Farmer days...

Meow meow goes the cat.
Cluck cluck goes the chicken.
Moo moo goes the cow.
Neigh neigh goes the horse.
Ow ow goes the Laura when the rooster flaps at her.

This farm is pretty sweet, just to start off. I love accomplishing farm tasks, like planting, feeding animals, building things, carrying water, etc. I love eating amazing food cooked by one of our marvelous hosts, Caitlyn. And I love seeing community in action, in a way that I think I can really take home with me.

When Micheal, the guy who runs this farm, told me in emails that this is a "community farm" it didn't quite click with me that he actually meant the whole community is involved. Take today for example, we took the used coffee grounds from a local coffee shop, and in exchange for us cleaning out the buckets (which we use for compost) we got some free drinks. Helps them, helps us. Or when we took some little pots with seeds in them to a ladies greenhouse to help them germanate, in exchange Mike helps her out with things like weeding and lawn mowing. Helps her, helps us. I really like the concept of neighbors helping neighbors, everyone putting in an effort so everyone benefits.

So I've seen community in action, I've learnt about growing organic goodness, but I have also met a few, shall we say, stereotypical people. There is quite a "southern" tone to a couple of people who believe that "normal" means "keeping your mouth shut, following the government, getting a job, earning money, and eating food that's cheap and tastes good". Meaning, some people I disagree with. Lucky for us, our hosts are NOT like that, which saves a lot of tension! There is definitely a wide cast of characters here, and I like the variety of people I have met who are all coexisting in a relatively smooth way. Granted, no one else LIVES here at the farm, we've just met them the odd day or seen them in town.

So far the only TERRIFYING thing that I can think of (or negative at all thing) is that I just found out they have black widow spiders here! What!
Due to this I will not be doing the following:
- Reaching my hand under old wood piles
- Reaching my hand into dark crevasses that I can't see into
- Wearing bare feet in places that either of the above may happen

Michael says he only knows one person that has ever been bit... so I'll just be careful.