Save the Town (Pastor Wayne Stuntz)

Faith United Methodist Church, an edifice with architectural complexity of brick-laden beauty, is just a bowshot away from Harvest Moon.* The historic sanctuary, originally built in 1850, stands as solid as a rock among the shady trees and the chirping birds of West Columbus Street. I entered in through the doors of a more contemporary wing of the church, trusting that it would somehow lead me to the church office where I hoped to schedule an interview with the pastor, who I had never met before.

I walked down a hallway filled with the bellowing of excited children in their classrooms. I eventually made it through the wing, unscathed by finger paint and gold fish crackers, and into the historic sanctuary which, to say the least, looked really cool on the inside. After looking the sanctuary over, I finally walked into the seemingly empty church office and found the shoulder of a man peaking out from behind a cubical wall. I knocked lightly on the door frame and he beckoned me to come.

It turned out to be the pastor himself; Pastor Wayne is what he preferred to be called. I explained to him why I was there in his office, and what I was doing with note pad and pen in hand. He ushered me into what seemed to be a conference room and inclined me to take a seat.
"Well, you're here. Let's go ahead and meet now," he said with a pleasant tone as we sat at the end of the long table centered in the room. I explained to him that I worked with Harvest Moon, doing their social networking, and such. As I spoke, I noted his countenance, which was very approachable and relaxed.
"Are they doing some construction in there?" He asked, indicating that he probably saw Pete and the gang of workers earlier.
"Yeah. Well, renovations on the inside." I explained. It was because of the renovations happening that I was able to take a break from food photography and put into practice an idea I had come up with a few days ago: to meet with and interview people in positions of influence, asking them what can be done to improve Canal Winchester.

As we talked, I wrote down his responses. Our dialogue went something like so:

(Me) "What is Canal Winchester's greatest need?"   

(Pastor) "To be promoted. Because so much is on or near the Gender Road area, when I tell people that I am a pastor at Faith United Methodist Church, their response is usually, 'Where's that?' When I explain to them that it's in Historic Canal Winchester, they'll say, 'Oh, I've never been down there.' They'll tell me that they've lived in Canal for seven or eight years and yet have never gone down to the historic area. Promoting the town with something to draw young people here."

He then explained to me that, while not many people know Faith United Methodist Church, a lot of people know Educare, a preschool which takes place in the church building. It's the popularity of Educare that gains Faith United Methodist Church its exposure.

(Me) "So you're saying that the idea is to find a need, fill a need, and in that we get people coming to Canal Winchester?" 

He nodded. 

(Me) "What can the businesses do to make this town better?" 

(Pastor) "Produce great products and great customer service." (I would add here, for them to do their marketing on facebook. Just a post or two each day will help over time.) 

(Me) "What do you feel the people can do to help Canal Winchester? Any society is comprised of individuals, so what can the individual do to make this a better town?" 

(Pastor) "Be loving, be caring, and share the town, meaning, tell other people about it." 

(Me) "Pastor David Long-Higgins once said, 'When thinking about ministry, don't think of it as sprinting as much as a marathon,' what's the marathon performed you feel Canal Winchester needs?" 

(Pastor) "For you to be constantly loving no matter who the other person is and how they treat you. Remain loving."

~The Harvest Crier~

*By the way, we do not practice or endorse shooting arrows at random buildings.

Change of Plans

Hey there, blog-readers. A slight change of plans has occurred for this humble cafe. Due to some contractor conflicts, the scheduled renovation has been pushed back until a later date.

The new date for Harvest Moon's renovation is MAY 21st- MAY 26th. Until that time we will not only be open, but also giving a DISCOUNT to our beloved facebook fans!


The Garden Herb Shop will not be effected by this at all, and will remain open. Sorry for the confusion. We'll see you soon. :)

~The Harvest Crier~

Running Club

I know what you're thinking. You see the title of this blog post and presume that I'm going to make some kind of silly pun about Richard Simmons as I talk about exercising. Well, I'm afraid not. Because I have no experience with the Running Club, though it's highly talked about here at the Moon, I'll simply pass on the info that was given to me: 

~

1st run - Saturday May 12th, and Every Saturday

Where - Harvest Moon Cafe, 7 N. High Street

When - Meet at 8:45 AM, Ready to Run at 9 AMHow far - We'll be running a 3 - 3.5 Mile course

Why - Because running is always more fun with someone to suffer with!

