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Eshet Chayil

This past weekend I was saddened by the loss of Christian author Rachel Held Evans. Also known as RHE in the media world, her sudden death was brought on by what seemed only the flu and infection. Needless to say, it shocked a flock of people who followed her writing.

Even though I wasn’t always in complete ideological fellowship with Rachel, I still counted myself as one of her many fans. I’m of the conviction that no person, denomination or culture, no matter how learned, has all the answers on the Bible. None of us has the omniscience to fully understand the mind and workings of God, especially me.

Given that conviction, here are three of the many reasons I admired Rachel.

Doubts

“If your faith is so fragile it cannot handle questions, doubts, and honest inquiry, if it is so threatened by the full engagement of your heart & mind it runs from potential challenges, that’s not faith; it’s fear.” 
― Rachel Held Evans, Twitter

Everyone has questioned the Bible or their faith at one time or another (if you haven’t, you’re deceiving yourself and the truth is not within you:-). When writing of her faith journey, Rachel openly admitted her doubts, whether they were in God or in how people acted about God.

Knowing they’re not alone with their questions, and knowing there’s someone out there that doesn’t condemn them for their questions, has been inspiration for a lot of people. As one Amazon reviewer said in response to Faith Unraveled: How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask Questions, “This book brought me the hope to keep searching, to keep seeking God in the jungle of my doubts.”

Inclusiveness

“But the gospel doesn’t need a coalition devoted to keeping the wrong people out. It needs a family of sinners, saved by grace, committed to tearing down the walls, throwing open the doors, and shouting, ‘Welcome! There’s bread and wine. Come eat with us and talk.’ This isn’t a kingdom for the worthy; it’s a kingdom for the hungry.”
― Rachel Held Evans, Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church

Perhaps Rachel’s most beloved attribute was her adamant insistence of God’s love for all people. She reminded us how those we often deem as unworthy have been made worthy by God’s grace.

Rachel refused to shy away from this conversation of inclusiveness. Even when those who opposed her became openly hostile, she carried on with graciousness and respect. Wow, what if the whole online community demonstrated such faith-based love!

Eshet Chayil (Woman of Valor)

“One of my goals after completing my year of biblical womanhood was to “take back” Proverbs 31 as a blessing, not a to-do list, by identifying and celebrating women of valor: women who are changing the world through daily acts of faithfulness, both in my life and around the world.”
― Rachel Held Evans, Blog

The Bible shares many accounts of women who were fierce and fearless, not only in the way they lived but also in their faith. Many people overlook these women in favor of more masculine heroes, but not Rachel. She promoted them as Women of Valor.

Rachel explained the cultural context behind Proverbs 31 and she encouraged today’s women with an enthusiastic “Eshet Chayil,” which is a traditional blessing of praise in the Jewish community based on these Proverbial verses.

Eshet Chayil. Isn’t this beautiful? I love it.

Eshet Chayil, Rachel Held Evans. Rest in the peace of God’s salvation!



The Power of the Story

MOSES conference 2017

Last weekend we did a getaway to the MOSES Organic Farming Conference in La Crosse. I had done some design work for them earlier this year and was anxious to really be part of this great event. It was so much fun! Think hobnobbing with 3,500+ farmers, academics and friends; learning lots from any of the 65 workshops, 23 roundtables and two keynote speakers; and networking with two floors of ag-related business owners. And, oh, the food…it was deliciously diviiiiine.

My husband and I are not organic farmers by trade (we are at heart!). Even so, at the MOSES conference we felt inspired, wiser and excited about the many people who do make their living providing the world with good food. As a marketing professional, I couldn’t help notice a dominant lesson repeated throughout the weekend—the power of the story.

Stories Create Connection

There were two keynote speakers—Mas Masumoto and Liz Carlisle—and they were both captivating storytellers. They shared heartfelt narratives of themselves and farmers, and they emphasized the importance of telling your own story. Masumoto asked each of us to turn to our neighbor and share the story of how we got into organic food. It was slow going for about five seconds and then the conversation took off in an excited hum. What a great way for everyone to realize they have a unique story, all the while meeting other people and hearing theirs.

Organic farmers—well, any business for that matter—can tote facts and features all day long, but in the end, emotions are what really motivate people to buy. This was true decades ago when Dale Carnegie said “we are dealing with creatures of emotion.” It’s even truer today in this “experience-economy,” as Masumoto explained, where consumers are looking for a personal connection to the things around them. When you share your story with others, you allow them an emotional ownership in your farm, your brand and your product.

The World is Waiting to Hear Your Story

So what is your story? As Masumoto asks, “What is your story of significance?” Maybe you have difficulties figuring this out. Or maybe you feel uncomfortable telling it, like on your website or in a brochure.

