Back to work!!

Woo hoo! I got of out bed! I had bread for breakfast, and the last of the broth. The work today was what I would call beautification work – cleaning up the yard sort of work. There was much grumbling about why we weren’t putting plants in the ground, but Azucena is the boss. She told me to take it easy and not work in the sun, so I was confused why I was hoeing in the sun fifteen minutes later. I finished my clearing and mulching, and Azucena found a more appropriate project for me. I got to seal packages of herbs. Most are wild: limpiaplata, hojas de frutilla, stevia, and hongos. It was ideal for me, sitting at the table inside. My appetite was definitely back, and I enjoyed eating lentils with everyone else, though I skipped the bitter greens. The products I was working on are for a store that Azucena and her mom/sister’s farm are opening. It is a bit of a cooperative in the midst of a Chinese herbalist, acupuncturist, tai chi school, and other little shops off a courtyard. It will open once a week and sell organic products from Rincon Madre Tierra and El Peregrino. Some of the other volunteers have gotten to go help get it ready. I asked if I could this afternoon because the work in the huerta would be difficult for me. There wasn’t room in the car, but Azucena said to meet Jorge at 4 pm. This is an hour earlier than everyone else starts work, and I thought it rough, but I was willing. Jorge and I went into the huerta and took a look around. He is still on crutches, but he is starting to get around a lot more. And to my surprise and delight we went to the rows of frutillas. I felt like little Mia when Jorge said I could pick and eat. He must have felt my disappointment when I couldn’t eat them yesterday. They were so delicious, and I told him about Mia. None of the family speaks English, so I really have to focus. Jorge is soft-spoken and speaks slowly for me, though I still only understand about two-thirds. We had to stop a couple times walking back because he was tiring. I asked him about the bind weed that grows thickly along the road by the rows of vegetables. And to my surprise, he said he loves bindweed! I remembered all the bindweed pulling at Delaney Farm in Aurora, and I had to remember where I was for a minute. It is flowering right now, so it is pretty, and he also said it makes really great mulch. Hmm…we’ll see. We talked about other plants and trees, fruits and vegetables, birds, and family. There are so many birds, they remind me of Grandma. I shared what a blessing it is how close my family is…physically and emotionally. It gives me pause to wonder why I live so far away, but I have more than one family. If only in my little cosmos, all were closer. Anyhow, my work in the afternoon was filling little bags with soil for seeding pepinos. It was mostly solo work, so while my hands worked, I practiced my mantra some more. It was really so peaceful. When Jorge returned, we talked politics, pickle recipes, and more about families. Tonight we had plain white rice for dinner. It was a comfort not to worry about finding coriander on my fork, though plain. Peggy made popcorn and put on Shrek 2. It was in Spanish, but some of the songs were in English. I watched for a while, but I was pooped. An early night…sweet dreams! tori