Inside the Mind of Mark...

So, it has been a few years since I have last blogged. I am not sure why I ever stopped, but I did. Lately I have been posting my environmental, political, and food thoughts on twitter, but all that gives me is 140 characters. So here I go...

Haiti

Lots have been said in the last week about Haiti. I have heard soo much about the countries past, the current situation, and the road blocks. It is really sad to see the current status of the country, the pain of so many people that have lost soo much! So much that I cannot even come close to understanding. My mind drifts to what we can do to help pull Haiti out of this disaster and to a sustainable place. The big need after people receiving food and medical attention is rebuilding the infrastructure: roads and housing. I look at how we can train individuals to re-start their environment. So much of Haiti has been laid bare due to deforestation. Why not begin large scale efforts to bring back the vegetation that is native to the land. The other big issue to help the land is to begin large scale composting to refresh the soil with the nutrients that it once had and to then begin planting produce to help feed the people of Haiti. Now I could go on further, but I will spare everyone from that. I know that so many people have lost what little they had and are in a most difficult position, but I feel that organizations need to help enable the people of Haiti to rebuild the country themselves. They don't need more debt, they don't need handouts in a year from now. What they need is housing, food, and jobs. The problem has been the destruction of the environment in Haiti which has in turn taken away their food and jobs. We need to enable the people to restore these things.

Food

Many things lately have centered around food in my life. Leah and I started a raw milk share and we just watched the movie "Food Matters". What I can say we have found is that our current system of human health and how we treat our body is really screwed up. We as individuals as Leah and I have found have to take the way we eat into our own hands. We can't listen to what the culture claims as healthy... we can't look at food labels and simply count fat and calories. We have to dig deeper. We need to find local natural alternatives to the way we eat. We need to change our eating habits and we need to no longer look to the drug industry to find cures. Chemicals do not cure our body, natural fruits and vegetables help our bodies to not get sick in the first place. So many times we pasteurize and clean our food, but what we end up doing is removing nutrients and destroy the enzyme structure of what makes the foods good for our body. How do we safely intake foods if they are not pasteurized? Well, buy straight from a trusted local farmer. Get in a CSA for local milk, produce, and meat. The great resource we have in our area are the Amish. No better spot to get organic products because they use no artificial chemicals on anything. They do it the natural way. I could go on and on and on, but I need to go make dinner. What's for dinner? Well, broccoli cheddar soup of course!

Take Care Everyone

where to get started if you want to eat organic and/ or local.

Firstly would love comments on ANY good additional info on this topic!

This is how the convo usually goes like:

You work for a CSA? what is that? how do I get involved with one? where can I get: milk, cheese, veggies, pasta, flour, ect?

CSA is a Community Shared Agriculture a great link explaining what that means and why their great:

http://www.prairielandcsa.org/whatisacsa.html

A great Link that we have found for all sorts of CSA is:

http://www.localharvest.org

We have found a number of CSA near us on this very web page! LISTEN UP this is the mother of all web pages for CSA.

here I hope to give someone a great local Jackson resource and to be added to:

MEAT

I work for a great CSA, and as far as I know one of a kinda for Michigan.

An Organic/ natural Meat CSA!!! so crazy I know. You can also purchase quarter/half or whole beef/ pork/ or lamb.

She is located in Manchester (25 min away from Jackson) where you can pick up or in Ann Arbor on delivery days.

http://oldpinefarm.biz/

You want a great contact with local and organic products its her! She makes available eggs, and chicken for share holders along with periodically local fish, cheese (and raw cheese) also we do buffalo, emu, duck and turkeys.

Something to be noted is some veggie CSA sell chicken and eggs to their share holders

VEGGIES

Mark and I use Two Creeks Organic who also do eggs, chickens, and other poultry periodically.

Also in Manchester they do delivery once a week in Ann Arbor at Zingermans at the farmers Market, which is wonderful because you can purchase additional produce and local items there too.

http://www.twocreeksorganics.com/home

Another Veggie share whom I haven't tried but is very successful is Tantre Farms, I mention them, because I believe they might offer raw milk as a part of being a share holder. That might be rumor though.

http://www.tantrefarm.com/

FLOUR/ PASTA/ EVERYTHING DRY GOODS!

