What’s Happening: December 2012

Winter Solstice & Artmas

East Winders celebrated the winter solstice together on December 21^st.  Twenty-five people participated in this year’s artmas exchange, an East Wind tradition celebrated by exchanging unique homemade gifts. Though the shortest day of the year was fun, most of us look forward to the days growing longer.  The winter has been mild so far, but the cold air and grey landscape leave many of us yearning for spring.

New Sawmill

We recently purchased a new sawmill from Peterson Portable Sawmills to replace our antiquated old sawmill.  A site on our New Land was selected and prepared this fall, and our new sawmill now sits securely under a shiny new tin roof.  We milled up our first logs on the new sawmill this month, producing oak boards to side the new sawmill building.  The new sawmill is more fuel efficient, and can be easily run by a two person crew.  We intend to produce lots of quality lumber to be used for building projects throughout community.

What's Happening: November 2012

Thanksgiving

East Winders celebrated Thanksgiving with homegrown food, drink, and entertainment.  In 2011, we began a tradition of celebrating this holiday with food from our own land.  Thanksgiving cooks were encouraged to focus on foods that come directly from our farm, and many dishes were from the land entirely (though we also traded nutbutter locally for some ingredients).  This year’s feast included mashed potatoes, stuffing, baked apples, sweet potato bread, turkey, gravy, ham, venison, stir fried greens, and a salad.  We also enjoyed homebrewed wine and beer, and homemade wild grape juice.

There was entertainment to be enjoyed after dinner, and a crowd gathered to appreciate art, music, poetry, and puppetry.  The Thanksgiving coffeehouse started off with a puppet show, which was greatly enjoyed by adults and children alike.  The puppet show was followed by ten more talented acts ranging from poets to singers to musicians.  

Herbs

As we head into the cold season, we must prepare to treat any ailments that may arise during the winter.  Dandelion, burdock, chicory, and yellow dock roots have been dug from the wild, and have been preserved by drying, tincturing, and making glycerites.  Roots of echinacea, marsh mallow, astragalus, and elecampane have been dug from the herb gardens and processed for the winter.  Our stock harvested during the warm season and in previous years is extensive.  We now have a sufficient supply of over 100 different types of dried herbs and tinctures, and will be prepared for whatever may come our way this winter.

East Wind Nutbutters Cook Book

East Winders began working on a new cook book for recipes that feature nutbutter and tahini.  We have begun by cooking up these tasty treats in our own kitchen, and plan to make the cook book available to the public later this year.

What's Happening: October 2012

Halloween & Day of the Dead

East Winders enjoyed one last hoorah down by our creek this Halloween, where there was fun to be had by all.  Kids and adults enjoyed a haunted hayride to the party, bobbing for apples, pumpkin carving, and a costume contest.  East Winders built a bonfire around the maypole that we erected on May Day (six months earlier), and set it aflame at dusk.  Costumed East Winders celebrated throughout the day, and craziness ensued late into the night.

On November 1^st, some of us gathered in our cemetery to remember and honor East Winders who are no longer with us.  We tended to the land where they are buried and adorned the graves with photos.  We found the last wildflowers and marigolds in bloom and placed them on each grave.  We then dug a hole in the center of the cemetery where we will be planting a weeping willow tree this month.  East Winders took some time to sit and reminisce in the cemetery, and left at sunset.

Waiting List
East Wind reached population capacity last month, and there are currently ten people on a waiting list for open spaces.  November visitors will be asked to leave at the end of their three-week visitor period (until space opens up), due to lack of bedrooms and limited accommodations and facilities.  There are currently over eighty people planning to call East Wind their home this winter.  We expect to see a full house throughout the winter with space opening up in the spring.

East Wind has not had a waiting list in effect in a number of years, so we have had a series of community meetings to discuss how to handle our current situation.  We have yet to decide if we want to expand and raise our population capacity or to limit the size of our growing community.  Many East Winders feel that we need to focus on expanding our current facilities, especially our cooking/dining areas, our showers, and our laundry facilities.  The majority of us are currently sharing three showers, two washers and dryers, and eight stove burners (though there are small kitchens and showers in two of the dorms as well).

