Seriously, Arizona?

So by and large, I didn't really want to comment on anything particularly political on this blog. I intended to use it as a means of keeping in touch with love ones and updating everyone with photos of Dan's progressively sketchy facial hair. That being said, I am taking this opportunity to abuse my little corner of the internet and get on my soapbox about AZ. Sorry if it's boring/ unreadable. I will update with more farm related things next time. Promise!

It's no secret that I'm a liberal democrat-- I have a dove tattoo (again, very sorry Mom and Dad :) ) and I'm living and working on an organic farm... the signs are all there. So choosing to go to John McCain's home base has been a bit of a fish out of water experience for me(which is I think an apt metaphor seeing as I am living in the Sonoran Desert). NC is generally a moderate conservative state and though there are the occasional bumper stickers that make you cringe-- I'm looking at you truck with the Obama Socialism/anti-Islamic rhetoric stickers-- by and large I feel that NC is filled with mostly loving, mostly tolerant individuals. I've seen compassionate conservative done before. So I've finally got to ask: Arizona.... What's the matter with you? I get that you are conservative, but when did hate become a part of your value system?

I guess it's kind of old news that Arizona made it legal to racial profile individuals who resemble illegal immigrants. That's 30% of the population--at least (30% claim Latino and Hispanic origins on census form.. but with the subjectivity of racial profiling, I imagine that the actual number of individuals who are 'eligible' to be approached by authorities is more than that). I understand the need to secure the borders (or rather I understand why people care to) but at what cost?

We teach our children to look back at the intolerance of White Americans during the first half of the twentieth century (and really anytime before that...and after... generally, we have not had a great record when it comes to racial relations) with the understand that judging the character of individual and his/her place in society based on the color of his/her skin is ABSURD and WRONG. Every February teachers pull out posters of Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks and point to them and say: "Remember, racism is wrong. Got it? Take home message, racism... don't do it." You would hope that would be enough-- well no... we hope messages of brotherly love extend well past Black History month within the schools and we further hope that parents are reinforcing that message in their own speech and behaviors within the home. But then Arizona signs off on the most blatantly racist legislation and you have to wonder: who failed the state of Arizona in such a profound way? I understand that as a border state, Arizonans see a higher influx of illegal immigrants in the United States than most Americans, but does that then entitle Arizona to legalize a mass discrimination of its citizens? Can't we all just fast forward ahead to the time to where we look back on this with the appropriate mix of shame and guilt for allowing something like this to happen in 2010 and just skip the actual enforcement of the law. And aside from treating people with suspicion based solely on appearances, can Arizona afford to pay to enforce this law? AZ, you are 49th out of 50 when it comes to the dollar amount spent by the government on a student... and you are now going to arrest people for up to 6 months for not readily producing paperwork... really? You can't think of a better way to spend your money, number 49 ( stock up on MLK and Rosa Park posters, perhaps?) As read on npr.com "the Perryman Group estimates that if all illegal immigrants -- an estimated 460,000 people -- were to leave Arizona, the state would lose more than $26 billion in economic activity." (Catherine Holland, 2010). Wow, good plan Arizona! You've clearly thought this through.

Another thing, and what made me grouchy enough to use my blog as a soapbox, happened recently in Prescott, AZ. A school mural is the subject of huge controversy because, along with white students, there are depictions of black and latino children playing happily at an elementary school. It's important to note that the children depicted in the mural are all students at the school. They are not imagined children... they are real living breathing children whose image is being used. While in progress, motorists passing the artists at work on the mural would yell "Nigger" and "Spic"... Once completed, radio personality and city councilman, Steve Blair, spoke out against the mural stating:


"I am not a racist individual, but I will tell you depicting a black guy [I just want to point out that this isn't a 'black guy' this is a black CHILD] in the middle of that mural, based upon who's President of the United States today and based upon the history of this community, when I grew up we had four black families - who I have been very good friends with for years - to depict the biggest picture on that building as a black person, I would have to ask the question, 'Why?' "

When a conversation is started with "I'm not a racist", you can be sure of a few things: 1) The speaker is probably a racist, 2) Whatever comes after "I'm not a racist" is almost certainly going to be racist in its content 3) Said not racist will once again reinforce his open-mindedness by citing his many ethnically diverse friends at the end of the conversation.

