Our Story WHO WE ARE... 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.
WHAT WE BELIEVE... 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 nearly a dozen times in the last ten years, and we will not stop until the orphanages are empty! We will rest in Heaven!
HOW YOU CAN HELP... Subscribe today. 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.
Our Team PUBLISHER
OFFICE
WRITERS
Marlin Miller
Nic Stoltzfus, editorial manager
Reuben Shetler, contributing writer
Sabrina Schlabach, quality assurance
Stacey Gagnon, Whispers of Hope
Bethany Troyer, bookkeeping
Rory Feek, Roots + Wings
Jan Schlabach, customer service
Merissa A. Alink, Homestead + Roots
Isaac Hershberger, production manager
Joel Salatin, Confessions of a Steward
Seth Yoder, graphic artist
Ferree Hardy, The Widow's Path
ADVERTISING Matt Yoder, Ohio sales advisor Aaron Stutzman, Indiana + Michigan sales advisor
Elam Stoltzfus, Our Heritage Jim Zumbo, All Things Outdoors
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March 7, 2022
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FEBRUARY 2022
contents
March 2022 // Issue 105
serving our neighbor 13
GIVING BOYS A FAIR SHOT Fair Play Camp School words by: Reuben Shetler "So Floyd decided to start his own boys camp, a Christian camp. His dream became reality when he received the opportunity to purchase 500 acres in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in South Carolina. Fair Play was born, a camp that has hosted over 1,000 boys in its 40 years of operation."
simple living 33
HOMESTEAD + ROOTS Small, Simple Frugal Tips column by: Merissa A. Alink
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CONFESSIONS OF A STEWARD Start-up Farm column by: Joel Salatin "Our own nation has gone from free land to extremely expensive land. Old farmers today who acquired their land in the 1960s often have a hard time appreciating the land cost issue for aspiring new farmers."
resources 10
WHISPERS OF HOPE Support for Those Who Foster + Adopt column by: Stacey Gagnon
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BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT Eden Foods PLAIN VALUES
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8
58
ONE MINUTE WITH MARLIN
ON THE COVER
FUNDS AND BENEFITS
Thoughts and ramblings from Marlin Miller, publisher of Plain Values.
A sampling of gear and supplies well-known to the boys that attend Fair Play Camp School.
Every month we provide a listing of opportunities to help out those in need.
photo by: Landon Troyer Photography
community 27
ROOTS + WINGS Strong Winds column by: Rory Feek "The new year brought on more new creative opportunities, stretching our wings even more, with more sold-out concerts at the farm. But something was wrong..."
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THE WIDOW'S PATH Just Be There column by: Ferree Hardy "At the time, I didn’t know it was “a ministry” to sit on the kitchen floor and cry with my friends, but it was. I probably should have stayed longer."
history 50
OUR HERITAGE Printing the Ausbund
(part three)
column by: Elam Stoltzfus “Finally, Sauer had the German type, the press, the ink, and the paper: he was ready to print!"
outdoors 55
ALL THINGS OUTDOORS Campfire Basics column by: Jim Zumbo "A campfire is many things to many people. It can save a life, help people bond together, or simply provide a way to cook a hot dog or marshmallow. Those are all good reasons to have plenty of campfires in your life!" 5
MARCH 2022
I had such a wonderful time visiting with Sarah (left) and Amanda (right) —one of which happens to have a birthday on the 14th of March! Wishing you the happiest of birthdays Amanda.
one minute with Marlin IN 1964, Donald Currey killed the oldest tree ever. To this
and food! The Tree of Life is in the first and last books of
day, there has still never been an older tree discovered.
the Bible. Revelation talks about the Tree of Life bearing
The tree was a Great Basin bristlecone pine, and Currey
different fruit each month for the healing of the nations.
didn’t mean to kill it. It was an accident, and one he didn’t
I don’t know about you, but I can hardly wait to see and
really understand the ramifications of until he started
taste that fruit!
counting rings.
God is the Creator of trees, words, and languages.
Basically, Currey got his tree corer stuck in the tree. So
From trees we get paper; from the gifted minds He gave
stuck that it wouldn’t come out. An unwitting park ranger
us, we take thoughts and ideas and write them down on
helped him cut the tree down to remove the instrument,
paper. An invisible, intangible thing becomes visible and
and later Currey began to count the rings. Eventually, he
tangible on the page. These written words can then be
realized that the tree he had just felled was almost 5,000
passed down, generation after generation. How incredible
years old— the oldest tree ever recorded.
is this?!