Hunting Season

East Wind encompasses over 1,000 acres of mostly forested land, and we share this land with many other animals.  Many deer live in the woods around our community, and deer sightings are by no means uncommon.  This year, some East Winders are taking advantage of this opportunity to provide wild game for community.  Some hunts have been successful, and East Winders have already enjoyed venison in a number of community meals this fall.  

Wine Cellar

This month, we renovated our wine cellar and installed wine racks that will one day accommodate 760 bottles of aged wine.  We currently have nearly 300 bottles of homemade wine, ranging from one month to one and a half years in age.    

Wine cellar before renovation

After renovation

Homemade wine racks & table

Wine to be enjoyed in 2013

First Frost

After weeks of beautiful fall colors and weather, autumn is turning to winter as plants and animals move their energy inward and underground.  The first hard frost of the year hit on the 26^th  of October, and East Winders scrambled to harvest or reemay any crops and herbs that otherwise wouldn’t survive the night.  Every last pepper, tomato, and leaf of basil was saved for the winter ahead.  

Growing Peanuts

East Wind successfully grew a few rows of peanuts in our garden this year.  While our nutbutter business ships in peanuts by the truckload (tons, literally) and has sold millions of dollars worth of peanut butter, we haven’t grown any of our own peanuts until now.  This year’s crop was successful and will be enjoyed in community, but would not supply even a fraction of a percent of the amount of peanuts our business uses in any given year.

Herb Garden

Many green and flowering herbs have died back down to the roots this month, leaving our herb gardens looking tidy but gloomy.  Herbs that cannot survive the cold winter like basil, holy basil, lemongrass, borage, and nasturtiums have all been harvested or moved inside, or died.  Autumn is the time when a plant’s energy moves into its roots, and we take advantage of this opportunity by harvesting the highly medicinal roots of echinacea, elecampane, astragalus, and marsh mallow at this time.  We have also harvested many important wild roots such as dandelion, chicory, burdock, and yellowdock.  We are sure to keep ourselves stocked with a variety of dried medicinal herbs and tinctures as we head into the winter and cold season this year.

What's Happening: September 2012

Population Capacity

East Wind reached population capacity this month, meaning that there are now more people who want to live here than the number of bedrooms available.  The September visitor period was an exceptionally large one, with ten visitors completing a three-week stay and eight of them wanting to continue living at East Wind. Unfortunately, there was only one available bedroom (out of seventy in all), so seven individuals are currently on a waiting list for rooms.  These seven individuals have chosen to stay regardless, and will either be camping or bunking up with friends.  East Wind has reached population capacity a good number of times in the past, but this is the longest waiting list that we have had in at least five years.  Another group of visitors will be arriving in October, though available housing space may not open up for a number of weeks. Some of our fellow FEC communities have recently reached population capacity as well.

Annual Plan

Many members of community attended a series of three meetings to work out our financial budgets for the year.  This type of meeting is held annually sometime after the beginning of the fiscal year to plan for the community’s financial needs for the coming year. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend the meetings, and everyone is allowed an equal chance to speak and share their opinions.  East Winders come up with an estimated yearly income from our businesses, and we then allot budgets to different areas of community accordingly.  Elected managers of branches of community (garden, house, medical, kitchen, ranch, auto, building maintenance, recreation, food processing, etc.) request the amount of finances that they think they will need for the year, and then community discusses the amount and compares it to the budgets for previous years.  If a budget seems too high or too low, the East Winders present at the meeting and the elected managers can change specific items during these meetings.  Ultimately, the annual financial plan is voted on by the whole community before it is finalized. We meet quarterly to review the plan and make adjustments if necessary.  This year, we have a projected annual plan of $646,152.  We budgeted $87,500 for food and kitchen expenses, $4,000  for our gardens and $18,500 for our ranch.  Some line items that we will vote on whether or not to fund this year include edible mushroom cultivation, circus tent repair, the purchase of a skidding wench, and funds to finish work on small wind turbines that we already own. 

