Did a late blog entry this week, I promise that I will be more faithful in the coming weeks. However, after my farm time is over, I cannot promise you that my life will be quite as eventful!

Thursday June 11th

Another great day at the farm! The weather this morning was absolutely amazing. I wish everyday was as overcast and as windy as it was today! This morning I got up early to milk the goats. This time Duchess wasn't all antsy and didn't kick the bucket. Thank goodness! I was still so incredibly sweaty afterwards, and the day hadn't even started!

We had a tour group of middle school aged kids come through. They participated in our Hunger Banquet. This consists of a $.13 breakfast in the morning where they are given money and have to purchase their breakfast based on prices that we set. For example, we sold bananas, cherries, donuts, and bread for breakfast and they paid for what they could afford. Some of them were really upset that coffee was so expensive. For lunch, all seventeen of them were given a card labeled low, middle or upper income. These cards were distributed based on world percentages of the economic classes. The lower class consisted of 10 students...we were aiming for 60% of the group to represent 60% of the population that is lower class. 5 were middle class and 2 were upper. The upper classers got a table, silverware, and a two course meal complete with meat, veggies and a dessert. Middle class sat in chairs and ate beans and rice with a spoon and plates. Lower class sat on the floor and had to use their hands to eat their rice. The exercise was supposed to teach them about the economic classes and how they can make a difference in the world. I think we touched a few, but others were a little more...resistant. That's the nice term. I prefer...snotty. One girl tried to steal food from the middle class. She stole the entire bowl! She also took a spoon from the upper class. We asked the upper class if they felt guilty about eating meat and having a waitress (I was the waitress). They said absolutely not! These kids have a lot of potential, hopefully we can get them to think a little!

Other than the Hunger Banquet, I helped cooked four chickens (they were frozen from last week) and "trained" the tomatoes to grow on the vine by tying some biodegradable twine to the stem/stalk and attach it to a wire trellis. Another victorious activity for today: I managed to count the amount of ant bites on my hand...ended up at 17. So that's why I have some gashes on my hand from last night...I must've scratched them to the bone while I was asleep. It's ok though...the body heals so magnificently that I am not concerned.

More Campus Kitchen work to do today, but I am so invigorated by it. I love this organization so much that it's just really ridiculous. We have such a great leadership team that it's such a joy to volunteer! Sending some good emails, getting responses, and getting the balls rolling. Yes, I said "balls" because we will be rocking it next semester with so much stuff.

I've been finding that I pass my afternoons and evenings quite quickly. I either read, write in my journal, surf the net, or just talk to people. This has been such a great way to spend this month...I wouldn't have had it any other way. I am still having difficulty writing in my journal for long amounts of time. I find that I can type so much easier (and with much less wrist cramping) than with my journal.

Sunset was absolutely GORGEOUS tonight! The sun was like a big ball of yellow fire in the sky...appeared to be rising higher into the sky instead of sinking. The sky itself was a palette of colors...couldn't believe how beautiful it was. There was also a great breeze outside...felt like I was on the beach again.

Wednesday June 10

It was overcast today, perfect for not getting sunburned! I didn't even have to wear my cool safari hat. Ryan told me that I looked like I was going on a safari in my hat, I then did a Steve Irwin impression and said a joke... too soon?

I helped the farm director, Niel, move wood around the new (unsturdy) structure. It has basic supports on the inside, but the whole thing still shakes (if your heart so desires to make it move). A Baylor boy volunteer was also there helping. I felt pretty cool that I knew the difference between 2X4's and 2X6's. Thank you years of Workcamp "training!" All those years of construction projects really paid off!

Also helped Chris move the chicken plucker from the barn to the Ed house. The wheat harvesters were going to use them for the wheat? Not sure how, but we just did it anyways. While we were moving the plucker, I suddenly turned into Miss Klutz and tripped in a ditch while walking backwards and left poor Chris to carry it by himself before it dropped to the ground. No big deal, just shake it off, but I just felt to clutzy!

Today was also a good day because I got to talk to Rachel for an hour and a half about...LOST!!! YES!!! She hadn't seen the past two seasons, so I tried my hardest to recap them to her as best I could. That time frame was absolutely necessary and I hope that I did the series justice. I was very happy that I could spread even a little bit of my LOST-nerdiness to others. I found that this was a great way to pass the time as we were "side dressing" again...this means you get a hand hoe, scratch the dirt next to the root, put fertilizer in, and cover it back up with dirt and hay. Quite a tedious slash ant infested activity. Today's was even better because the soil was nasty muddy, so our fingers got very very dirty. Reminds me of playing soccer in the mud when I was little.

