SPRING 2008
Our Newest newsletter is available for download on the right. Click on "Spring 2008 Newsletter".NOVEMBER 2007
Dear friends of Spikenard Farm!
As the cool nights let the Sun's summer magic manifest in the beautiful colors of the leaves---not as bold as in the East, but with richer nuances of browns, reds and amber---we begin to look forward toward Thanksgiving. We truly are blessed with so much to be thankful for.Our honeybee colonies are all tightened up with good honey supplies for the winter. Their move to the new sanctuary location here on the farm will take place in late winter. The new electric fence, almost a mile long and beautifully built by Alex, is keeping our 10 heifers on the 20 acres of pasture until they come into the newly remodeled loafing barn (what an amount of planning and craftsmanship by Alex went into that!) which will also let us milk the cows as one after the other give birth. The size will fit our needs for a few years, until more animals---a second cow herd, sheep, goats, horses--- come to the farm.
One heifer (not pregnant) was sacrificed so that we could make the biodynamic dandelion, chamomile and oak bark preparations. A nice side-effect is a freezer full of ground beef and steak! We buried about 350 horns for the # 500 preparation, all with beautiful cow pies from our herd. Hmmm: beauty is in the eye of the beholder!
Alex and Luis have been working long hours discing, sowing, welding, digging ditches, laying pipes. On a long trip to the East Coast they picked up the stanchions for the cows and also a portable sawmill which will let us cut lumber out of our forest for future construction. Nancy has begun to landscape around the cottages, started our recycling and brought the greenhouse into full swing. We already sold our first greens and are they ever delicious!
Vivian has taken on the task that enables all of us to work, plan, continue. It's the office work that deals with just about everything, from telephone companies to contractors to garbage pickup and paying the bills. A healthy balance is her daily visit to the cows, and is she ever fearless when one charges at her to get to the treats. She does yearn to return to her therapy profession, and we all know that therapeutic work of all kind is so needed in our challenging times.
More friendly neighbors have stopped in, offering their help and some are looking forward to the courses which we will be starting next year. Three schools---two Waldorf and one public school---have already inquired about school programs and we feel the urgency of offering farm-based experiences for children real soon.
All of these activities need infrastructure and more co-workers.
The days are full---and I mean FULL--- of chores and tasks, from the very banal to the lofty. There is so much beauty and deep satisfaction in seeing the 60 acres of deep-green alfalfa, the 60+ acres of newly planted wheat/white clover brightening up the fields in emerald glistening 'strings' of green, watching the deer grazing on the goodies and the big flock of turkeys gobbling up the seeds not buried by the machine, still oblivious of Thanksgiving approaching fast.
One of the great miracles that happened in the summer was the fact that the hunter/developer from Alabama who had bought the 280 acres adjoining our initial 330 acres (it was all one big farm before) suddenly decided that he would sell us 230 and keep 50 (to be developed). Well, perhaps not suddenly, for our donor had many good and long conversations with him during the summer and in addition the angels must have helped him to change his mind. In late August he resolved to sell it all!! So we have 610 acres to work with! The two strong springs on that second piece of land are still flowing in spite of the nearly 5 months of drought we have been in; we get our drinking water from them. What a treat!
Generous donations from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, the Christopher Reynolds Foundation, the Woodshouse Foundation, the Rudolf Steiner Foundation, the Threefold Educational Foundation, the Vanguard Charitable Endowment as well as the wonderful gifts of many individuals have brightened up our days since this not only demonstrates trust in our ideals and means to bring them down to earth, but will let us move ahead at a fair pace.
Let us thank all of you, dear friends and helpers, for your generous and warm-hearted support which puts wind in our sails, strength into our muscles and joy in our hearts, knowing that we are together on this work toward life and a healthier future of this planet. Have a blessed Holiday Season!
