Education Volunteer Week

Today marks the beginning of our (me and the other 5 Ed Vols) first week of specific training. We have to have every village meal so that we know how to make it when we have groups, so we ventured over to the China/Tibet site and made Zhamba. It's boiled milk (normally yak's milk, but we don't have that readily available, ha), crushed barley, sugar, and butter. We (Heifer) put sugar in it so kids eat it, but it's really really good, even without it. Jessica, another Ed Vol, has been to Tibet (I think she hiked there illegally from Nepal), and said their zhamba is much less oatmeal-like, and more like the consistency of cement, and they eat it with their hands. Either way, it was pretty good with some green tea.

Our next task was to learn how to put up the yurt, the traditional housing of the nomadic people of Tibet/China. It's basically a huge tent made of yak hair. Each year, a yak yields about a pound of hair, and a yurt takes around 200lbs of it. I imagine that a lot of villagers or herdsmen get together and share. I can't see how else they would make one in any reasonable amount of time. Anyways, it took all 7 of us (including Todd, our Supervisor) to put it up in about an hour. The Tibetans would have laughed at us! Whatever, it's a pretty sexy yurt as far as nomadic dwellings go.

In other news, Double Wide, as we have affectionately dubbed the fattest, most pregnant sheep EVER, gave birth to twins today when she was out in pasture. I'm sadly disappointed that she didn't have triplets; we were all banking on it. How's that for pathetic farm entertainment?

For Memorial Day, Dale, the recently retired director of the farm, invited everyone over for a big cookout at his farm! I found a great old bike in the basement with working brakes and tires. It has the big wrap-around handlebars. It was so wonderful to ride a bike again, especially in the warm summer evening. We're in such a pretty area; the farm has a gorgeous view to the east and south, and the hills around here just roll, tucking away tiny 18th century farmhouses and lichen-encrusted stone walls. Riding down the old roads was so pleasant! When we got to his farm, I got to ride one of his horses. It was so nice to ride again. The weather was perfect. New England is at prime summer beauty. Ahh, I'm quite happy indeed.

Time to make granola. Bye!