy-filled stupor every morning. Maybe today is one of those less than joy-filled days. Maybe today doesn’t have to remain such, but maybe it isn’t quite as joyous as it could be. 

I’ve been recuperating from a case of pneumonia so bad it nearly killed me. I’ve been recuperating from coding and being resuscitated in a step-down hospital after having two grand maul seizures from a premature, and unnecessary medication withdrawal because doctors orders either didn’t arrive with me or were displaced. As always, and as we all do, I’ve learned a few things about myself, about others, about human nature, about important things, and less important things, about life, and about friendship simply because I have had the experiences I have had.

Today, my husband and I are frantically, sometimes joyfully, sometimes painfully, always flexibly, running down a path we wouldn’t likely have been traveling if we hadn’t decided to take the more scenic route and not duke it out in a foreclosure fisticuff in these grand and united States of America, and we are  in a state, aren’t we? (< the lower case “u” was what we commonly call “creative license” around here).

Recently a friend of mine at my church (hi Christi!) gave her testimony, in part to remind all of us in the family that none of us are alone, that other people have gone through the same things we have gone through, and that we can lean on others and be leaned on by others. I agree, as a general rule, we can encourage and pull each other through bad times because we’ve all had some of the same experiences.

Sometimes, however, and I don’t say this because I am arrogant and think what my husband I went through is so special no one can understand it, but sometimes we do feel sort of alone, don’t we? Sometimes there simply is not anyone in our immediate church family who can fully relate to or understand our specific circumstances.  They can support, they can encourage, and most importantly they can help us grow in faith by sharing their own faith building experiences with us, but what I guess I am trying to articulate is that sometimes, in the darkest hours of our understanding (or misunderstanding) what if God, maybe, doesn’t want us turning to anyone else but Him, and Him alone?  What if He wants us to fall into His arms and not the arms of a friend? I suspect there will be times like that too, I’ve had them. 

Our church family was an immense help and support to my husband and I throughout the entire experience we had. I can tell you they did everything right in the way they were there for us. Our church family is still a tremendous encouragement to us today. I have confidence and faith that they will always be a tremendous support to us any time we need them because they have well-proven themselves to be faithful to serve and care for their extended family. I think we should be aware, however, that God may use times of seeming darkness to force us to turn from others and recognize from whence our help comes (Psalm 121:1-2).  

It might be bitter but necessary medicine to, in the depths of a Christian’s loneliness and seeming despair, recognize there is but one friend who can truly satisfy every emotional and spiritual need we have, and that friend, of course, is our mediator, Jesus, the risen Savior of the world (John 6:35).

Maybe something I should share about the experience Larry and I suffered, in order to encourage others, is this acknowledgement and acceptance that the One (as Christians) we need the most is God and sometimes only He can give us the complete and compassionate understanding we seek because only He fully knows us as intimately as we yearn to be known. Don’t misunderstand me, either.  I’m not saying Christi was wrong. Christi is exactly right. We are not alone.  We do have each other to support one another. We do have each other to encourage each other. We can reach out to one another and should reach out to one another in love, compassion and care and there will be times when we can completely understand what someone else is going through. I guess something extra I am trying to express is that it’s also true that there may be circumstances others cannot fully and completely understand, but the great news is that you are still not alone and you still do not have to go through any circumstance alone, even if no other person you know has had the same experience because, if you are a Christian, you have the very best friend to lean on ever.  Never forget He is there, even when you cannot speak, He is there, interceding for you (Romans 8:26).

Remember how I mentioned my husband and I are always running "flexibly" on our new life path? That’s true because our means are limited, and it is by the grace of God and a friend that, for today, I have access to write on the internet. That may last a very long time, it may last a month, it may last a day, hey, to be honest, I could no longer have internet access from home this afternoon, and so that’s what I mean about being flexible. I have to be okay with that. I have to enjoy what I have at any given moment and be willing to just shrug my shoulders if it walks out the door this afternoon. In other words, I have to just deal with it. What? Well, okay, that isn’t entirely true. That is only true if I choose to stay where I am and continue to live in these circumstances and do nothing to change these circumstances. It is only true if life is static rather than unfettered.  It is unbelievable the freedom we have if we really cared to grasp it, isn’t it? We only think we have no choice or, at times, no hope because we allow ourselves to believe it is true, not because it is true.  

