Memphis Democrat Column from July 28, 2008

I'm sitting here trying to figure out to write this column without mentioning the word RAIN several times. I'm sure all of you are ready for a change of pace. At least the sun has made an appearance this afternoon (Monday) after the deluge last night. I had my travelling shoes on the past three weeks. As I mentioned the last time, Michael and I were headed for Columbia We got to spend a lot of quality time with our two granddaughters, Chloe and Maya, during our week there. It is nice to live close enough that we were able to help out our daughter and her husband after Maya's birth. Michael and I also explored some of the great walking trails in Columbia while we were in the area. I was able to get in a few days at home before I had to leave again to go to East Wind Community to attend meetings for PEACH, a health fund that we participate in with other groups. Our community pays a fee per member each month and, in return, the fund covers us for catastrophic and chronic health care after a deductible is met. The fund was started by the Federation of Egalitarian Communities, although other groups have been members. I travelled to southern Missouri with Laird, the current administrator, Tony from Skyhouse, Mark from Red Earth (representing the Dancing Rabbit Health Care Fund), and Sky, a former member of Twin Oaks who was the meeting facilitator. The meetings took place over four days and were also attended by representatives from the Twin Oaks, Acorn, Emma Goldman and East Wind communities. We had a lot of business to deal during that time, but everyone participated fully and the process worked quite well. Fortunately, we had a spell of less humid weather and cooler nights during our time in the Ozarks. Our group has been busy with lots of garden work. It has been an effort just to keep up with the well-watered weeds this season as well as with everything else we need to do. Harvesting has begun in earnest. We have getting lots of green beans, dug the first potatoes, started our onion and beet harvests and have even gotten to have our first tastes of okra and tomatoes. We have also been picking black currents and the first round of peaches. We harvested our garlic crop on July 12th. The pace is also picking up in the food processing kitchen and we have been drying lots of herbs. The international flavor to life at Sandhill this summer has continued this month. Mark, who is from the Netherlands, is here as an intern. He has just graduated from high school and will be starting his university studies in industrial design this fall. Gigi and his mother are old friends and she visited Mark's family with Stan and Renay when they were in Europe last summer. A German friend of Thea's, Marius, is also here for a couple of weeks. He lives in Berlin and has worked as a nurse until recently. He will be returning to school after he gets back home. Jo has been visiting from Asheville, North Carolina where she now lives and celebrating her 21st birthday. She drove out, arriving on July 20th, and spent a couple of days on the farm before she flew to Las Vegas to see Ceilee and his family. She spent her actual birthday, July 23rd, there and then returned last Friday to get ready for more celebrations. Her mother Elke also arrived that day. Laird and Elke cooked a special dinner on Saturday evening. Yesterday, Jo put together one of her sushi extravaganzas for all of us and friends from Dancing Rabbit and Red Earth Farms. It was a really fun party for all ages. There was a "Three Leg, One Horned, One Eyed Flying Purple People Eater" pinata for the kids. Elke said this was in honor of Jo's favorite song from the KMEM oldies show when she was little. Even the 60 mph winds and torrential storm later in the day didn't put a damper on things and folks who stayed on into the evening played board games. Well, I managed to get through our news without using the "R" word. We will see what the next few weeks brings us.