Living Gifts, etc

Hey Folks (yes, Ya'll have been upgraded to the status of a proper noun), this past weekend at the farm was the Celebration of Living Gifts. Formerly, Overlook did an annual Living Nativity; The Celebration of Living Gifts is the replacement for this living nativity, and shall become an annual event. Basically, I stood outside in the cold or inside of a barn and watched little kids marvel at farm animals. There was this tiny star-shaped child, 2 verging on 3 years old, who had her mind blown by everything. She was perplexed by the piglet (whose face was bigger than her whole body), bewildered by the buffalo (whose foot was bigger than her whole body), and astonished by the alpaca (who was terrified of this little girl). This marathon watching of little kid's reactions to creatures ended with me spending the last twenty minutes or so playing with the director's daughter.

There's snow on the ground here. We had a bit of a snow storm a few days ago that put maybe a foot of snow on the ground. It's rained some, snowed some more, and frozen a few times since then. Nic says walking on it is like walking on a giant creme brulee- I feel like it's like stabbing a Hobo Joe's with a fork, and you are the fork. What does this tell you about our backgrounds?

Anyway, in a few days I will be back home. Nic is at the dentist getting his first real cavity filled (I'm so proud of him!), and later on we are going to go christmas shopping. And then we pack. I'm going to cry, I think. I've come to depend on these animals for comfort and entertainment, and I've come to love the people here. This place is a place worth missing. I'm a bit tired of being uprooted, though; I'm ready for the two year stint in the Kyrgyz Republic. That's just enough time to get comfortable and stay comfortable. Three to four months is the time it takes me to get truly, really comfortable in a new place. I look forward to having a job and living a life that extends way beyond those three to four months of adjustment time.

David Byrne and a brass band doing Social Studies . Practically perfect in every way.

Interesting enough concept: the ability of humans to hack their own brains

Even more interesting: the new technology based meaning of the word "hack"

Oh, how language evolves. To hack one's brains back in the day surely meant to chop them apart; put an axe to a man's head and have a field day (oo, another phrase with an interesting evolution).

To hack one's brains now is to control your own thoughts and, primarily, sleep patterns, or induce vivid hallucinations at will. WHAAT!

Da Pixies, etc!

Hey folks! I got back from Boston last night around 12:30 A.M. and Boston was great. I checked out the Boston commons and several old cemeteries. There were tons of chubby squirrels in Boston Commons that were used to being fed by people, I think. I saw one and approached it with intentions of taking a picture, and the little creature came right up to me and swiped around like he was waiting for me to drop whatever precious morsel I had. I didn't have anything to feed it, but man was it cute. I ate a bison burger which actually really upset my stomach. It was from a fast food health food joint, which sounds like a bad idea anyway, but in practice it's even worse than one might believe. Their menu had things like "unfries" and hamburger wraps. Hyper processed health food isn't any healthier than hyper processed versions of anything else. Either way around, I enjoyed the buzz of the city quite a bit. I went into a Macy's to piss on the corporate machine (a.k.a. use their facilities) and was met with crowds of screaming girls. Low and behold, the musician AHMID was there and signing autographs. He was signing photos, shirts, and people's faces. Some girls were standing outside and having pictures of their faces taken, with signatures on them. Last night was also the opening night of the Nutcracker at the Boston Opera House, so the whole block was decked out. Macy's (I guess??) had conducted some christmas event that was fun to encounter. A crowd of people had gathered to eat popcorn and sausage and watch the stage. People were singing and their was a countdown of sorts to the blowing up of a Christmas cannon, which shot red and gold glitter all over the streets. Of course, I walked up two seconds too late to be a part of the crowd, but I was on the outskirts. Perhaps an outsider might have mistaken me for a crowd member that had decided to turn around before the crowd parted and created sidewalk traffic. Anyway, the theater was cool and the crowd was great. There was a definite Jay Reatard and a definite Pixies crowd; there were cute punkers, working stiffs, and students of all shapes, sizes, types, and genders. My favorite audience member was this adorable Asian lady in her early to mid fifties. She was thin, tiny waisted, and about 5'2 tops. She had a bold haircut cut right at her chin, and her hair was still dark rich black. She was wearing a tight black dress that buttoned down and big jewelry. AND she was totally rocking out the whole time! Adorable! There wasn't too much dancing from the audience at first, but by the end of the show it didn't matter. Jay Reatard played a mixture of his old singles and things I had never heard that sounded like his old singles. It was extremely fun to see, and I was so happy that I actually cried during the first few songs. I had forgotten how emotional it is to see live versions of things that one has immersed oneself in during times of emotional fragility. The Pixies played the entire Doolittle album plus random B-sides and a few smash hits. The guy sitting next to me tried to start a conversation about Fight Club, and how awesome Fight Club is, and how he hopes that they play that song from Fight Club. He was a bit stiff, but fun to talk to. He complained about having to pay $39.00 a month for his health insurance.