Anyway, check back here sometime if you want.  Why you’d want to I cannot say, but maybe I’ll be around sometimes this winter when there isn’t so much to do in the garden, and maybe I’ll share some more thoughts and tell you about whatever farm projects Larry and I are in the middle of any given day. No promises mind you.

One of the things I am considering is creating a new Web log more suited to my life today. If I decide to do that at some point I will leave the new link here.

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Recommended Reading: SBJ: "Monsanto Can't Shake Food, Inc. Shadow"

A "Springfield Business Journal" opinion piece

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Springfield's Strategic Planning Link

Springfield, Missouri Strategic Plan

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Collective Bargaining "Unit?"

Did a Local Springfield News Paper Article Display an Agenda?

In the Springfield News-Leader article today, "Teachers will vote on contract," first the article reports that Springfield's public school teachers will be voting to approve or reject a contract reached through collective bargaining. The contract will solidify terms and procedures related to wage and benefit increases along with other conditions of employment.

Historically, such an article would have identified the National Education Association (NEA) and the Springfield National Education Association (SNEA) as teachers' unions, but what I observed was that the term "union" was omitted throughout the entire article and not mentioned in any of the sidebar information shared at the News-Leader site. On some occasions in the article, whenever one might have expected to see the word "union," it was replaced by the word "unit" and although the article begins announcing the contract was reached through "collective" bargaining, later, when identified, the "unit" was referred to as simply the "bargaining unit," rather than the collective bargaining unit.

These observations give rise to some questions we should ponder:

Why do you suppose the writer of the article or the editing staff of the News-Leader chose not to identify the National Education Association or the Springfield National Education Association as the unions that they are?

Did the News-Leader writer or editorial staff want to obscure the fact that these are teachers' unions because of recent controversial national union news?

Would such a seemingly careful omission of the term "union" imply whoever is responsible would like to see this action on the part of the SNEA fly under the local radar rather than command any controversial reaction?

Ask yourself those questions, and after you ask them you can judge for yourself whether there is a potential media agenda involved.  I just wanted you to think about it beyond the surface.

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MO Director of Agriculture Hagler: Springfield is “the Hot-Bed of Garden Activity” for the State of Missouri and this Region

Agri Director Praises Springfield’s Well Fed Neighbor Alliance for Inspirational Vision

Springfield, MO - It seemed odd to see almost no notice on the part of Springfield’s local news media when our State Director of Agriculture, Dr. John Hagler, showed up to honor both local citizens and non-profit success in their own city. However, that pretty much sums up what happened when Dr. Hagler honored Springfield and members of Well Fed Neighbor Alliance (WFNA) Galen Chadwick and Aubree Taylor, among others, at the Midtown School Garden near Cox North on Thursday morning.

Springfield’s 1,000 Garden Project’s creator Chadwick, and Director Aubree Taylor were honored that the name of Missouri’s 10,000 Garden Challenge was inspired by WFNA’s 1,000 Garden Project.

Hagler wanted to kick off Missouri’s 10,000 Garden Challenge at the site of the Midtown School Garden in Springfield because he considers Springfield the State leader of the “grow local” food drive.

“We have a whole staff who has just been dying for the opportunity to sink their hands into the type of initiative that could promote this very important effort all across this state, and when they stood there and heard the story of Ruell and Galen and Melissa and Aubree and all the people, what they’ve done, starting off with their 1,000 Gardens…we made a commitment to each other that we would start working together slowly but surely to take that kernel of seed of an idea and see if we could plant it ourselves for a greater effort across this State and we did that,” Hagler said. He credited Governor Nixon with stepping up to the plate to start the 10,000 Garden Challenge.

The President of WFNA, LTD Ruell Chappell had indicated an interest on the part of the MO Dept. of Agriculture in securing a local food supply and rebuilding a sustainable local economy in a comment at JackeHammer back in September of 2009. Chappell had just attended an Urban Garden Task Force Meeting in Springfield. 

