Tag: AptosCommunityGarden

Your precious money put in the church plate goes for a website? Oh, no!!

Your precious money put  in the  church plate

money in church plate go for website?
Your precious money put n the church plate goes  for a website?

goes for  a website? Oh no!

waste money
Waste money on a church website?  Easy to do!

Church websites are so, sooooo boring!  And so useless!  

 

 

Typically   you’ll see  the same  old   pages at the top:

Staff         Worship        Outreach     Calendar

 Why useless?   Active members never look.  Why?  Active members know what’s going on having been to their church  recently. As for what’s really going on behind the scene — well that’s never put up on the church  website.  You have to be ‘in the know’.

Why boring?   Little is put up on a church website that’s really interesting or entertaining.God forbid!

holding hands
holding hands in church? My, my!

Have you ever seen photos of who is holding who’s  hands in church?

No.   Church website typically show photos of persons who made the largest donations.

Gee whiz.  How exciting. There’s another picture of so and so who gave the most money  last year.

What might   be interesting,  entertaining or useful  to find on a church website?   How about ….

Jobs!       Gossip & News!       Weekly Raffle!    TakeAway!

 Now people  — active and thinking about attending —  might read those pages.  These pages are appropriate and fun.  

 

jobs

 Jobs! The priest / pastor’s job is to equip the  Christian Saints.  And that means that each and every  Christian Saint has a job or several jobs to do.  What spiritual gifts do  you have as a Saint or becoming Saint?  

 So yes — Jobs!  That Page could be at the top of  your church website.    

Gossip and News!  Why that’s the life blood for  some and it can be quite entertaining to read.   Gossip is rumors and chatty information: A man named Jesus was seen hanging out with women who are not his sisters … Will that pass for gossip? Or, how about this:    there’s rumors that so and so  was seen near Safeway in #Aptosia   helping a wheel chair bound lady …. See picture on Twitter!  Add your  own fun gossip and news!

 Weekly Raffle!   So “old” and “new” check in to see who won what and what’s up there next week. People have to find out via their computer to know if they won. Post what’s freely offered  via  a weekly raffle by posting on SantaCruzCountyFreecycle:

https://groups.freecycle.org/group/SantaCruzCountyFreecycle/posts/all

Why not use church parking lots for a barter/ exchange so people can get and give stuff easily and safely?    For example, right now we’re  looking for a free  redwood picnic table for use at #AptosCommunityGarden .  So, there’s a post listed up there.

 

TakeAway
TakeAway heard by pew sitters

TakeAway!   So what did you “TakeAway” from the weekly sermon/ homily?   Church websites typically are  one-way advertisements. Churches  put out “their message”.

Want to know what those in the pew thought of what someone said from the pulpit?  Let the pew sitters say what they “Takeaway”. Make the website interactive.

Let people  post “TakeAway”  as to what they heard.  Or thought they heard. Permit conversation right there on the website.  Wonder whether “old” and “new” might check in to see what others thought?  You bet they will check in.

It’s really too bad that most church websites are largely  useless for attracting people to walk in the door ….. or hang outside where the food/ coffee might be!  

Why are so many church websites so useless?    Take a look at them.

  Is there a Contact Form?   Nope. There could be.   Here’s one example for an Episcopal church:     

contact form for one church
contact form for one church

Does your  church  website have a contact page or better yet specific contact forms which  say: 

HELLO! to the person landing on that specific webpage!

For example.  Say a person goes to the church website and then “hits” on the Sunday School page.  

A contact form could say —  Hi!  Are you interested in the Sunday School as you have children?  Fill out this form and someone from Sunday School will answer your questions within the next 24 hours ….

Quite a few persons  looking to attend a faith based community has skills already developed and probably has skills which could be developed.

So  yes — have contact forms which  inquire what skills that person already has.  And might like to develop.

For God’s sake, show an interest in that particular, unique person!

unique person
unique person

How about a Contact Form that says:   Hi! Tell us a little about your skills –which you have?  want to develop?

We  will get back to you how you can use  your skills or grow your skills.

This Christian community has a special  job for each person!  

