I got a real job!!!

Feed My Starving Children offered me a job and I have accepted it!!! 

I first learned about Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) when I was in El Salvador a couple of years ago.  The homeless shelter run by the Lutheran Church receives food from FMSC and it was there that I saw the food being used as well as the boxes of food that had been marked as being packed by volunteers in Aurora, IL.  When I got home, I learned more about FMSC and saw they were a pretty awesome organization.  So, when I started looking for jobs, this was one of the places I kept checking for open positions.

Feed My Starving Children was founded in 1987 by a Minnesotan who had taken a trip to Honduras and then felt called to do something about the hungry children he witnessed there and knew existed around the world.  Working with food scientists, FMSC developed a specially designed food formula that would provide the nutrients needed to restore starving children to health.  In order to make a significant difference in alleviating hunger, FMSC sought to find the most cost-effective way to produce and package the food.  They found that volunteers could package the food much better and cheaper than machines.  So, volunteers from churches, community organizations, businesses, etc. have been an essential part of FMSC.  FMSC partners with nonprofit organizations around the world to distribute the food to those in need.  The vision of the organization is to “strive to eliminate starvation in children throughout the world by helping to instill compassion in people to hear and respond to the cries of those in need.”  FMSC has been growing rapidly over the past few years, with hundred of thousands of volunteers packing millions and millions of meals.

I’m going to be a Team Leader.  I’ll be leading groups of 10-90 volunteers that come to pack food at FMSC’s location in Aurora.  It will be my job to ensure that the volunteers follow the proper food packing procedure and to create a positive volunteer experience.  I’ll get to tell the volunteers about FMSC and its mission, teach them the packing procedure, and make sure everything goes smoothly from start to clean up.  Then I get to see a whole bunch of food shipped off to hungry people all over the world.

That’s right.  This is the real deal.  I’m going to be working at a faith-based non-profit organization! 

If you can’t tell, I’m pretty excited about this job.  First, I’m excited because it is a job, a source of income.  Second, I’m excited because I get to work for a great organization that is doing great work around the world.  But most importantly, I’m excited because this job will provide me an opportunity to do what I am called to do- teach people about injustice in the world and then encourage and enable them to DO something about that injustice.  In a very concrete way I will be able to educate people about the injustice of hunger around the world and then immediately give them a way to respond.

The only downside of this job (at least the only downside I know about so far): this is only a part time position. I’m only guaranteed 12 hours a week, but there is the possibility of picking up other shifts as they are available.

I’m going to start soon- I’m not quite sure when exactly- probably within the next week. 

My birthday and refugees

My birthday is on Saturday.  It’s a pretty big birthday.  I’m going to be 25 years old- that’s a quarter of a century, folks.  I’m feeling a bit ambivalent about being that old, but there’s not much I can do about it.    

As part of my birthday celebration, I'm going to be participating in the Run/Walk for Refugees to support Exodus World Service. I've gotten involved with Exodus World Service over the past year and I can't think of a better way to spend the morning of my birthday than joining with others to raise awareness and funds to support the work of Exodus. Through Exodus, I've been volunteering with a wonderful refugee family from Bhutan. It has been such a pleasure getting to know the family. I have learned about their life as refugees in Nepal. I have also had the opportunity to learn about the joys and struggles they have experienced as they adjust to a new life here in the U.S. 

Here are my most favorite refugees!  (the kids from the family I've been volunteering with)

I would love for you to join me on Saturday at the Run/Walk for Refugees in Long Grove.  You can learn more about the run/walk and register here.

Whether or not you can join me for the run/walk, I would really love for you to sponsor me in this fundraiser.  I made my fundraising goal $625.  That's 25 dollars for each year of my life.  I’m 70% of the way to my goal which is pretty awesome!!!  Thanks to those of you who have already donated!!!  I have asked friends and family to make a donation to Exodus World Service in lieu of giving me any birthday gifts.  But even if you weren’t planning on giving me a birthday gift, you could still make a donation.  ;-)  As a volunteer with Exodus, I know Exodus does some incredible work supporting new refugees through connecting them with the support of volunteers. 

You can make a donation by visiting my fundraising page here: http://www.ministrysync.com/event/website/?m=736164

Thanks so much!

Acorn Squash

As I mentioned in an earlier post, a surprise acorn squash grew in my garden.  Well, there were two squashes that grew, but one was still pretty small when the squash vine died prematurely, so I’m not sure if that squash will be any good. 

