Calendar of Events & Holidays

The Adult Programs Committee would like to invite congregation members to visit the Huong Lam Buddhist temple, in Pearland, for a tour, a meeting with the monks, meditation, and a meal for us. Huong Lam Temple is relatively unique in being cared for by a group of Vietnamese female monks or sisters. It supports a vibrant community of over 100 families, and is known for its statues and artwork. We will meet at First Unitarian Church at 11 AM, and carpool to the temple.

Please let either Matthew Do, Paul Smolen, or Carol Burrus know by Monday April 15 if you would like to go.

The workshop for the month will be led by Carmen Jules of Blue Heron Farm:

The Urban Farming world is definitely led and sustained by Spirit! To mesh the world of agriculture and
my love for helping my community has such a different perspective. And my journey has taken me through powerful lessons about food, human nature and most importantly, the weaponization of food, that I am compelled to do all in my power to help those who have an ear to hear and eyes to see.
I have been doing urban farming for the last nine years, but my growing experience has been for most of my life. My first garden was when I was 8 years old, a request to my father for my birthday present. And he was surprised, but supported my endeavor to grow food. The balance of my personal growing experience was with a home garden as an adult. Growing most of the standard things in small quantities, like tomatoes, egg plant, cucumbers, strawberries, peppers, melons, greens, okra and corn. You are fooled to think that the cute little home garden that you so diligently nurture is hard work, until you have been gifted the opportunity to manage a 3 acre underfunded raw urban land farm. Suddenly a cute little home garden became a walk in the park.
Needless to say, I want to share my love of bringing food to the people of my community with you to inspire you to learn about food sovereignty, and claiming your own special space to grow or support those who grow healthy food. Growing food teaches you more about yourself, your strengths and weaknesses and allows you to work on who you are and what you want to accomplish. Growing food is simple to most, but, a silent complexity that will put you in awe, when the simple seed you put in the soil comes forth, and in time, produces an edible. You think what an amazing thing you have done. But truly it is your first introduction to something powerful and hidden. And how you are connected to it all. Contrary to popular belief you don’t have to be an expert, that comes with the repetitive nature of growing, you simply have to have the desire to grow food and most especially, eat what you grow.
Join me on Saturday, April 27 at 1 pm for the inspiring “Simply Seed Experience” workshop were you will be nurtured to grow your own food and/or learn to support effectively those who grow food. You will learn a few of the challenges of growing in our current urban environment from my perspective of growing food naturally. This workshop is for those thinking about growing and beginning growers. We are not looking at complex growing but the effort of just getting started, overcoming fears and getting your feet
wet, so to speak! Hopefully you will come to the workshop thinking about growing and leave with the motivation and action plan to grow. You will also understand how food affects so many areas of you life, and what you can do in your world to make things better.
Carmen Jules, is the Farm Manager of a multi-site urban farm in Houston, Texas. Our focus is on growing healthy fruits and vegetables naturally. We are expanding our current 3 acre farm model to include new agricultural technologies to better address the ever changing weather environment. We are currently working on site 1 of 4 urban sites that will house the various agricultural technologies, which includes robotic farming, aeroponics, hydroponics and aquaponics. Traditional farming will still be the mainstay of
our farm, however, we believe the research is necessary to look at alternatives in the event that current farming weather challenges cannot be overcome. Additional community sharing skills include disaster recovery skills and affordable alternative housing/energy advocacy