it's gotten cold. reeeeal cold. we're all working our winter wardrobes out. i'm wearing my snowpants basically all the time and paul is looking like a Stanfield's spokesmodel in his all gray, long john outfit. the wood burning stove is roaring all the time. the river is frozen and begging to be skated on.
everyone's mostly been working inside the house - working on our cold room, butchering ducks, fixing the leaky bathtub.
i'm still on the reading train, i had put a bunch of holds on books at the library so i have to keep up with them. i'm halfway through American Gods by Neil Gaiman. it's pretty wild.
also reading a book called Natural Birth Control Made Simple. sometimes i feel like all the women i know are way ahead of me on the fertility/cycle awareness... but better late than never.
November 22, 2010
November 17, 2010
dogs and photologs
one of my favorite part of the wwoof trip was all the dogs we encountered. they were seriously all so great. farm dogs are so balanced and healthy, i guess because they have such a strong sense of purpose (protect the farm... supervise farmers) and the dogs at golden ears are no exception.
i love these dogs more and more every day. when we first got here in the summer, there were up to 20 people living on the farm, wwoofers staying for a week and then moving on, and all kinds of visitors. keiko and ella seemed indifferent to us for the most part, and i was kind of bummed out. but now that we've been almost constantly for 6 months and we are down to about 4 people in the house, i really feel like we are tight "pack" full of respect and love. they are very different from each other, but both so well behaved.
in addition to these two, we are dog sitting a black lab named contessa. she's been driving us all a bit crazy with her neediness and her apparent lack of farm sense. but even she had a great day; she caught a mouse and we've got her into riding in the back of the truck.
we just took the dogs for a walk and came across a neighbour walking his three insane pomeranians. they were squeeeeeling like crazy and yipping and pulling all over their leashes. contessa ran over to investigate but after i called her back our three unleashed dogs pretty much just walked on by leaving them all in a small dog frenzy. i was proud of our dogs and kind of disturbed by the neighbour dogs. yikes.
&
since i de-activated my facebook account i thought it might be nice to have somewhere else i put photos. i haven't organized this at all or figured out how to use it so much yet but i'm sure i will soon - a flickr account
&
in the last few weeks out of different dumpsters in kamloops, we've found 50 boxes of pot of gold chocolate, tons of orange juice, a box of boxes of deeeelicious high quality cheesecake, a huge fruit picking ladder, a big aluminum ladder, brand new boots, a fire proof safe still in the box, and a bunch of other random stuff.
so... i guess i am basically suggesting that if you aren't already dumpster diving, maybe it's something to consider, especially if you are broke.
November 12, 2010
the kootenos
i just got back from a bit of a trip; paul and i went to the kootenays to help our friend Markus clean out his property which he finally sold. the whole trip wasn't super enjoyable for me, because, for one thing, i don't like travelling that much. i mostly like staying where i live. i feel like i am typing words of sacrilege, but of course there are exceptions, or i would still be in calgary.
anyway, we set off in the farm van, which although i am grateful for its use and that it held itself together the whole time, it's so loud. it seemingly has no muffler, and the whole thing creaks and flaps faithfully along.
on the way we stopped at Half Way hot springs, which were amazing! we didn't take our camera down with us: this is the only good photo i could find of it, THIS IS NOT ME OR MY PHOTO (and this person is obviously a prude):
the whole thing was really amazing, hippie made, nobody around, friggin' hot.
after that we drove a bunch, had a big bonfire with markus, went to some dumps, visited nelson, realized nelson is just another city where you can spend money, spent money, drove some more, got sick, visited a sweet glass blowing shop, read DUNE, and finally came home.
we have a bunch of tools, books, and other useful stuff that markus was getting rid of, and it was nice to visit with him, but i am happy to be back on the farm. i always dreamed the kootenays were really magical and special, but i found out they can ALSO be haunted and creepy.
anyway, we set off in the farm van, which although i am grateful for its use and that it held itself together the whole time, it's so loud. it seemingly has no muffler, and the whole thing creaks and flaps faithfully along.
