Morning Star Fishermen NOW - Fall 2015

Fall 2015 GOD’S LOVE FOR HIS CREATION

DIY INSECT SPRAY

NEWBORN SUSTAINABILITY

WALKING IN

AKUWA’S SHOES CHEESY SPINACH

MUFFINS

NATURE'S MIRACLE GROW

HELPING OTHERS HELP THEMSELVES

God’s Love HIS CREATION FOR

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth… and the Spirit of God brooded over it like a mother broods over her new born child.

We must not forget that God is love. His essences is wrapped up in His expressions of love. God’s intimate interactions during His creation of our world, are a beautiful demonstration of His love for it.

We are a product of these first fruits, a result if you will of Gods relationship with his first love.

God’s relationship with His creation embodies the Gospel and our need of a Savior.

“The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being…The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” Genesis 2:7-9 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

From a biblical perspective, “the environment and humanity” are God’s creation. Creation care does not just mean caring for nature apart from humanity, it means caring for the entire creation: the environment and “all creatures great and small”, including humanity. As those who confess Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior, our relationship with all of creation should reflect

By Executive Director Phil Reasons

the relationship between Christ and creation.

When we explore what the Bible says about creation, we should interpret each text in light of our relationship to Christ and his relationship to all of creation. If the Bible teaches us that Christ has created the universe, gives it life, sustains it, and has reconciled everything to God, then our actions should participate in Christ’s creating, sustaining, and reconciling work.

“To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it.” Deuteronomy 10:14 Environmental problems like pollution of the air and water, loss of entire species, and the warming of the earth’s climate, harm people especially the most vulnerable among us. Air pollution harms the urban poor. The loss or scarcity of entire species hurts those who depend on them as a part of their sustainable Eco System. Since the problems are global in scale, we may not be as adversely affected as those in other parts of the world. But Christ’s love compels us to be concerned for our neighbor’s well being.

Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ

Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness…” Philippians 2:4-8 It’s time for all who claim a relationship with Christ to except out first God given responsibility to His creation, both human and non human.

We must aggressively communicate our love for non human creation and its needs just as for human creation and our needs. Like a new mother brooding over her new born baby we must express the same affection towards God’s first creation.

The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it

Author: Jami Boys - An Oregon Cottage Recipe type: Organic Garden Bug Spray Yield: 12 cups

Ingredients 2 whole heads of garlic, cloves separated and peeled 3 c. mint leaves (you can add the stems as well) 2 tsp. dry cayenne pepper 2 small squirts of biodegradable dish-washing liquid

Directions • Add the garlic and mint to a food processor and pulse for a few seconds.

• Transfer mixture to a large pot and add the cayenne and 12c. Water.

• Bring to a boil; remove from heat and let sit overnight.

• Strain into a couple spray bottles (or gallon garden sprayer) and add the two small squirts of dish soap.

Recycling Facts The U.S. is the #1 trash-producing country in the world at 1,609 pounds per person per year. This means that 5% of the world’s people generate 40% of the world’s waste.

To Use • Shake well before each use, this mainly repels bugs, though if they rub against it, it can kill them.

• Spray all the leaves on affected plants, including the undersides - preferably on a cloudy day so as not to burn the plants.

• Wait a few days to see the affect and then apply more if needed (many times I’ve only needed to do one application).

Notes • This is like a pepper spray, so you can protect your skin and eyes like you would when using any hot peppers, although the potency is less because it only uses dried cayenne.

• Wait a few days to harvest after using so there isn't any spicy residuals (I only used 2 applications the whole summer, so there never was any taste to the produce).

• The scent keeps bugs away, but I still had ladybugs and bees, maybe because I only used the spray a few times.

The average person generates 4.5 pounds of waste daily, adding up to 1.5 tons a year.

On average, it costs $30 per ton to recycle trash, $50 to send it to the landfill, and $65 to $75 to incinerate it.

Recycling aluminum cans saves 95% of the energy used to produce them.

We generate 21.5 million tons of food waste each year, creating an equal amount of greenhouse gas at 2 million cars.

