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East Wind Nut House Expansion!

As some of you may know East wind is expanding! For those who have been to East Wind throughout the years we have watched this little nut butter business grow.

At this point we are expanding our building for a third line that will be a production line for our jars and 5# tubs. The reason we are expanding has to do with the equipment we use: lidder-capers, labelers, jar bander's. These pieces of equipment hate being moved - and we move them a lot! The third line will all but eliminate the need to move these heavy boehemouths that ain't supposed to move around.

hold on a sec let me step back in time for a minute. When I moved to E-dub in 93 Nut butters was not the most popular job but for some reason (maybe not as social as hammocks or to noisy or oh yea its a factory job) but I always liked it so I became a roaster helper and worked at least once a week making some butter

What is the maple syrup process?

How we make Maple Syrup at Sandhill Farm

Tapping. Note: we tap soft (silver) maple trees – since that is what we have on our land; most of the commercial maple syrup on the market comes from hard maple trees in Canada and northern US. We have planted hard maple trees – but they are very slow growing; our 20 year old trees will probably take another 10 years before we can tap them.
How do you find maple trees? One way is to look up at the canopy – the maple trees have swollen reddish buds – after awhile, the eye picks them out readily (by now, I know where all the trees on our land are). Then you inspect the trunk of the tree to find the scars from previous years’ tapping – new taps should be about 4” away from old ones; also, we prefer to tap the south sides of trees because when the sun shines, it warms that side of the tree and makes it flow more. We have been tapping some of our trees for 20 years so they are pockmarked by grown over old holes and it is a challenge to find the right spot. When we do, we drill a 5/16” hole 2-3” deep with an electric cordless drill (we used to use a brace & bit – but the cordless is faster/easier). Another person hammers in a plastic tap (we buy them from maple sugaring supply places. Then attach a plastic tube to the tap and the other end into a bucket on the ground.

How many taps? The rule of thumb is that a tree needs to be at least 12” in diameter (at chest height) to be tapped. A tree that is more than 20” can have 2 taps and over 28”, 3 taps. We run the tubes from one tree into the same bucket – usually, a 5 gal bucket. We do not put more than 3 taps in a tree.


Renay sucking maple sap from a tree.

Emma Goldman's Finishing School in YES Mag

Check out this article in YES Magazine:
http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=2098

A Taste of Freedom at Home

by Adam & Kibby MacKinnon

“I want freedom, the right to self-expression, everybody's right to beautiful, radiant things.”

Emma Goldman (1869-1940)
WRITER AND ACTIVIST

Let's say you're a typical wage-slave: you work a 40-hour week—at least 160 hours a month—on top of which you've got a nasty, desensitizing commute. What little time you have left you spend feeding yourself, and then collapse in front of a DVD.

News of the Oaks

News of the Oaks

Jun 07 – Jan 08

By Ezra with assistance from Mala and Gordon

Well, it's been a while since the last News of the Oaks came out, right around the time of our 40th anniversary, and we're pleased to report that the intervening eight months have been (generally speaking), a time of relative peace, stability, and prosperity.

Despite a relatively high turn-over rate, and the departure of several long-term members, population has remained in the eighties. Among the old-timers to strike out on their own this fall were Alder, Amy, Jack, Inge, and Indigo. Jake, who we all hoped might come rushing home, is still living in Savannah with George, and writes that he doesn't even miss Twin Oaks anymore.

On the other hand, this fall has seen the return of the oldest old-timer of them all-- Kat Kinkade! At the end of 2007 Kat returned as a full-time member, after 7 years of living in Mineral, and moved back into Nashoba (see interview with Kat in this issue).

While our adult population remains stable, our child population has continued to fall, and is now at its lowest point in many years: 7 full-time kids, two half-time kids, and one kid on sabbatical. Although the child population has been shrinking, our young folks themselves have continued to grow, and thanks in part to a new child labor policy, are becoming more integrated into the community than in the past. Rowan, now 11, has thrown himself into his duties as chef, and has been helping with meals in ZK kitchen every week. Kids have also been tutoring at Reading Window, helping with road maintenance, and primarying younger kids.

(read more by clicking on title of this article)

News from Sandhill

The following is from Stan Sandhill... Enjoy! -bucket

SANDHILL NEWS – 2007
By Stan. Jan 5, 2008.

I usually enjoy annual newsletters sent to us by friends. Here is my first attempt.

For more info, see our website: www.sandhillfarm.org

Blog Post: The Pitfalls of Proposals from Meetings People Miss - by Laird

Laird has written in his blog about the upcoming FEC Assembly and the PEACH discussion that is scheduled to take place.

PEACH is one of the benefits of FEC membership. It is a program of self-insurance to cover catastrophic health care costs.

While this operates under the auspices of the Federation, the governing bodies for FEC and PEACH are distinct. The Federation is governed by delegates from each member community, and PEACH is governed by a body comprised of one representative of each participating community. This person is called a MELBA (Member Expected to Look after Basic Affairs). Any correlation between delegates and MELBAs is coincidental, and delegates have no authority over PEACH.

Here is a link to the article:
http://communityandconsensus.blogspot.com/2008/02/pitfalls-of-proposals-...

Transgender in Community

The following article was written by Calliope, a new member at Twin Oaks Community.

 

Trans in Community
by Calliope Kurtz

As a feminist culture, at Twin Oaks we tend to disregard traditional gender roles and behavior. Women and men choose their roles in the community based on their interests, strengths, and passions, not on anyone else's preconceived notions. Women and men operate chainsaws and drive tractors, and men and women cook and care for children. We all wear clothing we find comfortable - pants for working in, skirts for coolness or festivity, heedless of mainstream ideas of "acceptable" fashion choices. Our commitment to fostering a supportive and joyful environment for all people - women, men, lesbians, gays, and children - is an integral part of Twin Oaks Community.

Those were the words, more than any others on the Twin Oaks website, that offered me hope.

 

 

How To Visit an Intentional Community

How To Visit an Intentional Community

by Kat Kinkade

Kat Kinkade of Twin Oaks gives a communitarian's perspective on visitors. She discusses visiting etiquette, gives practical advice on how to get the most out of one's visit, and offers valuable insights about how prospective members may be viewed by existing community members.

 


The mechanics of visiting a community aren't very difficult. One writes a letter, waits for a response, follows directions, and that's that. But assuring oneself of a fruitful and satisfying visit is another matter. Most communities spend considerable time and energy talking about and worrying about optimizing visitors' experiences. Yet there are still shortcomings and miscommunication from time to time. Visitors can help by doing some thinking ahead of time to set themselves up for a good visit. This article is full of advice to the prospective visitor. Read it with your own plans in mind. Maybe it will give you some ideas.

It is useful to consider the question: Why is this particular community open to visitors at all? What do they want or need from them? I think it's safe to say that most communities that advertise in a directory are keeping an eye out for people who might join them. They may be openly seeking members, or they may be only selectively open, watching for someone with a high degree of compatibility.

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