Memphis Democrat November 22, 2000

Thanks to Alline for her entertaining writing of this column while I was out of town. I sure am glad to be back home in northeast Missouri. It looks pretty different than when I left in late October. Where did all the fall colors and warm weather go?

The cold doesn't stop the gardeners, though. They've been out harvesting root crops: carrots, celeriac, daikons, rutabagas. Don dug up a rutabaga the size of his head! They also planted garlic for us to harvest next year. And the fresh spinach from the cold frames have been a real treat.

Kurt and Alline have been working hard to get their house all sealed up and ready to move into it. They've had crews of interns out there everyday constructing the chimney and stairs. On Friday, they finally moved their belongings into the house.

We had a pleasant surprise this week at our regular Tuesday dinner at Sandhill. Instead of walking into the usual family style meal, cooks Cecil and Bekka set things up diner style, complete with menu and Laurie and Jacob as waitstaff. They served us seitan stroganoff (seitan is a wheat-based meat substitute), vegetable medley and mashed potatoes with gravy. Everyone got in the mood, acting as surly customers and waiters and having a good old time.

After dinner Jacob graced us with a concert of his original music. He finished his concert with the long awaited third song in the fun trilogy he's been writing about Dancing Rabbit. Its called Meadow Mellow and its about a well known phenomenon in this area: Ticks!

Jeffrey and Susan spent a day in Macomb, IL talking to four different freshman English classes at Western Illinois University. The classes' assignment was to do research on Dancing Rabbit using the web and they were asked to come answer questions. They topped off their day with dinner in Quincy and the movie Charlie's Angels.

Intern Debra has been on a trailer beautification kick. She painted the kitchen walls a lovely lavender and then with Susan reupholstered the dining room chairs with a variety of fabrics from our fabric bin. The kitchen area looks just fabulous!

With the cold weather, we have gotten back into our annual struggle with keeping the biodiesel working in the cars. Biodiesel gels in cold weather, just like regular diesel, but gels at a warmer temperature and conventional de-gelling agents don't seem to work. So Tony and others have been fiddling with warming devices and other tricks to try and keep our fuel liquid. We hope they'll figure out workable solutions soon.

Gardener Don displays a giant rutabaga that was recently harvested at Dancing Rabbit.