Memphis Democrat Column from December 25, 2005

Well, this is a first. I am sitting here writing my column on Christmas afternoon. I can hear Jo in the kitchen whipping up egg whites for a cake while listening to music, but otherwise the White House is fairly quiet right now and I am glad to get some time on the computer to write.

This is a time for family and friends to join us here at Sandhill Farm. Laird's fiancee Ma'ikwe and her son Jibran have been with us this past week. Our friend Otto arrived from East Wind Community on Wednesday to spend a couple of months at Sandhill again this winter. Matthew drove up from St. Louis yesterday for a few days' visit. After spending Friday night in Columbia with Ceilee, Laird and Ma'ikwe picked up Jo late last night in St. Louis after she flew in from California

Renay and Jibran are a year apart in age, so they have been having fun hanging out together again. It has been a couple of years since we last had Ma'ikwe and Jibran in Rutledge. They were residents at Dancing Rabbit for a summer.

Gigi, Stan and Renay have had the chance with our spell of cold weather to get in some serious skating on our ponds. They also skated at the old lake at Memphis one morning, along with Suzanne from Dancing Rabbit and Roy from Memphis.

Speaking of skating, we had a full pond of folks doing it at our winter celebration party on the 21st. We had the Rabbits and other friends join us mid-afternoon for the outdoor activities. Everyone then gathered indoors for appetizers and socializing before enjoying a potluck supper. Afterwards, we had a candlelight sharing circle where everyone expressed their hopes for the upcoming year.

Renay and Jibran were joined at the party by Mark and Farnaz's three children and the three Johnson children from Dancing Rabbit. There was a lot of kid energy that evening and it was fun having a houseful of them.

December 21st also was a milestone for Michael and me since it was our fifteenth wedding anniversary. The announcement of this before dinner led to an impromptu rendition of a bit of the "Hallelujah Chorus" in our honor by the rest of the group.

A fun Sandhill tradition that we revived this year is that of "elfing". We all draw names and then for several days we leave small presents for our "mortal" or do kind deeds and even occasionally play good-natured jokes on them. We revealed ourselves this Friday at noon and it was interesting to see if anyone guessed who their "benefactor" was. The gifts I found in my mailbox (and even on my bed) were definitely food oriented and included chocolates, a spicy nut mix, and Greek olives. Oh well, I see a New Year's diet in my future.

With all the fun in the past week or so, we are also busy at this time with our annual round of wood cutting for heating our buildings and cooking sorghum. Michael and Gigi have gone out with Stan on wood runs. Otto has come up to help us with this work and his effort is much appreciated. He will also be doing some more forestry for us, as well as helping with some of our maintenance chores.

Gigi is continuing with her projects in Karma. She has been concentrating the past couple of weeks

on tightening up the building and improving some of the winterizing. This helps us achieve our goal of conserving energy and making efficient use of our resources in regard to heating our buildings.

Michael has been putting some effort this year to finding breeds of chickens that will provide us with reliable egg production year-round. We now have some pullets starting to lay pretty regularly and it looks like he may have made some good choices. The breeds he settled on are Wyandottes, New Hampshires and Red Star Sex-Links. I'll let you know how things go.

The folks at Sandhill Farm want to wish all of you and your families a wonderful holiday season and and an outstanding new year. Thank you for being our neighbors.