I found the above story in Smithsonian magazine after
Have I told you lately how much I love books and
reading about it in a book by Andrew Peterson, The God of
magazines? I love print! Please feel free to point and laugh.
the Garden. Just imagine, that tree now named Prometheus
It’s ok — I know I’m goofy!
was pushing leaves and adding rings when the Civil and As always, may you find joy in the simple things. //
Revolutionary Wars were raging on this continent. It was there when Columbus landed in 1492, and it was keeping watch over the Great Basin National Park when Moses led the Jewish nation out of Egypt! I love trees because they keep the air on; trees can live without man, but man will die without trees. There
MARLIN MILLER
are countless trees mentioned in the Bible. From the very
publisher, always looking for more friends
beginning, God planted a garden with trees for beauty
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MARCH 2022
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MARCH 2022
whispers of hope
SUPPORT FOR THOSE WHO FOSTER + ADOPT
WHAT IF... column by: STACEY GAGNON
I HEAR A LOT of ‘what ifs’ in the world
earlier had not stopped screaming and
of foster care and adoption. In fact, I
raging in the next room. It had been
I spent the rest of my days diapering a
lived in the ‘what ifs’ before we jumped
hours of primal shrieking, and I could
screaming man-child?
headlong into an adoption that almost
not imagine that I could do this. He was
drowned me in fear.
four years old, wore size 18-24 month
old emaciated orphan who scared me
clothing that hung on a skeletal frame,
to death. I believed on the deepest level
What if the baby I am fostering goes back to the biological parents?
What if he never attached to us and
In the other room was a four-year-
and his spine threatened to escape his
that I had just ruined my life. I had done
What if I have to give her back?
skin. He didn’t speak any intelligible
things in my life that required sacrifice,
What if I adopt a child with severe
words, he could only eat puréed foods
but those sacrifices were comfortable
or liquids (they are faster and more
and measured. This… this just seemed
convenient), and he’d never spent time
like drowning. And dear God was I lost
outside the four walls of the orphanage.
in my fears, as if I was falling through
We were told he was unable to be
the darkness, unable to breathe.
behavioral issues? What if this destroys my biological children? What if this is the worst decision I ever made? What if this destroys my life? The very darkest moment of my life can be found in the bathroom of a hotel in Eastern Europe. I was curled in the fetal position on the floor at 2 am Googling “how to return a child to the
educated.
I did not sleep that night, and
I am deeply ashamed that the fear
the next morning I went through the
of ‘what if’ had taken residence in my
motions of diapering, feeding, and
heart, and I saw no way out.
mothering this child. His very pores
What if he lived with me the rest of his life?
smelled of orphanage, and his yellowed teeth caused rank smells when he
What if he remained a scared child
exhaled near my face. I dressed him in
orphanage.” The child I had “rescued”
who could not leave my home without
the adorable clothes I had packed, and
from an orphanage just ten hours
freaking out and crying?
I still could not cover my fears. You see,
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my whole life I had the ability to avoid
all that they knew as fishermen and
disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do
my fears and to sacrifice on my terms.
follow Him, fear surely was in their
you still have no faith?” ~ Mark 4:39-40
This was too much, I had gone too far.
hearts. There must have been a few real
I brought my WHAT IF home, and
moments where they looked at each
this process of adoption absolutely
other and asked WHAT IF… But they
destroyed the life I knew before. I can
followed and became friends with the
look back and see how I needed to have
very good at measuring our sacrifices.
Creator of the universe. What if they had
my vain conceit, selfish ambitions, and
We apply logic and control to choices
instead looked at Jesus and asked Him:
countless fears destroyed. I can look
Measured Sacrifice As Christians in America, we are
and operate out of unconscious fear. It is human nature — our way of ensuring our survival and sanity. But how can we live a life that dares to make a difference if we are too scared to try? When Peter saw Jesus walking on the water, he asked if he could go to Him. Jesus said, come on, and Peter walked to him and had an experience that changed his life. It is obvious that
“What if you are not who you say
back and be humbled by a woman who lay on a bathroom floor begging God to
you are?” “What if things go poorly, and we
see me out of this decision. And I can see how He sat beside me as I let go of
lose everything?” "What if our families think we are crazy, and they mock and ridicule us?” I cannot imagine how things would have been different for them. What if this is the worst decision
all the things that I thought gave my life meaning, worth, and control. But the most beautiful part is what we find after we have gone beyond the WHAT IFs. At the end of myself, I have found HIM. //
I ever made? “He got up, rebuked the wind
fear is a VERY REAL thing, but WHAT IF
and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be
we dare to go out on the water anyway?