on the way we stopped at Half Way hot springs, which were amazing! we didn't take our camera down with us: this is the only good photo i could find of it, THIS IS NOT ME OR MY PHOTO (and this person is obviously a prude):
the whole thing was really amazing, hippie made, nobody around, friggin' hot.
after that we drove a bunch, had a big bonfire with markus, went to some dumps, visited nelson, realized nelson is just another city where you can spend money, spent money, drove some more, got sick, visited a sweet glass blowing shop, read DUNE, and finally came home.
we have a bunch of tools, books, and other useful stuff that markus was getting rid of, and it was nice to visit with him, but i am happy to be back on the farm. i always dreamed the kootenays were really magical and special, but i found out they can ALSO be haunted and creepy.
November 05, 2010
squash and stoves
we had a big day with a small crew on the farm today.
four of us made another big dent in the garlic planting job this morning. finn and i cut down the asparagus so the hearty asparagus beetles have nowhere to hang out for the winter, and then we headed in for a fantastic lunch.
pretty much every meal these days features some type of squash, since we have a whole cold room filled with different varieties including: butternut, spaghetti, acorn, blue hubbard, dumpling, and giant mayan squash (which are SERIOUSLY huge).
after lunch we harvested all our carrots, rutabagas, and celeriac (aka knob celery, apparently. never seen or heard of this ugly root before). we stocked everything (700 lbs i guess?) into our new root cellar (pictured below). so exciting.
it's starting to be a bit wintery here, so a very welcome addition to the house in the last few weeks has been a wood stove and chimney. below is a crappy photo.
been playing hockey once a week with the ladies team, and i am a total goofball on the ice, but so is everyone else. we've lost two games already, but i'm pretty happy just being on a team.
also been reading a ton lately, i just started reading my first science fiction novel, DUNE. it's very well known, very popular, and really unlike anything i normally read. in my quest for more reading material i've signed up on this website that's basically like a facebook about books, if anyone else is on it, add me. http://www.goodreads.com/snekels
four of us made another big dent in the garlic planting job this morning. finn and i cut down the asparagus so the hearty asparagus beetles have nowhere to hang out for the winter, and then we headed in for a fantastic lunch.
pretty much every meal these days features some type of squash, since we have a whole cold room filled with different varieties including: butternut, spaghetti, acorn, blue hubbard, dumpling, and giant mayan squash (which are SERIOUSLY huge).
after lunch we harvested all our carrots, rutabagas, and celeriac (aka knob celery, apparently. never seen or heard of this ugly root before). we stocked everything (700 lbs i guess?) into our new root cellar (pictured below). so exciting.
it's starting to be a bit wintery here, so a very welcome addition to the house in the last few weeks has been a wood stove and chimney. below is a crappy photo.
been playing hockey once a week with the ladies team, and i am a total goofball on the ice, but so is everyone else. we've lost two games already, but i'm pretty happy just being on a team.
also been reading a ton lately, i just started reading my first science fiction novel, DUNE. it's very well known, very popular, and really unlike anything i normally read. in my quest for more reading material i've signed up on this website that's basically like a facebook about books, if anyone else is on it, add me. http://www.goodreads.com/snekels
October 21, 2010
blang
i'm playing hockey again! i just got back from my first practice with the women's team in chase. i was super uncoordinated and goofy, but it was super fun. $350 for the season though... guh... er.. should i do it?
October 19, 2010
Douglas Coupland's "a radical pessimist's guide to the next 10 years"
from the globe and mail
1) It's going to get worse
No silver linings and no lemonade. The elevator only goes down. The bright note is that the elevator will, at some point, stop.
2) The future isn't going to feel futuristic
It's simply going to feel weird and out-of-control-ish, the way it does now, because too many things are changing too quickly. The reason the future feels odd is because of its unpredictability. If the future didn't feel weirdly unexpected, then something would be wrong.
3) The future is going to happen no matter what we do. The future will feel even faster than it does now
The next sets of triumphing technologies are going to happen, no matter who invents them or where or how. Not that technology alone dictates the future, but in the end it always leaves its mark. The only unknown factor is the pace at which new technologies will appear. This technological determinism, with its sense of constantly awaiting a new era-changing technology every day, is one of the hallmarks of the next decade.
