Keepin' It Local::Some Fun Stuff We've Been Up To In Our Area

Last week I went apple picking with my friend Julie. This is what happened to the apples I picked. I have a great recipe from my grandma for microwave applesauce (chunky or smooth), which takes a total of 10-15 min. to make. So I whipped up a few batches and took a shot at canning by myself (thanks google!). It worked perfectly, and was so fun to hear the "canner's music" (the lids popping as they seal). I only did about half the apples, so I will be doing the rest sometime this week. Yum!

Today was our day off, so we decided to head to Silver Falls State Park to ride the bike paths. Unfortunately we locked our keys in the car as soon as we got out and had to call a tow truck to come unlock our car. We were pretty lucky because we were there later in the afternoon and we have no cell service. Luckily there was still someone in the lodge to let us use a phone. We did get to ride for a little bit, although it wasn't as long as we wanted to. It was gorgeous, though, and we will definitely go back.

The leaves are changing...fall is here!

It was $8 for a 5-gallon bucket, so we split a bucket and got a variety of different apples.

My friend, Julie, lives in Portland. I know Julie from when we lived in Illinois, and it's really fun to have her so close! We've gotten to hang out a couple times now, and the last time we hung out we went apple-picking (and got coffee, which is why we are surrounded by cement in this picture).

I have always wanted to learn to can, and a friend from Church, Debbie, was canning tomatoes and invited me over to learn last week. It was easy and fun! I even ended up with quite a few jars of canned tomatoes, even though they were all Debbie's; all I did was help put some in jars! Thanks Debbie! Can't wait to put them to use!

We went to the Stayton Library book sale a couple weeks ago. It was three days long, and on the last day, it was $5 for a grocery bag full of books! We went expecting it to be really picked over, but there were still tons of books to choose from. We got a varying array of books that range from some outdoors-focused books, some faith-focused books, some novels (steinbeck, mischner, and some other randoms), and some cook books (yay!). We had no problem filling two grocery bags. Now the problem is where to put them...we need some more bookshelves!

In Defense of Food

I read this book a few months ago, but just recently found the notes I took while reading it. It wasn't a completely new idea and thus, didn't transform the way I eat or think about food too much. The one thing it did do was challenge me to eat less meat and more vegetarian. The book starts out telling you in 7 words what the rest of the book is going to be about:
Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

I had a friend in Bend who was basically a vegetarian, and that, along with some other reading I did while there, began to challenge me on the health benefits of eating less meat and more veggies. I am not sold on a completely vegetarian way of life (I just like meat), but both Mark and I are really interested in having more vegetables in our diet (beyond simply being a side dish). The bonus of living where we live now is that everything grows here and everyone has a garden, which has resulted in us being on the receiving end of the overflow of veggies that people can't finish themselves. Here are a few other thoughts from the book that I liked:

*Don't eat anything your great-grandma wouldn't recognize as food.

*Avoid food products containing ingredients that are a) unfamiliar, b) unpronounceable, c) more than 5 in number, d) include high fructose corn syrup (these indicate foods that are highly processed and may no longer be what they purport to be).

*Get out of the supermarket whenever possible (farmers markets, CSA's, your own garden).

*eat meat as a condiment to veggies, not the other way around (less than 1 serving/day).

*The diet of the animals we eat has a bearing on the quality and healthfulness of the food itself (have they been injected with growth hormones? Are they eating nutritious food themselves?).

*If you have the space, buy a freezer. Freezing produce, unlike canning, doesn't significantly diminish the nutritional value of produce (I still want to learn to can though) :).

*Don't look for the "magic bullet" in the traditional diet: in the same way that foods are more than the sum of their nutrient parts, dietary patterns seem to be more than the sum of the foods that compromise them.

*How a culture eats may have as much a bearing on health as what a culture eats (i.e. snacking, eating alone vs with others, etc.).

*We tend to believe that the portion served to us is the proper amount to eat (i.e. in restaurants). Often the serving is much larger than we should actually eat.

*eat until you are 80% full, then stop. Consult your gut: stop when you're full!

*the less we spend on food, the more we spend on healthcare.

*do all your eating at the table (not at the desk!).

*Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does :).

*try not to eat alone: we eat more when we're alone. Eating with others is also a cultural act and forms community.

