You know it's Christmas vacation at the GoodSoil home when......

....door decor is skis, sleds, and snowshovels.
...little monsters take over the house. (jbug & bugaboo made these for boodlebug for christmas.)
....kangas and snow boots are the outfit of the day on jbug.
...snow boy appears.
...baby jesus wears a peruvian hat
....boots out number people.

Chickens with Frosbite

I feel like such a bad chicken mama! But it did get below zero the other day....Now the chickie girls have a heated water bowl, lots of straw, and daily vaseline treatments. Huh...a hot tub and facials? Sounds pretty good, girls!

My Mountain Man!

Back in my college days, I did the suggested make-a-list-of-the-qualities-you-want-in-a-husband. My list was this: a rugged outdoorsy guy who can sing and play the guitar. Well, to some extent, he can sing and play the guitar. But look at this: 8 degrees out and he's still bike-commuting to work!! That's a rugged outdoorsy guy!

The Girls are a-layin'

Look at that! 18 eggs laid by our own chickens! Well, at least three of them. Leola (named after the children's book, Leo the Late Bloomer) is staying true to her name. I feel like a chapter out of Little House on the Prairie. We all have a definite fondness for "chicken eggs" as opposed to "store eggs". Friday nights have become breakfast dinner time.. a new family tradition.

So....what happened to that coffee house?

I'm sure you don't want to hear all the excuses...computer problems, school started, an experiment in community living, etc. We're still working towards the coffeehouse dream.
The last few months has been remarkably similar to the gardening process. Right now we are in the winter months of garden planning. We've been thumbing through the catalog pages of everything the coffeehouse could be: for profit, non-profit, small, large, a music venue, a meal-for-the- homeless site during off hours, downtown, ministry, etc.
We've sticky noted ideas we like. We have named the coffee house: Plowshare Coffee House (in reference to Micah chapter 4.) We have been roasting coffee in very small quantities from home. We practice our latte art. (This photo is one of my first pours!)
We've drawn up some plans in colored pencil. We are in the process of discovering how viable our hope of being a non-profit might be. Next week we'll be attending a meeting that might clarify some of that.
Soon, we'll need to put away the catalogs, sticky notes, and colored pencils, and actually commit to placing our order. So...pray for us as we get closer to that next season.

Story of Stuff

A friend sent this link to me today. An amazingly simple version as to why our economy & environment is where it is today. Yep! The two issues are connected! Although the movie is simple, the site goes very in depth as to what we, the little people, can do. http://www.storyofstuff.com/

The God of Sod

For the last few months we've been pulling up sod. I'm tired of the grass growing where it's not supposed to grow, and dying where it's supposed to grow. I'm tired of my water bill too. So I've been ripping it out. Then comes the dilemma, what does one do with dried out, heavy, dead sod? It fills the compost too quickly, plus it has this plastic netting that doesn't decompose. The yard debris pick up won't take it. It seems really wrong to put it in the landfill. So I've been lining the back side of my fence with it. There's a mostly unused irrigation ditch back there, 20 acres just sitting unused. Occasionally the owners burn the weeds out of the ditch. One year they told me not to put any yard debris back there. I was fine with that, I said, as long as the weeds were kept down. This year the weeds were taking over sooo....I figured if the sod doesn't grow in my yard while its being pampered, maybe it will at least keep the weeds down. I kind of sneak it back there. It has really done the trick with the weeds. But today, I learned another amazingly good thing about this yard waste product.

Dried up, dead sod is an amazing fire retardant. And the God of Sod is an amazing protector! He used all that dead sod as a fire break to protect our home during a grass fire right behind our house. This is truly an example of turning beauty from ashes...or keeping beauty from ashes ...or something like that. Or more likely taking what we think of as a total waste and using it for good. Thank you, oh God of Sod!

Chicken love!

I think that every organic gardener should consider keeping chickens! Just out of curiosity the other day, I did a bug-comparison test on my sunflowers. The sunflowers in the front yard, just like every other year were covered in aphids. The aphids attracted the ants, wasps and ladybugs. The whole sunflower was buzzing. (I love the ladybugs, but could do without all those wasps. My kiddos agree wholeheartedly!) After pulling a few weeds, I made my way to the backyard. I took a close look at one of my backyard sunflowers. NO APHIDS! And because there were no aphids, no wasps! The difference? Our little flock of chickies have made use of their free range privileges by eating up all the aphids!

Way to go, Girls!!

What's this about a Coffee Business?

Back in our college days, there was little (single car garage size when it started) coffee house just off campus. A great many of our getting-to-know-you conversations took place there. With a rasberry mocha in hand, I could tackle homework, deep philosophical conversations, and even throw in some quiet book reading, journal writing, music listening and dreaming.

