Good bye... on to Virginia!

A friend just sent this to me and I had to share it...

What is it that sustains me from day to day? At the end of each day is my glory found in my doctrinal stances, or is it in my relationship with the Father, and the love shared with brothers and sisters in Messiah? I choose the latter. I am not trying to imply that doctrine is not important, but it is not the greatest.

Well I'm in the last 24 hour count down before leaving for Virginia. I'm running around finishing up projects and last minute packing. I'm a little nervous and not looking forward to the airports at all but also excited for what's ahead in Virginia. I'll be flying out of Seattle tomorrow morning early and returning on the 1st of June.

For those who haven't heard, I'll be working with some good friends at Buxton Farms which is a Joel Salatin style farm now being run by our good friend Joe Murphy. I'm also going to have the privilege of meeting Joel and touring Polyface Farms. Much of what I'll be doing is odd jobs, remodeling, and building to get Buxton Farms into efficient running condition as it was quite run down. 

I'm excited to go work hard on a farm and hopefully learn lots. I'm also very excited to help out and share this time with the dear Murphy family. It'll be a pleasure! I'm looking forward to the good discussions we'll have and playing with the children in our spare time.

I'll probably not have time to post on this blog while I'm gone but will save that for when I return. I am bringing my camera and hope to document the trip well. I will be giving short updates via facebook so please look me up on there if you haven't already. Here's the link to my page: http://www.facebook.com/bigjonthejon

Goodbye my hometown friends! I'll miss you much! 

Jon

Lyle Rader's Memorial Service

New Rader sign

Harvesters lining the highway leading to the farm

Rader raspberry fields

Old Rader truck

Reception at the Rader shop

Ice cream with Rader raspberries

Lyle's first truck he bought new in the early 1960's

old tracker

new tracker

Finished Project

Lyle Rader

Lyle Rader
September 21, 1937-April 23, 2010

Lyle Rader, our beloved husband, father, grandfather, farmer, entrepreneur, skiing buddy, tennis partner and friend passed away on April 23rd, 2010. Lyle was a lifelong achiever, motivator and mentor. He was immediately loved and admired by everyone he met, both personally and professionally, and will be forever missed and loved.

Lyle was born and raised in the Fife Valley and graduated from Fife High School. He was a state wrestling champion in 1955 and in 1959, at the age of 22, Lyle was voted Star Farmer of America by Future Farmers of America, the highest honor that organization can bestow on its members.

Over the past 60 years, Lyle built Rader Farms, Inc. from a small family farm to one of the nation’s leading producers of berries. Lyle’s vision and tireless devotion, coupled with the efforts of his wife Sue, and children Julie and Brad, and their faith that “one can do all things through Christ,” created a company in Rader Farms that currently grows and processes over eight hundred acres of raspberries and blueberries employing over five hundred people. Rader Farms’ berries are distributed internationally through successful partnerships with Costco, Safeway, Meijer, Jamba Juice, Western Family and more.

During his career in agriculture, Lyle was a leader and innovator for farmers across the country, developing and implementing practices at Rader Farms that have been replicated throughout the industry. In addition to building Rader Farms, Lyle served as president of the Washington Red Raspberry Commission where he led national efforts to enhance farming in the United States and to ensure the future viability of American agriculture. His most recent efforts in this arena focused on addressing Chilean fruit dumping, a successful effort that required his testimony in front of the United States Trade Commission.

In 2007, Lyle and his wife Sue sold Rader Farms and the company continues to grow today under the leadership of their son Brad. Over the last few years, Lyle and Sue have been fortunate to form new friendships at their home on Camano Island, the slopes and on various adventures around the world.

Lyle was a devoted Rotarian for thirty-five years where he was named a Paul Harris Fellow. He also served on several community organizations including chairman of the Fife school board and county land-use committee co-chairman.

Lyle is survived by Sue, his loving wife of 44 years, daughter Julie Newell, her husband Tom, son Brad, his wife Kari, grandchildren Arianna, Sofia and Brooke, sister Doris Hall and brother Leon.

We know Lyle is now reunited with his loving mother, Leolo Wayno, and father, John Rader, who shaped his perseverance, his strong faith in God and his appreciation for this wonderful life.

Private graveside services will be held Tuesday, April 27, in Sumner, WA. A memorial service for Lyle will be held at 11:00 AM, Thursday, April 29, 2010 at the Sonlight Community Christian Reformed Church, 8800 Bender Road, Lynden, WA.

