my dad and i are watching infomercials for music compilations again. yes, AGAIN. i've been here a week. a whole week. today, i emailed a wwoof farm that's in this here hometown of mine. its a "fiber farm" which is to say- they raise sheep and goats and make yarn from their coats. they even have a fiber CSA. isn't that cool? hopefully they can use a volunteer. hopefully they're spinning and dyeing yarn and i can learn about those things. hopefully.
my dad and i started insulating the basement today. i think we'll finish tomorrow, and then i can set up a studio down there. i've been drawing a lot, and i'm getting kind of excited about painting. i haven't done it in years. after i dropped out of art school, and after all my old artwork was destroyed when we knocked down the house i grew up in, i've been totally estranged from that artist i was. i haven't felt the desire to make things so strongly since then, until now. i want to make music, i want to write songs. i want to paint portraits and surreal, colorful scenes. and i want to crochet and sew and make jewelry and adornments. i like the way this desire has been bubbling up. before now, i thought that uncontrollable urge might be a thing of the past.
maybe its like that for relationship passion as well. i've kissed people since i was a teenager, and felt no sparks since then. i was thinking i might not ever feel it again, that buzzing electric feeling of kissing a lover. that maybe i'm too old for that feeling and i might have to settle for boring kisses. but the way i feel now about being creative makes me think that i could be wrong. maybe life and i are both less predictable than we seem.
too much television and internet here at my parents house. or anywhere when i've got both these things and too much free time. i don't really want a job. but, to leave again, i'll need some money, or at least a good plan. so far it hasn't come to me.
a farm internship is what i feel like i should do. and want to do. it feels like picking a college though- the same things hold me back, the same things that hold most people back, i suppose. fears. i'm afraid of picking a bad one. i know this is possible. i'm afraid of committing, to anything, ever. there are too many paths i'm curious about! i'm afraid to pick one and stick to it. i'm so very much a jack of all trades, master of none.
but i would very much like to be an expert at something i'm passionate about. so, i suppose i should keep going down this road.
sometimes being with my parents makes me feel like such a little kid. i want someone, or the universe, to decide for me. to tell me what to do and show me how.
i'm so tempted to leave after the holidays and hitch-hike cross country. go sleep on my friends' couches on the west coast, take it from there....
i had such a weird and wonderful journey. chicago was amazing. so many beautiful times. on my last night, april and i went to the 96th floor of the hancock building for 1 very expensive drink each. all of chicago was laid out for us up there, the lights stretching in lsparkling lines, to the horizon. and that black ink lake, that almost-ocean of lake. what a thing.
sleepovers at katie's were so good! staying up telling stories and singing songs every night til nearly morning, and sleeping well into the afternoon. its so different sleeping that late when there are plenty of other cozy sleepers turning it from something depressing to the nicest sleep ever.
i feel really blessed for the time i spent in chicago. it started off really strange, with my brain suddenly feeling stoned and paranoid, for the first time since i stopped smoking weed after the san francisco incident (ie: when i went crazy) and it did not feel good. it was scary. i felt so paralyzed, physically and mentally. it was in a room full of good friends and friends of theirs, so it was a warm and secure place. it was probably from the stress- my car broke down twice before chicago, and i had less than a hundred dollars when i got there. i wasn't eating very well. anyway, whatever it was was scary and embarassing and made me feel weird about my relationship with my mind. like, what is hiding in there? and how can i get it out? i want to see a shaman. i want to face my dark places and shine light there.
but it went away. and i thoroughly enjoyed myself for the rest of my stay. i rode a bike in a city for the first time!!! i went and played music on the street for the first time! i got to see a bunch of wonderful people who i love! i got to go to april's birthday party and enjoy delectable food stuff and a bonfire and wine on the roof! i totally rode the L train! i made fresh tortillas for the first time! i got to see killer whales and bird names AND mucca pazza! oh man, what a show! i met lots of new friends and lots of interesting characters. i had a ball. it seems so far away already.
i still have so much to learn. and there are still so many places i haven't seen. but, i had to come here. i was out of money, my car was becoming unreliable, and its getting cold and i didn't have a very thorough plan. plus, i love holdays with family.
i guess i'll always be trying to figure out what i'm doing, huh? that seems to be constant, while i keep on doing things.
