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PLAIN VALUES
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PLAIN VALUES
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Cultivating Anchored Community MARLIN MILLER KEVIN BILLE SUE WENGERD PHIL BARKMAN MATT YODER
PUBLISHER GENERAL MANAGER SENIOR EDITOR COPY EDITOR ACCOUNT MANAGER
ISAAC HERSHBERGER
GRAPHIC ARTIST
SETH YODER
GRAPHIC ARTIST
LANDON TROYER
PHOTOGRAPHER
BETHANY TROYER
CUSTOMER SERVICE
JAN SCHLABACH
CUSTOMER SERVICE
KAREN RABER
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
DR. DAVID MENTON
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
FERREE HARDY
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
MERISSA A. ALINK
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
NORITA YODER
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
TORRY MARTIN & DOUG PETERSON
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
DR. TERESA HOXWORTH
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
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Plain Values is published monthly by Room to Bloom. Room to Bloom is a nonprofit, tax-exempt Section 501(c)(3) organization. Please contact us with any questions regarding Plain Values.
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ISSUE 84
CONT FATHER'S DAY CARD HOLDER
// 22
An easy DIY project for children to make for Father's Day.
THE MIRACLE OF TRANSFORMATION
UMCOMMON COURAGE
// 11
Did you know that the miracle of new life from an old creature is something you can see with your natural eyes as well as experience in your own life? One you can watch in a jar on your kitchen counter...
PLAIN VALUES
PUBLISHER'S MESSAGE
Thoughts and ramblings from Marlin Miller, publisher of Plain Values. // page 9
FUNDS AND BENEFITS
Every month we provide a listing of opportunities to help out those in need. // page 50
ON THE COVER
Thousands of monarch butterflies hibernating on an oyamel fir tree in Mexico.
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// 37
The voices and actions of the women we will be hearing from in the coming months stand as a monument.
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JUNE 2020
SALT REMOVAL ON DEMAND // 25
NEW COLUMN! HOMESTEAD + ROOTS
How is it possible that certain birds can drink salt-saturated ocean water?
Merissa graces our pages with a favorite from her book, Little House Living.
Even in the midst of a world-wide health crisis, God is good.
THE BEAR REMOVAL TEAM
HEARTWORM
GOOD STUFF! WITH KEVIN // 51
// 42
Discover how Torry Martin attracted a bigger bear to his cabin doorstep.
// 29
// 47
A very timely and important topic for springtime –the treatment and prevention of heartworm disease.
SOME GOOD NEWS FOR A CHANGE // 30
Focus on what you can control, and let go of what you can't.
This new section of Plain Values is devoted to showcasing local goods and services to our readers. Each reader will enjoy one of four editions, depending on where they live. Our hope is that the "Plain Pages” can be a resource for you to find local businesses in times of need, as well as in times of want. // between pages 32 and 33
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MESSAGE from the
PUBLISHER words by: MARLIN MILLER
Gary Haugen, in his book, Just Courage: God’s
simply and making the most of what they have. The
Great Expedition for the Restless Christian, says you
gardening tips, recipes, homesteading advice, and
only really believe something when you do something,
instructions for making everything from laundry
when you act on that belief. You don’t really buy in all
detergent to cheese to homemade chicken feeders
the way until the moment you act on it. I love that! I
continue to inspire us to add new skills. Merissa shares
used to sell stuff for a guy who didn’t care one lick for
project ideas for the whole family to work on together,
words; he cared about actions. He used to say, “Don’t tell
and many of her recipes have become staples and
me, show me!” I wonder if God doesn’t think that about
favorites in our household. To kick it off, we’re sharing
me, about all of us, at times. We say one thing and then
our absolute favorite recipe. Many Saturday mornings,
either don’t follow through or, as I have done in the past,
we use this Chocolate Muffin Mix and bake them in
turn around and do the opposite! We are continuing to
donut pans for a special treat. As always, may you find joy in the simple things. //
improve Plain Values with a big goal in mind for the fall! I am so fired up to share it with you that I can hardly stand it… but I can’t! Not yet! You are just going to have to trust me and wait a little longer. It will be worth it, I promise! We will hand you a wonderful opportunity to DO something and ACT on what you believe. Something we can share with you is our new column, “Homestead + Roots.” We came across Little House Living soon after they launched their website in 2009. A fellow adoptive family, they also enjoy living
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the miracle of
TRANSFO
FEATURE STORY
GOD OF WONDERS
WIDOW'S PATH
HOMESTEAD + ROOTS
OUR HERITAGE
GREAT OUTDOORS
CANINE CORNER
RMATION words by: KAREN RABER
Do you remember the miracle Jesus performed when his friend Lazarus passed away? Jesus had arrived on the scene, several days after the burial, to find Lazarus’ sisters weeping in despair while many others attempted to offer comfort and consolation. The scene was so dismal and sad that Jesus groaned in His spirit and wept, too. He asked those standing by to remove the boulder at the mouth of Lazarus’ rocky grave, then cried, “Lazarus, come forth!” Expressions of shock and sheer astonishment must have etched the faces of mourners as from deep within the grave, a shuffling like dried leaves sounded, and a figure cocooned in white grave-clothes emerged. Jesus asked the gaping bystanders to unwrap him, and they did. How could it be possible? Lazarus was standing before them in a body of vibrant health! Hadn’t they buried his wretched old body, shrouded in the blanket of death, four days ago? But here he was, pulsing with life! (You can read the story for yourself in John 11.) It was a miracle. Living in 2020, several thousand years after this incident, it’s tempting to think miracles are elusive or even archaic. We form these conclusions in part because we are too busy to notice
A MONARCH CATERPILLAR ABOUT TO BEGIN ITS TRANSFORMATION INTO A BUTTERFLY
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the wonders that frequently occur before our very eyes.
