Family – Page 3 – vander giessen-reitsma

Connecting through art and water

By Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma | September 30, 2020

We can’t believe summer is starting to wind down already! In the midst of the pandemic, time has been very strange—moving so slowly at times, and moving so fast at others. Our fuzzy little chicks that arrived in June have gotten so big! They’re scratching around for insects and gobbling up any veggies we toss in, though it will still be a couple of months before they start laying eggs.

One of the few social events we’ve been able to host at the Huss Project this summer has been Open Mic Night, which would usually take place the first Thursday of every month downtown at Lowry’s Books. There’s always a variety of genres and ages represented at the mic. This month, Jordan Hamilton returned for his second feature performance—such an amazingly talented musician. Between Open Mic Night and the downtown theatre and art center, we’re grateful for all of the great art we get to experience right here in our small town.

Kirstin has spent a lot of time in August and September in the bittersweet task of packing up the family cottage on the lake to prepare it for sale. As many wonderful memories as the family has had at the lake, the time has come to move on. Thankfully, we have many other connections on nearby shorelines as well as our own kayaks to continue enjoying the abundant waterways in our area. We’ll never be short on places to boat and swim with our kiddo, including a great wading river right outside our back door!

In addition to the river being so close, we’re also grateful that even though we live right downtown, we have a sweet back yard with lots of room to explore and play. As we continue to stay safe during the pandemic, it’s been a great spot to relax with friends around the fire pit…or you know, take a nice nap in the hammock.

Doing the work

By Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma | August 31, 2020

Throughout the summer, folks throughout the country and the world have been demonstrating and continuing to work for racial justice, particularly following the murder of George Floyd in May. At the beginning of this month, we came together with a group of neighbors to help repaint a Black Live Matter street mural that had been vandalized. The small rural city where we live has a lot of work to do to be truly equitable for all our neighbors, but we’re grateful for many amazing people in our community who are doing the work and standing together for justice.

August has been another month of transition as we said goodbye to our summer AmeriCorps folks who helped out at the Huss Project. We had an amazing crew this summer, and we’re very sad to be saying goodbye. We all really appreciated one another’s support and silliness through this strange time.

This month has also been bringing on the vegetables in earnest, and ramped up food preservation season. Each year, we work to fill our freezer and our basement shelves with lots of good food from the farm that we can enjoy through the colder months.

Because of the busyness of the farm season and now the pandemic, we weren’t sure if we’d be able to go anywhere this summer, but we did manage a short weekend camping trip to the small farm where our friend Emily (who’s really more like family) has been living and working. It was a true delight to see the place where she’s landed and meet some other folks doing an interesting farming project on a small scale. We’re really looking forward to raising our child close to the land with knowledge of where our food comes from and love for all of the incredible gifts of the wild, wooly natural world.

Saying goodbye to Grandma Beverly

By Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma | June 30, 2020

June was…let’s say a month of contrasts. After a sudden and quick decline, Kirstin’s Grandma Beverly passed away. All through her growing up years, Kirstin never lived more than a half mile from Grandpa Duke and Grandma Beverly and has many happy memories of sleepovers, holidays, and Sunday dinners. Grandma was generous, funny, fiercely independent, and always fashionable. She never let a phone call or visit go by without saying she was praying for you and loved you very much. “You’re precious to us, you know.” As a young teacher, Kirstin’s grandma had Rob’s mom for a student in second grade—how’s that for “going way back”? Since we started dating when we were 15, Grandma Beverly was very special to Rob, too, and we’ll dearly miss her prayers, hugs, visits, treats, and many kindnesses.

Alongside deep grief: new beginnings. Namely a new Saturday farmers market at the Huss Project, designed to bring food from local farms (including our small urban farm) to our neighbors safely during the pandemic. We’re starting small with what’s available early in the season and just a few farms represented, but we’re hoping it will grow throughout the season. We’ve also restarted our beehives and got 27 fuzzy little chicks in the mail, so here’s to honey and eggs before too long.