Perks! - Refueling is important, all runners will get 10% off their order at Harvest Moon after they run. You must be sweating as proof (Joking! But, excludes alcohol, sorry)

In addition to the specifics I want to encourage everyone to join us regardless of your running level. Our runs are not about being the fastest or running the longest, just getting out there with fellow runners and motivating each other. Run the course once, twice, walk it, or crawl; we don't care!

~

If you haven't considered being a part of the Harvest Moon Running Club, give it a mental gander for a moment. Like the Garden Herb Shop Book Club, the Running Club takes a virtue (how many times have you said, "I need to go running," but didn't) and dresses it in a setting of community and accountability. While it's still tough, running with the pack has a more motivational feel to it than flying solo.

We'll see you out there. By "We" I mean we, myself included. I'll be the one running with a camera. :)

~The Harvest Crier~

Garden Herb Shop Book Club

Have you ever taken part in a book club before? Do you shudder at the sight of a book, yet at the same time know that you should read more? Or do you love reading avidly but know that you need a little more people-time because your social tenacity is as pale as your sunless skin? Perhaps you already have a good balance of both and would still like to join one but have noticed that there are no book clubs in Canal Winchester!!!

Well fear no more, talk of starting a Garden Herb Shop book club is afoot in the mouths of the staff. As I've written before, the owners of Harvest Moon and The Garden Herb Shop wish that all their customers were self-educating, nutritiously-aware individuals who feed both their bodies and their minds, especially with the right things. With group activities like this as well as the Running Club, this cafe and shop is turning out to be more than just a place of business to its customers. It's a gathering of like-minded people with an interest in what is good and right and natural.

A book club is an excellent way to make connections with fellow bookworms, and make a reading-friend or two. It's a great way to be held accountable to finishing a book, which I understand is difficult for some of us. It will also be a perfect way to increase your learning throughout the summer so that your brain won't feel flabby when the new school-year rolls around. :)

Looking up how a book club runs, the basic structure of it is like so: Each month the group will go through one book together. At the beginning of the month, the group members will purchase their books at The Garden Herb Shop and begin reading it at their convenience. Close to the end of the month, a get-together will take place so that the group can meet up and discuss what they learned from the book, answering questions asked by the book club's facilitator. After the meeting the group will be able to purchase the next month's book which the leader will present. How many months the book club goes, we'll just have to wait and see.

Bertrand Russell once said, "There are two motives for reading a book; one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it." but I would disagree by confidently stating that there is a third possible motive for reading a book: because you know that you don't know as much as you ought to know.

Let's go clubbing. :)

~The Harvest Crier~

Foodview: Asparagus and Artichoke Omelette

Talk and whisperings of this supposedly amazing Asparagus and Artichoke Omelet have reached my ears, dear readers, and left me with a toss-up between the omelet and the Heavenly Hotcakes to do my next food review on. Obviously, the omelet won out despite the facts - the first being, I love hotcakes, and secondly because Columbus Parent just did a roaring article of praise on the hotcakes here.

Cutting the omelet open revealed the soft artichokes snuggled into their sleeping bag of fluffy eggs folded over. On top of the omelet fold lay sauteed asparagus slightly softened by the chef during the cooking process. Roasted red pepper sauce potent with flavor was thickly drizzled over the asparagus, then came the flavorful feta crumbles sprinkled on top, giving it no small stir of visual and palatable appeal.

Nice crispy whole wheat toast, glistening with warm butter on top and speckled with golden oats on the crust, was put on the side, adding a nice touch of wholesome carbohydrates to the meal and a filling-factor to the flavorful feelings.