So what was the response to Blair's scathing radio program and drive-by racism? THE SCHOOL DECIDES TO REPAINT THE CHILDREN TO BE WHITE! Right!? Unbelievable! Luckily, enough attention was drawn to the mural that protesters organized and demanded the children remain as the artist and God intended- beautiful and happy.

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The main reason that I have not commented on Arizona legislation before is because-though i disagree with it, I myself had no real solution to offer anyone. However, living at Sleeping Frog Farms has given me a really unique perspective based on my proximity to Mexico as well as the philosophy of the farm.

So, remember NAFTA? Thanks to NAFTA, American companies are allowed to own and operate farms in Mexico. What does that means? Well, most Mexican farms are small-scale subsistence farms who produce enough food to live on and, if available, small quantities of food to take to local markets. So, when a major American corporation comes in and creates a mega farm-- it wipes out all competition in the area. This forces normally rural families to move to larger cities to seek out work, contributing to urban sprawl and slum living. Mexicans, forced out of their normal way of life by American corporate farming, seek financial opportunities in America, in an act of self-preservation (hey, we're back to border control issues already--thanks globalism!) Additionally, food that should normally go to feed Mexicans (as it was produced in Mexico) is imported into America to feed Americans (and probably mostly our livestock).


Don't get too cozy, corporate farming hurts y'all too! Because food is able to be produced at lower cost (read: lower quality, lower safety standards, cheap labor because laws protecting workers aren't enforced) local farms in America cannot compete. Family farms go under because they cannot produce at the same volume. American jobs are lost, economy slumps. Generally speaking, carbohydrates are produced very cheaply (and largely from Corn... hey Mexican farms again) and are the' go to' food source for families in low income situations. Maintaining a largely starchy diet can lead to preventable diseases like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Things got grim fast, right?

So, what's my solution? Buy local. Support your local farmers. Research your food's history. You see grapes at the market... are they in season in your area (or even in the US?) No? then they are probably imported, put them down. Find out when a farmer's market is put on in your area and shop what is in season. You don't have to supplement your entire food supply with local agriculture, but by being conscientious consumers and buying local in any amount one can do wonders. Show off your politics in your shopping: Against illegal immigration? Protect American jobs by buying American produced (Local if possible!) fruits and vegetables. Against big corporations? Buy local, buy in season (sorry, mangoes are not indigenous to NC). Want to save the environment? Local (and organic).

So, take home message:

Do: buy local, shop in season.

Don't: Racism.

So the funny thing about that was...

So, I can't help but feel that this week's trip to Cascabel is going to be the oddest series of events of my time spent in AZ. Rather than wait a week to post (and most likely forget everything that happened) I am treating you all (you're welcome) to a special "bonus" post.


So WWOOFer Jenn,WWOOFer Whit, and I drove up to Cascabel Sunday evening so that we could put in a full day's work on Monday and Tuesday. Before leaving, Debbie let us borrow a book she had on Enneagrams -- needless to say much of the car ride was spent on self-diagnosis (we also got Dairy Queen so that took up some time as well). If you are wondering, I am a two. The book is written in such a way that makes one ashamed to be whatever number you are. It starts out by saying some really frivolous things about your personality (e.g. you are really generous and are kind) and then the gloves come off. Twos apparently are extremely giving with their time and energy but it's only so people think of them positively/ to avoid dealing with their own issues. It goes on from there and each number description goes about the same. You are good at silly x,y, and z but in general you are terrible and awful and no one should bother being your friend. Needless to say, we are sulky about the book. However, whenever anyone did anything clumsy or say something offensive we would just say, "That's typical 4 behavior (or 2 or whatever)".