“I will be the first to cheer our city if the right of the people to grow, own and do as they will with their food is upheld!!” Chappell wrote. “This thinking is in line with a new focus that can help secure our local food supply and rebuild a sustainable local economy. Springfield can be the first city in the Nation to go this far! The MO. Dept. of Ag is extremely interested,” he wrote.

Chadwick and Taylor had served on that Urban Garden Task Force Chappell wrote about. So had Director of Springfield Urban Agriculture Coalition (SUAC) Melissa Millsap.  Millsap was instrumental in establishing the Midtown School Garden, along with Project Coordinator Lucy Howell. The school garden is a pilot project intended to be the first of ten school gardens SAC would like to install this year.

Millsap seemed as interested in building sustainable community as she is in a locally sustainable food supply.

“It’s (Midtown School Garden) not just a school garden, it’s a community, and a school garden. That’s the way it needs (to be) in order for sustainability,” Millsap said. 

She said the cafeteria is not currently utilizing the food produced in the school garden, but it is getting into the mouths of the children. The kids are taking some of the fresh produce home with them, and it is making its way into the classroom.  Middle schoolers are even cooking with the vegetables in their home economics classes, Millsap said.

“We’re not trying to push too hard (to get the food into the cafeteria) because I think that once people see how successful this program is, how much the kids enjoy this food, it’s just going to be a natural thing that takes place, and of course we’re supportive of that…. I think time will tell and people will adopt it,” she said.

As Ruell Chappell introduced Dr. Hagler Thursday, he noted the importance of fresh produce in the lives of children.

“The children that we are raising today may not live as long as we do because of obesity and the litany of things that result from that,” Chappell said. “It is important that we grow and we feed our children good food. It produces economic opportunity (and) jobs.”

Millsap identified some of the main partners of the Midtown School Garden as: Cox North, Caring Communities, Drury University, Midtown Neighborhood, the YMCA, and Childhood Obesity Action Group.

For Hagler’s part, if the local media in Springfield is suddenly averse to giving credit to WFNA members, he appeared unaffected by that aversion.

“It is an honor to be here in Springfield which is the hot-bed of garden activity for this state and, in fact, this region,” Dr. Hagler said. “You know Galen, Ruell, Aubree, Melissa and all the Councilmen and school folks that have gathered here today, I can tell you this,” he said,  “I fully expect in one capacity or another to be standing here in a couple of years…and we won’t recognize what we’ve built because it will be that successful.”

Earlier in the morning when Hagler was making his point that everyone is vested in agriculture he had quipped his favorite statistic was that 4 out of 4 people eat.

“Everyone has a stake in agriculture. It is this state’s number 1 economic driver…it is something that each and every child, each and every family, each and every school, each church and each community can set root in, take a part in, and can build the future for tomorrow for our State, our cities and our country,” Hagler said.

If you would like to take the 10,000 Garden Challenge you can register at agrimissouri.com  and enter for a chance to win a $500 gift certificate from Tractor Supply Company. 

If you would like to view the three part video series of this event, go to wellfedneighbor.com and click on "community activity."

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Disclosure: Jackie Melton is a member of the WFNA and is a caretaker of a Gateway Farm

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EARS TO HEAR

Chamomile tea

          email

distraction

                  

                              value

At some point

the value stirs its way

toward attention

1975

Harrison, Arkansas

old-timers on green park benches

set upon even greener grass

Small hills of cedar shavings

          nestled

at their feet

Old-timers

          whittling away more than time

Earthquakes-Tsunamis-Tornados

-Hurricanes-Floods-Fires

roads split well in two

causes and clauses and bears, oh my

Pause to look at

Old-timers  

1975

stories among the wood

stories among the shavings

Could you hear?

          Could you stop to hear?

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A Single JackeHammer City Council Endorsement

Endorsing a political candidate, especially a Springfield City Council candidate, is an action you will rarely see coming from this particular contributor of JackeHammer, however, unapologetically, I offer my endorsement of Fred B. Ellison for Springfield City Council. 