still!” Then the wind died down and
When Jesus asked his disciples to leave
it was completely calm. He said to his 11
Stacey Gagnon, along with her husband Darren, are the founders of Lost Sparrows. She can be reached at P.O. Box 751, Winona Lake, IN 46590. Learn more about Lost Sparrows at www.lostsparrows.org. MARCH 2022
serving our neighbor FAIR PLAY CAMP SCHOOL
Giving Boys a Fair Shot FAIR PLAY CAMP SCHOOL
words by: REUBEN SHETLER
THE MORNING SUN peeps over the horizon in South Carolina. It rises slowly over Oconee County, bringing the promise of a fresh, new day. Golden sunbeams probe through the trees of the Blue Ridge Mountains. A fine mist rises out of the forest. A blue jay screams, announcing to the woodland creatures, “Time to wake up! Spring is in the mountains!" Oconee County is paradise on Earth. There’s a group of woodland creatures that have already been up for several hours. In single file, they descend the mountain. Ten boys, led by two young men, are on a morning hike. They march down a rugged path, silently watching
the
woodpeckers
and
warblers
flit through the trees. They cross a stream, jumping from one rock to another. And then they’re back at camp. The Frontiersmen, led by Jared Stoltzfus, are ready for a new day at Fair Play Camp School. A new day of learning, responsibility, and developing skills that will benefit them the rest of their lives.
About Fair Play Daniel Hochstetler, Executive Director of Fair Play (also known as “Head Chief”), emerges from his house on the premises of camp. Daniel is married, has five children, and has been director since 2014. He’s on his way to camp headquarters for morning devotions. Fair Play Camp School was started in 1981 by Floyd Yoder and his father. When he was a young married man, Floyd lived near a camp for troubled boys in Virginia. Floyd thought
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MARCH 2022
Head Chief, Daniel Hochstetler, helping one of the boys stir a giant batch of apple butter
camp was a great place, but it wasn’t founded on the gospel of Jesus Christ. So Floyd decided to start his own boys camp, a Christian camp. His dream became reality when he received the opportunity to purchase 500 acres in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in South Carolina. Fair Play was born, a camp that has hosted over 1,000 boys in its 40 years of operation. Camp is for boys, ages 8 to 17, who are experiencing behavior/emotional problems and have a desire to change. They are placed in one of four campsites, the Frontiersmen, Explorers, Trailblazers, or Pioneers. Each camp has ten boys, and two counselors who are referred to as “chiefs.” “Camp has two rules,” Daniel says. “Rule one: everything we do, we do as a group. Each group of ten boys always sticks together. Rule two: everything we do, we do with a good attitude.” These two rules are the fundamentals of the experience that shapes boys into men. They learn how to interact with each other, how to communicate, and how to live unselfishly. And, they learn they are helping themselves when they help others. “We all have things we can improve,” Daniel says. “We all have skills within ourselves to help others. But we also have to be willing to accept criticism.” Fair Play is located in a wilderness setting. “It’s a very simple atmosphere, where people need each other,” Daniel explains. “There are very few distractions in this environment. It’s like America 150 years ago. At that time, the quality of your life depended on your relationships with your neighbors. That’s what Fair Play is all about. What’s important is your relationship with God and each other, and how we choose to help each other.” Daniel pauses to look over the campsites. The boys are bustling about like a colony of ants. “We have this saying,”
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“Being a chief is one of the most worthwhile things a young man can do,” Jared says. “A chief will serve for two years. A typical boy who attends camp will be there for a year and a half. So, what’s unique is there are always new boys coming in, and there are always boys who are almost ready to leave. As a chief, the boys that start the same time as you do are extra special. You develop a connection with them because you interact with them the longest.” Jared loves watching the boys grow. The boys who are at the end of their term will reach out a hand to those who are just beginning. “A peer can talk to someone who just came. It makes you get past yourself and your problems. Most boys are closed up, Jared Stoltzfus with his wife Andrea
or explosive. They’ve never talked about their hurts. At camp, they open up, and it changes their lives. In general, a lot of these boys come from broken homes
Daniel says. “We’re not going to do anything to a
and have no father figure. Their adoptive parents
boy, or for a boy, but we’re going to do everything
may think they can love them out of their hurts, but
with a boy.”
sometimes it may take another step.”
He continues, “Camp is a place of healing and
Cole arrived at camp as a little boy and left as
hope. So many young boys have experienced hurts
a young man. He was very immature. When things
and need a place to restart. Our goal here is to be
didn’t go his way, he threw a temper tantrum. He
Christian mentors. We have a great opportunity to
screamed and yelled. He was overweight, and the
show boys how a godly man should live.”
outdoors was not the place for him. Cole was used to playing video games, and not much else.
