Did You Know?

We’re excited about this weekend’s Friends of Koinonia event at Hopwood Christian Church in Johnson City, Tn. Join us for an evening of fellowship and discussion about our history, our shared life of hospitality, current happenings, and how you can get involved. Plus, we’ll throw in some free Koinonia chocolate and pecan samples! The event will take place on Sunday, April 11 at 6 p.m. We have another Friends event coming up on April 24 in San Anselmo, Ca. If you’d like to attend a Friends of Koinonia meeting, but we haven’t announced any for your area, please consider hosting one yourself. We’d love to come visit with you, your church, or community! E-mail Amanda Moore to schedule a gathering in your area.

Hopwood is the previous church of Koinonian Amanda Moore , whose birthday happens to be this week. Amanda is an exploring member, an apprentice, here at Koinonia. Meaning she’s in discernment in regards to calling and permanent membership in the community. Her duties include coordinating our Communications department and facilitating our internship program. She’s responsible for this e-mail update each month, our bi-annual newspaper, and other similar efforts. So her week is overflowing with activities of writing, listening, articulating, snapping photos around the farm, reflecting, and studying. Here is a rare shot of Amanda, who prefers being behind the camera rather than in the photo. If you think of it, send her a birthday greeting,  info@koinoniapartners.org

Reaching Out

Help! Volunteer tutors needed!! Koinonia’s Home School Cooperative is looking for full-time tutors for next year. You’ll be spending an academic year with some of the greatest kids in the whole world. You’ll come to love them as much as we do. For details about the volunteer description and more information, contact Cori Lyman-Barner at khscinfo@gmail.com.

Still on the hunt. Do you know the answer? Harry Atkinson built the house across from the Koinonia dining hall for his lovely bride Allene in the mid 1940s. At some point, the house was named Wellspring House. Do you know when the house was given this name and the reason? Thank you for helping us record this bit of history about Koinonia. We love discovering and rediscovering these interesting facts about our shared life.

Our spring newspaper will be coming out in a few weeks, so be sure to update your mailing address for us. If you’ve moved in the last few months, e-mail Amanda with your previous and your new address. This spring edition shares some of our community building efforts in the last few years. We hope you find it helpful and inspiring.

At the Farm

In the garden, we’ve been digging out the beds and pathways, and weeding around the strawberries and garlic growing in the beds. And after several months of hard work and much help, we recently completed pruning one of the grape vineyards. We’re still working at weeding out the blueberries, pulling up blackberry plants and other stray vines. In the greenhouse, we’ve got several seedlings and transplants going. Figs and blueberries are the main transplants, meaning that we dug up small growth from an existing bush and planted them in a pot where we hope they will grow bigger than they would have otherwise. We’re also planting plum and pear trees around the houses. Imagine walking just outside your front door to get some fresh, yummy fruit!