The Pixies had their stage set up with four glowing orbs that changed colors to match the video they were playing in the background. They had goofy/artistic/interesting videos to match all of their songs except for the encores (there were two!). My favorites were for Crackity Jones, Into the White (ok, technically part of the encore), and Bleed. Crackity Jones, if I remember correctly, featured Hispanic looking clay puppets that danced along to the music. Into the White actually didn't feature a video but was instead an eerie combination of smoke machines and bright white lights. Bleed was incredibly simple; the video was cartoon blood dripping down in beat with the music, and the four glowing orbs were red and moved up in down in sync with the bloody cartoon. It was so simple but perfect. Silver featured a black and white view of the desert (or I suppose a silver view of the desert), Tame featured a bunch of legs, La La Love You featured cartoon hearts running around chasing each other, than catching on fire. Some of the songs just featured long mugshots of the Pixies looking at the camera laughing, smiling, and nodding their head to the music. Kim Deal was the only person that spoke the entire time, but she was witty and silly. The Pixies had all gained some weight and were a bit round. There was this funny guy behind me that kept yelling things like "KIM DEAL IS MY SUGAR MOMMY! I LOVE YOU KIM DEAL!!! PIX-YIES!" He also yelled, not sung, but yelled most of the song lyrics.

But yeah. It was a lot of fun. Thanks, Nic, for the awesome Christmas present, and thanks, Ashley, for letting me borrow your car to get there. But did I mention that I got ripped off on parking? I got to Boston early in the day and ended up having to pay 28 bucks for parking. Oi vey! Next time, it's the train for me.

Today!

Hello Folks! Today is going to be quite an exciting day. After the great Thanksgiving yesterday (where I ate delicious foods ranging from Black Russian cake to rabbit), I went and chilled around a small fire with Nic and a few volunteers, then went to bed early-ish and woke up this morning for the following excitement: The Pixies concert is today!

And so I shall be going to Boston and checking out the city and then going to the Wang theater where I shall listen happily. I'm excited!

38 second book reviews

Well, folks, though this farm livin' occupies alot of time, I, fortunately, have been able to spent tons of time reading books that I've been meaning to read for some time. Here are my reviews and recommendations, each meant to occupy a mere 38 seconds of your time (or less).

House of Leaves:
Mark Danielewski's, Ivy Renfro's, or Johnny Truant's. Crazy blind guy writes book about movie that doesn't exist with gorgeous mental visuals. Buy a used copy and write in it. Or draw in the blank spots.

Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flag: Little girl moves to city of weird-os, works in a diner with the eccentric fam. Taxidermy in Mississippi, homosexuality, and high school popularity. I loved it, and you will too.

Fried Green Tomatoes by Fannie Flag: Lots of stuff going on during the Great Depression, today, and all of the times in between. Non-traditional family in Alabama cooks fried food and feeds government food to railroad-centered shantytowns of sorts. Old women, fat women, angry women. Read it.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen: Polish kid joins the circus. Three people dead before the book even really starts. Super entertaining. Rent it from the library, but don't buy it.

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien: Well, what do you know, it really is a love story! I was a trainwreck after reading this. Borrow it from an English major, as any studious one is bound to have at least ten copies.

The Best American Short Stories 2005 by Lots of People: Eh. A lot of crap with some gems. Inspiring in the sense that it makes you believe that you, too, can write. A lot of rabbits. Steal it blatantly. Would anyone stop you?


I love being out of college because it means that I have time to read things that aren't school related. It feels GREAT.

In the process (reviews coming soon!): Middlesex, The Good Earth, Onion John, What The Songs Look Like

Also, WATCH THIS VIDEO : Please?

The Pixies

Well, folks, I sure do have some exciting news! As an early Christmas present, my (wonderful) husband agreed to buy me a ticket to THE PIXIES AND JAY REATARD concert! The concert is this Friday, and oh man oh man am I excited. One, I am not the type of person to go to expensive concerts... but if I were to go to just a handful of expensive concerts, this would be one of my top choices. It's in Boston, which is a gorgeous city full of history that I can spend hours wandering around. I am going to this concert alone, which is, in some ways, a really interesting mental kickback to those (not-so-long-ago) single days of concert hopping. Without thinking or regard to the bands that were at a show, I would walk/drive/bike to the nearest house show/pizza place show alone with full intentions in meeting some generous stranger, sharing a cigarette with him/her, and dancing the night away, beer in one hand and water bottle in the other. I feel comfortable going alone and standing up front and banging my head because of those times when bands would play in my house, when I was a teenage metal head, when I was a grungy oily 18 year old runaway whom, as it turns out, boys had crushes on (it took me years to figure out that people may have liked me in high school after all- hindsight). I've listened to the Pixies since I was afraid of people and have continued to listen to the Pixies since I started loving people. And the best part is: I know I'm neither special nor alone in this respect. Tons of people love the Pixies. And hopefully they're the type of people that won't mind a single smiling goofy stranger in their midst. And why, might you ask, would I be so excited about this Jay Reatard bit?
The Pixies have been there through angst and the realization that there isn't that much to be angry about after all. Jay Reatard came into my life just as I was realizing that I wasn't too old to be pissed off about things, big and little alike. I can dance in my room and I can be an adult, too.
Long story short: I'm excited and I hope everything works out as smooth as silk. Or at least close. I'm picking up the ticket at the box office the day of the concert.

