2011 AT SANDHILL FARM
(written by Stan)

Current members (in order of how long we have been here):
Laird, Stan, Mica, Joe, Trish, Emory, Sara

Recent membership changes:
* Gigi & Renay left Sandhill and moved to Memphis (12 miles away) Nov 1, where Renay is now in high school. Gigi had been here at Sandhill for 17 years & Renay since birth (15).
* Emily left Sandhill May 1 to homestead w/ Jacob at Redearth Farms (3 miles away); Emily came back here in Nov and is guesting here for the winter (while she decides what to do with the rest of her life - aren't we all?)
* Sara was an intern here in 2010 & 2011, and became a member in Nov 2011.
* Laird continues to be a half time member (the other half is with Maikwe at Dancing Rabbit); beginning Dec 17, he began a 3 month trial period of living w/ Maikwe @ DR.
* Jon, formerly a resident at Redearth, has been guesting here since Nov, and is exploring possible membership here

2011 Interns:
* Sofi (mom) & Nils (12), April - July
* Michael - May - June
* Brent - July
* Catherine, August
* Sara - Aug-Nov, when she became a member
* Rory - Aug - Dec, was formerly an intern here.
* Keren - Aug - Dec, a former intern.

MEMBERSHIP (as well as who actually lives here), continues to be fluid and ever changing but there has been a major shift - our average age now is much younger than it was 3 years ago. This had been an issue of concern and we decided to recruit younger members - but in the end, it usually comes down to word of mouth and "who knows who" and encourages them to come visit & then stay. Noteworthy is an influx of members, interns & guests from St Louis: Joe & Trish led the way. They both graduated from Truman Univ in Kirksville and Trish was an intern @ DR in 2004, when we got to know them. They went on to start New Roots in St Louis, an urban ag collective/business, and we've had close connections with them there. Sara is also a former New Roots member and other members of the collective regularly visit here.

INTERNS continue to play a significant role at Sandhill; eg, this year, we thought we had interns lined up for the season - then several cancelled and/or left early and suddenly we felt very short. But then others that we had not expected came - eg, Brent, Rory, Sara, & Keren.
How we feel and interact with our interns is complicated:

1. on the one hand, one can view them as cheap labor (we pay interns $50/month) - mainly for garden/food production - mostly for ourselves, but also for sale
2. on the other hand, we provide experience & training for folks to raise food on a small scale as well as to preserve it: canning, freezing, drying, etc. Further, we are committed to sustainable and organic practices (our entire farm is certified organic). We see it as our contribution to ensure that the next generation will be able to raise and preserve food.
3. Social: interns liven up our lives! We members see each other daily and get used to our daily routines; interns provide fresh insights & energy to our interactions. This can go both ways: sometimes, when we have a lot of different interns (and/or visitors), some of us retreat, preferring our quiet space; but when we've had few, we welcome the new/fresh energy they bring to us - enriching our lives.
4. As best we can, we try to integrate them into our daily lives - to give them a realistic picture/experience of how it is to live this way.
5. Memories - interns leave us with rich memories: this year - who can forget Nils rebuilding an old pink bicycle and then riding it everywhere?? Including pulling a wagon behind it with Emory in the wagon - what high energy! Nils also got Emory into fishing - they would fish for hours & catch them too! Michael taught Nils to clean & filet the fish and so we enjoyed yummy fresh fish from our pond.

WEATHER/agriculture. We had the third consecutive year of a wet spring. Fortunately, we have been converting our gardens to raised beds - which are a real advantage in wet conditions. Once again planting the spring field crops was challenging and our sorghum crop was very late (due to replanting, etc). But for the second consecutive year we had a beautiful late fall - so that at least we had a crop, although slightly below average.
The sorghum harvest went well: we are so blessed to get so much help. This year we had folks from Acorn, Twin Oaks, East Wind, New Roots (St Louis), and many friends in the neighborhood. Our processing system continues to perform well - we have consistently high quality syrup; unfortunately, we continue to be plagued by crystallization.
Shitake mushrooms are doing well: we have enough for fresh eating, drying, & have been selling some - to folks at DR.
Garden/produce: in many ways, this is the heart of our com'ty. Most of us spend most of our time/energy producing food in our gardens. This is also where most of our interns work: growing, freezing, canning, & drying food.
In the last several years, we have been selling more produce - mostly to DR folks and processing less of it or sale.

