By Lynn Kotrba, executive director

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As we all know, the past five months have been like nothing we have seen before.  The pandemic upon us has changed the current way we go about living many parts of our lives.  From working and schooling at home, to masking in public and social distancing, for many of us, the way we go about our lives quickly changed in March 2020.  As for our family, we saw a huge shift in our routines and day to day life.  Activities were cancelled, two parents working from home and seven children participating in distance learning.  As summer approached, I was thankful to look forward to a slight sense of normalcy with the start of Farm Camp and to see some Hope in the work that we are able to do.  

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As you will see throughout other areas of this issue of Keeping "Ewe" in the Loop, the pandemic didn't have too much of an impact on Harvest Hope Farm, which we are very thankful for.  Lambing was successful in May and June, Harvesting Hope for Others Farm Camp is in full swing and tomorrow (August 3rd) we are excited to start our first session of Llama Llama Camp for pre-schoolers!  Of course, that also means we welcomed a couple of new members to our farm family recently, Nokomis and Caspian are our new llama friends and I am sure they will be a hit with our Llama Llama Campers this week!  Be sure to watch our website and social networking pages in the near future for opportunities to interact with these amazing creatures.

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We are also excited for our 3rd Annual Fundraiser which will be held on Saturday September 12th from 5-8pm at Harvest Hope Farm.  We have been hopeful that we would be able to gather with all of you after so many months of "social distancing".  This will be a wonderful evening for the entire family with a free will donation meal prepared and served by NDSU's Carnivore Catering, free kid's games, silent auction, bake sale and the main event, a special guest LIVE musical performance by Shelby Olivia Lentz.  Shelby was recently diagnosed with Huntington's Disease and is in her early 20's.  Her sister, Beanna, recently died of juvenile Huntington's Disease on Easter and her father continues to suffer the impact of HD.  Shelby will share her music and HD story with us.  We hope you will join us to support Shelby and Harvest Hope Farm as we continue our mission to harvest hope in others by enhancing their emotional, physical, spiritual and financial health through a hands-on farm experience and education concerning sustainable food resources and environmental stewardship.

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Blessings - 

Lynn and Jason Kotrba and Family

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