Memphis Democrat Column from February 13, 2005

I am looking at the bright February calendar that Stefanie from Dancing Rabbit created for us. It has an interesting feature-the days of the week are in Dutch ("Zondag, Maandag, Dinsdag", etc.). Arjen is from the Netherlands and Stefanie has spent time there. It is always fun to see what the calendar makers are going to come up with each month.

We have had a busy two weeks since I last wrote the column. With Otto's help we have been cutting and splitting more wood, both to heat the houses and for sorghum. We made some additional trips to the Lewis' farm to do barn-cleaning. Our crew enjoys going up there since they have such an interesting assortment of animals, including a llama.

The sap run has started and we have been tapping our maple trees and beginning to make syrup. Eric from Dancing Rabbit will also be bringing over the sap they have collected to be cooked. This is an activity we look forward to every year and we really enjoy doing it as a joint project.

We have been catching up on some indoor maintenance projects. Gigi repainted the downstairs hallway in Karma and really brightened the space up. Tonight she and Stan are refinishing the wooden flooring in our kitchen. There has been an mysterious outbreak of closet cleaning, general tidying, and other similar activities. Some folks on the farm must think that Spring has arrived early.

The denizens of Sandhill have also had on their travelling shoes. Laird went to Tennessee on February 4th to attend the meetings of the Fellowship's oversight committee, which were held at Dunmire Hollow Community. He returned home on the 7th for a brief two day respite before having to leave again for Ohio. He did some work there for The Vale, a long-established community in Yellow Springs. He will stop and spend tomorrow with Ceilee in Columbia before heading home.

Stan did two workshops on organic certification for the Missouri Department of Agriculture this past week. The first one was in Albany and the second was in Jefferson City. He visited with his friend Everett in Kansas City in between the events and also had supper with our friends at Sunnyside Cooperative and Terra Nova Community in Columbia last night.

Otto went up Ann Arbor, Michigan on the train last Wednesday to see his father and spend a few days with him. He will be returning this week to continue his labor exchange with us. He is hoping to be able to stay another month.

Gigi and Renay went down to Columbia this last Thursday and Friday to visit Cedar, Jess and Skyler. Gigi took care of deliveries to our customers while she was there and Renay went with Jess and Skyler to an activity at the University of Missouri's greenhouses.

Renay has joined the Girl Scout troop in Memphis and attended her first monthly meeting on Saturday.

Different careers that women pursue was the theme of the meeting and Gigi was one of the presenters. She spoke about her background in civil engineering and about working for theTexas Aeronautics Commission.

Renay's dad French celebrated his birthday on February 3rd. We had a special get-together for him the next evening and Gigi and Renay made him a beautiful cake. We have also invited Stefanie and Arjen over to ski and Eric and Susan from Dancing Rabbit joined us for supper this Friday evening.

We said goodbye this week to our intern Susie, who has been with us since May. Susie is on her way to Oregon where she will be starting a new internship at Trillium Farm Community. She was really a part of our "family" and contributed a lot to the group while she was here. We are delighted about her new opportunity and look forward to seeing her again in the not too distant future.