6-18-10 **RECIPE INCLUDED**

DOUBLE TROUBLE

TARA. OR MAYBE TALIA. HARD TO SAY.

NEGLECTED BLUEBERRY PATCH

I AIN'T NO HOE!

MATT ON HIS TRACTOR

I AIN'T NO CURVED PITCHFORK!

The kitchen here is reminiscent of the kitchen on Cumberland Island. They're both commercial kitchens, which as far as we seem to understand, pretty much just means there are lots of large stainless steel sinks with plenty of buckets for dish washing. They both feature walk in refrigerators, which are so cold you have to psych yourself up before entering. You have to plan what you want and visualize where it is before you go in, and you race to open the tricky door to exit out into room temperature. The stove in the kitchen has 6 gas burners that all reach really high flames, and the bread oven cost over $100,000, which was hand built and assembled by three Spaniards. There are mixers and blenders and juicers and food processors and immersion tools and any other kitchen tool you can fathom. Any culinary wizardry failure can only be chalked up to lack of imagination, for all the appliances are at our fingertips.

Outside, there are a few garden bed areas scattered about the 280 acres here, and for most of the morning and into the afternoon, we worked in the blueberry patch. There were a total of 13 blueberry bushes, but we should really say 12 because one was pretty much totally dead. Overtaken with weeds, the super professional wwoofers that we are came to the rescue! First we hoed the area clear with the heaviest hoes we've used since our journey began. They were so heavy, that after an hour our arms were feeling noodle-like. It makes us wonder if we could be out there, in the heat, all day for the rest our lives having our arms feel the fire of using manual tools and never relying on machinery. With talk of "peak oil," it's hard to know whether to remain reliant on gas powered machines instead of trying to segue into alternative sources of energy. And of course hand tools never require refueling. But after we finished manually hoeing, Matt drove up in his huge tractor carrying fertilizer, compost, and mulch for us to spread accordingly. Without the gasoline powered machine, the delivery task would have taken so, so much longer. We just guess everyone has to pick their poison.

Jen made delicious cookies tonight, and here is her recipe:

makes 3 dozen small cookies

1 1/4 cup flour
1 stick butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar
little more than 1/2 cut white sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 salt
1 egg
bunch of small pieces vanilla bean
handful or two of cocoa powder
bunch of handfuls of chopped almonds
bunch of handfuls of shredded coconut

1. preheat oven to 350
2. in a small mixing bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt - set aside.
3. cream together the butter and sugars. then add egg and vanilla bean and mix to combine.
4. in a few small batches, add the flour mixture.
5. separate the batter into two bowls. in one bowl add cocoa powder and mix it in. in the other add chopped almonds and shredded coconut and mix thoroughly.
6. roll dough into small balls and place on a baking sheet. they don't grow big so you can place them close together.
7. bake for 8-10 minutes.
7a. if you accidentally burn part of the bottoms scrape off with a butter knife.
8. enjoy!