On Monday we finished fence reinforcement and then as a group we scoured the field for large rocks so that can be safely tilled. During this process I found an Indian artifact (maybe two?)! I found awhat I am told is a Mano-- a stone used wit a matate to grind grains into whatever. I was very excited and contemplated mailing it to Mom... but thought it was better to leave it at the farm than to risk criminal charges/ crazy UPS shipping fees. I also maybe found an arrow head. If not an arrowhead, then it is an incredibly symmetrical naturally arrowhead shaped rock. Who's to say?

Also on Monday: A trip to the river. So, there is a river at the back end of the property! During monsoon season it is swollen and looks like a typical river/creek. Currently though, it's a kind of meh trickle. Despite how unimpressive it looks at this point in time, it is absolutely teeming with minnows and tadpoles. Ihler had a really fun time letting the minnows swim between his toes and catching the chubby/sluggish tadpoles. During the hour or so we spent by the river Ihler went from completely clothed to completely naked. It happened slowly...but really we should have known that naked baby was on the way the moment his shoes and socks came off. I'm looking forward to monsoon season to see what sort of new wildlife is around when there is a consistent water source available/ tubing down the river during lunch breaks.

Monday night CJ said, "It would be great if someone could drive to Benson to get Diesel fuel so that Tuesday we could have full use of the equipment." At the time he asked, I was feeling alert so I volunteered. It was a definite, "If you give a mouse a cookie..." situation because by the time I had left I was committed to doing 2-3 more errands out in town (and by the time he'd finished his list of things for me to get I was getting into the sleepy range). So Benson is a 30 minute drive away and I think size-wise is like Richlands. In order to get there you have to drive through windy, hilly roads in which cows are a very real road hazard. It's a scary drive to make in the day time and much more difficult at night since there's no light around except for your headlights. To keep awake, I rolled the windows down on the pickup and listened to one of the few non-static-y radio stations around. It was classic rock so I was content for a while. When I noticed I was the only car on this deserted highway It occurred to me that I was living out any number of Jackson Browne and/or Eagles hits and I decided to change the radio to the other non-static-y station, Mexican Mariachi Music... lest I end up at the Hotel California or Running on Empty.


Tuesday I think was the funniest day of all. We took the big dogs, lily and gus, for a walk around the property in order to exercise them and to reinforce their understanding of the farm's borders. When we came by the pond we took them off the leash so they could swim around and cool off. CJ brought his bathing suit and jumped in with the pups. I wanted to wade in with them so I took off my pants and got in just above my knees. Jenn just got her toes wet. So while we people were hanging out and talking, the dogs decided to do some exploring. Lily slipped under the fence and Gus followed and soon they were outside the borders of the fence. We could still see them, and knowing that they aren't fast dogs, we limited our retrieval efforts to whistles and the occasional yell of the name. Then they just take off -blam-and are no longer in eyesight. It's important to know that our neighbors in the direction they bolted are cow farmers (actually in about every direction...cow farming). It is the policy of cow farmers to shoot dogs who wander on their property in order to protect livestock. Suddenly, there is an urgency in getting the dogs. I start running after them.... as is... barefoot in my underwear. I have a pretty well known "I would not run to save my life" policy, but my urge to protect the dogs overwhelmed my desire to not look ridiculous (I'm an ugly runner) and I RAN after the dogs....for a mile and change in the desert...barefoot...in my underwear. I caught up with them after about 10 minutes when they stopped to sniff sniff something dead. They were happy to see me and were very compliant in their return home. Cute.


So, I thought all of that was funny, especially my run for dogs (typical two-- right?) and I hope you all feel a little bit closer to me now that I've shared alll of that/ won't avoid eye contact because of all of that.

a lovely ride

Hey halfway point-- sort of! Halfway will be officially this coming up Tuesday. I am blogging early (or a week and a half late) because it's not clear if I will have internet access at the time of halfsies. So better early (or kinda late) than never, right?

