keljonma's Front Porch - Settling in and adjusting

[lorihadams]

Good morning, darlin', I got your pm.... Thanks!!!

I'm converting the ducks from starter to grower or maybe gamebird feed if I can find it next week. I am going to go by southern states today to see if they carry purina, been thinking of switching from dumor to purina anyway.

Thanks for the book list too....definitely gonna have to check some of those out, our library's computer system has crashed and they are having to do everything by hand and you have no way to search the catalog until they get the system back up again, if that is even possible from what I understand it is pretty bad. Ahhhhhhh the pitfalls of modern society!!!

 

[keljonma]

Becca, When I was working my career, I rarely got time to read what I wanted. It seemed it was *always* something for work. So I changed my lunch time to read for me time. I also got a lot of unabridged books on cassette and cd and listened to them in the car while going back and forth to work.

We havent had neighbors for 5 years. We are adjusting, but hope we can be a bit more isolated in our next home.

The Stewardship Report is posted weekly in our church bulletin. As of the Aug 30 report, we are about 32k behind in the budget. So while, our church is not in the black, God is very good.

I think that because these are community events, some people donate who would not necessarily donate to a church. The same is true of the Christian Caf. We always have food to serve, 90% of it is donated and the rest is paid for from monetary donations.

Maybe instead of just one church hosting the event, your community might have a couple churches or all the churches joining forces to provide something similar for the community. Pastor Meredith or Pastor Josh always attend the first planning meeting to get a group of volunteers started as the steering committee. Afterwards, the steering committee members work as a team to ask other church members to contribute (time, food, talent, etc). The final committee meeting is open to all in the church. Pastor Meredith or Pastor Josh keeps the meeting moving so it is never longer than 2 or 3 hours. All the finalized ideas for the event are discussed.

So, as an example, Judy and Will, two of our church members, have a small shed filled with carnival type games - putt putt, bean bag toss, corn hole, basketball, bowling, etc. They donated, set up and cleaned up these games for the carnival last March. A number of church members volunteered to host the games during the event (my dh was one of them). A number of our church members own the corn hole game, and one of them donates it for the use of the event. They would volunteer to do set up/clean up and host it OR they would just volunteer the use of it and another person would set up/clean up and be the host. Usually in this second instance, the owner of the game would drop it off at the church the week before the event and pick it up Sunday after the event.

Marty did the duck pond at the carnival held in March. This event was held inside the community center. I think the church rented the center for free. Marty owned the small kiddie pool and fishing poles, she put some buckets of water in the pool, and borrowed the ducks from another church member. She wore a scuba mask, air hole and her swim fins while she hosted the duck pond. Very inexpensive, and this was a huge success with the younger children who love the duck pond game. Some of the prizes for the games were from Oriental Trading Company, and were purchased by the church; from the petty cash fund, as I recall. There were over 50 cakes, trays of brownies, and trays of cupcakes made or purchased and donated by the women of the church for the cake walk at the carnival. The cake walk was timed for every 15 minutes. This was a huge success and no cakes were left over!

For the Family Fun Block Party, Dave and his family donated and cooked the ox roast. A local business donated the chicken. The women of the church made or purchased the side dishes. Pastor Josh donated the ice cream and toppings.

I was on the steering committee for the carnival in March. At first I wasnt sure how we would get everything done, but it worked out well. Local businesses like the pizza shop, coffee house, grocery stores, movie rental place donated items for door prizes at the carnival. My friend Sophia uses a combination of stencils, stamps, and free-hand drawing to make the posters for the events. She said it takes her about 2 days to make 10 large posters. Then Pat (our church admin) makes copies of them in placemat and small poster size. The placemats are used at the local breakfast place and at the church meals like Christian Caf. Committee members put posters up at local businesses and one notifies the local paper to put the event in the Upcoming Community Events column.

A similar type community event for your area might be something to pray about. Many hands make light work.

 

[keljonma]

Lori, I have only used an organic feed I found at Gerber and Sons in Baltic, OH and Purina SunFresh. Baltic is a days trip, and Purina was available at my local farm co-op. So the change was easy to make. Although I did like feeding the organic to The Ladies, I also liked that Purina SunFresh has no animal products in it.

