What do I do on my cold, rainy day off (with men swarming the house trying to fix the heat that hasn't worked the whole time I've been here)? I curl up in a comforter with a mug of tea (in my recently adopted pink flamingo mug) and finally update my blog.
I lived on a farm in Bedford Pennsylvania for three weeks and honestly I was having too much fun to update this blog. I apologize. I would wake up at 7:30 every day, walk down to the kitchen, find my breakfast of either oatmeal or eggs fresh from the chickens, and sip tea while I watched the sun rise over the hill. Farm tasks started immediately after breakfast and included feeding the animals, planting, watering the greenhouse/ hoophouse, planting, sifting dirt, cooking dirt, clearing large piles of bricks out of the way for a new cold frame, harvesting and various other tasks. We would take a break for lunch and then continue working until about 3 or 4. Dawn would prepare a delicious dinner and we would all sit down as a family to sing a thanks for the food before diving in. After dinner was hang time.
The farmhouse was originally erected as a fort during the Revolutionary War, and then expanded on and converted into a tavern in years following the war. The house was split into two sides. The older side was constructed of large grey stones, and the other of red brick. There literally was a line down the middle of the house. The farmers were named Rob and Dawn and they ran the farm together. Dawn had a son named Caleb from a previous man, and he lived with his father in Cumberland during the week. He was 16. Together Rob and Dawn had two boys named Silas and Levi (11 and 9). Also living in the house was an older man named Stewart (Stew for short). He was a writer, and he was renting a room. My first week there was another WWOOFer named Jeremy. At 24 he was a college dropout who now worked at an armored cars factory (which the boys found awesome). He gets laid off for a week or two at a time (but always gets his job back), because his company can't afford to pay all of their employees all the time. Most of his coworkers hate it, but for him it's a chance to explore the country. He lives in Cincinnati.
There's a little teaser. More details coming soon. :)
Laurel
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Monday, October 7, 2013
Highlights from AHHA
The reason I haven't posted in so long is because I've been having so much fun. I'm learning so much (and not just about farming).
AHHA Ranch seems like such a long time ago. Most of the pictures that I took were product pictures for Laura's online herbal products store (https://chooseherbs.com visit it! She has some really nice products up there). I was in charge of advertising for the week, and it was so much fun! I really think I could do well in advertising. Too bad it's such a corrupt business. I got to take a product, make it look nice, photograph it, and figure out how to describe it in an attractive way. I also made Laura an Etsy page to hopefully get some more traffic to her products.
The other things I did included making tea, clearing weeds out of an abandoned garden bed (and we're talking weeds that were taller than me), planted garlic, labeling pear butter and selling at the farmers market.
I grew close with Gemma that week. It's hard, making a connection with someone, the whole while knowing that you're leaving. It almost makes you want to not get attached, but it's hard when you're living with them. I truly might never see her again. At the same time I feel like I'm making friends from all over the place, and that's cool. Gemma and I went on a couple adventures. On Saturday after we packed up from market we drove to West Virginia to go to an arts and crafts festival. I typed the address into my phone, and we let Siri's voice carry us to our destination. We pulled around a corner "you have reached your destination" Siri's voice chimed. We exchanged looks as Gemma slid past our supposed destination. It was a storage space that had been locked off with a fence. "That's weird," we thought. Eventually we followed signs to an entirely different venue, and had a great time exploring the festival. That night we went to their town's "Oktoberfest." I had never been to an Oktoberfest before. It was literally just beer. There were like three beer tents, and a couple live bands. As an under 21 year old I was disappointed. We went home and she introduced me to "Will and Grace" which might be my new favorite TV show. We also adventured to a cute church-turned-cafe and drank chai with cheesecake. They had live music and it was very nice. The band was a family. The mom played hammer dulcimer, while the father switched between guitar and some kind of drum. The daughter switched between harp and singing. They were mostly playing Irish fiddle tunes. It was a very interesting combination of instruments to type of music. It sounded like 18th century jigs.
(Discovered at the fair in WV)
I finally got a guitar lesson from Jon. It was ridiculous how much I learned in that short hour. I can't wait to try all of it out. I learned a ton of music theory as well as strumming and practice techniques. Jon said that he really wants to see me start composing. I hope to. I really hope to.
Laurel
AHHA Ranch seems like such a long time ago. Most of the pictures that I took were product pictures for Laura's online herbal products store (https://chooseherbs.com visit it! She has some really nice products up there). I was in charge of advertising for the week, and it was so much fun! I really think I could do well in advertising. Too bad it's such a corrupt business. I got to take a product, make it look nice, photograph it, and figure out how to describe it in an attractive way. I also made Laura an Etsy page to hopefully get some more traffic to her products.
The other things I did included making tea, clearing weeds out of an abandoned garden bed (and we're talking weeds that were taller than me), planted garlic, labeling pear butter and selling at the farmers market.
I grew close with Gemma that week. It's hard, making a connection with someone, the whole while knowing that you're leaving. It almost makes you want to not get attached, but it's hard when you're living with them. I truly might never see her again. At the same time I feel like I'm making friends from all over the place, and that's cool. Gemma and I went on a couple adventures. On Saturday after we packed up from market we drove to West Virginia to go to an arts and crafts festival. I typed the address into my phone, and we let Siri's voice carry us to our destination. We pulled around a corner "you have reached your destination" Siri's voice chimed. We exchanged looks as Gemma slid past our supposed destination. It was a storage space that had been locked off with a fence. "That's weird," we thought. Eventually we followed signs to an entirely different venue, and had a great time exploring the festival. That night we went to their town's "Oktoberfest." I had never been to an Oktoberfest before. It was literally just beer. There were like three beer tents, and a couple live bands. As an under 21 year old I was disappointed. We went home and she introduced me to "Will and Grace" which might be my new favorite TV show. We also adventured to a cute church-turned-cafe and drank chai with cheesecake. They had live music and it was very nice. The band was a family. The mom played hammer dulcimer, while the father switched between guitar and some kind of drum. The daughter switched between harp and singing. They were mostly playing Irish fiddle tunes. It was a very interesting combination of instruments to type of music. It sounded like 18th century jigs.
I finally got a guitar lesson from Jon. It was ridiculous how much I learned in that short hour. I can't wait to try all of it out. I learned a ton of music theory as well as strumming and practice techniques. Jon said that he really wants to see me start composing. I hope to. I really hope to.
Laurel
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