Ever since, we've had this dream to provide a place like that for our local community. Really good coffee, a safe place for conversation, a venue for community to flourish. We see it as a way to combine our way to make a living with our desire to serve people. We're excited about the possibilities of not only reaching out to our local community, but also supporting our global neighbors. We will be making every effort to roast, sell, and serve only fair trade or direct relationship with farmer coffees.

We've been amazed at the way God has started to move us this way. Through many "minor" miracles, our garage is now filled with almost everything we need to start our coffee roastery/house, including a Probat L12 roaster. We're just waiting for a myriad of other details to fall in place. For example, what do we name this business?

That's where you come in, friends! Give us your leading by voting in our poll. (If I could do this in the good ol' Quaker way of consensus, I would. It's hard to "sense the Spirit" via the internet.

I guess I'll be adding a lot of coffee grounds to the compost bin!

Summer Reading

Yesterday, was our (usually) weekly trip to the library. Yet again, we dragged home a huge bag of books. As soon as we land in the living room, the bag is dumped out and the scurry begins. Every kiddo digs through the pile, searching for their own book treasure. (It looks a lot like the chickens scratching through their food plate.) And then .....peace settles over the household! Everyone in their little corner being transported to castles, barnyards, and pirate ships. Then I take a look at my books.....Which one should I choose to read for this moment?

My daughter and I are very similiar, in that, we both usually have 4-5 books going at a time. Here's what I'm reading:

Jesus for President by Shane Clairborne: Asks the question, "What would our lives as Christ followers look like if we truly let Jesus be our leader in all we do spiritually, economically, and politically?" Great words...but I love the scrappy art style too.

Keep Chickens! by Barbara Kilarski: My guidebook for raising chickens in a small suburban place.

A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'engle: One of my all time favorite authors. We've been listening to this one in the car as a family. I love the allegories that can be drawn from this book. If you've ever wanted another picture for John 15 ("remain in me," Christ the vine, etc), this has some beautiful thoughts.

Uncommon Grounds by Mark Pendergrast: The history of coffee and the world. My husband and I are in the early stages of starting a coffee roastery/shop, so this has been very interesting. More about that development later.

Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller: Good stretching-your-faith stuff.

DragonFire by Donita Paul: I need some sort of east fictional story in all of my spiritual, world politics, history heaviness. A allegorical dragon, wizard story with a strong female character..might be handing this one down to my daughter after I'm done....If she doesn't finish her list first and grab it from my pile!

Compost Happens!

My friend has had this bumper sticker on the back of her car. Yesterday as I watered my compost bin, I thought, "That is so not true." In our high desert environment, compost does not just happen. I have to water it like some prima donna plant, and pitchfork turn the pile, if I want anything more then just a bunch of stinky rotting veggie scraps and chicken crap. If I wait long enough, pretty soon I've got some really good soil to spread around my garden.

A better bumper sticker would be: When life gives you crap....make compost!

What if we would take the junk of life, and instead of just letting it mold and putrify into bitterness, treat it with a good watering of the Holy Spirit, and a turning away from sin? With healing time, those deep hurts, and painful events, decompose into some wonderfully rich wisdom and a deeper love for our Creator. A Creator who can turn crap into good soil.

This is the day.....

that the Lord has made, not like tomorrow or yesterday. He made today in a special way, so let's all sing and be glad." This little song, learned when I was young, has become an oft sung meal-time grace for our family. Sometimes, when it's been a tough day, I'll sing it in a cranky voice with a grouchy face, just to make the kids smile. I'll replace the word "glad" with "mad" and finally raise a chuckle among those around me.

But, today, there is no need to sing it cranky style. This whole day has been amazingly perfect. Here's why:

Beautiful sunshine
Happy chickies in the violets
Dear friends moving in with us for a bit
One week till the Church Basement Roadshow (www.churchbasementroadshow.com)
Laundry on the line
Helpful kiddos and most exciting of all....

a brand new niece arrive safely today!

Thanks, God, for a sweet day! May I be as able to praise you as readily during the hard times too.

God is....

I did this art journaling thoughts during a lovely worship time at our friend's home this weekend.

Some thoughts on what God is and is not are written into the painting.

God....imagines, is about seasons of growth and rest, is about life, is freedom, is beauty, is a creator, sees me as I was created to be, is celebration.

God is not ....forceful, "just" anything, pain, all rules, pride, competition, small, only mine, only yours.

Finding the Way of Jesus part 2

Many of you have asked about how our Thursday night group went. Surprisingly (to me), not at all like how I had pictured it. I had thought that by the end of this four week group, we would have come up with some great plan to relieve vast amounts of suffering in our community, or maybe the secret to world peace. Now that I think of it...maybe we did.

If I had to boil down our 4 weekswith 17 people in 28 chapters containing 33 years of Jesus's life and words, I think it might have come to this: Be one in heart with Jesus, and move forward under his authority.