Fred Ellison, who is running for a general City Council seat (which means every Springfield citizen has an opportunity to cast a vote for him, regardless of the zone in which the citizen lives) is the real deal. He genuinely cares about representing the citizens of Springfield through a true understanding of the facts and details surrounding each item on each agenda of the City of Springfield.  Ellison understands the process, and as a personal friend of Fred's (as disclosure) and as a previous free lance writer who covered the Springfield City Council for almost two years, I can tell you he DOES understand the issues. If you are a Springfield voter who wants a compassionate, listening representative sitting on your City Council, one who can explain the Council process and would take the time to discuss important issues with you, you could do no better than Fred Ellison.

Since I have moved out of the city limits of Springfield I cannot vote for Fred.  I need you!

I would really appreciate your vote for Fred Ellison on April 5.  

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"Grace"

I was in dire need of some grace this morning.  I found this quote which I liked:

"The Christian graces are like perfumes, the more they are pressed, the sweeter they smell; like stars that shine brightest in the dark; like trees which, the more they are shaken, the deeper root they take, and the more fruit they bear." -- Beaumont.

I trust God will give me the grace I seek to make it through this day. I know He'll provide anecdotes for me to tell in my Sunday School class this week, that's for sure.  Praise Him that He cares, praise Him that He wants to teach me. -- Now, I'm off to work.

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Winnowing Spirit

You are lost because

it is quiet

There is no sound

only still air

There is no rustling of leaves

no ripple of the water

The tree has not fallen, and

has borne no witness

You are lost because

it is pitch

black overtakes the light

white noise bears no beacon

There is no siren, no alarm, no psalm

to shepherd the maze

Lost life

No spirit left to salt and season

No spirit left

to shelter from impending chaos

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Tea Party versus "Union Thugs" at Indiana Statehouse

An After-Action Report

Tish Cooper has a great guest post over at "Ancient Warrior" today.

It is a first hand, eyewitness, activist account of a tea party member standing ground with about 50-70 other tea party members at her statehouse in Indiana (with introduction by Greg at "Warrior"). 

As they stood against what Cooper pegged "Democrat Fleehadists," it wasn't a day without drama: read how two brave tea party members stood firm as a truck was presumed to be the same one which had twice earlier doused tea party members by running through a mud puddle.

It is your first recommended reading of 2011.

Here is the link to the Associated Press article, published in the "Springfield News-Leader," regarding the tea party versus union protests at the Missouri Statehouse in Jefferson City

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God's Love 2

Another "Hosea" Song
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Vincent David Jericho's Radio Show

I still get a lot of "hits" at JackeHammer from people who are looking for Vincent David Jericho.  I didn't know until recently that the link I had previously provided was no longer current.  So, if you're looking for Vince and can't find him there is a new listing under "Links" in the side bar of this blog, just look for Crossing the World.

His new Web site address is:

http://www.crossing-the-world.com/, and he does a show from 7-11pm every week night.  I watched the last thirty minutes or so of his show tonight.  It was nice to see his shiny face and hear the voice of my old friend again.  :)

Galen Chadwick of the Well-Fed Neighbor Alliance is on Vince's show every Wednesday night for those of you who'd like to check that out as well.

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Just an Old Favorite

Something Fine

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Guinea Feathers

You brought me a guinea feather from the barn.

I said, "...a guinea feather...."

You know, and you knew, grandma and I used to guinea egg hunt
on the Phillips' farm in Bergman.

Funny, I was busy googling for my cousin Mark
when you brought that
speckled and fading feather.

I found him on the front porch with his dachsund.

I found him at a familly reunion with grandma and grandpa,
Annabeth in the background,
full 2-D

Mark and I used to walk barefoot to Crooked Creek
(back when kids could be loosed for the day with no fear)
back in those Arkansas summer days.

Later, I would sit on the banks of Crooked Creek alone
my notebook and pen in hand, a Saul Bellow book for my companion,
the rocks a cold barren gray, the shade under
the bower, deep.