So, the past couple weeks have been a blur and whatever is opposite of a blur (lull? dead stop?). The week before last work was ho hum same old- wake up at 6 work sweat sweat sweat break sweat sleep at 10. I suppose the most exciting thing I can report is that I got to meet the "Bee Guy" and even be his helper. He's incredibly sweet and his voice is similar to Winnie the Pooh, which makes him an ideal bee keeper. He runs dozens of hives in the Tucson area, and because there is only one hive on the farm we rarely see him-- low priority. The bees on our farm are a very docile breed of Italian bees (Ciao, have some honey! Gratzi! Prego! Vespa vroom, vroom!) As we were opening the hive I was expecting/half hoping for a swarm of bees to cover us from head to foot or at least make interesting facial hair formations (bee beard!). Instead they just sort if looked at us and gave the bee equivalent of a shrug and a 'meh'. The Bee Guy said the ladies looked great and added a new level to the hive. Before leaving he broke me off a piece of the wax so that I could snack on the honey- what a bizarre and wonderful way to spend an afternoon. Interesting trivia: smoke does not hypnotize bees. It tricks them into thinking there is a forest fire. Sensing the smoke the bees gorge themselves on honey so that they can have start up honey if they need to make a new hive. So they get really bloated and sluggish (neither response really great for a real forest fire, bees.) and cannot flex their abdomens enough to effectively sting someone. Cool trick. Gratzi bees!


Monday and Tuesday were spent at the new farm. We had a giant sleepover with Adam and Debbie's friends who came to help out. It was a lot of fun and we finally finished reinforcing the fence in the first field. I am calloused over but am content with the knowledge that push come to shove can throw together a mean fence. I also got to trim Mesquite trees. From my experience, there is nothing in AZ that isn't covered in 3 inch spikes. The trees did a number on the WWOOFers... we are all covered in scratches and have gone through a couple of tubes of neosporin. We look tough now and that gives us some street cred , which is nice.

So where does the blur come in? Saturday night at 5:40. My graduate program at UNCG had a mandatory meeting so I had to fly back. I went from Tucson to Phoenix to Philadelphia to Raleigh over the course of 9 hours. I was a little loopy when Dad (thanks dad!) came to get me at the airport. He was kind enough to check us into a hotel early so I could nap. The plane ride to Tucson was my first plane ride ever... and after this trip I feel like an old salt. I really enjoy layovers in airports because while I'm on the farm I rarely see people and at the airport I have no choice. I like the airport gift shops that try to cater to the interests of the passengers flying in/out of that terminal. I'm not specifically talking about the kiosks with the neck pillows and ear plugs. I am talking about the "native spirit" stores in the Tucson and Phoenix airports. If I had 400 dollars to blow, I would have loved to own an authentic Native American headdress... love to own and love to wear it onto the plane. Damn you, WWOOFer budget!

So, graduate school. My program is Joint Masters program with NC A&T, an historically black university right down the road from UNCG. It's an amazing program that focuses on diversity. I will attend classes at both universities. My professor says to think of the experience as a living classroom, which it definitely will be. As a white woman I was definitely in the majority at UNC... so it will be a change with my classes at NC A&T but I am super looking forward to it. My professors are wonderful and my cohort looks like a cool bunch of girls (35 girls, 5 boys) and I can't wait to be with them full time.

Also while in Greensboro I got to check out my future living situation. To be respectful of my roommates I won't go into too much detail. I will say though that it's a very cool old house in a great location and I'm thrilled to be there with such cool ladies + boy.

So that's about it for the last two weeks. I was enjoying the momentum of writing a post once a week, but I'm afraid routine has set in. I will try and be more diligent/force interesting events in my life to warrant blog posts. As usual... I have pictures and will post tomorrow!

IOU tons of pictures

Rather than try to integrate the photos into my last blog, I figured that they could just as easily (read: way more easily) have their own entry. Enjoy!

Since it's the first thing I see every morning (thanks a lot cats...) I decided to share this with you first: Dead Dove.

This is 0ne of the polar bears on the farm, Gus. Gus says, "Hello!" (subtext: what tasty things do you have that I can nom nom on?") Gus is a fatty fatty fat fat puppy dog.

Dan and I try and walk the dogs twice a day in the early morning and in the evening so we can avoid the heat. We were pausing briefly in the wash (washes fyi are temporary rivers that form during monsoon season in july and august. For the rest of the year they are just dry river beds) to watch a sunset. The dogs, despite weighing in at least 130 lbs apiece, are convinced they are lap dogs. Upon seeing me sit down, they took full advantage of my now available lap and set about crushing me to death. That's right, I am posthumously updating my blog. Consider me Tupac.

