Easy Saturday

Holy smokes! So much to say, and I think I need to go now if I want to be home for lunch. I am in a Shell station on the internet. Kind of comical! They have a whole 7-11 style convenience mart, as well as bar. Good combination for the drivers! It is quite the happening place at night I have heard. So I arrived to the farm on Wednesday midday, in time for lunch. Azucena, the mom, said nothing about nothing. I had no idea what I was walking into - a house of other volunteers, mostly from the USA, lunch time. It was how I imagine the Dieringer meals: get in and eat and grab what you can. Elbows flying, everybody reaching over everybody, and food going from serving tray to mouth. I wasn't so hungry, though I have found that the food is great. The thistley salads sometimes make our lips go numb, but everything is great. I got to be the fun new guest with candy for everyone for Halloween. Eyes lit up like it was a sacred treat - made me feel good. The work has consisted mostly of weeding. I was hoe-ing all day yesterday, so my low back is a bit sore today. All I could think of was how I broke two hoes in Spain. Gratefully, there wasn't a third broken hoe. Our shifts are typically 7 - 11 or 8 - 12 in the morning, siesta and lunch, 5 - dark (8:30 pm). Saturdays are just a half day, but today we are working the afternoon before the boat races and dinner out. Some of the other volunteers came up with this idea to race organically made boats down the large irrigation canal. The prize is a steak for dinner. I am being cut slack because I didn't have as much time to design a boat and because steak is no incentive for me. It should be quite fun, though the trash talking has been the best. I don't think I have much of a chance. I wove some sticks together and put some mud on it. The boys think it will just dissolve. We'll see. They have made catamarans, so they're definitely at a different level of boat making than I am. The volunteers: Peggy is from France and doesn't like speaking English. She is a teacher. Sean and Myrna are from Alberta, Canada and work the ski hills. Patch is from Santa Cruz, CA and is staying the whole season. Laura leaves next week; she just graduated high school and is also from Callifornia. Megan and Vida are both from New Mexico and working on a house Vida's mom bought for retirement. It is just across the farm. Katie just arrived last night and is from LA, CA. She is a great Spanish speaker. Marisol and Andres are visiting from their farm in Brasil. More people than beds, so I appreciate that I have one, even if it is on the floor in the "living room". Azucena runs the place because her partner Jorge broke his foot/ankle. Their children Nacho (4) and Paloma (9) are something else. Check them all out at www.elperegrinorganico.com and click the link for Rincon Madre Tierra. More to come. Got to go to lunch now! I love you. tori