How to better relate to 14 year old boys that may or may not be in your tour group?

So, in which countries does Call of Duty take place? Are any of those countries represented in the global village?*





* = Actual conversation

Say, aren't slightly angry and annoyed posts always a bit funnier than run-of-the-mill here are the basics about my day posts?

I sure hope so.

This morning for chores I fed two pigs, or tried to. One of the pigs is in a barn so of course that pig was there. The other pig, Petunia, has figured out how to get out of her pin in Appalachia and then walks over to the compost piles, and, quite literally, pigs out. And we have huge compost piles- taller than me, wider than a car. 10-12 feet tall, 30ish feet long, and 20ish feet wide. Hog heaven.

Here's why I care: When I went to feed Petunia this morning, her pen was empty. Of course, I dumped her food in the bowl then immediately went over to the compost pile to find Petunia, who was, get this, asleep in a huge pile of onions. This pig was asleep in a huge pile of food. And it took me 20 minutes to convince her to leave her oniony heaven and get back home. This pig is already too fat to breed!

That's like me breaking out of my home, sneaking into a cheesecake factory, and falling asleep in a huge vat of cheesecake filling. Or asleep in a bowl of wet cereal. Or asleep in a vat of melted chocolate. It's just gross.

Lord, pigs are nasty sometimes.

I know it seems like I've been talking about nothing but peace corps lately, but really, other stuff has been going on. We had a great Halloween party here at the farm, and at some point in time I actually do plan on posting pictures. We mostly dressed up as animals here from the farm, or as personifications of animals. I was a goat.

Well, that was a quick diversion, now back to the peace corps thought!

As a direct consequence of the gear shifting resulting from my reassignment as an English teacher, I need to start re-gathering goods and supplies that I will need while overseas. The most important things: Professional looking cold weather gear and CLASSROOM SUPPLIES! I will more than likely be sorting out what I have and what I need here on this blog.

Which means that I will be spending the next couple of months hunting down the perfect english grammar book, the perfect russian-kyrgyz-etc dictionaries, and classroom sets of various books, short stories, and dictionaries for the purpose of assigning homework, having an english language book club, and stocking a small library to refer to as I tutor, teach, and get taught. Now, most of these things I will more than likely just carry with me, but some things, like the sets of books (omfg, I will finally get my chance to teach about the Diary of Anne Frank, lord knows I've read it enough times). I will be teaching a wide range of ages, but I would prefer to stick to young adult literature or even children's literature just because I know I learned German better via children's lit and young adult's literature.... but we'll see how the collecting goes. Luckily, many paperback classics and children's books are available and thrift stores and yard sales for extremely low prices, and I won't have to feel guilty about leaving them in the Kyrgyz Republic because I know 1)that they will probably get used and 2) that they weren't a huge financial investment. If all else fails, I can always order ten copies of a good man is hard to find from Dover....

Oh well. Any suggestions for teaching guides, materials, textbooks, or books that I could obtain multiple copies of for the purpose of teaching with?

Thanks folks!

Ivy R.

Update!

Nic and I accepted our positions in the Kyrgyz Republic! We will be teaching English in the secondary education setting, and there is also the possibility of us teaching at a university. Nic O and Ivy R, university profs? Not too early to dream after all! We've got to do some funny stuff that we didn't have to do in Benin, like bring copies of our diplomas, transcripts, and awards to satisfy those that will wonder about our credentials. We will also have to dress professionally every day. Like, suits and long skirts professional. Also, it is expected that married women wear scarves in some parts of the country. I look forward to enjoying this new culture. Oh wow oh wow. I'm pretty pumped.

Also, the volunteers here at the farm threw me a surprise dinner party which was great. I got a tractor cake (oh how I wish I had photos of it!) and we had a great pasta dinner with two different sauces, both vegetarian and both delicious. Thanks, Overlook, for the great dinner.

Long story short: Things are good. We'll be heading back to Arkansas December 17th for good. We will be leaving for the Kyrgyz Republic in March.