anyway. the only plans i have are thanksgiving + christmas with family. making some pretty things. and somehow, going to baltimore for new years. sounds good. til then, i suppose i'll be figuring out what comes after that.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
my sleep has been fitful the past few days. this morning i awoke from a really intense dream. i can't remember it, but i also can't shake the feeling of being in the middle of it.
i've been down here for a week now, i think, in miami. well, really in homestead. the redlands... i'm on this one acre tropical fruit tree forest, basically. right now there are avocados, bananas, and starfruit (carambolas) to eat off the tree. there were also tree strawberries, also called cotton candy berries, but they're gone because we trimmed the tree. they taste nutty and buttery and sweet at one time.
besides the fruit growing on the acre, there's plenty around this area. i have tried, and fallen in love with, so many fruits is didn't know existed before... mamey tastes like pumpkin pie, and cinnamon apples- well, taste like that... jackfruit is crazy looking and tastes buttery and fruity- i heard its the flavor they went for with juicy fruit gum. hog plums are amazing, like tangy custard. sapote, like marzipan. i want to build a glass house up north to grow these things in. but no papaya. i can't stand papaya.
last week i went to the beach in miami. i wanted to live an alternate ending, be a tall, tan, blonde bartender in a fancy little pastel building who goes jogging every morning and spends all day at the beach, or lounging poolside, reading gossip magazines. later, wearing perfume and serving european tourists fancy cocktails in this art deco paradise. this fantasy makes me feel like i have when i traveled in countries where i didn't speak the language. like an outsider who could write my way into a new story, perhaps.
today i cut banana leaves that were casting too much shade over other trees. i wasn't doing a great job of it. they're so huge and high up and i was feeling kind of dizzy all day today. i've been planting vegetable seeds. doing a lot of moving dirt and mulch around. so much weeding. philodendron grow all over the property. they get so huge- i didn't know philadendron leaves could get so big, like bigger than my head. maybe twice the size. they're such innocent looking house plants. what else? yesterday i helped take a diseased tree down with an electric chainsaw. and get the stump and roots out. i took some banana tree root stumps out, too. i got to work out my inner aggression on that. its fun to get angry during such tasks, heaving a huge pick in the air and slamming it down into the earth. it feels weird and awesome.
yesterday i learned about tree propagation. it was really interesting. i didn't really know what grafting meant, but its like magic. basically, exposing the flesh of one tree to another by attaching a branch to a sapling, and then it grows and fruits through the grafted branch so you get the right amount of delicious in the fruit... i didnt know that fruit trees don't necessarily grow true to their seed- like an orange tree planted from a seed of an orange will grow sour oranges.... so you have to graft good types to the sour tree seedling to get the good fruit. crazy. also it is possible to graft braches of more than one tree and have different types of oranges grow on the same tree... crazy. air layering is also a magical thing. but i'm too tired and unfocused to talk about it.
i'm so sleepy. i have a lot of sinus pressure.
most likely, i am going to stop traveling soon. i'm running out of money and i'm kind of bored of it in a way. bored of traveling alone and also of not really getting the learning experience i was imagining. i think after chicago (next week!!!) i'll stay with my folks and figure some things out, like what to do next. i definitely want to apply for internships at biodynamic farms and i've been thinking of looking for a job somewhere in the meantime (i guess in southern california or florida where winter is not dormant) on a farm that also produces packaged food, just to see how that goes, and to not hang out in the winter... but i don't know yet. i love the weather here.
anyway. that's whats up.
i've been down here for a week now, i think, in miami. well, really in homestead. the redlands... i'm on this one acre tropical fruit tree forest, basically. right now there are avocados, bananas, and starfruit (carambolas) to eat off the tree. there were also tree strawberries, also called cotton candy berries, but they're gone because we trimmed the tree. they taste nutty and buttery and sweet at one time.
besides the fruit growing on the acre, there's plenty around this area. i have tried, and fallen in love with, so many fruits is didn't know existed before... mamey tastes like pumpkin pie, and cinnamon apples- well, taste like that... jackfruit is crazy looking and tastes buttery and fruity- i heard its the flavor they went for with juicy fruit gum. hog plums are amazing, like tangy custard. sapote, like marzipan. i want to build a glass house up north to grow these things in. but no papaya. i can't stand papaya.
