February started out with a quick-but-lovely visit from Kirstin’s parents. Kirstin’s Great Uncle Marv passed away in 2019 and the family was looking for a meaningful place to go with some of the furniture and other items Great Aunt Barb wanted to give away in preparation for downsizing. We were very grateful to receive some …
A new year! After a nice break for the holidays, we kicked things off with our usual Friday night potluck at our *culture is not optional community house. The community house is where our interns, AmeriCorps members, volunteers, and visitors stay, and it’s also a space for building relationships and learning for our organization as …
We started out the month with a trip to Grand Rapids that we’d been planning for a while, to attend a concert with the band Over the Rhine and celebrate our friend Ken’s last show as the director of the Student Activities office at Calvin University. We worked with Ken for five years in the …
The month began with Rob at another conference—the Earlham Writers’ Colloquium in Richmond, Indiana. He spoke on a panel about the importance of imagination in rural communities, which is a topic right in line with our work at the Huss Project. While he was away, Kirstin attended the Halloween party across the street at the …
Our retreat time over Kirstin’s birthday in September led directly into some much-anticipated vacation time. We rented a cabin near Lake Michigan and spent time catching up on sleep, reading, exploring area breweries and restaurants, and hanging out on the beach. One pleasant surprise of this time was getting to see the migration of monarchs …
September began for us with HarmonyFest, an annual festival celebrating our community’s diversity that happens right in downtown Three Rivers where we live. That’s also the weekend we celebrate the anniversary of the fair trade store we helped start, and we did so this year with a drum circle in the store. HarmonyFest takes place …
Our summer busy season continued into August, with further Imaginarium work in preparation for the wedding of our friends Alek and Deborah, which was be the first major event there besides Future Fest. These two dreamed up a beautiful wedding and had perfect weather. At Deborah’s request, we performed a sweet little song during the …
Well, it was a race to the finish line and we gave it all we had! The new community space, called the Imaginarium, came together about 95% of the way before our big annual community festival at the Huss Project at the end of July. While we wish we’d gotten everything finished, it was certainly …
Between late May and early June, we enjoyed several opportunities to visit with Kirstin’s sister Alyssa’s family while they were visiting from Idaho. Alyssa and her husband Dave have two kiddos, and this was our first opportunity to meet the youngest who was born in March. They’re growing up so fast! We also grabbed a …
As the weather warms up, it’s been delightful to get outside and start working on the farm. At the beginning of the month, we got a crew together to plant several varieties of potatoes, which is always a big job and definitely wakes up the muscles after the long winter rest. Our tomato and pepper …