Ridgeland & Environs

Ridgeland and towns/villages around it epitomize what an author has recently described as the vital nexus between rural life and cities, the connexions that truly make the word "local" vibrant and meaningful. It is a no-nonsense small farm town that has a huge amount of heart, strong resources and welcomes strangers and regional people alike. No Currier and Ives here, nor Norman Rockwell, its' summer and winter festivals gather people from close by and afar.

We got to know it well in our years farming there (see "Dirty Work", the recently released video on the farm to be premiered at the party in Ridgeland this week), and is still consider our "hometown" out here. In the many years we worked and lived there we were involved in only one insulting incident, and when we left doing the repairs on a well poisoned by a neighbor's dairy there was virtually no animosity.

So it is a fitting place to have my 80th birthday as a community celebration, and as a location to not only toast and make better known some of the vital organizations of the area: the Hay River Transition Initiative, Farmer to Farmer and the local food shelf, Pantry, but to have an essential mix of people both of the region and the cities. Please come and enjoy yourself.

It is appropriate that some relatively newcomers to the area, Joel and Meg Wittenmeyer of Bifrost Farms LLC in Boyceville will prepare the food for the dinner to be served in Ridgeland; Joel has extensive experience in cooking. These talents are not described yet on their website, but I suggest you look at it to understand the first major focus of their work in the region: http.www.Bifrontfarms.com. Food and their relationship to it will soon be added to the mix.