Camp Operations
During his time as a chief, Jared built a relationship
Jared Stoltzfus grew up with Fair Play ingrained
with Cole. He saw an extremely intelligent young
into his childhood. “When I was a kid, Dad would sing
boy. Slowly, Cole began to exercise his leadership
camp songs to me when he put me to bed.” Jared’s
capabilities. He came full circle on taking care of
dad was a chief at Fair Play soon after the camp
himself. He loved to plan camp activities, and he
started. Then Jared’s uncle became a chief as well.
became a mentor to other boys. He learned to freely
“After he finished his time at camp, my uncle
express himself. “Cole went from having no respect,”
decided to live in South Carolina. When I was a boy,
Jared recalls, “to being a leader.”
we would visit my uncle, and sometimes we’d go see
Jared is a chief for the Frontiersmen. This
camp. It became super close to me,” Jared relates.
particular morning, they are building a tent in
He decided to follow in the family footsteps. In the
their campsite. The boys run into the forest and cut
fall of 2015, Jared became a chief at Fair Play.
down three small pine trees. They drag them back
"It's like America 150 years ago. At that time, the quality of your life depended on your relationships with your neighbors. That's what Fair Play is all about." 15
MARCH 2022
to camp. Two boys begin hacking off branches. Another two use knives to peel off bark. The rest of the group is bent over a blueprint, figuring out the next step. Daniel joins the scene. “Each boy is responsible for his own tent,” he explains. “We help him create a blueprint to build it. He learns engineering, using math, and reading a tape measure. Then the entire group assists in building the tent, usually out of pine trees. After that, the boys are responsible to maintain it. They clean their own tents. They fix leaks. Their tents are their domain, the property for which they are fully responsible.” The Explorers are making firewood. Again, it’s a group effort. Some are cutting, some are splitting, some are carrying, some are stacking. “Firewood is their focus this week,” Daniel says. “Next week they’ll move on to something else.” It’s Tuesday, so the Trailblazers are sitting in a circle planning their activities for the following week. The boys work together to make sure the schedule makes sense. Next Tuesday they will plan the week after that. The Pioneers are preparing a menu. Two days a week, each group cooks their own food. They have six menus to prepare: two for breakfast, two for lunch, and two for supper. The boys have a certain quantity they can spend per menu. They create a list of ingredients,
they’ve learned, in real life. Then they return to camp to
which are purchased for them by the camp cooks.
learn more.
Daniel laughs. “If they plan to have pancakes, but
“No two days are alike at Fair Play,” Daniel says.
forget to get maple syrup, then there’s just no syrup! The
“But we try to work through things the best we can.
boys learn their decisions have direct consequences. They
Hopefully, these boys will go on to apply these principles
learn to be self-sufficient, and to think things through.”
in their schools, their churches, and when they grow up, their businesses and homes.”
Each day, the boys get up at 6:30. They make their beds, do campsite chores, then have devotions. On
Around the Campfire
Sundays, the entire Fair Play team has chapel together. Five days a week, the entire camp eats together in a
It’s evening. The boys in camp sit around campfires to
dining hall called Chuckwagon.
evaluate their day. The flames flicker and dance, creating
“We try to make things fun,” Daniel says. “We go
moving shadows on their faces.
fishing. We play games. We go on canoe trips. When
The sound of laughter and happy conversation drifts
we’re working together, and taking care of each other,
into the woods. A barred owl calls, and spring peepers
it’s just like a family.”
serenade the creeks and bogs in the lowlands. The air is
Of course, families can have problems. And problems
alive with fireflies. Another day at Fair Play has come to
arise at Fair Play. But when an issue comes up, the group
an end.
will stop and talk about it. If someone is angry, normal
There’s nothing like sitting around the campfire,
activities will not resume until the issue is resolved.
talking about life. And it also is a time of reflection.
Every six weeks, the boys go home for 4-5 days.
Daniel watches his current campers talk and interact, and
This gives them the opportunity to exercise the things
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his mind floats back to boys of the past.
16
Jordan came to camp when he was 12. Recently he called Daniel and said, “I’ve been thinking about camp a lot these days. Man, can I just come back? I miss that place.” The memories made stick with the boys the rest of their lives. Hudson grew up in an orphanage in Ukraine. He got adopted, but his new family had little hope for him. They sent him to Fair Play. Now, he’s a senior in high school. He’s running cross-country, and he has a full-time job and a savings account. And Hudson’s family is excited about his future. Daniel stares into the flames and ponders. He knows that many of the boys’ families consider the chiefs at Fair Play to be heroes. But who are the heroes? The heroes are the boys themselves. The boys, and everyone outside of camp who help make camp possible.