Sandhill Sorghum Harvest

East Winders visit one of our fellow FEC communities, Sandhill, around this time every year.  A group of half a dozen to one dozen East Winders journey to Sandhill to help with their annual sorghum harvest and processing.  East Winders also take this opportunity to visit Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, and Red Earth Farms.  All of our communities have ties through the Federation of Egalitarian Communities, and many East Winders enjoy the experience of being able meet, help out, and learn from other community-minded folks across the country.  This year, six East Winders spent a week at Sandhill, had a lovely stay, and brought home lot of sorghum.

Wild Harvested Wines

This month, we were able to harvest nearly 50 lbs of wild grapes and make over 20 gallons of wild grape wine.  We also harvested 30 lbs of wild persimmons and 25 lbs of autumn olives, and made 10 gallons of persimmon wine and 5 gallons of autumn olive wine.  We were able to make 15 gallons of organic apple wines and meads from our apple orchard this year.  These wines will be aged for enjoyment at future holidays and birthdays at East Wind.  Our current homebrew project has been brewing for just over a year now, with some of our oldest wines aged fourteen months. Some of our favorites so far include blackberry-mulberry mead, apple wine, sassafras wine, wild grape wine, and ginger wine.

Lice in Community

A few minor cases of head lice back in July is still posing somewhat of a problem for community three months later.  Over a dozen people have had run-ins with these pests during the past few months, and stopping the spread in a communal living situation isn’t easy.  Many options are available for those dealing with these parasites, including homemade and store-bought herbal and chemical remedies.  Shampoos, sprays, oils, salves, vinegar rinses, diatomaceous earth, and nit combs are readily available.  Individuals with lice are being asked to be conscientious about not spreading them, and some East Winders have cut their hair as a precaution or solution. East Winders are helping each other out by providing regular head checks and helping to remove nits. 

Hootin’ and Hollerin’

Many East Winders attended the annual Hootin’ and Hollerin’ craftshow and fair held in Gainesville, MO (the nearest town to East Wind).  East Winders set up a vending booth with nutbutters, hammocks, sandals, and a variety of homemade treats and crafts including cutting boards, polyhedrons, nature photography, herb bundles, knit work, cheesecake, cookies, muffins, and more.  East Winders had a good time working the booth, socializing with the local community, purchasing foods and crafts, enjoying the musical talent, and dancing throughout the three-day festival.

Autumn Equinox

East Winders celebrated the autumnal equinox deep in the woods on September 22^nd  this year. Many East Winders hiked or carpooled to our forested New Land to celebrate in a small clearing amongst the trees not far from our autumn olive grove.  Food and drink were plentiful, and East Winders gathered around the fire to drum, sing, and have a good time until late into the night.

What's Happening: August 2012

Canning & Food Processing

East Winders have been diligent about preserving our abundant garden harvests to enjoy throughout the colder months of the year.  We have already canned nearly 100 gallons of tomato products this season, including tomato sauce, salsa, hot sauce, whole tomatoes, tomato wine, and more.  We deep cleaned and renovated our root cellar this month, and it is now well stocked with delicious homegrown food of all sorts.  Dozens of jars of pickled garlic, dill pickles, pickled okra, dilly beans, pickled beets, applesauce, pickled eggs, pepper relish, and pickled peppers are stacked tidily on our clean new shelves. Our wine cellar is also being cleaned and renovated, and wine racks are being built to accommodate our aging wines.

Our walk-in fridge has been amply stocked with fresh garden produce all summer long, which all of us have been able to greatly enjoy. East Wind is also producing more of our own cow and goat milk than we have in years.  In addition to fresh milk, homemade cheeses and yogurts have been readily available.  