Birthday and Peace Corps

Today I turned 24. It feels pretty great! Nic took me out to a restaurant in Spencer, MA and it was pretty good. I also sort of got a birthday present from the Peace Corps- Nic and I have been assigned to the Kyrgyz Republic and will be leaving in March. Initially, Nic and I were to be going to Benin, but now we've been reassigned to a completely different region of the earth. We will both be English teachers, but opportunities will be given for us both to branch out. Here are the pro's of this new assignment:
1) An incredible level of comfort. We will more than likely have electricity and water, and there are less problems with theft in the Kyrgyz Republic than in Benin. It's more like we have "real" jobs in another country and less like we are doing the stereotypical hippies in t-shirts Peace Corps act. In addition, HIV will not be a major focal point of my time spent there. This is a great source of comfort to some of those very near to me. We're going to have furniture and an electric heater, supplied to us by the Peace Corps.
2) We're going to be learning Russian. RUSSIAN.
3) We'll both be teaching English. Teaching English in the Peace Corps in a country like the Kyrgyz republic was actually what I expected from the Peace Corps when I first decided that the Peace Corps was my post-college plan. I wanted to go to an Eastern European country where I could utilize/experience my history degree and my German studies degree. Though this is not an Eastern European country, the country was formerly occupied by the Soviet Union and is largely Russian with a German minority. The country is gaining independence and the Peace Corps volunteers in this region have the chance to engage in the historical (and largely peaceful) transition from an occupied country to a strong independent nation. It's a fantastic capstone to my college education.
4) It's the Kyrgyz Republic! Every time I talk to someone about it, I'll be able to contribute to their knowledge of geography.
5) The country is gorgeous. It's largely mountainous, and waking up to mountain peaks and blue valleys is amazing. I've only experienced it fully in Taiwan, but it's completely refreshing. Even if classes don't go well, the mountain is unmoved and the waterfalls continue to flow- it's soothing and provides a sense of unity with the earth.
6) We have the possibility of being placed in either a rural area where we would be building yurts and riding horses or an urban area where we will be riding bikes and living in a family compound. Both rock.
7) Religion has no major play in the function of the society or the government. During the occupation of the Soviet Union, state Atheism was pushed. Currently, varieties of Islam are growing in the state, but in general, one is not likely to be judged by their faith and one can politely reject attendance of a religious ceremony if one is truly uncomfortable without loosing their social status (but, to be honest, I will likely attend a variety of religious ceremonies. I love religious exploration, though I am myself without a particular religion).
8) I love to try new foods and liquors, and man oh man, the food is mainly cabbage, potatoes, carrots, and other root vegetables combined with a variety of tomatoes and meats. It sounds rich and delicious. Plus, the country, like Poland or Russia, is "toasting" centered. I am going to get to try all sorts of traditional drinks. Oi, vey, but my liver!

But, in spite of my excitement, there are just a few downsides.
1) I would like to go to medical school. My initial placement provided a very direct foot in the door for medical school. I will have to work much harder to involve myself in the medical community in this region. We'll have to see how this works out.
2) Nic and I have the same job, which could be a potential source of conflict. I doubt it will be, but it's still a concern.
3) The packing list for this country is the exact opposite of Benin. Nic and I bought all sorts of clothing articles expecting to be in a warm tropical climate. Now, we're going to be in an icy snowy mountain range. They recommend bringing several pairs of heavy boots for hiking in the snow, warm turtle neck sweaters, a cold-weather sleeping bag, a laptop, dvd players...things that are a) snowproof and b) technologically advanced! For Benin, we bought solar chargers, crank radios, and linen clothing to keep cool, as well as sandals to wear year around. Oh man. It's so incredible how different the lists are.
4) We have to quit Heifer early. This sucks, long story short.

In general, I'm excited and energized, though on some level I feel like Benin was a better suit for us. It's going to be a great thing in the long run. But in the meantime, Nic and I have alot of empty time to fill. Anybody have a job they could offer Nic or I that begins in late December and ends in March? How about a paid internship? I've got loans, ya'll...

Also: We haven't accepted the position yet, but expect to either tomorrow or the day after. And once this happens, I will breathe out and jump up and down and scream and be so totally happy. In the meantime, I'm remaining rational and weighing things.

SEEDS, etc

Well, folks, I better warn you up front- no photos today! We here at the farm just finished with our multi-day SEEDS program, an educational day program where large numbers of students (100+) experience as many elements of the farm as they possibly can! They eat a meal in the global village, learn about rotational grazing, milk goats, play children's games from other countries, romp through the garden, eat some delicious organic veggies...you name it, we've tried to figure out a way to get kids to experience it. Though it was incredibly busy and a bit stressful, in general, it was a lot of fun. It was a nice change of pace from our normal programming, but also a bit more chaotic than our normal programming simply because of the sheer numbers of people involved.

