Memphis Democrat Column from March 13, 2005

Michael and I attended the severe weather spotters training in Memphis on March 1. There was a big turnout and the fire station meeting room was packed. Mike McClure from the National Weather Service office in Davenport did a great job of presenting the program. The videos alone were worth going to see.

I worked for Aetna Insurance in Dallas some years ago and was part of an assessment team that was sent to Wichita Falls to survey the damage there after the big tornado in 1979. What I saw during that trip made a huge impression on me and I know that weather spotters in that area did a lot to help save many lives. Michael and I have sent in our signup form to Davenport and I think it is a great way to be involved in our local community.

We are starting to definitely think spring around here. Gigi, Michael and I have been busy planting flats of seedlings and fussing over them. My lettuce is making a strong showing and Gigi has nice starts of early onions, coldframe greens and flowers in the windows of the living room at Karma. Michael seeded several flats of brassicas this week. Michael is also experimenting with growing ginger again after a hiatus of three years and has several pots of shoots already up and going strong.

Gigi got her coldframes in place, has put mulch around the outside of them and is getting them warmed up in preparation for planting. The last of the seeds we ordered are straggling in and it is not unusual to see one of us standing by the gardens with a bemused look on our face as we contemplate our plans for the season ahead.

We finished up our annual winter retreat last weekend. The last two meetings on Thursday and Sunday dealt with such topics as spirituality in the group, initiatives to recruit new members, our membership process and group interactions. On Saturday, most of our crew went to a pruning workshop and open house at our friend Dan Kelly's orchard in Canton. There was a potluck supper, a bonfire and music in the evening. This was our retreat fun activity. We had planned to do a highway trash pickup, but due to less than ideal weather we decided to reschedule it for a later date.

Gigi, Stan and Renay went with a group from Dancing Rabbit last Tuesday to see a tap-dancing performance in Kirksville. It was part of the Lyceum series at the university. The show was on tour from New York and Gigi said it was really well done.

We have had more company the past two weeks. Stefanie from Dancing Rabbit decided to take a working vacation at Sandhill for a week and a half. She cooked some yummy meals, spent time with Renay and helped Otto with wood collection. Stef wields a mean splitting maul! It was nice to have her

here and it was a fun time for us.

This weekend, two students from Truman State University are spending part of their spring break with

us. Cassie and Rizwaan have both been here before, so they are not strangers. They arrived yesterday and jumped right into the work at hand. With their help, we moved some lumber that we have had stored in a neighbor's barn up the road to the lumber bays in our big barn. Today, they were busy cutting up boughs that we trimmed off the big elm behind the White House and also participated in our community meeting. We really value our friendships with several of the students at the university and appreciate the enthusiasm they bring along when they come here.

We try to do some fun things when we have folks here and yesterday evening Gigi organized candle dipping in the kitchen after supper. Jacque and her friend Nathan came over from Dancing Rabbit, too.

It reminded me of the old-time "bees" and everyone enjoyed the social time.

Laird left on March 7 after the retreat was done for a trip to Colorado and the southwest. He is doing another installment of the ongoing two year facilitation training course that he is teaching this weekend.

He has another group of students on the east coast that is finishing up and the group in Colorado is in the early part of their course. He hopes to have another group of students in the Pacific Northwest that will overlap with the later part of the second group's training.

We are celebrating another birthday today. Gigi's actual birthday is tomorrow but she has plans already to have supper with French and Renay and do something with them. We are having cake with supper tonight and Gigi has plans to do an group art project this evening.

A couple of things that I forgot to mention in the last column occurred to me as I was reading it over. Jo is participating in what her high school in New Hampshire calls "intersession". Last year she did an internship with her brother in Columbia during that time. This year she is travelling in Europe and pursuing studies related to her interest in food. She is sending us emails along the way and they have been fascinating reading. Jo has a talent for writing. I particularly enjoyed her description of shopping at a farmers market in Paris. Jo has been accepted at the Culinary Institute in San Francisco

and will start there next fall.

We also said goodbye to our elderly upright piano that has lived for many years in our dining room. A number of the keys were no longer working and playing was becoming more of a chore than a pleasure. Once we decided that we no longer wanted it, Otto got busy with a screwdriver and disassembled a large part of the instrument. We saved as much wood as possible for other uses and the piano bench will be recycled into a small table. The cast iron "harp" is now tied to a tree outside for folks to pluck as the musical impulse strikes them.