After my death by puppy cuddles, Dan comforts himself in the arms of another woman-- Lily the dog.

These are among the pretty things I get to see everyday!

So, someone somewhere keeps bees on the farm. I've never seen him but I know he exists because people talk about him. Anyways, there are tons of honey bees around doing some open pollination, and they are wonderful. A few days ago though the bees were going absolutely crazy over the cactus blooms. There would be as many as ten bees in one flower and they were just rolling in the pollen and sort of "bee wrestling". I recommend clicking on this photo and making it bigger-- the bee is clearly making eye contact with the camera. Vanity, thy name is honey bee.


A wide display of Sleeping Frog Farms' table. Seemingly, Dan and I are left to our own devices running the thing (bad idea all around, guys). In reality though there are between 3-4 WWOOFers at Sunday market and at least 1 farmer running the show. At this particular market we were selling scapes (the flowering part of onions), mint, turnips, head lettuce, beet greens, spinach, dino kale, swiss chard, dandelion greens, eggs (duck and chicken), and dates (which are grown in California and not at the farm). What we sell varies between market to market--though as I mentioned earlier, we are in seasonal transition and will be carrying actual produce and not greens (yes, yes, yes!).



Other things at the market: cute kids. To my knowledge they are not for sale (or maybe they are for the right price?)


Musicians! Ok, so I really like these guys because they are playing the Eagles, the Beatles, and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. They've apparently lost their novelty for everyone else as there is a distinct eye roll when they start to set up (they play the same songs every market... so I guess I could see that getting old. I'm still on board guys!)
So this sweet child is Ihler, Adam's four year old son. He is riding his very cool 1960's pixie bike around the "lush" landscape of the new farm (look, it's a tree! One of like twelve in the entire state of AZ). He' is riding after Ramona, the sweetest dog in the world. She is both terrified and completely joyful about Ihler chasing her.
So, there's a pond on the new farm! Gus and Lily wasted no time finding it (they were very hot and probably very glad to find such a thing). This photo documents the moment right before Gus starts his wet dog shake 'em off routine. Because their hair is so unbelievably thick, they continued to shake water off for the next 2 hours.

Debbie and I had the pleasure of ripping out 1970's puke green carpet out of her new cottage. It was awesome- check out that mask!

This is Ramona's big find. What a sweet day for Ramona.


Ok, so clearly they are advertising alcohol, right? Lies, lies, lies!

I'd post more pictures but I lent my camera to Dan. His camera doesn't have a usb cord so I'm letting him lift some of the pictures that i've taken for his blog. Mosey over there to see the rest of the pictures.

“Time, time, time, See what's become of me, While I look around all my possibilities”- Paul Simon

Week Three! I am about 1/4 of the way through my adventure in AZ. Days are starting to run together and I'm at the point where most of the time I have no idea of what day of the week it is. A couple of weeks backWWOOFer Tony made the comment that, per state , there should only be one person with a watch. This was either a joke or an instance of field philosophy (this happens when it's really early and no one is coherent enough to string together rational thoughts and someone offers something far out). Whichever the case, the farm has slowly adopted the practice--Dan is the only one wearing a watch these days. The rest of us have a very loose concept of time based largely on meals. There's breakfast (espresso and toast) work (field philosophy 101 + harvesting) 2nd breakfast (like first breakfast but better --with more coffee and fatty eggs) , work again, LUNNCCHHHHHHHH (it's a long break), work again, dinner, sleepy times (i'm probably dreaming of food).

Work this week has been pretty typical. They are starting to switch growing seasons, which means fewer leafy greens and more produce. I am really excited to not wash spinach again for a while; though now that I can readily tell the difference between kale and swiss chard I'm a little bummed to see it go. Such is life, right?

