Building a raised garden bed

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Ever since I moved to my current home a few years ago I have been frustrated in my efforts to plant an early Spring garden. Every March and April it is cold and wet. Even if I can get some seed in the ground it doesn't germinate until it gets warmer.

This Spring I finally had it. It was time to change things. If I can't change the weather then I will have to find a way to deal with it.

My solution was to build a raised bed (10" high, 4' wide and 20' long) in the garden. I used a similar process to build two raised beds at my previous house where the dirt was nothing but yellow clay and limestone. The ONLY way to garden there was to grow things above the existing surface. It worked very well.

This time I added a couple of refinements so I could cover the bed with either plastic or fiberglass sheets to keep out the rain and hold in a little warmth from the sun in the early Spring. I also added some gravel under the dirt to improve drainage and hardware cloth to keep out the moles.

The bed wasn't ready for an early Spring garden this year but is being used for Summer crops. Next Spring I plan to be ready for some edible pod peas, green onions and radishes!

Controlled Prairie Burn

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As a volunteer at Miami Whitewater Forest (a county park in Southwest Ohio) I was invited to help burn a prairie. By intentionally setting and controlling the fire you can reduce the chances of an unwanted and uncontrolled fire. Burning the brush and other tall weeds also encourages the growth of the varieties of prairie grasses that are desirable.

The volunteers and park staff work together to ensure that the fires do not get out of control. Workers carry tanks of water on their backs to extinguish any fire that starts to go the wrong way. The park staff is well trained to plan and execute the burn. They provide thorough and clear instructions to make sure everyone understands their part in the project. Equipment is provided to each worker to protect them in the unlikely event of getting too close to the flames. Safety is of the utmost concern.

Usually the burns are done earlier in the Spring, but heavy rain delayed the project until April. This was the last scheduled burn of this year, so I felt fortunate to get a chance to participate.

The basic plan is to burn a large field in small sections so it doesn't get out of control. Even so it can get pretty hot, and the thick smoke makes it hard to breath when the wind shifts toward you.

This was my first "burn" and it was quite interesting and educational. Maybe next year the weather will cooperate and I will have another chance to help with the burn crew.

Haiti 2008

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In February of 2008 ten men from the Miamitown Church of Christ traveled to the Living Water Christian Mission in Gonaives, Haiti. The purpose of the trip was to wire several school classrooms with electric and get to know our Haitian Christian brothers and sisters.

We were able to get all the targeted classrooms wired and operational by the time we had to leave. In addition we made friends with many of the school children. They loved having their pictures taken with a digital camera so they could immediately see how they looked. In fact, we had to "ration" the pictures because every time we took a picture there were more and more children jockeying for position to see the pictures. The only way to control the crowd was to stop taking pictures and then resume a little later.

Some of the guys played soccer with the children almost daily. The children were really FAST, unlike the fat Americans! We brought several soccer balls with us and the school principal said we had given them something to brag about. Most schools in this city of 500,000 people only have one, or maybe two soccer balls. Now the Living Water school has the most soccer balls in Gonaives!

Haiti is just southeast of Cuba and shares an island with the Dominican Republic. As a result of many years of political and social turmoil, the economy of the whole country is in a sad state. Even though Haiti was once a tropical paradise it is slowly becoming a desert in many places as a result of the destruction of their once lush forests. The hills have been striped bare of trees with the predictable results of frequent mud slides and floods. Dust blows everywhere and covers cars and houses in a thick blanket.

It would be easy for the people of Haiti to become discouraged. There are few jobs. The average annual per capita income is only $400 - $450. Life expectancy is only around 50 for both men and women. Health care and police protection is almost non-existent. The courts don't seem interested in enforcing the laws of the land. Open bribery seems to be the “normal” way to get things done or get out of a legal problem. Those few who can afford some transportation usually own a small motorcycle, not a car. Few houses have electricity or water. Their water must be carried in pots and buckets for several miles. In short, most Americans would be shocked to see what the Haitians have to put up with every day of their lives.