changes slightly in color, indicating that changes are
Did you know that the miracle of new life from an old
happening inside its shell. First, it is a buttery yellow,
creature is something you can see with your natural
then white, then grey. On the fourth day, it develops a
eyes as well as experience in your own life? One you can
black spot, which is the head of the larva inside, working
watch in a jar on your kitchen counter, and one that you
its way out of the shell. When it has hatched, the larva
can anticipate in the future for yourself?
commences doing what it does best—eat! It will first
Were we to witness Lazarus’ resurrection today, we
consume its own egg shell, which provides an excellent
would struggle to understand, just as the mourners did.
boost of protein, and then it turns to its favorite food,
Because we wrestle to comprehend the supernatural,
which happens to be beneath its very feet. Milkweed!
God has provided smaller three-dimensional object
When the larvae first hatch, they are the size of
lessons in nature to help us understand. One of these
a human eyelash, making them very difficult to see.
lessons is found in the larvae of the Monarch butterfly.
However, the larvae do not remain in this minuscule
Now, you may have an aversion to worms, but before you
stage for long. In fact, by the end of the ten to twelve-
dismiss the idea, look beyond its worm characteristics
day larval stage, a caterpillar will have grown 3,000
and study the complexities and miracles happening to
percent! If you want to do some interesting math, take
the little creatures. Prepare to be amazed, then let the
your own birth-weight and length and figure out how
lesson speak to your heart as it was meant to. Here are
large you would have grown at this incredible rate in
some Monarch facts to get you started:
twelve days. Imagine the amount of food you would
The lesson begins in a mountainous region, far off
have consumed! To accommodate this rapid rate of
in central Mexico. There, in a few select locales, oyamel
growth, the larvae shed their skin, called molting, four
fir trees are swathed in orange layers of Monarch
times. During molts, the caterpillar stops eating and
butterflies. The butterflies are hibernating and hardly
concentrates on shedding its skin. It hangs head-down
move as they cling to the twigs and needles of the fir
from the underside of a leaf by its back five pairs of
trees. This high-altitude region provides the perfect
legs and remains motionless except for occasional
temperatures needed for hibernation—adequately cool,
writhing and the strenuous convulsions which course
but never freezing.
through its body. Its brightly striped skin darkens, when
then completely fades and appears loose and wrinkled.
temperatures begin to warm in March, the butterflies
Finally, it weaves a silky mat to which it attaches itself
bestir themselves and begin what is their sole objective;
with a pair of special hooks and, with forceful jerking
reproducing the next generation of Monarchs. After
motions, wiggles from the old skin, revealing a baggy,
mating, they begin to look for the perfect spot to lay
loose-fitting skin underneath. The caterpillar stretches
their eggs; the milkweed plant. Monarch females
happily in its expanded exoskeleton and, after resting
know that milkweed alone offers the nutrients
for a bit from its exertion, resumes its voracious diet,
their offspring will need. No other plant will do. The
stuffing its skin once more. This action is repeated two
butterflies migrate toward Texas, laying their eggs
more times during the larval stage.
After
hibernating
for
three
months,
as they discover patches of milkweed. Each female
Once the worm has reached its mature size, it will
butterfly will lay approximately 200 eggs. Once they
seek a sheltered spot high on a twig or leaf and prepare
have laid their eggs, cunningly placed on the underside
to enter the pupal stage. Here, its tiny jaws work back
of a milkweed leaf, the adult butterflies die. Under the
and forth, releasing a sticky, silky substance from its
leaf, the eggs lay hidden from predators, bearing the
spinneret. This substance receives its sticky texture
life of the next generation.
from the milkweed sap, which provides the perfect
The tiny eggs are the size of the tip of a ball-point
adhesive compound needed to secure the larvae to the
pen and will hatch in four or five days. Each day, the egg
twig for this third stage. The exoskeleton, or skin, of the
THOUSANDS OF MONARCH BUTTERFLIES HIBERNATING ON AN OYAMEL FIR TREE IN MEXICO
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