These were just a few of my notes (I had about 3 pgs). It was an interesting and worthwhile read and it will definitely challenge or remind you what it means to eat actual "food" vs. some of the stuff we buy in the stores. I know that I find that as I eat more and more real food, I notice a difference in how I feel and my energy levels when I eat more processed food. It's not totally unavoidable, but we do our best to eat decently without breaking the bank. I challenge you to try to find some good vegetarian recipes as well. I have found several that I love and that taste just as good rewarmed up as leftovers. Best of luck! Cheers!

A Random Update...

A good chunk of my time is spent here these days. Good ol' Blackboard. I have fallen into a schedule of working at the church in the mornings and doing school in the afternoon, which seems to work out pretty well. If you would have asked me a year or two ago if I would enjoy doing an online school program, I would have said no. But I really am enjoying this format and the freedom it brings to the schedule.

This is my "garden." Basil and Rosemary. They started out so tiny and have flourished. It's so fun having fresh herbs. I had them outside, but Oregon has these wonderful slugs (that we first met when we were hiking) and they apparently like to eat Basil. So, once I figured that out...in came the plants :).

Everyone here has a garden. We were having lunch at the home of a couple that goes to our church, and we discovered that they grow corn, summer squash, tomatoes, green onions, apples, strawberries, blueberries, and grapes. There may be more, but that's all I can remember. I am pumped...next summer I am going to try and have a garden of my own...maybe less extensive to start, but I definitely have my pick of what to grow...it seems like everything grows here!

mmm....triple chocolate scones. I got the recipe from a fun blog I found that has tons of great recipes. These are super easy and quick. If you want something yummy for dessert or just enjoy baking...give these a whirl. Of course, you have to like chocolate :).

Other than these few things, we have been spending our time getting to know people at the church and in the neighborhood, getting the house organized and settled via craigslist, and discovering what our new area has to offer. Did you know that we live an hour from downtown Portland? There is also a great array of fun date places for less than $10 between the two of us. We are really enjoying it here, although we are continually being warned about the rainy winters, which we have yet to experience. Something to look forward to :).

The Whirlwind

For reasons unknown to me, the blog just doesn't want to let me write above this picture, so Aimee and Elijah get to be right at the top :).

We are finally in Oregon for good! It has been SO busy since the beginning of summer, but very fun. Right after our hike on the Wonderland Trail, we landed back in Bend for two days, and then headed to the Quad Cities to pack up the rest of the stuff we had stored in Mark's parents house. Most of it was still in boxes from when we moved out of our apt in Rock Island, so it didn't take nearly as long to pack it all up, but we did put in a good amount of work packing the U-Pack trailer that we went with to move out to Oregon. It's great...you pack it, they drive it...you unpack it. It's a LONG drive from IL to OR, so we were glad to put in a little work in order to have someone else drive it for us! We got to hang out with a bunch of great friends while we were there (and all the babies!). My parents also drove down from WI which was a nice added touch to the time there.

After IL, we landed in Bend, had two days to pack up our apt there and we moved over to Aumsville. We landed here on Friday, and Saturday I flew to IN for the start of my MDiv program through IWU. After a week there (and some GREAT time with Christin and the Summers'), I was back in Aumsville and ready to dive into the church and unpacking. So, you can see why updating the blog didn't really happen for a few weeks!

It's been great so far. The people have been awesome at helping us settle in, and we've gotten so many fresh vegetables! Everyone has a garden here on top of the fact that it's a huge agricultural area. We even got to do U-Pick blueberries today. Yum. I can't wait to have my own garden next summer!

Virginia and Oliver

Jess and Amber

Jamie and Oliver

Thad and Will...sorry Steph...we didn't get you in the picture too!

Steve and David

Jess and Liz

Jess and Lincoln...I just love the look he has on his face!

The fam

Mark after the trailer was all packed up and the walls in place.

Silver Falls State Park...just 15 minutes from our house! Mom, you'll love this one! Lots of gorgeous waterfalls to see when you come visit!

We had the great pleasure to drop our friends Paul and Kerry Kind off at Elk Lake. They are doing a section of the PCT this week. We got to spend a couple days with Kerry touring the Salem area as well. They are walking an incredible section of trail!

We picked 7.5 lbs of blueberries! Yum!

and we have no air conditioning...

at least it's not humid!

The Wonderland Trail

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind. The Schmerse's (the in-laws) were back in town for a few days on there way back to IL, and we got to spend some fun time with them sighseeing. We headed down to Crater Lake, which was very fun and beautiful. We also got to see Smith Rock State Park, Tumalo Falls, and we took the ski lift up to Pine Martin Lodge at Mt. Bachelor to take in the view. Mark and I also climbed South Sister and headed over to Salem for a day to connect with Carmen, the senior pastor of Mountain View who is leaving. We had a great time getting to know him and his family, and he was more than helpful in showing us around and filling us in on the inner workings of the church (technical and otherwise).

