Michael and I have been gone most of this past week visiting our daughter Melina and her family in Pomona, Missouri. We spent more time with our fourteen month old granddaughter Chloe and it was fun to see how much she has grown since we last were there in June. We also had good visits with Chloe's paternal grandparents, old friends at East Wind Community and other friends who are starting a new community, Oran Mor, near Ava. The fall color in the Ozarks was really nice this year and I am glad we got a chance to see it.

The past weeks have been a time for goodbyes. Miss Lindsey left on October 21 to make a brief visit to East Wind before returning to California. Our roving Irish lad Stephen went on to Chicago November 1. He wanted to see the sights there before meeting his twin brother David in New York on November 11. He is hoping to come back for another visit in the future, this time with his twin. Kris and Stan visited another sorghum farm that uses steam in southwest Missouri before Stan took Kris back to East Wind on the 1st.

We had a visitor, Mark, here from October 26 to October 29. He is from Chicago and works for a program that provides alternative work experiences for the homeless. He had been at Dancing Rabbit the previous week. We also had another visit from our intern Josie's brother Chad on November 1. He stopped overnight while moving from Seattle to Louisville.

On the 22nd, I gave a tour of our community to the group from Russia that was visiting Dancing Rabbit. Alyson from Skyhouse and another women travelling with them provided translations. It was a lot of fun and they were a lively group. I spent two months travelling in the Soviet Union with a student group when I was sixteen, so it was interesting for me to be the tour guide this time.

We had another rush of birthdays on October 25 and 26. Cedar's and Laird's were on Saturday and Sue's was on Sunday. Laird and Sue were both off the farm that weekend, but we had a nice party for Cedar on Saturday evening.

Laird was on the road again, this time to Maryland and Michigan. He spent time at Liberty Village Cohousing Community in Frederick, Maryland and then went on to Ann Arbor to attend the annual conference of the National Association of Student Cooperatives. He rode back to Sandhill on the 3rd with folks from Dancing Rabbit and East Wind who were also attending the meetings.

Stan represented Sandhill at the Small Farm Conference in Columbia this past weekend. This is the biggest alternative farm show in the U.S. and it is something we look forward to each year.

More of our members began their vacations this past Sunday. Cedar, Sol and Skyler left for North Carolina and Tennessee and Gigi and Cory Renay headed for New York.

Even though it is a bit quieter on the farm after a hectic sorghum season, we still have plenty of work. We are already considering applicants for next year's intern program and we are trying to catch up on meeting agenda items that were put on the back burner for a while during harvest. We have lots of small projects to finish up, firewood needs to be cut and stacked and there are always the routine chores to do. However, I think all of us are taking some time to recharge, too. The seasonal rhythms are an important part of our life at Sandhill Farm.