Here’s where I’m your gal. As a trained journalist, I excel in the interview. I ask lots of questions and get to the heart of who you are. I listen. I take notes. And then I take all this wonderful stuff about you and weave it into a meaningful story, one that captures the emotion of your consumers and motives them to action.

If you need help telling your story, whether in design or in words—I’d love to help.

Kicking Off a Creative New Year

Project Creativity

Would it be terribly punny of me to say that creatives are creative with their New Year’s resolutions? Check out this calligrapher who in 2015 hand-lettered the entire Book of Proverbs. Absolutely stunning, not to mention a work of perseverance and inspiration.

Creative resolutions are wonderful exercises for those of us who make a living on our ideas. They challenge us to try new things. They broaden our thinking. They combat the dreaded creative block. How do I know this? Easy. Over the years I’ve made a gazillion resolutions, from photo-a-days to sketch-a-days, from gratitude journals to blogging. Some resolutions I kept faithfully, others I lost interest by week two. And through them all, I’ve come away a more creative and focused professional.

Because I have a short attention span (multipotentialism—how exciting there’s now a label for us :-), I’ve learned my most successful creative resolutions are year-long blogs. Twelve months is ample time for me to master a topic and ramp my writing skills. Posting once a week, give or take, doesn’t overwhelm my schedule, yet it requires some major self-discipline. By the end of twelve months I’ll be completely bored of the blog, but I know if I stick it through I’ll feel highly accomplished.

So that’s what I’m doing.

My creative resolution for 2017 is a year-long blog called Project Creativity. What is creativity? Why is creativity important? How we can further our creativity? These are some of the discussions I hope to cover. I’ve done a lot of research on the subject, but all the books and studies have nothing on a broad scope of personal experiences. That’s why I’m hoping you’ll participate in this exciting project.

That means you! Whether you’re a creative professional or creative as a door knob, please participate. Please peruse regularly and offer lots of comments—you know what they say, it’s the comments that make a blog.

Click here and check it out!

And, hey, have an awesome 2017!

November Means Working Together (Pro-Bono)

sandhill cranes in the distance

Here it is November and we still have sandhill cranes. If you look closely in this zoomed-to-the-max iPhone shot, you see two of them enhancing the otherwise desolate cornfield. They caught my attention a few mornings ago as they gaggled away in response to another pair far in the distance. This weekend we’re supposed to get several inches of snow so these snowbirds will likely say to heck with this and take off for warmer temps.

Aren’t the migratory habits of birds amazing?

For example, for several months in autumn the sandhills gather in wetlands before heading south. These are called staging areas and here in Wisconsin there are several where thousands of cranes assemble at a time. I like to imagine this is a time of preparation and joining together of forces for the arduous journey ahead.

You probably knew migrating birds fly in the V-Formation, officially known as the echelon formation. They do this for its aerodynamic advantage, obviously. But did you know birds take turns flying the front helm of this V, a very strenuous task? And did you know the mortality rate for birds is six times higher during the migration season? Given this, isn’t it interesting that even though survival favors the selfish—those that promote their own well-being before that of others—the God-given nature of birds is to selflessly share the responsibility?

This author makes a good point when he says, “If migrating birds work together, the flock has a greater chance of having all of its feathered brethren make the long trip to their destination.”

Working together. For the good of all.

With this caring concept in mind and because November is the month of giving, let me announce it’s my season for pro-bono applications. Each year Adunate accepts two pro-bono projects for greatly reduced or no cost. These are projects I strongly support and believe will positively impact God’s creation, his people, or his ministry.

My interests include, but aren’t limited to:

  • Architecture
  • Arts
  • Children
  • Faith
  • History
  • Humanity
  • Natural Food & Living
  • Nature & Animals
  • Preservation & Sustainability

If your organization needs creative assistance in the upcoming year, click here for an application. Then, to guarantee your project’s success, be sure to click here!

Deadline for submissions is December 31, 2015. I will let applicants know of my decision in January.

What’s Your Sense of Place?

lilacs in bloom

My 4-year-old granddaughter is coming for a sleepover this weekend. Of course, it’s a grandmother’s job to create the most magical memories ever so I’m pulling out the purple bedspread and planning heart-shaped pancakes.

We hear the phrase sense of place a lot. People develop a sense of place through their physical and emotional experiences in an environment. In addition to excesses of love and spoiling, our granddaughter will unknowingly take in the freshness of lilacs in bloom, the soothing white noise of wind on our hill, and the happy chatter of birds in early morning.

(Or, depending on her level of tolerance, she may or may not come away with an appreciation for the incessant crowing of Cornwallis, puffed up rooster that he is.)

Did you know sense of place and our memories are closely related?

Knowing this, it’s logical to apply sense of place to marketing and design. When customers make note of a business, their impressions are influenced by their experience. The colors of your logo, the imagery on your website, the words in your content…they all work together to create a memorable sense of place in your business environment.