Bees: every year, this is a tough topic. It seems such a contradiction: I think of bees as joyful creatures and I get lots of enjoyment observing them and admiring them . On the other hand, they currently seem to be the "canary in the mine": they take the hit of environmental degradation. We have approximately 20 hives: we usually lost a bunch (sometimes half) during the winter and then build the numbers back up again. Every year, they seem to be doing well for awhile and then they languish. My latest theory (from current literature & beekeepers' wisdom) is that a new challenge they are facing is from new seed treatments that are systemic in nature: ie, the chemicals used to treat corn seed (that our neighbors plant) are systemic and change the entire plants. The bees gather the pollen, which they feed to their offspring, which then compromises their immune system, making them weak & susceptible to various pests - eg, mites), etc etc.
Anyway, we keep getting enough honey for ourselves and a little to sell; however, our average honey yield per hive the last few years has been 1-2 gallons per hive, whereas it used to be 5. It's a struggle just to keep them alive.

FINANCES: increasingly, our income comes from off-farm work. Laird continues to be gone more than half of the time with his FIC and process/consulting work. Emily continues to work for FIC (on the farm, but not part of Sandhill finances). Stan has been doing more inspections the last few years. Trish has a job with University of MO Extension evaluating a beginning farmer program. Off-farm income continues to be the major portion of our total income. Our community finances appear sound (who can tell for sure in this economy?) - and sometimes it feels like a contradiction: we would like to be able to sustain our lifestyle by growing/selling food but the reality is that our return on labor in agriculture sucks (for this, I blame the US agricultural system - better not go there now....).

TRAVEL we all travel: during the recent holiday season, most of us spent time with family & friends: I went to Manitoba, Trish, Joe, Emory, Sara, & Jon all went to St Louis, Emily was on the east coast, and Laird was at Maikwe's. That left just Mica home to stoke the fires and take care of the dogs, cats, & chickens. Luckily, she had just got a new puppy, Cricket, to replace Biscuit (who got run over on the road by our place), and that kept her entertained and happy. Laird, Trish, & I also travel for our work.

VISITORS: we have had family of members visiting: Mica's mother & sisters, Joe's parents, Trish's parents, Emily's parents, Jon's mother, etc. We also enjoyed numerous visits from folks at neighboring communities including overnights, and gave quite a few tours.

Relations to Others:

1. We still have the FIC trailer on the farm; this last Nov, we rented one of the Karma rooms to the FIC office for the winter - the trailer is a miserable place to work in the winter.
2. We hosted the FEC annual meeting in the fall.
3. We continue to have weekly tri-community potlucks (DR, Redearth, & Sandhill); folks from Sandhill play ultimate frisbee regularly at DR, and folks from DR & RE played hockey at Sandhill.
4. We had our annual Mayday/Sandhill Anniversary party
5. We hosted a maple syrup open house; we cancelled our annual sorghum festival because the season was late and wanted to focus on the harvest.
6. We continue to be involved in the larger community in various ways: eg, going to Renay's basketball games, Gigi substitute teaching in Memphis and maintaining the anti-CAFO initiative going in the county; and participating at the farmers market in Memphis. Gigi continued as one of the managers there - our sales are small but we feel it's worth the energy to raise consciousness around food issues.

OTHER tidbits:

1. we have avoided government programs; however, this year, we enrolled in the CSP (conservation stewardship program) because it appeared to encourage stewardship and sustainable ag practices; of course, it came with a cost - government bureaucracy (for us, keeping up with the paperwork).
2. I turned 65! I'm officially a senior; one unexpected perk: I don't have to pay admission for school events: sports, etc.
3. Renay kept up with the Girl Scouts horse camp and became an instructor (the camp is between St Joe & KC).
4. Last winter we had more than average snow - for cross country skiing and good ice - more than usual hockey - with friends from DR & Redearth.

Sayings from our community calendar:
Emory:

1. I am a community kid - I go fast!
2. True treasures are smooth & bumpy & purple & shining.
3. To Nama: what you are getting for xmas: 1 fuzzball, some big marbles & some little marbles.

Joe:  I don't know if I've ever had a bad spanking!

Thanks for reading, hope your year was joyful and rich!