Flower Arangements...

Ah so I see I haven't written in a while, oops!

Time moves really strangely here. The days move so fast, but I don't really know why. Usually days move fast because:
1) You are doing something incredibly fun
2) You wake up late/go to bed early

See, I haven't REALLY had either of those, so I don't know what is up! Lets start with number one; Well, I must say that even though its not really that BAD here, being here does make me appreciate our lovely last farm a ton. Its not that there is nothing to do, but most of what there is to do is, well, a bit difficult to see the purpose of. The work kind of goes towards this farm (being about two people) and not much further. Because of the super small community reach, it was getting a bit tricky to justify the work.

BUT THEN CAME A CHANGE

Our host lady (who can be a really great person, but is definitely the giver of silly tasks) had to leave for a work engagement in another state. She got stuck there because of a sick friend and VOILA, no more pointless work.

"But Laura, didn't you go there to work? Why would you just stop?"

Well, we didn't stop working, we just ended up working even more for this AWESOME eco-institute that we happen to be neighboring! They run environmental summer camps for kids, as well as eco-work shops for people of all ages. We also got to help them with a school group that came through. So, by helping them with their garden and various other projects, we are helping run something that I really see a lot of value in. Yay contribution! We also got to help run a couple of cool events they were hosting in their ballin house (looks like it should be on cribs, FOR REAL). A nice touch.

One of the events had a band playing as a fundraiser for the institute. My first task of setting up was flower arranging, which is something I wish I could do endlessly. Possibly one of the most relaxing "work" related tasks ever. It also prepared me for my second bout of flower arranging that needed to be done today - flowers for the death of the rooster. That's right, the poor old rooster (which by the way I had to shove pills down his poor little throat all of last week) died today. He was old, sick, had just battled a mean case of mites, and was all stressed out due to some new chickens (and a new rooster) that were introduced two days ago. Because of all this the poor old bird is no more. It was kind of a weird ceremony we held for him, but a ceremony none-the-less.

To close, rest in peace good bird. I hope people can catch onto bad cases of the mites sooner for the next birds.

I see new faces in new places...

I've been really busy this past week and a half at the new farm we are at. It is a really strange transition between our last place and where we are today, as they are totally different in almost every way. The last farm was a CSA which is Community Supported Agriculture, and as I mentioned in a previous post, was SUPER community involved. The people around supported San Ysidro, and they in turn supported the people around them with awesome fresh + organic produce, eggs, and beef. A win-win situation, I would like to call it. The place we are at now is a homestead, which I am still trying to get the grasp of. In my opinion, its like a home... with a big garden... and chickens and goats. And bees.
But really, the difference I am seeing (or just feeling) is the community involvement part, as it is not a CSA. So, it is hard for me to see the worth in all I am doing, just because I haven't gotten a grip on where everything we work towards goes to. Oh well.

Anyways, the good stuff! First off there are two other wwoofers here for almost the exact same time frame as us - neat! They are super cool AND from New York. Badass.

Second, I have learned a few new skills SUCH AS:
- Chainsaw safety (I'm not the best... oh well)
- How to blanch vegetables
- More gardening tips
- A bit about beehives
- A bit about goats
- That strawberries grow best in straw... WHOA! (totally didn't connect that before)
- How to cook off the top of my head (in our neat little kitchen)
AND
- All about Cicadas.

Cicadas? What are those you might ask. WELL, they are super cool bugs, and the ones that are here right now come once every THIRTEEN years. Thats right. They lay underground, dormant, for thirteen years. Then they burrow up and through the ground over a three week period as beetles. After out of the ground, they climb onto something, slowly shed their outer shell, release their new-found wings, fly around, mate, and then die. Awesome.
Also, cicadas are also known as locusts, so I'm thinking that is where a lot of plague stories come from - cool onslaughts of these weird bugs.
Right now I can here their very loud mating song through the window. Its this eerie kind of noise that is constant and very present. I like it but I think it bothers the dogs!

I'll put up some pictures soon! Back to goat researching I go.

W a-s-h i-n-g t-o-n, baby D.C.!

What a terrible place! Really, Washington is a ridiculous city. Its this zombie like land full of monolithic buildings covered in masonic references and secrecy. There are thousands and thousands of people, but no one seems to live there. Everyone just commutes to D.C., walks around franticly with stress on their face, and then leaves again, so the streets are empty of anything 'open' by 6pm. It also doesn't help that we got there the day Osama Bin Laden was reported dead.

The city felt shrouded in this blanket of both pride and terror. A high level of security is everywhere, so you always feel guilty of something, and I never felt 'secure' because of it. While walking to see all of the monuments of the wars, everything is presented in a very strange way. Like, surrounding the Washington monument is a lot of very large American flags. Not just one, or four, but like twenty five or more maybe. There presence is very "This is America!" when you look at it, which I guess makes sense but still feels intimidating. So, you walk past the monument, and start with the war memorials. Between the names of those who died are words like "Victory on land, Victory on sea, Victory in air" or "Freedom isn't free", all driving home the messages of war as a necessity. It just made me feel strange looking at it, the words that seem meant to make you feel proud of war, next to the people who actually died for that war to happen.

Well, other than all of that weird stuff, D.C. does have one cool thing - the Smithsonian. A lot of museums fo' free!
Beth and I attended: the Museum of Natural History, the Museum of the Native American, the Botanical Gardens, the Air and Space Museum, and probably a couple more. The best one was the Native one, probably because I just like things like that. All were decent, but all were very tiring to be in.

Basically, the best part of D.C. was couchsurfing with some pretty cool people in a pretty cool neighborhood, and leaving.

Moving onwards...

Our time in Virginia has passed, and we've moved onto new things. Leaving our dear farm had some mixed emotions, as on one hand I really love Micheal and Kaitlyn and would love to stay and help them out forever, but on the other hand, I was really excited to move on to new adventures.

I will definitely miss the great people we met in Fredericksburg, and the town itself. There was such a free spirit to many of the people we met, so I'm happy to have gotten to know them all. I will also miss the cast of very ridiculous characters that we were fortunate enough to meet. People with strong opinions on random things, with close minds, or just interesting ways of being in general.

One thing I realized though, after leaving, is that we learnt absolutely NOTHING about the civil war. This is a bit odd as we were on the grounds of the civil war, and stuck flat in the middle of a LOT of history. Oh well... I guess I'll read up on it sometime, and if it really peaks my interest, I'll have some friends to stay with when I go back.

Until then, farewell Virginia.