Day 2: Just another day on the farm!

Rising at 5:30 was not quite as easy today as it was yesterday, but that's okay, I still have a while to adjust! Plus I see the value of getting up early to beat the mid day heat.

Today's morning chores went much much faster today, we were done around 6:50! compared to 9:15 yesterday. But that's because yesterday Tina was at farmers market and so Jim had to milk the goats. But today she did that, while Jim and I split the chores we did together yesterday, which means he and I finished twice as fast! I also got to drive to 4-wheeler by my self today, it was fun, but the hardest part about it, aside from the left front wheel being smaller than the right front wheel causing it to veer left, is that I'm pulling a trailer with 300 pounds of water behind me which means I'm not allowed to gun it and go fast!

While I was cooking breakfast this morning I went out to get my bowl from yesterday's oatmeal that I left outside by the hose to soak over night. I came back this morning and there were chew marks (see below picture) all around the rim of my bowl.. and its a metal bowl.. but I guess I should have expected that. Oh also I'm having fresh goat milk with breakfast this morning. :) Yum.

Morning harvest was a much better experience today than yesterday! For starters I was well hydrated and had a lighter colored shirt on. But also I was harvesting corn rather than things on the ground, for most of the time, I did spend about 45 minutes harvesting more tomatoes. As I was talking to Tina today and telling her how this harvest was going much better for me she agreed about how hard they can be for non-locals, she is from Canada, Jim however was born and raised here. She also said one of the biggest mistakes new interns make is trying to keep up with Jim! I thought that was pretty funny, and of course, it also made me want to be the one intern who does keep up with him! I think I did pretty well with it today.

Lunch was a nice break, it comes around noon and gets us out of the heat for an hour or so, but then going back out it rough because the heat has increased so much while on break. But its all good, if things get too hot, I'm allowed to jump in the swimming pool!

Post lunch work was a nice break from harvesting, I was doing prep work for tomorrows Farmers Market which entailed sorting out good beans from bad beans, good tomatoes from bad ones, so on and so forth, but  what was interesting was that while I was sorting the beans I found a long dark hair, which neither I, Jim, nor Tina have. So it had to be from some previous intern, I'm not sure why I think that this was worth mentioning but for some reason I was just interested by the idea of me sorting through some beans that someone else a couple months ago picked, and now they have nothing to do with this farm, in the same way that I had zero connection to this place two days ago, but now I feel very much a part of it! I guess it isn't really the hair that interested me, but rather the concept of what goes on here, free labor comes in for 3 month shifts and then leaves. All the while Tina, Jim  and the kids are carrying on with there day to day lives! Okay, enough on that topic, it is probably only interesting to me.

Evening chores went well, I did them all by myself! Arnold the male turkey still gets aggressive with me, I have to fend him off with my boot!

I just love this goat, she climbs on everything:

I got my CSA share of food today, as part of my payment. In it was some tomatoes, basil, Armenian cucumbers, lemon cucumbers, three types of squashes, corn, okra, eggs, goats milk, and some green beans! I harvested a lot of all that over these last 2 days, so I was literally eating the fruits of my labor, I think it made it all taste better.

Tonight was the first dinner that I was on my own, so I decided to pull out all the stops! I made pasta! Yumm!

For my pasta I cut up some squashes, tomatoes, and okra, as well as slicing some corn off the cob. I have never had okra before so I wasn't sure what normal protocol is with it, but it wasn't to bad raw.

Then I added it to the pasta, and poured on some sauce!

And to cap off the lovely dinner I ate it on my back stoop that looks out at the cows and mountain ranges, it was beautiful! Dinner ended up being pretty delicious, I think it has more to do with the truth behind the ancient proverb, "hunger is the best cook" rather than my culinary skills, either way though, I was happy to end the day with a fully, happy belly.

And this is me washing my dishes, still on my back stoop, but over looking the North east pasture and mountains instead of the south east pasture. Looks like the mountains got washed out of this picture though.

As I was heading inside I had to get this picture, I knew it wouldn't nearly do the moon justice, but I wanted to share a fraction of the beauty anyways. But the real view was incredible. Maybe I should invest in a better camera.

It's about 7:15 pm right now, but I suppose I'll start heading to bed, I have to be up around 4:45 am tomorrow to help Tina get the trailer and truck loaded up with all the stuff for the Farmers Market!