Fun spider story of the week:

I found a black widow. I was in the green house because CJ was kind enough to give me an organizing job (OCD's dream) while he taught Dan how to use the tiller (spinning blades inches away from feet- how could this possibly backfire!?). Thinking I got the cushy job, I set about organizing flower pots and seeding trays. I dug under the shelves and pulled out a stack of smallish flower pots and emptied the soil into a holding bucket. I looked into the first pot and saw a spider web and a small dead black spider. Meh... pull the next pot... blam! Black widow. She was carrying an egg case so presumably the dead black spider was her spouse/snack. So, yes I screamed and yes I made someone go in there and tend to it-- I regret nothing.


Today (Monday) is usually the WWOOFer day off, but today we went out to check out the new farm. It's about an hour away towards the southeast ( I think... I really don't have a good sense of where anything is in the state). The farm is 75 acres (actually 74.7... but I'll let them round it if they want to) and is amazing! There's a big main house (which I think will be CJ's and maybe the WWOOFer house), a smaller cottage that will belong to Adam and Debbie, and a big barn filled with TBA. There's also an old church on the property but it's pretty torn up and looks like it was housing goats until fairly recently (yikes!). There's also a pond and their land backs up into the river. Because there's a water source around, the landscape is much more lush than in Tucson (and I use the term lush very, very loosely. It's still only brush and scrappy trees... but that's lush none the less around here).

We took the big puppies, Lily and Gus, to see their new home. Usually when people say they are "taking the dog to the farm" it means that the dogs are being euthanized. Bummer, right? Well today they actually did go to the farm to hang out and get some serious exercise. They have been confined to a small pen for the last three weeks because the current farm property isn't completely fenced in and they are fairly aggressive dogs (rarely a winning combination). We walk them twice a day but they need much more activity (Gus sounds like a chubby asthmatic after the first 10 minutes). Today they frolicked and swam around and acted like 'real dogs'-- so fun! Debbie and Adam's dog, Ramona, found an old cow jaw and spent a good hour gnawing on it. She weighs only about 25 lbs so the jawbone was a sizable find for her. Moral of the story: today was a good day to be a dog at Sleeping Frog Farms.

Since we WWOOFers are not confined to a pen, we had to keep our frolicking to a minimum. Dan and Jenn helped reinforce fences around the perimeter and I helped Debbie gussy up her new digs. We ripped out the awful carpet. It was cathartic in a way, as most projects involving ripping and heavy lifting are. However, the best part was wearing cool Darth Vader respirators. It's the little things, I guess.


On the way home from the farm we stopped in a place called the Horse Shoe Cafe for greasy diner food. It was delicious and disgusting and good again. The place was covered in very weird horse memorabilia- including a very racist painting of Native Americans on horse back and a painting of a noble steed that was kind of grinning in a way that no horse could or ever should. Though the sign on the restaurant said cocktails... they in fact do not serve alcohol... or at least don't on Mondays. We know this because several bikers came in for a drink and very sullenly slumped away when they couldn't find what they were looking for. It's so hard to be a biker these days.

As usual... I have tons of pictures from the week, but I'm too tired to post them just yet. I will put them up ASAP (probably by second breakfast tomorrow).

Additionally: Mom and Mert- Thank you for the care package! I love it and I love you!

We do have a zeal for laughter in most situations, give or take a dentist. - Joseph Heller

Wow, so week two is done and gone! Ideally I'd like to use a Kurt Vonnegut quote to neatly sum up my blog, but this week has been sort of all over the place so i've had to switch gears and go with Joseph Heller. Maybe I should stop it all together (the quoting I mean... it's pretty pretentious). Anyways, like I said- all over the place week. Picking up from the last blog:

THURSDAY

Cold, cold, cold! What gives global warming? It was in the sixties but with the thin atmosphere and gusty wind it felt unbelievably chilly. Not only was it cold-- it rained AND hailed. The mountain that normally hangs out in front of the farm was no where to be seen (it was hidden by the clouds and precipitation or left for warmer weather for all I know). The first part of the day we worked on bed preparation to plant peppers; but after the winds picked up a lot of our work was largely undone as irrigation tape went flying. As the temperature dropped (hello 40 degrees!) we had to quickly set up shelters for the young plants that can't handle the cold weather. Luckily through our handy work and the innovation of Adam and CJ (the boys who own the farm) distributing buckets of hot water throughout the field (sort of like a hot water bottle for the plants) every plant made it through the night.