last week i went to the beach in miami. i wanted to live an alternate ending, be a tall, tan, blonde bartender in a fancy little pastel building who goes jogging every morning and spends all day at the beach, or lounging poolside, reading gossip magazines. later, wearing perfume and serving european tourists fancy cocktails in this art deco paradise. this fantasy makes me feel like i have when i traveled in countries where i didn't speak the language. like an outsider who could write my way into a new story, perhaps.
today i cut banana leaves that were casting too much shade over other trees. i wasn't doing a great job of it. they're so huge and high up and i was feeling kind of dizzy all day today. i've been planting vegetable seeds. doing a lot of moving dirt and mulch around. so much weeding. philodendron grow all over the property. they get so huge- i didn't know philadendron leaves could get so big, like bigger than my head. maybe twice the size. they're such innocent looking house plants. what else? yesterday i helped take a diseased tree down with an electric chainsaw. and get the stump and roots out. i took some banana tree root stumps out, too. i got to work out my inner aggression on that. its fun to get angry during such tasks, heaving a huge pick in the air and slamming it down into the earth. it feels weird and awesome.
yesterday i learned about tree propagation. it was really interesting. i didn't really know what grafting meant, but its like magic. basically, exposing the flesh of one tree to another by attaching a branch to a sapling, and then it grows and fruits through the grafted branch so you get the right amount of delicious in the fruit... i didnt know that fruit trees don't necessarily grow true to their seed- like an orange tree planted from a seed of an orange will grow sour oranges.... so you have to graft good types to the sour tree seedling to get the good fruit. crazy. also it is possible to graft braches of more than one tree and have different types of oranges grow on the same tree... crazy. air layering is also a magical thing. but i'm too tired and unfocused to talk about it.
i'm so sleepy. i have a lot of sinus pressure.
most likely, i am going to stop traveling soon. i'm running out of money and i'm kind of bored of it in a way. bored of traveling alone and also of not really getting the learning experience i was imagining. i think after chicago (next week!!!) i'll stay with my folks and figure some things out, like what to do next. i definitely want to apply for internships at biodynamic farms and i've been thinking of looking for a job somewhere in the meantime (i guess in southern california or florida where winter is not dormant) on a farm that also produces packaged food, just to see how that goes, and to not hang out in the winter... but i don't know yet. i love the weather here.
anyway. that's whats up.
Friday, October 9, 2009
sunburn
hi. i miss you. hi. i love you. hi. its beautiful and i wish you were here.
i left asheville on monday. from a craigslist post, i got a sweet hippie chick to share the ride and i got to spend a night at the hostel in the forest in brunswick, georgia, which was pretty sweet. its all hand built tree houses and domes, compost toilets, an outdoor kitchen in the works. chickens. wooden trails on stilts through the woods. a big glass house for yoga. gardens. a lake. an outdoor shower and a bath... it 's pretty glorious. i didn't stay long, nor did i socialize much with the staff who were the only people there the night i stayed. i don't know why not. they all seemed pretty awesome, and interesting. i just needed some solo time.
i left and spent a night in my aunt's trailer in a gated retirement community while she was in new york. it was kind of awesome to be alone. and it was hot and muggy and beautiful. nice respite.
anyway. now i'm on this "farm" in florida, which is like, mostly a hippie homestead, sort of a preserve. the guy who owns it is a botanist who works for the state. he's smart and the place is pretty nice. i was sleeping in a stationary van with a mattress, that was nice and looked out on a meadow, sweet under the moon and stars at night. but last night there were two huge flying roaches in there, so i moved into the trailer. there are two of us in there, another wwoof person and i. there is no power. there is drinking water and a pond for bathing. there is a fire for cooking. there's a "compost toilet" which is not very private and i've had a hard time using it- its just a bucket under a toilet seat with a curtain on one side. you cover the shit with leaves and put into an aging compost pile. i'm down with the humanure, but i don't like having no privacy to shit in. i didn't go for 24 hours.