"There's nothing like sitting around the campfire, talking about life." An Answered Prayer Curt Yoder is an associate board member for Fair Play. He also is an answer to a prayer. Curt lives in Ohio, and he is the owner of Ashery Country Store near Mt. Hope. “When I was 19, one of my friends was a chief at Fair Play,” Curt shares. “I took a tour of camp, and I was impressed. I wanted to help camp in some way, but at that time I was dating and had marriage on my mind.” That marriage happened, and Curt wasn’t able to be a chief at Fair Play. But he never forgot. Curt’s father passed away in 2004. Two years later, Curt joined a men’s group that offered support to one another. One session, a question came up. “What is a dream you never pursued?” Curt told the group about his desire to help Fair Play when he was a young man. Then another question came up. “What’s holding you back from still helping them now?” 17
MARCH 2022
So, Curt arranged a meeting with Judson
occasionally to do work projects, supports an annual
Schrock, a former administrator at camp. “Hey, can
fundraiser at Gospel Haven Church, and helps find
we start supporting you in some way?”
chiefs. “A chief has to be 21 years old, and unmarried,”
Judson couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
Curt says. “He has to be willing to make a two-year
Fair Play was going through some financial
commitment. It takes someone who is willing to
struggles, and they were at the point where they
learn, willing to humble himself, and willing to care
almost didn’t have the funds to keep operating.
about the boys.”
Putting a boy through camp is quite costly. But
Daniel says, “Camp may be a great program, but
when someone contacts Fair Play with a request
it needs support.”
to send a boy, Daniel doesn’t talk about money. He
Curt agrees. “During the times I’ve been there,
says, “Tell me about your son.” Fair Play will accept
I’ve seen leaders shed tears because of how much
any boy seeking help, regardless of how much his
they care. I’ve seen some very dedicated men and
family can pay.
women. I’ve seen a board of directors that is very
Fair Play has two local thrift stores that
engaged. They live what they say. Someone with a
donate their proceeds to camp. These stores, plus
lot of trouble can be hard to love. But it takes more
contributions from the boys’ families, cover about
than yourself. It takes God’s love in you.”
half the costs of operation. In the past, a lot of the
There’s one thing Curt always keeps in mind.
balance was provided by the state of South Carolina.
“Wherever it is that God is calling me, what can I do?”
But some rules and regulations shifted, and a lot of
Relationships That Last a Lifetime
the state funding disappeared. Fair Play now had to depend on God for sufficient funds.
Jared Stoltzfus’s experience as a chief at Fair
God did not disappoint them. He nudged Curt
Play was rewarding in many ways. In fact, it even
Yoder, and Curt became a monthly donor for Fair
PLAIN VALUES
benefits him today.
Play. He had found a role to support the camp.
Twenty minutes from the boys camp is a girls
With Fair Play depending more on private donors,
camp called Wilderness Way. On one of his days off,
each monthly sponsorship is critical to the survival
Jared met a counselor from Wilderness Way. Her
of the camp.
name was Andrea.
Judson Schrock had prayed, “How can camp
Jared and Andrea began dating, although
run on private donations?” So far, God has moved
spending time together could be a bit challenging
people, and the camp continues to chug along.
due to their differing schedules. Still, they managed
Eventually, Curt became an associate board
to find time to go out to eat, go to town, or to do
member. He takes his church youth group to camp
some hiking together. “There are many relationships 18
that come about as a result of camp, which I think is
The smoke of breakfast campfires dies down to
amazing,” Jared says. “People who commit to going
nothing. The Frontiersmen have done their chores,
to camp often find common ground and other like-
wolfed down their food, and done devotions.
minded people in the rest of camp staff. You are all
Now, they’re ready for another hike. Jared tidies
choosing to do the same thing in life for a time, and
up the last of the dishes, then turns to the group.
I think it’s often a reflection of a similar life vision
“Are you ready?”
and purpose. That was our experience. In getting
“Ready!” they chorus.
to know each other through camp, we discovered
“Okay!” Jared heads for the mountain, the boys
we cared about the same things, and were headed
following behind. “March onward!” he calls. The
in the same direction in life, and camp was a great
group vanishes into the trees.
connecting point that helped us realize that.”
March onward, indeed. Onward to a better future; onward to a fair shot at life. //
One month after Jared arrived home from camp, he married his sweetheart. “We still talk about camp a lot,” Jared smiles. “Our married life is largely influenced by what we learned at camp.