A recent look at  websites for several  Christian churches located   in Aptos, CA  shows no Contact Forms.  Take a look and see.  

 http://resurrection-aptos.org/

http://www.aptoschurch.org 

http://www.st-john-aptos.org 

Want to attract people?  Put  on your church website specific Contact Forms that attract people (“old” and “new”) to  smell the roses, slow down,  focus on what’s important.  And have fun!    Make it easy for new people to let others know about the skills and interests they have.  Make it easy for people  to want to go in that door ….

smell the roses
smell the roses

….  for nourishment needed   to go out  in the world and share God’s love.

Yes, take that   money that goes for  your church website and make sure that  it’s spent better.  

 

 

 

Have  specific Contact Forms that actually say Hello!  Tell us a little about yourself so  that we can get back to you and answer your  specific questions.   

Contact me!
Use specific Contact Forms geared to inquire.

 

 

 

 

 

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Soaring eagles eat gophers? Wildflower poppies?

soaring eagle
soaring eagle eat gophers at garden? 

Soaring eagles eat gophers at local Aptos Community Garden?  Or wildflower poppies?

Nope. And no barn owls either.  There’s a new box for a barn owl family but so far no takers.  See pictures of barn owl house #AptosCommunityGarden

Interested in organic gardening?  There are plots available at Aptos Community
Garden located behind the CHP office at the end of Soquel Drive in Aptos.

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OK to kill poppies growing wild in a community garden Aptos, CA? Yes? No?

kill poppies
kill poppies growing wild?

OK to kill  poppies growing wild in a  community garden in  Aptos, CA?  Yes? No?

Some say, “Kill!  Kill!  It’s OK to kill poppies, because ….”

CA poppies are just a weed, right? And it’s OK to kill weeds ….

kill poppies
kill poppies growing in Aptos, CA along fence

 Weeds are plants that happen to be where someone does not want them to be, right?

And  if you think that a CA golden poppy is a weed then it’s OK to  kill — eradicate — poison  CA poppies, right?

And, that’s what happened in sleepy, lovely Aptos, CA.

Someone or persons  decided that it’s  perfectly OK to kill CA  poppies. That is, poppies growing along a fence and within  a community garden located in Aptos, CA.

History:  For  the last couple years,  CA poppies grew  freely along the fence of a community garden in Aptos, CA. #AptosCommunityGarden      And as poppies are want to do, some poppies growing along outside the fence migrated  inside the community garden.  There were lots of poppies just outside the fence and a few poppies here and there inside the fence of the community garden.

Suddenly one day recently  —  no more poppies grow  along the fence of the community garden in Aptos.  Almost all of the poppies inside the gate, along the gate and next to some plots are also history.   Pictures of garden available on Twitter:     #AptosCommunityGarden

Someone  or persons —  was it an impulse or was it planned?  — wiped out in one day  almost all of  the  CA poppies growing along the  community garden fence and most of those growing inside the garden.

A person or people who kill poppies ….. what also do they kill?

They kill  beauty.  They forget or never saw the beauty of CA hillsides.

CA poppies
CA poppies

 What else do they kill?  One wonders,  what kind of a person kills CA poppies growing wild along a fence at a community garden.

Maybe the person(s)  who killed the poppies believes  that poppies are “invasive weeds” which will take over the boxes of  the well manicured vegetable boxes.

Not so.  Poppies don’t tend to be invasive.  Poppies prefer sandy ground, no water and no  care.  Poppies are a true wildflower.

Maybe the person(s) who killed the poppies  did so to “clear the pathway” between the garden plots?  That theory fails because  lots of flowers and other plants continue to grow along the pathways.

Whoever targeted these CA poppies was not interested in clearing the pathways.  The goal was to kill poppies. And they did quite a good job of killing off the poppies.

 So,  what was the motive for killing poppies? God only knows!   And that person knows.

Well,  what to do?  Accept bad behavior of people who kill poppies?  No.

What to do?  Stand up for what you believe in.

I believe that poppies and wildflowers are good and help the world and people to heal.  So — what to do when faced with bad behavior of those who kill poppies?  Grow more poppies.  And keep an eye out.

So, let’s  keep an eye out for person(s) who kill poppies growing on public lands and along fences. Tell them about the laws in CA about poppies. They need education.

