I've been taking a break the past couple of months from writing our column. A combination of a vacation and lots of work since my return have been occupying my time. There was a big rush of shipping at the Fellowship for Intentional Community office coinciding with the release of the second part of the video, Visions of Utopia. This was a project that was initiated by our friend Geoph Kozeny and the Fellowship committed to completing it after his passing in October of 2007. The interest in the new DVD has been very high and we have shipped nearly 500 copies from this office since it was released in April. Our Virginia office has also been sending lots of them out. In addition, I had to organize the books and other merchandise for our bookstore at the National Cohousing Conference which was held in Seattle in June. It's been pretty hectic and I think I'm about ready to sit on the front porch for a spell with some lemonade and catch my breath. Everyone at Sandhill Farm has been busy this spring and summer. The cool, wet weather earlier in the season made getting into the fields difficult, but Stan and Apple have most of the field work under control now. Some of the garden crops were a bit slow getting out of the gate but the harvests have begun and our meals reflect the welcome abundance.
Gigi and I also put in a fair amount of time this spring helping to organize the new farmers' markets in Memphis and Rutledge. It is a great way to build a local food scene and we are enjoying participating regularly in the two markets If you haven't had a chance to check them out, the Memphis Farmers' Market is held from 4pm to 7pm on Tuesdays on the Courthouse Square and the Rutledge Farmers' Market is from 9am to 12pm on Saturdays and is located at the pavilion next to the Post Office. New vendors are welcome, see Jeanne or Gigi at Memphis or Brian at Rutledge for more information.
Laird and Stan have both been on the road the past couple of months. Laird attended the Fellowship's Spring organizational meeting at Camphill Kimberton Hills Community in Pennsylvania, participated in an Art of Community event after the meetings, and also worked with some groups on both the East Coast and West Coast. He and Ma'ikwe took Community Bookshelf to the National Cohousing Conference, where they were also workshop presenters. Stan has been doing a number of organic inspections, both in Missouri and out of state. He just finished a two week trip to Nebraska. He will be out again for a few days this coming week in Northwest Missouri.
We just went through our own organic certification inspection this past week. Our farm, gardens and processing operation must all be inspected annually for us to maintain our status. We are certified through One Cert Missouri and our inspector this time was Allan Benjamin from their home office. It does involve some paperwork and keeping good records, but we feel it is worth it and reflects our strong commitment as a group to the organic movement.
It hasn't all been nose to the grindstone this year. We have a good crew of interns this year and the gardens really are benefiting from their diligence. However, Ali, Emily, Hannah, Keren and Tony also contribute a lot to the Sandhill social scene and have created strong connections with their peers at Dancing Rabbit and Red Earth Farms. There have been lots of games, Ultimate Frisbee matches and music-making. Apple, Ali, Hannah and Keren have formed a group called Cast-Iron Skillet and performed at a recent "No-Talent" show at Dancing Rabbit. They do have lots of talent, playing guitar, accordion, violin and singing.
Renay turned thirteen on June 20th and we celebrated with cake here and she also had a party at the Memphis pool with her friends (with more cake!). She attended Girl Scout Camp near Kansas City for eight days. The focus of the camp session was horsemanship and leadership. Renay is also participating in the Canoka Swim Team again this year and has been busy with practice and swimming meets.
We have had visits from both folks interested in our community and friends. Trish, Joe and their son Emory came from St. Louis for another visit at the end of May, along with their friend Carolyn and her two boys. Br'er, Helia and their baby girl, Veda, visited us for a week in June. They currently live in Utah, but Br'er is originally from Oklahoma and Helia is from Tennessee. The first week of July Nani and her six year old daughter Elle were here after spending some time at Red Earth Farms. Nani and Elle are from Hawaii, but now live in Ohio. They are both bilingual in Hawaiian and English and it was really interesting to hear them speaking Hawaiian to each other. They are now part of the current visitor group at Dancing Rabbit.
Laird, Emily and Hannah have hosted visits from traveling friends. We have also had folks coming through who are working on various projects connected with agriculture. This past Saturday we had visits from Jay, a photographer from St. Louis, and from Dan and Lauren, who live in Chicago and who are one of two teams working on a book called "Agricultlore". They did interviews with us and also took photographs. This morning (Monday), Stan did an interview with a graduate student from the University of Missouri who is working on a master's degree in focusing on agriculture and rural sociology. We appreciate the interest in what we are doing and enjoy making the connections these contacts bring.