Memphis Democrat
Apil 7, 2005

Because when you look through my glasses, it tends to be all about nature. The weather has been unbelievable recently, allowing us the opportunity to do some good spring land management work. We burned one of our smaller native grass CRP fields. It went pretty smoothly, except the shifting wind made for a few tricky moments. It was a good learning experience overall. We also received 250 trees from the state nursery. A crew of about eight of us spent a morning planting them in draws for erosion control and in the areas where we had done Timber Stand Improvement this winter.

The warm weather finds me gearing up for my last season of research for my Master's degree at Truman State University. I spent the first of many days out in my fields. I've seen just about everybody outside working in their gardens or cleaning up their leaseholds. It's difficult NOT to be outside when it is so warm and sunny after the gray days of winter. Ironweed has been starting seedlings in their greenhouse and it is exciting to see them put their healthy little plants out into the soil. And Thomas built the most beautiful fence for his garden out of grapevines and willow whips.

We've also been putting our brand new truck to good use. There have been trips with the trailer to pick up mulch for the paths and sheep manure for the gardens. We sure are glad to have a truck that runs smoothly. In fact we needed it for another sort of use the other night. There was a one-night art gallery in Kirksville called Tom Thumb. Laura and Nicole both exhibited some of their art there. Additionally, there was a Salsa and other Latin dance lesson at Truman. So many people wanted to attend these two events that we couldn't all fit into the car and had to pack everyone into the truck.

Not everyone has been able to work outside, though. Tony and Amy are laboring away at publishing an updated edition of the Directory of Intentional Communities. Dan has been working on finishing the drywall and water systems on his house. And when I can put if off no longer, I'm stuck inside doing school work.

Back to list of Memphis Democrat Columns