Lyle’s family welcomes donations to the Lynden or Fife High School Future Farmers of America programs or to the Mt. Baker Rotary’s Annual Polio campaign, a cause very close to Lyle’s heart.

Memorial donations for Lyle may be sent to Lynden High School FFA, Attn: Teri Hilt 1201 Bradley Rd., Lynden, WA 98264, Fife High School FFA, Attn: Jayne Sanderson 5616 20th Street E., Tacoma, WA 98424 or Mt. Baker Rotary – Polio Plus, Post Office Box 52, Lynden, WA 98264.

Three Years ago

Christian Heritage Home Educators of Washington 2010 Conference

The Christian Heritage Chorale

The Lynden Group

Engaged and Courting Couples

Left to right: Stephen and Tara, Stephen and Sarah, J.R. and Amy Ellen, Josh and Katharine, Jase and Claire

76 Dangers of Sugar

I saw this on a friends blog and wanted to share it.

The single largest source of calories for Americans comes from sugar—specifically high fructose corn syrup. Just take a look at the sugar consumption trends of the past 300 years:[1]

• In 1700, the average person consumed about 4 pounds of sugar per year.
• In 1800, the average person consumed about 18 pounds of sugar per year.
• In 1900, individual consumption had risen to 90 pounds of sugar per year.
• In 2009, more than 50 percent of all Americans consume one-half pound of sugar PER DAY—translating to a whopping 180 pounds of sugar per year!

Sugar is loaded into your soft drinks, fruit juices, sports drinks, and hidden in almost all processed foods—from bologna to pretzels to Worcestershire sauce to cheese spread. And now most infant formula has the sugar equivalent of one can of Coca-Cola, so babies are being metabolically poisoned from day one if taking formula.

Read more…

If God is so powerful and so good, why do bad things happen? by Voddie Baucham

Operation Obliterate Rat Empire!

Plan of attack:

Garden Starts

Here are a few pictures of garden starts in the greenhouse. Several of them I have planted in the garden already and will be posting pictures soon.

Josh and Kristi Perry

Congratulations to Josh and Kristi Perry who were married on Saturday!

Duck Feast

Saturday night my hunting buddies and I along with our families got together for a duck feast. We all brought the last of our duck which totaled about 30 birds. It was made into two casseroles (one with wild rice and the other with lentils) and served with cooked carrots, turnips, rolls, and salad. For those who didn't care for duck there was rice and meat balls.

Miss KJ, our cook, busy preparing the feast. Thank you for all your work preparing the duck and making the meal. You did a great job! It turned out well and everyone enjoyed it.

KJ read that turnips go well with duck. I haven't had them very much but they were very good!

Some of the decorations for our duck party.

Phil eating his goose leg which was prepared especially for him with the foot still attached. He had left it on when he cleaned and put it in the freezer.

Store Bought vs. Homemade Ice Cream

Click Here  for a good post on store bought vs. homemade ice cream.

Scripture Alone...

 "It is scripture alone, not conservative Evangelical tradition or any other human authority, that must function as the normative authority for the definition of what we should believe. The authority of the scripture means that all the words in scripture are God's words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God." - Dr. Wayne Grudem

Theodore Roosevelt

 

Get action. Seize the moment. Man was never intended to become an oyster.

Storm on the Horizon

Click on picture to super-size.

Happy Birthday Sarah!

Umm, Sarah? (She's a little preoccupied)

I just shipped a package to...

Scott Brown

Jury Duty

A few months ago I got a letter in the mail saying I was going to be summoned for jury duty. I filled out the information and returned it. A few weeks later I received the dates and it was a two week period over the weekend of the Christian Heritage conference and also my flight to Virgina. I requested to have it postponed and just found out today it was granted!

I'll probably get summoned again later in the year which I'm not looking forward to since its a United States District Court and I'll have to drive to Seattle. Oh, well. Dad says it'll be a good experience once we get into the case.

Garden Report

Peas, carrots, beets, turnips, radishes, and spinach are now planted in the garden! 

The garlic is growing well! Several are 8"-10" tall

Chocolate Peppermint

I've had a hard time finding regular peppermint. There are plenty of other varieties but not plain peppermint. Yesterday I stopped by the nursery again and asked about it. I learned something new: the "chocolate" peppermint is really the same as regular peppermint except the stems of the plant are brown. It is marketed as chocolate mint which sells it and often tricks people into thinking it actually smells like chocolate when really it doesn't.