Hooray! It turns out, they weren’t lost after all. If only I’d thought to check their YouTube program, Countryside Acres, sooner, I could have saved myself a lot of worrying about those eight children and their well-meaning but misinformed parents.

In the time that I’ve been looking for word of them, they have not been idle. I don’t know how they’ve done it, but they have managed to obtain a nice plot of land — how large, and under what terms of ownership, I have yet to learn. And there are vegetables already growing there, so obviously the land is fertile, and the family know their farming. They have cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, pumpkins, tons of beans, beets (of course — can’t make borshch without beets) and more, so they surely won’t starve.

And although it’s not livable yet, they’re building a house on that land: a large, two-story house, big enough for all ten of them. I watched as a local company delivered and began installing the windows and glass doors — an amazing accomplishment in itself, in a land not known for its concept of service in past years. There was an issue with some of the windows not precisely fitting the assigned cut-outs, but the installers quickly went to work with some sort of filler. I know nothing about construction, so maybe that’s normal. In any event, they seemed to have it all under control.

There was another video of the family spending some rare leisure time in Nizhny Novgorod, where there was a military flyby scheduled. And from this one, I found that the Feenstras are learning to speak and read Russian. That’s a relief, because it would otherwise be nearly impossible to continue living there. I’m sure it will be easier for the children, but dad Arend seemed to be catching on as well.

So, as the sun sets on beautiful Сельские Акры — sorry . . . Countryside Acres . . .

Let’s just bid a fond farewell to the Feenstras, for now at least, and wish them well in their new life. Though I have to say, I still think they’re nuts.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/19/24