WHO WE ARE...
P U BL ISHE R
From 2007 to 2012 we, the Millers, adopted our first three children, a preschooler on the autism spectrum and two babies with Down syndrome. We published our first issue of Plain Values in 2012 to highlight Biblical ministries, share the beauty of adoption, and to cultivate anchored community. In 2018 we welcomed our fourth child in a surprise adoption, this time a baby with Mosaic Down syndrome. We homeschool our family and enjoy working together to grow and raise food on our twelve acre homestead.
Marlin Miller SA L E S A DV ISO R - O HIO
Matt Yoder SA L E S A DV ISO R - M IC HIA N A + P ENNSY LVANI A
Aaron Stutzman E DITO R IA L M A N AG E R
Nic Stoltzfus Q UA L IT Y A SSU RA N C E
WHAT WE BELIEVE...
Sabrina Schlabach
Our values are plain values, steeped in the rich traditions of yesterday. We enjoy the simple things in life. Gathering eggs from the coop, getting our hands in the dirt to grow food, and cooking meals from scratch. Sometimes we sit around a fire and share life. We strive to walk humbly to strengthen authentic relationships with our families and neighbors. And, yes, we have taken a fresh pie to a front porch and surprised a friend… we didn’t even text them before! We just stopped by, walked up the steps, and knocked on the door! Just the way our grandparents used to do on a Sunday evening. They called it living in community. We seek to serve our neighbors. Plain Values began with a prayer, hoping to play a small role in connecting a child with Down syndrome to his or her forever family. We have checked that box over a dozen times in the last ten years, and we will not stop until the orphanages are empty! We will rest in Heaven!
P RO DU C T IO N M A N AG E R
Isaac Hershberger M U LT I- M E DIA P RO DU C T IO N
Seth Yoder O F F IC E M A N AG E R /C U STO M ER S ERVI C E
Jan Schlabach JA N UA RY A D C LO SE
December 5, 2022 WR IT E R – WHISP E RS O F HO P E
Stacey Gagnon WR IT E R – CO N F E SSIO N S O F A ST EWAR D
HOW YOU CAN HELP...
Joel Salatin
Join us as we pursue a more authentic life. By subscribing to Plain Values, a portion of each subscription goes directly to Room to Bloom, our non-profit that supports children with special needs.
WR IT E R – RO OTS + WIN GS
Rory Feek WR IT E RS – T HE RO U N DTA BL E
Ivan Keim & Jerry D. Miller WR IT E RS – T HE HE A L IN G L A N D
JOIN US FOR PORCH TIME! Every third Friday from 1:00pm – 4:00pm
Stop by, enjoy a cup of coffee or tea, sit on the porch, and visit for a while. We'd love to get to know you! We're located in the heart of Winesburg, Ohio—just down the street from the church.
Shawn & Beth Dougherty WR IT E R – T HE WIDOW ' S PAT H
Ferree Hardy WR IT E R – HO N E ST CO N V E RSAT I O NS
Wendy Cunningham WR IT E R – O U R HE R ITAG E
Elam Stoltzfus WR IT E R – SE RV IN G O U R N E IG H B O R
Elaine Tomski CO N T R IBU T IN G P HOTO G RA PH ERS Millpond Photography Landon Troyer Photography Ashley Rivers Photography
Plain Values is published monthly by Plain Target Marketing, LLC. Please contact us with any questions. A DDR E SS
P.O. Box 201, 2106 Main Street Winesburg, OH 44690 P HO N E
FA X
330-601-6106
330-601-4099
E M A IL
reachout@plainvalues.com WE BSIT E
www.plainvalues.com This publication and its contents are © 2022, Plain Target Marketing, LLC. Individual copyrighted items, trademarks, etc. contained within are the property of their respective copyright holders. No part of this publication may be reproduced or redistributed by any means without authorization from the publisher. Publisher is not responsible for advertisers’ offers, products, or services, and publication neither expresses nor implies an endorsement. PLAIN VALUES DECEMBER 2022
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December 2022 // Issue 114
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CONFESSIONS OF A STEWARD Treewise
ROOTS + WINGS A Farmhouse Christmas
COLUMN BY: JOEL SALATIN
COLUMN BY: RORY FEEK
Most farm properties have a woodlot. Certainly many of us self-reliant types glean firewood from it but little else... it tends to be the hands-off part of the property. Let’s change that.
