Memphis Democrat
April 14, 2005

Suzanne here—it has been a lovely week of hot days spent working in the gardens followed by energetic games of ultimate Frisbee and quick cool dips in the pond. Well, some of us go for dips in the pond. Others think that we are crazy and the temperature is entirely too cold for swimming.

It has been amazing to watch the landscape so quickly greening and all of the perennials returning. Many of the fruit trees are already in blossom; hopefully there won't be any more hard frosts this season. Almost everybody has been working in their gardens preparing beds and planting seeds and seedlings.

Wildlife is stirring too--Laura and Penn saw a mother woodcock and her baby on a walk through the woods and Rachel, Tereza and I saw a large King snake in the woods behind Bella Ciao. Just this morning Tony, and Rachel saw a group of blue winged teals, blown in by last night's storm. Oh, and the ticks are out in full force--I learned to my surprise that there are many different varieties.

Ironweed put up a gorgeous new osage post fence this week with help from Arjen, Stefanie, Dan and I. The new fence is four feet high and with any luck the ever-resourceful rabbits (four footed ones, that is) will not be able to jump over it. Laura finished her very artistic rabbit-proof fence as well this week. Now it will be safe to do a lot more planting.

As usual, it has been a week of comings and goings. Tom and Tereza returned from their winter in Arizona; they arrived tanned and in good spirits and grateful that their camper did not have car trouble. We are glad to have them back.

Jeffrey and Cecil also returned from shorter visits to the East Coast. Both spent time at Twin Oaks Community in Virginia and Twin Oaks member Apple came back with them to begin a work-exchange program with Skyhouse.

Amy’s partner Juan has arrived for a week-long visit. He recently applied for membership and was speedily approved in our Sunday meeting to begin the membership process. We are looking forward to his return in August.

Thomas biked all the way to Peoria to visit his family for a week and Andrew will be in Las Vegas to visit his sister and her new baby. We will miss them but know they will enjoy the visits.

A group of us went to the Dog and Gun on Saturday—we all found exactly what we were looking for. Buckets, barrels, tarps, etc. Amy was especially happy with her finds--two large ceramic crocks perfect for fermenting sauerkraut and miso.

And finally, Stephanie and Nicole hosted a restaurant style community breakfast on Saturday, with full course menu—coffee and juice, cinnamon rolls, choice of egg or tofu scramble, soysage gravy and homemade bread. Laura was our stylish and sassy waitress, the great room was decked out with tablecloths,candles and menus, and the food was incredible. We hope there are many sequels to this occasion.

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