Yes, it would be easy to get discouraged, but the Christians in Haiti are definitely NOT discouraged. We worshiped with Christians in Gonaives on Sunday morning and I have never seen such happy people! They were excited about being at church and praising God. They had big smiles on their faces and loved to clap their hands with the music. They sang LOUD, and they were very good singers, singing in four-part harmony. I sat in the front of the church, almost next to 2 electric guitars, a trumpet, a keyboard and drums. With their electric amps turned up they were pretty loud, but I could not even hear them when the people started to sing! The church was filled with people standing outside watching the service.

We went back for Sunday evening service and guess what? Almost every chair was filled for that service also. No, the Christians in Gonaives are far from discouraged. In fact, I wish they could teach the Americans how to enjoy worship. We seem to have lots of “stuff”, but have lost our enthusiasm for God. Yes, we have lots of enthusiasm and make lots of noise – but only at ball games or NASCAR. Do we ever get that excited about going to church? Maybe we should pity the spiritually poor Americans instead of the physically poor Haitians?

The men on the trip were: Joby Anders, Kenny Boatright, Josh Brown, Alan Burck, Randy Carroll, Ken Croll, Mark Nakoff, Walt Rolfes, Al Schumann and Terry West.

New Plastic for Seed Nursery Greenhouse

For the last year I have volunteered a few hours a week at the Shaker Trace Seed Nursery. In November of 2007 the staff and volunteers replaced the plastic roof over the greenhouse.

Fortunately, Steven Sehlhorst, the Seed Nursery Manager, has done this several times before. The volunteers tried to do as Steven asked and, even though most of us had never seen this done before, the new plastic looked real good on the old greenhouse.

The Shaker Trace Seed Nursery is operated by the Hamilton County Park District and is located in Miami Whitewater Forest.

The pictures can be viewed as an album.

Rebuilding Homes and Lives in Jamaica




This August hurricane Dean swept through Jamaica with winds well over 100 miles per hour. The very poor people were hit the hardest as their houses, little more than salvaged wood and sheets of tin, were easily destroyed. One young woman with two small children said she literally didn't even have a plate to eat off of after the storm blew everything away.

Dennis and Mary Herko, missionaries serving Jamaica, sent an urgent plea for help. The next Sunday the Miamitown Church of Christ was challenged to send help. Ten men from the church quickly made arrangements to go to Jamaica September 22nd through 28th to help rebuild some of the houses destroyed by the hurricane. Church members generously provided the funds needed for travel and supplies for the trip.

Herko Family Mission provided sleeping and eating facilities in Kingston. There we joined more volunteers from IDES (International Disaster Emergency Services) and other U.S. churches who had responded to the plea.

Our target, Old Harbour, was about an hour's drive west of Kingston. Each day we loaded up a van pulling a large trailer filled with equipment, food and drinking water and drove from Kingston to Old Harbour. The commute took us past sugar cane fields and many extremely poor communities.

Despite the intense heat and logistics challenges, the volunteers were able to get two houses in a livable condition and a third one framed and ready for a roof. The new owners now had a house designed to withstand the high winds from the next hurricane. Similar homes previously built by Herko Family Mission survived hurricane Dean with almost no damage, so we felt confident that the new ones would provide many years of protection from the elements.

Herko Family Mission and the Church of Christ at Old Harbour also provided beds and household items for those living in the new homes. Supplies were provided to complete the third home with local workers.

The community can see the love of Jesus as the church at Old Harbour helps to rebuild homes. But they need help in rebuilding their lives also. Besides the extreme poverty, they are surrounded by crime and violence. Soon after we returned we got the tragic news that Chris, one of our Jamaican workers, was shot and killed not too far from the rebuilt homes. Please pray that Old Harbour will turn to Jesus, not just to rebuild homes, but to rebuild lives.

The team from Miamitown was Joby Anders, Kenny Boatright, Logan and Ryan Borntrager, Alan Burck, Larry Cramer, Ken Croll, Bob Jacobs, Bo Sharp and Terry West.

Photo Album of trip.