1-4-10

AARON FEEDING THE FIRE



AARON PUSHING THE WHEEL BARREL UP HILL












LARA AND PAUL'S HOME FROM A DISTANCE - TIDY ISN'T IT?


Two days ago we stated this was the most rustic quarters we've ever lived in. But just because our cabin lacks certain modern day conveniences, it doesn't mean we are struggling. Take our diet for instance. For breakfast we ate spinach ricotta cheese omelets with a side of home fries and tangerines with a nice cup of tea. For lunch we enjoyed a wonderful salad Jen prepared, which included a mix of greens, a cooked cold potato, carrots, grape tomatoes, scallions, a raw radish, craisins, pistachios, green bell pepper, mozzarella cheese, and an olive oil balsamic vinegar dressing. In addition to the salad, we munched on fresh popcorn and sliced apples with homemade peanut butter. The peanut butter is alright, but not as good as the one we normally make; it has a pasty consistency, and lacks the wonderful sweet and salty taste. For our candle lit dinner, we savored soup we created this afternoon in a crock pot. It included the following: acorn squash, green lentils, dehydrated leeks, and dehydrated soup base (onions, carrots, celery, etc), tomato paste, soy sauce, vinegar, salt, pepper, dill, artichoke heart juice (from a jar we found in the refrigerator - there are 3 hearts we are eager to cook with), parsley, and crumbled saltines. The soup was the first course, and was followed by sauteed tempeh in a scallion soy sauce marinade and quinoa flavored with onions, garlic, and chia seeds. Not too bad from primitive living. Dessert was a wild crafted treat Lara made with some berries, pears, and a touch of coconut. It tastes like the most delicious fig newton we've ever tasted.

Today was our first day of real "work." We split wood for the fire for quite a while. Jen needs more practice. Aaron also needs more practice but without him, we'd be freezing. Our stove is keeping our cabin warm, and sometime this week we will attempt to put low-e film on the windows to add insulation and keep the cabin even cozier. We hauled materials up the steep hill in our wheel barrel (SEE PHOTO) in order to rake the leaves around the cabin as part of our daily chores. We must do this as a safety precaution to prevent the spread of a possible fire. We also measured a pile of windows outside for an upcoming project that most likely will take place many months down the road. It was the classic move a pile of one item from here to there, and then move it back from there to here. Mindless work, but at least it was sunny. We had to staple a plastic tarp atop the windows once we were done, and Aaron sliced his finger on a staple gun. Fear not, Jen promptly washed, cleaned, and bandaged the wound. Then she kissed it, and it was all better - magic!

Because it is hovering around 20-30 degrees outside, we couldn't do too much work out of doors, so we spent a good deal of our day acting as interior decorators. We hung two mirrors and a few pieces of artwork. The place is really starting to come together. We also started to sprout red wheat so that we can bake bread at the end of the week. Ground wheat is for privileged suburbanites, we have to sprout it the old fashioned way. We also were given a grinder and corn kernels to mill into corn meal. Hopefully we will have corn muffins soon. After warming up inside for a while we braved the cold one more time to empty our humanure toilet. We brought a bag of our own shit outside to the compost pile. We put sawdust in the toilet after each use, and honestly, it smells like roses compared to Giants Stadium porta-poties. We rinsed out the bucket and put in a new brown paper bag which should keep us going for a few days at least. They keep the compost pile for about a year, in order to assure any possible parasites die during that time period, which in turn doesn't contaminate whatever the compost is ultimately used for (e.g., garden soil).

And after all that messy work, something incredible happened. We took a hot shower and now we feel all nice and clean. There was even enough hot water to shower for over 10 minutes...granted, we shared the hot water, but hey, we're living on a self sustaining farm, and we have to make certain sacrifices, even if said sacrifices entail washing each other's...backs.