anyway. its not really a farm, but it probably will be one day. there are lots of really young fruit trees (fruitless now though) ... and nut trees. there are basil, mint, and some other herbs. lemongrass. but nothing really to eat. probably there are lots of edible mushrooms, but i haven't learned about them yet. mycol- the owner, buys food. we have a stew we keep adding to. potatoes and onions in the mornings for breakfast- we cook over a fire. it has taken us almost an hour each morning to cook breakfast. mycol doesnt care what time we get up, so that's nice, too. he's totally a pothead dude and gets distracted constantly. but he knows so much about plants and ecology and has this gorgeous land that he lets random strangers come live on and work on. yesterday i painted a little mural type thing on the wall enclosing the front porch. today, i planted lettuces and painted primer on more of the porch. i cooked a meal which takes awhile. it was hot today and there were 4 of us working. only 2 of us and mycol are living there though. mycol stays in a yurt, we hung out in there the first night. he plays guitar and churango which is like a tiny guitar that plays more like a mandolin. i'm getting ok at banjo! i can play a bunch of songs. i keep learning new ones. i'm getting more comfortable with it. maybe i'll busk one day. i have at least half an hour of songs, i think.... heh....
so. i dont know how long i will last doing this. i have so many mosquito and fire ant bites. i look like i have chicken pox. but whatever. no huge flying roaches in the trailer so far, and its a pretty beautiful life on the finca. working on my moccasins- hey, that sinew stuff seemed a lot easier to separate when lizzy was doing it. i cant seem to make it work. lizzy- advice? um. i'm really lookinh forward to chicago halloween. i'll probably stay here until then. i'm writing from a place called "the beer pit" right now, in gainesville. heh. and charging my phone, and drinking wine. yeah, this is why i dunno if i can keep travlin. i got so little, moneywise, and i spend little, but i do spend. anyway. whatever happens. there's a million ways to be.
<3
i left asheville on monday. from a craigslist post, i got a sweet hippie chick to share the ride and i got to spend a night at the hostel in the forest in brunswick, georgia, which was pretty sweet. its all hand built tree houses and domes, compost toilets, an outdoor kitchen in the works. chickens. wooden trails on stilts through the woods. a big glass house for yoga. gardens. a lake. an outdoor shower and a bath... it 's pretty glorious. i didn't stay long, nor did i socialize much with the staff who were the only people there the night i stayed. i don't know why not. they all seemed pretty awesome, and interesting. i just needed some solo time.
i left and spent a night in my aunt's trailer in a gated retirement community while she was in new york. it was kind of awesome to be alone. and it was hot and muggy and beautiful. nice respite.
anyway. now i'm on this "farm" in florida, which is like, mostly a hippie homestead, sort of a preserve. the guy who owns it is a botanist who works for the state. he's smart and the place is pretty nice. i was sleeping in a stationary van with a mattress, that was nice and looked out on a meadow, sweet under the moon and stars at night. but last night there were two huge flying roaches in there, so i moved into the trailer. there are two of us in there, another wwoof person and i. there is no power. there is drinking water and a pond for bathing. there is a fire for cooking. there's a "compost toilet" which is not very private and i've had a hard time using it- its just a bucket under a toilet seat with a curtain on one side. you cover the shit with leaves and put into an aging compost pile. i'm down with the humanure, but i don't like having no privacy to shit in. i didn't go for 24 hours.
anyway. its not really a farm, but it probably will be one day. there are lots of really young fruit trees (fruitless now though) ... and nut trees. there are basil, mint, and some other herbs. lemongrass. but nothing really to eat. probably there are lots of edible mushrooms, but i haven't learned about them yet. mycol- the owner, buys food. we have a stew we keep adding to. potatoes and onions in the mornings for breakfast- we cook over a fire. it has taken us almost an hour each morning to cook breakfast. mycol doesnt care what time we get up, so that's nice, too. he's totally a pothead dude and gets distracted constantly. but he knows so much about plants and ecology and has this gorgeous land that he lets random strangers come live on and work on. yesterday i painted a little mural type thing on the wall enclosing the front porch. today, i planted lettuces and painted primer on more of the porch. i cooked a meal which takes awhile. it was hot today and there were 4 of us working. only 2 of us and mycol are living there though. mycol stays in a yurt, we hung out in there the first night. he plays guitar and churango which is like a tiny guitar that plays more like a mandolin. i'm getting ok at banjo! i can play a bunch of songs. i keep learning new ones. i'm getting more comfortable with it. maybe i'll busk one day. i have at least half an hour of songs, i think.... heh....
