Note to editor:thanks for the nice headline in the last issue, however "Farm" in our name is singular.

The last couple of weeks at Sandhill Farm have been full with the various comings and goings of the folks here. Laird, Sue and Jo went up to Michigan on the 19th for a reunion of Sue's family. They returned late this Sunday, looking relaxed and reinvigorated by the vacation. While they were gone, Jo had her fifteenth birthday on the 23rd. It was celebrated with a day at a theme park. Laird said he did a lot of walking on the beach at Lake Michigan and caught up on his reading. Sue enjoyed seeing her family.

On Monday, the 22nd, Stan got back from his inspection trip to Colorado and Kansas. He was struck by the terrible dryness in that part of the country, as he was when he went to western Nebraska earlier in the season. We are lucky to have had rain, even if it seems like too much sometimes. Since he has been home, he has done organic inspections of a dairy in Fairfield, Iowa and a farm in the Rutledge area.

Jai, our new intern, also arrived on the 22nd, along with her mother Jill and her little brother Ethan. Jill and Ethan stayed until Wednesday before returning to their home near Chicago. Jai just finished her first year of college and visited us previously in March. It's nice to see her smile again.

Jen, our other intern, left for a two week visit to New York and Pennsylvania on the 23rd. Gigi left for New York last Thursday with her daughter Cory for a visit with her parents. She will also be spending time with her brother and sister and their families. On the return trip, Jen will meet up with Gigi and Cory in Chicago and they will come back together from there.

We've also had visitors and friends here during this time. Former member Lotus and her daughter Emma arrived on the 21st and stayed until Thursday. They have been living in Tennessee and were on their way to the summer camp they attend each year. Emma is seven and a half and is one of Cory's best friends.

First time visitor Bobbie and her ten year old son David arrived from Virginia on Thursday. They are exploring community as a possible place to live. They will be leaving later this week. We also had a visit from former member Grady and his wife Linda over the weekend. They live near Vicksburg, Mississippi, but were returning from a trip to Nebraska.

With the front-porch sitting, catching up on news and general nice times that all the above activity has entailed, we still had to get the work done. As usual, we had lots to do.

Chad has built new shelving for our root cellar, which is going through a major renovation. Rebecca was in charge of getting the canned goods were left in it out and over to the wood shop for temporary storage. We were lucky that we didn't lose anything due to the shelves giving way. Some of the boards that were being removed disintegrated. It was definitely time to do the upgrade.

Several of us have been busy weeding the soy beans and other field beans. That is an ongoing project. We pulled the seed garlic Saturday. There is also the ongoing harvesting and processing of the summer crops, which is in full swing. Beds in the North Garden are being readied for fall crops.

We have also been busy with our honey bees. After a rough start in the spring, they are now doing well and it looks like we will have a good honey flow this season. Jen, Jai and some of our visitors have been working on new bee frames and Stan, Gigi, Jen and Michael have been out at the hives regularly.

A new business initiative that Laird and Chad have been working on is the setting up of our new web site. There is still some things that need to be done, but we hope to be selling our products on the internet in the near future. That's a big leap for a community that didn't have a computer until a few years ago.