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We invest a lot of our energy in self sufficiency projects and in enjoying the
present. Our day to day activities are a blend of income work and
commitment to the land along with personal tasks and hobbies. We are
gardeners, farmers, beekeepers, group process consultants, office managers, students, organic farm inspectors, homebrewers, orchardists and musicians among other things. Some of
us are activists working for the Fellowship for Intentional Community, for local community issues and for various sustainable ag groups . Sandhill Farm is also a member of the Federation of Egalitarian
Communities.
We strive for joy and positivity in our lives. It is expressed in our language, cooperation and affection for each other. We keep centered as a group
by sharing feelings at meetings, holding hands before our evening
meal, laboring together on work projects, creatively sharing holidays and special times together. Our spirituality is
an amalgm of practices and beliefs about living in harmony with the
earth and about the power of community to realize the abundance and loving
potential in us all. We also have
long-standing friendships in the local community as well as special
connections with the two communities within biking distance: Dancing Rabbit
Ecovillage and Red Earth Farms.
Having fun together and individually is very important
to us. We enjoy playing with children, reading, games, making music, art, handcrafts,
attending conferences and gatherings, and traveling to visit friends
and family.
A one-acre spring-fed pond, just a short walk
from our residences and gardens, helps us cool off during our hot
humid summers and is a great skating spot in winter!
We wrestle with the appropriate use of technology in our lives. There
are many factors to weigh and the answers can change over time,
requiring us to rethink old assessments. For example, we choose for chain saws
and computers, but no TV; we use mostly power-grid electricity and
gas-powered tractors, however cultivate our gardens by hand. We have
composting toilets, an earth-sheltered building, an earthbag greenhouse and use solar energy
for some of our food drying and heating. We also use some of the techniques of biodynamic farming, permaculture and holistic healing.
We did our first ecoaudit in 2008 to give us a structure for assessing our choices and baseline data for future years.
Our membership generally aligns around values and lifestyle. At the same time, we embrace diversity of personal styles in spirituality, politics, relationships, parenting and other areas of personal choice. We strive to be multigenerational and break out of the constraints of ageism, sexism, racism, etc. We have weekly meetings at which we make group decisions as well as personally checking in about how our lives are going.
We encourage folks to begin a
relationship with us by writing and visiting.
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