Koinonia Briefly

September 2006
a monthly e-news publication

To keep you up-to-date with news from the farm, we’ll be sending Koinonia Briefly to you each and every month.

If your email reader has difficulty displaying this message, or if you would like to print it, please visit the online version at www.KoinoniaPartners.org/htmlmail/

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Did You Know?

• This month’s environmental tidbit: Each time we mow the orchards it costs $350 of diesel fuel—a full tank—and takes Norris, Michael or Matt three days of work. We have already, in consultation with our pecan specialist Hilton Siegler (who generously allows us to pay him in blueberries and grapes), reduced the number of times we mow. It turns out that letting the grass grow in the orchards can be just fine most of the year. And next year, we will reduce mowing and fertilizer use even more by planting red clover, which is nitrogen-fixing and naturally keeps weeds down… one more way we can be better caretakers of this beautiful land.

• It’s amazing to see what kids learn living in community. The other morning, our almost-two-year-old Ida walked through the office eating a bag of pretzels—and offering them to every person she could find! She’s already learned and begun to teach a truth that many adults still struggle with: that if everyone shares, we’ll all have an abundance.

Reaching Out

• The Circle of Friends has been anything but retiring this month. The Circle recently inspired (and exhausted!) several younger visitors who accompanied them on a day-long field trip to the Drummer Boy museum, Yoder’s Mennonite Restaurant, and Brown’s Farmers Market. They’ve also learned about and joined the new Vial of Life program from Sumter Emergency Services.
  
  
  The Circle of Friends regulars take Koinonia visitors Susan Caster and Katie Stump out for fun in the sun.
  From Left - Fred Harris, Fannie Butler, Johnny Jones, Susan Caster, Katie Stump, Constance Hollis,
  Mary Minor, Sybil Patterson, Annie Tyner.

• 
  Mary Minion needs a golf cart
  to keep track of all her Super Senior gear!
  Special congratulations to Circle of Friends member Mary Minion, who won a Super Citizen Award in the 2006 South Georgia Senior Living Showcase. Koinonian Kathleen Monts nominated Ms. Minion for her service to local hospices and many other good works. A group attended the showcase in Valdosta to be there with Mary as she accepted her award.

• Heart to Heart home repair on our neighbor (and Circle of Friends member) Johnny Jones’s house continues. With a new water heater, flooring, and wall cabinets, a living room paint job, repaired ceiling drywall, and more, the house will have had a complete makeover inside and out once we are finished. J., Brendan and Chris have enjoyed getting to know Johnny better as he works side by side them on his home, putting in sweat equity.

• For a fourth year running, Koinonians served a “Prisoner Family Meal” for families with loved ones in Macon State Prison. Most families have no means of transportation to visit their incarcerated loved ones, so the Prison & Jail Project (another group born at Koinonia) runs a monthly shuttle from Atlanta. Koinonia “adopts” a month each year to cook a hot meal and join our friends in fellowship at Union Baptist Church in Montezuma, GA before they go on to visit their families. Koinonian Jim Dubay, visitor Katie Stump, intern Chuck Wilbanks, and friend Elizabeth Rene prepared delicious chicken and soup and served upwards of fifty people.

• Congratulations to the Smithville Neighborhood Freedom Center in nearby Smithville, GA. This grassroots group celebrated their 6th anniversary with a barbeque, and Koinonians showed up to play with the kids, paint faces (and “temporary tattoos”), and of course enjoy the excellent picnic fare. We have recently been able to grant SNFC a low-interest loan to facilitate an addition to their building. These hard-working friends run after-school programs for their children and youth, monitor their local justice systems for fairness and racial equality, register neighbors to vote, offer computer classes, and much more—so it’s a joy to be able to help out.

On the Farm

• 
  Tom picked these beautiful
  muscadine grapes,
  photographed them...
  then let us eat them! Yum!
  We’ve finally been getting the rain that we Georgia farmers so greatly needed—which, despite the clouds, brightens our days! Thanks to the rain, our scuppernong & muscadine grapes are juicy and delicious, so stop by to pick or purchase some if you are nearby.

• Goodbyes… and Hellos: Our summer internship has just finished, and already we miss former interns Chris Porter and Chuck Wilbanks! They were a great help and wonderful to get to know. Chris moves on to serve at L’Arche of Portland, Oregon, and Chuck is staying in Americus as a volunteer with New Horizons Habitat for Humanity. Also, service intern Fairy Caroland completed her year of service and is moving on to work at New Hope House, which provides hospitality and advocacy for death row prisoners and their families. We wish the best for them all, and we look forward to welcoming our four Fall 2006 community interns!

• Upcoming class offerings at Koinonia include “Koinonia 101” for the fall community interns, “Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical” (a study of Shane Claiborne’s wonderful book of the same name), and a series on the Cotton Patch Parables. We have just finished a challenging and hopeful series on issues of environmental sustainability and stewardship of the earth, taught by service intern Sarah Prendergast, who also works on our Heart to Heart home repair ministry.

• We pray for our chaplain Norris Harris as he continues to care for his wife Imogene, who is also in our prayers as she continues to live with diabetes. We pray for peace in the Middle East, and for those who have died, especially civilians, in Lebanon and elsewhere. We pray for our friend Robert Laster, who was the Koinonia mechanic for many years, who always had a smile to spare, and who is in the intensive care unit in the local hospital following an attack of lack of oxygen to the brain after collapsing here at Koinonia while visiting us one afternoon. Please join us in these prayers.

• During Robert and Kaye Hamblin’s recent visit, we enjoyed Robert’s performance of a monologue of Clarence Jordan’s writings and sermons. He adopted Clarence’s memorable voice and style while recounting stories from the history of Koinonia and the Jim Crow South… amazing.

• Renovation on the Koinonia chapel this month has included the exciting step of raising new trusses and constructing the new roof. Much appreciation to project manager Dave Landis and all the community interns, visitors, and community members who are lending a hand despite the hot Georgia summer.
  
  
  The chapel's lovely new red roof; look closely and you can see Dave in the entryway

Coming Soon

• We’re busy preparing the farm for the “busy season” of harvesting pecans and shipping out Christmas orders. We’re still open to eager and interested people of all skills & abilities who would like to join us for a week, two weeks, or longer during November and December. We also continue to welcome friends who’d like to lend their labor to our chapel renovation.
  Please contact Ann Karp at 229 924 0391 or hospitality @ koinoniapartners.org if you’re interested… work, prayer, study, service—and, of course, fun—await you!

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