I am currently eating a delicious leek soup composed of excess leek pie filling (left over from a delicious leek pie experiment), some extra milk, potatoes, and a couple of spices. Tonight, I plan on undertaking a second leek pie experiment; this time, I plan on adding some salted meat (probably cubed bacon) as per a request by a fellow volunteer, and tossing in a potato or two. Also a possibility: the addition of parsley or black pepper. I dunno. I'm excited about it, though. We've got tons of organic leek from right here at the farm.

On that note, it's freezing up here. I've finally ordered my winter boots, hopefully they will come in soon and fit well. Shower time!

Turkey killin' time

Today I was feeling much better and decided to go to work. All in all, it went fairly well. We had the Seeds program today and I was conducting some simple games in the Education barn. The exciting/interesting part of the day was the turkey processing which myself and several other volunteers undertook. We were given a quick lesson on how to take a turkey from livin' to eaten', and then were left alone to get to it. I didn't have the courage the slit a turkey's neck myself, but I did do everything else, from degutting to gland removing to feather yanking. Two things about the entire affair were quite shocking; one, the incredible temperature of the turkey's core...it was hot, uncomfortably hot, and two, the deep rich red shade of the animal's blood. I mean wow. It's so red and real that it's surreal, so intense and in your face that it's like a cartoon. It was a very trippy experience, especially while half loopy with infection and half dizzy from a full day's work. I'm learning so much here.

Fun with a sugar pumpkin

Many hours later I am still feeling congested and worn out. I guess this means plenty of time to blog. I read a huge chunk of house of leaves today, about 130 more pages, and man, that book is getting intense. The literal confusion within the book itself, induced by ridiculous footnotes, bizzare formatting, and a lack of an identifiable author, dramatically contributes to the terror of the house present in the novel.
Last fall and winter, when I was studying abroad in Graz, Austria, I discovered the magic of cooking with pumpkins. In Graz, pumpkins are a great fall staple, and a wide variety of edible gourds are sold in grocery stores all over the place (by contrast, generally only sugar pumpkins are sold in AR as edible pumpkins, and the rest are sold as decorative). I learned to cook a wide variety of pumpkins that I had never even seen in the United States in an assortment of ways, ranging from simple stir frying, to mashing, to delicious hearty sweet and savory pumpkin soups. I still, however, encounter difficulties cooking with this unfamiliar ingredient, as my only prior knowledge of pumpkin cooking was making pumpkin pie from a can. However! Last week I baked a sweet pumpkin bread (but I didn't bake it long enough, it was doughy in the middle and has condensed down to thick pumpkin pudding of sorts), and I had about three cups of leftover pumpkin puree that was about the consistency of applesauce.

And I was hungry.

So, after a little time researching uses for pumpkin puree and pilfering through my kitchen, I concocted this great pumpkin sauce. It's based on a recipe that called for several ingredients that I simply didn't have on hand, so I did some improvising, and it turned out so well that I want to post it here so the world can enjoy it. It's a pumpkin cream sauce that should be served over pasta.

Directions: Boil a sugar pumpkin in as little water as possible. The pumpkin should be peeled and cut into small triangles, then water should be boiled and poured over it. Once the pumpkin is soft, blend the water and the pumpkin together to make a nice soft applesaucy puree. Should definitely not use water any higher than the pumpkin, which should be as low as possible in the pot. Measure out about three cups of it for this pasta sauce. Take the rest and eat it, or boil it with maple syrup, sugar, cloves, cinnamon, and about three apples to make a wicked good apple butter.

Pour that pumpkin into a pot, put it on the stove, then turn the stove on to medium low. Keep that stuff warm! Add black pepper, salt, cloves, and sage to taste. Also add one bullion cube. I used veggie bullion, enough to make six ounces. Worked out perfectly. In the meantime, dice three cloves of garlic and one medium sized onion. Sautee the suckers in some olive oil, butter, or your oil of choice. Once they are nice and soft, put them into the pumpkin mixture. Stir it all pretty well, and keep stirring. Once you are comfortable with the consistency of this sauce, turn the stove off, and add about half a cup of heavy cream. Stir well, and serve immediately over nice warm delicious pasta. Shave some white cheddar or other mild-ish cheese over the top of the pumpkin sauce.

Better than from a box, I swear!

Alright, back to reading.

Well, I'm sick. For the first time here in MA. I was scheduled to have a group today, but I will not be with them. I feel terrible! One sure sign of illness for me is the sudden ability to really feel gravity. My arms are heavy; my muscles like butter, unable to drag my body from place to place. My spine, pulled into a solid arch, can no longer win the epic battle with the spin of the earth for the right to hold up my bowling ball skull. My throat is full of pain, my face is full of snot, and my stomach is full of nothing (soon to be full of hot tea). Lordy lordy. Today, I spend the day wrapped in blankets, reading horror novels, and writing in my journal. Tomorrow, I will hopefully have regained enough strength to hold my head up, flail my arms wildly, and guffaw at the scum that thought it could take me over.

