My last day on the farm!!!

My last day of work – four week anniversary on the farm – Wednesday! I am notorious for cramming, but I can’t seem to motivate myself to get stuff done during siesta. It is so hot. I think it has been in the nineties regularly, and even in the hundreds maybe. These days I don’t have much to measure by except sunset and sunrise. Everything is relative to the day before, the last task we didn’t finish, the meal we just ate, and so on. Azucena, for our last day of work ironically, told us last night to be ready at 8 am, not getting out of bed at 8 am. So we all were, but she wasn’t here. We ended up in the huerta planting and weeding. For the third day in a row we planted lettuces in the same spots. Some wither, and some are eaten by slugs and caterpillars. Patch sprayed tomatoes with a water and sulfur mixture to try to keep bugs away. More are living. This is good. I am learning all sorts of life lessons on the farm: - it is more fun to weed by hand with someone else for conversation, but the zapa makes it go much faster, - organic means weeding over and over and over again, as well as planting over and over and over again, - your hands will never be clean again (though I love the gloves Susie gave me so much that I have worn holes in the fingers!), - if you work hard enough, you won’t mind that the shower is cold, - whether or not you work smarter or harder, there will always be more work, - nothing is ever finished! Projects I have helped complete (though nothing is ever finished because we run out of time, materials, or the bugs eat the plants; there is always more time later, but having the people and materials at the same time is the trick. Sadly, there ): - planting tomatoes, melons, butternut squash, lettuce, spinach, and beans - weeding much - mulching much - sustainable buildings: a chicken coop, the new dormitorio, and two little sustainably built shops for farm products; harvesting trees to weave, weaving trees into walls, building wine bottle windows, making mud, and throwing mud - packaging products for the shop in Mendoza - preparing the shop in Mendoza for opening night - drying herbs - harvesting herbs, beans, and strawberries - weeding and mulching around the house - a bridge to the pit toilet (got to talk about the composting toilet) - an irrigation ditch and transplanting irises - cleaning house and around the house So much fun, all these things, and I can hardly think to leave. I could stay and keep learning, but it is time. This afternoon the mudding continued. Myrna, Kaitlyn, and I talked about relationships and family. It is amazing to become so close to these people whose lives just happened to cross paths. It is such a different level of intimacy when you volunteer to participate in a life other than your own. After I put the goat in and the others started a fire for hot showers, we all ate leftover pasta out of the bowl with the same spoon. And the bombilla in Argentina is passed from person to person without thought of whose mouth was on it last. We share a pit toilet and all our secrets. It strikes me so funny how we all have become friends. So tonight Azucena made us sandwiches, a bit too much mayonnaise, but really delicious. Megan and Vida brought back a couple movies: Perfume and Spice of Love. Gratefully, they are both in English. My toe is going to be okay, and my bags are nearly packed. Tomorrow the journey continues. tori