As we move into December and begin to get ready for the holidays here at the farm, I can’t help but think of another Christmas nearly a dozen years ago that will always be special to me…
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THE WIDOW'S PATH The Contrast of Christmas
HONEST CONVERSATIONS WITH WENDY Stumbling Blocks
COLUMN BY: FERREE HARDY
COLUMN BY: WENDY CUNNINGHAM
Ferree tackles one of the hardest seasons of grief for those who have lost loved ones—the holidays. May the love of Christ, friends, and family be a comforting contrast to the pain of loss.
This month, Wendy continues with her story of how the Lord led her to the truth by tackling some very difficult questions and allowing the Bible to lead her to deeply-satisfying answers.
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ON THE COVER A snow-covered Amish farm in Holmes County, Ohio
Room to Bloom Report Whispers of Hope: Holy Places Must be Dark Places One Minute With Marlin Prayers for the Nations: Costa Rica Trail Farm Supply and Maple Valley Fence by Gallagher
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THE ROUNDTABLE Amish Insights on: Pride
THE HEALING LAND A Light in the Darkness
COLUMN BY: IVAN KEIM & JERRY D. MILLER
COLUMN BY: SHAWN & BETH DOUGHERTY
The newest addition to Plain Values features reader-submitted questions to our panel of four Amish men, seeking to gain insight into their views on living in genuine community.
Farm life includes a lot of walking in darkness, one way or another: it's facing full into a winter that will test the endurance of livestock and people. It's trusting that our life of service to the land is still important.
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OUR HERITAGE Reflections on the Martyrs—Hans Landis
SERVING OUR NEIGHBOR The Gift of Sacred Ground
COLUMN BY: ELAM STOLTZFUS
WORDS BY: ELAINE TOMSKI
Elam continues his series on the hidden stories of early martyrs found in the back of the Ausbund hymn book. This month, he shares the history of yet another Hans and his family.
Nestled outside of Berlin, Ohio, Sacred Ground's mission is to cultivate an environment of belonging and purpose for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and their families.
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whispers of hope
S U P P O RT F O R T H O S E W H O F O ST E R + A D O P T
Holy Places Must be Dark Places COLUMN BY:
Stacey Gagnon
"It’s like the sound of a chuckle in the darkness. The sense that some shattering and disarming simplicity is the real answer." — C.S. Lewis MANY DAYS, I look at my son and cannot imagine how he survived. How in the world did he live through four years of horror? Over six days, I spent a total of thirteen hours at his orphanage, and I am changed. Just my brief exposure has blanketed my heart with a cloying darkness every time I remember. Yet, it seems to be the little things that get me, that make me relive those 13 hours, 780 minutes, or 46,800 seconds. A sound, a smell, even silence. Those are the moments where I am transported back to the days of sitting with him in his glass-walled room. Isn’t it amazing how moments in time can suspend across a lifespan? Israel’s darkness was filled with urine and bleach, silence and monotony, loneliness, and unchanging routine. Days and nights within a crib, quietly marking time with the passing of dark and light, liquid meals, and diaper changes. No children’s laughter or friendly voices, just the silence of an orphanage that remains
dark, even in the light of day. This is the darkness that made me wish the visits to his orphanage were shorter. I am ashamed to admit that I dreaded every visit and mentally struggled through every moment I sat beside him. I try not to return to a world where babies are cast aside because of imperfections. I watch my little miracle boy pulled from the darkness. I marvel at how there can be light in his smile and love in his touch. How is it that he can smile, laugh, and learn? He was a child sitting in silence for hours on end, deprived of interaction. How has he come out on the other side, and I am the one who keeps returning? Today, my son is so full of love and gives it freely. Yet he was a child who crawled from the depths of darkness; a resilient child who endured so much pain and heartache. Israel is an example to us all of the hope found in a Holy place. “Holy places must be dark places.” CS Lewis writes.