Wool festival and SNOW!!!!

Hey ya'll! Last night I returned from a busy and exciting day at the RHINEBECK SHEEP AND WOOL FESTIVAL IN NEW YORK! I learned/saw so many awesome things. This, of course, will be explained in photo. In addition, it's snowing like mad here in Rutland! It's cozy and nice. All of the animals are huddled together with the exception of two goats, Ren and Stimpy, who have taken advantage of the lack of peeps policing the farm and were eating carrots from the Peru gardens in the snow.
There were tons of tiny felt animals that people had made from wool and then sold as either toys or sculptures. They were adorable, but quite a bit more expensive than I could afford. I would love to one day be able to make these, or at least be able to afford purchasing them as gifts. These things leaned towards the toy side.

Yarn galore! There was so much beautiful hand spun yarn, sold in big hanks, balls, or skeins, in a wide variety of color. I bought myself one hank of chunky colorful yarn to make a big scarf for the winter.

A fine example of the many variations in yarn available.

An overview of one of the many many buildings that were filled with yarn, wool, spindles, etc etc etc.

Since I am not a highly educated knitter, I attended this festival primarily for the sheep, which I ended up learning a lot about. The entire experience encouraged creativity on so many different levels, as wool is extremely diverse and useful. I shouldn't take for granted the raw wool that I have available to me right here on the farm. I would eventually like to learn to clean and spin (using a drop spindle) raw dirty wool so that it can become something practical and beautiful, like a sweater or socks.

OH MY GOD! There were so many cute animals, like this tiny square bear-esque sheep.

And this very sly sheep.
There was a 1-classroom school building that was on the fairgrounds that was built in the late 1800s. We were allowed to enter the school and check out all of the old decorations and flags. Notice the old halloween decoration!

Here I am knitting on the world's longest scarf project. I knitted a total of 4 stitches, hardly a contribution, but one none the less. The world's longest scarf project was sponsored by the Keep the Fleece program, which is attempting to raise 250,000 dollars for the Heifer project.

Here is their information card sitting on top of several sections of the world's longest scarf.

Here are some more felt animals.

This was an amazing hat made out of felt. This same booth at the festival had all kinds of gorgeous creative hand-felted hats. I would have worn most of them. I wish I would have had the money to purchase this gorgeous crazy head decoration.

Bear sheep!

This woman made this huge distracting hat herself out of, guess what, wool!

There was a featured artist on at the festival who made tons of punny sheep paintings, like this one. Also included in her works: Sheep in the box, Silence of the lambs.

Baby alpacas! They made the same nervous sounds as adult alpacas, except they sound tiny and cute, which is the opposite of what these animals are trying to be when they are nervous. Poor alpacas.

And, the icing on our cake, overlook farm's own miniature goat, escaping the herd, to much on carrots. Have a good one, ya'll!

Hehehe....also kind of sad... Neighbors thought dead man was Halloween display!!!

Finally had some time to update the photos! Here is Jen in the Guatemala house roasting coffee as part of the Harvest Festival. The Harvest Festival was a huge success; in the end we had over 700 people come.

Here is a kid checking out the Ghana site, which is Nic's adopted site.
This is my adopted site, Appalachia. It represents Kentucky.
Here are the raised bed gardens at my site.
And the pumpkin seeds roasting over a fire, cooked by myself and the awesome girl scouts!
This ugly deformed carrot came from the Appalachian garden. It grew as a result of overcrowding. It's a bit hard to tell in the photo, but it's actually three carrots that grew twisted together.
This is Emily at our Poland site donning Polish attire. The site represents the Carpathian mountain region of Poland.
Emily cooked us quesadillas one night, and when she cut open the bell peppers, discovered these smiley faces inside of the peppers. Too adorable not to share. Of course, the peppers were grown here at Overlook- I knew we had happy vegetables!
This is my favorite New England weed, the Touch-Me-Not. When you touch the seed pods, they explode.
This is a very curious goat!
Alright, that's it! Hope ya'll enjoyed these photos!

