June 2012
8 posts
February 2012
1 post
January 2012
3 posts
November 2011
1 post
October 2011
11 posts
Chickens and Greens Abound
Today was so beautiful! The weather was perfect, so Hannah and I took the opportunity to work in the garden. We weeded and transplanted some things today. We needed to thin out some of the leafy greens so that some would survive. We had some run ins with arrant mustard greens and chicken burglary.
The Ebb and Flow
Because my lease extends until next May and it is proving difficult to find a replacement, I need to stay in Austin until my lease is up at least. I have some very good news: I recently got a job as a Zumba and Yoga instructor in Round Rock. It will be a great opportunity to network and inspire people to get fit. I’m going to try to work on being able to WWOOF or at least volunteer every...
They tread gently.
We did a few other things besides farm work. Kim and Garth introduced me to their church. I’m not religious, I’d say I’m agnostic and a little spiritual- I mean, look how grand the universe is! However, meeting the people at the church made me feel so full of love, kindness and gratitude. Everyone was so giving and welcoming. They let me teach a Zumba class to their bible study...
I drove back from a week of WWOOFing on a Sunday night as the day was fading and the moon was beginning to protrude from the darkening blue sky. Celestial changes always seem more dire and encroaching when visiting the country. Weather and sunlight begins to command your schedule, deciding when you rise to work, when you take breaks and when you go to sleep. My week in Bedias, Texas at The Rose...
September 2011
15 posts
Stuff
I prematurely awoke at 7:30 this morning, shot out of bed and put my hands to work. I began the frantic last minute boxing characteristic of every move. I think the stressful anticipation of my impending WWOOF assignment has finally taken hold. I leave tomorrow and will return to Austin briefly the following sunday. I’m looking forward to the shift and change of pace, but I’ve also...
Catching Bees
Gene Logsdon, nonchalant author of Practical Skills: A Revival of forgotten Crafts, Techniques, and Traditions casually teaches the reader to capture a swarm of bees. Logsdon spends only 3/4 of a page describing the process of capturing and moving a swarm. Ever since the screening of Queen of the Sun, I’ve been thinking a lot about having my own swarm someday. As I read Mr. Logsdon’s...
Teleology
Life doesn’t have a clear beginning or a clear end. In an abstract sense, plants seem to know this better than humans do, probably because they maintain a natural cycle. They “start” as seeds, slowly beginning to germinate in the ground. They sprout, grow, bloom, become fruitful, their parts decompose and then that matter nourishes the beginnings of a new plant. Even in...
WatchThis is the closest I think I’ll get to a chicken water ballet. It seems so orchestrated.
Innate Occurences
Some of my fondest memories of growing up gravitate around food. Many dinners at home were facilitated by our verdurous backyard garden. My parents planted and maintained an amazing garden, which stretched through the biggest part of our backyard. We had all kinds of vegetables and creeping vines like yard long beans and sweet peas that crept up the side of our garage producing beautiful blossoms...
Reason for a Homestead
In a previous entry, I briefly alluded to farming literature written by Helen and Scott Nearing. I wanted to devote some time to discuss their grand adventure living what they deemed, “the good life”. During The Great Depression the Nearing’s abandoned convention by leaving New York City and heading for the woods of Vermont. Encouraged by the state of the economy and the poor quality of...
“No man is born in possession of the art of living, any more than of the art of...”
– J.C. Loudon, An Encyclopedia of Agriculture, 1825
I first came up with a list of all the things I needed to do to achieve my dream of owning a homestead farm.
The first item of business was to break up with my boyfriend. When push came to shove, the ways in which we communicated emotionally were incongruent. For a long while, the sutures that had mended heart and mind were tearing me up inside. I know that I want an epic love, but for now I...
After graduating in May, the reality of having no clear direction became gripping. Social convention tugged at my young and able limbs, insisting that I jump in and plunge my hands into some sort of urban trade or another.
Here in Austin, we garner the title of “most green and liberal” over all other locations in Texas. However, everyday I witness more people clogging the roads with their...
April 2011
2 posts
It’s a Saturday morning and I haven’t stepped outside yet. I’ve pulled back the blinds from my window and the sun is sending clear and bright light through the white and silvery clouds blocking it. Sleep didn’t come easily last night- my head in recent weeks has been stopped up with, no- not the usual allergies to be expected in this cedar ridden region, but pressing...