4) Move to Vancouver, San Diego, Shannon or Liverpool
There'll be just as much freaky extreme weather in these west-coast cities, but at least the west coasts won't be broiling hot and cryogenically cold.
5) You'll spend a lot of your time feeling like a dog leashed to a pole outside the grocery store – separation anxiety will become your permanent state
6) The middle class is over. It's not coming back
Remember travel agents? Remember how they just kind of vanished one day?
That's where all the other jobs that once made us middle-class are going – to that same, magical, class-killing, job-sucking wormhole into which travel-agency jobs vanished, never to return. However, this won't stop people from self-identifying as middle-class, and as the years pass we'll be entering a replay of the antebellum South, when people defined themselves by the social status of their ancestors three generations back. Enjoy the new monoclass!
7) Retail will start to resemble Mexican drugstores
In Mexico, if one wishes to buy a toothbrush, one goes to a drugstore where one of every item for sale is on display inside a glass display case that circles the store. One selects the toothbrush and one of an obvious surplus of staff runs to the back to fetch the toothbrush. It's not very efficient, but it does offer otherwise unemployed people something to do during the day.
8) Try to live near a subway entrance
In a world of crazy-expensive oil, it's the only real estate that will hold its value, if not increase.
9) The suburbs are doomed, especially those E.T. , California-style suburbs
This is a no-brainer, but the former homes will make amazing hangouts for gangs, weirdoes and people performing illegal activities. The pretend gates at the entranceways to gated communities will become real, and the charred stubs of previous white-collar homes will serve only to make the still-standing structures creepier and more exotic.
10) In the same way you can never go backward to a slower computer, you can never go backward to a lessened state of connectedness
11) Old people won't be quite so clueless
No more “the Google,” because they'll be just that little bit younger.
12) Expect less
Not zero, just less.
13) Enjoy lettuce while you still can
And anything else that arrives in your life from a truck, for that matter. For vegetables, get used to whatever it is they served in railway hotels in the 1890s. Jams. Preserves. Pickled everything.
14) Something smarter than us is going to emerge
Thank you, algorithms and cloud computing.
15) Make sure you've got someone to change your diaper
Sponsor a Class of 2112 med student. Adopt up a storm around the age of 50.
16) “You” will be turning into a cloud of data that circles the planet like a thin gauze
While it's already hard enough to tell how others perceive us physically, your global, phantom, information-self will prove equally vexing to you: your shopping trends, blog residues, CCTV appearances – it all works in tandem to create a virtual being that you may neither like nor recognize.
17) You may well burn out on the effort of being an individual
You've become a notch in the Internet's belt. Don't try to delude yourself that you're a romantic lone individual. To the new order, you're just a node. There is no escape
18) Untombed landfills will glut the market with 20th-century artifacts
19) The Arctic will become like Antarctica – an everyone/no one space
Who owns Antarctica? Everyone and no one. It's pie-sliced into unenforceable wedges. And before getting huffy, ask yourself, if you're a Canadian: Could you draw an even remotely convincing map of all those islands in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories? Quick, draw Ellesmere Island.
20) North America can easily fragment quickly as did the Eastern Bloc in 1989
Quebec will decide to quietly and quite pleasantly leave Canada. California contemplates splitting into two states, fiscal and non-fiscal. Cuba becomes a Club Med with weapons. The Hate States will form a coalition.
21) We will still be annoyed by people who pun, but we will be able to show them mercy because punning will be revealed to be some sort of connectopathic glitch: The punner, like someone with Tourette's, has no medical ability not to pun
22) Your sense of time will continue to shred. Years will feel like hours
23) Everyone will be feeling the same way as you
There's some comfort to be found there.
24) It is going to become much easier to explain why you are the way you are
Much of what we now consider “personality” will be explained away as structural and chemical functions of the brain.
25) Dreams will get better
26) Being alone will become easier
27) Hooking up will become ever more mechanical and binary
28) It will become harder to view your life as “a story”
The way we define our sense of self will continue to morph via new ways of socializing. The notion of your life needing to be a story will seem slightly corny and dated. Your life becomes however many friends you have online.