Oh, God, if we really lived like that....Imagine!

Transplanting is hard work....

....especially from the plant's point of view.

On a recent weekend, I looked enviously on my mom's garden. Although different in many ways, she and I both prefer a "cottage" garden. Think lots of blooms...daisy, day lilies, Columbine, and forget-me-nots. I love those little blue friendly flowers. A cottage garden. That's what we call it. Other people call it messy, overgrown, bursting with chaos. Of course, it's much easier for my mom to achieve this look in her garden than in mine. She lives in a wonderfully wet, temperate climate with really rich good soil. I, on the other hand have to rely on artificial rain (a costly sprinkler system) and trucked in soil. Her blooms start appearing at the end of February....I'm still shoveling snow then.

So when I saw all these beautiful lavender plants and day lilies growing like wildflowers, I had to have some. Most of the plants were overcrowded and needed thinning out anyway. Mom generously attacked her garden with a pitchfork and shovel, loading me up with large transplanting victims. Within hours of returning home, I had a brand new flower bed neatly planted with beautiful, although wilted, plants.

All looked good for a few days. Some of the transplants started to pick up there little faces to the sun, and putting down roots. But soon it became apparent that some of the larger, more established plants hadn't done so well. They started to turn brown, the lavender plants turned grey and began dropping their thin leaves.

As I was removing the thoroughly dead plants, I began thinking about when I've been uprooted. Moving to a new town, & learning the role of a mom were major uprootings for me. But following God's voice into this way of following Jesus, this organic/emergent church has been a similiar uprooting. My roots in traditional church run deep. This has been good and bad. The stories of Jesus, memorized verses, and songs learned while young have been refreshing and nourishing during the drought times. But, on the other hand, those deep roots were used to really rich soil, and easy water. Being moved into the harsher environment of "the world" was a shock to my system. I've had to adapt to my environtment, finding nutrients and water in unexpected circumstances and times. Some might argue that I should have just stayed where I was originally planted. I don't think so....I would've crowded someone else.

The Master Gardener (thankfully more adept then myself) transplanted me, knowing that eventually I would "bloom where I was planted."

10 1/2 inches to a better world

I've always been so proud of my husband....he has donated almost 3 gallons of blood. Me? Slightly anemic and wholly fearful of blood draws, I've seen my contribution as clearing any obstacles so that he can make his blood draw appointment. But now, I've found my way of making the world a better place for someone. Today, after a year of growing out my hair for women with cancer, I had 10 1/2 inches chopped off. I'll be sending my tresses to http://www.beautifullengths.com/. We've had far too many friends and family who've fought cancer.

It's a small contribution, but one that works well into my new desire to make any decisions with intentionality. From what type of lawnmower we use, to where I buy my splurge coffee, to riding our bikes more, to growing some of our own food, to clearing out my time schedule. Although seemingly mundane decisions, they are ones that we've stopped to think about....and hopefully come up with an answer that is compassionate, environmentally friendly, and community building. I obviously don't have it all figured out, but today was ten inches closer.

What everyday activity do you want to re-think?

Clean hands, Clean hearts

It must be getting to be summer. The kiddos wanted to do an lemonade stand. We didn't have lemonade......or lemons..... or kool-aid. "How about Ice Tea?" Whew, that idea flew. Now, lemonade, I mean ice tea, stands tend to take more work on the part of the mama, than the kiddos. I was determined to change that today.

"Go find the paper cups. Holy cow! On second thought....First go wash your hands." If you've ever had the joy of raising a son, you know what I mean. Seven year old boy hands can be nasty! Who knows what they've touched along the way throughout the day. I know I would not eat, drink or even smell, anything that those little grubby hands had touched. And I certainly was not going to be responsible for a neighborhood outbreak of samonella or e. coli.

Thoughout today I've been thinking about our first Finding the Way of Jesus gathering. (Just wait, I'll get back to the Ice Tea Stand.) We read through Matthew 4-8 and listed all the things Jesus said to do or modeled for us to do. (Quite a list, I might add) Then, from that each person chose a command to work on this week. Being in a social justice mind frame lately, I wondered why so many of us had inner actions to work on. Rather than selling all our stuff, or going out to find needs to meet, we were asking, seeking, knocking, forgiving. All inside our hearts, minds, and souls.

Then it hit me. First, go wash your hands. As I said these words, I realized our hearts, minds, and souls need to be scrubbed up before we go out feeding the world. Not that every thing must be perfect. (Think 7 year old ice tea stand vs Martha Stewart Ice Tea Stand). But, there are preliminary inner actions that must take place before our hearts are ready to bring Jesus's action to others.

First, go wash your hands. On the other (clean) hand, let's not take too much time in getting ready.

Going Farm Girl!

