what the eyjafjallajokull?!

the boston globe has some crazy photos of the recent volcanic eruption in iceland here
note the preface to the story is the affects on european travelers.

funny farm

yesterday i made lunch for the crew, including joy the accountant. it was a simple meal. i marinated olives in garlic and lemon juice, cooked up some pasta with homemade sauce from the pantry, made garlic bread, a nice salad from the garden. it was yummy. we all finished and were kind of just doing our own thing when all of a sudden, i felt high. it was very confusing. i didn't remember smoking anything! i went into the kitchen and told hillary. she felt high too. we were standing there wondering what the fuck and osiris walked in from the back porch. the look on his face was just perfect. we were all out of our minds!! ripped! we stood there trying to figure out what the hell happened and decided it was the pasta sauce from the pantry. it was a batch from last years canning and was labeled "G Sauce". guess the G didn't stand for garlic!
i felt pretty bad (and really good) and suddenly it dawned on me that joy the accountant must be stoned too! i got the fucking accountant stoned with lunch! when i approached her and she told me she felt weird i thought i was gonna die. she kind of started freakin' out and i was real non chalant about it all. i told her to drink some water and that she would be fine. she told me she's never even SMOKED pot before! never even smoked pot and the woman just ate some seriously strong ganga food. unwillingly!
the guilt. the giggles. the awkwardness. the desire to clean!
we were completely useless the rest of the day. we all tripped out on our own-in a blissfull disbelief that what had happened really did just happen. i stared at trees and hung out with the chickens. took photos and made flower arrangements, walked around, let the rain fall in my mouth. i don't know how joy worked like that. actually i don't think she even could. she forgot to pay us! she was afraid to drive home for christs sake! i felt so bad!
9 hours later we all went to bed still high....unbelievable.

"Every passing bird, every river Says lay-lay to you my baby"

found an acorn woodpecker in the middle of the road last night. just laying there. dead. sometimes i close my eyes when i know i'm coming up on something that lay dead in the road. avoiding the sad and mangled blood and guts of what once was a breathing animal. i hate seeing dead animals. i think most people do.
but we reversed for this mysterious thing in the road. my eyes followed the lights onto the black reflection of this woodpecker that lay there still in the brightness of our headlights, in the darkness of the forrest. it was so beautiful. i held it in my hand. it was big and warm and incredibly soft. so now it lies not in the gray of the gravelly road but in the freezer. in the hands of the likeness of its probable ending. dead but living on for my selfish desire to gaze forever at his beauty.

holy teet

thursday i was lucky enough to take a day off the farm and go to another small, pretty farm and milk a cow. i met dan a couple weeks ago. he was teaching his unsurpassed skills in grafting. we practiced with some heritage cherry scion's from felix gillet's time-(a pioneer for nevada city as far as botany goes and an all around rad dude that shaped the city in many ways).
we've been picking up raw milk from dan on the underground (raw milk is illegal!) since he stopped by the farm and modestly mentioned this other passion in his life. the milk is wonderful. there is nothing like fresh, raw, cream on top milk from your local dairyman!! he has two cows and a heifer on pasture and when i expressed interest in helping him milk he gleamed. if i was any good at milking he would be able to take his first vacation in years, as dairy cows have to be milked twice a day, period. it turns out that i was pretty good, i'm a natural! and all that winter climbing came in handy! milking is a fuckin workout!
i loved the warm sweet smell and being close with the cow. like real close. it's really something else to experience. i'm more appreciative than ever for that milk i've been using in my coffee and alongside the fresh hot cookies and cakes i can't stop baking!!!!
dan pastures the cows on his beautiful yet not overly large property alongside his impressive apple, plum, and cherry orchard. he has three nigerian dwarf goats, chickens, ducks, guinea fowl (rattlesnake wranglers and tick eaters-yeay!) and a slew of dogs, some of which aren't even his...

dan and old girl. notice the baby in the background on left. little buck tooth cutie!

geraldine-my name for her

baby girl

the hooligans. pete the rat terrior, dodger and charlie. pete showed me an old petrified rat he successfully killed-ewe! good boy! and the goldens successfully tormented as many chickens as possible and spooked the baby into the outfield while we were milking. good boys!

grandma, mama, and baby (and dodger)

the kids sniffin the kid

can you spot the ducklings? awe! so cute!