29) You will have more say in how long or short you wish your life to feel
Time perception is very much about how you sequence your activities, how many activities you layer overtop of others, and the types of gaps, if any, you leave in between activities.
30) Some existing medical conditions will be seen as sequencing malfunctions
The ability to create and remember sequences is an almost entirely human ability (some crows have been shown to sequence). Dogs, while highly intelligent, still cannot form sequences; it's the reason why well-trained dogs at shows are still led from station to station by handlers instead of completing the course themselves.
Dysfunctional mental states stem from malfunctions in the brain's sequencing capacity. One commonly known short-term sequencing dysfunction is dyslexia. People unable to sequence over a slightly longer term might be “not good with directions.” The ultimate sequencing dysfunction is the inability to look at one's life as a meaningful sequence or story.
31) The built world will continue looking more and more like Microsoft packaging
“We were flying over Phoenix, and it looked like the crumpled-up packaging from a 2006 MS Digital Image Suite.”
32) Musical appreciation will shed all age barriers
33) People who shun new technologies will be viewed as passive-aggressive control freaks trying to rope people into their world, much like vegetarian teenage girls in the early 1980s
1980: “We can't go to that restaurant. Karen's vegetarian and it doesn't have anything for her.”
2010: “What restaurant are we going to? I don't know. Karen was supposed to tell me, but she doesn't have a cell, so I can't ask her. I'm sick of her crazy control-freak behaviour. Let's go someplace else and not tell her where.”
34) You're going to miss the 1990s more than you ever thought
35) Stupid people will be in charge, only to be replaced by ever-stupider people. You will live in a world without kings, only princes in whom our faith is shattered
36) Metaphor drift will become pandemic
Words adopted by technology will increasingly drift into new realms to the point where they observe different grammatical laws, e.g., “one mouse”/“three mouses;” “memory hog”/“delete the spam.”
37) People will stop caring how they appear to others
The number of tribal categories one can belong to will become infinite. To use a high-school analogy, 40 years ago you had jocks and nerds. Nowadays, there are Goths, emos, punks, metal-heads, geeks and so forth.
38) Knowing everything will become dull
It all started out so graciously: At a dinner for six, a question arises about, say, that Japanese movie you saw in 1997 (Tampopo), or whether or not Joey Bishop is still alive (no). And before long, you know the answer to everything.
39) IKEA will become an ever-more-spiritual sanctuary
40) We will become more matter-of-fact, in general, about our bodies
41) The future of politics is the careful and effective implanting into the minds of voters images that can never be removed
42) You'll spend a lot of time shopping online from your jail cell
Over-criminalization of the populace, paired with the triumph of shopping as a dominant cultural activity, will create a world where the two poles of society are shopping and jail.
43) Getting to work will provide vibrant and fun new challenges
Gravel roads, potholes, outhouses, overcrowded buses, short-term hired bodyguards, highwaymen, kidnapping, overnight camping in fields, snaggle-toothed crazy ladies casting spells on you, frightened villagers, organ thieves, exhibitionists and lots of healthy fresh air.
44) Your dream life will increasingly look like Google Street View
45) We will accept the obvious truth that we brought this upon ourselves
1) It's going to get worse
No silver linings and no lemonade. The elevator only goes down. The bright note is that the elevator will, at some point, stop.
2) The future isn't going to feel futuristic
It's simply going to feel weird and out-of-control-ish, the way it does now, because too many things are changing too quickly. The reason the future feels odd is because of its unpredictability. If the future didn't feel weirdly unexpected, then something would be wrong.
3) The future is going to happen no matter what we do. The future will feel even faster than it does now
The next sets of triumphing technologies are going to happen, no matter who invents them or where or how. Not that technology alone dictates the future, but in the end it always leaves its mark. The only unknown factor is the pace at which new technologies will appear. This technological determinism, with its sense of constantly awaiting a new era-changing technology every day, is one of the hallmarks of the next decade.
4) Move to Vancouver, San Diego, Shannon or Liverpool
There'll be just as much freaky extreme weather in these west-coast cities, but at least the west coasts won't be broiling hot and cryogenically cold.
