Boston and gardens are good things for me

Hey all. So sorry that I haven't posted in awhile. Let me update!

Friday was an experience! Wait, let me back up to Thursday night. I made a grocery trip to the Big Y (local chain) and had one of the best evenings on record. I can remember as a kid, having this ice cream that was shaped like a watermelon, with a rind and chocolate chips and everything. If we were good kids, we could go to Friendly's (on rare occasion). I specifically remember having this mythical, wonderful treat, and then requesting it when we went back once. Sadly, they never had it again, or I just couldn't find it. Regardless, the watermelon iced goodness faded from my mind over time. In TN, there are no Friendly's, so there were no opportunities to search for it after we moved. After awhile, I was relegated to thinking that it was only a figment of my dreaming, and that it never really existed to begin with. I mean, who was I kidding. Ice cream, in the shape of a halved watermelon? It had to be the stuff of a child's imagination. So, please, if you will, imagine the utter shock I experienced when I rounded the corner in Big Y, and was face to face with the phenomenal, the legend, the watermelon sherbert itself, live and in color!!! We had a solid stare-down for at least 30 seconds. "Is it you?" I frantically asked. "I've missed you!" it replied. At least, all of this transpired in my head as I incredulously stared at the watermelon sherbert from Heaven (aka Friendly's). Needless to say, the level of happiness that finding my childhood love produced has warranted a blog post this long. I just wanted to share :)

Right, so Friday was cool. We had an ice cream party to celebrate being done with Education Volunteer Orientation, and then we went haying! It was so intense. We all hopped in the van and drove to another farm, where fresh bales of hay dotted a huge, 5-acre field. We stacked them in piles of 6-8, and threw them up on the wagon as it drove by. It was hard, hot work. On the second load, I was one of the ones stacking them in the wagon. It was stressful, because we had to stack them as fast as they were thrown into the wagon, and they're not exactly light. Sadly, they weren't baled as tightly as they needed to be, so we lost quite a few to Loose Hay Purgatory. Basically, you can't stack any loose hay, so it's almost always wasted. This problem was even worse when we were unloading them back at Overlook. Needless to say, the floor of the Hay Barn is coated with a few inches to several feet of loose hay. It's an allergy sufferer's worse nightmare. I'm still picking hay out of my pockets. It was a fun experience, though! We have to stock up for the winter, so we'll be doing it again soon.

So, on Saturday, Jen, Page, Kim, and I went to Boston! It was incredible fun. We rode the communter train into South Station, then walked to the North End for amazing pizza and cannolis, and gelatto. I was amazed at the number of flavors! I had limoncello, but I think my favorite was Kim's grapefruit. I could have eaten my weight in the cannolis, though. If I had done so and died in a diabetic coma, I would have died happy. I'm so not kidding. What a way to go.

Afterwards, we went to this park where the water fountains shot up out of the ground, and you could play in them. I think I remember them from when I was a kid, but they were still awesome. After that, we mosied on down to the acquarium, where we saw a 3D IMAX movie about endangered dolphins and whales. It was very informative, but definitely sad. To all of you dedicated readers: please take shorter showers and reduce your carbon usage. Thank you, on behalf of the endangered dolphins and whales. :)

After that, we went to Quincy Market and Fanieul Square to do some shopping, but ironically, none of us bought anything. After a long, long day in a fabulous city, we napped on the train home and made it back to the farm by 8. Let me tell you how weird it was being in Boston for most of the day and then being on a quiet, organic farm 2 hours later. The answer is very weird.

Today was my first day as a farm worker without orientation. I spent most of the day working on the Appalachia garden (aka my baby). I am so proud of me and it. This morning, a huge patch was all grass, and right now, it's a garden with paths and raised beds divided with 2x4s. I put down weed cloth, covered it with wood chips, cut and placed the boards (which are much heavier than they look!), and spread the compost. The soil, by the way, is the most gorgeous soil I've ever seen. It smells so good, and it's so dark. The best part is that it's basically unlimited at the farm, and it's all natural and organic farm stuff. I love it. My plants will be so happy. Tomorrow I'll finish the frame and build up the beds for planting, and hopefully break ground on the lower garden. My final plans are ambitious; I am tripling the size of the garden and growing about 12 different things. Ha, please pray I haven't bitten off more than I can chew. Tonight I started some okra seeds, so I'll let you all know how those go over the next few days. I can't wait to start transplanting.

I also got to shadow Al on a tour of the Global Village today, which is what I'll do tomorrow with a group. I'm so excited! It'll be my first official one. Woo!

Okay, kudos if you read all of this. I'm not even going to go all the way back and read it over for grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. That's how tired I am! Okay, y'all be good! Peace.