Once Debbie was there with me
once Gabriel
once a whole creative writing class, and Dee Dee,
Dee Dee was the algae queen that day.

Those days were green and golden, and I was sad, and
didn't even know I had nothing to be sad about.

Memories seem like guinea feathers,
all speckled and fading.

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God's Love

A Hosea Song

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Food & Ag Freedom Discussion Held

SPRINGFIELD - On Tuesday of last week (1-18) about 200 people met at the Springfield Livestock Marketing Center for a discussion about Food and Agriculture Freedom. The discussion was sponsored by Greater Ozarks Property Rights Congress, Lawrence County Chapter. The speaker who led the discussion was Doreen Hannes. Hannes authors the Web log "Truth Farmer." She has been described on the Internet as an agriculture expert, but by way of introduction, following is what the flyer passed out at the meeting said about Hannes:

"Doreen Hannes has been a full time volunteer advocate for independent agriculture since 2005 and is a well-respected leader in the national movement to halt the National Animal Identification System, now known as ADT (Animal Disease Traceability). Doreen has written extensively on the topic of NAIS as well as authored and co-authored several white papers on NAIS and other topics affecting the consolidation of agriculture."

The main topic of the discussion last Tuesday, however, was House Resolution 2751. President Obama signed that resolution into law on January 4, after the Senate passed it as the "FDA Food Safety Modernization Act" on December 19, 2010.

Now, most of us take the responsibility to feed our families very seriously. It's interesting that few of us spend much time pondering the laws which govern our ability to feed ourselves. When it comes to an issue so vital as whether we will have the potential to feed ourselves in the future, we owe it to ourselves and our families to educate ourselves about the affects of this law on food freedom in our local areas, our state, nation and broader global human family.

While I could extensively quote Doreen Hannes and her comments regarding H.R. 2751, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, (or Public Law No. 111-353) I am somewhat reluctant to do so because I haven't had much opportunity to look at the Act myself. I don't, and I don't want the readers of JackeHammer, to leave the responsibility of understanding and analysing what this law will mean to us and our families in the future to someone we do not know, but I will say, based on what Hannes discussed, I am somewhat alarmed by what I have heard and have printed out the 119 page law so that I may scrutinize it at my leisure later. That is what I hope to inspire YOU to do. Then, maybe after you have looked at it Section by 405 sections you can share your thoughts here, in the comment section and we can continue the discussion here.

Hannes believes the law will have a devastating effect on local farmers. She said the law puts us under a method of good agricultural practices that, "...will put virtually everybody out of the agriculture business....It's nothing less than a recipe for global famine," she said. Hannes also believes, along with a growing number of people, the best way to meet the needs of our families is through our own local communities.

The Well-Fed Neighbor Alliance, (WFNA) which has been actively involved in local food issues in and around the Springfield area, thinks the best way to ensure the safety and security of our food supply is to further localize it. WFNA even pushes the idea that people should know their farmer personally, visit his or her farm of choice, and gain an intimate knowledge of the growing and processing of their own food.

WFNA has been working to establish a farmer's cooperative in our local region. The FDA Food Modernization Act will effect that cooperative if the Alliance's dreams come to fruition. "The WFNA Cooperative would have to comply (with the Food Modernization Act) so is very much effected (by it)," Eric Vought said. Vought is an author of "The County Restoration Handbook," a project of the Well Fed Neighbor Alliance Hosted by The Statesmen for our Constitutional Republic.

Many of the people in the crowd at the meeting were interested in how they could take action in opposition to the new law. Termed-out State Representative Mark Wright was in attendance and offered some options:

1. De-fund the bill through the U.S. House of Representatives
2. A lawsuit could be filed by farmers who have standing to do so
3. File a state bill opting Missouri out statutorily.
4. Missouri citizens could pass either a statutory or constitutional initiative petition on the ballot.

It is a matter of interest that the majority of recent wide-spread food borne illness outbreaks, thought to have been the inspiration behind this Act, had their origins among the large farming industry, already highly regulated, but some argue under-enforced.

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Jackie Melton is a member of the WFNA and a caretaker of a WFNA "Gateway Farm"

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