7.17.2010

Saturday = Attack of the Carrot Monsters!

Hello. Happy Saturday.
Have you ever had a Strawberry Cheesecake Concrete Mixer from Culvers?
I hadn't until today. I just couldn't resist! Usually I try to avoid dairy products, but something about the 93 degree day pulled me right into the Culver's parking lot, and before I knew it, I was gobbling the tasty treat right up for lunch!

I went to the second half of a conference this morning.
It was quite great and I got to connect with all sorts of interesting people.

We talked about mission and outreach and intercultural relationships at the conference. Mission and evangelism are words that sometimes make me cringe because historically, mission has often involved Christians coming in and totally taking over a less dominant culture and force-feeding Christianity down people's throats. This is an icky form of the Christian tradition, and obviously, quite contrary to the model Jesus utilized.

The model that the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) currently emphasizes is the "Accompaniment Model." And guess what? It's soooooo great! It's all about building relationships just for the sake of building relationships - whether it's with the person across the street or a family across an ocean. It isn't about conversion or "saving people." The whole premise of "accompaniment" is that God is ALREADY working through all people and all cultures - the job of a Christian person is to be a friend, to help people recognize where God is at work in their lives, and to support and encourage people along the road of life. I'm glad I went to the conference because it reminded me of all that I love about Jesus and community.

And, another HUGE bonus, there were people from India at the conference! And you KNOW how I love, love, love Indian culture. I can't wait to go to India. Someday, someday!

This afternoon, I had an obsessive-compulsive moment in the garden.
Here's "Gardening Lesson #314": A gardener MUST thin the carrots. If you don't thin your carrots when they are young, then they crowd each other out, and you end up with a million tiny carrots that stop growing. I will remember this next year. I did NOT thin the carrots this year, because the seed strip package said: "The carrot seeds are evenly placed along the planting strip, so there should be no need to thin the carrots." Guess what? The package was wrong! So, since my carrots had stopped growing, I decided to dig them all up. I dug and dug and dug. There were bees and wasps all around me, but I didn't care. I just WANTED THOSE TINY CARROTS OUT OF THE GROUND! It was actually very therapeutic. Digging up carrots is a real workout! Here are the larger carrots. I'm going to roast them tomorrow or Monday and eat them all up. I hope to turn a lovely shade of orange.

For the itsy-bitsy carrots, I decided I would juice them. So I got out this ol' contraption:

THE JUICER!

Look! Creepy carrots! This is what happens when you don't thin the carrots.

Here's the bowl of carrots I juiced.

All those carrots = 1/2 glass of juice! I composted all the carrots pulp and peels.
I'm currently drinking the carrot juice.
I'd like to tell you its the most delicious drink I've ever tasted.
Instead, I will tell you the truth. It tastes like carrot water.

So remember what I told you, okay? Thin your carrots!

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