Each year, for the past eleven years, my father’s mother’s family has had a combination family and farm reunion, the purpose of which is to celebrate both the family and it’s relation to the land. Usually, “Buchtafest is an event that spans two days. One day for people to come into town and meet up on the farm near sunset for hot dogs, s’mores, and a bonfire, followed by a second day of festivities that takes place in the early afternoon and features a more comprehensive menu.

Additionally, the second day allows for people to introduce themselves, explain their relation to the farm and the Buchtas, and a lecture, of sorts, is delivered that explains how the particular Buchtas I descend from came to Madison County and why they stayed.

My route to Buchtafast begins when my father’s mother came into this world on April 13, 1899. Born in Madison County, Illinois to George and Mathida “Tillie” Hill Buchta, her name was Nora, and it was Nora’s life I was trying to commemorate and understand when I made what ended up being my 2018 North Carolina State Fair project.

Because of the pandemic, it wasn’t feasible for people to come from out of town and meet up at the farm in June as we usually do, so instead of the usual in person Buchtafest, the event was held virtually over Zoom. In the meantime, I had decided that if I couldn’t go to the farm, I would bring the farm to my fence here in Albuquerque–or at least a facsimile of one part of one of the farm buildings worked in crochet.

The reunion itself, took place over zoom, so while other Buchtas were talking, I did what I often do: I crocheted.

But as diligent as I was, I didn’t have it done by the time the virtual reunion had ended. In fact, there was still some work to be done this morning:

So I worked through the morning, reworking a gray sky into blue, and I worked through the afternoon, but despite my diligence, I still have two panels to complete and twenty-four feet of joining to do:

But I’m not about to quit now, so when the sun rises on the new day, I will continue forward, one stitch at a time.