The Misty Manor, Mercers

We will be at the Not-So-Square Arts Festival in Mount Vernon today in the town square.

Trans-partisan group of politicians, business', farmers and families mobilize 'first in the nation' food Independence movement

Columbia, MO- A group of prominent citizens will gather this Sunday during the Sustainable Living Fair at Columbia College in Columbia, Missouri to announce the details of a monumental 'first in the nation' Missouri Citizen's Food Security Congress; a call to action for implementing a sustainable state-wide food supply system.

Updated 3 Times: As most of you know, a deadly tornado struck Joplin, Missouri on Monday 23 May 2011, with an estimated toll of: 8,000 structures, 300 businesses, 4,000 jobs, 1,150 injured and at least 142 lives lost. Our farm is a bit over 30 miles from Joplin and one of the tornadoes touched down just about four miles away. Parts of the St. John's hospital have been scattered over much of the region. We have had medical records turn up in our front yard. Fortunately we escaped the storm system with minimal damage.

This journal is an account of what has been happening in Joplin and what we have been doing with the relief efforts locally. We have started putting photos in an image gallery.

We are currently digging out from the storm last night. We got hit pretty hard, hail, rain, wind, etc., and things are a bit scrambled. Luckily, damage to the PV array was minor.

Anyway, we are still on here, but things are going to be a bit delayed throughout the day and, unfortunately, our stock was greatly reduced. Candles, which were already set up on the porch, are about a complete loss. Things will probably get rolling about noon here. If you are already on your way, you can hang out, just be aware we are still scrambling.

We're hosting a primitive skills day at the Manor on Saturday, April 9, from 10:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. Among the things we're going to get into:

Primitive Soapmaking - making lye soap from leaching rainwater through woodashes to finished soap.

Breadmaking from whole grains - making bread from wheatberries including making a sponge to increase gluten production and a good, light loaf.

Weed Walk - Eric will be conducting a weed walk to identify local wild plants that are edible, medicinal or otherwise useful. These have always been a big hit at our events!

Well, after a very exciting week, we are moving our annual soapmaking workshop to next Saturday, May 29, 2010, from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M. on our farm

This workshop will cover soapmaking from scratch, from a wood-ash lye leach to finished product. There will also be a weedwalk in the afternoon identifying local wild edible, medicinal and otherwise useful plants.

The primitive soap-making workshop scheduled for this weekend (Saturday, 22 May) is rescheduled for 29 May, also a Saturday, mostly due to persistent bad weather and partly due to the need to get the online ordering system back online after the recent break-in. The workshop will run from 10 am until 4 pm.

Updated 1 time: It looks like we will be at the Society for Creative Anachronisms, Kingdom of Calontir Regional Fighter Practice this weekend (20-21 September). This is an international Medieval Reenactment group which will be holding a fighter practice including armored combat, archery, equestrian, some arts and sciences, and, of course, some merchants like us.