Country Life Natural Foods. Period that its. We have ordered organic whole wheat pasta, flour, Quinoa and rice

http://www.clnf.org/

The beauty of this is that its Cheaper than any store for a lot of items. but yes there is fine print on this one you either have to order like $400 (or more) in product or ORDER with OTHER PEOPLE!!!

The Person who we do ordering with Mary Lynne Miller in Jackson. You can contact me and I will give you her email address (since I probably shouldn't put it up without permission)

MILK

no good answer for this, we just joined up with a raw milk CSA share through Amish, if you are looking for answers on this you can also ask me for contact info.

Thats all for now!

EGGS
A lot of CSA will provide you with them or sell them on the side. Ask around their might be a farm that sells them cheaply near you.
We have found on Blackman rd/ country farm (which is north Jackson) we buy local organic eggs for $2. If you go down country farm road you will see signs for Brown Eggs along the road. Its a little stand in someones driveway, but we love it and its great.

CHEESE
Grassfieds Cheese
We have ordered Gouda and a few other cheeses from here. They are mailed delivered (they are near Grand Rapids area). Grassfields will not disappoint, we order around 90 dollors worth(we got a half wheel or 6.5 pounds of Gouda along with several other types for that much) to make it cheaper by group ordering or selling it away afterwords. They sells other food items, so check out web page. They sell specifally Raw Milk Cheese, there are other cheese farms that just sell artisans local cheese, such as; gray stone creamery, and grassy meadow.


http://www.grassfieldscheese.com/cheese.html

typing with gimp finger

new year, new life, new skin.

this week, lets just say i burned my eyes out from looking at numbers for WAAYYY to long. Accounts how do you deal?

but it reminded me of how much and how far i come. now most the time i have more work than i can take. I have to limit my work week or I end up at 70 hours with out my permission.

seriously a bit over a year ago i was sitting at home developing an ulcer, and looking at my phone for work every 5 min.

what holds for this year, good or bad. I don't know. I have been thinking a lot about expectations. We expect life will be increasingly good, increasingly profitable, increasingly beneficial to ourselves and less painful. Being with people in hospice has taught me about life. Life ends, just as it began, it has joy and sorrow. But being american, being human, being flesh we tend to not understand pain, or suffering. Over and over I here: we are not meant to live like this? why do i hurt so bad? read Job. read any bible story.

We don't imagine ourselves paralyzed, in unimaginable pain and unable to do for ourselves.

The world is broken, we are broken, we sin. Sin is dangerous, it spreads over time, causing hunger, pain, broken hearts, war, and murder.

Beyond that though- the problem lay in where you find joy. Everything, everything will fail you in this world. your country, your community, your neighbors, your friends, your technology (as I yell at the computer), your family, yourself. Your joy CANNOT be based in those things, because when it fails, what do you stand on? Joy form Christ, from the perfect, in Him you can enjoy, endure and have hope in all things. To rejoice in Christ, what he has done will never go away, never fail.

When you grow old and life youth fades, friends disappear, your body turns on you, your money cannot put things back together; put your joy and life in Christ.

I have seen what happens to a persons heart who doesn't understand these things.

So for better or worse I will follow.

"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is ABLE to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if NOT, be it known to you, O king, that we will NOT serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” Daniel 3: 16-18

wedding pics link

http://ptkorson.com/index.html#/leah-mark/

Flyleaf song! AGAIN

I love the way that your heart breaks
with every injustice and deadly fate
Praying it all be new
and living like it all depends on you

Here you are down on your knees again
trying to find air to breathe again
Only surrender will help you now
I love you please see and believe again

I love that you’re never satisfied
with face value wisdom and happy lies
you take what they say and go back and cry
you’re so close to me that you nearly died

Here you are down on your knees again
trying to find air to breathe again
Only surrender will help you now
I love you please see and believe again

they don’t have to understand you
be still
wait and know I understand you
be still
be still

Here you are down on your knees again
trying to find air to breathe again
Only surrender will help you now
The floodgates are breaking
and pouring out

Here you are down on your knees
trying to find air to breathe
right where I want you to be again
i love you please see and believe again

Here you are down on your knees again
trying to find air to breathe again
Right where I want you to be again
See and believe!

cooking with Leah

Mark has been sick for the last week on and off with the start to the winter season flu. But now I am left to cook, scary right, I know. So currently trying to take on a simple soup recipe, seems to be going ok, however I must go wake Mark every 10 minutes right when he has drifted off, if I am doing it right.

