| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
What's Wrong with Marrying One's Father?
Earlier this year, an article in New York Magazine
featured a story involving an 18-year-old woman who plans to marry and
have children with her father. When the interviewer asked her to respond
to those who might question her relationship, she offered the following
reply:
"I just don't understand why I'm judged for being happy. We are two adults who brought each other out of dark places ... When you are 18 you know what you want. You're an adult under the law and you're able to consent."
If you wonder exactly what's wrong with her moral reasoning, read this.
| ||
One Small Step for Civil Discourse
I regularly find myself puzzled by liberal friends, who consider
themselves open- and fair-minded, but seem clueless about the substance
of a conservative argument. Likewise, I find myself disheartened by
conservative friends, who consider themselves intelligent and
reasonable, but seem ignorant of what liberals actually believe. We can
chalk some of this up to human nature: we all prefer having our views
reinforced to confronting a challenging argument. But we live in a time
of myopic political discourse, with mocking and misrepresenting other
views as the order of the day.
"The Decline and Fall of American Political Debate"—which
looks at how we got to this point—argues that "our fragmentation and
insularity has reached a dangerous tipping point: we no longer agree on
what's real."
Author John Daniel Davidson includes cultural critic Camille Paglia's solution:
It is everyone's obligation, whatever your political views, to look at both liberal and conservative news sources every single day. You need a full range of viewpoints to understand what is going on in the world.
Can I get an "amen"?
| ||
Thomas Merton on Radical Grace
I don't usually associate grace with Merton, but this excerpt
suggests otherwise. It's not exactly an easy read. But take the trouble
to read it, and then thank God that "it is for freedom that Christ has
set us free" (Gal. 5:1, NIV).
| ||
The Bible Is Not Self-Help Therapy
Most of us evangelicals have been nurtured on small group Bible studies
and sermons that emphasize the Bible as a practical guide for living.
We're each taught to read the Bible so we can discern "what it means to
me." In this essay,
I argue that, for all the warm piety this approach engenders, it turns
Christianity into little more than a self-help therapy with a spiritual
covering. It's time we take the Bible for what it primarily is: the
revelation of who God is and what he has done for us in Christ, and what
he will do in the end for the flourishing of the world.
To read the Bible like that will, of course, lead to many a practical
application, the chief one being a deep sense of wonder and gratitude
that will infect us with the love of neighbor.
| ||
Grace and peace,
| ||
| ||
|
Changes to Contract Pay
In
July of this year, the Washington Supreme Court issued a ruling
requiring employers to provide paid rest breaks to piece-rate workers.
Given this, Broetje Orchards will be changing the way in which we manage
our teams and how we compensate during piece rate work.
While
we realize that in the past many of you have chosen to pick through
breaks during contract work, starting immediately supervisors will
require all members of their team to take a break. It may not be your
preference, but this is what the law now requires of employer and
employee.
Additionally,
checks during piece-rate will look different. Employees will see that
'work' hours have been reduced by the number of rest breaks taken during
the pay period. Breaks will be listed on their paychecks as 'Paid Rest
Period'.
For those working during contract pay, please remember when reviewing your check that:
'Work Hour' rates are simply a calculation to show the hourly equivalent for your contracted work.
'Paid Rest Period' is what we as employer paid to you for the breaks that you took while working on contract.
Employees will have different rates due to the fact that your compensation is based on you piece rate work.
If
you have any questions related to this change, please speak to your
immediate supervisor who will be happy to answer your questions
|
|
Predicting Market Trends
From
meeting with buyers about retail space to making sure we have the fruit
ready to be shipped to the supermarkets, there is a lot of different
moving parts to ensure that customers receive the highest quality fruit.
This month, here is how our team at First Fruits Marketing is working to provide apples from this year's harvest:
Keith Matthews:
"Retailers plan in advance for everything they do, in order to display
our fruit into their stores; we need to plan and be ready 6-8 weeks in
advance. So that means we are estimating the volume of the harvest and
the time of packing so that we are ready to sell when the fruit is
packed."
Matt Miles:
"We traveled to Northern California to meet with some of our buyers and
review the agreements that we have worked on in the previous years and
discuss what they could expect from First Fruits and the 2015-2016 crop
year. "
|
|
Season Changing
The
earth was created with everything we need in order to flourish. But in
order for the earth to care for human needs, we must realize that the
earth also depends on us to care for it in order to give its life-giving
gifts to us. Here at Broetje Orchards we know how to take care of our
place so that our place can take care of us! No time of year expresses
that more clearly than harvest time. It's 'all hands on deck' as we prepare to bring in the harvest........the physical fruit of all our labor during the year.
When we invest in careful, loving attention to a tree, we help it to
produce its best fruit. People are kind of like trees in that when we
pay attention to each other with a loving eye, we too feel energy
growing in our spirits. We begin to dream of ways we too can produce
good fruit from our lives to share with our community.
Here
at Broetje, we count on each other to bring our good gifts and skills
to the workplace in order to bring in the harvest that sustains us for
another year, and allows us to stand with vulnerable people and
communities in other places. This is the way we care for the earth
together, and find that our own needs are met as well. Thanks to
everyone for the unique gifts you each bring to this fantastic team who
together bears fruit, fruit that will last.
|
|
Summer Internship Review
 Walking
50 feet above the ground and balancing on a horizontal telephone pole,
is not the normal task for an average intern. But, this year's cohort of
summer interns at Broetje Orchards were given the task to face this
exact challenge in order to learn more about overcoming obstacles in
their own lives. The 2015 Interns were tasked with many challenges that
one would not normally expect for a summer job: reading a book on
success for teens, building bridges out of straws, and encouraging one
another to make the leap off a zip line platform.
The
Internship Program was an opportunity for 16-17 year old students to
learn and grow in the workplace at Broetje Orchards, but it also
provided additional learning experiences to prepare students for life
after high school. They completed the 6-week summer internship program
which combined real-life, full-time work experience with sessions where
students learned more about leadership, the value of agricultural work,
the power of making positive decisions, and the importance of having
relationships with caring adults.
|
|
to
provide training to its supervisors and managers. Throughout the year
we offer in-house training as well as training from outside sources who
can truly make an impact on how our staff can better manage. 
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