Soon after the Schmerse's headed home, I finished up my work, and we headed out for a week to hike the Wonderland Trail that circles Mt. Rainier. It was a beautiful trail, but a lot of work. There is a lot of elevation gain and loss (20,000 ft total!), and we spent the first two full days in a cloud with misty rain. Most of the week was gorgeous, and the views were amazing!

The trail was well marked at each junction, and every once in awhile a sign showed up in places where there was still snow that helped reassure us we were headed in the right direction.

Beautiful wildflowers!

Hiking up Emerald Ridge in a cloud.

Most of the time there were bridges over the creeks, but every so often they hadn't gotten one fixed yet, and we would have to walk a big log. Many of them wash out each year and need to be replaced. Luckily we only had to ford one creek!

Misty, cloudy, forest.

Ipsut Pass.

There were two large suspension bridges that crossed over the Carbon River and Tahoma Creek. They are both glacial creeks...this one is the Carbon Creek Bridge.

The end of the Carbon Glacier. It was really cool to hike up next to the glaciers, because you could hear them popping every so often and see rocks falling off the end. It reminds you that it really is moving.

Close up of the Emmons Glacier.

Cooking in camp. Boy was I happy to have a tent on this trip! It was so nice to be able to get in and not worry about the bugs if I wanted to keep my sleeping bag open a bit at night. Also, the mosquitos weren't bad in too many places, but it was so nice to be able to get in and know they weren't coming under the tarp!

Heading up to Panhandle Gap. One of the few places I used an ice axe.

If you look closely at the snow slope (zoom in!) there are mountain goats!

The snow fields past Panhandle Gap and headed toward our camp at Indian Bar. You can see our tracks through the snow behind Mark and down to the right.

Mark hanging our food bags on the bear poles. We only saw a couple bears the whole trip, and those from a distance. We never had a problem with them in camp.

Martha Falls. The spray from this falls felt like air conditioning as we hiked by. It was 80 degrees or so and we were climbing, so we just stood there and soaked in the spray!

Rainier and Reflection Lakes.

Here we are in the Nisqually River Basin a couple short miles from Longmire and our finish of the trail!

A celebratory burger at the Copper Creek Inn. We ate here after our attempt at climbing Rainier a few years ago, so it was fun to return to a familiar place!

We were one of the first groups to finish the whole trail this season, and had a great time doing so. Now it's time to start packing up...moving time soon and then I'm off to IN for school!

Moving...Again!

We moved to Bend knowing that it might be temporary. We had been planning on going to seminary this fall, and just wanted a cool place to live. As we've lived in Bend, we've been praying and processing and honestly, the verdict has fluctuated all over the place from staying in Bend to going to seminary to going into ministry again.

Four to Six weeks ago we prayerfully decided to put out Mark's resume to some local churches. We had been praying about going to seminary, but weren't feeling 100% about going to Duke or Azusa, which had been the plan. We had been hearing about IWU's new MDiv program, which could be done onsite or online, and so as Mark put out his resume, I put in my application for the online program. You have to go to IWU for the first 2 weeks of August, but other than that, the whole program is done online. The program requires you to be in ministry at least 20 hrs a week, so the hope was that Mark would get a position as a lead pastor in a smaller church, and then I could work part time (paid or unpaid), and do school. Eventually Mark will look to start school as well.

Mark's resume went out to DS's all over the country - some in the east, a lot in the midwest, and quite a few out west as well. But what ended up working out for us was a great church near Salem, OR called Mt. View Wesleyan Church. We went and cadidated a few weeks ago, and couldn't have been more welcomed by the congregation. They were pleased with us as well, and they collectively voted us in and extended an invitation to Mark to be their new Lead Pastor. We start on Aug 2, and soon thereafter, I will leave to do my first 2 week stint at IWU. We are really excited and are looking forward to beginning our life and ministry with this great group of people in Aumsville. The great thing is that, although we will have to go back to IL to move all our stuff from there, it is only 2 hrs from Bend (in good weather), so we still have great access to the mts and all they have to offer.

Thanks to all who prayed for us and gave advice through this process. We look forward to seeing what God has in store for us and for our church!