It's definitely snuggle-down-under-the-blanket, second-cup-of-morning-coffee-or-tea kind of weather this crisp fall morning. The weather rumors are indicating that it is going to be even cooler tomorrow morning (Tuesday). Now, where did I stash that comforter last spring?
But come rain, shine, or br-r-r, we are beginning our sorghum harvest at 9:30am tomorrow morning. We have invited our local community friends to join us for our traditional parade to the field and cutting cane.The harvest is beginning about a week later than usual and we are definitely raring to go.
Our friend Kris from East Wind Community, who is an important part of our sorghum crew every year, has been here for a couple of weeks already helping to get our equipment in shape. We are expecting a labor exchange crew from Twin Oaks and Acorn communities in Virginia to arrive on Thursday. They will be here for a bit more than a week and more volunteers will be coming.
Even before the beginning of the harvest, our visitor scene has been active. While Jacob's friend Alena was visiting the area with her son Felix, she came by and spent the day with us. She is a former resident at one the River City Cooperative houses in Iowa City. Coincidentally, a friend of hers named Zori, who also is a former resident of the same co-op house, visited us the following week for a few days after completing a visitor period at Dancing Rabbit.
We also had a visit this past week from Andrei, who is from San Diego. He had just returned to the U.S. after visiting his parents in Prague, Czech Republic. His father works for Radio Free Europe and his mother is an English teacher and tennis coach. I also gave a tour yesterday to some folks from southeast Missouri, Shelly and Jess. They were in the area to attend the Dancing Rabbit open house this weekend before heading on to Fairfield, Iowa.
A very special visitor right now is our dear friend and former Sandhill member "Miss" Lindsey. She lives in Berkeley, California and has been back for several visits over the past few years. Lindsey will be with us until Wednesday.
We have also had some fun social times recently. Keren and Hannah made a lovely supper for the first night of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana. Apple, Emily and Lindsey went to the Scotland County R-1 homecoming this past week. Renay was in the half-time show and they wanted to cheer her on.
Just because we have passed the date for the autumn equinox, it doesn't mean our garden has quit producing. We are harvesting endive and Chinese cabbage for lovely fall salads, jars of jewel-like salsa are coming out of the processing kitchen and our daily meals still feel very abundant. We are also harvesting some of the crops we grow outside of the gardens. Black beans are drying out in the greenhouse at the moment and we have beautiful jars of dried heirloom Jacob's Cattle and Tiger Eye beans on the shelves in our kitchen.
Another product of our gardens and fields these days is seed for future crops. Given the sometimes short supply of certified organic seed available, we have gotten more interested in growing out more seed ourselves. It also enables us to convert varieties that we cannot obtain as organic to that status by raising them since we are already certified. We are also grow seed for two companies, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange in Virginia and One Garden in Missouri.
I just want to remind everyone that our Sorghum Festival/Open House will be held on Saturday, October 10th. It will begin at 1pm and will run until 5pm. We are planning lots of fun activities for the whole family, including hayride field tours and demonstrations of old-time sorghum making. If you need directions, you can call us at 660-883-5543 or email us festivals@sandhillfarm.org. We look forward to seeing you there.