A few days ago, while cleaning dishes after one of our community dinners a glass broke in my hands. This could have been avoided had I taken a previous warning more seriously... I suppose I just didn't expect them to be THAT fragile.

It has all turned out okay and is healing nicely.

The human body is such an incredibly impressive organism.

Here are just a few quick pictures that don't involve much explanation. Mostly just shots from around the farm..

(This is Adam and Emily loving on Mabel, the new puppy who is being trained to guard the sheep)

(yummy greens!)

(The post after this is also new, don't miss it!)

Love.

Hello!

Sorry it has been a few days since the last update. The end of orientation week was very busy! Lets see; where to begin?

I'll show a lot of what's been going on with pictures I've taken. It's easier that way. (And more fun!) Here are most of the really great highlights.

Here at Koinonia there are multiple pecan orchards. There are MANY processes that are involved in the harvesting of the nuts but one involves a large machine that grabs onto the tree and shakes the pecans loose. I got to operate this machine! I just happened to be sharing lunch with Bud and Norris, the two gentlemen who were doing maintenance on the machine when they asked if I would like to shake one of the trees. Of course I accepted the offer! It resulted in a lot of laughter and tons of pecans falling to the ground!

Another project I got to be apart of was the building of a house for the Fuller Center. This organization builds houses for low income families and was started by Millard and Linda Fuller. They were a couple who were apart of Koinonia in 1967. Koinonia teaches that every individual has their own journey and welcomes people to discover that direction while on the farm. Millard and Linda found there passion during their time spent at Koinonia and went on to accomplish incredible things. Millard was actually the individual who founded Habitat for Humanity in the mid-1970's. Due to differences of opinion between Millard and the current Board of Directors Millard separated himself from Habitat and started the Fuller Center. Explore this link for more information on the Fuller Center: http://www.fullercenter.org/

This past Wednesday was the one-year anniversary of Millards death. To pay respect, there was a day open to anyone who cared to honor Millard at the most recent building site of the Fuller Center.

(This is the duplex being built by the Fuller Center where we gathered for Millard.)

(This is Linda Fuller speaking on behalf of Millard, and David Snell - the new President of the Fuller Center now that Millard has passed away.)

(This is Nashua and Little Bear, his loyal companion. Little Bear travels around the farm all day with Nash. )

This past Friday the farm members held a Welcome Retreat for the interns. This included a special spiritual time in the morning, breakfast and games at Amanda's house, a wonderfully prepared lunch, a talent show, intern sharing time, and then a poetry reading. Besides the rain (which forced us to cancel the bonfire) the day was great.

(view outside Sunny Acres - where Amanda's house is)

(cooking breakfast and playing card games)

(the special lunch prepared for the special day)

Last but not least I'll mention that I got to learn how to lay tile a few days ago! It was pretty tough towards the end but a great learning experience. Phil is apart of the maintenance team, is from New York, and has a ton of experience laying floors. I really learned a lot.

(Phil)

(This is Rob; the guy who owns the house)

(According to Phil i helped him lay 1/3 of the room!)

Today was the first official day of work. I took a ton of great pictures which will probably be updated tomorrow.

Hope this helps catch you up.

Also hope all is well with everyone. Would love to hear how you're doing. Just leave a comment here on the blog. Thanks for keeping up with me.

Peace.

Hello Hello.

Today was my first official day. This week is just orientation so the structure will be a bit different than the remainder of my time here. Koinonia is a pretty spiritual place so there are constantly opportunities to explore in the direction. Almost every morning chapel starts at 7:30am and is open for anyone who would like to join. i woke up pretty early this morning and not only had time for a few cups of coffee and a quick read but had plenty of time to check out what Chapel was all about. The first 20-30 minutes is reserved for silent meditation and around 8:00am an elderly man, who has lived at Koinonia for quite awhile, shared a few words from his well worn bible and sang an incredible song that had a really authentic folk feel. I'm looking forward to talking to the people who live here on the farm and hearing their story and what they experience spiritually.

Then we went on a tour of the farm which was led by a woman named Sarah. She is really awesome and has just recently made a life-time commitment to the farm with her husband and two daughters. I saw so much; the pecan sorting and packing areas, the various barns, all the different animals (cows, a turkey, chickens, giant hogs - one of which just had 11 baby piglets!), the permaculture garden (which i will hopefully be learning a lot more about), the Peace Trail, one of the many pecan orchards, and so much more. It was all really exciting. I can't wait to get more experience with all of it!

From there we met with Amanda, who is the intern leader. We learned a more about the farm and each intern had a chance to share a bit about ourselves and why we are here. It was nice to hear from everyone.