Though we feel Grandma’s loss every day, we continue to enjoy the beauty of the place we live in because of her adventurous spirit. It was Grandma, after all, who suggested the leisurely drive to Pleasant Lake, where she and Grandpa ended up buying a cottage in 1976. Little did they know that 44 years later, their grandkids would be wading in these rivers and longing to share such joy with their kiddo before too long.

Adapting to new normals

By Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma | April 30, 2020

April passed in a strange blur as we and everyone around us struggled to understand the new reality we’re living in under the pandemic. We’re grateful that we’ve been in the position to be able to work mostly from home, but we are hurting for those who are at risk for all kinds of reasons.

Over the course of many, many, many walks this month to get out of the house safely, we’ve been able to enjoy the unfolding of spring with more attention than we might usually. We’ve especially appreciated the Portage River Walk Trail, a relatively new trail through the woods just a short distance from our home. In the absence of many of our usual social activities, we entertained ourselves with forcing forsythia blooms indoors and cheered ourselves, if not our neighbors, with a series of silly superhero bike rides (see above). We’ve been keeping in touch with family and friends by phone and Zoom—thank goodness for technological advancements that make this all possible!

In the midst of everything, Rob’s been coordinating a project to renovate a small house owned by the non-profit we help run here in town. We bought the house in December to house an on-site caretaker who will help with seasonal maintenance at the Huss Project, and hopefully also help out with the Huss farm. We’re very excited that our friends Dan and Margaret have decided to move back to town and take on the first term as caretakers. The house is looking super lovely and cozy as we look forward to welcoming them!

A visit and a California trip

By Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma | February 29, 2020

February started out with a quick-but-lovely visit from Kirstin’s parents. Kirstin’s Great Uncle Marv passed away in 2019 and the family was looking for a meaningful place to go with some of the furniture and other items Great Aunt Barb wanted to give away in preparation for downsizing. We were very grateful to receive some lovely family heirlooms for our community development work, and also to spend some time hanging out and having lunch with Kirstin’s parents, who graciously offered to move the donated items from Illinois to Michigan.

*With Mom and Dad Vander Giessen at the Huss Project Imaginarium.*

The rest of early February, we spent getting ready for an epic trip to California. On February 11, we flew into San Francisco, rented a mini-van, borrowed some camping gear from a friend, and set out for five nights of camping along Highway 1. Each day brought a new hiking trail, a new landscape, and countless incredible views. We had never been to the redwoods before, and could feel the magic of such deep history with all five senses. On the ocean, we saw whales, sea otters, and elephant seals, and then took in a different sort of spectacle with a tour of the Hearst Castle bedrooms. We prayed vespers with the monks at New Camaldoli Hermitage, slept overnight in an apple orchard, drank morning coffee on the beach…it was truly a refreshing time of play, rest, and natural wonders.

*Hiking up a mountain in less than ideal shape.*

Our southern destination was an annual conference we’ve been wanting to attend for years. Each year has a different theme, and this year’s conference focused on knowing our own family histories as we seek to repair relationship with indigenous communities in our specific regions and beyond. There was a lot of time for self-reflection and sharing, and it was an experience of deep learning that is still very much ongoing for both of us. We are very thankful to be part of an extended community that is asking important questions about injustice in our world, and supporting each other in the work we need to do toward healing.

After the conference, we took the faster route back up to San Francisco for one full day exploring the sights and neighborhoods on foot, streetcar, and rail. Then, Kirstin dropped Rob off at the airport, picked up a group of folks who had just flown in, and continued on to a work gathering north of San Francisco. The mini-van came in handy again as there was a wonderfully welcome opportunity to continue camping out within hearing of the Pacific Ocean waves. As February comes to a close, we’re back in Michigan, enjoying the last of the year’s snow and settling back in to prepare for spring.

Category: Family