Well, well! It turns out that I appreciate one-hour work parties even more than extended community dinners! There’s just something so magical about people pulling together to quickly achieve a limited goal. Last night the challenge was to clear most of the remains of the dead tree that Brady and Michaele took down, in a long, slow dance with a lift, chainsawing that sad old tree, little by little, from the top. It didn’t have many branches, but it sure was tall. So last night, for our work party, we got together, Rebecca on the chain saw, Shy with an ax, and the rest of us — that’s Evan, Logan, Dan, Mariella, and me — moving the wood, once cut, to the side yard of the third house in a procession, with wheelbarrows.
Plus, Evan, Logan and Dan, who all hail from Boonville Indiana and have little experience with an ax, took turns trying out their arms and their aim. So a sort of side workshop was held while we awaited large enough loads. Shy to Evan: “Make sure you stand with your feet apart, so the ax doesn’t hit them!”
It turns out that when Rebecca was a kid her family went to the woods every fall to get wood for their fireplace in the Sierras. It is one of her favorite memories, cutting and gathering wood with family. No wonder she’s such an expert with the chain saw!
Meanwhile, as a lead-in to the work party pics, consider these: photos of the new beds at the new DeKist house front yard, thanks in part to Grant, our I.U. intern:
Next, this week’s haul of snow peas and a beautiful little new sculpture and exotic plant garden, thanks to Rebecca . . .
And now, on to the work party, after which we enjoyed organic ice cream.