I have to confess that I am not a huge fan of squash.  With the exception of pumpkin, I would normally turn down any offer to eat any kind of squash.  Some are far too sweet, some are stringy, some are slimy, some squash is just mush with no taste.

However, the squash that came out my garden was the best squash I have ever eaten.  To cook it I cut it in half, removed the seeds, and then put the squash halves upside-down in a 350 degree over for 30 minutes.  Then I took it out, turned over the squash halves, put about two tablespoons of brown sugar and one tablespoon of butter in the hole of each half, and put it back in the oven for about 30 more minutes.

This squash made my mouth so happy.  It was perfectly sweet with a complex and delicious taste I can’t even describe.  I sure am glad that squash grew in my garden.  Maybe next year I’ll consider actually planting some on purpose.  Maybe. 

Pickles Part 2

I canned a bunch of dill pickles a few of days ago.  It went well- I’m getting more comfortable and confident with my canning abilities.  However, I’m really worried about my pickles.  Mostly I’m worried that they are going to be mushy.  I did add some Pickle Crisp- we’ll see if it did its job of keeping the pickles crisp.

I bought about 14 pounds of pickling cucumbers a farmer’s market.  The cucumbers that I’m growing in my garden aren’t the best for making pickles and I don’t have enough cucumbers from my garden to can a batch of pickles.

I got an awesome book on canning for the library- Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.  This book is filled with 400 recipes for canning just about everything.  So, I followed their recipe for dill pickles.

Here’s the basic pickle canning process:

Step 1: Clean the cucumbers.  Slice off a little slice from each end of the cucumbers.  Soak them overnight in some salt water.

Step 2: Prepare the canner.  Sterilize the jars and jar lids.  

the canner

Step 3:  Mix up the vinegar solution- vinegar, water, sugar, salt, and pickling spice.  Heat it and simmer for 15 minutes.

Step 4: Fill the jars with chopped garlic, dill, and pickles.  Pour the vinegar solution over the cucumbers.  Put the lids on the jars.

Step 5: Put the jars in the canner and process for 15 minutes.

Step 6:  Remove the jars and let them cool.

I ended up with 12 jars of pickles, each with about 4 or 5 good-sized pickles.  They look like pickles should look.  I’m going to let them sit for a few weeks at least so they can soak in all the flavor of the vinegar and pickling spice.  Then I’m going to open up a jar and hope that they are the most delicious crisp pickles I have ever eaten.  I’ll let you know.   

Pickles!!!

I love pickles (specifically dill pickles, not sweet pickles). I love to eat them as a snack, on a sandwich, on a veggie burger, on the side, or any other way I can manage.

So I decided to try to make my own pickles.

I thought I would keep it simple and start with refrigerator pickles rather than actually canning pickles. I scoured the internet and looked at a bunch of different recipes and eventually settled on trying this one.

Recipe:
3 cups distilled white vinegar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tbsp kosher salt

1 tbsp of pickling spice (or 1 tsp each of mustard, coriander, and dill seeds)

2 cups hot water

2 pounds pickling cucumbers, sliced 1/4-inch thick

1 bunch of chopped fresh dill

3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

Combine your vinegar, sugar, salt, and pickling spice in a large bowl. Pour the hot water over the vinegar mixture, and mix until the sugar is dissolved. Cool to room temperature.
Chop your cucumbers into ¼ inch slices, and divide them into jars (mine fit perfectly into 3 quart size jars). Chop the dill and the garlic, and divide it evenly between your jars.
Pour the cooled brine over the cucumbers. If the brine doesn’t quite cover the cucumbers, add more water/vinegar mixture (I just mixed 1 part water to 1 part vinegar).
Place the jars in the fridge overnight.
They’re ready to eat after 24 hours, and will keep in the fridge for 2 weeks.


I don’t often follow recipes exactly- I like to make changes that make the recipe simpler and I make changes based on what I think will taste better. So here’s what I did differently: I skipped the pickling spice because I didn’t have any and I wasn’t sold on the idea that I would even like it. I used pickling salt instead of kosher salt. I added some thinly sliced onion along with the dill and garlic.

the cukes.

the jars.

I sliced some of the cucumbers in lengthwise slices, some in quarters, and some in circle slices. I made 2 jars- a ½ gallon jar and a quart jar.

cukes all cut up ready for the brine

I put them in the fridge and let them sit for a week. And then I started eating them. They are pretty good. They taste more like tangy cucumbers than pickles though. Or maybe I’m just so used to commercially produced pickles and the ones I made are what pickles are supposed to taste like. I think if I were to make these again I would make a few changes: add more garlic and finely chop it (I really can’t taste the garlic at all and I love garlic), and not chop the dill (the little pieces of dill are floating at the top of the jar and I think it would be better to just put the pieces of dill in there without chopping it). For my first attempt at pickle making, I think it went pretty well.

