Memphis Democrat Column from July 16, 2006

At this time last week I was surrounded by piles of books that I was getting ready to pack in boxes. This was in preparation for the National Cohousing Conference, which is being held in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. I manage the on line and events bookstore of the Fellowship for Intentional Community, so I get to do this kind of packing job several times a year. I had to miss the deadline for last week's paper in order to finish.

Laird, Ma'ikwe and Jibran got to haul the big load of books plus sales supplies with them when they left for North Carolina on Wednesday. Laird and Ma'ikwe will be participating in the conference as well as handling sales for Community Bookshelf. Laird will also be working with West Wood Cohousing Community in Asheville, where former Sandhill member Jess lives with her son Skyler. Laird and Ma'ikwe plan to have a nice visit with the two of them while they are there.

Stan left on the 12th for what will be his longest farm inspection trip this season. He is in eastern Nebraska this time and is doing organic inspections of two farms a day. He called home the other night and was telling us that it is getting harder to find lodging in the small towns he travels through. Some of the motels he stayed in on his last visit are no longer there, the available space is often booked by construction workers from various projects, and he is having to drive longer distances to find a room.

Gigi and Renay are in St Louis this weekend. They took our intern Leah to the airport there yesterday to catch a flight home to Portland, Oregon after her stay with us. Gigi also took care of some product deliveries on the way. She and Renay visited with our friend Katie and her family last night and will be home this evening.

Liz joined us to begin her internship week before last. We have known her for a while. She is from Chillicothe and just graduated from Truman State University. She originally visited Sandhill with a class a couple of years ago and is a friend of our 2004 intern Susie.

We also have some new additions at the farm. We now have two young pigs, along with some lively chicks following one of our hens around the chicken yard. We also managed to successfully hatch and rear some turkey poults and they have joined the adult turkeys in the yard.

Ma'ikwe held a workshop attended by members of our local community family on July 4 before the weekly dinner. This involved exercises to help with self-esteem and interpersonal relationships. Everyone who attended seemed to enjoy it and she hopes to offer some more sessions before she has to return to Albuquerque in early August.

We have had a house full of company the past three weeks. The family I mentioned at the end of my last column arrived on June 28 after being delayed a couple of days. Chan, Sue and their twin eight year old daughters, Kayla and Chandra, live in Madison, Wisconsin. Although Chan has worked as a computer engineer for some years, he grew up on a wheat farm in Montana. He jumped right in and helped Stan get in our wheat harvest. It was fun having them here and we appreciated Chan and Sue's help with the field work, gardening and food processing during their five day visit.

We got to spend some time with our former member Jess and her son Skyler while they were at Dancing Rabbit for a few days. Jess helped out after the birth of the new baby. The two of them and their friend David also joined us for dinner before leaving to return to North Carolina.

Ceilee and his dog buddy, Zeus, were here for a couple of days last week. He has been working in the area recently, so we have seen him periodically this summer. He hopes to be back to help us with some of the upcoming Sugar Shack remodeling work.

Our intern Amanda hosted her dad Louis this weekend. He drove up from Pryor, Oklahoma to see her. They had a good time working together in the tomato patch and also went to Kirksville to catch the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

Liz celebrated her birthday this past Thursday. We enjoyed a nice meal and some very yummy cupcakes decorated with birthday candles. Her boyfriend, Justin, came up from Jamesport to join the celebration and visited with us until today.

It has been a time for celebrations recently. Some of our folks enjoyed the "Spectacle" held at Dancing Rabbit in honor of Cecil's return from India. Amanda, Liz and Jo are attending the potluck there tonight in honor of Amy's birthday.

The most special celebration of all was for the birth of Aurelia Mae on June 30. I finally got to see her at last week's community potluck and I am of the opinion that she is a very beautiful baby! Congratulations to Ted and Sarah from all of us at Sandhill Farm.

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Fellowship for Intentional Community

RR 1 Box 156 * Rutledge, MO 63563 * 660-883-5545 (ph & fax)

email:fic@ic.org * website: http://www.ic.org