so. i dont know how long i will last doing this. i have so many mosquito and fire ant bites. i look like i have chicken pox. but whatever. no huge flying roaches in the trailer so far, and its a pretty beautiful life on the finca. working on my moccasins- hey, that sinew stuff seemed a lot easier to separate when lizzy was doing it. i cant seem to make it work. lizzy- advice? um. i'm really lookinh forward to chicago halloween. i'll probably stay here until then. i'm writing from a place called "the beer pit" right now, in gainesville. heh. and charging my phone, and drinking wine. yeah, this is why i dunno if i can keep travlin. i got so little, moneywise, and i spend little, but i do spend. anyway. whatever happens. there's a million ways to be.
<3
Thursday, October 1, 2009
o, cult.
well. so much has happened since i last wrote. i had so much fun in baltimore that i almost fell apart. i had a wonderful drive through virginia and tenessee. i stayed in a house full of radical queer anarchist punk ladies. and i escaped a cult! whew. events.
the cult thing... i dont know. they were really nice. as individuals. mostly. they made good food. on paper they sound awesome. in real life... it was creepy. if i had a friend with me, it would have been different. good fodder for a future story, for sure. i kept thinking i would stay either as an excercise in open-mindedness, or so i could tell a good story later... but i didn't really want to stay. especially with no other human to look at like, "hey- this is crazy, right?"
anyway. now its like all bets are off. i don't know what i'm doing. i feel like i really have to choose one way or the other- traveling adventure or farm apprenticeship.... but in the meantime, i think i might go to a radical fairy farm. where the fancy gays farm and ferment food and play and dance and make art... that sounds so much more awesome, no? so i'm going to look into that possibility today.
i'm staying in the house with the rad ladies for now. one of them plays accordion- really well- and one just started playing banjo so i'm actually helping! and one makes kimchi and sour kraut and last night i learned how to crochet! so its cool for now but i don't want to overstay my welcome plus i want to farm.
i think i'll try the radical fairy farm, but i also need something to change. i really want a traveling partner if i'm going to have adventures. it makes everything so much more fun- DO YOU WANT TO COME WITH ME?! please tell me.
OR i need to sit down seriously and apply for real internships where i'll learn to be a farmer like farm school.... so something. but i know i want to be in chicago for halloween, so i don't know if i'll make firm choices before then... who knows really....
anyway... that's where i'm at. i'd like to write more, but i'm on a timed internet session in the anarchist bookstore in asheville and its almost that time.
so, much love <3
the cult thing... i dont know. they were really nice. as individuals. mostly. they made good food. on paper they sound awesome. in real life... it was creepy. if i had a friend with me, it would have been different. good fodder for a future story, for sure. i kept thinking i would stay either as an excercise in open-mindedness, or so i could tell a good story later... but i didn't really want to stay. especially with no other human to look at like, "hey- this is crazy, right?"
anyway. now its like all bets are off. i don't know what i'm doing. i feel like i really have to choose one way or the other- traveling adventure or farm apprenticeship.... but in the meantime, i think i might go to a radical fairy farm. where the fancy gays farm and ferment food and play and dance and make art... that sounds so much more awesome, no? so i'm going to look into that possibility today.
i'm staying in the house with the rad ladies for now. one of them plays accordion- really well- and one just started playing banjo so i'm actually helping! and one makes kimchi and sour kraut and last night i learned how to crochet! so its cool for now but i don't want to overstay my welcome plus i want to farm.
i think i'll try the radical fairy farm, but i also need something to change. i really want a traveling partner if i'm going to have adventures. it makes everything so much more fun- DO YOU WANT TO COME WITH ME?! please tell me.