This afternoon I had more Campus Kitchen stuff to do in town. We moved all our stuff from our old kitchen at Columbus Bapti

st to our sketchy office in Mars McClean. Took many trips with just two people. My car thermometer said it was 101 degrees outside. I guess that means its officially summer!

In the evening we all went to Common Grounds to watch some of the farm guys play at open mic night. The open mic deal ended up getting cancelled due to "rain" (which never occurs in Waco, don't be a fool) but they playe d anyways. They were so good! It was quality folk/country/chill music. Quality. A bunch of freshman line campers were there. I think? Or they were high schoolers. Some of those boys looked pretty baby-faced..but I guess that really could still go either way ;-)

One of the best parts of the entire day was me driving a car load (read, 7 people fitting in my car, one of which was in the trunk) down the road to a friends' apartment. Please note that two of them were carrying coffee in their hands and still managed the clap during "Annie Waits" by Ben Folds.

Tuesday June 9th

Harvest day! In the fields by 6:30am, managed to finish off the bed of carrots this morning.

Basically did this all morning, which was fine. The ground was really hard so we had to water it down a bit, didn't quite get as muddy as Wednesdays!

This afternoon I drove into town for a 3 1/2 hour Campus Kitchen meeting...which was AWESOME!!! We had so many great ideas for next semester and I am just totally pumped. I really want to execute all of those ideas and not just let them sit on paper. We have lots of work to do to prepare for the semester, but hopefully it should all work out. I ran into several people on campus that I knew, which was really weird because I didn't think that I would. I swear, this double life is throwing me off.

Came back to the farm around 8pm and settled in for our outdoor picnic. The boys were playing frisbee, which I have major respect for since I am no good at frisbee. I brought out my cool yellow Nerf Vortex. Once they were done throwing, Brandon and I threw really far to each other w/ the Vortex. It was so great to throw like that again! Turns out the ol lefty shot still works. I told Brandon that Jenn and I used to throw all the time together, especially at church retreats. I told him that Jenn was the thrower, and I was the catcher. He then asked how we played together, as those two dots really don't connect. I told him it worked really well when we were on the same team, but if it was just us, then it still worked out too.

Also tonight two of the goat kids were born...Wow! Can I just say that I am glad that I am not a goat? It was so cool seeing the goat still in the placenta as it came out of Gracie, then it dropped to the ground and Jess quickly broke the placenta near the kids mouth and nose. It couldn't even stand up! So cool. I got some pictures (not of the actual birth, that would bother the mamma) of the new kids, so I will post those at some point. While the kids were being born, some of the older goats were tugging on my clothes, trying to get a little munchie in. I felt like they were scared or nervous or something while they watched their mother/aunt give birth to more kids..is that weird?

When I closed my eyes to go to sleep, I literally saw carrot tops and dirt on the back of my eyelids. Even though I have toiled over those veggies, I still have a lifelong love affair with carrots. I appreciate peeled and washed carrots so much more now.

Monday June 8th

Back to the farm today! I was spoiled from the A/C from the weekend, but I quickly adjusted back here. One thing on Sunday that was neat...as soon as Amber saw me, she said "Welcome home." I thought that was so cool. I think that we all have several homes throughout our lifetimes...but it really comes down to the people that make a place home. A house is not equal to a home, but those who you care about and love definitely equate to a place of belonging.

Today I was thrown into the "oh, can you cook today for 30 people?" ring. We had a group of high school boys come to help setup the skeleton for one of the new buildings. So we served goat meat (which had a lot of fat on it, so I served only the parts with little fat), some leftovers with added veggies (that served as a filling for tortillas), a cold salad and couscous. The goat meat was very difficult to cut...not sure if that was because it was goat meat or because my knife was dull. It was nicely marinated and smoked this weekend, so I figured it would still be good to serve. I used a few knives to break through the meat, but it was like sawing a piece of rubber...just wasn't happening. I managed to get about 3 cups worth (?) to serve for lunch. One of the boys asked me "is this all the meat?" I almost said to him "why don't you go get yourself a knife and saw through it yourself?"...but I didn't say anything, he was just a hungry kid. I am learning about the idea of silence, of not always speaking your mind, because sometimes unpleasant things come out which become things that you don't necessarily mean to say. One day at a time I am learning...slowly, but surely!

We had class today about how to rank veggies that we currently grow, which ones to nix, etc. Took a while...so, as usual, I totally dozed off right in the middle of the class. So, since I am prone to snoozing, I usually sit in the...front? What? Why? That makes no sense. So, from now on, I will seriously evaluate whether I am too tired to sit still for 2 hours. It's just rude to zonk out like that in front of our director, he works so hard and doesn't need me falling asleep right in front of his eyes.