Greetings From Red Roof Farm


We can't believe another year has passed at our new home in Indiana. We are STILL going through boxes, and there are a few loose ends to tie up regarding the construction work we did last year, but all in all, we are fairly well settled.

Harold still loves his tractor, and finds every excuse to use it for something, if nothing else than a jaunt down the driveway and the pond road to collect the mail. On Thanksgiving we bundled up our gang of college kid dinner guests and took them on a hay ride through the woods and around the farm in a wagon attached to Old Blue. Tractor-drawn hay rides are just as much fun as horse-pulled ones, judging by the hilarity and hijinks amongst the passengers. (Please visit our web site for pics at: www.his.com/~hevans/)

Another favorite toy Harold has is his new chain saw. We supplement our geo-thermal heat with wood, and since we have acres of woods, we have a never ending supply of fallen and dead trees that need to be cleared away from the trails. Our wood pile is tall, wide, and thick, and ready for anything a Hoosier winter can throw at us. When he's not making like a modern day Paul Bunyan, Harold is busy with his new chamber orchestra and the new violin shop. Business is great, and we haven't done any advertising at all! So much for Harold's retiring down on the farm!

Michael is a Junior at Indiana University and is busily preparing for his Junior recital. He is principal second of his orchestra this year, a spot he earned last summer leading the section for the IU summer opera production of Barber of Seville. Seeing him perform and hearing him practice is wonderful, something we missed terribly when we were still living in Virginia. Michael plays in a chamber music trio, and in his dad's orchestra too, so his violin muscles are really getting a workout.

Jewel is preparing for her brown belt test in Taekwon-do and is a lethal adversary in a new martial art she took up last year called Modern Arnis. It is a Filipino form of Kung Fu that uses 30 inch long, solid bamboo canes as weapons. She is quick and agile in the art, and we see black belt status coming up in the not-too-distant future. She is devoted to her cello and piano, and since it is December, you can be assured that she is up to her neck in lessons, master classes, rehearsals and performances. She is continuing to home school and is becoming quite the expert in French and Algebra. She takes a music theory class at IU every Saturday, plays in her dad's orchestra, and takes good care of our furred, feathered, and finned menagerie. She is one busy young lady, about to turn 13, and will soon be taller than her mom.

Grandma Jewel, who turned 83 last month, had a setback last February. She fell and broke her hip and femur. She had to have surgery and spent some time in a rehab facility, but she came back home after a couple of months. She's in a wheelchair now, but enjoys doing some art work and watching the deer in our woods. Beth set up a bird feeder just outside her window, and the nuthatches and chickadees provide pleasant entertainment with their gymnastics at the feeder.

Beth still loves studying Taekwon-do, and she has begun Modern Arnis as well. She was supposed to take her TKD black belt test in Virginia, just before the big move to Indiana, but broke another bone in her left foot, and couldn't take the test. She has had to start all over again at the new school. That is a daunting task, but she loves the program there, and it is enough different to be challenging and not repetitive. She especially loves Modern Arnis. It is so much fun to learn a new martial art that involves weapons like canes, swords, and knives. The uniforms are really cool too - no baggy white "pajamas."

Although Beth was planning on working in wildlife rehabilitation this past spring and summer, her home responsibilities prevented her from finishing the training program. She plans to get back to that eventually, but in the meantime she satisfied her need to work with wild animals by playing landlord/midwife to Eastern bluebirds. We set up some nesting boxes on the farm, and Beth's responsibility was to monitor the progress of the babies. The boxes are designed for observation, and the bluebirds don't seem to mind humans opening up their homes and peeking at the nestlings. Beth actually got to see one little chick breaking its way out of the shell. The Eastern bluebird population is recovering in Indiana because of efforts like this, and if you are interested in helping in such a project, look up bluebirds on the Internet. Many states have nesting box programs just like this one.

Well, Red Roof Farm has passed through another cycle of seasons. This spring three new fawns were added to our little herd of deer. In fact, one was born just yards from our house. We saw the tiny little baby, all wet and wobbly, following its mother into the woods, the umbilicus still attached to its tummy. This summer, our resident great blue heron ate Beth's favorite bull frog, and the turtles in the pond actually learned to come when Harold or Beth called them. (Bribery in the form of game fish pellets helped a lot.) The blackberry crop was ample, and Beth managed to fill her freezer with berries without getting bitten by a snake this year. She narrowly escaped a confrontation with a swarm of angry wasps, but that's just part of the adventure of combing the bushes for these wonderful purple delights. Fall arrived with a blaze of color, and our favorite sharp shinned hawk, Annie, has returned to her fall/winter hunting grounds around our farm. Now the pond is frozen over, and we are teased almost daily by tantalizing snatches of snow flurries telling us that the Winter Solstice is upon us once again. Mother Earth's yearly cycle is ever so evident here at Red Roof Farm, and we are truly grateful to be here and to be part of it.

We all hope you and yours are well and happy during this festive time of year, and that 2001 will be safe and prosperous for you as well.

With very best wishes,

The Evans Family