Tell Me This Is NOT a Scheme To Get Ski Back to Appleton!

Pastors	Current call	New call	Date declined
Rev Brett A Brauer	Trinity LC Watertown WI	St John LC Appleton WI Associate Pastor	7/16/20

***

Ski worshiped with the Babtists
at this Temple for Short-Attention Span
Juveniles.

WELS LACE Money at Work - Propping Up The Largest (sic) Distinctly Lutheran Festival in North AmericaLuther Daze

WELS Ex-VP (Michigan District) is a leader of LACE.
They just gave $5,000 of your interest money to Natalie Pratt,
pictured below.

WELS members and pastors should follow the money, instead of sleeping through the next money scandal. LACE paid $5,000 to be a sponsor of this fiasco.

Luther Daze is a good description of WELS.

They finally filed the LLC papers (false advertising before), but they are NOT a non-profit group.
They cannot be an LLC and non-profit in Wisconsin.



---

Reader:

"LACE paid $5,000 to be a sponsor of this fiasco".  

Are they a sponsor in the true sense by donating the money without reimbursement or did they just lend the money?


The first page of LACE states:

"Our purpose is to assist congregations. This can't be emphasized enough!

The primary purpose of LACE being a Christ-centered servant is to provide congregations with low cost loans to support the church in fulfilling its mission of sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. These loans can be used to refinance current mortgages; construct and or purchase a new church, parsonage or teacherage; expand or renovate the church, school facilities, and parsonages or teacherages; or to complete miscellaneous projects such as carpeting, purchasing an organ or fixing a roof. In addition to providing the funding for loans, LACE provides a channel through which people can purchase investments and receive annual interest payments. Contact us today for more information or to arrange a visit at your church."

This is a single event with an unknown attendance. 

Wouldn't $5,000 to a congregation for long-term investment be more wise?

If Luther Days is now registered in Wisconsin as a for-profit company and not a church, doesn't this go against LACE's primary purpose which is clearly stated on thier website?  The last 2 church projects on their website are listed as 2010. 

Does Luther Days not have enough sponsors that LACE had to step in?  

Either way, the Board of Directors should be making a statement on the amount provided.  The entire website gives no indication of gifts to any church but rather loans.  The incompetency of those presiding over this event is alarming.

Howling Winds, Darkness, Drenching Rain.

Mrs. Ichabod said, "You got the rain you wanted.
You should be happy."

Today I visited with Almost Eden about the storm that bypassed us to rain on Eureka Springs, not far from the famous Thorncrown Chapel. Almost Eden was watering his plants, skeptical about promises of rain. Yes, it felt like rain again, and it was cooler, but that does not mean much here. I continue to think that the mountains above and below us speed up the clouds that rush past, laden with rain.

Thorncrown Chapel

Barbra Streisand is a productive lavender rose.

I thought the stored rain was aging in the barrels, so I decided to spread it around favorite and needy plants. I am building up the Barbra Streisand rose for a friend who loves lavender roses. Daily doses of rain brought the rose back after looking a bit dry and tired from the torrid heat. Other roses along the fence also benefited. A few Japanese beetles enjoyed a couple of Mr. Lincoln roses, so I cut their lunch off.

Today I was laughing as I carried my buckets of rain to the roses, feeling like a peasant. I made sure the front yard and backyard containers were all emptied. I also watered the main rose garden completely. The wind kicked up and began howling. I put some additional weight on the cardboard covering the Hosta garden. I told our helper, "Nothing brings on a wind storm like fresh cardboard."

He said, "No kidding." I put the three seed containers (zinc garbage cans) on the cardboard, plus mulch bags and containers of newspapers. The cardboard held, so I put fresh seed in the feeders as rain began to follow the wind.

When I came inside, the sky darkened even more, and thunder boomed. Normally the rain drips off the roof, so the roof is a great collector of rain for the gardens. I went inside. This time we felt like we were behind a small waterfall, looking out.

I got the rain I wanted in about one hour, one to two inches, plus some light rain afterwards. Sassy and I had a cool afternoon walk later.