What’s your organization’s sense of place? Does it convey who you are? Is it meaningful and memorable?

 

Bring Culture to Your Autumn with Crock-Pot Yogurt

Homemade Yogurt in Crock-Pot Recipe

I’ve sometimes thought it would be fun to be a food blogger. You know, experiment with recipes all day and shoot stunning photos that everyone drools over. I tried it for about a week and quickly realized it’s a ton of work. Plus, I don’t know that much about cooking.

What I do know is marketing. And healthy food. And a simple, artistic way of life. I’m really proud to promote my work for the upcoming Fermentation Fest because the festival embodies so many things for which I stand. Like the sponsors say in their event guide (which Adunate designed, by the way), Fermentation Fest is “a live culture convergence where farmers, artists, chefs, poets, cheesemakers, canners and eaters converge to celebrate food, farming and fermentation.” All done in the beautiful hills of Sauk County, Wis., in October, the most colorful month of the year. Do try to make it!

So, to give you a foretaste of Fermentation Fest and to satiate my desire to be a food blogger, here’s a recipe for homemade yogurt. It’s easy-peasy and a good first step to bringing healthier, homemade food into your diet.

Homemade Yogurt in a Crock-Pot

Serves 8-16

Ingredients

  • 1/2 gallon milk, preferably organic (I use whole milk, but you can use others as well)
  • 1/4 cup plain yogurt with live-active cultures (store-bought Greek yogurt is good)
    or
    1/4 teaspoon freeze-dried yogurt culture

Instructions

  1. Pour milk into your crock-pot and heat at a medium temperature to 180° F (depending on your crock-pot, this takes 30-90 minutes)
  2. Turn crock-pot off and allow milk to cool to 110° F (30-60 minutes)
  3. While waiting for yogurt to cool, measure out the yogurt culture  and bring to room temperature
  4. When milk reaches 110° F, add yogurt culture and whisk until fully blended
  5. Cover crock-pot with lid and wrap completely in towels (someday I’m going to make myself a quilted mini-sleeping bag for this:-)
  6. Leave it undisturbed for 6-8 hours  in quiet location. The longer you let it ferment, the tangier it will be. Sometimes I’ve accidentally let mine go for more than 12 hours and it’s still good, just a bit “wow” on the tang.
  7. After fermenting, refrigerate for at least four hours to allow it to fully set.
  8. Serve with fruit and granola. Enjoy and be healthy!

Last Note:  Save at least 1/4 cup of your homemade yogurt to make your next batch!

Looking for a designer or copywriter for your next food event? Let’s talk!

How You Can Preserve the Good Food Movement

Garlic cloves hanging in old barnI just can’t tell you how good our Fachwerk barn smells right now! Last week we harvested garlic and now one of the hand-hewn beams of our barn is fully lined with this earthy delight. If former lives were such a thing, I’m sure I was an Italian maiden and this brick barn of mine presided over an old-world villa.

Don’tcha think?

Like everything else from our garden, this garlic is so-o-o-o much more flavorful than anything you buy in the grocery store. If there’s a disadvantage to raising your own food, it’s that you become acutely aware of just how tasteless and removed from its natural state our retail food has become. Call me a snob (or an empty-nester who can now afford to spend more), but more times than not I’ll go out of my way to shop at Willy Street Cooperative in Madison, and other such stores, simply because its food is organic and/or locally-grown. Think fresh, flavorful and healthy. (Unfortunately, I know I’m using more time and fuel — it’s not easy being green.)

Have you ever read Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappé? I first ran into this book while working for the Youth Conservation Corp in the late 1970s. Such ecological food practices were revolutionary back then and even though some of her theories have since been refuted, Lappé is still credited to introducing the active food movement we know today. What I find interesting is that 40 years later, her forewarnings of an unsustainable food system are now here to haunt us. And she was right. Today we have declining health, depleted soils, and a problem of affordably producing quality food, simply because the good food movement is not as much of American life as it should be.

In his article Don’t Let Your Children Grow Up to Be Farmers, Bren Smith, a farmer himself, offers suggestions for preserving the good food movement. He writes of political agendas, like supporting affordable health care and shifting subsidies from factory farms to family farms. But guess what, there are things we can do at the grassroots level that are equally important for supporting good food—simple things that not only benefit ourselves but society as a whole.

Here are some ideas:

  • Be willing to spend more for better food, and ultimately better health.
  • Support small farms instead of factory farms—research the farm you support, maybe even take a drive to the country to see it.
  • Buy a CSA share from a farm near you.
  • Support food cooperatives, become an owner for greater discounts.
  • If you don’t have access to grocery stores that carry local and organic food, ask your grocer to do so. Do the same with the restaurants you patronize.
  • Become a farmer yourself, grow a garden.
  • Speak up! Write about it. Talk about it on social media. Make people aware of what you and others are doing with good food.