5) You'll spend a lot of your time feeling like a dog leashed to a pole outside the grocery store – separation anxiety will become your permanent state
6) The middle class is over. It's not coming back
Remember travel agents? Remember how they just kind of vanished one day?
That's where all the other jobs that once made us middle-class are going – to that same, magical, class-killing, job-sucking wormhole into which travel-agency jobs vanished, never to return. However, this won't stop people from self-identifying as middle-class, and as the years pass we'll be entering a replay of the antebellum South, when people defined themselves by the social status of their ancestors three generations back. Enjoy the new monoclass!
7) Retail will start to resemble Mexican drugstores
In Mexico, if one wishes to buy a toothbrush, one goes to a drugstore where one of every item for sale is on display inside a glass display case that circles the store. One selects the toothbrush and one of an obvious surplus of staff runs to the back to fetch the toothbrush. It's not very efficient, but it does offer otherwise unemployed people something to do during the day.
8) Try to live near a subway entrance
In a world of crazy-expensive oil, it's the only real estate that will hold its value, if not increase.
9) The suburbs are doomed, especially those E.T. , California-style suburbs
This is a no-brainer, but the former homes will make amazing hangouts for gangs, weirdoes and people performing illegal activities. The pretend gates at the entranceways to gated communities will become real, and the charred stubs of previous white-collar homes will serve only to make the still-standing structures creepier and more exotic.
10) In the same way you can never go backward to a slower computer, you can never go backward to a lessened state of connectedness
11) Old people won't be quite so clueless
No more “the Google,” because they'll be just that little bit younger.
12) Expect less
Not zero, just less.
13) Enjoy lettuce while you still can
And anything else that arrives in your life from a truck, for that matter. For vegetables, get used to whatever it is they served in railway hotels in the 1890s. Jams. Preserves. Pickled everything.
14) Something smarter than us is going to emerge
Thank you, algorithms and cloud computing.
15) Make sure you've got someone to change your diaper
Sponsor a Class of 2112 med student. Adopt up a storm around the age of 50.
16) “You” will be turning into a cloud of data that circles the planet like a thin gauze
While it's already hard enough to tell how others perceive us physically, your global, phantom, information-self will prove equally vexing to you: your shopping trends, blog residues, CCTV appearances – it all works in tandem to create a virtual being that you may neither like nor recognize.
17) You may well burn out on the effort of being an individual
You've become a notch in the Internet's belt. Don't try to delude yourself that you're a romantic lone individual. To the new order, you're just a node. There is no escape
18) Untombed landfills will glut the market with 20th-century artifacts
19) The Arctic will become like Antarctica – an everyone/no one space
Who owns Antarctica? Everyone and no one. It's pie-sliced into unenforceable wedges. And before getting huffy, ask yourself, if you're a Canadian: Could you draw an even remotely convincing map of all those islands in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories? Quick, draw Ellesmere Island.
20) North America can easily fragment quickly as did the Eastern Bloc in 1989
Quebec will decide to quietly and quite pleasantly leave Canada. California contemplates splitting into two states, fiscal and non-fiscal. Cuba becomes a Club Med with weapons. The Hate States will form a coalition.
21) We will still be annoyed by people who pun, but we will be able to show them mercy because punning will be revealed to be some sort of connectopathic glitch: The punner, like someone with Tourette's, has no medical ability not to pun
22) Your sense of time will continue to shred. Years will feel like hours
23) Everyone will be feeling the same way as you
There's some comfort to be found there.
24) It is going to become much easier to explain why you are the way you are
Much of what we now consider “personality” will be explained away as structural and chemical functions of the brain.
25) Dreams will get better
26) Being alone will become easier
27) Hooking up will become ever more mechanical and binary
28) It will become harder to view your life as “a story”
The way we define our sense of self will continue to morph via new ways of socializing. The notion of your life needing to be a story will seem slightly corny and dated. Your life becomes however many friends you have online.
29) You will have more say in how long or short you wish your life to feel
Time perception is very much about how you sequence your activities, how many activities you layer overtop of others, and the types of gaps, if any, you leave in between activities.
