The farm is giving me a raise! *gasp*
I was a little shocked after that dream I had the other night, but I did manage to say thanks. Cool!
And here's a spider story from today:
Early this morning, I was asked to pick the full-sized tomatoes in the high tunnel. And while I've grown a little more comfortable with the enormous spiders (i.e. I know where they normally hang out now and can avoid 90% of them), the full-sized tomatoes are THE hangout spot for the most and the biggest of them.
Anyway, I arm myself with a long pole and head down spider alley. My instructions are to knock down the webs and pick tomatoes...simple, right? Well, I knock down the first web and the spider clings to the pole. I whack the pole on the ground to knock it off and the spider comes skittering towards me.
I step on it.
Crunch.
That feels good. Now I know that it won't just build another web tonight for someone else to break down in a couple days. More efficient, right?
I knock down the next web, whack the spider off the pole, and step on it *crunch*
And then another time *crunch*
And just as I'm poised to take down a fourth web, my junior boss comes up and says, "You aren't killing those spiders, are you? Those are beneficials."
"Uh. Um. Well, I...uh...I'm trying not to, but I am, yes. I won't anymore."
I felt only vaguely ashamed. Not very repentant. I continued through two more webs, sparing the owner's lives, and realized that a handful of unsellable tomatoes weren't worth all this effort (I had already picked most of the good tomatoes through the row, so this was only to catch the few I had missed). No one complained. Especially not the spiders.
Friday, August 31, 2018
Thursday, August 30, 2018
40th Year Goals
Okay, I think I finally have a framework that I can work within to make this 40th year of my life as meaningful and celebratory and milestoney as I had hoped. My initial approach was far too complicated and I started making up things just to fit the theme, which completely misses the point, right?
So! Here it is officially. Finally. On the last day of my birth month :)
By the last day of my birth month next year, I will...
...spend 40 quality hours one-on-one with loved ones (spouse and children top the list, but there will be more)
...serve others outside my usual circle of loved ones (40 hours)
...train for and participate in at least one major endurance event (preferably a physical one, LOL)
...master something new
...do something that scares me
...fix something that's been bothering me a long time
...go somewhere new (bucket list?)
Ready, set, go!
So! Here it is officially. Finally. On the last day of my birth month :)
By the last day of my birth month next year, I will...
...spend 40 quality hours one-on-one with loved ones (spouse and children top the list, but there will be more)
...serve others outside my usual circle of loved ones (40 hours)
...train for and participate in at least one major endurance event (preferably a physical one, LOL)
...master something new
...do something that scares me
...fix something that's been bothering me a long time
...go somewhere new (bucket list?)
Ready, set, go!
 |
| This is the best family photo we could get at the reunion. James wasn't in the mood. Again. That kid does not enjoy getting his picture taken in such a formal way. Can't wait to see how his first school pictures turn out! |
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
Masoo!
With James in full-day kindergarten, I get a lot more one-on-one time with this guy:
Matthew likes a lot of attention. When it's just me and him, he doesn't stop talking. Ever. He's telling me stories, asking questions, sorting out our schedule, clarifying memories, and trying to involve me in every type of imaginary game he can concoct..."Do you WANT to be a superhero baby kitty mommy? I'm a superhero baby kitty and I need a mommy." All the while I'm trying to get chores done, run errands, work on long-term projects, and periodically blog :) I spend time playing with him, too, but it's never enough for his insatiable, sociable nature.
"Mommy, watch this WHOLE thing." (he gets the toys to act out something funny like falling off a cliff)
"Mommy, I have to tell you a secret. But not here. In your closet." (we move into my closet) "I have to tell you that some monsters are real. But just the nice ones. Nice vampires that like the sunshine. Monsters that don't run away when you want to hug and kiss them."
"This song is about me! Rocka Ma-sooo in duh bay!" (actual lyrics: Rocka my soul in the bosom of Abraham")
And then, the moment we pick up his brothers from school, he stops talking and just watches the drama unfold.
I love having more patience and time for him.
I love that he wants to engage me and make me part of his inner workings.
I love that he's excited about being home with just me. He's excited for now, anyway.