OR i need to sit down seriously and apply for real internships where i'll learn to be a farmer like farm school.... so something. but i know i want to be in chicago for halloween, so i don't know if i'll make firm choices before then... who knows really....
anyway... that's where i'm at. i'd like to write more, but i'm on a timed internet session in the anarchist bookstore in asheville and its almost that time.
so, much love <3
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
in the near future, i probably won't be updating as often as i am right now. although i really cannot say. i've been unsuccessful so far at updating from my phone. so oh well.
anyway, i'm trying to figure out where else i am going. i'd like to spend the harsh winter months somewhere not so harsh. i'd like to spend the next spring thru fall somewhere with a climate similar to where i expect to farm. biodynamic farming is really important for me to get some experience with. and i want to visit lots of friends and lots of beautiful places that supposedly exist. and i don't want to run out of money.
it would be wonderful to find a biodynamic farm to stay on for a whole season that will pay me. where they do all those things that i want to learn.
and then there's the social animal part of me, which desires to be around likeminded humans of a similar age. and the student part of me who really wants a mentor, an older human with wisdom based on years of experience... and i'd like music. and a weirdo creative joy all around. i'd like to be around people who have a celebratory way of living...
so that's what i'm envisioning. if you know where that is, do tell. the wwoof book is overwhelming sometimes and also underwhelming also. there are SO many farms! this country is huge... and so many sound so interesting, but lack one or two of the main things i hope for in a place to stay a long while. i stayed up for hours reading summary after summary of farms in the book. sheesh. i know it must be out there.
i haven't heard back from the farm i was hoping to visit in arkansas after halloween-in-chicago... so i'm not sure yet what i'll be doing. something.
ok. love <3
anyway, i'm trying to figure out where else i am going. i'd like to spend the harsh winter months somewhere not so harsh. i'd like to spend the next spring thru fall somewhere with a climate similar to where i expect to farm. biodynamic farming is really important for me to get some experience with. and i want to visit lots of friends and lots of beautiful places that supposedly exist. and i don't want to run out of money.
it would be wonderful to find a biodynamic farm to stay on for a whole season that will pay me. where they do all those things that i want to learn.
and then there's the social animal part of me, which desires to be around likeminded humans of a similar age. and the student part of me who really wants a mentor, an older human with wisdom based on years of experience... and i'd like music. and a weirdo creative joy all around. i'd like to be around people who have a celebratory way of living...
so that's what i'm envisioning. if you know where that is, do tell. the wwoof book is overwhelming sometimes and also underwhelming also. there are SO many farms! this country is huge... and so many sound so interesting, but lack one or two of the main things i hope for in a place to stay a long while. i stayed up for hours reading summary after summary of farms in the book. sheesh. i know it must be out there.
i haven't heard back from the farm i was hoping to visit in arkansas after halloween-in-chicago... so i'm not sure yet what i'll be doing. something.
ok. love <3
Saturday, September 19, 2009
september 19
my aching bones, man. margaret's been letting me sleep and go to the farm later than her. i feel like a chump. but dude. its hard to get out the bed in the dark. she goes to the farm around 6. i've been leaving around 8. its much nicer for me, but still hard. i've never been a morning person. i wish i could switch it on.
i've been doing so much work! i love it! i harvested butternut squash today, left them to cure in the sun in crates. those crates get heavy. i played banjo a bunch while margaret went in to get her truck looked at- it made bad sounds today. yesterday i harvested beans all morning which made all the muscles in my thighs and my butt sore. when i worked on the farm in ny, i always did stretches for like 45 minutes when i woke up in the morning. i feel so far removed from that now, but that's what i need. and a portable juicer... does that exist? it should. i want to juice things anywhere any time... everywhere all the time...
tat soi is my new favorite vegetable.
moccasins are hard to finish sewing without needle-nose pliers.
i changed the verse in my song about flowers on a grave, its too serious. now it goes
let's make love like flowers do with bees
make the honey sweet
let's be flowers let's be bees
i wish i went to the DIY fair at 2640 in the spring. i wish i knew how to skin and preserve roadkill. there is so much of it i see every day... i keep thinking about how many moccasins you could make from a deer and instead it just rots... hopefully I'll find myself at some farm somewhere learning how to tan hides and such...
i'd like to learn cheese making even though i don't eat cheese... other things i want to learn:
how to mill grains
to tan hides
to make jam
to can things
to do beadwork
to do engine repair
to do regular construction work
to do alternative building like hay bales, etc
all about natural remedies + more about nutrition in general and nutritional content of foods
extracting essential oils
um.... how to everything...
also how to shoot and develop film... i forget... i can't find a new camera battery for the minolta sarah gave me before i left... i did put film in it today, though, so i'll just be guessing on the light meter...