Japanese beetles spoil roses,
but we do not have many.

What have we learned today?

• Rain is unpredictable, so it is good to store some and ladle it out, without giving the skeeters a home.
• Rain is liquid fertilizer, the safest kind, benefiting plants and creatures at the same time.
• Cardboard is a magnet for wind, so weigh down the cardboard layer of your future garden.

Cardboard keeps the weeds from bursting through the mulch later.

Twelve Lessons from the Garden Time Makes Ancient Truths Uncouth.Almost Eden Gardens and Nursery

I was thinking about a direct walk to Almost Eden Gardens and Nursery, but Sassy wanted to take the long route, down Joye, past the fire station, and through Almost Eden. Her plan gave her a rich and varied path to follow, which led ultimately to Opie and his staffmember, Almost Eden himself.

Today we talked about hawks, rabbits, and the cat Sassy decided to track. Her sense of smell is so compelling that she will follow a rabbit's track across a street, her nose almost on the pavement, and miss the rabbit four feet from her, laughing at my dog's skills.

One the way home, about 1/2 block, I thought about the supposed truths of agriculture made uncouth in recent years. Although I never joined the fads of chemical gardening, I have learned a lot, not only in the past, but also in the last three years.

If one rose bush pays for itself,
a few more mean a wealth to give away.
Become a rose millionaire, a benefactor.

Twelve Lessons Learned

1. The US government has some of the worst ideas in agriculture. They promoted two of the worst plant pests ever introduced to America - the Kudzu Vine and the Chinese Multiflora Rose. Now the feds will fine farmers for planting what they once promoted as good.
2. Chemical fertilizers, which I hardly ever bought, because of the cost, have no long-term value for the gardener and only harms the creatures that really built fertility over time.
3. Though I learned at home that most insects were beneficial, lately I learned how to encourage their work and enjoy the benefits. See #4.
4. Plant it and they will come - every plant has its own helpers, and quite a few creatures help themselves to the plant. Squirrels and slugs come to mind right away. But there are many counter-measures that show up to pare down the pest numbers.
5. Roses delight everyone. There is no better investment than a few rose bushes - or a few dozen - for sharing. Hybrid tea roses are the best for vases, but floribunda roses can be impressive too.
6. KnockOut roses grow like weeds but they are not "self-pruning" as the greedy, unscrupulous marketing people claim. Are they also self-watering? Given good care and constant pruning of spent blooms, red and pink KnockOuts are a great supplement for bouquets. Chopping my KO shrubs down by 30-50%, I have a new set of growth and beautiful blooms in the heat of summer. And I water.
7.  Every plant has its day. All plants have a time-table for when they flourish, flower, and set seed. Weather variables will doom some and make others flourish. 
8. Every pest has its day, too. The little brown, round beetles are gone. Now we have the tiny flying insects in our house. Outside, the pests are food for something, so let them feed the ones that enjoy digesting them. Spiders, beetles, wasps, and beneficial flies (Hover, Tachinid) are under-rated and ignored. Lady Beetles are good but not the superstars. Jessica Walliser is the beneficial insect guru.
9. The power of seeds and bulbs to hold life and power through the soil should be enough to convince people of Creation. But the multiple chemical micro-factories in each cell, and their specialization as they mature - that is beyond comprehension.
10. Fungi, baceria, protozoa and other microbes are the foundation of all soil life and fertility, as Jeff Lowenfels has shown. Queen Elizabeth's gardeners agree. 
11. Studying and observation is one of the delights of gardening, as Sharon Lovejoy has shown in A Blessing of Toads.
12. Sow abundantly, reap abundantly. The Creator had good reason for using living seed as the metaphor for the active, energetic Word of God. The more one plants and fails, yet plants again for spectacular and rewarding growth, the more one trusts Matthew 13's Parable of the Sower and the Seed.

Double Delight - no photo
compares to the rose itself.

New Plantations Teach New Duties: Time Makes Ancient Good Uncouth. They Must Upward Still and Onward, Who Would Keep Abreast of Truth

Bee on buckwheat - pollinators will be our theme today.

