Memphis Democrat Column from September 15, 2005

I'm writing this column on Thursday night instead of Sunday since Michael and I will be going down to Columbia tomorrow to participate in the Heritage Festival at Nifong Park. I will be one of the old-time craft demonstrators and will be kept busy hand-dipping beeswax candles. The two of us will be staying with our friends at Terra Nova Community and we are looking forward to a nice social weekend, too.

I missed the column deadline last week due to another fair. Michael and I were in Chillicothe at their Chatauqua In The Park. We really enjoyed being in the beautiful park where it was held and liked the way the event was organized. We stayed at a local campground that was also having a bluegrass festival during the weekend and we took some time to listen to the music on Saturday evening.

This past weekend was a busy one for other folks at the farm. Stan was at Food Fest in Kirksville on Saturday, along with our new intern Heather. Former interns Geoff and Jane, who have been visiting with us since the 1st, took care of our table in Rutledge during Dog and Gun.

Our friends Kris and Otto came up from East Wind Community on Friday. Kris will be here for all of sorghum season and Otto is spending a couple of weeks with us. Kris and Stan then left on Sunday morning for Kentucky to pick up the steam boiler we will be using to process sorghum and returned with it early Tuesday morning.

Laird was also on the road during the past week. He left on Monday afternoon for Columbia to see Ceilee. One of the interns, Karene, caught a ride down with him so she could spend a few days there. Laird then headed for Kansas City on Wednesday to attend a conference of the National Association of Housing Cooperatives. He is scheduled to give three workshops on group process. This coming weekend he will be back in Columbia to see Ceilee and Jo before he and Karene head back to the farm.

The pace is picking up and visitors are starting to arrive for the harvest season. Geoff and Jane plan to be here until September 29. Our merchant seaman friend, Doug, who was here last year arrived on the 3rd and plans to be with us during sorghum harvest. Today, another former intern, Brad, and his friend Ian arrived from Seattle. Brad plans to stay through October. Ian will be leaving in a couple of days since he is scheduled to start a timber framing internship in Asheville, North Carolina.

The intern scene has changed a bit with departures and arrivals. We bid aloha on September 7 to the young married couple who has been with us since early in the season. Kirk and Chifumi left to accept positions on a farm in Hawaii. There was a farewell party for them after the Tuesday potluck dinner with Dancing Rabbit and Red Earth Farms on the 6th.

We have been joined by two new interns, Heather and Justin. Heather is from Canada and works with volunteers at a university radio station and has her own music show. Justin is from St. Louis and was introduced to us by our friend Matthew. Both of them will be here through October.

We are still busy with harvesting garden crops and food processing, but we are also starting to take care of some of the work needed to wind up our garden activities for the season. We have been clearing spaces that are no longer being used and putting in cover crops to enrich the soil and protect it. Our second wave of peaches are being picked and we are getting some apples. We also went apple picking at our friend Dan's and brought home some nice fruit.

There is also a lot of work that needs to get done in conjunction with our conversion to steam in the sorghum operation. Stan, Kris, Otto and Doug have started on that. The boiler is in good condition and only needs some minor repairs done to ready it for use. We also borrowed a steam cooking pan to use this year from an Amish sorghum producer in southern Missouri and Kris and Otto brought up with them. We have been planning for this change for a while and it is exciting to see things finally taking shape.

I want to let everyone know that Sandhill Farm will be having an open house on Saturday, October 1st from 1PM to 5PM. If you are interested in seeing how sorghum syrup is made, this is a great opportunity to do so. We will have hayride field tours, along with demonstrations of sorghum cane milling and the syrup cooking process. It should be a fun event for the whole family.