Memphis Democrat Column from July 24, 2005

I sent an email to a colleague of mine at the Fellowship for Intentional Community office in Virginia the other day and put "melted cheese" in the subject line. I think that was a pretty exact description of my condition at that moment. This run of very hot, muggy weather makes me think I'm back in northeast Texas instead of in northeast Missouri. The weather radio keeps promising some relief this week. I'm keeping the ice tea handy just in case, though.

Seriously, the lack of rain is worrisome for our field crops and we need a change in the weather pretty soon. We've been able to keep our gardens going since we have drip irrigation in two of them and access to water at the third one. We've had good harvests of cucumbers, cabbage and potatoes and the beets are ready. The tomatoes are just coming on, but Michael says they are not setting well yet because of the heat and I don't expect to have much in the way of sweet and hot peppers until the nights cool off more.

We managed to get to some of the sweet corn before the racoons and have it for supper tonight. The rascals have been treating our electric fence like it doesn't exist. However, our dog Cole has been scaring them and the possums away from the orchard in back of the White House and we have been feasting on some incredible peaches this year.

Two of our interns left this past week. Sparky is still in the neighborhood, having moved to Dancing Rabbit last Sunday as a new resident. Aaron returned to Arkansas on Wednesday. Joanne,

Kirk and Chifumi are still with us. Two more interns are already lined up to come in here in the near future and Gigi and I are in the process of interviewing some additional applicants.

The visitors have continued to arrive. At the moment, we are hosting a family of three from New Mexico. Rob,Trina and their son Elijah will be here until Tuesday and then will be at Dancing Rabbit for a week. A young woman from Virginia, Anne, arrived this past Friday. She had been interning with our friends at Oran Mor Community in southern Missouri and will also be visiting a farm in Alabama after she leaves here this coming Thursday. She will be starting her sophomore year at The College of William and Mary this fall.

Our friend Dan from Canton came over on the 12th for our weekly potluck with the Rabbits and also spent the night with us. It was fun to have a chance to hang out with him before he headed up to

Michigan for an extended period of time this summer.

Laird is home for a month and it's nice to have him around for a while. He has been keeping busy with an electrical project, writing reports and Fellowship tasks. He has also been having fun cooking up some yummy meals with the fresh produce from the garden.

Gigi and Renay arrived home from their vacation in New York on July 16. The following Monday, Stan drove to St Louis and picked up Renay's best friend Emma at her grandmother's. Emma will be here for about six weeks and the two girls have been having a great time. They have already been to the pool in Memphis, as well as the county fair, and took in a movie in Kirksville with Gigi yesterday.

We adapted an old water tank as the new Sandhill pool and put it in the yard by the White House the other day. It has been very popular with the girls and Elijah and several adults have been spotted cooling off in it, too. We decided to have a porch/pool party Saturday afternoon complete with fresh guacamole and chips. Zach came over from Dancing Rabbit and he and the three interns cooked supper for us. it was a fun way to beat the heat.