Jason and Mickie Raney of Gun Barrel City are celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. Please join us in wishing them congratulations and many happy returns.
Category: People
Around Malakoff: Miracle Purslane
By Loretta Humble/Around the Town
The Malakoff Scarecrow Extravaganza is underway, and it is looking good. I don’t have room to start listing all the great ones here because I’ve got to tell you about something else. But let me tell you, they are everywhere, and a lot of folks haven’t even got theirs out yet. If your isn’t out, I hope you are working on it. As I write this, Cedar Lake Nursing Home hasn’t got theirs out yet, but I’ve seen what they are working on, and they are going to be really good. Around next weekend will be the time to invite your friends from out of town to come take a tour.
Now to my big news: You may think I’m being sacrilegious, but I am sort of serious—I halfway think God is planting things in my garden because he sees I am doing such a pitiful job growing things by myself. If you have not had anything better to do than follow my column, you may remember I had this miraculous crop of lambsquarters appear in my garden early this year. If you don’t remember, I’ll remind you that lambsquarters is one of the most nutritious greens there is, and it tastes great. It surrounded my little raised beds where I was trying to grow stuff, and was much prettier and healthier than anything I had planted. And then the grasshoppers came and ate up everything except my tomatoes, okra, and the lambsquarters. Later ants messed up my okra, but they weren’t interested in the lambsquarters either. It was wonderful! I harangued all of you to go find some lambsquarters of your own, or even come get some of mine, but I never convinced anybody except Donna Rinn and my daughter Liz. Both of them totally took advantage of it, and even transplanted some at their houses. Liz is getting ready to save seeds from her transplants. Time passed and the lambsquarters got old and tough and everything dried up except the okra, which is giving me one or two okra pods now and then. Then it rained and cooled off a bit. So I went out to clean up a spot to plant some fall greens, and was astounded to find a whole corner of the garden filled with something strange and green and happy looking. It is Purslane, a cousin to portulaca, or moss rose.
Now I’d heard that purslane was another nutritious, tasty native green, but I had never seen enough of it in one place to consider trying it out. But here it is, bushels of it, just shouting “Come do something with me!” So I headed to Google and found out purslane is a lot more recognized as cool than lambsquarter. Plus super nutritious. Seriously. If you don’t believe me, just Google it. You’ll be amazed at all the articles and recipes. You’ll discover Martha Washington had a recipe for pickling it, and that some very high-class restaurants are serving it. On Pinterest there are dozens of pictures dishes featuring it.
So far, I have just sautéed some in coconut oil with some onion and garlic. It was great. It is sort of lemony, has a little of the consistency of boiled okra, and is really pretty, with its red stems and little green leaves. In the morning it is going to be the green in my green smoothie.
Purslane contains more omega-3 fatty acids than any other leafy vegetable plant. It also contains vitamins A, C, E and B and carotenoids (whatever they are,) as well as dietary minerals, such as magnesium, calcium, potassium, and iron. But listen to this: it offers you two different tastes, depending on the time of day you pick it:
“When stressed by low availability of water, purslane, which has evolved in hot and dry environments, does something interesting: At night its leaves trap carbon dioxide, which is converted into malic acid (the souring principle of apples), and, in the day, the malic acid is converted into glucose. When harvested in the early morning, the leaves have 10 times the malic acid content as when harvested in the late afternoon, and thus have a significantly more tangy taste.”
I hope you will try purslane. It’s good for you and it’s free. But I know you won’t listen to me. You never do.
Twins donate hair to Locks of Love
Seven-year-old twin sisters Calista and Cassity Turner from Cross Roads cut 12 inches off of their hair this week to donate to the organization called Locks of Love.
This is only their second hair cut they have ever received. Their first hair cut was two years ago when they cut 10 1/2 inches off to donate it to Locks of Love.
They enjoyed so much being able to help and give to another child who may not have hair. This non-profit organization provides hairpieces and custom made wigs to financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada.
Their parents, Billy and Christy Turner, are very proud of the girls for wanting to help others.
Nathan Lorick helps develop ‘1Cross’ app
Former FBC Malakoff pastor Nathan Lorick is a man with a big vision, and now he is using technology to help him with that vision.
Lorick, who left Malakoff to become the Director of Evangelism for the Southern Baptist of Texas Convention, is apparently the moving force behind the “1Cross” app, “a free download for mobile devices that allows users to access three-minute gospel testimonies in video form using native speakers of more than 40 languages so far, with a goal of every known language spoken in the United States being available.”
Click the link for a complete story and for access to the app.
Local author to sign book at Women of Faith
Local author Stephanie Gurley, of Mabank, will be signing her book “Refreshed in His Spirit” at the Women of Faith conference in San Antonio on Oct. 11. She will also be holding a discussion where she will be teaching people the basics of How to write a book and also answer any questions about her writing process.
In her book, published by WestBow Press, Gurley shares her story of living a self-absorbed life while trying to acquire her dreams. To acquire those dreams would require running a race daily as a wife and mother. Nearly at hand, her dream became her survival, as she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. God offered her the ultimate race to run in, a race that was intended for all to participate in. It was a race that took her far to overcome insecurity, wounds, and fears, as God transformed her prideful, hardened heart into moldable clay. It was a heart that began to desire the Word of the Lord and every morsel it had to offer. It was a heart that ultimately became refreshed in His spirit, leading her to the calling of writing this book. She obeyed the Lord. She was not to let her testimony sit on a shelf at home.
She said, “Obedience is what matters.”
Gurley said, “It is my prayer that you will be led to become refreshed in His Spirit. Grab hold of the seeds along the way and begin to bloom.”
You can find “Refreshed in His Spirit” on Amazon here.