The law has plenty to say about killing poppies without the express permission of the land owner.  CA poppies do have legal rights.

“California Penal Code Section 384a requires written landowner permission to remove and sell plant material from land that a person does not own, and removing or damaging plants from property that a person does not own without permission may constitute trespass and/or petty theft.  However, these laws do not prevent the collection of California poppies on private land by the landowner.”  

Those poppies recently killed along the fence of a community garden in Aptos, CA  — if the other side of the fence is public land (owned by the government)  then it appears that a crime may have been committed.   Taking that which does not belong to the owner is a theft. And trespass.

Would the owner of a community garden in Aptos, CA  knowingly give permission to kill  CA poppies growing along the fence?   Or inside the garden?  I think not.

Stand up for what you believe in.  And I believe in wildflowers.

 Remember this quote? By Martin Niemoller

Niemoller
Niemoller

“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

“Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

“Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

“Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

So,  who speaks up  for the  poppies growing along fences of a community garden in Aptos, CA ?

What do you say?  Comments appreciated.    #Aptosia

http://www.parksconservancy.org/about/newsletters/park-e-ventures/2013/09-npn.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/

 

 

 

 

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Aptos Community Garden has some plots available Nov. 2016

 

Aptos Community Garden
Aptos Community Garden

Aptos Community Garden,   831 688-5727 extension 2  is  an outreach of Christ Lutheran Church, offers organic garden plots at reasonable cost.  Cost of plots varies with the size of the plot.  There are about 65 plots available.   There are a few (Nov. 2016) currently available.

Update:  plots #32 and #40 are now available (March 2017).

For pictures   of Aptos Community Garden go to Twitter and type in  #AptosCommunityGarden.   Pictures of the Garden are also on Facebook.

A   drip water  system is provided.  There’s a barn own home waiting for new family of owls to come and catch gophers.

Perhaps you visit frequently the Aptos beach area and connect with others living in and near Aptos through #Aptosia  —  and too much sand, wind and fog don’t help tomatoes to grow.

Do you like to garden but live in the foggy area of Aptos?  Do you live in an apartment and no garden space available? Do you like to learn new things and learning how to do organic gardening is on your list?  Or perhaps you are temporarily living in the Aptos, CA area and like to meet a few people while doing something — such as gardening.

For community garden plots available, call 831 688-5727 x2 and leave your name and number. You can also call Cameron Jackson.

Monerey Bay Forum

127 Jewell Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
United States (US)
Phone: 831 688 6002
Fax: 831 688 7717
Email: jaj48@aol.com

Aptos Community Garden is located at the far end of Soquel Ave. Take the Freedom Blvd exit off highway #1 and it's just behind the CHP office.

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Love thy neighbor farmer

Love thy neighbor farmer.  By not spraying the old version of dicamba on your fields.  The old stuff drifts.  Your neighbors crops die.  Not neighborly.

love thy
love thy neighbor farmer

Farmers in southern U.S. states have long battled weeds and destructive bugs.  This year farmers  face a new threat: their neighbors.

Farmers  say some neighbor  growers are illegally spraying a powerful herbicide that is damaging hundreds of thousands of crop acres in Arkansas, Missouri and Tennessee.  And, this is a  trend that regulators, farmers and academics link to Monsanto Co.’s introduction this year of a new variety of genetically modified soybean.

Where things went wrong occurred when Monsanto sold farmers new seeds without providing an updated version of the herbicide dicamba that is designed to not drift.  Monsanto — innovative and speedy — were too fast on the draw.

Monsanto
Monsanto
soybeans
soybeans

 

Neighboring farmers spray the old form of Monsanto’s herbicide dicamba and — unfortunately — the herbicide drifts over to land using the new biotech soybeans which die when they get a whiff of the herbicide.

The EPA says its investigating dicamba misuse and crop damage and its findings would “inform”its final decision on approving Monsanto’s new version of the herbicide.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/farmers-illegal-use-of-herbicide-takes-toll-on-neighboring-crops-1470130201

 

Aptos Psychologist:  Time for every farmer harmed to send Monsanto a ‘love thy neighbor farmer’ card and seek damages from  Monsanto for stupidity. And then go organic so no bad herbicides floating around.    #AptosCommunityGarden

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