Memphis Democrat
March 24, 2005

Our first visitors of the season were Cassie and Riz, both students at Truman University. Their enthusiasm and curiosity helped get us excited about beginning our outreach for the year. David, a thoughtful gentleman from California, arrived next. He is now visiting with our friends at Red Earth Farm (Alyson, Chad, Kim, and Corey) across the road.

Later in the week, we welcomed a family from Columbia, MO. Ben and Elise, as well as their children River and Lunea, are a pleasure to have around. River and Aldon, the son of Ted's friends Terrence and Erin, enjoyed playing in the sand pile together.

Sara's parents also stopped by for a couple of days. It is always nice to see how supportive visiting parents can be, even when their own lifestyles are very different. I hear that Letty and Steve had a fine time and were impressed with how warm Sara and Ted's greenhouse stayed.

Speaking of greenhouses . . . Ironweed Co-op's lettuce and brassica starts are being hardened off to make room for the nightshades. Tamar has already seeded her tomatoes and eggplants! As this is the first year we've had a fully functioning greenhouse on-farm, that is definitely newsworthy for all of us who garden.

Bob, a greens-lover, spent several days building massive beds and seeding them down with a mix of seven-top turnip and tyfon. I hear he is soon going to interplant mint to attract beneficial insects, and to help repel the dreaded flea beetles and cabbage worms.

Meanwhile, Susan Wright-- who is queen of jams and preserves-- has been making space for fruit. I chatted with her about rabbit fencing while she put in her blueberry bushes. Later in the day, she was hard at work turning ground and enriching soil for apple, pear, and peach trees.

Among other things, I've been building an arbor out of scrap wood and honey locust branches. I'm planning pole beans for this year to help fix the nitrogen for next year's grapes. Mostly, though, I'm plain thankful to get my hands back in the dirt again-- to feel that connection with all the wonder of growth that is given to us each spring.

Many thanks for great folks, too-- like Luke Zimmerman. He recently helped get our new-to-us truck unstuck from the muck in our bottomland. Neighborly kindness just makes life that much more beautiful, doesn't it?

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