anyway. i'm ready for whatever is next.
i've been doing so much work! i love it! i harvested butternut squash today, left them to cure in the sun in crates. those crates get heavy. i played banjo a bunch while margaret went in to get her truck looked at- it made bad sounds today. yesterday i harvested beans all morning which made all the muscles in my thighs and my butt sore. when i worked on the farm in ny, i always did stretches for like 45 minutes when i woke up in the morning. i feel so far removed from that now, but that's what i need. and a portable juicer... does that exist? it should. i want to juice things anywhere any time... everywhere all the time...
tat soi is my new favorite vegetable.
moccasins are hard to finish sewing without needle-nose pliers.
i changed the verse in my song about flowers on a grave, its too serious. now it goes
let's make love like flowers do with bees
make the honey sweet
let's be flowers let's be bees
i wish i went to the DIY fair at 2640 in the spring. i wish i knew how to skin and preserve roadkill. there is so much of it i see every day... i keep thinking about how many moccasins you could make from a deer and instead it just rots... hopefully I'll find myself at some farm somewhere learning how to tan hides and such...
i'd like to learn cheese making even though i don't eat cheese... other things i want to learn:
how to mill grains
to tan hides
to make jam
to can things
to do beadwork
to do engine repair
to do regular construction work
to do alternative building like hay bales, etc
all about natural remedies + more about nutrition in general and nutritional content of foods
extracting essential oils
um.... how to everything...
also how to shoot and develop film... i forget... i can't find a new camera battery for the minolta sarah gave me before i left... i did put film in it today, though, so i'll just be guessing on the light meter...
anyway. i'm ready for whatever is next.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
entry the first
Life is good. i'm out here with my car, full of work gear, macrame, half-sewn moccasins, feathers, banjo, and ridiculously impractical clothing. two cameras not in working condition. books, oh, the good books. leaving baltimore and heading into the unknown gave me the biggest thrill. an exhilarated sense of appreciation for life in general as well as my particular place in it. i felt like i made this decision to stand behind myself as a particular human being with a story and a dream and ownership over my place in the world. the drive to pittsburgh was gorgeous. the light was just right and there were lots of interesting people on the road. a lot of dogs! a very adorable little boy whose parents smiled back at me! thats rare.
i got to margaret's house, a little outside pittsburgh, in wexford pa, on sunday evening and i felt like a princess upon arrival. for the month or so before, i'd been sleeping on different peoples floors, eating anything free or cheap (difficult when you eat like i do, avoiding many common foods, like bread...) i came to margaret's on sunday and was shown to my humongous basement room with a cushy bed and a vase full of fresh flowers from her farm. then i was fed a feast! tomato salad, spinach, garlic mashed potatoes with kohlrabi, and boiled beets...holy holy.
the first day on the farm was wonderful. its been so long since i've done this work! working with ones whole body is enormously satisfying, especially in the dirt under the sun amongst the beautiful, living, growing things. farm tasks i've done in the past 3 days of work there are as follows: bringing water and scrap food to chickens, cleaning and sorting their eggs, spraying brassicas with a biological insecticide with a hand-pump backpack sprayer... um... what else... cutting flowers for bouquets as well as dead-heading the zinnias- so beautiful, even the dying ones... harvested a bunch of stuff; greens like lettuces, bok choi and tat soi, harvested and bunched parsley, nipped the seed heads off the basil crop, harvested carrots and beets, cut sunflower heads and stems down so they wouldnt cast shade on crops next to them (i saved a few large heads for road snack seeds) ...what else... ooh, shoveled a pick-up truck load of aged horse shit onto the field over the spot where the chickens had previously been. that was fun! i am not being sarcastic. washed everything. i love picking flowers. i can't remember if there was anything else... oh weeding between spinach and carrots. that was fun, we did it by hand pretty slowly because its the last planting and they're important crops for her market and csa, so we were very meticulous and careful. there is a weed that was very abundant out there that i wish i knew what it was because i bet its something good. i tasted it and it was really rich. it almost looks like purslane, but flat and delicate and more of a rosette growth pattern. i think it sends up tiny white buds, tiny like a pin head. do you know this weed??? its very common, i see it all the time in cities and elsewhere, places where sorrel and purslane usually grow as well... anyway.... there is a lot of sheep sorrel in the fields. i nibble on weeds and things while i'm working. yesss.
