By Jean Blish Siers *
First she did a little hip-hop twerk, and then easily moved into a graceful plié. We were discussing her dance class as we gleaned our way through about fifteen rows of blackberries. Most of the other kids from her youth group had given up – it was hot and humid and the fun had worn off for them – but this sparkling, almost 10-year-old was sticking with it.
After ...
Continue Reading →By Jean Blish Siers *
I have a small scar on my neck where a very talented surgeon did a biopsy more than twenty years ago. She told me, drawing a line with a pen, “I’m going to cut right here because as you age, that line will just become a wrinkle anyway and the scar will be invisible.” That wasn’t a lot of comfort. Not only was I worried about my health ...
You’d be surprised to learn what a potato can do; it can clean silver, grow roses, and even power a clock. One pound of seed potatoes can grow up to ten pounds of potatoes!
Concord United Methodist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee has seen the power within a simple potato. For years, Concord has been the host for a seed potato drop in Eastern Tennessee. A load of seed potatoes is delivered to the church ...
Continue Reading →By Jean Blish Siers *
“If food waste were a country, it would be the world’s third-largest emitter of CO2, after China and the United States. In our nation alone, we throw away 63 million tons of food a year, even as 40 million Americans are considered food insecure,” states a recent article in the Washington Post. It’s a dramatic opening to an article with an intriguing premise ...
By Jean Blish Siers *
I’m a sucker for certain types of Internet “click bait,” those headlines written solely to drive traffic to a page. I skip most (not all) videos of funny cats, but if I see a headline that says, “The 10 Things You Should Always Buy at Trader Joe’s,” I’m there! And of course the other day I clicked on, “The Items You Should Never Buy at Costco.”
There is a Costco near my house and I’m typically there ...
Continue Reading →By Jean Blish Siers *
“No throwing!” That’s one of our main rules as we glean the fields in Charlotte, North Carolina. “If you throw, you have to leave the field.” I tell everyone this – children and adults alike – before we head out to glean.
People think it’s strict, and I have often been accused of being no fun at all. I’ve raised a child. I’m used to the accusation and can ...
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