This is our soup great for winter and colds!

You need:

Sliced thin Potatoes (3 to 4) double (wash after cutting too)

Carrots sliced (2 small or 1 large)

Cerelery sliced (2 sticks)

1/4 cup chopped Onion

sliced Mushrooms (3 to 4)

one piece of Garlic crushed or finely chopped

Veg or chicken broth one container

1 to 2 cups of water or more broth

2 or more cups of whole wheat noodles

pepper, oregano, basil, italian seasoning, cumin

Sliced thin Potatoes (3 to 4) double (wash after cutting too) doesn't need to be peeled....

Carrots sliced (2 small or 1 large) can't find peeler....

Cerelery sliced (2 sticks) glad this didn't need a peeler...

1/4 cup chopped Onion struggle with figuring out if you cut it right

sliced Mushrooms (3 to 4) only had 2 so chopped up in little pieces make it seem like more

Saute this up in order. Best if you start with potatoes, then cut next item add to the pot, then bug your sick husband if you are doing this right, so on and so forth. Stir occasionally. Once that has cooked a bit, and browned a little then add:

one piece of Garlic crushed (start yelling because you can't find the garlic press, only to be right in your face) or finely chopped

Veg or chicken broth one container however that much is, I know I am a great help

add 1 to 2 cups of water; whatever looks good

Start adding all the spices you can find since your out of everything

pepper, oregano, basil, italian seasoning, cumin (but we are out just pretend)

Bring to a boil and stir it up!

In second pot boil water and partly cook 2 or more cups of whole wheat noodles

once they look partly done (if your me don't test them or look at them just as long as they arent hard its all good) add to the rest and boil up, start blogging about it in hopes in boils over. Check to see if noodles are done, the remember how bad you burned your tongue on left overs earlier and can't taste. When noodles are partly done add them to a somewhat boiled down soup, let cook until done.

-I hope this brings a smile to your face

-Leah

why wiaks

My husband and I have been talking about blogging, I love reading other peoples and how encouraging they can be or funny or informational.

So heres the start....

why the wiak (last name janoWIAK) but pronounced jan o wick. Wick- to be lit on fire for Christ to burn for Him.

We have been married for 90 days today! Now that everything has settled down, post wedding has left me lots of time to ask Jesus for dreams, for passion and for boldness.

My new journey I hope to share with you is one of trust. Yesterday I was thinking how easy my life has been simply by living in America (not that people don't suffer or are poor), but the fact in trusting Jesus for things, with my day to day life has huge gaps filled in by money, accessibility to meds, clean water, food and education. Why have I been thinking these things, well I am glad you asked. I have been falling in love perhaps with the poor, the destitute and those who Jesus called blessed in the beatitudes.

Shane Claiborne wrote:

Its a beautiful thing when folks in poverty are longer a missions project but become genuine friends and family with whom we laugh, cry, dream, and struggle. One of the verses I have grown to love is the one where Jesus is preparing to leave the disciples and says "I no longer call you servants...Instead, I have called you friends" (John 15:15). Servanthood is a fine place to begin, but gradually we move toward mutual love, genuine relationships. Someday, perhaps we can even say those words that Ruth said to Naomi after years of partnership: "Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried" (Ruth 1:16-17)

And that's when things get messy. When people begin moving beyond charity and towards justice and solidarity with the poor and oppressed, as Jesus did, they get in trouble. Once we are actually friends with folks in struggle, we start to ask why people are poor, which is never as popular as giving to charity. One of my friends has a shirt marked with the words of late Catholic bishop Dom Helder Camara: "When I feed the hungry, they called me a saint. When I asked why people are hungry, they called me a communist." Charity wins awards and applause, but joining the poor gets you killed. People do not get crucified for charity. People are crucified for living out a love that disrupts the social order, that calls forth a new world. People are not crucified for helping the poor people. People are crucified for joining them.

Food for thought

Jesus my prayer is for new season, season of LOVE! to love and give sacrificially of myself to others. Let me give away all that you have given to me...thats why I have soo many blessings is to give away for your glory!

-leah