Liz Writes Life 1-20-2021 Loaves and Fishes feed locals

 January 20, 2021

Liz Writes Life

Thank you so much for the many kind words and condolences you all have sent. It is very comforting to know there are so many caring folks! I decided to share my personal story, because it seems that so many of us are hurting for a variety of reasons. God will send peace during our trials, so we need to recognize it and embrace it.

This week, I wanted to highlight a wonderful, caring food program hosted by the Methodist church in Etna. It is called Loaves and Fishes and provides noon-day meals on Tuesdays and Fridays -- even through this lockdown pandemic. Volunteer drivers deliver nearly all of the meals. Etna’s Ryck Kramer organizes the drivers.

Michele Estrada is the director. She took over in 2007, after Fran McIntyre and Bev Moran had been running the program for eight years. It started out with a Beulah Foundation Grant to fund the food and is a cooperative church-based program. Members from several churches in Scott Valley help in a variety of ways and all are volunteers.

The program began cooking meals for those in need, especially senior citizens, on Fridays. At some point, it expanded to include Tuesdays. Leanne Jopson and Suzanne Poulson have been cooking with Michele for several years. Michele said that she and Leanne are licensed through a food safety preparation program. The cooks are very careful. They do allow donations from individuals. Local gardeners often share their abundance of vegetables and fruits.

Before the pandemic, sisters from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Etna Ward were taking turns baking desserts for the 50 or so individual meals on Fridays. Since the church is no longer meeting and sign-up sheets are not being circulated, the dessert-making has fallen to the three cooks. Luckily, Lorrayne Hurlbut also makes dozens of cookies every month. But this is where additional volunteers are needed. Michele said they will appreciate all homemade cookies or other desserts. 

The Food Pantry in Fort Jones gives its excess food to Loaves and Fishes and the local schools also share its extras. The Salvation Army and Rotary Club of Scott Valley are major supporters. The local Catholic congregation provides a monthly donation and at holidays, like Christmas, concerned individuals also offer a monetary donation.

Michele said she misses the individuals coming to the Methodist church’s cultural hall to eat. The cooks like to interact and have fun. Holidays just don’t seem to have the same joyful exchange and neither do the fun-loving practical jokes. 

One time, the cooks announced they would be making lasagne. One patron, Doug Layton, said he really liked lasagne and waited with heightened anticipation. So, when his meal came with a lasagne-type layered cake dessert, he admitted disappointment and will not let the cooks live it down. 

Loaves and Fishes lives up to the parable in the New Testament, when Jesus fed thousands with two loaves of bread and five fishes. Yes, there have been times when more people walked through the door than anticipated and the cooks worried. But, the modern local miracle is that the food always stretches to feed all the participants.

If you know of someone who is homebound or may need a meal on Fridays or Tuesdays, please contact Michele. Also, more volunteer dessert makers would be much appreciated. Please call Michele at 530-598-2444.

Garden

I appreciated Judy Bushy’s column, last week, when she suggested it was time to plan the garden. I haven’t received any seed magazines this month. Hum, I guess it is because I have not been ordering seeds and they finally dropped me off their lists. It is hard to get excited about planning the garden, when I am not enticed by the bright and beautiful photos in the seed catalogues.

One problem of planning the garden in January is that I think I can raise more than I really need to. Yep, once again, I am going to try and reduce my plants. Three zucchini plants is ridiculous! One is plenty. I will likely need to let several  germinate and begin to grow, but will need the fortitude to pull out the extras. Or, maybe, I will allow a second one to grow for the Loaves and Fishes program!

I would like to grow several giant pumpkin plants and I won’t need as many cucumber plants as I did last year, but I could share the extra with the Loaves and Fishes program. I think I made 11 quarts of dill pickles in July and August. No, I won’t eat those in one year. I did share cantaloupe, potatoes, rhubarb, zucchini, cucumbers and tomatoes with friends last year. I will probably still plant a six-pack of Ace or Early Girl tomatoes.

Finally, I did get 20 or so garlic cloves planted. Yep, over a month late, so we will see when they mature. Also, covered them with chicken wire to discourage the cats from using the area to go potty.

And, I did use the wheelbarrow and wheeled a bunch of horse manure over and piled it on the two non-growing rhubarb plants. Yep, that job should have been done last November, too. Thankfully, last June, George Poe brought over a pickup load of horse manure. So, I just had to do the job! Only took 20 minutes! Should have done it sooner!