Americans throw away about 25 million plastic bottles every year.

Recycling plastic saves twice as much energy as burning it in an incinerator.

Rainforests are being cut down at the rate of 100 acres per minute!

Approximately 1 billion trees worth of paper are thrown away every year in the U.S. These recycling facts have been compiled from various sources including the National Recycling Coalition, the Environmental Protection Agency, and Earth911.org.

NEWBORN HITTING HOME

“On average, Morning Star’s hatchery produces 500 eggs per day... 90,000 fish per year.”

Our hatchery contains; breeding colonies, hatching bowls, and fry grow out tanks.

According to the New York Times, Americans ate 475 million pounds of tilapia last year, that’s four times the amount of ten years ago, making tilapia the most popular farmed fish in America. At Morning Star Fishermen, tilapia play a central role not only in our aquaponics systems, but also in our new hatchery.

THE NUMBERS

Oreochromis aureus or simply Blue tilapia provides several benefits for Morning Star. Their fast growing, nutrition content, and market value make the tilapia raised in our hatchery a new source of revenue for

our organization. Morning Star Fishermen supplies thousands of tilapia to people across the country. On average, Morning Star’s hatchery produces 500 eggs per day. That averages out to 8,100 eggs per month and over 90,000 fish per year.

DINNER TALK

Tilapia have received a bad rap by many on the internet.

Their complaints of high levels of unhealthy omega-6’s have characterized them as a junk fish. The nutritional value in tilapia depends heavily on their diet and environment. Tilapia raised by a commercial fish farm are fed pellets composed of corn and soy, causing the

RN SUSTAINABILITY fish to contain higher levels of omega-6. Tilapia fed a balanced diet in a healthy environment will have lower levels of omega-6 while significantly increasing the omega-3’s. This “not so fishy tasting” fish is about 130 calories, with around 26 grams of protein, and 2 to 3 grams of fat. That is a lot of tasty nutritional value in a fish that is so easy to raise.

Below are young tilapia fry.

They have just lost their yolk sack and will soon be ready to be sold or continue growing into fingerlings.

Each breeding colony consists of about 10 females and 5 males. Once a week we net them out to check their mouths for eggs.

1 gram equals 60 eggs, then subtract the weight of the water and glass and we are able to quickly count hundreds of eggs.

PURCHASING TILAPIA All of the tilapia that we sell are certified blue tilapia. We offer them in a variety of sizes.

Fry: 1 Month, Less than 1 Inch

$0.25

Fingerlings: 1-3 Months 1-3 Inches

$1.00

Juveniles: 4-6 Months 4-6 Inches

$3.00

Adults: 7+ Months 7+ Inches

$8.00

Call (352) 523-2722 to place an order for pick up. Go online to place an order for delivery*: morningstarfishermen.org/store *We ship fry and fingerlings.

Walking in I

t was still dark, not yet 4am. But outside Akuwa was moving already, rekindling the fire from the overnight embers. Inside the mud-walled hut, her three children still slept. Then as the first birds were heard, each child began to climb over the side of a bed made from rough rope strung across a wooden frame. They stood in the doorway and stretched. Their mother was already at her morning chores.

As the warm dawn light filled the sky she sprinkled water from a broken plastic bowl across the mud floor and began to sweep the dampened earth with a brush of long grasses bound tightly together. The day had begun.

Akuwa, from the village of Kusuntu in Togo West Africa, poked about in the straw where the hens had spent the night in the hope that there might be eggs to take to market to exchange for salt and oil. But there were none.

The baby began to cry. Akuwa fastened the child to her back with a long, dirty cloth to keep him comforted until she had the time to breastfeed.

The child coughed. She fed the tiny fire with slowburning wood on which to roast the small amount of cassava which would be breakfast for her family. They would get a handful each.

Akuwa’s Shoes The first big task of the day was to fetch water.

First, she set her children about their chores.

Gebremariam and the eldest girl, went to remove stones from their field to ready them for plowing.

