Memphis Democrat Column from February 09, 2009

Hello everyone...It's been over a month since I was last able to do a column. Unfortunately, my husband came down with a case of the respiratory flu complicated by pleurisy and I was covering a chunk of his chores until he could get back on his feet again. He is doing better now and easing back into his routines. Of course, most of this coincided with that rough stretch of very cold weather we had in January. It was a lot of work to keep the chickens and turkeys going during that period. I carried more buckets of hot water than I care to think about from the house to the poultry yard. I also had to check the nest boxes frequently to make sure the eggs didn't freeze. The last few days have felt more like spring and I have been appreciating the balmy temperatures. I imagine we will get some more cold weather before winter moves on for this year. Our year started off with a party at the house of our friends Kent and Mary Jo Kettelman down near Bethel. The celebration incuded welcoming the new year with bagpipes and fireworks. Renay participated in the regional Quiz Bowl competition that was held at Scotland R-1 on January 10th. Her team won first place in the Grade 5/Grade 6 division. She has been also busy with regular basketball practice and games the past month. Renay's team won all three of their tournament games this past Saturday in Memphis. Laird and Ma'ikwe went up to Rockford, Illinois for a ten day meditation retreat and returned January 7th. On January 14th Stan went up to Rockford to attend a retreat at the same center. They all found their experiences quite interesting and there has been quite a bit of discussion over coffee and meals. Laird has written some pieces for his blog about the retreat. Stan has also posted a paper on our bulletin board on the same subject.

Birthday season has started at Sandhill Farm. Mine was on January 25th and I am well on the other side of 39 at this point. I had planned a quiet day, but my community cohorts cooked up a surprise party for me in the evening. We were joined by Alline, Kurt and Sparky from Dancing Rabbit and Alline brought along one of her incredible cakes. Renay's dad French had his birthday on February 3rd. Since he had to work that day, Gigi and Renay had a special dinner with him at his house on Sunday evening. Last Friday was Ma'ikwe's birthday and Laird prepared a special meal for her at Dancing Rabbit and they joined the rest of the group there for their weekly carry-in community supper. It was also Sparky's birthday. On February 1st, Stan went to a Super Bowl party at Roger and Mary Walker's place over at Williamstown. Since the game was so exciting this year, it was a pretty lively party. Laird went to Dunmire Hollow Community in Tennessee on January 30th to attend weekend meetings of the FIC Oversight Committee. He also made a short trip to the The Farm, another community in Tennessee, to take care of some business before returning to Missouri on Monday. Gigi left last Wednesday for a trip to New York to see her family. She will be back this coming Friday. She was planning to spend some time with her parents and brother in the New York City area and then go up to Albany to see her sister and her family. Otto arrived on January 22nd for his annual labor exchange at Sandhill. He made a trip up to Michigan from southern Missouri to see his dad before coming here and arrived from Ann Arbor on Amtrak. He will be with us until sometime this spring and hopes to go back up to Michigan to do a work exchange at the Creative Health Institute for the summer. He got right to work on getting firewood and has also been helping us with maintenance and other chores. Otto and Stan put the taps on our maple trees on February 1st. The flow has been a bit slow in starting but we are getting some sap collections now. We are going to have a Maple Sugaring Open House on Saturday, March 7th from 1pm to 5pm. Come out and see how we collect sap and cook maple syrup. We will also have yummy maple treats for folks to try. Give us a call at 660-883-5543 to let us know if you are coming and to get directions. Look for our flyer at local businesses and other locations. We had a couple of fox terrier mix puppies show up here at the farm during the worst of the cold weather. We got them into better shape with some food and care and were able to find a home for one of them. The other one is still available for someone who would like to give him a place to live. He is a cute little fellow and is about three months old now with a sweet and intelligent personality. He's a bit on the shy side but it looks like he could get very attached to a good owner who is willing to work with him. He gets along well with our dogs and cats. If you are interested in adopting "Goody", give us a call at the number above.