 

[keljonma]

11 Sept 2009

We found out yesterday that the Amish farmer we get our eggs from will no longer be keeping chickens. He feels he is too old (in his 80s) to keep them and is giving his flock to his daughter who lives across the road from him. He sold us his last for sale dozen yesterday.

I am just doing housework today, since tomorrow we will be away from home. DH is working.

Yesterday we stopped at the meat market and got some homemade brats, bulk homemade mild pork sausage, and some homemade thick cut bacon. We had some of the brats yesterday with green peppers and onions. They were delicious.

Maybe I mentioned that one of our church members has beets and tomatoes they want picked, as they planted more than they can use. I am hoping we can go get some tonight for canning.

More books I am now reading:
Also by Marilyn Meberg, Id Rather Be Laughing. This book starts with this verse from Nehemiah 8:10 - Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Someone recently mentioned to me that I have not been my smiley-self lately. I thought I needed some good books to get back to normal.

Knit Together - Discover Gods Pattern For Your Life by Debbie Macomber. If you are not familiar with Debbie Macombers work, she writes heart-warming stories. I dont read much fiction, but her Christmas stories which included angels, Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy, caught my eye once in an airport while traveling for work. Knit Together is her first non-fiction book. Throughout, Debbie references Psalm 139, which she said combines two of my favorite things - knitting and the understanding of Gods call on my life.

The last book I am reading right now is The Five Love Languages by Dr. Gary Chapman. He is a marriage and family life counselor. The title says it all. We each have different ways of expressing love. He brings flowers; She wanted time to talk. She gives him a hug; He just wants a clean house. What speaks volumes to you may be meaningless to your spouse. The book is very easy to read and easily understood. The last chapters are about love languages in children, and quizzes for men and women to take to discover (if they dont know) their own love language. This book has been around a while, and is very popular recommended reading with our churchs United Methodist Christian Fellowship Couples group. http://www.garychapman.org/products.htm

 

[BeccaOH]

Good ideas!

I have listened to a lot of classics on audio books in my car. Listening to Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell right now. Just finished my second round of Pride and Prejudice.

I get to hear Debbie Macomber speak next week at a conference. I haven't read one of her books, though.

 

[keljonma]

How lucky for you, Becca! If Debbie is as good a speaker as a writer, I think you will have a great conference. I never spent much time with Psalm 139. I am really enjoying the Knit Together book.

 

[Farmfresh]

Just so you all know. Dumor feeds are manufactured BY Purina exclusively for Tractor Supply. So essentially Dumor is a Purina feed.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Just so you all know. Dumor feeds are manufactured BY Purina exclusively for Tractor Supply. So essentially Dumor is a Purina feed.

Well I sure didn't know that!! and the Dumor is cheaper than the Purina. :/ but not by much.

 

[keljonma]

Yes, I know that, FF.

However, when I was checking on feed before we got chickens, Dumor listed animal products in the ingredients. We did not want to use manufactured feed that contain animal products. There are just too many issues imo; and I wasn't interested in any "mad cow" or "mad chicken" (as the case may be) in our flock.

That is why we started with "locally-grown and processed"organic. The Purina SunFresh was a second choice because it was available locally and there are no added animal products to it.

So while Dumor is a Purina feed, it is NOT a Purina SunFresh feed.

 

[Farmfresh]

Oh there IS a definite difference for sure. I am quite sure the Dumor is a cheaper to manufacture version. I was simply stating that Purina is the manufacture.

Dumor Chick Starter is what I usually use for a couple of reasons. First it is un-medicated, also cheaper than the Purina brand and I have to drive about 30 miles round trip to buy Purina around here.

Several years ago when I was still feeding horses we only fed Purina. Then our local Purina wholesaler delivered SEVERAL batches of moldy feeds to the local dealers. (Back then there were 5 Purina dealers within a 30 mile radius that I know of for sure) Evidently there was a big ta-do about the Purina wholesaler, not correcting the problem and furthermore they did not CREDIT the dealers for the bad feed. After that it was a revolt! ALL of the dealers quit selling Purina feeds altogether and went to Nutrina. Now it is still hard to get Purina feeds around these parts. Other than the Dumor at TSC or by driving 4 towns away. Talk about holding a grudge!