Forbidden Fruit: Improving Access

We share many interests. We are busy planting vegetable starts. Currently we have leeks, pak choi, gourmet lettuces, mesclun, edible pod peas, and more in addition to  many types of herbs, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, currants, grapes. We also have delphinium and hollyhocks germinating. Gardening and eating fresh is a way of life for us-one we would like to pass on. 
Historically one to three of us have participated in a plant swap. This year it is early May. This allows us to plant more diversely and minimize cost.
For gardeners forbidden fruit is tantamount to that which is just out of their reach. 
One of today's projects is propagating lemon grass. Who can resist Asian food? Lemon grass plants from a nursery are costly, however lemon grass cuttings put on shoots in 1-2 weeks and can be planted outdoors in 3-4 weeks. A single stalk makes a good container planting, or plant 3 or more stalks in the garden. Lemon Grass does not tolerate cold temperatures below 45 degrees, so when we transplant it, we will need to provide protection from the cold. Lemon Grass multiplies rapidly, but is not invasive. It can be purchased inexpensively at an Asian grocery store. We paid $1. for bunches of four to five stalks. To use lemon grass cut back the outer green leaves. Crush the bulb and a most wonderful aroma fills the air. This is the valuable part of the plant.
Forbidden fruit has another meaning. Lack of access. Obesity, nutrition education, food security, buying fresh, locally sustainable food, and helping the poor become more self sufficient are important topics. As our company grows we hope to do our part by passing on over 200 years of combined gardening experience. In the interim we continue to network with others. Today this writer donated fresh parsley, and a large volume of culinary sage and rosemary to Meals on Wheels, a program that helps senior citizens with affordable access to nutritious meals, and decrease social isolation.  

Raising Up A New Generation of Church Leaders Part 1

Blogger is still malfunctioning, so we are using HTML which causes some loss of formatting. This is from a training in 2011. The topic was “How to Create Sustainable, Repeatable, and Developmentally-based Leadership Training for the 21st century” Developmental steps were laid out to help church leaders raise up new leaders. Below are two examples from this training. Classroom participants were broken into groups and encouraged to build a developmentally appropriate project timeline for multiyear curricula suitable for their respective churches. They presented their class assignments to the group as part of the applied learning process. Is your church training up new church leaders? If not, it’s time to get things back on track. Contact us at hamiltondarnallllc@gmail.com to schedule training in the Portland area. Age 4-PreK Make books, shadow boxes, stories with felt or story boards, show and tell, group games, cultural awareness, group problem solving, music, art, dance, puppet shows, plays, social skills, math and science in the natural world, large motor skills. Activities: nature walks, trike-a-thons, outdoor games, pajama parties. This is one example of age appropriate developmental milestones. Milestones are important because they are the building blocks the build strong leaders. Part 2 demonstrates the impact of a sustainable, repeatable curricula that produces capable church leaders. Stay tuned.