Memphis Democrat Column from September 24, 2006

Well, it's been a while since I wrote my last column. It's almost a month since I had a chance to do it. The sorghum harvest and our fair schedule have kept me busy during that time.

We started our harvest on September 5, which is a couple of weeks earlier that we usually begin. The first fields of cane were ready so we needed to start getting them down. The last minute push to get the new cooking system up and running was also in full progress then, so the first week or so of the harvest was really hectic.

It all came together and we are really happy with the new sorghum steam cooking setup. The boiler and our new pans are turning a very high quality, tasty product. Folks are invited to come by and get some of our new crop sorghum and see for themselves.

Fortunately, friends and visitors started arriving to help out at the right time. Our friends Doug and Arjen ( a former DR resident) came the first week of September. They spent a couple of days helping Dan Kelly with his apple harvest at Canton before moving over to Sandhill. Our new intern, Ali, who had been part of last year's labor exchange crew from Twin Oaks, also arrived that week. She was accompanied by another friend from Twiin Oaks, Apple, who was our field manager last year. Arjen has taken on that job this time.

Richard, who is from Minnesota and just finished a period as a work-exchanger at Earthaven Ecovillage in North Carolina, former Twin Oaks member Seamus and our intern from earlier this season, Amanda, came to spend time with us before they all joined the current Dancing Rabbit visitor group on the 18th. Another one of this season's interns, Rory, is also a visitor at DR.

This year's labor exchange crew from Twin Oaks arrived from Virginia on September 10. The crew included Ted, Sarah, Suede, Bok Choy and Puck. They were with us until the 17th. Another group of Twin Oakers, Kassia, Madog and Ezra, aka "The Vulgar Bulgars" came on the 14th. They are a music group and were here to play at Juan and Amy's wedding. Their specialty is klezmer, which is a type of Eastern European Jewish folk music. They left for Virginia last Thursday.

Two of our friends from East Wind, Emmett and Nyle, are here now. They brought along Oliver, who has been interning at another community near East Wind called Oran Mor and plans to return there as a resident. Sorghum season regular Kevin is also here from Illinois. Doug left Saturday morning to return to merchant marine sea duty.

Betsy and Sue also arrived back from Arkansas in time to jump into the work. Betsy brought more of her things with her, along with two feline buddies named Mouser and Little One. Sue stayed on for a couple of weeks to help out with harvest before going back to Holden last Monday.

We have been having some nice social times while all the extra folks have been here. Kassia, Madog and Ezra put on a special concert for all of us on our front porch one evening. They are wonderful musicians and had the group up dancing and having a good time. Bok Choy put on a special exhibition of fire dancing using a hula hoop the evening before she left. Yesterday evening, we had a bonfire in one of our fields and were joined by some the Dancing Rabbit visitors and crew.

There was one trip over to Dan's to pick apples while all the Twin Oakers were here and another one is planned for this week. This helps both him and us out since we pick on shares and it gives our visitors a chance to see more of the area.

We invited Juan and Amy over for a special pre-wedding dinner on September 13. There was lots of good humor and advice (mostly solicited). Michael and I really enjoyed the evening with them since we were not able to attend the wedding due to a fair commitment. Everyone who attended has told us that the ceremony was really lovely and the festivities afterward were very enjoyable.

Jo did the catering for the wedding and her friend Nora came to help her with the preparations and serving. Amanda also helped out. The rest of us got to be the guinea pigs for the various recipes being worked on and diets may be in our futures.

Jo, Nora and Madog were all classmates at the Meeting School in New Hampshire, so they had their own mini-reunion. Sarah, Miles, Jo and Nora just left this morning for Chicago, where Nora will catch a train back to Pennsylvania and the other three will do some visiting.

Michael and I were gone two weekends in a row to do fairs. On September 9 and 10, we were at the Chautauqua at Simpson Park in Chillicothe. Despite rain on Saturday, business was brisk. I also got to meet our intern Liz's parents who stopped by the table to visit.

The next weekend we did the Heritage Festival at Nifong Park in Columbia. My daughter offered us the use of her house south of town while she was in Kansas working at the Walnut Valley Music Festival in Winfield, which gave the two us a chance to unwind a bit and have a couple of quiet evenings.

Liz and Billy represented Sandhill at the Kirksville Food Fest on the 9th. The weather affected the turnout a bit, but we enjoy doing this local event every year and look forward to it. Liz then left for a few days to attend a wedding in St. Louis and to do some more campaigning for her dad in Chillicothe.

We do want to let everyone know that we will not be having a sorghum harvest open house this year. We forgot to take down last year's sign until recently and people have been asking about it. The rush to get everything ready and working right took a lot of energy. Another factor is that the harvest is going to be shorter, largely due to the drought this summer. We are going to take this year off and will probably do the open house again next time around.