Garden produce for pickling

Nearly 200 jars of canned tomato products (all from our garden this summer)

  

A clean, well-stocked root cellar

Pickled garlic & jalepenos

Garden

August has been a good month for the gardens at East Wind. The extreme heat that we'd been having since the middle of June ended about a week into August, and we've finally had a month with good rains, the first since March. Harvests of tomatoes have been bountiful, and we have canned much of the harvest for the winter. Sweet and hot peppers are really coming in. Jalapenos are popular here, and two of the sweet pepper varieties have been truly outstanding; "Early Hungarian Sweet" and "Corno di Toro" have had quite impressive yields. August is the peak of watermelon season, and we grow a variety of types with their own unique flavors. "Moon and Stars" and "Orangeglo" are two of our favorite watermelons. Okra is very reliable and bountiful here at this time of year. The eggplant harvests are on the increase as well.

We're still enjoying stored potatoes, beets, onions, garlic and carrots from our harvests earlier in the year. August is also the month that most of our fall crops get planted. There are young carrots, rutabagas, turnips, radishes, kale, lettuce and other salad greens growing from recent plantings. The young greens won't be of harvestable size for a while, so right now one of the main greens we are eating is malabar spinach. Malabar spinach is not actually related to spinach, it just has a sort-of similar taste as spinach when cooked (raw malabar spinach has an aftertaste that is unappealing to most people, and is better as a cooked green). Unlike regular spinach, malabar spinach loves the heat and grows best at a time of year when few other greens do well, as long as it gets enough water. Even in July, which was the hottest on record this year with the majority of afternoons 100 degrees or higher, the malabar spinach was lush and growing rapidly. It is great for the season when the weather is too hot for most greens. We planted it here in mid-late May, as one of the last of the summer crops to go in, as it needs a very warm soil to sprout and grow well.

Strawberries, mullien, and malibar spinach in the Upper Garden

Apples from our orchard

Malibar spinach

Hot peppers from our garden being processed for salsa

Herb Garden
Echinacea, chinese chives, cardinal flower, saint john’s wort, wormwood, and skullcap, among many others, bloomed in our herb gardens this month.  Major harvests of lemon balm, lemongrass, basil, holy basil, thyme, and peppermint were brought in and dried.  Our essential oil distillation set is up and running again, and we’ve recently produced lovely holy basil hydrosol and essential oil.  We’ve begun saving seeds for next year, including milk thistle, marsh mallow, basil, holy basil, and cilantro.  As the weather cools and plants focus their energy underground, we will begin harvesting medicinal roots including echinacea, marsh mallow, valerian, dandelion, chicory, burdock, and elecampane.
 

Lemon balm with mullein in the background

Lower Herb Garden

St. John's Wort in bloom

August Music Festival

East Wind’s annual Music Festival took place on August 18^th this year, and a great time was had by all.  Musical talent on the stage included Bruce Salmon, Nora & Gnoll, Mac McNulty, Emily Robinson, Juli VonZurMuellen, Shawn Porter, Max Hills, and the Undomesticated Farm Animals (made up of East Winders: Thaddeus, Pod, Peter, and Cayli J), and a few special musical guests.  East Winders and our guests enjoyed the terrific music and a beautiful sunny day by the creek.

Unfortunately, one of our musicians scheduled to perform, Grant Withers, was unable to attend due to medical complications.  We wish him a speedy recovery and hope to see him on the stage next year.

Emily Robinson on stage

Enjoying the party

Juli VonZurMuellen & Shawn Porter

Forestry
Forestry season is fast approaching, and we have already begun marking dead and dying trees to be cut for firewood or lumber.  We mark dead trees by tying a white ribbon around them during the late summer, while healthy trees still have their leaves.  We have a lot of work ahead of us this year, with plenty of trees to be cut up for both firewood and milling.  Many oaks and mulberries have already begun to lose most of their leaves as a result of the drought, while hickories and elms seem to be faring a bit better in the heat.

East Wind voted to purchase a new diesel sawmill to replace our current sawmill.  We have already begun preparing the new sawmill site and making lumber for a wood drying shed.  The forestry branch will be undertaking this project in the fall.