Hope you have a peaceful week!

Liz Bowen began writing ranch and farm news, published in newspapers, in 1976. She is a native of Siskiyou County and lives near Callahan. Columns from the past can be found at: lizwriteslife.blogspot.com. Call her at 530-467-3515.

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Liz Writes Life 1-13-2021 "Welcome the peace"

 Liz Writes Life

January 13, 2021

Well, let’s see if I can get the 2021 date right this week. Hopefully, last week, my 2020 and other mistakes were fixed at the editor’s desk! 

Writing this column has been interesting. Because I write about my family and my current life in a familiar manner, I feel you readers are my friends. So, with humbleness, I will share that my oldest son, Branden, died last month. Yes, it was by his own hand. He was 45 years old and had been dealing with depression, mood disorder and extreme sadness from when his dad, Jack, died in 2018. Jack’s death was unexpected, although we had just learned his heart was in poor shape -- really poor shape. His heart stopped while he was sleeping. (I personally consider that a great way to go!)

The concern, compassion and sympathy that I and my family have received is amazing. It brings tears to my eyes as I feel your love. You are all so special! The local community has been wonderful to my daughter-in-law, Deana, and my five grandchildren. Yes, my biggest concern is for Branden’s children. 

When Jack died, I shared my belief in Jesus Christ as my Savior in this column. I felt a strong sense of peace and that there is certainly a Paradise, where our spirits go for rest, healing, loving and growth. That testimony is still so very strong with me.  

It may seem strange, but my Lord and the Comforter (Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit, whichever you call Him) prepared me well for this loss. I knew Branden’s mental health was a problem even though he tried to cover it up. And his wife, Christy, told me that Branden did enter a mental health facility a month before he died. Unfortunately, he only stayed a week.

Some things we cannot fix -- in others or in ourselves. But we do try and worry and fret and pray. Forgiveness is the key -- for ourselves and for others, although forgiveness can be so very hard. 

With suicide there is always the guilt in those left behind that they could have done something to change things. Once again, the Comforter has brought peace to me and I will be the first to say I was far from a perfect mom. I do have my sad times.

So, I was feeling a bit guilty, because my peace has been so strong. Then a friend called. Of course, the conversation was long and winding, but this was the advice she gave me. It had been relayed by a mutual friend to her.

“Welcome the peace.” 

So, profound and simple! Peace is a gift from the Comforter and Jesus Christ. We should embrace it when it comes. For some, the peace may be first smothered by deep grief, but it will be there. Appreciate it, when you feel it.

We will all deal with grief of the death of loved ones -- no matter how they die. Yes, grief must be felt and allowed and worked through. I believe that I dealt with my grief more when Branden was alive. I had to let go and let Branden make his choices whether they were good or not so good. 

So, this is what I wish to share today: When dealing with death or other trials, please don’t get stuck in the grief. Also, guilt will not fix anything. God loves you. Let go and let God heal. God loves the one who died. Paradise is real. Keep trying to make good choices. Pray to feel His love and guidance. Pray for peace and then be sure to “Welcome the peace,” when it comes. 

Jesus told us in St. John 14:27 -- “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” 

And in the previous verse, Jesus tells us how the “Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, … will teach you all things … .”

May God bless us as we continue on our individual path of life. May we acknowledge the things we need to learn, be the servant He would have us be and do more than endure. May we look for and embrace the peace He will give us!

Liz Bowen began writing ranch and farm news, published in newspapers, in 1976. She is a native of Siskiyou County and lives near Callahan. Columns from the past can be found at: lizwriteslife.blogspot.com. Call her at 530-467-3515.

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 Liz Writes Life

January 6, 2021

Well we’ve made it through the holidays and into a new year. Yay! Folks are sure hoping 2021 is a happier year than 2020. Time will tell, but we may need to prepare ourselves for more of what we have had and also the unexpected. 

I checked the internet for information on the year 1921 and found it had a lot of the same problems we have had, although the Spanish Flu pandemic hit earlier in 1918. So, here’s a glimpse at life in the United States 100 years ago.

In January, a Science Service was organized with the goal of keeping the public informed of scientific developments. It was renamed Society of Science & the Public. Hum, that was a good simple name!

Also, in American football the University of California defeated Ohio State in the Rose Bowl 28-0. Oops that was an upset!