If you would like to make a one-time donation, or become a
We implement those skills in the things we do, and
monthly sponsor, you can send your contribution to the address
the way we treat each other. Camp truly can inspire
below, or visit their website.
someone for a lifetime.”
Fair Play Camp School
Depending on what comes up in their lives, Jared and Andrea look at each other, and say together, “Man, you can be grateful I went to camp!”
Address: 347 Wilderness Trail, Westminster, SC 29693
March Onward
Website: www.fairplaycamp.org
It’s another new day in South Carolina. The sun rises again, bathing the mountains with light.
Photos submitted by Fair Play Camp School, Jared Stoltzfus, and Curt Yoder.
Reuben Shetler lives in Walnut Creek, Ohio, and is a member of the Old Order Amish Church. He has been blessed with a wife and three children. Reuben strives to preserve the culture and customs of the Amish church in every way he can. Reuben has numerous hobbies, with writing at the top of the list. You might also find him birdwatching in the spring, gardening and beekeeping in the summer, hunting in the fall, and making firewood in the winter. Reuben loves books, home cooking, books, anything outdoors, family time, and books. Reuben sees life as a continuous succession of 24-hour adventures. (Getting some sleep is exciting too, right?) He seeks to glorify God in all that he does, and bring honor to His name. 19
MARCH 2022
resources EDEN FOODS
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WITH FIFTY-FOUR YEARS of experience, Eden Foods is more relevant than ever. Pursuit of its goals of healthy soil and pure food for all, local supply, righteous price, and sharing an understanding of the dynamics of good health, has been a painfully educational, joyous journey. Originally a natural food co-op, we hold to the company (bread sharers from the Latin) original principles and goals. Initially sourcing brown rice, seaweed, and miso from macrobiotic guidance. Knowledge of biodynamics and a visit from three Austrian, Rudolf Steiner Institute representatives who were working with U.S. Steel and travelled to meet with us, helped guide and encouraged our principles and high standards for Eden Food’s selection criteria. The nature of Eden Foods as a principled natural food company gives rise to the question, “What principles?” Still remaining a small company, Eden has maintained the highest organic standards and is the longest serving natural food supplier in North America. The company’s focus is on the purest life supporting food, and accurate information about them, their uses, and benefits. The hunt for good food grew around selecting whole grain and beans, which commonsensically required food without toxic chemical contaminants. Driving around country roads, ringing doorbells, knocking, and asking folks if they would be willing to grow grain and beans for us without chemicals was an awkward, fruitful beginning. “As young people learning about the diet-disease relationship, the abysmal condition of commercial food, and as a group planning to start families, we were motivated to acquire good, pure food, and wanted to share it," said Michael Potter, president of Eden Foods. After reading the book, You Are All Sanpaku by George Ohsawa given to him by his sister, Michael began a search for brown rice, miso, and seaweed. As personal and societal awareness grew to understand the relationship between food and health, the quest developed into Eden Foods. Growing from self-interest to wider commercial fulfillment was driven mainly by demand.
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MARCH 2022
from
California
were
replaced
with
“organic”
versions shipped from 5,000 miles south. Nearly all natural food stores were swept up and consolidated into finance giants with immediate profit being the goal. Wall Street, bolstered with federal organic agricultural policies, has served a huge setback to organic agricultural development in this hemisphere. Eden Foods believes it an inalienable right, and an essential to intelligent food choice, to have accurate facts about food; how it is grown, handled, processed, prepared, and exactly what is in it. Following successful lobbying (bribing) and new government policy, the food industry hides where food comes from, how it is grown, handled, processed, and what toxic chemicals they contain.
Micheal Potter, president of Eden Foods
Successful marketing of that food is impossible if they were to be straightforward and forthright.
Eden Foods grew through many stages: a
Food disparagement and labeling laws give
co-op, retailer, packager, a brand, processor,
legal standing to intentional misinformation and
organic advocate, wholesaler, trucker, importer,
deceptive marketing. "Through the 60s and into the
manufacturer, exporter, pasta company, soymilk
70s, if something was in the food or in the packaging
maker, bean cannery, internet retailer, and organic
material of the food, it was an ingredient and had
field crop processor/cleaner.
to be declared as such. Since the mid 1980s the
In the 60s and early 70s, Eden Foods was the
definition of ingredient has quietly been changed
only source of natural food in the Midwest. Over
to, If it impacts the nutritional information panel,
time, as natural food companies thrived, lost their
it is an ingredient. If a substance does not impact
way, sold out, or went out of business, natural food
nutritional information, it is not an ingredient.
