Alice has returned to the farm, after being away for the first half of January in Honduras, on a service trip with the Dubuque Franciscans, and then in Dubuque at a Catholic Worker craft retreat. Here are some pictures and reflections from the trip. However, there were a lot of other folks there, and a number of them have already written about it, and so I'm going to cut and paste some of their thoughts also.

So this Friday, January 21, we are having a potluck and discussion:
Dinner will be at 6, with the discussion at 7.

The discussion will be led by Troy Jansen from ERP. The topic will be “Solidarity with the Poor”

At the house of Jennifer Garst and Steve Libby, 708 Brook Ridge Avenue, Ames, Iowa 50010

the stove pictures are from before the stovepipe was installed, so here we are using it as a counter for electrical appliances!

we are having a pot-luck this friday dec 17 at 6pm.
HOWEVER, it is NOT at the the previously posted location, nor planned topic. Carolyn will be out of town, and will instead be hosting the february pot-luck and leading with her global warming, community resilience, food growing topic at that time.

http://www.practicalfarmers.org/#panel-8

So a little over a month ago, we cleaned out a good part of our farm, then planted rye, so that it would grow up and protect our soil from water and wind erosion, add organic matter to the soil, and absorb nitrogen and other nutrients to stop them from leaching: But actually, the picture is from just a week ago. After planting, we didn't get any rain for like a month, and now it's too late to grow much. So we have a big area of our farm that was going to be all green and protected, and now its just bare.

dear everyone,

our house looks like a home on the outside, and it is a lovely shade of blue! inside, we're still racing the winter, trying to get water, heat, a kitchen, etc. it's been awesome weather the past 3 weeks, and that has been helping tremendously. if you are a skilled carpenter, or chimney installer, or have other such skills, we're definitely feeling the pressure of the cold weather, and could use your help almost any time.

our house isn't done yet, but this is what it looks like now.
Sunday, september 26th, we're having a party.

Yes, there are other things happening that day, like the barnowl band concert, and maybe an art-fair in ames, but nonetheless, we hope you will also come see us.
1;30-3;30pm: digging
if you want to experience sweet potatoes in their entirety, you can help us finish our harvest. please bring a shovel or digging fork, and clothes that like to get dirty.
4pm : House blessing
4:30pm: pot-luck.

I wanted to give everyone a little update as to our new friends that will hopefully be occupying the new bat house.

I was a little late in erecting the house because most temperate bat colonies start dispersing in late July as young begin flying. In August, most are in the process of migrating. I hope to have a few bats in the home before winter, so that when they roost to form a nursery in the spring they will flock in large numbers.

I think I saw this one yesterday: