you heard it here

"You gotta be 5% lunatic to do this!" (per sustainable farming)

Quote by one of the speakers at the Food, Farm and Energy Gathering that I attended last weekend in Indianapolis.

Jiggity Jig

After 2600 miles of interstate driving in combination with nearly 40 hours of watching the road pass under the wheels of my truck, I can't describe how nice it is to be stationary for a moment or two, before heading into my new field of hands-on study at Victory Acres Farm. I'll be back and forth between there and mom & dad's until the remodel is done on my room at the farm. Most likely the beginning of March.

I have a new address now. If you would like it, feel free to shoot me an email and I'd be happy to pass that on to you.

As a side note: if any of you saw that program on t.v. about the killer on the Appalachian Trail, that guy was not the guy Megan and I ran into in 05. I've gotten a few emails, texts and calls about him, and I had never even heard of him. The guy we ran into did not kill on the Appalchian Trail, he was just hiding there. Not that that is any better, since he did kill elsewhere, but I thought I'd try to clear up any misunderstandings. Thanks for being concerned.

bob the builder

Bob the builder would be proud of me. Well...proud of Mare and I, that is. The past couple of weeks we have been commissioned to build Lavender Wind Farm a cold frame the size of Noah's Ark. This cold frame will be home to wee little plants that have been started under lights and on heat mats and are ready to begin their hardening off phase of life. The cold frame will create a warm little home for these plants until they are ready to face the chilly spring of the great northwest.

Though at times it seemed more like a comedy of errors, Mare and I successfully finished our project this week. This 8' x 4' box will be a great addition to Lavender Wind Farm's organic growing vision.

On the same note. I had been wanting to build a cold frame for Suzie here on Spyglass Dr for some time. After starting the project at the farm I decided that procrastination could no longer be a legitimate excuse. On Saturday, Amber helped me construct this much smaller box (made of an old window and scrap lumber) for Suzie's garden. I think it turned out great, I do hope she likes it.

380 days

380 days. That is how many days I lived on Whidbey Island. When I moved there, I didn't know how long I would stay, or if I'd ever leave. I tried not to think about it, but as time dissolved around me, eventually life began to change shape. And that is why I love this thing, life. I love the unknowns. Unknown people. Unknown places. Unknown experiences that shape our ever-changing life.

Tomorrow morning I get up, sit behind the wheel of my truck, and roll on out of here. It feels weird and exciting. Sad. But right. I love life on Whidbey Island. And my experience here has been full. But it is time to continue life elsewhere. Home, I shall go.

Reporting in: Live from Whidbey Island

The end of the month is here, thus the decision had to be made. A little like Carmen San Diego, I'm on the move again. This time, folks, I'm headed to the crossroads of America. That's right my friends, Victory Acres Farm (my new employer) can be found just outside of Upland, Indiana.

The farm apprenticeship begins the first of March. The farming season will be quick approaching and I'm stoked to see what life on the farm brings. Who knows what I will have learned a year from now? Hopefully I still have room in my ole brain for some new knowledge, after spending the past year enrolled at Lavender University.

I am amazed at this decision, never guessed I'd be rolling back around to Indiana for a spell. But the longer I thought about it, the more I thought - Why not?

It tears me up to say good-bye. To mountains and sea, to Bald Eagles and Harriers, to Orcas and porpoises, to Spyglass and Lavender Wind Farm, to Bailey and Amber & Dan. But you know? It is as it should be. And I'm feeling fine.

Hello Hoosierland. Hello Basketball. Hello sweet corn. Hello watermelons and hello Beefsteak Tomatoes. It has been a long time old friends. And I can't wait to see you Mom & Dad, Grandpas & Grandmas, Lana & Kyle, Evan & Emily, all my cousins, my friends, my aunts and uncles. And even you Jackson, even you.

an unwelcome visitor

I love visitors, generally speaking. Hosting guests is exciting. Usually when people arrive for a short stay I get to do extra fun stuff. Visit new places, or at least go to some old favorite places. Eat out, play games, laugh out loud, tell stories.

Some visitors, however, are unwelcome no matter when they arrive.

Some examples include:

• giardia
• ticks
• rats
• sweat circles under the arms
• slugs in the garden

I've had experience with each of these types of visitors in my 30 years of life. One, more recently than the others. A year ago when I arrived here on Whidbey Island I often heard stories of the island's most common pest, the rat. I filed these tales away in my mind until they became pertinent.

The stories became pertinent about two days ago when a rat was in Bailey's dog food bag. A few days before, I had heard an unfamiliar sound coming from that direction, but had written it off as a wind gust. Hmmmm. And then I heard it again. And again.

Needless to say, the rat scored the big one when it found the hole in the drywall behind the water heater, and right next to the dog food bag. Three times that night (starting at 3 am) I had to get up and kick the food bag so the rat would run back into the wall. Freaky.

A full day later, the wall is patched, there are a number cubes of rat poison under the house in the crawl space, and I haven't seen the unwelcome guest since.

This picture is of another rat that we found poisoned in the pump house. Relative of the unwelcome visitor, I'm sure.

Random Info
On rodent poison: "To kill mice apply 1 to 2 blocks of poison in high traffic area. For rats use 6 to 23 blocks."

Wow! Does that rat advice seem a little intense? 23 blocks of poison? That has some scary implications about rats, doesn't it? Am I the only one that is disturbed by this?

Rocky Mountain High

For the last ten days I've been hanging out in Colorado. I think I've decided to make it an annual trip. Last January I spent time in Colorado Springs, Denver and Breckenridge. This January I made it a priority, to do the same. I am fortunate to have great friends in Colorado. I love visiting, relaxing, and getting beat up on the slopes.
Kajsa Joy is my friend Rudy's (IWU alum) daughter. She is six months and beautiful.

Me, Erin, Megan, Cliff and Riccara hit the slopes on Saturday at Breckenridge.

Calli treated me to a tasty lunch at a small town restaurant called "Taste Buds". The special - Rocky Mountain Oysters. That's right folks, you are looking at fried bull's testicles.

Chad and Megan fight for the title of "battleship champion". Megan wins...again...and again.

a new season

Thanksgiving has come and gone, Christmas has come and gone, kind of like 2008. What ever happened to that year, anyway?

Seriously.

I'm sitting here, trying to remember what I've been up to these past 365 days? It was about this time last year that I made the move to keep heading west out of Montana. Nearly as west as I can get without getting a salty sea bath. And with the old year coming to a close and the new one before me, I'm once again contemplating my next step. What to do? Where to go? What's the best thing for me this year?

To give you all a peek into my future - God willing, this is what 2009 will look like for me.

My 2009 life plan consists of living and working on an organic CSA farm. I have applied and interviewed with five CSA farms in different parts of the country and am in the last phase of deciding which farm program will best fit me. My goals for the year include gaining first hand knowledge and understanding of how a CSA farm works in hopes that I will be qualified to be a small farm manager the following year. I've slowly and painfully narrowed down the options to three - a farm in WA, one in NY and one in IN (that's right, hoosierland). Can you believe it?

By the end of this month I will have decided which farm will be my new home for the year. I'm excited, a little nervous, and mainly curious as to what this new year will bring forth for me.

This Blessed Thing We Call Water

Water. The life giving liquid created by the bonding of two hydrogen atoms to one oxygen atom. We can't live without it. It quenches the thirst that no other liquid can quench. It is good.

It is good, that is...only when it is, in fact, good. Bad water can be quite detestable.

Below are two pictures taken in my house. This is the water that is coming out of the tap. The lower picture (toilet) is the "clean" water after the flush. I'm not lying.

I'm a little scared. Yikes.

still snowing....

ten inches later...