On January second, we celebrated the 80th birthday of Carolyn Mosley! She and her husband Don were one of Jubilee’s three founding families from Koinonia Farm in 1979, and we hope you have had the opportunity at some point over the years to meet this warm, generous, and thoughtful member of our “beloved community.” Don organized a birthday trip for them to Carolyn’s home state of Hawaii, and they had a wonderful time visiting family and friends.

 
Meanwhile at Jubilee we were celebrating the baptism of a mother in our hospitality program as well as the dedication of her new baby and three older children. This bilingual (English-Spanish) service was held at a nearby Baptist church that has been very responsive to the Karen refugees settling in our county over the past fifteen years: initially lending their sanctuary for Sunday worship and then one member of the Baptist church financing a loan for the Karen congregation to purchase their own building. We are thankful for the continued relationship with these folks and how God continues to open all our hearts to loving our neighbors more deeply.

 
We have also been keeping busy with winter land work. We are thankful to be able to supply most of our own eggs and all our own dairy products. Year after year our blueberry bushes continue to grow very well and now require substantial pruning to make sure the berries remain in reach! We even rented a wood-chipper this year to deposit the mulched branches right back onto the plants. Sawing, splitting, and hauling wood for heating keeps us warm several times over as we anticipate the beginning of another spring and Lenten season.