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Preparing for a New Earth

Monday, 18 May, 2026 Hello friends, It was a joyful Palm Sunday service in March at the Mount of Hope Moravian Church in San José Province, here in Costa Rica. The pews were decorated with real palm fronds, including the bits of frond that we were given as we entered the sanctuary, which we waved high as we sang. At Mount of Hope, most songs are from the Reformed tradition–hymns with tunes that resonate with Sunday services from growing up, even as the Spanish lyrics center me in Costa Rica. Palm Sunday is one of the special days of the year when we sing a version of “Hosanna” in a call and response between men and women. The sermons here do not always meet me where I am at, but the vibrations of songs like that reach deep and lift me up. Yesterday at Mount of Hope, May 17th, we celebrated Ascension Day. The pastor’s take was interesting, perhaps common? Her focus was on Christ’s return–in particular on whether we were preparing ourselves correctly. The pastor’s main criteria, tha...
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The End of a Dynamic Year for the Sunflowers Community Garden (Huerta Girasoles)

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A quick rundown via photos from this year: February: The mandala garden in Sunflowers Garden in February Using our chipper to process banana leaves and fallen branches Teo, from Cedros community, watering the garden in March. The umbrella is for the hot sun! Our celebration in March, officially opening up the new year: two participants, Julio and Marlon, taking part in the icebreaker Guillermo, right in blue t-shirt, demonstrating to participants an efficient way to create compost in a small space as part of the opening ceremony. Jonathan, right, a student from the UCR (Costa Rican University), explaining to participants in the opening ceremony our system of regenerative agriculture. Our colleague Mía, explaining our philosophy of "wildness" represented in the 800 square yards of trees and understory that we are leaving as undisturbed as possible. Learning about cacao ecology during a field trip that the Green UBL team took in April this year. Als...
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Letter to my home church: The Amesville-New England Parish

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27 of April, 2024 Dear friends, It has been a busy year already in our work with the Green UBL team, and specifically with the community gardens. You may remember that we are working with two spaces, the first, called Rocoto Garden, was the pilot project started by Elena, a UBL student from Peru, in 2018. We are re-designing and enlarging slightly that garden with the help of a student from the National Costa Rican university (UCR), Raquel, who studies architecture. The UBL has developed a relationship with an Urban Organic Agriculture program at the UCR. Students in the program provide approximately 300 hours of community service with the gardening program. The other garden, Sunflowers garden is doing well, full of flowers and beautiful tomato vines, as well as herbs, mustard greens, purple cabbage, green peppers, and medicinal plants. The community members that are part of Sunflowers have planned three major activities in the past month. Today, we held our first workshop of the ye...
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