Next was lunch which was AWESOME. The best part was the fresh salad that came from the garden. The leaves were so rich with flavor. Also, with every meal unpasteurized, fresh milk is served which is super tasty. I really can't wait to be more involved with both growing and eating fresh foods!

After this we joined Craig, the head maintenance guy here on the farm, in town on a job site for a house they are building. We all had different jobs. I got to work beside Craig installing windows. I really had a great time and feel like i learned so much. I let him know ahead of time that i was probably going to ask a lot of questions and from that he took on an awesome teaching role. Here are a few pictures before we all headed back to the farm.

Above from left to right: me, Nathan, Emily, and Tabitha

(one intern is missing due to a doctors appointment)

Once we left the building site we went to Amanda's for a sharing time. We got to hear the stories of two Koinonians; Kathleen who has been involved with the farm for many years and Sarah, the woman i mentioned earlier who gave us the tour.

Now we're all back at the house relaxing and deciding what to eat.

It was a full day, and has left me looking forward to the upcoming months.

Hope that wasn't to long, or confusing. If you ever have any questions or need clarification on something that is unclear, don't hesitate to ask!

Thanks for listening.

peace.

For those of you who have requested it; here is the address for the farm.

1324 Georgia Highway 49 South

Americus, GA 31719

Hello Hello.

The first seven pictures are from my drive between Houston and Americus. The tiger was at a truckstop off I-10 in Louisiana. Seemed to me like they just really loved the animal and were interested in raising money to donate to zoo's.

I made it safe to the farm late last night. I drove in after dark and went to the Welcome Center to pick up my welcome-packet they had been left for me in the mail box. The first page was a map of the farm which had my room highlighted. I made my way over to the house and found my room. The place a quiet and chilly but instantly relaxing. I moved my stuff in after exploring the place a bit. After getting settled in i spent some time catching up on my journals, brushed my teeth, and headed to bed.

I slept great and was woke up around 10am to the sound of my new roommate arriving. I met her (Tabitha) and her father and one of the year-round residents here on the farm. (Nashwa; Nash for short) Nash seems like a pretty interesting guy. He mentioned needing to go into town to work on some immigration stuff for a few local citizens. Am looking forward to hearing more about that..

After a short meet and greet we went in to town to pick up a few things for the week and also for the potluck dinner tonight. I chose to bring fruit. (fresh pineapple and a bag of oranges) My next task is to find a knife big enough for the pineapple..

Below are just a few pictures of where I'll be staying. I'll take more pictures of the farm over the next few days when the sun is suppose to come out. For now though I'm off to find a knife, drink some tea to keep warm, and explore the property!

Above : full bedroom view; main area that all other rooms in the house are connect to - the room i'll be staying in is where the door is open

Above: the kitchen area in mine and Tabitha's room; my corner of our bedroom

Above: The front door to the main part of the house; a view of the enclosed patio on the front of the house; the front door to our room

Hello everyone!

Well, my journey has officially started!

As most of you know i am headed to Georgia for a short farming internship (3 months to be exact). Rather than driving straight there i have taken a detour to Houston, TX in order to spend some time with my dad. i arrived yesterday evening with no problems. the drive was wonderful actually. It was nice to be out of the big city, and driving through open country. Even though most of the trees have shed their leaves once I got closer to Houston i was able to enjoy the foliage of the evergreens.

Currently my dad is overseeing the construction of an incredibly enormous house. He lives on the property in a trailer which has proven to be a really great set-up.

(Pictures and more details of this will come with my next update)

There were so many times during the drive that i wanted to stop and take a picture but as you probably know when driving down an interstate each exit is about 100 miles apart. So 'stopping for a quick picture' isn't quite possible. Luckily when I spotted this little scene the exit was immediately after and the service road was two-way! It worked out wonderfully.

I'm so excited about the new camera my mom and step-dad gave me for graduation. (I'm so lucky to have such a supportive, encouraging family) I'm still trying to figure out all the cool features so the pictures may not be up to par for a little while. For example, these three pictures are a bit blurry but after reading some of the manual today, i think i've figured out the problem. We shall see!

I got up this morning (Thursday) around six-thirty after having an enjoyable nights sleep in my dads small A-frame camper. I really have got to get one of those some day. They are super efficient and so fun! Construction on the house had already begun. I grabbed a cup of coffee and made some yummy breakfast. My new favorite addition to scrambled eggs.. tomatoes!

Well, I'm off for now. Later this afternoon, if the weather allows, we are planning to go to Kemah where there is a boardwalk and the ocean! I'm keeping my fingers crossed!