Memphis Democrat
March 25, 2004

Hello from the land of sudden springs! At least, the birds think so -- they seem to have returned as one flock. Yesterday morning when I walked outside I heard not only cardinals, blue jays, and house sparrows, but also meadowlarks, mourning doves, redwinged blackbirds, song sparrows, and robins. On a walk, we're likely to see bluebirds, kestrels, and killdeers, and scare up a few bobwhite quail, and in the evening there are woodcocks in the pastures and spring peepers and chorus frogs setting up a lovely orchestra down by the pond.

This is Alyson filling in for Alline, who's back in California again for a Sierra Club meeting, and Rachel, who's accompanying Tony to Kansas City to help Tony's mother Gail celebrate. Gail's receiving a lifetime achievement award from the National Academy of Needlearts. Congratulations, Gail! Rachel had a great time on her family vacation in Florida, and saw lots of birds we don't have up here.

Tom, Tereza, and Ted returned from their travels this week. Ted now has a new, healthy niece, and both daughter and mother are doing well. Tom and Tereza barely got back home before Tom was working on a new building project - a small greenhouse at Bluestem coop. Laura will be returning this week, ready to start planting and building on her new leasehold next to Bob's. Bob has been busy drawing up plans and digging in the dirt, getting ready for the gardening season. Chad's also begun gardening; he's already planted some peach trees and black-currant bushes.

Thomas is making plans to go to Kansas City this weekend to help lead a workshop on earthen plasters. I think he'll make a wonderful teacher, with his experience, patience, and compassion. His earthen-plastered, prairie-grass-thatched home survived his absence all winter under a single tarp, with nary a scratch from the weather.

Speaking of the weather, we've had our first tick of the season spotted. Bob was its unlucky host. We've also begun noticing the wild parsnips peeking above the soil. We try to dig them up and eat the yummy roots before they get too big. When they're taller and rub against your ankle in the sunlight, you can get a nasty burn. So it's worth the effort of digging them up when they're small. And they sure are tasty!

The spring breeze seems to have also brought a mate for the pure white rock dove that wintered over between the Skyhouse deck and porch roof. Now there's a regular grey, rainbow-necked pigeon cooing and courting her. I don't know where he came from or how he found her, but they've been inseparable ever since he showed up last week.

We've started having visitors already, a sure sign of spring. Two professors from Knox College came down for a day or so to have a tour and learn what we're all about. Then EJ and Heather from Oklahoma came to visit briefly. EJ works on the crude oil pipeline just east of here, so we had almost as many questions for them as they had for us. They left planning to use solar power and radiant floor heating in their new house.

Last Saturday morning, Thomas, Chad, and I walked into Rutledge to have coffee and donuts at Zimmermans, and on the way home we dropped in on Jimmy Bill at his shop, Jimmy's Leather. I was impressed with his skill -- so many beautifully hand-tooled wallets, purses, and vests. He was eager to make things to order for people like Thomas, who are too tall to fit into the regular vest sizes. He also was curious when we were going to start giving tours. I realized we need a poster or something for local folks who might not get the Memphis Democrat.

We've finally started moving into the new DR Community Building. The great room (meeting room) now has a donated couch and easy chair in it, as well as straight-backed chairs, and we've had phone lines installed. We're in the middle of figuring out various financial arrangements connected with the uses of the building. It's complicated sometimes. Creating a new society isn't always easy!

That said, our little village is a place where some things can happen more easily than in other places. In the past few weeks we've begun having saunas again in the handmade sauna next to the "grain bin duplex". Someone will announce a sauna and build a fire, and by evening there are half a dozen people on the benches, sweating and chatting and considering a jump in the pond. I wish the sauna were closer to the pond; it's not the cold water that gets me, it's the jog through the chill evening air.

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