tomorrow is csa pickup day. that should be fun.
today we went kayaking in a big man made lake and it was gorgeous and so much fun. and my body feels so tired/good. i saw so many birds. and fish jumping. i wished i had a notebook. i was singing/writing songs as i went. i wrote one for real that i can play on the banjo also. it goes like this:
let's go to bed like carrots in the ground.
asleep so sound,
we'll be carrots in the ground.
let's go to sleep like weeds under the sea
swaying on our dreams
sleep like sea weeds
let's go make love like flowers on a grave
flowers on a grave
oh the love we've made
let's float along like dandelion seeds
carried on the breeze
we're dandelion seeds
we have to leave at 6 am tomorrow morning. i want to play banjo and stay on the internet to bid on jobs transporting things like dogs across the country, and i want to stay up and make friendship bracelets and start a new macrame thing and write and write, but i should really close my eyes. when i close my eyes i think about all the people i know and love and won't see for a long time. and all the things i want to tell them. i hope you all read this and know you're with me.
i got to margaret's house, a little outside pittsburgh, in wexford pa, on sunday evening and i felt like a princess upon arrival. for the month or so before, i'd been sleeping on different peoples floors, eating anything free or cheap (difficult when you eat like i do, avoiding many common foods, like bread...) i came to margaret's on sunday and was shown to my humongous basement room with a cushy bed and a vase full of fresh flowers from her farm. then i was fed a feast! tomato salad, spinach, garlic mashed potatoes with kohlrabi, and boiled beets...holy holy.
the first day on the farm was wonderful. its been so long since i've done this work! working with ones whole body is enormously satisfying, especially in the dirt under the sun amongst the beautiful, living, growing things. farm tasks i've done in the past 3 days of work there are as follows: bringing water and scrap food to chickens, cleaning and sorting their eggs, spraying brassicas with a biological insecticide with a hand-pump backpack sprayer... um... what else... cutting flowers for bouquets as well as dead-heading the zinnias- so beautiful, even the dying ones... harvested a bunch of stuff; greens like lettuces, bok choi and tat soi, harvested and bunched parsley, nipped the seed heads off the basil crop, harvested carrots and beets, cut sunflower heads and stems down so they wouldnt cast shade on crops next to them (i saved a few large heads for road snack seeds) ...what else... ooh, shoveled a pick-up truck load of aged horse shit onto the field over the spot where the chickens had previously been. that was fun! i am not being sarcastic. washed everything. i love picking flowers. i can't remember if there was anything else... oh weeding between spinach and carrots. that was fun, we did it by hand pretty slowly because its the last planting and they're important crops for her market and csa, so we were very meticulous and careful. there is a weed that was very abundant out there that i wish i knew what it was because i bet its something good. i tasted it and it was really rich. it almost looks like purslane, but flat and delicate and more of a rosette growth pattern. i think it sends up tiny white buds, tiny like a pin head. do you know this weed??? its very common, i see it all the time in cities and elsewhere, places where sorrel and purslane usually grow as well... anyway.... there is a lot of sheep sorrel in the fields. i nibble on weeds and things while i'm working. yesss.
tomorrow is csa pickup day. that should be fun.
today we went kayaking in a big man made lake and it was gorgeous and so much fun. and my body feels so tired/good. i saw so many birds. and fish jumping. i wished i had a notebook. i was singing/writing songs as i went. i wrote one for real that i can play on the banjo also. it goes like this:
let's go to bed like carrots in the ground.
asleep so sound,
we'll be carrots in the ground.
let's go to sleep like weeds under the sea
swaying on our dreams
sleep like sea weeds
let's go make love like flowers on a grave
flowers on a grave
oh the love we've made
let's float along like dandelion seeds
carried on the breeze
we're dandelion seeds
we have to leave at 6 am tomorrow morning. i want to play banjo and stay on the internet to bid on jobs transporting things like dogs across the country, and i want to stay up and make friendship bracelets and start a new macrame thing and write and write, but i should really close my eyes. when i close my eyes i think about all the people i know and love and won't see for a long time. and all the things i want to tell them. i hope you all read this and know you're with me.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)