We haven’t been in the community long, but I’m beginning to see how we are becoming connected; small connections, but they really help us out. We’ve become somewhat active in the Sierra Vista United Methodist Church (I’ve never been a Methodist before, but so far it seems to be working – after I got over the fact that the pastors are changed on a whim. Sah.) and we’ve met some great folks who have helped us get into Outreach in the area. With their help, we will be able to continue finding avenues for the 10% donation to our community; our effort to bring quality, whole, organic food to those who may not be able to afford it. It is still a small effort, but we will be growing. Thank you Holly and Rev. Mark, for getting us connected and encouraging us along the way.
The people we are meeting along the way are all helping us reach our goals. It’s a great community here and we enjoy the connections we’re making. Our neighbors directly to the west of us, George and Donna (who we invariably call “George and Patty” out of habit) had a friend who was digging and in ground pool and needed to get rid of the dirt… so that is the wonderful dirt we are now using in the round garden and in many plantings around the property! We’ve already talked about the Kellys and the Zimmermans who graciously save their manure for us. Likewise we’ve talked about our neighbor, Tom, who drops off tree and bush trimmings for us to use in trenches and Hugelkultur efforts. Plus our carpenter friend, Brent, who drops of used but reusable doors and windows and other things that he thinks we’d be able to use. I’m not sure how much of a difference all of this makes, but it makes me feel like we’re doing our part to reduce waste that goes into the landfill. We try to reuse things around here as well, or repurpose as much as we can.
Through my work at the Southeast Arizona Association of Realtors®, I have met some wonderful people who are very excited about what we’re trying to do. Several of the m embers purchase eggs from us on a regular basis. One very sweet lady just pre-paid me for eggs so she could make sure to get them! Another lady is interested in purchasing them to go in her gift baskets for clients. What a cool idea! All of these connections help get us out into the community.
Another great connection we were able to make is with the Opinions Editor at the Sierra Vista Herald/Review, Mr. Eric Petermann. I met Eric while still working at the Philadelphia Baking Company, around the time that I was questioning what the heck I was doing, working at a bakery. After I had been serving him for several weeks – he was a regular – I overheard a conversation he had with the owner and had an epiphany; I strongly felt that this was the reason that I was working there, to make his acquaintance. Subsequently he wrote a wonderful article about Sue called “A Diver in the Desert,” which put her name out in the community and opened up some great conversations with people. Today I was able to drop off some eggs for him as a very belated thank you. He called me a couple hours later and asked if he could mention them in the column – a piece he was doing on local small business people and their products, delivered with great attention to detail. What a great plug that will be for us! He is such a very nice gentleman – and he writes very well too! Thank you so much, Eric. If I notice it in the paper I’ll try to share it here. Until then, as always~
Thanks for reading!
Today’s Weather: Windy and cloudy with rain off and on. We like the rain, just get rid of that wind! Currently, 5:32 p.m., it is 79°, but if feels cooler to me.
Egg Report: Yesterday we received 23 chicken eggs and 3 duck eggs. Today we picked up 19 chicken eggs and 3 duck eggs. There may be a few more when we go to shut them in for the night. We’ll just see.
Wing and a Prayer 