Nov 12th,2013

Monica:


Wake up before sunrise (because you're still adjusting from Eastern time). Step out of your trailer and here the sheep start bellowing as soon as they catch site of you. Stop to pet the more courageous lambs. Grab a few flakes of hay and throw them into their pen as far as you can, trying to aim for an open dirt area. Check their water barrels and fill 'em up if necessary.

feed and pet the sheep

Head to the kitchen, and start heating some water while you check the fridge for tasty leftovers and some freshly made yogurt. Look up at the chore board and realize you're on for milking the goats, so grab a clean jar and head out to say good morning to Becca and Sprinkles.

After morning chores and breakfast are done for the day, decide what project is more pressing- work on limbing low branches and add them to the hedge, collaborate with Andrew on a fencing project (anything from constructing oak branch gates to flagging contour lines)


milking Goats and finding contours for a swale/paddock system.

Next, sit on your laptop and finally write an article, or find some new task to complete until lunch time.

build a dead hedge

When the bell rings, head on up to the kitchen to meet everyone for lunch. Just as everyone finishes up with the food on their plates (featuring vegetables from the garden and meat from one of the animals slaughtered earlier in the year,) the piglets race around the corner of the garden to look for scraps or a belly scratch before moving on to roll in their new mud puddle.

don't forget to pet the piglets

Clean your dish and silverware then take a little break (read a book, check email, update your tumblr blog so your parents don't have to keep looking at images of the skunk you and another intern skinned…) Once your stomach doesn't feel so full, get back to doing some heavier form of labor- working on that hedge that never ends, collecting acorns for later in the winter or rocks for later construction projects, or some other current project.

At 3 o'clock, head back into the kitchen for a light snack and to meet up for work party. The work party task changes from day to day- chopping wood, harvesting potatoes, mixing cob and applying more layers to the bench in progress, pour a concrete wall, pound posts for new fencing, clean out the rabbit area and bring the hay and poop to a hugelkultur bed. Today we're working on turning the apples we harvested into cider.

Post work party, decide to go for that run you avoided doing earlier in the day. Return to Windward just as the sun sets; stop by your trailer to turn on the electric blanket; change into your thermal pants and a flannel top; grab your headlamp and head back to the kitchen.

Even though it's not a special night (no group discussion night, no intern movie night, no organized movie/ game night) most everyone is present so we turn it into a game night anyways. End a great day with a game of scrabble, warm apple crisp, and carding wool with the hope of having enough to begin spinning in the upcoming week.


Sunset walk and then some Scrabble