Of Writers and Others…..
Taken by Ginny Rorby, one of the writers who stayed at Emandal the week prior to Easter.
We hosted a retreat for a group of eight women writers just before Easter…. four members of The Pickles, a group from the Mendocino Coast, who have been working and meeting together for over 20 years… and four friends who slipped easily into the circle of familial folks…. each person writing, each person sharing…. an abundance of enlightening productivity throughout the week. Most with grey hair, they toyed with a new name for this particular group….. The Capable Colony of Creatively Cogitative Crones…. or some other such alliterative combination of words… What a pleasure to have them here utilizing the Library, with wood stove ablazing! Kashaya and I provided breakfasts and dinners in the Dining Room, which also had a fire going all day long.
And yes, we served pie one evening…. but also, Angel Food Cake with a Custard Sauce. Such decadence! It took 3 goose eggs + 16 small hen eggs (from the young hens) to glean enough egg whites. No shortage of eggs here at the moment!
Part of the week, Malanyon and his family were here for their Spring Break, helping us in multiple ways. Sarah affixed a fabric sleeve to a quilt made at the Vineyard School, circa 1989, (our necessary small school down the road that existed for 17 years in what is now called The School House at Acorn Hollow), so that it can hang on the wall, near where all the kids heights were recorded… and have NOT been painted over….
Malanyon, Linden and Magnolia eagerly burned branches in camp that came down with the trees that shattered the stage, as well as split the larger pieces for firewood, and tried diligently to saw a dead fir down with a much too small hand saw.
With their help, we also got our onions planted. It was well past the time we’ve planted before, the plants were a bit beyond ready to go in… and the ground was still a bit wet. BUT, we persevered. They’re in! As you can tell from the photo, it wasn’t a warm day.
Although the sign says CORN, it will soon be replaced with the ONION sign.
This morning, as I was collecting dandelion blossoms to infuse into the oil we use for soap, I noticed a few balls here and there. Kashaya’s been weed-eating for a few days now, trying to make sure the grasses surrounding the buildings and under the clotheslines are kept at bay…. Tom has been collecting downed pieces of wood that accumulate each winter…. and midst all that, so far, nine balls have been uncovered! Some have been chewed beyond use… but others seem to be in decent shape, needing just a bit of air. I wonder if you recognize any as one or some you lost last summer, or even the summer before!?
Mostly soccer balls found around the farmhouse area.
How could we celebrate Good Friday without Hot Cross Buns? We couldn’t, of course….. Just as we couldn’t think of Easter Brunch without Eggs Benedict… and our own English Muffins. We had boiled eggs and chocolate eggs hidden, found and eaten. And this year, doughnuts! Both Linden and James helped roll them…. Magnolia did much of the cutting.
My nephew brought a Kool-Aid Pie (graham cracker crust, whipped cream, sweetened condensed milk, and 4 individual packets of different colored kool-aid in four separate layers). I must admit, Kool-Aid Pie and Doughnuts made for a real White Trash kind of event…
Lucy (massage therapist) and her husband Christopher joined us for the celebration and dish washing extravaganza….. but also for a hike up through camp to the Garcey Creek Trail cut-off, and down to the river. Found a white Shooting Star (uncommon, I’m told) along the trail, as well as a Lady Slipper Orchid (which we didn’t photograph!) The kids would have stayed there skipping rocks for the rest of the afternoon had they not been leaving.
The day after Easter, another family came to stay in the Bunkhouse for their Spring Break. How lucky were we to have them! I got to fix dinner for them twice (yep, another angel food cake and another pie), and breakfast, once. The kids loved the library…. mom was thrilled with the river (she plunged a few times while here)… and dad couldn’t get enough weed pulling! He and Cedar, the youngest, placed cardboard, moved chips, transplanted yarrow and echinacea…. and pulled weeds out of the raspberries. Yippee! If only ALL guests loved weed pulling!
One family requested two pies this spring…. one Strawberry Rhubarb and Banana Cream. I was ready to ditch the banana cream because of very unripe bananas, when one of our writers came into the kitchen with 2 bunches of PERFECT bananas, saying she couldn’t take them with her….. would I have any use for them? Would I!? And did I!
Tulips don’t come back if planted in the garden…. but this one seems to love breaking through the well traveled walk-way each spring.
Today’s a fundraiser for a local man dealing with cancer. If you’ve ever taken the Skunk Train, you probably have been entertained by him and his guitar…. his moniker is “The Train Singer.” I was asked to provide soup and bread and jam. Kashaya and I took nearly 8 gallons of soup in this morning, along with 116 rolls, and a case of jam. When we pick up the containers tonight, after we see if we’ve out bid anyone on any auction items, we’ll find out just how it went! The soup….. SPRING-ASTRONE! (All things green, including asparagus, green peas and pesto…. yum!)
Camp is filling up, but we still have some prime openings. I’m trying so hard to stay in the office until I get invoices sent out! If you haven’t gotten yours, don’t worry….. I couldn’t manage working another minute inside!
We haven’t gone back to “Sessions” per se…. People have been requesting time slots, and we’ve been trying to fit them in. Right now, we have room during Family Camp Time:
June 12-14; June 20-25; July 4-8; July 16-18; August 6-9; August 10-15; August 17-20
Remember we have 3 camp kitchens. We can handle up to 36 people total. Some groups have 36. Others fewer. Some times the camp is taken over by one group. Other times, we have 2 or 3, depending on the size.
I look forward to seeing you soon!