2-5-10

TRENCHTOWN ROCK

LEGLESS LIZARD


Mornings at Greyfield are the earliest we've encountered thus far. We are catching a ride to the Inn at 7am before heading to work in the garden. The Inn is three miles from where we are sleeping, at Serendipity, the staff house. This morning we got a tour of the garden Andy manages, as well as two others nearby. The Greyfield Garden is 1 acre and currently is growing: kohlrabi, broccoli, cauliflower, mutlti-colored carrots, oranges, many herbs, and more. But this nice garden is being ravished by armadillos. Despite having a metal fence as well as an interior electric fence, these pests are still infiltrating. Andy has tried a number of methods to stop them, including setting traps, but has yet to be successful. The newest tactic is to dig trenches around the exterior fence and install a third fence, which will be secured 6 inches below the ground to prevent the armadillos from burrowing in. Apparently these creatures are able to sneak under this main fence and can tolerate the electric fence due to their hard shells. People have suggested resorting to Caddy Shack style defenses but Andy isn't too keen on putting dynamite in the garden. One can imagine digging a 6 inch deep trench around the perimeter of one acre of land is quite a tolling activity. Jen's arms and backs are feeling the effects of the work now while Aaron's left hand is recovering from two open blisters from the digging this morning. He is just like Ren & Stimpy who have smooth, soft hands because they have never worked a day in their lives.

We knew it was going to rain today and were working as quickly as we could to complete the trench before the rain. We got about 85% of the trench dug when the rains came. We managed to get a ride back to Serendipity before it started raining too hard, but while sitting on the porch the skies opened up. The most peaceful and relaxing thing to do is sit on the porch and swing on the hammock during a rainstorm. Our house has 10 bedrooms, many bathrooms, and is a big maze. All the twentysomething staffers stay here and it's kind of like being at camp.

Staff members are fed by the main kitchen and everyone is offered the food the guests eat. Most people love this since the guests are paying top dollar for high quality food (obviously meat and fish). Andy seems to be the only staff member who cooks at Serendipity because most people take advantage of the chef-prepared meals and he enjoys cooking with freshly grown ingredients from his garden. The three of us have been arriving at the kitchen, taking off our very muddy boots, and scoring some fruits & veggies to bring back to the house to cook. We had breakfast and lunch at the main kitchen and cooked dinner here with garden fresh cabbage, carrots, and cauliflower. Paired with buckwheat soba noodles and a homemade peanut sauce, it was quite a tasty meal. It's nice to be back to a place where we can create meals.

The rains tapered off so the evening has been calmer and we are excited for what tomorrow holds. Hopefully the rain will pass and sunny skies are headed our way. We will finish digging the trench and install the fence and hopefully later this week help build a rain catchment system.