I felt stuffed by the end, but I did just have breakfast a couple of hours before. Indubitably, a hungry person would be full by this colorful conglomeration of culinary cunning and creativity! Next time you feel like breakfasting with something other than Marshmallow Mateys, swing on by and give this a try. :)

Adjectives to describe this meal are: balanced (not too eggy and not too much of a carb load), colorful, flavorful (especially the red pepper sauce; yum), and nutritious (veggies).

By the way, did you know that omelette and omelet are both acceptable forms of spelling? While omelette is more commonly used around the world, America has developed its unique spelling of it by dropping off the te at the end, making it omelet. So, if you would like to be culturally savvy, go for the former spelling.

~The Harvest Crier~

Columbus Parent Review of Harvest Moon!

Well readers, it turns out that this humble little shop/eatery I find myself writing in has made it into Columbus Parent, a free newspaper-ish collection of articles with a special focus on family values.

It turns out that one Saturday morning a mom and her son came to this little brick dwelling, excusing themselves from the small town bustle of the historic square and walking into the quaint settings of the caf with a secret agenda of reviewing the place. Actually, it was no secret at all, at least not to Nathan and Kelley, the owners. They were informed that the reviewers were coming weeks before, but they actually completely forgot about it. Oops.

Seeing what it's usually like around here on a Saturday morning (depending on how early you come in) their experience was most likely the mix of regulars and new faces filling the warm inner walls with the buzz of conversations about the weather, the economy, the Buckeyes, and what such and such said about so and so. From the article, I deduced that they most likely came in the late morning, sometime between the acceptable hours for breakfast and lunch, which can be a time that widely swings from incredibly busy to easily steady. The mom ordered our Heavenly Hotcakes and a Roots & Fruits juice. Her son ordered the Real Man's Breakfast and a Strawberry Smoothie. He liked the smoothie so much that he actually ordered a second one! Talk about a full belly!

The article was an inundation of sincere complements and appreciations. They even complemented them on their bathrooms. It's interesting how Nate and Kelley forgot about the big day that Columbus Parent just strolled on by to write a review on the place and probably borrow a cup of sugar while they're at it, and yet the reviews were beaming with delight! No extra attention to detail was given. It was treated as just another Saturday in the team's minds, and wouldn't you know it, the reviews were positively positive!

~The Harvest Crier~

Breakfast

A couple of days ago, I was typing away at my computer while talking with a customer who was enjoying her warm brunch at the same table. She told me of this quandary she was in where she knew that it's important to have an early breakfast, but couldn't bring herself to the task of making it when she gets up.

We all know that breakfast is quite an essential for a productive day, right? When we think of being productive by having an early breakfast in the morning, we tend to imagine an elaborate feast of eggs and bacon and toast and such with a side of milk or orange juice. Thus we get discouraged and hit the snooze button for the nth time while drowsily thinking to self that breakfast is too much work. And in the back of our mind we remember hearing from our parental figures that breakfast is important.

This blog post is not going to be yet another glaring webpage telling you to "Eat your wheaties!" Instead, it's going to be a blog post sharing the good news that eating a breakfast doesn't have to be as complicated as one may think. Your first meal of the day doesn't have to look like Bob Evans on steroids (really elaborate and bountiful). Quite the contrary. While a varied breakfast including toast and eggs and fruit and so on is undoubtedly most nutritious, don't assume that you have to eat a breakfast like that every day to still get some of the benefits of eating breakfast in general.

Obviously not going for the sugary twice sugar-coated sugar flakes made from sugar is a good first step. A second step is to not over-complicate your breakfast menu, but to start with simple nutrition such as a banana, a couple of pieces of whole wheat toast, or maybe some melon. Starting off by eating some fruit or perhaps some granola is a good way to jump start your metabolism in the morning, which will enable you to digest better throughout the day. Hooray, right?

So there you have it. Start simple, start small, start with a couple of strawberries or a handful of raisins first thing (heck, one piece of toast even!) and go from there. You'll have breakfast down in no time.

Or you could always just go over to Harvest Moon for their killer breakfast menu if you'd like.

~The Harvest Crier~