Michael and I went to the benefit dinner and auction for David Herr's medical fund Saturday night in Gorin. The food was really good and the organizers of the event did an outstanding job. The crowd was amazing! By the time the auction started, it was pretty much standing room only. I managed to get a few nice things in the bidding and the auctioneers really moved the sale along. It was a lot of fun and it was nice to see folks come out for a good cause.

Sorghum harvest wound down a bit early this year again due to the frosty weather. Once our cane is down after a freeze, we have to get it processed as soon as possible. We finished up on October 6 after getting all the syrup cooked. Everyone here really pitched in to get it done.

Our friend Kevin came from Illinois on the 4th for the third year in a row to help with sorghum. It didn't take him long to jump on a wagon to go pick up cane once he arrived. He was here until October 12. We had a visit from Ben who bicycled down from Fairfield, Iowa on the 3rd and stayed for a couple of days to help out before heading south.

Natalie had to head home to Alabama on October 3 to get back to her teaching job at the University of Alabama, but Reuven stayed on with Persephone and Frankie until the following Thursday. Our St. Louis friend Matthew also went home that Sunday, along his friend Laura and her son Julian. Natalie got a ride with them to catch a bus and Megen also rode along to St. Louis for a week's visit.

Sean, who had been here during the sorghum harvest in 2001, came for a visit on October 9. He missed this year's harvest but pitched in to help with our end of season work. He left this Sunday morning for Indiana.

Andra and Damen came back for another visit, but were not able to stay as long as planned. They went to Kansas City on the 13th after a week here and plan to go down to Houston,Texas from there.

This has been the year for visits from the intern class of 2001. As I mentioned in the last column,

Geoff and Jane were here for much of the harvest. They left this past Wednesday. This weekend, Stephanie and Laura, who were also interns that year, had a reunion here. Stephanie and her friend Daniel came from Kentucky, where they are market growers, and Laura came up from Houston, Texas.

Last week we said goodbye to Kris who went home to East Wind after spending almost two months with us. Stan drove him down to southern Missouri and they took Kris' small boiler that we used for pre-heating the sorghum juice this year back with them. Kris also took home some finds he made at Dog and Gun while he was here. He has become an integral part of our harvest the past three years and is also a member of our extended family.

All the visitors who stayed on after sorghum and came since it ended have really been a big help in cleaning up Sugar Shack, getting the garden harvests finished and the gardens ready for winter. Gigi has been able to get most of the three gardens disced, leaving just a few of the late crops in. Sunday afternoon we had a good crew on hand to get the garlic planted and it got done in record time.

Laird made a trip to Boston the 7th thru the 12th to attend his niece Nicole's wedding. Ceilee and Jo were also there and he got to spend some time with them before coming home.

The last two weekends, we have had some more fairs on our schedule. Michael and I went to the one at Keosaqua on October 9 and 10. The weather was beautiful and the setting was great. Stan and Gigi did a new fair for us in St. Louis on October 10. The Harvest Festival is held at the Shaw Arboretum Nature Preserve west of the city. It turned out to be a terrific event and we look forward to doing it again in future years. Stan and Gigi went down the day before and spent the night with Trish, who was a work exchanger at Dancing Rabbit this year.

Geoff and Jane took care of our Dog and Gun table on October 9 and they also had a good day. The lovely weather was probably also a help there, too.This weekend Laird and Susie were at the Folklife Festival in Hannibal. This is always one of our best fairs each year and is a fun one to do.

I won't be doing a column for a while since Michael and I are going to head down to the Ozarks on October 25 for a vacation. We plan to hang out on our land in McDonald County, see friends, chop a little wood, catch up on our reading and get in some grandchild time before we come back to Sandhill. Hope you all have a good few weeks while we are gone.

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Sandhill Farm

RR 1, Box 155

Rutledge MO 63563

660-883-5543

http://sandhillfarm.org