Stacey Gagnon, along with her husband, Darren, are the founders of Lost Sparrows. They can be reached at P.O. Box 751, Winona Lake, IN 46590. Learn more about Lost Sparrows at www.lostsparrows.org. 8
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(left) Israel before adoption | (right) Israel after adoption, years later
Lewis’s words are a reassurance that none of us are too broken or damaged to experience God. He sat with my son for four years in that dark place. God sat with an unknown, unwanted child and marked time with a sun that rose every morning and a moon that came each night. He sat with Israel and waited because He had already whispered adoption to the heart of a mommy across the world. A mommy who was terrified to bring home a child who was so broken. And now I understand that I was the one truly living in the dark; the darkness of contentment and apathy.
The orphanage staff never taught Israel words or knowledge; he was never given any education or teaching. However, God sat with this small boy and taught him life and strength. And now Israel, one voice in the dark, is teaching hope. This little boy exemplifies how darkness can be turned into light. And when we are sitting in our dark places, remember that the Holy is found in the dark. And in that dark and scary place, He sits beside us, marking time until the sun rises again. //
God has been so faithful to Lost Sparrows this year. He has allowed us to serve thousands of children and families across the globe, from serving women and children refugees in Ukraine, Romania, and Bosnia to fostering and adopting families across the Midwest. We are so thankful for His blessings and His calling. It gives us much joy to use the gifts He has given us to support these parents and children in need. We are also thankful for the contributions we have received from so many of you. Your generosity and financial gifts have allowed Lost Sparrows to aid many vulnerable children. Thank you for your ongoing support of so many families! As 2022 comes to a close, we would love for you to consider helping us continue our mission locally and abroad. You can send your tax-deductible donations to: Lost Sparrows, PO Box 751, Winona Lake, IN 46590. May God bless all of us in 2023. PLAIN VALUES DECEMBER 2022
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One Minute with Marlin THIS MONTH we are excited to introduce a new monthly column built around relationship and how to strengthen those in your life. The Roundtable has come out of many conversations with friends on and off a few stages. Across the news and nation, I have sensed a renewed drive to get communities together again, more like the “good ole days.” Now I’m not a fan of wishing to go back, but the interest and thoughtful questioning of a few of my Amish friends confirmed my hunch time and again. A few months ago, I realized we have an opportunity to encourage those seeking to build relationships in their backyards. So we have assembled a panel of Amish farmers, some older and a few younger, who are passionate about strong
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communities and taking care of one another as God asks us to. We are inviting you to send any questions our way, and we will carefully select a question for each month and then publish our panel’s thoughts. The Amish are not perfect, but they do take care of one another in extraordinary ways, and I believe we have much to learn from it all. There are not many more wellknown examples of this than “a good old-fashioned barn raising! ”Philippians 2 verses 3 and 4 says, “do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but to the interests of others.” Our family has the luxury of having grown up in
After suffering a large fire, the Amish community gathered to re-build the barns they lost.
and around Amish communities our entire lives, and we do indeed have wonderful neighbors. They watch out for our children and have many times dropped everything to come help us out. In fact, that very neighbor, Ivan Keim, is one of our panelists. I have no doubt that The Roundtable will become a favorite for many of our readers in the months to come.
On a completely different note, if you have ever had an urge to study the Hebrew language, today is your lucky day! Dr. Jason Wetz will be serving up a 19-week class at our office in Winesburg, Ohio, beginning January 12th. Please visit www.cli.education or call 330-601-3617 for more information. As always, may you find joy in the simple things. //
Please send your questions to: PO Box 201, Winesburg, OH 44624 or buzz an email to: roundtable@plainvalues.com We ask for your understanding as we work our way through the many questions and topics we hope to discuss.
MARLIN MILLER publisher, always looking for more friends
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Confessions of a Steward JOEL SALATIN
COLUMN BY:
Treewise MOST FARM PROPERTIES HAVE A WOODLOT. Certainly many of us self-reliant types glean firewood from it but little else. Too often we don’t see that little forested acreage as a serious asset; it tends to be the hands-off part of the property. Let’s change that. Trees play an outsize role throughout the Bible. From the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden to the Tree of Life in the New Jerusalem, trees figure prominently in story after story. Diminutive Zaccheus climbed a sycamore tree. Absalom hung his long locks in the boughs of a tree. Abraham dwelt by the oaks of Mamre. God prohibited the Israelites from cutting down fruit trees when they entered the land of Canaan. David procured cedars from Lebanon for the temple. Noah built the ark out of gopher wood. Jesus was a carpenter and died on a wooden cross. Although pastured livestock dominates my farming reputation, working in the woods energizes me just as much as grass. Woodlands respond just as dramatically to the human touch as pastures do. Let’s dive in with some woodland principles.
