My little community.

Ok, so I have an idea. It's a good one.

I want a giant claw (like the games outside grocery stores that pick up toys, or the one in Toy Story 2 that picks up the martians). If I had a giant claw, I would put in the coordinates of all my friends to pick them up and bring them to me to live in a community. This community would have housing made from trees, a garden big enough to fee us all, animals (goats, cows, chickens, sheep, llamas, ducks, and mules), natural springs, lots of wild non magic mushrooms, fiddleheads, berries, an orchard, and plenty of cliffs to jump off into water.

It would be like our own little commune. a perfect little town away from the corruption. Isn't that a good idea?

Except Kyle said those already exist and they are called cults. Dang. So maybe it's not such a good idea. But I promise I would not make any cool aid.

The Sunshine State

Hi all. We are finally settled in here in sunny (sorry to rub it in all your northerners) central Florida and enjoying our 2 new farms. Here are lots of videos for you to enjoy!!!!

Farm # 1: Living Tower Farm

Jan owns a hydroponic farm about a half-mile from our house that looks like heaven! Her way of hydroponics involves starting the seeds in volcanic rock called rockwool (like a little sponge with a hole in the middle). Once the seedlings germinate, we take the rockwool (just like you would a normal start) and put in a tiny pot in a hole in the tower. The food is beautiful and tastes great!!! It never touches dirt which is fun because then we stay clean and don’t have to weed!!! We have learned so much from Jan and Jason so far. Jan has a history in naturopathic/homeopathy remedies and lifestyles and is happy to teach us all we want to know. She has already given me the first step in hopes to out grow this allergy: raw probiotics! Woo Hoo!

Farm #2: Charley and MaryLou Borns.

Charley has 3 milking cows, 1 bull (reproducing male), 1 steer (non reproducing male), 4 calves ranging from 2 weeks to 18 months. He also has lots of chickens, 2 ducks, a bunch of garden beds (used and unused), and LOTS of cow patties! Yuk! Charley and MaryLou are both extremely kind and sweet. We start at 7 fetching the 3 cows and work until 11:30 when MaryLou rings the bell for lunch. It's not fun being allergic to cow milk. But it's really not fun being allergic to cow milk while working on a cow farm with wonderful fresh butter, milk, cream, and buttermilk!!! It's all so delicious! Charley is great to work for. He's very encouraging and happy to have our help. He says things like, "atta girl," and, "You're alright boy," when you are doing something right.

Churning some butter

The pro.

Attempt#1

Attempt #2

Kyle says, "It got really warm all of a sudden." Yep, he got peed on.

Don't worry, I only last about 4 minutes before my hands cramp up!

My only baby right now :) This is a big big bottle and she doesn't waste any time gulping it down! 3 minutes flat.

Upward Over the Mountain

So, we're back from our John Muir Trail hike with stories to tell and muscles to rest. Our eyes could not hold the scenery and the camera could definitely not capture it. We ended up staying on the trail for 7 days and went 110 miles, which is about 15 miles a day - a lot when you're carrying 40-50 pound packs in high elevations!

In a paradoxical sorta way, we're tired and yet refreshed. The wilderness changes you like that. Drinking out of fresh streams, cooking over a fire, going to the bathroom in a hole you just dug 10 seconds previously, only hearing sounds of nature, jumping into clear lakes, sleeping to the sound of a waterfall - ah, yes!!

Well, enjoy the pics and the quotes by John Muir himself, the man who fought to preserve our national parks (and for whom the trail is named after...obviously). (Click on the photos to enlarge, if you'd like.)

The polite farewell...

The angry, wild, barbaric farewell!!
"Don't leave me!"
Airplanes force you to sit and go nowhere (except to the lavatory). This is where I can think about life, almost outside of normal life. Clarity, and clouds.
On the first day, we meet my dad (Owen) and some gigantic sequoia trees.
I hope Old Dan and Little Ann d0n't chase a coon up this tree (a "Where the Red Fern Grows" reference. Ignore if you've never read it. Laugh if you have)
Our first day on the trail is the day known affectionately as "Death by hiking." We're smiling in this picture, but do not let it fool you. We went from 4,000 feet to over 9,000 feet in elevation. Our legs were not smiling.
At the top of Vernal Falls, where only a month earlier 3 people climbed over that railing and fell off. We decided to stay on this side.
A nice patch of chicken mushrooms. I ate these all summer in Vermont. Robert, if you somehow find our blog and have made it this far, this one's for you.
Doe, a deer, a female deer.
People talk about the mountaintop as the pinnacle of success, joy, etc. and the valley as dreary, lifeless and failure. I found the valleys to be quite beautiful and demand an explanation for this faulty logic!
Lynea did this a lot.