New plantations teach new duties, time makes ancient good uncouth,
They must upward still and onward, who would keep abreast of truth.
Apologies to James Russell Lowell

Lowell's poem was written to protest the Mexican-American War and the expansion of slavery to the West, but only part of it became a hymn, often questioned as a hymnal selection - because of ambiguous messages.

So I changed one word to "plantations," because I was thinking about how new plant interests get us studying that particular group of plants.

Plantation is often used today for a place where people are slaves, but it is also used for large swaths of agricultural land where one crop is grown. Plantation makes my yard seem rather grand, no?

The goal is to have roses growing faster than the weeds.

Various Gardens - Front and Back
Now that I have worked the front and back gardens for several years, specific areas are well defined.

The front yard is almost all roses, but I am breaking up some of the rose growth to include a variety of plants that invite pollinators. More on that will be posted in a minute.

The north side of the house, once crawling with weeds, is now 100% Blackberry, with some of it making the 90 degree turn to be in front and behind the house. 

The entire Western half of the backyard is Wild Garden (shade) and will be more completely covered in cardboard and autumn leaves this year.

The former Three Sisters Garden (corn, beans, pumpkins) with too much shade is the Hosta Garden, covered with cardboard already and boasting a few Hostas, which fill in the empty spaces. The sunniest row is for Blueberries. Yes, I am still feeding birds and squirrels with my plants

The other garden area behind the house has Butterfly Bushes and some new favorites - Chaste Tree, 
Bee Balm, Clethra, Gooseberry, and Helianthus. 

The fence roses will be the farm team to fill in the front rose garden when spots open up. Reason? It is difficult to have roses in two places at once.

Pollinators - Butterflies, Bees, and Other Wee Creatures - Plus Hummingbirds
The sunniest place on the property is appropriated called the Sunny Garden, where tomatoes are currently roasting in the heat and sun they love so much.

One neighbor asked, "Tomatoes like sun?" Sigh. 

Tomatoes will still get a row, but that area will be the Butterfly Garden, now being taken over by Raspberries I planted. Raspberries soon multiply like Blackberries. I will dig up the Raspberries and put them in the back where they can compete with the others in the Wild Garden.

I agree with those who oppose the monoculture of grass, which supports a limited number of creatures but is easy to keep going. Mowing is enough, because grass likes mowing and weeds shrink to almost nothing with regular cutting. Regular care drops mulched grass into the soil, where the nitrogen compounds built up the sod and squeeze out the weeds. Infrequent cutting favors the weeds, especially the broad field weeds that occupy a lot of turf.

Plantations for butterflies will also attract the other pollinating creatures, so I am studying how to build up this area, keep it under control, and gather butterflies, bees, and beneficial insects.

Yesterday I passed some time in the bookstore reading about gardening for pollinators. The idea is that a class of plants will attract butterflies, bees, hummingbirds, and beneficial insects for several reasons. One is the pollen, and the other is the nectar. Magnets to insects will also attract hummingbirds.

Catmint is easier to grow than Lavender.
Let us hope it is not too easy!

Mints - My Three Kinds
Some plants come up often in this category. One example is - mints. But I also remember them as winner-take-all plants that are impossible to control. Catnip was a plant that I moved away from...gladly. Our helper has a mint that is so aggressive that he threatens to give me some. I reply, "I warned you, that will spread."

My three well-behaved mints are:

1. Mountain Mint - attracting swarms of insects.
2. Horse Mint - aka Bee Balm, attractive hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies.
3. Catmint - a $2 pollinator plant, on order.

Once I got involved in Bee Balm, I learned to distinguish various types. I like the purple one, Monarda, but will ban the red one from the main gardens - too mintily aggressive.

I am getting to know Mountain Mint, which produces the tiny flowers loved by pollinators. I now have three Mountain Mints and one Bee Balm (purple) in the main rose garden. Diversity in planting helps deter insect pests by attracting and feeding the adult stage of beneficial insects.

Catmints looks promising in adding variety, color, and pollination power in the front.

I will write more about butterfly specific plants later, as I learn more.

Norma Boeckler's butterfly greeting card.