I have this strong desire to live on a farm....all these overly romanticized ideals of corn as high as an elephants eye, chickens (no poop) free ranging happily, and a sweet cow (all milk, no poop). And of course, the animals all sleep past 9am. So, having toured a couple of 2-6 acre properties for sale in the past few months, I finally have come to my senses. I love my sleep too much, I can hardly keep up with my 1/4 acre yard, and I get tired cleaning up after the dog, much less multiple bovine. So, we reached a compromise. 4 cute little chickies.....hopefully, all girls! I keep telling the kids, "Don't get attached...if one turns out to be a rooster...he'll have to become soup." I was absolutely amazed how quickly I became attached! (You knew I would!) On the way home from the farm store, I was struck with how fragile these little lives were! We got the last four at the store....of course the slowest, least desirable ones. But I think that was God's purpose....knowing that these four could quite possibly become the most pampered hens in Central Oregon. (The feed store employees already think I'm nuts.) So, we'll be happy on our quarter acre with our 4 new little girls. Although, they've already shown me the idiocy of my no poop ideal. Oh, well, it's good for the soil, right?

Beauty in all things

Several years ago, I read a book by Edith Schaeffer entitled Hidden Art. Schaeffer uses this book to elevate the art of homemaking to a spiritual practice. Although now somewhat dated (every feminist bone in your body might scream), the underlying message of finding hidden places for creating beauty and using one's home as a canvas is one that I hold dear. Examples? Like garnishing the asparagus with a pansy the other night. ("Mommy, are we eating flowers?") Adding doodle illustrations to the shopping list so the preschooler can "read" the list to me in the store. Or these little notebooks.........................
I made 20 of these this week as journals for the participants in Finding the Way of Jesus. Each one is made in a different color scheme featuring the FTWOJ logo I designed. This modern take on a Japanese style binding is acheived by using a stretchy hair band and a bamboo skewer cut to length. My hope is that these books will be a visible record of the things Jesus is teaching us.

My husband's comment was, "Wow, I was visualizing notebook paper cut in half, folded, and maybe stapled."

Just my small way of creating beauty in all things.

Finding the Way of Jesus

So..... part of this quest to create soil, in the spiritual sense, has left my husband and I wondering, "How?" Traditional church hasn't worked for us for many years. We're good with Jesus, just not all the extra layers that have been added to him over the centuries. So, we decided to figure out what it would look like to strip away all the church culture (this has been a looong process) and actually do what Jesus modeled or did in our own lives, present time and in our Central Oregon culture. If you'd like to be a part of that process.....read further.

This is an Invitation to join us in:

Finding the way of Jesus:
A four week discussion/action group that digs deep into the commands and model of Jesus and challenges us to incorporate those into our daily lives.

Schedule:

Thursday, May 15th, 6:30-8pm
Thursday, May 22nd, 6:30-8pm

Thursday, May 29th, 6:30-8pm Thursday, June 5th, 6-8pm (potluck dinner)

Weekly Schedule:

6:30 say hi, gather, recap/intro

7:00 scripture reading/activity

7:30 set weekly goals, hugs & goodbyes

This is designed for you if you are an individual, couple, or family that wants to:
· study the life of Jesus
· put the ways of Jesus into action
· gain the support and encouragement of a community of believers as you put into action the way of Jesus

At the end of this Discussion, we hope that participants will:
· Have identified core values that Jesus modeled
· Have put Jesus’ words into a daily visible action.
· Have practiced a daily visible action on their own, with a friend, and with the larger community.

Nitty Gritty:
Come committed to the whole 4 week schedule. “Homework” or weekly reading will be expected. This is a participatory group….no sermons, or grand ideas. You will get out of it with direct correlation to what you put in to it.

We would love for the kiddos to be involved in this spiritual formation. Children are encouraged to participate with their parents in the discussion and action goals. Kiddos should be able to track with the group for 30-45 minutes. If kids are not ready for that commitment please find child care for them.

To register or for questions: Email: schmidtmandy@hotmail.com

Many times, while I'm out weeding the garden, I have these metephorically ideas comparing a garden to our spiritual lives. I know.... that's nothing new. Jesus spoke repeatedly about harvests, seeds, plants and.... soil. Soil, in case you didn't know, is very different from dirt. Soil is cared-for dirt. Here in Central Oregon, we're sitting on top of a whole bunch of volcanic rock, with a thin sprinkling of dirt on top. After years of pulling out rock, weeds, and adding a heck of a bunch of compost, planting seeds and things are finally starting to grow. I suspect that creating a heart of good soil takes on much of the same process. Getting rid of the harden chunks, mixing in a bunch of crap, adding some touches of beauty, and finally seeing some results.

This blog will be a record of that process for myself, my family and my community of faith. Along the way, you'll hear garden-y parables & you'll see my artsy response to that growth.

Welcome!