Memphis Democrat Column from June 24, 2007

Weed-pulling has definitely gotten easier after the rain on Friday. Our gardens and fields were on the dry side since the recent storms have been missing us. Michael and I stood outside and watched the spectacular clouds and rosy light that accompanied the big one that passed through Iowa and the northern half of Scotland County on Thursday. Most of our crew were at Red Earth Farms' anniversary party that evening and said the display was even more dramatic over there. During the storm on Friday night, Michael and I turned out the lights in the Dharma living room and got treated to a spectacular show. One can definitely feel the pace of life at Sandhill picking up. We have had a couple of "gos" this week to move along some of our garden tasks that can be tedious or overwhelming when done alone. The weeds don't stand a chance when all of us are on it. Stan, with Theron's help, has been keeping up with the necessary field work. We also began work last week on our new greenhouse in the orchard behind the White House. Mr. Horst came out with his sons and they dug our foundation trench and installed a spigot. Once that was done, Gigi, Theron and our visitor Jerry went to work filling the trench in with rock. The three of them put in some long hours on some very warm days, but the job got done on schedule. The walls are going to be made of earthbag construction and we plan to begin that work this coming Thursday. More folks have been arriving at the farm, which has made our social scene more lively and our community work go more smoothly. Jerry came up from Galveston, Texas to visit us last week. He hopes to return for a few days to help with the greenhouse work before he goes down to East Wind Community for a visit. Our friends Apple and Doug came in on the Quincy train last night. Doug will be here for a few weeks and Apple is our newest intern. She is on leave from Twin Oaks Community in Virginia and will be with us through sorghum harvest. Our intern from last year, Ali, also arrived on the same train and will be a work exchanger at Dancing Rabbit this season. Greg and Stephanie, who visited for a week in April, returned from Colorado last Sunday for an extended stay. They are seriously considering membership and we are glad to have them with us again. Greg's son Dakota is visiting his mother this summer and will join them later. They have jumped right into the scene here without much of a pause to catch their breath. Steph is going to train as a tempeh cook and Greg is rebuilding our grain storage bin before the upcoming wheat harvest. Laird is back from his travels and it will be nice to have him home for most of the summer. He and Ma'ikwe had a wonderful time in Spain and Italy on their honeymoon. They were hosted in Spain by George Caneda, a board member of the Fellowship for Intentional Community and a long-time friend. George has lived in New York City for many years, but his family still has a home near Madrid. Laird said it added a lot to their stay to have George as their guide on excursions. They then went to Italy and traveled to Venice, the Cinque Terre National Park (five lovely ancient villages on the spectacular Mediterranean coastline), Sicily and the Aeolian Islands (volcanic islands just north of Sicily). They tried to keep their experience low-key, not overdoing the tourist attractions and walking a lot during their various stops. After their return from Europe, Laird taught a session of his training workshop in Ann Arbor with the assistance of Ma'ikwe and his regular teaching partner Betty Didcoct. He also spent some time in Albuquerque and visited Ceilee in Las Vegas. Ceilee is working as a store manager for Cingular and has just taken the LSAT exams in anticipation of applying to law school.

Greg and Steph went to Carthage, Illinois yesterday to pick up some of their possessions that his nephew had brought out from Colorado for them. When they returned, Greg's nephew James and his wife Tara came along for a short visit. After a tour of the farm, they had supper with us and then went out to explore more of the area on foot with Greg and Steph before returning to Illinois. We do have a couple of our folks on the road this week. Stan left on Friday for a twelve day farm inspection trip. He did a couple of inspections in the Kansas City area that day and then spent some time in Kansas City with his friend Everett. A potluck dinner in honor of Everett's birthday was scheduled and Stan was looking forward to a number of folks being there that he hasn't seen for a while. For the rest of his trip, he will be doing inspections in Kansas. Theron also left on Friday to attend to some family business in California. He flew out of Kirksville that morning and Jerry was kind enough to drop him off. We celebrated Renay's eleventh birthday on Wednesday and Thursday. Renay, Gigi, French and Thea hosted a group of her friends at a swimming and pizza party held at the pool in Memphis. They had a fun time and the guests made Renay a great birthday banner as part of the activities. Four of Renay's friends then came to Sandhill Farm for birthday cake, opening presents, a campfire featuring S'Mores and a sleepover. The rest of our crew joined the girls for the cake and presents part of the evening. The next morning, Gigi made breakfast for them and they got in some more swimming at our pond before heading home.