Finally!

By Rev. Lee Alison Crawford, Vicar
For the past week, down here on the farm, we have been running around like squirrels putting up acorns for the winter. All the projects left unfinished from the summer and fall need to be completed now as we face the first snowfall for the season. (By the time you read this column, we will know whether it materialized or was a bust.)
In short order, we replaced the rotting roof to the shed between the guest house and the vicarage. Now the new metal roof will protect the cord of wood we managed to stack in under 24 hours, thanks to the help of a visiting couple who had never been to Mission Farm before! The wood is green, but we enjoy the sense of security of seeing a woodpile taller than we are and twice as long as two cars end-to-end. We got the rotting roof over the oil supply line replaced with left-over pieces of the shed roof—on the farm, nothing goes to waste. Indeed, when we pulled off the moss-covered shingles to that roof, we discovered a vintage poster-painted sign, “Sherburne Olde Home Day — Food Fun Block Dance.”
We have that edgy sense of anticipation that comes with the first snowfall of the season or, even bigger, when a tropical storm or hurricane is bearing down on us. We know the sense of inevitability as well as excitement. This year, our curiosity is augmented by what we know is happening on the other side of the ridge that separates Mission Farm from Killington Resort.
Yes! Just as the snow finally is going to fall from the sky, the FIS World Cup will start the end of this week. We rejoice that the FIS gave the resort the green light to go ahead with this major event and wish all well.
And … we wonder down here on the Sherburne Flats just how much of the excitement, energy and people will spill down to our quiet valley? Will we see overflow parking at the Skyeship? Will people come down to Mission Farm, that stone church that so many tell us they have seen for years as they drive by and have always wondered about it but never stopped… until now?
In this week of so much possibility, we invite everyone—skiers, riders, tourists, visitors, spectators and locals—to turn off Route 4 and mosey down Mission Farm Road. Take the opportunity to leave the hustle and bustle of all that is going on up on the mountain and spend a little time in a peaceful place where, visually at least, things have not changed much from when the land was settled in 1793 and the church built in 1894. If you have time and need quiet, come into the church and rest. Take a walk on our trails. (It’s hunting season, so please do wear orange.) Most of all, know you are welcome here to stop and sit awhile.
“Musings from Mission Farm” is an occasional reflection on life in the valley on the Sherburne Flats. Church of Our Saviour (Episcopal) has ministered to the Killington region since 1894. The Rev. Lee Alison Crawford serves as its pastor and also volunteers as a Mountain Ambassador at Killington. All are welcome to worship with us Sundays at 9:30 a.m.