I love that we can do things together that used to be painful for 3 or more of us (grocery shopping) and have fun doing them one-on-one. He gets to choose the yogurt flavors and stuff. So fun!
He's adapting to preschool on his own alright. He's happy when he gets there and happy when it's time to come home. Doesn't get much better than that :)
Matthew likes a lot of attention. When it's just me and him, he doesn't stop talking. Ever. He's telling me stories, asking questions, sorting out our schedule, clarifying memories, and trying to involve me in every type of imaginary game he can concoct..."Do you WANT to be a superhero baby kitty mommy? I'm a superhero baby kitty and I need a mommy." All the while I'm trying to get chores done, run errands, work on long-term projects, and periodically blog :) I spend time playing with him, too, but it's never enough for his insatiable, sociable nature.
"Mommy, watch this WHOLE thing." (he gets the toys to act out something funny like falling off a cliff)
"Mommy, I have to tell you a secret. But not here. In your closet." (we move into my closet) "I have to tell you that some monsters are real. But just the nice ones. Nice vampires that like the sunshine. Monsters that don't run away when you want to hug and kiss them."
"This song is about me! Rocka Ma-sooo in duh bay!" (actual lyrics: Rocka my soul in the bosom of Abraham")
And then, the moment we pick up his brothers from school, he stops talking and just watches the drama unfold.
I love having more patience and time for him.
I love that he wants to engage me and make me part of his inner workings.
I love that he's excited about being home with just me. He's excited for now, anyway.
I love that we can do things together that used to be painful for 3 or more of us (grocery shopping) and have fun doing them one-on-one. He gets to choose the yogurt flavors and stuff. So fun!
He's adapting to preschool on his own alright. He's happy when he gets there and happy when it's time to come home. Doesn't get much better than that :)
Tomato Pinatas
Monday was my first official "long" shift at the farm (6-11:15am). I've been working 6-9am through the summer, but now that the kids are in school and Matthew goes to preschool 3 mornings a week, I can play on the farm until preschool pickup.
My first day was a doozy, though. Hot. Muggy. And, dare I say it, a little boring. Not super fun.
Everything was fine until halfway through I was assigned to harvest field tomatoes. And most of the field tomato bits are perfectly reasonable! There's just one large patch that never got trellised. I crawled around in a forest of fallen tomato plants and knee-high weeds, searching for ripe tomatoes like some twisted Easter Egg Hunt. Every so often, I would grab a good-looking tomato, only to have my fingers plunk right into its squishy, rotten interior, spilling its stinky guts onto to the ground. It reminded me a little of a pinata. That made me smile.
More than once, good tomatoes would be gunked up by their rotten, maggotty neighbors. That wasn't fun. I'll still take that over giant spiders ANY day, though.
I was working with other people, but we didn't talk. I had podcasts and music on my phone, but I don't like using headphones/earbuds on the farm, and I didn't want to make other people listen to my stuff, so I kept it all off. Silent, hot, muggy, dirty work. Time dragged.
There was nothing anyone could do now to fix the trellising problem from 2 months ago. We just had to dig in and do it. So I did...in two different ways.
First, I thought about it as a person earning an hourly wage for my time: depression, drudgery, want to quit.
Then, I thought about it as if this were my farm, my produce, my personal project: resilience, grit, a deep breath, every good tomato found was a victory.
Even with a more positive mindset and an hourly wage nudging me along to the end of my shift, I was happy to leave it there for others to finish at 11:15.
It troubled me that my morning at the farm wasn't very fun. I thought about it throughout the day. And I even had a dream about it that night: My boss told me that the farm wasn't doing very well and they were going to stop paying me. He thought it wouldn't matter as much to me because I had initially turned down the wage offer. In my dream, I was horrified. There were brief moments in that tomato-picking ordeal that my wage was the only thing keeping me there. I didn't like that feeling. I was glad to wake up and realize that the wage would remain in place and I could continue working at the farm in a variety of jobs. I even sent that email to my boss about taking on more trellising work next year. We'll see what comes of it. In the meantime I might just have to develop a sudden allergy to tomato plants...