A Special Press Release for a Special Client

An annual report and save-the-date postcards are spring projects I enjoy doing for my client Forward Mutual Insurance Company. This year is special. Forward’s president and CEO is retiring after 33 years of defining leadership and the company is honoring him with great hoopla. Normally, Forward does a news release after the meeting, however this year I suggested we run an advance article as well. The committed president of a successful mutual is newsworthy indeed and I’m honored for the opportunity to write this story.

Howard Wiedenhoeft, Forward Mutual Insurance Company, Ixonia, Wisconsin

Chairman of the board Stephen Zillmer recently represented Forward Mutual Insurance Company in expressing gratitude to President and CEO Howard Wiedenhoeft, left, for his many years of service. Wiedenhoeft will be retiring at the end of March after managing the company for 33 years. 

 

WIEDENHOEFT TO BE HONORED FOR HIS SERVICE TO INSURANCE FIRM

IXONIA, WI – Forward Mutual Insurance Company will recognize the retirement of Howard Wiedenhoeft at its annual policyholders meeting on March 22 in Ixonia. Wiedenhoeft has managed the company for 33 years.

In 1981, when Wiedenhoeft agreed to serve as secretary-treasurer of the board for Ixonia Mutual Insurance Company, he did so on two conditions—that the company acquire a permanent address and its own phone number.

“At that time, the secretary-treasurer managed the company and he did so out of his home, with the company using his address and phone number,” says Wiedenhoeft. “I felt it was important the company get its own post office box and phone number.”

The mutual company did that and more under Wiedenhoeft’s leadership. Since 1981 it’s moved from using typewriters to computers, from $66 million to $977 million of insurance in force, and from Ixonia Mutual Insurance Company to Forward Mutual Insurance Company.

Wiedenhoeft was well-qualified for managing a rural mutual insurance company. As a fifth generation farmer on his family’s rural Ixonia dairy farm, he understood the agricultural industry that at that time made up a majority of the mutual’s customer base. Wiedenhoeft also was experienced in the insurance industry, having founded Ixonia Insurance Agency in 1974.

Throughout his career Wiedenhoeft has been an innovative visionary for the mutual. In 1990 he began the application process for A.M. Best Ratings, a proprietary rating system of creditworthiness. By 1994, the company was awarded a B+ and since 2002 has maintained an A-.

In 1995, after 120 years of residing in a manager’s home, Ixonia Mutual built a 1,500-square-foot office in Ixonia. In 2011 the company doubled the size of the building.

Perhaps the most noteworthy change Wiedenhoeft brought to Ixonia Mutual Insurance Company was its merge with Watertown Mutual Insurance Company. In 2010 the two companies joined to form Forward Mutual Insurance Company. Now, four years later, Forward Mutual is represented by 80 agents in 16 agencies, and writes policies in 16 counties throughout Wisconsin.

Wiedenhoeft is professionally involved outside Forward Mutual as well. He served on the NAMIC Farm Conference Committee from 1993-1999, serving as chairman in 1997. He served as a board member for WAMIC from 1992–1998, serving as president in 1996. He was named WAMIC’s person of the year in 2013. Currently, Wiedenhoeft is serving on the Wisconsin Commissioner of Insurance Property and Casualty Advisor Committee, is a member of NAMIC’s Merit Society and maintains his Professional Farm Mutual Manager designation.

Outside the insurance world, Wiedenhoeft has been active on various church boards. He was a 4-H leader for 15 years and served as the Jefferson County Fair beef superintendent. He served on the Jefferson County Board of Supervisors for eight years.

When asked who has been the most important person he’s worked with in his career, Wiedenhoeft immediately says his wife, Lois.

“Lois actually started working for Ixonia Mutual the year before I did. She worked part-time as a policy processor,” says Wiedenhoeft. “I wouldn’t have taken the job without Lois. We’ve worked together every day all these years. We’ve never fought about money or kids, but once in a while we have about insurance.”

Although he’s no longer running his acreage, Wiedenhoeft and Lois continue to live on their family farm. They have three children; Lisa, Laura and Michael, and five grandchildren.

“When I took the position for Ixonia Mutual in 1981, I vowed I would never resist change. Change is necessary to move forward into the future,” says Wiedenhoeft. “I’ve now come to the age where change is harder to do. My goal was to leave the mutual as strong and vibrant as it was when I started. I think it is.”

The annual policyholders’ meeting for Forward Mutual Insurance Company will take place on Saturday, March 22 at 1:30 p.m. at the Ixonia Fireman’s Hall. A luncheon to honor Wiedenhoeft will be held before the meeting, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Article as published in the Watertown Daily Times

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