Gunther, Vivian, Alex, Nancy, & Luis
Spikenard Farm seen through an artist's eyes:
For the last 25 years I have resided in the Garden State, that is until Aug. 30 , 2007 when I said good-bye to my beloved friends, colleagues and students at the Princeton Waldorf School, the eclectic river town of Lambertville and three rewarding vocations, as a biodynamic gardening teacher, a professional Fiber Artist and a designer of holistic gardens throughout New Jersey. What in the world could inspire me so that I would be willing to move to the Midwest of America and join a courageous pioneer group of individuals at Spikenard Farm? Alas, it was Gunther Hauk and his vision to create a sanctuary for the honeybees in crisis as well as an educational center for biodynamic agriculture, gardening and beekeeping on 610 acres near Carrollton, Illinois.I was asked to help manifest this vision, leave everything and everyone familiar, forego the comfortable and respectable life that took me twenty years to build; after many hours of inner struggle I said "I am willing".
I have now been on the land here for two and a half months and many times I have asked myself the question "Is this decision divinely guided or did I experience a menopausal lapse in judgment? Yes, some of you may be laughing at this question especially if you are experiencing the "change of life" and understand what a somersault this passage can be.
Each day there are many tasks of clearing away old debris, both physically and metaphorically. Life, as I've know it, is no more and a new birthing is at hand. For example, today I had the opportunity to stuff fresh cow manure into as many horns as I could handle, wash and dry 3 loads of laundry, change the sheets on my bed, harvest fresh vegetables from the greenhouse (after washing my hands) for our community lunch, begin to document a seed inventory with Luis for the future seed saving garden, review our lunch menu for the next two weeks with Ann, our part-time cook, meet with the house painter Chris to determine the color scheme of the cottages and respond to inquiries for overnight educational programs.
The exciting event of my day, however, was when I decided to accompany Vivian and Gunther on their daily sojourn to feed the "wild" cows some treats, in an attempt to befriend and tame them, before our task of steering them into the loafing barn for the winter. It was my first time walking that close to cows and to me they looked enormously large and strong, especially big Bertha. In my moment of hesitation and fright, I tried to hide behind Vivian, who, by the way, is shorter than I am. Ha! Ha! During my lapse of attention I began to feel something slippery beneath my boots. Now, what do you think it was?--- Yes, you are right!! Oh my goodness, life on the farm is full of surprises; it gifts me with many occasions to laugh at myself. Maybe St. Michael will fill me with a bit more courage tomorrow if I choose to sojourn to the cows once more.
I am also being initiated into the art of beekeeping. Working with these blessed creatures feels quite natural and fills me with joy, especially if I haven't received a stinger. Yes, there is much to learn, many changes to digest and infinite possibilities opening, willing to manifest through the creative process of group collaboration and support.
"Am I meeting my destiny?" I ask this question as I gaze upon the starry sky at night, no streetlights to hinder my vision of the celestial heavens, no cars or city noises to damper the cries of the coyotes prowling in the nearby woods. I behold the milky way and feel the starry heavens touch the tops of the trees and realize that a wish I have held since I was a college student in NM has been granted to me and I am grateful. Here at Spikenard I behold them each night and feel a connecting thread to the mysterious cosmos and to the earth.
Each morn I arise and breathe in the dawning colors of the eastern sky and slowly watch the silhouettes of the trees disappear as the golden sun begins to glisten upon the dewy blades of prairie grass. These magical blessings fill my being with peace each day.
The sculpted rolling hills have a gentle, soothing quality and the freshly sprouted fields of wheat and clover give a breath of new green life to the autumn season. This land is beautiful and wild. She is a sleeping goddess who is beginning to awaken to the new impulses of healing, transforming and rebirthing.
So, my dear readers, on behalf of the pioneers, Gunther, Luis, Vivian, Alex and Nancy and the dedicated Board of Directors, we thank you for your generous support, your interest and good will.
A Happy and Warm Holiday Season to All,
Nancy Kay Anderson