29 August, 2018

Seven years after my first entry!  Still living a life that is focused on bread... I think...
I moved to ND from Florida in the fall of 2011, last contributed an entry to this blog in 2015.  I had my hip replaced that September.  Americans elected Donald Trump to the presidency in 2016. Sam (2014), Anna (2013), Simone (2016), and Sylvia (2017) have all married since 2013.   Sam and Anna brought us new daughters in 2016 and 2017.  Simone is completing a PhD. There are now five granddaughters and a grandson on the way. Paul is in a significant relationship and working in a "grownup job" with decent pay and benefits.  In the summer of 2017, I went to quarter time at All Saints' Church because of financial distress at the parish, and took on a 3/4 time appointment as interim lead pastor at Vincent United Methodist Church.   I retired in 2018 from All Saints' Church, and completed my interim at VUMC on the 30th of June.  Wayne and I have made significant progress on the house we're building in Turtle Lake. 

It is a beautiful, if spare landscape, surrounded by a dozen acres seeded 16 months ago in cover crop mixture comprised of ten species.  We wanted to see what would come up again on its own.  We weren't quite able to get anyone to graze their livestock on it this year.  We think sheep or goats would thrive.  The mixture is designed both for the health of the soil and for forage.  We plan to have a fence on the perimeter next year.

There is a mix of sunflowers, radishes, beans, peas, clover, millet, oats, and alfalfa in the cover crop.  There were turnips in the original mix, but they seem not to have re-seeded this spring. There are quite a few lambs' quarters mixed in, as well as dandelions, surprisingly few thistles, some absinth wormwood, and a bit of soybeans and wheat that have moved in from nearby fields or germinated from previous years' crops.  It's been fascinating to watch what has successfully re-seeded in this area despite a pretty dry summer.

And I'm hoping to get more acquainted with the land and with what grows there.  This farm, which we hope to be regenerative and sustainable, is the next thing that is calling us.

HOWEVER, there is a chance that I may do one more stint as an interim pastor, this time for the Lutherans, before I settle in to being "retired," before, that is, I move on to my next call, the call to be more literal about "rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves..."

These things are quite connected.  I was (I pray!) helping to feed people as a pastor: feasting on the Word through preaching, feasting on the Word through the Eucharist.  I'm still passionate about feeding.  Now I'm making bread.  In the last few years I've gained some skill and experience in making wild yeast levain bread from heritage grain flours.  I'm learning what I can about ensuring that the land that has been in Wayne's family for 130 years is increasingly fertile and healthy, so that it can feed us humans.  I'm hoping to grow, mill, and bake with grains we grow on the farm.  I'm hoping to share meals with people who visit us.