My first day was a doozy, though. Hot. Muggy. And, dare I say it, a little boring. Not super fun.
Everything was fine until halfway through I was assigned to harvest field tomatoes. And most of the field tomato bits are perfectly reasonable! There's just one large patch that never got trellised. I crawled around in a forest of fallen tomato plants and knee-high weeds, searching for ripe tomatoes like some twisted Easter Egg Hunt. Every so often, I would grab a good-looking tomato, only to have my fingers plunk right into its squishy, rotten interior, spilling its stinky guts onto to the ground. It reminded me a little of a pinata. That made me smile.
More than once, good tomatoes would be gunked up by their rotten, maggotty neighbors. That wasn't fun. I'll still take that over giant spiders ANY day, though.
I was working with other people, but we didn't talk. I had podcasts and music on my phone, but I don't like using headphones/earbuds on the farm, and I didn't want to make other people listen to my stuff, so I kept it all off. Silent, hot, muggy, dirty work. Time dragged.
There was nothing anyone could do now to fix the trellising problem from 2 months ago. We just had to dig in and do it. So I did...in two different ways.
First, I thought about it as a person earning an hourly wage for my time: depression, drudgery, want to quit.
Then, I thought about it as if this were my farm, my produce, my personal project: resilience, grit, a deep breath, every good tomato found was a victory.
Even with a more positive mindset and an hourly wage nudging me along to the end of my shift, I was happy to leave it there for others to finish at 11:15.
It troubled me that my morning at the farm wasn't very fun. I thought about it throughout the day. And I even had a dream about it that night: My boss told me that the farm wasn't doing very well and they were going to stop paying me. He thought it wouldn't matter as much to me because I had initially turned down the wage offer. In my dream, I was horrified. There were brief moments in that tomato-picking ordeal that my wage was the only thing keeping me there. I didn't like that feeling. I was glad to wake up and realize that the wage would remain in place and I could continue working at the farm in a variety of jobs. I even sent that email to my boss about taking on more trellising work next year. We'll see what comes of it. In the meantime I might just have to develop a sudden allergy to tomato plants...
Monday, August 20, 2018
Did it!
The 28-mile bike ride wasn't so bad. Perfect weather for it, actually.
Here I am at the halfway point in White Heath where you turn around and take a different loop back to Mahomet. I look really happy. Once I got back on the road, though, I noticed that the wind was now in my face and we had to ride back up the 1000ft elevation drop we had experienced on the way out.
*SOB*
But we did it. Me and my biking buddy Janell. At the very end, we had this freakishly steep freeway overpass to climb, and I was huffing and puffing and my legs were killing me, and all I could think about was getting off and walking my bike the rest of the way up, but Janell was right behind me and I didn't want to appear weak, so I toughed it out. We both did.
At the top of the overpass, I turned back to her and said, "If you weren't here, I totally would have walked that thing."
"Yeah, me too!"
We laughed about it a bit and agreed that we were a pretty good match as far as biking skill and should get together again. Yay!
I've got the 52-miler on my calendar for next summer :) It takes you all the way out to Allerton Park in Monticello. I've wanted to see Allerton a long time. Maybe 15 years or so?
Here I am at the halfway point in White Heath where you turn around and take a different loop back to Mahomet. I look really happy. Once I got back on the road, though, I noticed that the wind was now in my face and we had to ride back up the 1000ft elevation drop we had experienced on the way out.
*SOB*
But we did it. Me and my biking buddy Janell. At the very end, we had this freakishly steep freeway overpass to climb, and I was huffing and puffing and my legs were killing me, and all I could think about was getting off and walking my bike the rest of the way up, but Janell was right behind me and I didn't want to appear weak, so I toughed it out. We both did.
At the top of the overpass, I turned back to her and said, "If you weren't here, I totally would have walked that thing."
"Yeah, me too!"
We laughed about it a bit and agreed that we were a pretty good match as far as biking skill and should get together again. Yay!
I've got the 52-miler on my calendar for next summer :) It takes you all the way out to Allerton Park in Monticello. I've wanted to see Allerton a long time. Maybe 15 years or so?
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