I’m thoroughly confused.

After a period of silence, a video of Anneesa Feenstra and the younger children appeared several days ago — obviously having been filmed some days or weeks earlier, judging from the weather and the clothes they were wearing — in which she announced that they were winding up their stay in North Carolina and heading back to Canada. There were even shots of Arend arriving at the campsite to drive them all back.

Then, three days ago, there was a YouTube video of their tenants, the Pulley family, back on the farm in Nizhny Novgorod, in which they excitedly told us that the Feenstras were due back “on Friday.” Again, the date was unclear, but based on the weather there, they also appeared to be in that transition period between winter and spring, when shoots are popping up from beneath the earth’s surface but the weather gods still occasionally hit you with a surprise snow squall. It looked like late March or early April in Russia as well.

Justin and Anita Pulley have been busy this winter, keeping the snow cleared from around the house and other farm buildings; tending to the cows, sheep, pigs and chickens (not to forget Lucy the dog); dealing with van and tractor troubles, a broken barn door, frozen water troughs . . . all the things that farmers deal with throughout a snowy winter season. So they will surely be happy to see the Feenstras again.

And then . . . this happened:

But yesterday, a new episode was posted on YouTube by Arend Feenstra — also showing bare trees and a dreary landscape as though filmed in late March or very early April — in which the family is seen in their camper, driving through Virginia’s Cumberland Gap as they head north toward Canada. And at long last, some of my questions were answered.

With Arend narrating, I learned that the video was made on April 6th — early April, as I had guessed. They planned to stay another couple of days before hitting the road for Canada, where he said he might do another week’s work before flying back to Russia.

(Question: Can they be sure of getting last-minute plane reservations? I hope so.)

He then reiterated what he has said before about the reason for the trip: that he needed to earn enough money for some much-needed farm equipment, to replenish their depleted savings, and to cover the $25,000 in plane fare plus other expenses of the trip. I have to say, Arend and son Wes must have worked their butts off to earn that kind of money in just over three months. I do hope they remember to pay their Canadian taxes next year.

And then Arend went on to answer the question some of his viewers have asked as to how they could leave the farm for such a long time. Expressing his gratitude to the Pulleys for taking over in their absence, he said that there would have been virtually nothing for them to do on the farm this winter, and that this would probably be their last chance to take advantage of the lull.

But there’s always busy work on a farm, as Justin Pulley will no doubt gladly testify. So what it all boils down to, again, is the opportunity — available in Canada, but not in their beloved Russia — to earn a substantial amount of money to carry them until their farm becomes profitable, hopefully this year.

*. *. *

So there you have the Feenstra update, at least through April 6th. I’m still left wondering when they actually arrived back at their ancestral home in Canada, and when they’re expected to return to their adopted home in Russia . . . if they’re not already there. These long periods of air silence are unusual for a family that has been so highly visible for so long, normally sharing with us all of the daily adventures of their hard-working, sometimes peripatetic lives.

From the time they first announced that they would be heading off on their months-long sabbatical to Canada and the U.S., I have been puzzled by the Feenstras’ scant explanations of the trip’s purpose, how they were able to afford it, and — most interestingly — how they were able to leave Russia and their farm for such an extended period. Arend’s most recent “answers” are no different from what he has said before, and I am still not satisfied that there is no government propaganda ploy behind it all. Between Russia’s restrictions on immigrants, and diplomatic relations with the West complicating travel, they would otherwise have had to untangle some major red tape in order to make it happen . . . just as they needed official approval and assistance to obtain their farm in the first place.

But then, nearly everything about the Feenstras of Ontario and Nizhny Novgorod raises questions that never seem to be answered. And that, of course, is part of the fascination. So I continue to look forward to the news, and videos, of their homecoming to the farm in their adopted Russian paradise. Meanwhile . . .

Добро пожаловать домой, Feenstras! (“Welcome home, Feenstras!”)

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
4/29/26