Kudos, the second, would go find and climb a palm tree to harvest nuts for oil. Her daughter, Mabraheet, would spend hours fetching firewood from the far mountainside.

For Akuwa, it was a 25-minute walk down the hill to the pump but it would take 40 minutes to walk back up with five gallons of water balanced on top of her head.

With the help of another woman Akuwa hoisted the water container and swiveled it up to the top of her head. When she reached home, Gebremariam was back and, without pause, she began the preparation for lunch. As the others ate, Akuwa breastfed the baby. Often this took a long time. Akuwa’s milk did not flow freely, largely because there was not much food to go around. She coughed - loose and rattling - as she prepared little tasks which could be done as the four-month-old sucklved. It was an hour before the child had taken his fill. When his eyes closed, she passed him to Mabraheet who lay him among the blankets.

In the photo to the left is Akuwa clothed in white, along with two of her three daughters and her son. The building behind them is their home.

She began to see an immediate change in the way that she felt and how she was able to carry out her responsibilities throughout the day.

You have just experienced a brief glimpse into one morning for an average West African woman.

What we did not mention was the immense amount of pain that she worked with every day.

Every task was compounded by aching joints and continuous headaches. With no money to attend local clinics she had endured for years with these problems. It wasn’t until 2 years ago that she began providing fresh proteins and produce to her family from the Village of Light aquaponics system. She began to see an immediate change in the way that she felt and how she was able to carry out her responsibilities throughout the day.

The joint pain and headaches left completely.

Her children were no longer ill and weak but they were able now to work and attend school on a consistent basis. We’re so thankful that God has used this simple method of farming to bring health, healing and blessings into Akuwa’s family.

Cheesy Spinach Muffins

Ingredients: 3 1/2 oz or 100g frozen spinach 2 2/3 oz or 75g feta 3 1/2 oz or 100g extra sharp cheddar 2 tomatoes 2 cups or 250g flour Sea salt flakes 2 teaspoons baking powder 2 eggs 1/4 cup or 60ml olive oil 1 cup or 240ml milk Several sprigs fresh thyme Black pepper

Method: Preheat your oven to 350째F or 180째C and grease your muffin pan liberally with non-stick spray or butter.

Thaw spinach, grate cheddar cheese and crumble the feta.

Slice the tomatoes fairly thinly and leave to drain on paper towels. You need 12 slices.

Measure flour, salt, baking powder, grated cheddar and some of the leaves off of your fresh thyme sprigs into a large mixing bowl and mix well.

Measure milk and olive oil into a smaller bowl and whisk with the eggs and thawed spinach.

Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Fold in the crumbled feta. Divide the batter between the prepared muffin cups.

Pat the tomato slices really dry with another paper towel and top each cup of batter with one.

Sprinkle the tomato slices with a little more fresh thyme, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until you can see that the sides are turning golden brown.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. Remove from the pan, loosening gently with a knife if necessary, and cool further on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

For more photos go to: foodlustpeoplelove. com/2013/04/Cheesy-Spinach-Muffins

MORINGA GROW Nature’s Miracle Grow

Here at Morning Star Fishermen one of our many ongoing experiments is the use of moringa as a fertilizer. Moringa is a fast growing tree found in warm climates. According to Science Daily, moringa is the “world’s most useful tree” (Mar. 14, 2010). Studies have shown that the use of moringa leaf extract sprayed on crops can increase yield by 25-30%.

19”

Growth without moringa

Rather than spraying leaf extract, we place clippings around the base of the plant. In this experiment we are growing green bell peppers. In the photo above, there are clippings (each about one inch) from a moringa branch. At the bottom left you see an average size plant from the control group. At the bottom right notice the difference from a plant that has been enriched with moringa approximately every two weeks.

Not only do the pepper plants that are fertilized with moringa clippings grow taller and fuller, they also produce more peppers with better flavor. The control group is ridden with aphids and chewed up leaves, while the moringa group has virtually no aphids or leaf damage.

This was the first experiment as part of ongoing research.

37”

Fertilizing with moringa

Growth with moringa