At Christmas, I got a special gift from my sister Jean: Mennotea, a present guaranteed to warm my heart and recall my Mennonite childhood. Grandma Longenecker’s mint tea in china cups and Mother’s gallon jugs of summertime tea instantly came to mind.

 

Intrigued by the name and the images on the box, I wanted to know more.

 

 

These tea growers certainly look plain. Their tea is grown on farms in northeastern Ohio, but the business is based in Goshen, Indiana, the site of a large community of Mennonites, peace-loving people who enjoy tasting tea.

According to their website, the producers have a VW bus for transport and a very cute pup to attract viewers to their Facebook page.

 

Mennotea tastes wonderful, but beyond that, the growers have teamed up with Everence to contribute a portion of their sales to community members in need. (Everence is a group that offers a wide-array of banking, insurance, and other financial services.)

 

What’s in the picture? A cup of MennoTea garnished with the lone lime that appeared on a languishing lime tree in our back yard last December. You can also behold a flourishing fine fern, a great-great-great grand-daughter of Grandma Fannie Longenecker’s fern stock.

 

Recycling Specs

In December 2022, my blogger friend, Melodie Miller Davis, published a blogpost with the catchy title “To the Dump, To the Dump.” In it, she proposed ways to recycle and repurpose items we no longer use. Inspired by her example, I found a second life for glasses that do me no good.

 

Lenscrafters was happy to claim four pairs of eyeglasses with outdated prescriptions.

 

Feeling Happy

In case you thought I may be dispensing advice for living a happy life, you’d be wrong. Life experience and pop culture have probably given you enough tips. Lists on feeling happy often include advice on eating well, exercising regularly, meditating, counting your blessings, and doing for others. Hearty laughs also serve one’s health, for “a merry heart doeth good like a medicine.”

So, here is a short YouTube sketch from comedian Adam Sandler. Escape to Italy for a few moments and ponder the wisdom.

 

 

Have a happy week! Drink tea, recycle something, and enjoy a belly laugh or two!