What would you do if you got a frantic call from your best friend asking, "Can we move our farm to your farm? There is a fire across the road from our place."?

That is what I heard on the other end of the line when my phone rang at nearly 4:00 this afternoon. It turns out there was a grass fire directly across the road from Rob @wwf and Carey's @careypage place. They have dozens of chickens, almost 20 goats, and a small flock of geese. And just to make things interesting; there are four new-born goats in the mix.

That is a lot of livestock to move. But my immediate answer was absolutely. We are renting a farmstead that has outbuilding sheds, a chicken coop, corral with a shelter, and almost five acres of grass. The house is smallish, but has a fully finished basement. It also happens to be the farm that Rob grew up on.

We were in emergency mode, and ready to go into action.... and then ... the fire settled down. If you know anything about wildfires, the visible fire and smoke can change quite quickly, but it leaves behind smouldering underbrush and underground branches, that can re-ignite and blaze up in an instant.

So the excitement has died down for the moment, but what I want to share is that, if the situation were reversed, I know that my friends would happily do the same. This is the value of community. A group of friends who support each other in tough times, celebrate the good times, and come when needed. This can be accomplished on a super-small scale, but it can also work in a larger community.

So, who is managing the fire? The community volunteer fire department. Neighbors from the local area who dedicate the time to get trained, and the hours on call, and the time away from family to be involved and support neighbors in their community.

It is a responsibility and a pleasure to have a close community, tribe or clan. I am honored to be a part of this clan. We are imperfect, opinionated, strong-willed, silly, hard-working, focused, goofy, and come from a wide range of backgrounds. But what bonds the relationships is the desire to be in supportive community of people of like mind who will be there in good times and bad.

You can pop over to Rob's page @wwf or Carey's @careypage and get more details on their experience from the 'hot seat'.