distribution became consolidated into Wall Street
Thousands of chemicals, mostly toxic, no longer
monied companies. Greenwashing drowned out all
need to be declared as ingredients," said Mr.
but the most grassroots, local companies growing
Potter. Previously, reading packages was helpfully
and preparing good food. The public was falsely led to
informative. That is no longer so. Food packaging
believe that through the transformations they were
label laws are legal foundation for a massive
seeing, the integrity and authenticity of natural and
misinformation scheme.
organic would remain unchanged. When the USDA
Eden Foods is proud to clearly show its
became the sole owner of the “marketing term”
ingredients, going to great lengths to make them
organic, the marketing agency for toxic chemical
easy to read. Ingredients are not hidden under
agriculture and GMOs became empowered to policy-
folds, flaps, or in type that is impossible to read.
encourage organic fraud. Despite doublespeak to
Questions about Eden foods and their sources are
the contrary, organic standards fell abysmally low
warmly welcomed. The company name, Eden, was drawn from
from that point. Fraud rapidly accelerated.
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Suddenly and magically, it became far cheaper
singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell’s hit song Woodstock;
to grow organic grain and beans in Eastern Europe
“We are stardust, we are golden, and we’ve got to get
and China, despite having to move them halfway
ourselves back to the garden.” In a supportive role for
around the world. U.S. real organic growers were
the name Eden was – Environmental Defense, Energy
unable to compete. Berries, fruit, and vegetables
Network.
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Pure, real organic food requires more than doing paperwork for USDA’s unprincipled organic system. Knowing and learning about the growers, their motivation, farming practices, how they harvest, handle, store, and transport crops, all provide
insight
into
potential
reliability
and
other values. Personal relationships supply the information needed to answer logical questions from discerning folks about the food they seek. That knowledge allows Eden Foods to be straightforward and transparent with our customers, and to know what we are feeding our families. Through fifty-four years of change, Eden Foods still travels rural roads, knocks on doors, and gets to know real organic farmers. Regularly heard in our travels is that Eden Foods is the only natural, organic food company that does this. Eden management and staff sit at kitchen tables to share ideas and updates. Fields are walked, information collected, and relationships are nourished. Knowing farm histories, the prevailing winds, and how the farms are positioned into the environment, are part of the value derived. Learning the motivation behind various organic farm families has served us and our patrons very well. The company works directly with organic growers and traditional food makers, helping nourish approximately 100,000 acres of organic farmland and its 380 families. “Changing how food is grown and handled will fundamentally change all aspects of humanity and societies in positive ways,” said Mr. Potter. This belief has guided and sustained Eden Foods. A consistent Eden marketing theme has been, “Organic agriculture is society’s brightest hope for positive change.” “In selecting food we offer and eat, we strive to do so in harmony with the goal of bringing back life to the soil,” said Mr. Potter. As Eden studies organic food options, an overriding question is, "What will result in, and nurture, life in the soil?" Vital energy from healthy, living soil is essential to good food production. The people who make the company work, its suppliers and customers, share an affinity with the original mission in an enthusiastic pursuit of excellence and pure food. //
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community ROOTS + WINGS
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column by:
rory feek
HERE IN THE MIDDLE OF TENNESSEE, the arrival of March
strong winds march 2022
signals the return of spring. The long-awaited blooming of yellow daffodils that encircle our family cemetery here on the farm lets us know that winter is wearing thin, and the warmer weather will soon be on its way. The pretty daffodils are also a gentle reminder of my beautiful bride Joey’s passing this month six years ago. After a whirlwind music career together that we didn’t see coming, and then a few years of touring and traveling, we had come back home to strive for less and yet, believe in more. So as Joey’s garden flourished in 2012 and '13 and our weekly television show grew in popularity… early 2014 found us taking a year off from
"...EARLY 2014
music and television and welcoming our new little girl, Indiana,
FOUND US TAKING
into the world.
A YEAR OFF FROM
sure we didn’t miss a moment of that first year. So in January that
MUSIC AND TELEVISION
year, I put my songwriting pen away and began writing a blog
AND WELCOMING OUR
did my best to capture our lives in an even more intimate way for
NEW LITTLE GIRL, INDIANA, INTO THE WORLD."
We both knew what a gift she was to us and wanted to make
called This Life I Live. Along with the blog, I picked up a camera and the next two years. Even though we had put our musical dreams on hold for a while, Joey and I hoped and believed that an even more important story was about to unfold. Our goal was to document and share our life journey as we went along. In February, Indiana was born at home, here at the farmhouse, naturally, just as babies had been born in this old house for 150
Rory Feek is a world-class storyteller, songwriter, filmmaker, and New York Times best-selling author. As a musical artist, Rory is one-half of the Grammy-award-winning duo, Joey+Rory. He and his wife Joey toured the world and sold nearly a million records before her untimely passing in March 2016.
