A continuing thanks goes out to Habitat For Humanity’s ReStore. This initiative diverts usable building materials away from local landfills - a great stewardship of existing products that reduces the demand for raw resource harvesting. We recently heard from one of our A Rocha members who bought a window from them and saved greatly. The ReStore has been a valuable partner in our garden initiative and we thank them for their support.

Learn more about the ReStore and the resources it provides by clicking here and email us about the gems you find.

A thanks to Laurel and Jonna for passing along some great resources as we begin working on a new project that connects conservation work to our community garden initiative. We have been very thankful for the response from local churches who have been requesting assistance in creating community gardens. With these opportunities comes the ability to begin practical conservation work through utilizing citizen scientists to both educate about and promote biodiversity in our community. We look forward to sharing this work with you and invite you to join us as we begin a new garden on October 10 as part of our Creation Care Symposium. To find out more information about this event and to RSVP, view the invitation here.

Thanks to the Palladinos for their invite to lead a hike and talk about A Rocha with a small group. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset walk through the A Rocha site and into the San Marcos Foothills. The evening was very warm but provided us the opportunity to talk about the uniqueness of our local natural resources, especially those in the San Marcos Foothills. We capped our evening with a talk centered around the Biblical call to care and steward our natural resources. I found the discussion and ideas insightful as people processed how conservation and creation care matter for both our local ‘backyard’ as well as for those in remote places who are dependent upon raw natural resources for their health and well being.

I look forward continuing dialog like this during the October 9-10 symposium that we will host at Santa Barbara Community Church. Let us know if you are interested in more details or RSVP.

A huge thanks is due to Anchor Point IT - they are the ones responsible for creating our website and making this blog possible. This summer we passed the one year anniversary of our site and we are thankful for it. We have connected with people from near and far as a result of it being in place. One of the most wonderful parts of A Rocha for us is hearing from you about what you learning and growing into with creation care. Thanks to Anchor Point IT for helping make our online presence a reality.

Jon Rosene and a crew from Long Beach have been working to take an empty lot and turn it into a community garden to help provide food for those in need. Jon and his wife Lydia visited us in Santa Barbara a few months back to talk about developing an urban garden. Check out there work here. I look forward to providing updates on this project. Let us know if you are thinking about doing something similar or have questions - we would love to help.

garden@arochasb.org

More details about our upcoming symposium October 8-10 at our project site in the San Marcos Foothills of Santa Barbara:
10/8 @ 6 PM: Dinner & Talk - ‘The A Rocha Story: An Introduction”
10/9 @9 AM trail building, @noon lunch and talk - ‘Why Care About Creation’ @6 PM: Dinner & Talk - Biologist Jonna Engel about the importance of biodiversity @7 PM film: ‘Earth’
10/10 @6 AM Birding with Peter Gaede, @8:30 AM breakfast and spiritual reflection, @9:30 AM community garden build, @noon lunch and talk ‘Why should churches get involved with conservation and creation care?”, @5:30 PM dinner and talk by A Rocha Executive Director Tom Rowley and David Jones, @ 7:00 PM Worship/signing, @7:30 Star Gazing

RSVP by emailing:

symposium@arochasb.org

We are on a short break - away from A Rocha work, but will be back at it soon with announcements about upcoming projects. Thanks for your patience.

We wrapped up our first Creation Care Camp for elementary age children with a focus on botany. Student took hikes, identified plants, and had a game centered around this theme. We thank each of the families for participating and look forward to offering this again. Pictures from the sessions can be found here.

A Rocha’s website currently features a story detailing our local experience with the fire. Thanks is due to Barbara Mearns at A Rocha’s International Office for her care and interest.

Biologist and scientific illustrator Peter Gaede shared his knowledge of our local birds by leading students on a bird identificaiton hike, a lesson in animal classification, and scientific illustration. Campers got to see several local birds including a set of turkey vultures picking through their meal, scrub jays in addition to finding a ‘blue bellied’ lizard, a horny toad, and evidence of a roadrunner. These elementary kids also spent time observing a set of bird specimines to talk about adaptations within our local habitat. A special thanks to Santa Barbara Community Church for allowing us to use their facilities to host this event. Images can be found here.