30) Some existing medical conditions will be seen as sequencing malfunctions
The ability to create and remember sequences is an almost entirely human ability (some crows have been shown to sequence). Dogs, while highly intelligent, still cannot form sequences; it's the reason why well-trained dogs at shows are still led from station to station by handlers instead of completing the course themselves.
Dysfunctional mental states stem from malfunctions in the brain's sequencing capacity. One commonly known short-term sequencing dysfunction is dyslexia. People unable to sequence over a slightly longer term might be “not good with directions.” The ultimate sequencing dysfunction is the inability to look at one's life as a meaningful sequence or story.
31) The built world will continue looking more and more like Microsoft packaging
“We were flying over Phoenix, and it looked like the crumpled-up packaging from a 2006 MS Digital Image Suite.”
32) Musical appreciation will shed all age barriers
33) People who shun new technologies will be viewed as passive-aggressive control freaks trying to rope people into their world, much like vegetarian teenage girls in the early 1980s
1980: “We can't go to that restaurant. Karen's vegetarian and it doesn't have anything for her.”
2010: “What restaurant are we going to? I don't know. Karen was supposed to tell me, but she doesn't have a cell, so I can't ask her. I'm sick of her crazy control-freak behaviour. Let's go someplace else and not tell her where.”
34) You're going to miss the 1990s more than you ever thought
35) Stupid people will be in charge, only to be replaced by ever-stupider people. You will live in a world without kings, only princes in whom our faith is shattered
36) Metaphor drift will become pandemic
Words adopted by technology will increasingly drift into new realms to the point where they observe different grammatical laws, e.g., “one mouse”/“three mouses;” “memory hog”/“delete the spam.”
37) People will stop caring how they appear to others
The number of tribal categories one can belong to will become infinite. To use a high-school analogy, 40 years ago you had jocks and nerds. Nowadays, there are Goths, emos, punks, metal-heads, geeks and so forth.
38) Knowing everything will become dull
It all started out so graciously: At a dinner for six, a question arises about, say, that Japanese movie you saw in 1997 (Tampopo), or whether or not Joey Bishop is still alive (no). And before long, you know the answer to everything.
39) IKEA will become an ever-more-spiritual sanctuary
40) We will become more matter-of-fact, in general, about our bodies
41) The future of politics is the careful and effective implanting into the minds of voters images that can never be removed
42) You'll spend a lot of time shopping online from your jail cell
Over-criminalization of the populace, paired with the triumph of shopping as a dominant cultural activity, will create a world where the two poles of society are shopping and jail.
43) Getting to work will provide vibrant and fun new challenges
Gravel roads, potholes, outhouses, overcrowded buses, short-term hired bodyguards, highwaymen, kidnapping, overnight camping in fields, snaggle-toothed crazy ladies casting spells on you, frightened villagers, organ thieves, exhibitionists and lots of healthy fresh air.
44) Your dream life will increasingly look like Google Street View
45) We will accept the obvious truth that we brought this upon ourselves
October 13, 2010
herro sockeye
i'm generally not big on "holidays". they feel forced and like they just don't apply to me somehow. of course, this time of year it's thanksgiving.
now, we couldn't just have a normal thanksgiving supper at the farm, because of the salmon run. the farm was awarded the security and maintenance contract for this year's "Salute", so we work in 24 hour shifts ensuring that two people are on site at all times.
it was decided (not by me, i was just nay-saying and grumbling about thanksgiving the whole time) that we go celebrate and have the big supper out at the provincial park. friends and family of the farm convened (many of whom were already at the salmon run working the parking or concessioning); 24 people and 3 dogs ate chicken, or tofurkey, and fixins by candlelight while sitting on the forest floor. i underestimated this group of people, the forest, and myself i guess. it was a great harvest party and i thoroughly enjoyed thanksgiving for once.
here is a video i found of one of the many many many visitors to the salmon run. luckily, he doesn't just film the salmon, but all the areas of the park that we clean as part of the maintenance contract. if only he would have filmed the porta-potties...
now, we couldn't just have a normal thanksgiving supper at the farm, because of the salmon run. the farm was awarded the security and maintenance contract for this year's "Salute", so we work in 24 hour shifts ensuring that two people are on site at all times.