Well, folks, the snow stuck, and this morning there is a soft dusting of white all over the farm. It's gorgeous and unbelievable! Like I am in Europe again, except I understand people when they speak. I have a long back-log of photos to update and things to talk about. First, things here at the farm have been extremely busy! We had our Harvest Festival, which went fantastic. I roasted pumpkin seeds over a fire with some cool and enthusiastic girl scouts. I had great feedback and talked with people about Heifer's work in the 1st world. Some people come to the farm thinking that Heifer only works in 3rd world countries- we don't, we actually work anywhere there is poverty and hunger. This is something I really like about Heifer. We are also having our Harvest Time program right now, which is a five day program for adults. They come in and learn about all types of cool stuff- chicken raising, cheese making, organic gardening- and are provided with amazing organic meals from the farm. Us volunteers have been eating the leftovers and it's been awesome. Pasture raised chicken and Overlook pork! We've also had tons of groups come through, which is what has been keeping me so very busy these past two-ish weeks. When I have a group that isn't so interested in Heifer, or is not receptive to Heifer's mission, it makes it very very hard to feel like I am doing something that is worthwhile. That's been getting to me a bit, but even in the groups that are not so receptive, there is usually one or two people that are interested, intrigued, and spurred to take action if you will. These one or two people make my job worth it, and I feel good knowing that at the end of their time here at Overlook they are thinking a bit deeper about the complicated issue of poverty and the even more complicated issue of hunger.
Update on the knitting: I have successfully knitted a small rectangle. This stuff is hard!
But! To the photos.

Here at the farm we practice intensive rotational grazing. For an example of how intensive this is, check out these before and after photos of an area grazed by goats and chickens (who prefer to scratch around on shorter grass).






These are both before.

Another before. Look at these buggers go!



Some afters.
Another after. Look at those chickens go to work! This place is currently totally barren, thanks to those amazing goats and chickens and their ability to eat everything. They really keep the farm free of weeds!


I spend alot of time cooking over here to pass the time and relax. Here are some blueberry muffins that I'm really proud of.

There is a small sculpture park in the nearby city of Worcester. It's a toaster van! Is that cool or what?
Speaking of Worcester, I am going to be going there in a few minutes to get some groceries and check out the library, soI do not have time to upload photos of the Harvest Festival. But I did take them, and as soon as I have some extra time I will get back online and upload them for ya'll to check out. Take care everyone!

Well folks, it's snowing. It's also October. It's pretty cool, actually. But I'm not feeling so hot tonight. And it feels nice to admit that on the internet. Hey internet, things are a bit stressful! In addition: I'm learning to knit and continuing to read House of Leaves.

Hey ya'll! My computer ended up getting completely destroyed by this virus, so I have lost everything...all of my files, music, photos..long story short, I haven't used my computer in a few days because everything is erased..it really sucks! I have taken a few pictures to put up here, but I've been so nervous about putting them back on my computer...oi, vey. I think I got the virus from the network here, but I am not sure...either way around, sorry for the lack of posts.

This weekend is the long-awaited Harvest festival. To prepare, I have been working on my garden hella alot in the Appalachia site along side fellow volunteers Jason, Maggie, and Nic, who have been extremely helpful. The garden and site look great, and I will post pictures up here in a few days when it is all decked out in Harvest festival apparel. My garden looks wonderful, and the entire site is pretty clean. I will be doing pumpkin seed roasting in Appalachia and eventually Fufu making in the Ghana site.

Nic and I have really come to love it here. The fall is gorgeous, and I have been pressing the prettiest maple leaves that I have found to mail out to a couple of friends and family members. I have never seen such a slow, gorgeous transition from green to red.

Nic and I have contacted Peace Corps and his medical deferment has been lifted; we have decided that we would like to stay here during the spring season while we wait to be placed. I am interested in a Farmer Chef position. As a Farmer Chef, I would be a part time chef and a part time farmer/gardener. I will learn about organic cooking, canning, and various methods of food prep, and also learn about large-scale gardening. The prospect of staying through the spring is extremely exciting. I can't wait until things are a bit more concrete.

Quote for the day about Heifer: "Only poor people work here," from a student that apparently wasn't getting the Heifer message. This statement is completely false- people from all types of incomes, backgrounds, and places work at Heifer. Oh well. Can't win em all.

It's been a while since I have updated due to massive computer problems. I've been very frustrated the past few days because I have not been able to listen to any of my music. I grow afraid for our future historians. On my little laptop, I have seven plus years worth of papers, articles, photographs, essays, poems, and journal entries. I have been saving digital copies of my own writing that it is meaningful, ranging from intros to short stories and slam poems. My writing in paper-bound journals has slowed significantly in the past few years, and when my SLR was stolen, my photography switched to fully digital. Now, I find myself on the brink of losing all of this if I don't figure something out. I initially rid the computer of this virus that it's caught, but it has seeded itself in my laptop and is reproducing like dwarf rabbits in the spring. I can't open the computer in safe mode, and have a hard time opening exe files, can't get to the command prompt, or use the task manager. Oi, vey.
It has inspired me to do several things: write in my paper journal FIRST. Sure, it takes longer to write everything out by hand, but it will take a fire to destroy my reflections (not a computer program). I bought a new SLR and I plan to take more film photos. Film photography is quickly growing outdated, but bitmaps and gifs have already grown outdated, and I don't imagine jpegs are much further behind. Also, I have a new-found since of understanding for record collectors. Most of my life i have tried to minimize my personal possessions, but now I wish I had made an exception for records. Even when a record is scratched or bent it will at least still try to play. Records maintain a sense of weight, presence, and permanence that CDs and MP3s simply do not. All it takes is one malicious jerk to destroy my entire (digital) music collection, or one accidental fingernail scratch to ruin my favorite CD.
In short, eugh. I need to become myself at 15 again, i.e., an eccentric Luddite who left a paper trail for herself to follow back home in the event that a bit of malicious behavior threw her off course. 20th century, here I come.

