Did You Know?

Likely by now you’ve heard of the house we lost in a fire here at the farm. We’re so thankful that “Bud” Style is OK. Bud has been a part of the Koinonia family and lived in the house for years. Just after the fire, Bud said one of the things he cared about most was his Bible. There are two reasons why he wanted to find his Bible: It’s a Bible, and is important to him, and it also held what little bit of cash he kept in his home. The next morning, as we were trying to salvage a few things, we found the Bible. It was a bit charred and wet, of course, but the money inside the Bible was perfectly intact. What's most amazing, though, is where the Bible opened to: Jesus and the Rich Young Ruler. Some of you will remember that Clarence Jordan referred to Millard Fuller as the rich young ruler. It’s as if Clarence and Millard were sending us a sign. Just a few days after the fire, we were delighted to learn that the Fuller Center for Housing and the local Habitat for Humanity affiliate New Horizons will be coming together to rebuild the house Koinonia lost. It’s the first joint project of a Habitat affiliate and the Fuller Center. It seems appropriate, given recent events, that Koinonia would be the grounds for such a coming together. Pictured is Bud’s Bible we found after the fire. If you look closely, you can see the text on the page. 

We’re proud of our home-school group for working so hard on the Lego League competition. Although they didn’t take 1st place, they did exceptionally well at the State level. Now they’ve moved on to their next endeavor, the Art Miles Mural Project. This is a 12-year international project that combines the effort of children and adults to promote global peace and harmony through mural art. Their mural will be sewn together with thousands of murals from all over the world to become a 12-mile long mural. The mural will ultimately culminate in the creation of a pyramid in Egypt to celebrate the International Day of Peace in 2010. For their mural, our kids chose symbols that are important to them, such as the treble clef, representing music and harmony, and Millard Fuller painted on Saturn, building houses. For more information about the 12-mile project, visit their Web site, www.the-art-miles-mural-project.org.

A handful of Koinonians have been helping out the local food pantry every two weeks, bagging up groceries for local families in need. The ministry is part of SAMA, Sumter Area Ministerial Association, a collaboration of local congregations to help meet the needs of local families. SAMA runs two ministries, the food bank and Community Service Ministry, helping families with other needs, such as housing and utilities. We’re glad to be able to help out this local ministry, and always look for more ways to provide physical and financial support to them. The free yard sale we hosted last Spring benefited SAMA, and Apprentice Jake Warren is planning this year’s free yard sale for next month. Instead of assigning prices to items, we invite our friends and neighbors to “purchase” items by giving a donation to SAMA. If you’re interested in making a donation or giving items to the free yard sale, just let us know. E-mail info@koinoniapartners.org.

Even though the weather has been a bit out of sync recently, we’ve been shedding our winter coats and getting outside to enjoy the warm sunshine. A couple of times this past month, we headed up to the North village and started up a game of kickball, baseball, or volleyball. Apprentices Seth Schroerlucke and Nichole Del Giudice have committed to plan at least one activity per month for the children from the community and the two villages, engaging them in recreational and educational fun. We’re thankful for all the kids God has given to us—they bring such joy to the community!

Apprentice Jerry Nelson had the opportunity to share the story of his bike trip with a group of students at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fl. The students listened intently as Jerry spoke about why he did the 18-month cross-country bicycle trip, trying to bring attention to the needs of veterans and homeless across the country. The students were interested in hearing ways they as individuals could get involved in helping to meet the needs of veterans and homeless across the nation. The students also heard about Koinonia and had a chance to ask questions about the community. If you’d like to invite someone to your group to speak about Koinonia, just let us know.

Circle of Friends is off to a great start for the new year! Their calendar of events for this year is packed full of fun fellowship and games, health check-ups, visits to local attractions, educational seminars, and a few times for rest and relaxation. The Circle of Friends is made up of local adults who gather weekly to enjoy each other’s fellowship and walk on this journey of life together. Steward Kathleen Monts does a fabulous job coordinating this group and their efforts. Thanks, Kathleen, for all you do!

At the Farm

Welcome to our new interns! We have four young guys interning with us this Spring: Blake, David, Drew, and Phill. It’s nice to have their youthful energy on the farm, and we can always use the extra help in the garden! Drew is a great help in the office with hospitality, our Welcome Center, and whatever we ask him to do! Look for more information about our interns in next month’s e-news. We’re accepting applications now for the Summer internship. If you’re interested, visit the intern page of our Web site. Pictured, Blake Helmly carries out potatoes for David Jorgensen to plant in the garden.

Thanks to all the help from visitors and our community members, we’ve finished pruning our grapes. Hallelujah! SOOpers Heather Haines and Thomas Grogan spent the month with us, helping with pruning and in the bakery. They live at Twin Oaks community in rural central Virginia. It was a delight to host them and to learn more about other communities. We also hosted a group of students from Bedford, Ma. The high-schoolers learned about Koinonia through their church youth group and raised the money to visit Koinonia through hosting spaghetti dinners and viewings of the Briars in the Cotton Patch documentary. Next month looks to be quite a busy month for hospitality. We’re nearly full for the month of March and quickly filling up for April. Camping space and a few beds are still available for both months. If you’re planning to visit, please let us know as soon as you can. E-mail hospitality@koinoniapartners.org

The Permaculture Design Course was a success! We had 31 students and four teachers for the 11-day course filled to the brim with study, reading, design, class, and a little fellowship, too. As part of the course, students split into five groups and proposed a permaculture design for various sections of the farm. What wonderful plans they drew up for us! Novice Kurt Morrow and our farmer Steward Brendan Prendergast took the course along with visitors, and for their final project, they will draw up a plan for the entire farm using permaculture design principles. Good luck, Brendan and Kurt! We can’t wait to see what wonderful ideas you have. We’re already looking forward to the next Permaculture Design Course offered at the farm. Pictured, Kurt presents his group’s design of the center circle of the farm.