it was decided (not by me, i was just nay-saying and grumbling about thanksgiving the whole time) that we go celebrate and have the big supper out at the provincial park. friends and family of the farm convened (many of whom were already at the salmon run working the parking or concessioning); 24 people and 3 dogs ate chicken, or tofurkey, and fixins by candlelight while sitting on the forest floor. i underestimated this group of people, the forest, and myself i guess. it was a great harvest party and i thoroughly enjoyed thanksgiving for once.
here is a video i found of one of the many many many visitors to the salmon run. luckily, he doesn't just film the salmon, but all the areas of the park that we clean as part of the maintenance contract. if only he would have filmed the porta-potties...
October 11, 2010
"making the earth say beans instead of grass"
the big project these days is BEANS. pickin' 'em, dryin' 'em... talkin' 'bout 'em... today we worked on the favas. i'm super amazed at the high return on these things. last year they planted an ice cream bucket worth of beans and we have (trying to estimate... guh.. um..) ALOT more than an ice cream bucket worth. according to the internet fava beans are known for bad germination, but that probably means more like unevenly germinated pods, and weirdly shaped ones, rather than quantity. not too sure about that... or anything really, but it's going to be great to observe this same process next year (plant a few and get a lot, like magic! or alchemy?).
i've been reading a bit more than usual, which is still not a WHOLE lot. i'm reading walden finally and i really enjoy it. here is a quote which i came across a few nights ago and find very relevant to golden ears farm:
a bunch of us went ice skating last night and it was fantastic. it whetted my appetite for playing hockey again, so i'm working on that.
i've been reading a bit more than usual, which is still not a WHOLE lot. i'm reading walden finally and i really enjoy it. here is a quote which i came across a few nights ago and find very relevant to golden ears farm:
If a man has faith, he will coöperate with equal faith everywhere; if he has not faith, he will continue to live like the rest of the world, whatever company he is joined to. To coöperate in the highest as well as the lowest sense, means to get our living together.
a bunch of us went ice skating last night and it was fantastic. it whetted my appetite for playing hockey again, so i'm working on that.
July 05, 2010
full on farm talk
such a fantastic day. it seems like a good one to blog about.
we woke up to the rooster cockadoodling SO loud right beside our tent. we have set up our tent in the orchard that is shared with the chicken coop. i just discovered today that i can lock the chickens in their coop AND i got ear plugs today, so i'm hyped for tomorrow morning. anyways, he wakes us up early, like around 4! but we stay in bed until 7ish. there were also the ducks making funny heavy breathing noises outside our tent this morning; funny.
so we get up around 7, have a piece of toast, and head out to the field to pick strawberries. i got like 4 buckets by breakfast which is at about 8:30.
after that, me and paul and 4 other wwoofers transition over to our special project; building the straw bale house, with the guidance of 2 experts in this type of construction who have come to the farm for this project. everybody else goes back out picking more strawberries.
we start with a meeting and just talk about the day's work and how we are feeling and we do some stretches. today was a big day for the project; we started mixing the cob, which is clay, sand and a bit of straw. we also had to make what are called "dead men", which are Ts made out of scrap wood and nails. they sit on the foundation and the floor plate will be screwed into them eventually. we are going to cover them with the cob mixture, to separate the foundation (which is made of rocks) from the next level of the house (which will be made of straw bales).
alright so, i got to make some of these dead men, and i loved it. so hilarious. i think these blocks of wood with rusty nails poking out everywhere are so adorable!! i while i was doing this everybody else was mixing the cob. the best way to mix it, is to dance on it, specifically to do the twist. it was a hilarious construction site.
after lunch i joined in with the dance party, which went until around 6:30. we had a meeting to wrap up, where we were again reminded about listening to your body and remembering good posture while working. we did a bit of stretching then everyone working on the house ran down to the river, which is right across the road from the farm and got all cold/wet. then we ran back to the sauna and got hot/sweaty. then baccck to the river to get cleanish/wet/cold. then the dinner bell rang, so we hit up some nutloaf, salad, rice, strawberries, raspberries, cherries, AND pie. yrmmm.