This link is from the At War blog at the New York Times news website. Although the article itself is pretty brief, just knowing that these small comfort items are available in surreal form to soldiers in Afghanistan brightens my day a little bit. Check it out. On that note, I recently finished The Things They Carried, and it was incredible. I really appreciated the writing style. I also enjoyed the way each of the stories wound circles around each other, and that any kernel of truth, if there even was one, was morphed into another kernel of untruth by the next segment of the text. Fantastic quick and emotional read. I've also started Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver, who wrote The Poisonwood Bible.

Boston

Well, ya'll, it's blog update time again, and this time I am backtracking to that time that several volunteers went to Boston together. And I think I shall tell the story in photos.



To get to Boston, we went with the train. Here is Sam waxing at the train station.


This is the first picture I took when we got off of the train. My favorite thing about Boston is how it is an incredible combination of super old and crazy new architecture.




This red brick building was sandwiched between two snazzy new skyscrapers. It had an intense feel to it, like it was the lone building that had a landlord who wouldn't sell out, or the only place in the middle of downtown that was legally acquired through squatting. Check out the faces that appear wheat pasted across the top of the brick before the rows of windows.



Arthur is hiding in this picture.


This is an awesome dragon sculpture that was build into a set of stairs.


Everyone had this gleeful beer hunting look at the brewery that we went to visit, the Harpoon brewery.

See?


There were quite a few giant lobsters outside of restaurants in Boston.


All of this beer at the Harpoon brewery was being wasted. This was all trash. WHAT-A-WASTE.


This was a quote from a memorial sidewalk that I really enjoyed.


This building was epic. Look at how tiny the people are and how huge the building is. The memorial sidewalk was surrounding this area.


Another example of the many fine lobster statues in front of the many restaurants in Boston.


In short, the trip was fantastic. Boston is a great city.

Today the weather was supposed to be a washout. Today, the weather IS a washout! It's freezing, grey, and rainy. What a trip. We are doing our colonias meal today. Colonias is my favorite site and I really look forward to the meal, although the weather is most definitely not ideal in any way. Also, some coals got on my boots during a fire and burned a few holes in my waterproof boots. They are currently patched with duct tape, but now I do not have a single pair of waterproof shoes. I am going to start wearing bags around my feet.

It is our last day of training today. Yay!

Great days

Hey ya'll! The past few days have been GREAT but busy. I am going to write a few scattered thoughts here and bring them all together over the next few days. I have a lot of things to talk about which I'm pretty excited about. Here they go:

1) We had a huge potluck dinner where everyone made a ton of great food. Later, we had a crepe night. I am going to post pics of the potluck, and ramble excitedly about the crepes. Unfortunately, I did not photograph the crepe event.

2) We have a new calf that was born just sometime monday night. It is a shaggy red little bull that has long back legs, way too long for the cow itself. It's a gorgeous calf.

3) A group of several volunteers went to Boston and explored a bit of the beer culture. Pics of this!

4) We've continued training. I gave my first tour yesterday as part of training with a fellow volunteer. I think it went pretty well, but I am a bit worried that I talked too much. A huge part of the tour is listening; I need to work on listening and asking better open ended questions. I'll get it!

5) And, the most exciting of all, we've moved the goats in to an amazing place on the farm where they are basically eating out all of the brush. It sounds boring, but these goats eat so much brush that they are completely exhausted at night. And the brush gets eaten like crazy mad. They are going to be there for several days, and I am going to post before and after pics once they are done in the area. But here are some other pics in the meantime.



This is an adorable fellow volunteer shredding the carrots for what turned out to be fantastic vegan carrot muffins, baked especially for the communal dinner by a veg volunteer with good tastes. I had them for breakfast the next day and they were still good then.



I made a potato bake for the communal dinner and this was the before picture. Notice the purple potatoes from the ranch!


Sam and Nic teamed up to make fantastic quiches.



This is the girl that made the vegan muffins. Look at all those muffins! She filled that tray plus an industrial sized tray.



This is a cute frog on the farm that I took a picture of. The frog was about the size of a quarter. This picture is for my grandma!


Alright, the next post is going to be all pics from Boston. BUT! This is a cupcake with an armadillo on it that I found in Boston for my mom.