One positive consequence to rain-- pretty things

FRIDAY

Cold again! I think that all of the WWOOFERS are bummed out about the weather. It's interesting how used to 80 degree sunny weather one can get and how quickly one's mood sours when one is deprived of such things. I got to milk the goats today-- I'm a natural at squeezing things out of goats (i'll post pictures soon).I was for sure moving slow (a combination of blue mood and cold hands). But, but, but!!! The Avett brothers played a concert at the Rialto theater in downtown Tucson and Dan, WWOOFER Jen, and I got to go! CJ was headed downtown for a concert of his own so he dropped us off-- though it should be said for those interested in the ecology of Tucson I saw my first Tarantula (OH MY GOD!) hanging out by CJ's truck as we were headed for the show. He said she was probably cold (even locals can't stand the cold weather!) and was playing dead (she was in fact very much alive)-- anyways so, we went to the show and it was AMAZING. They played a few songs-- 3-4-- from their new album and the rest of the show was from their older stuff. I danced for the whole show and was very hoarse the next day. After the show (maybe like 11:00) Dan, Jen and several of Jen's farming friends, and I went to a place called the grill for a very late dinner/very early breakfast. It's diner food but much higher quality + a very hipster atmosphere. There was a band playing in the corner of the restaurant and they featured a saw player. Before you ask, I don't know for sure if he was any good-- i'll have to wait until I hear another saw player before i can draw comparisons. Dan and I separated from the group for our meal (I had french toast-- I know you were wondering). We rejoined Jenn and waited for CJ to come and pick us up. While we were waiting, the opening band for the Avetts-- The Truth and Salvage Co.-- came and grabbed something to eat at the booth next to us- very exciting! CJ came at around 12:00 with some of his friends from the show he saw. They tried to talk us into coming to a house party with promises of "a sauna!" Dan and I declined and Jen went with her farm friends for a visit. Dan and I went and slept in the truck bed as CJ went to his party. We got back to the farm at around 3:30 in the morning and immediately crashed.

I originally got Dan to take pictures of the tarantula (because God knows I wasn't going over there); but then he forgot the flash so I eventually got it together enough to snap a couple.

yes, yes, yes, yes!

SATURDAY

Because of the concert, Dan and I were near worthless for the first part of the day. Dan was feeling so bad that he took a half day. I perked up at around 9 am because the weather finally turned warm again. I changed out of my sweater and put on a tank top. A guy around our age, William, came to help out around the farm. He, Jen, and I worked on bed prep until early afternoon. When we broke for lunch I discovered that I was completely red. Up until Saturday, I had been diligent (-ish) about sun screen. I was just so excited to get out of long sleeves that i neglected my skin and paid the price. Bummer, right? Well, Adam made a bang up lunch for everyone so I ended the day feeling quite content.


SUNDAY

Market day! It's probably my favorite day of the week. There are tons of people with their dogs walking around so I get lots of people watching time in. I feel like the market deserves a post of it's own so I won't go on too much at this time except to say that I really enjoy going. After the market Dan and WWOOFer Tony and I went to the grocery store. We went to an Albertson's, which I think is kind of like a grocery + walgreens + starbucks. It's a very strange and good place. Interesting observation: You can buy hard liquor in a supermarket! Isn't that bizzare? I'm in no way advocating the practice... it just tickles me. There are even drive through liquor stores! I digress. Dan and I have been fascinated with the fast food in the area so we decided to try one. Whataburger- i completely okay burger joint with the creepiest slogan ever. Whataburger: there's one near you. The you is actually underlined as well but my blog isn't making that available. Creepy slogan, adequate food. After the snack we went to Trader Joe's (yes, yes yes!) for our favorite basics. Leaving Trader Joe's became a challenge when the truck died and we had to walk 2.5 miles back to the farm. Luckily we weren't in a hurry and Dan and Tony were sweet enough to do most of the heavy grocery lifting. We made it home alive with only slightly runny ice cream.