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years. The birth went just as expected, but Indy’s little almond eyes were a surprise to all of us. In the nine months before, we had never given any thought to the idea that our little one might have Down syndrome. So a few days after she was born, when the tests confirmed that she had an extra chromosome, it caught us both off guard. Those first few days were filled with phone calls and visits from friends and family excited to hear about the new baby, with most people responding by saying “I’m so sorry” or not knowing what to say at all when we shared the DS diagnosis. And we understood. We weren’t upset. Everyone, of course, meant well. But even with the disappointment that seemed to be spoken between the lines of the wellwishing, we were far from disappointed. We were in love. We knew that God had given us the baby and the future that He had planned for us, and that was all we needed to know. Those first few months with Indy were magical. Although Joey had always been afraid of having a baby and concerned that she might not be cut out to be a mother, the moment the midwife put Indiana in her arms, her whole life changed. She, for the first time, seemed to understand what life was truly about and what her true purpose was. In the weeks that followed, she even began imagining having more babies together but wanted to be prayerful and seek what God wanted, more than what she or I had in mind. By May, those prayers were answered in a follow-up visit with her doctor, who saw something on her cervix that concerned her. Within days, the doctor’s fears were confirmed with a cervical
"...THE MOMENT THE MIDWIFE
cancer diagnosis. A full-hysterectomy surgery was
PUT INDIANA IN HER ARMS,
scheduled to remove the cancerous area and to keep it from spreading. The surgery was difficult for
HER WHOLE LIFE CHANGED.
Joey but thankfully successful. Although Joey was
SHE, FOR THE FIRST TIME,
disappointed that no more babies were in her future,
SEEMED TO UNDERSTAND WHAT
she was thrilled to get to be a mother to Indy, and within weeks life was pretty much back to normal.
LIFE WAS TRULY ABOUT AND
As Indy grew, she thrived and brought so much
WHAT HER TRUE PURPOSE WAS."
joy to us and everyone around her. By Christmastime, we were back on stage in the concert hall, blessed this time to bring our little one out to the shows and introduce her to the audience.
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The new year brought on more new creative
much prayer and consideration, we decided to take
opportunities, stretching our wings even more,
a different route. We came home instead. They had
with us making a feature film in Virginia and then
given her six to nine months to live… and so, our
returning back home for more sold-out concerts at
choice was to fully live that time together with all
the farm. But something was wrong: Joey’s health
the love and hope we had. We hadn’t given up hope;
began taking another turn for the worse. That
we just shifted our trust from the medical world to
summer, she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.
the one we knew could heal her if He chose to.
It was a surreal moment for us for a number of
And so we came home. First to our farm here in
reasons. First off, Joey had always done such a great
Tennessee, and then one final tour bus ride to Joey’s
job of taking care of herself. She was a conscious,
hometown in Indiana. She wanted to be with her
healthy eater and exercised regularly, and she
mama and daddy and sisters and family. However
did all the right things to take care of herself and
much time she had, she wanted it to be purposeful,
her family. But also, getting news like that when
and if life was going to end, she wanted it to be in
you have a 15-month-old baby is a hard thing to
the place where it began for her 40 years before.
comprehend. And yet, Joey’s faith was incredibly
I can honestly say that time in Indiana was
strong. She trusted God and wanted to do whatever
maybe the most special of any time in my life. We
it took to fight it. We spent the summer in Chicago
lived in a small house on Bill & Gloria Gaither’s
and then Newnan, Georgia. First for another very
property just across the pond from them, and all we
difficult surgery and recovery and then a long
had was a few things in a suitcase, each other, our
regime of chemo and radiation. And through it all,
family, and our faith. And somehow, when life gets
Joey remained hopeful and positive, believing that
cut down like that, when it’s just the essentials, it
the cancer would be removed and life could resume
has a way of getting richer. Much, much richer than
as normal, in time.
how we all usually live it. We were scared, but we
In October, those hopes were dashed again as
were together. And my bride’s faith in whatever God
another round of testing confirmed that the cancer
had in store was inspiring to all of us.
had continued spreading at an alarming rate. The
We had no plans or agenda for those last few
doctors offered to do more. To try more. But after
months except to be together. We shared each moment with Joey and the ones we loved, and it was truly incredible. As the new year began and
Joey getting chemotherapy with Indy by her side in the fall of 2015
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