It has been an eventful couple of weeks at the farm! Arriving on the evening of October 2nd were three helpers from Texas. Matthew, Brent, and Angela spent the week with the Maronde’s, hard at work cutting trees, cleaning up portions of the property, and putting in a line of electric fence. Here, Matthew and Brent explain why they came so far to support the work of LIRA:

Matthew and Brent returned to Texas on October 6th, while Angela stayed through the weekend, and thus helped with another big project: clearing the machine shed of tractors! With the help of the Rabe family from Nebraska, and their farming relative from Iowa (who brought a big tractor!), six tractors were removed from the pole shed on October 7th, clearing the space so that the structure could be repaired.

That project began in earnest on October 15th. The Rabe family returned, joined by Pastor Ian Kinney, LIRA supporter and pastor in Northeast Kansas, and new rafters were erected, the first stage in putting a new metal roof on the structure, making it usable for the winter. And if that weren’t enough, this work day took place only one day after the mobile home that will be the next temporary home of the Maronde’s arrived on site. Whew!

There is much still to do to prepare the property for winter. The mobile home is in place, but many steps remain to make it livable space. In addition, the machine shed needs to be strengthened and then roofed with sheet metal. Finally, the chicken shed needs to be cleaned and readied for the Maronde’s small winter flock. Much to do before the snow flies! The Lutheran Institute of Regenerative Agriculture truly appreciates all of the wonderful help received over the past few weeks, and if you are interested in coming out, we would be very glad to have you! We feed and house workers 🙂