My partner's inspiration

My partner recently entered my blog posts into a word cloud called Wordle, it clouds words based on frequency. Pretty cool! 

 http://www.wordle.net/ 

A deal with the devil

I did it. I made a deal with the devil. 

The devil with a petroleum engine, start plugs- who smokes smog and guzzles down swills of freeway pavement. 

After a few years of being car-free. I bought an auto-mobile. A girl on the go. 

Months of debating the options on a hopeless quest to find a car I can believe in- I settled on the VW TDI Super wagon. One part sports car, one part mom mobile. It gets 50 mpg and can run b-5 biodiesel. Ranked the green car of the year. 

I took the train from Santa Cruz to Roseville and biked into the auto mall, built like a race track, four lanes of people test driving their new cars. Car sales man turned their heads to stare at my bright pink 80's speed racer, paniers, toe clips and all, as I pulled in to the dealership. 

Everything checked out, and I came home with an almost new car. One that will last me a good long time, keep me safe, and allow me to cart flowers, any where I so choose.  In living in America, sometimes we're forced to make these deals. Sell our souls to be able to fully participate, show up for family, and market goods. I'm grateful for the opportunity to challenge my inhibitions and make friends with my own personal demons. 

Down Garden Flowers

It's incredible being in the down garden, the floral center of the farm. There must be 40 different types of flowers on at present. Dahlias, zinnias, roses, perennials, annuals, filler. It's like gardening in a florist shop. Two days a week we spend an entire morning with the flowers; cutting, prepping, and arranging them for our market cart. It's one of the most magical things, arranging flowers- I'm convinced it slows down time. Makes us pause to reflect on the beauty and peace in life. Exquisite.

Al's big 100

Allan Chadwick turned 100 a few weeks ago.

The farm center was enshrouded in a thick fog that morning, the grey blue light seeping in through the cracks in the walls.

Our desert farmie had placed candles along the tables, side lined by roses, the small flames held tribute to our founder.

A crazy passionate high knee sock wearing poet, who probably would still fit right in.

10 phone calls and a mouse

It's the peak of summer, and it seems like these days, I don't have time for anything more than existence on the farm. Between bounty and harvest, celebration and education- my brain and time is packed full, leaving just enough space so that any disturbance throws my delicately balanced existence out of wack. So when my inbox started to pile up, and my voice mail box was full, my laundry left undone and my tent uncleaned- I already felt overwhelmed. 

Enter the mouse.

Who knew that such a small creature could reek such havoc in such a small amount of time? Some of my favorite shirts, gone the way of summer nest making. 

Perfect straw to break the camels back. Mouse straw. Real living outdoors. 

Farm life where:

Orchard Lecture

Orin brought the orchard into the class room today. In order to teach pruning, he needed sufficient props, and it necessitated cutting down whole saplings to bring to class. He came in, draped in apple branches, fruit still hanging- fully committed to giving us a visceral learning experience. I appreciated the integration of learning styles- tactile, auditory, visual, sensual. Teaching us how to fall in love with gardening.

Toes full up

We planted the last beds in the main field today. A pre-emanation that things will eventually come to an end. Sooner than all of us have imagined, fall will arrive, the dregs will be turned in, and cover crop seeds will be spread- tucking the fields in for winter.

After we transplanted the tiny seedlings into the rows, the whole group lay down in the furrows- shoulder sized walls of dirt mounted up on both sides. Nestled in the the dirt, eyes at plant height, staring up at the sky.

Toes full up, we lay in wait as our seedlings might- to be watered, to grow, and to start the cycle again.

Abundance and Scarcity

It's hard to remember in the midst of such abundant chaos that there is

Scarcity

Barren Land

Poverty

Resource Depletion 

and Starvation

While we're here, our arms full of vegetables, it's almost impossible to remember.

So many beans, zucchini, salad greens, and beets, we rush to keep up with giving them away. 

Would that we'll give them to the right people.

If only the world had the ability to experience this good life. Perhaps they'd put down their arms and help harvest. 

Russian Beets

We cleared oversized beets today. Huge beets so impressive that we named them as we pulled them out of the ground. Mostly male Russian sounding names. Vladmir, Gorback, Putin. 321 pounds of magenta colored calories, headed for the walk-in.