My next adventure in pickle making was making pickles and canning them so I can enjoy them all winter long.  That story will be my next post...

Cucumbers!

I enjoy cucumbers.  I obviously wouldn’t grow them if I didn’t like them.  If you grow cucumbers, you have to know how to be creative in order to use them (or you have to have friends and neighbors that you can give cucumbers to),  because there always seems to be lots and lots of cucumbers. 

So, here I would like to share all the things that I have done with cucumbers so you too may enjoy cucumbers

I started out just eating the cucumbers cut up on salads.  Then I put cucumber slices on sandwiches with other veggies. 

Then I made a cucumber salad. 

To make the cucumber salad, slice up a cucumber along with about ½ cup of sliced onion.  In into the cucumber and onion about ¼ cup each of mayo and sour cream.  Add a little salt and pepper to taste and some dried or fresh dill.

Then I made taziki sauce.  

This one is a little more complex, but I have made it quite often so it is becoming easier.  Buy a big container (32 ounces, I think) of plain yogurt.  Take a colander and line in with a coffee filter.  Dump the yogurt into the coffee filter lined colander with a bowl underneath.  Liquid will drip out of the yogurt- let it drain over night or for a while.  Now the yogurt is thicker.  Add to the yogurt a shredded cucumber, ½ cup finely chopped onion, 2-3 cloves minced garlic, fresh or dried dill, and salt and pepper to taste.  You can use this as a dip with pita chips or pita bread.  Put some on a sandwich or in a pita or wrap.

I sliced up half a cucumber and sprinkled some salt and lemon juice on the slices.  It might sound a little strange, but it is a very tasty and refreshing cucumber creation.

Then I made pickles, which is going to have to be a post all by itself.

Garden Update- the good, the bad, and the ugly

I think I’m done writing about El Salvador for a while. There are a couple other posts that I’m working on related to El Salvador, but I want to think and reflect on them some more before I post them. So, I will now return to posting random posts about my everyday, less exciting yet good life back in the US.  Mostly I'm going to post about the fruits of my vegetable garden and what I'm doing with those fruits.

So, my vegetable garden hasn't done as well as I would have hoped.  I'm going to blame it on the fact this was my first year growing plants from seeds, a late spring, really hot dry weather, and a lack of proper care while I was away in El Salvador.  

The good: The cucumbers have done well- I've picked at least 15 and there will be probably about 6-10 more.  The jalapenos are doing excellent- lots and lots of pleasantly spicy peppers.

Look at all those nice jalapenos!

cucumbers!

this poor cucumber is oddly shaped because it decided to grow through the trellis fence 

The bad: Tomatoes.  The cherry tomato plant I planted did ok.  I've picked about 20 little tomatoes and they are really yummy, and there are still some more green ones growing, but there should have been so many more.  The regular tomatoes have made me very sad.  The plants grew very slowly to start with.  I started growing them inside, but I started too late.  I thought they would grow really quickly when I put them outside in the nice soil, but they didn't.  I eventually bought some organic fertilizer to give them.  When I got back from El Salvador the plants were huge and I was really excited.  But I didn't see one single tomato on them.  About a week later there were finally some little green tomatoes on the plants, and now there are more little green tomatoes.  I don't know if they will grow to a decent size or if they will have time to get ripe before it gets too cold.  We'll see...

A couple almost ripe cherry tomatoes

the pathetic little green tomatoes

the tomato plants look good, but there just aren't any tomatoes

The ugly: I had planted some cilantro in a couple of pots, and they clearly did not get watered and they were very dead when I got home from El Salvador.  And the broccoli plants grew and grew, but no heads of broccoli ever formed.  I guess broccoli likes cool weather so I think I planted them too late and it got really hot too soon in the summer.  I just pulled the broccoli plants out of the ground and planted some cilantro where the broccoli had been. 

A nice surprise: Acorn squash!!!  I didn't plant acorn squash, but when I got home from El Salvador I found 2 acorn squashes growing amongst the cucumbers.  I'm not sure how the acorn squash grew- maybe there was a seed mix up at the seed factory (but I'm pretty sure that all the seeds I planted looked like cucumber seeds) or maybe a bird stole a seed from somewhere and brought it to my garden or maybe there was a seed in some compost I used.  Or maybe it was a miracle.