MONDAY

Dan and I decided to explore down town a little bit so we asked Adam to drop us at a bus stop. We actually started off at the wrong stop and waited for 30 minutes before we realized our mistake. We hoofed it a mile to the correct stop and made it just in time. We walked around 4th ave, which we were told was the big hippie hub of the area. It was pretty neat, though were disappointed by the size of the down town area. There are a few really great book stores ( I bought two used Margaret Atwood books) and a fleet of head shops and that was about it. We had a nice lunch and walked around some of the other avenues and then caught a bus home- sort of. There are two bus depots -one downtown and another towards the north end of town by the mall. You have to go to each of them when you are making the trip entirely across town. Going downtown it was no problem- you ride the southbound 16 all the way. However, the northbound 16 turns back into the southbound 16 at the second depot (mall). So Dan and I stayed on the bus and ended up going back towards downtown. Luckily we realized very quickly our mistake and hopped off the bus. We called Adam who was in the area and sweet enough to pick us back up. Thank you Adam, you are a life saver! The rest of the day Dan crashed and I cleaned up the WWOOFer house with Jen. So that was my week-- lots of thing that were more silly than not. Dan and I were reflecting on what we've enjoyed most since getting here. I think what i've enjoyed is having no choice but living in the moment. Because I don't have any pressing deadlines and have enough flexibility in my day when cars break down, parties run late, or buses go in the wrong direction I have no choice but to go with the flow. It's just a really different experience not worrying where you are going but just sort of trusting that you'll get wherever you're supposed to be. So, that's that in case you were wondering. I will post pictures tomorrow (my camera is charging and my computer is about to kick it). Good night!

“Unexpected travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God”- KV

Welcome to Sleeping Frog!

OK, so tomorrow will mark my first full week at the farm. I've been slow to update because 1) I'm very busy and important, 2) it's hard to walk around with a camera in my pocket, 3) my hands are caked in mud most of the time and I don't want to contaminate my computer or my camera... so I apologize for my tardiness.


So, by and large WWOOFing has been a really great experience. Since it's only been a week I am hesitant to make any sweeping judgments...but everything I have been a part of so far has been really rewarding. My typical day is waking up at around 6 and dragging my feet and getting whatever caffeine I can into my system before i get out into the field at around 6:30. Depending on market days (thursday, saturday, and sunday) we may harvest greens before the day gets too hot. I've really enjoyed harvesting because it's really quiet and lets me get my thoughts together for the day/ is one of the few times you get to wear a sweater-- the desert has extreme temperature fluctuation so it can be in the mid 50's in the morning and be near 90 by the mid afternoon. I usually change my clothes a couple of times during the day just to adapt to this weather. Good news though... no humidity! It's really hard to tell how hot you are until are sunburned.

At around 9 am we go in to have breakfast and get a break and then back to work. We also take a longish break around noon. We try and avoid the hottest hours of the day because it's no good for us and it's no good for the plants (they wilt if you look at them too intensely). After lunch break we try and work until sundown and then we can relax for keeps. Other than harvesting work to be done includes: bed making (hoeing, raking, weeding, etc), pulling for new plants and tending to the animals (chickens, goats, and giant dogs). There are also some extremely affectionate cats who are almost always around underfoot--desperate for cuddles.

Gosh and Leche cuddle times.

Also underfoot... dead doves. One of the funniest thing to see around the farm is evidence of a bird genocide. Morning doves are considered pests so the cats are encouraged to snack on them. You cannot walk two feet without seeing dove pieces around (usually just the wings). I'm not going to lie, at first it was really off putting. Now it's just a part of my reality. Dead dovess.


Monday is the WWOOFer day off so we are allowed to sleep in and play around at our leisure. Today was pretty overcast so we are working on a puzzle. In to coming weeks I'd like to explore the washes and maybe go on a hike or two. However, today my interests are limited to assembling a 2000 piece puzzle of Casablanca.




Oh, and my mailing address is:

1801 West Overton Road
Tucson, Arizona 85704

write to me and send lots of love!