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photos by Millpond Photography
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Perhaps the most important principle is that any given acre can only grow a certain amount of biomass. The question is what kind of biomass is growing there. Several factors influence growth potential. In the northern hemisphere, south-facing slopes tend to be more limited than north-facing slopes because the hot afternoon sun dries out southern aspects. Northern aspects stay moist longer, encouraging more growth. Of course, rainfall, frost dates, and soil fertility influence growth. Foresters measure trees by diameter at breast height (DBH). If you wrap your arms around a tree (tree-hugging, yes), that’s the dimension. Overall basal area is determined by the total square footage of all the trees’ DBH. In other words, if you took a measurement of DBH of all the trees growing in a given acre, you could figure a total occupancy rate or square footage of basal area.
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Virtually every forested acre in the U.S. is overcrowded. If the optimum basal area on an acre is 80, for example, and it actually has 120, everything is being stunted. Weedy woods are the norm. What that means is that the acre’s carrying capacity has too many undesirable stems on it. Just like weeds in the green beans, weedy trees clog our woodlots. A weed tree can be identified by numerous characteristics. The most obvious is disease. If it's full of sores or dripping rosin, has a big split, or sports lackluster leaves—all of these indicate a tree in distress. Trees are living things and are susceptible to all sorts of diseases and bugs. Culling the clearly struggling trees in your woodlot not only reduces disease transmission to other trees, but it also opens up the canopy to give more precious light and soil resources to the remaining healthy trees.
The next culling criterion is deformity. Who among us isn’t awed by magnificent cathedral trees, growing straight and stately into the sky? But then nearby might be numerous crooked, twisted, slanted, doglegged trees that will never amount to anything. Culling those enables the remaining good trees to grow to their genetic potential. The final culling decision rests in overall space. While we don’t want to turn our woods into a monoculture of a single desirable species, we also don’t want to stunt the good ones by allowing too many illfitted competitors to take up sunlight and soil resources. The rule of thumb for proper thinning is to select your keeper trees, measure their DBH in inches, change that into feet, double it, and cut everything in that radius. A 12-inch DBH tree that’s a keeper, then, would have a radius of 24 feet cleared and no more. As beneficial as thinning is, over-thinning is worse because
"The rule of thumb for proper thinning is to select your keeper trees, measure their DBH in inches, change that into feet, double it, and cut everything in that radius."
deciduous trees have thousands of dormant buds up and down their trunk that can sprout if shocked with sunlight too fast. This is why you often see fuzzy trees in housing developments in formerly forested areas. The landscapers take most of the trees and leave a few pretty ones, only to have these residuals sprout suckers up and down the trunk the following year. Limiting the thinning to the formula I’ve outlined maintains enough canopy shade to the residual stems to forestall this epicormic sprouting. This trunk sprouting ruins the lumber and destroys the tree. If you’re thinning aggressively, like creating a silvopasture out of a woodlot, you can leave nurse trees, especially on the south side, of keeper trees to protect them from sunlight shock. In about five years, after the keeper trees acclimate to the new level of sunlight, you can cull the nurse trees. What I’ve described here is a process to maximize your forest potential. The problem is that taking the worst and leaving the best isn’t what modern Americans do. For a bit of history, think back to the Native Americans. For centuries, prior to Europeans coming, these indigenous people used small wood. Big trees intimidated them. Sometimes a village would spend a week stoking a fire around the base of a large tree to finally bring it down. Without steel, carving and cutting big trees generally wasn’t worth the effort. Firewood, lodges, and baskets all utilized smalldiameter material. The primitive forestall economy revolved around small dimensions. The routine fires lit by the Native Americans culled out diseased, weak, and smaller trees, leaving the giant ones to continue
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