then i wrote this blog post and my neck hurts from sitting in the tent and typing. its 8:30 now - my feet feel very pumiced, my body tired, and my self content.
we woke up to the rooster cockadoodling SO loud right beside our tent. we have set up our tent in the orchard that is shared with the chicken coop. i just discovered today that i can lock the chickens in their coop AND i got ear plugs today, so i'm hyped for tomorrow morning. anyways, he wakes us up early, like around 4! but we stay in bed until 7ish. there were also the ducks making funny heavy breathing noises outside our tent this morning; funny.
so we get up around 7, have a piece of toast, and head out to the field to pick strawberries. i got like 4 buckets by breakfast which is at about 8:30.
after that, me and paul and 4 other wwoofers transition over to our special project; building the straw bale house, with the guidance of 2 experts in this type of construction who have come to the farm for this project. everybody else goes back out picking more strawberries.
we start with a meeting and just talk about the day's work and how we are feeling and we do some stretches. today was a big day for the project; we started mixing the cob, which is clay, sand and a bit of straw. we also had to make what are called "dead men", which are Ts made out of scrap wood and nails. they sit on the foundation and the floor plate will be screwed into them eventually. we are going to cover them with the cob mixture, to separate the foundation (which is made of rocks) from the next level of the house (which will be made of straw bales).
alright so, i got to make some of these dead men, and i loved it. so hilarious. i think these blocks of wood with rusty nails poking out everywhere are so adorable!! i while i was doing this everybody else was mixing the cob. the best way to mix it, is to dance on it, specifically to do the twist. it was a hilarious construction site.
after lunch i joined in with the dance party, which went until around 6:30. we had a meeting to wrap up, where we were again reminded about listening to your body and remembering good posture while working. we did a bit of stretching then everyone working on the house ran down to the river, which is right across the road from the farm and got all cold/wet. then we ran back to the sauna and got hot/sweaty. then baccck to the river to get cleanish/wet/cold. then the dinner bell rang, so we hit up some nutloaf, salad, rice, strawberries, raspberries, cherries, AND pie. yrmmm.
then i wrote this blog post and my neck hurts from sitting in the tent and typing. its 8:30 now - my feet feel very pumiced, my body tired, and my self content.
May 02, 2010
alrightttttt
it's sunday, 9:30 a.m.
we got as far as the nellie's in kensington before an equipment malfunction (fucking water bottle holder!) and a double back.
all spare the dirty details but the last few days have been pretty intense with packing and moving and getting out of my place and trying to decide what to bring, and finishing all the projects needed for the trip. ok, the one detail i will include is that i have been waiting on paul.
awe've ridden like 10 blocks in the westerly direction before we stopped for breakfast and got a chance to actually talk and think in a neutral setting about some of the stuff we have packed. he ended up going back to our friends' place where we are storing stuff (our homebase for the last 2 days) to grab his messenger bag and hopefully ditch some other shit. i was dreading making another "goodbye" a false one by going back and facing our hosts again, so i stayed back and decided to blog.
kind of a shaky start so far. paul's handmade panniers and cheap-ish aluminum rack are slightly worrisome. we're far far behind schedule. it's supposed to rain tonight. i can't wait to experience putting kms behind us though.
we got as far as the nellie's in kensington before an equipment malfunction (fucking water bottle holder!) and a double back.
all spare the dirty details but the last few days have been pretty intense with packing and moving and getting out of my place and trying to decide what to bring, and finishing all the projects needed for the trip. ok, the one detail i will include is that i have been waiting on paul.
awe've ridden like 10 blocks in the westerly direction before we stopped for breakfast and got a chance to actually talk and think in a neutral setting about some of the stuff we have packed. he ended up going back to our friends' place where we are storing stuff (our homebase for the last 2 days) to grab his messenger bag and hopefully ditch some other shit. i was dreading making another "goodbye" a false one by going back and facing our hosts again, so i stayed back and decided to blog.
kind of a shaky start so far. paul's handmade panniers and cheap-ish aluminum rack are slightly worrisome. we're far far behind schedule. it's supposed to rain tonight. i can't wait to experience putting kms behind us though.
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