Hum, this is interesting: The first religious radio broadcast is aired over KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The De Young Museum opened in the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The full-length drama film “The Kid” was released. It was written, produced, directed and starred Charlie Chaplin. The Lowe’s hardware store opened in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

On March 4th, Warren G. Harding was sworn-in as the 29th President of the United States. 

In April, the United States Figure Skating Assoc. was formed and the famous play “Liliom” by Ferenc Molnar was produced on Broadway in English.

On May 19th, the Emergency Quota Act was passed by the U.S. Congress, which established national quotas on immigration. It drastically limited immigration from Eastern Europe, so Jews began to immigrate to Palestine rather than the U.S.

In golf, the first international tournament was held and the United States beat the United Kingdom 9 rounds to 3.

Rioting and culture wars were front stage. The first victim of the Osage Indian murders was discovered in Osage County, Oklahoma. And on May 31st, mobs of white residents attacked black residents and businesses in the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The official death toll is 36, but later investigations placed it between 100 and 300. More than 1,250 homes were destroyed and about 6,000 African Americans imprisoned in one of the worst incidents of mass racial violence in the U.S.

On the upside, 20-year-old Bessie Coleman obtained her pilot’s license in France and became the first African American to earn an international pilot’s license.

On July 2nd, Pres. Harding signed a joint congressional resolution declaring an end to the U.S. war with Germany, Austria and Hungary. Pres. Harding also received Princess Fatima of Afghanistan and was escorted by imposter Stanley Clifford Weyman. Weyman was prosecuted several times for posing as high-ranking elected officials.

Former U.S. President, William Howard Taft, was sworn-in as Chief Justice of the U.S. making him the only person to hold both positions.

In August, the first radio baseball game was broadcast over Westinghouse KDKA in Pittsburgh. Harold Arlin announced the Pirates and Phillies game from Forbes Field. Later in August, there was a riot by West Virginia coal miners leading to the Battle of Blair Mountain.

On Sept. 8, Margaret Gorman, who was 16 years-old, won the Golden Mermaid trophy at the beauty pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey. This was later dubbed the first Miss America contest. 

On Sept. 13th, what is considered the world’s first fast food chain began when the White Castle hamburger restaurant opened in Wichita, Kansas.

October was a busy month. The World Series baseball game was broadcast for the first time by Newark, New Jersey station KJZ in Pittsburgh; and the broadcast also included other commercial and amateur stations throughout the eastern U.S.

The “Sweetest Day” is staged in Cleveland, Ohio and the Chicago Theatre, which still survives, opened as a movie palace. 

After years of construction, the Link River Dam in the federal Klamath Project, in Oregon, is completed. This expanded the use of stored irrigation water to the farmers settling the Klamath Basin growing food needed to feed America.

Considered the “upset of the century,” quarterback Bo McMillin led Centre College’s football team to defeat Harvard University 6-0. This snapped Harvard’s five-year winning streak.

On Nov. 11th, Pres. Harding dedicated the Tomb of the Unknowns during the Armistice Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.

On Nov. 23rd, Pres. Harding signed the Sheppard-Towner Act that provided federal funding for maternity and child care.

And on Dec 13th, in the Four Power Treaty on Insular Possessions, the Empire of Japan, United Kingdom, French Third Republic and the United States agreed to recognize the status quo in the Pacific. 

Ongoing activities by the U.S. included the occupation of Haiti, which began when the murder of dictator President Vilbrun Guillaume Sam, in 1914, began 20 years of unstable politics and leadership.

There was an economic depression in 1920-1921. 

Prohibition of the use of alcohol beverages continued, which ironically pushed the alcohol industry into the hands of organized crime. But, Prohibition is considered by the scientific community to have lowered the rates of liver cirrhosis, alcoholic psychosis and infant mortality.

The “Roarin’ 20s” became a time of economic prosperity in the urban areas of the U.S. and Europe. Unfortunately, rural areas did not feel much of the same economic improvements.

Take from this bit of history what you want. Remember the old adage: Much has changed, but much has stayed the same! Happy New Year!

Liz Bowen began writing ranch and farm news, published in newspapers, in 1976. She is a native of Siskiyou County and lives near Callahan. Columns from the past can be found at: lizwriteslife.blogspot.com. Call her at 530-467-3515.

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