Memphis Democrat Column from January 08, 2006

Now that the New Year has arrived, it seems like we are trying to fit more activity into the lengthening days. The somewhat warmer weather is allowing us to get more outdoor work done. Otto has been busy getting sorghum wood split and stacked. He and Stan are also doing regular forestry work and there are tree limbs and boughs to pick up as they move along. Michael has been doing garden cleanup and Gigi and Otto also cleared an overgrown fence along one side of our property.

The annual reading of the garden catalogs is beginning and seed orders will need to be on their way by the end of this month. The anticipation of the gardening year is an important part of the process for me, as I'm sure it is for every avid gardener. It is fun to plan and dream.

Another part of the cycle this time of year is taking care of our business. Since I'm the community accountant, it means time spent crunching numbers on the computer so we can use them in our planning and do our taxes. Gigi is busy setting up the advertising for this coming season's internship program. Stan is marketing our abundant sorghum crop and did an organic inspection in Lawerence, Kansas last week. Laird, Michael and I are making tempeh a couple of times a week and it seems to fly out the door as soon as it is ready.

We are not keeping our noses to the grindstone all the time. There is time for family-style lunches dinners at the kitchen table and space for both deep and silly conversations. Renay had her friend Soraya here for a visit this weekend and Soraya's mom and her two brothers joined us for supper tonight. The girls and a group of Sandhill and Dancing Rabbit folks went to the roller rink in Kahoka yesterday afternoon.

We enjoyed our annual New Year's visit with our friend Geoph, who drove in from Tennessee. He introduced Gigi, Renay and Stan to a new card game called "Wizard" and there were a couple of intense evening sessions of play. He also saw the Rabbits and French while he was in the neighborhood.

Laird went down to Columbia with Ma'ikwe, Jo and Jibran just after Christmas for a family gathering and stayed on until January 6th. Ceilee and Jo's mothers, Ann and Elke, also came out for the get-together. Cecil, Jeffrey, Stan and Geoph joined them for a day of visiting and games. Ma'ikwe and Jibran then headed back to Albuquerque, Elke and Ann returned to New York and Virginia and Jo flew back to San Francisco to resume school.

Our house has also been brightened up this weekend by our friend Susie, who was one of our 2004 interns. Susie actually stayed at Sandhill until last February and has since then been living in Oregon.

After doing an internship at Trillium Farm in southern Oregon, she moved to Aprovecho Institute near Cottage Grove where she works as a Garden Co-ordinator. It's fun have her lively presence with us again even if it is only for a few days.