Lynea's dad and mom did a superb job preparing the food for our trip. They cooked the meals, dehydrated them and then vacuum sealed them. Delish.

Getting into the snow. This was right before we went over Donahue Pass - over 11,000 feet!

"Going to the mountains is going home." - John Muir

"This rock looks comfy."
Can you find Lynea and her dad? (Click to enlarge)
We had lunch here (the 3rd day) and coined the place "Eden", for obvious reasons if you're familiar with the biblical narrative. Luckily we did not have to face a talking snake or make a really big decision.
We just crossed into the Ansel Adams Wilderness, the place named after the photographer who made this very picture famous (we were not in his original photo).

"How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains! To behold this alone is worth the pains of any excursion a thousand times over. The hightest peaks burned like islands in the sea of liquid shade. Then the lower peaks and spires caught the glow, and long lances of light, streaming through many a notch and pass, fell thick on the frozen meadows." - John Muir

Met very interesting people on the trail. 2 guys we met were riding llamas on the trail.
One of the plethora of stream crossings.

"We are now in the mountains and they are in us, kindling enthusiasm, making every nerve quiver, filling every pore and cell of us." - John Muir
Resting at the top of Silver Pass with some friends we made along the way (day 5). Remember the Ansel Adams Wilderness photo? That's the mountain range in the back ground of this picture that we were on the other side of in that other picture. We walked far.
Lunch break.
Foot rubs all around.
"I'm tellin' ya, when I was younger I could swim across that river and climb over that mountain in 90 seconds flat."

The only shower I had.

Farewell Vermont, Hello Cleveland!...John Muir, here we come!!

Our season in Vermont has come to an end. Many new friends, new skills, new perspectives, new ideas to take away from our time there. We will definitely miss the DuGrenier family, the animals, the fresh berries, honey, syrup...I should stop before I get sad.

But saying goodbye always means saying hello, and we've got to spend some quality time with our family here in Cleveland. Got to see all 3 of our nephews and our one and only beautiful niece. Went to the zoo, the museum and the park. So here's some pics to enjoy.

Is that John Muir?! Actually it's Lynea's dad getting ready for our John Muir Trail hike. Months of planning, preparation and training will meet the trail on Thursday as we enter the wilderness known as the Sierra Nevadas. The trail is over 200 miles, and we're gonna see how far we can get in 2 weeks. Will we come up against bears? Will our legs and feet hang in as we haul our 40+ pound packs? Will we find water? Animals? Ourselves? Stay tuned...dun,dun, dun.

The simple things.

Getting ready!

The donkey had a baby....

Monday morning started out normal with Kyle and I filling up all the feed buckets. All of a sudden I hear Kyle yelling in the barn, “Neea!! Come here!!” And there she was, the long awaited Marmalade’s baby. Unfortunately I cannot reveal her name because it is still in deliberation.

Lots of cool stuff.

The Garden.

It grew. A lot. This is an amazing process to watch...and eat.

WWOOF Dinner

Another farmer friend, Leigh, has 4 wwoofers (that’s what we are) working up the road from us. We had them over for dinner in thanks for helping us hay on Sunday. It was a beautiful meal consisting of 12 different food items from our farms: cucumber, duck, chicken, lettuce, arugula, broccoli, basil, blueberries, blackberries, black trumpet mushrooms, chanterelle mushrooms, and the maple syrup used to sweeten the vinaigrette dressing!!!

Bees

Our honey bees are doing great. We went in to add brood chambers (where the queen bee lays her 1,000 eggs a day) and supers (where they store the honey). If the hive gets too populated, the bees will pick a new queen, split, swarm, and find a new home. That would be bad for us because half our bees would be gone. So every few weeks we add more chambers.

Hay

Just a sneak peak to our haying assembly line. We are moving so slowly because this was our 5th round of unloading. A total of 362 bales weighing about 30lbs each. For Kyle and the guys, that’s not a big deal. For Kathy and I....oh man are we sore. It’s a full body workout starting with lifting with the hands/back/shins, walking it with the hands/back/resting on the thighs, and then lifting it with the hands/back/every arm muscle. That’s a lot of hands and back!!!

Robert, Kyle, and I went for a mushroom hunt and now it’s dinner time!

Pigs

A farmer friend of ours, David, has pigs. I like them. They are useful critters...they eat all our food waste, they improve the land, and eventually they give you bacon, ham, and sausage. We are loving learning how to take care of animals that provide food.

Dad's Birthday

Today’s my dad’s birthday and so I’m thinking about him. He’s lived a really good 54 years. I don’t know this for a fact, but I think my dad wakes up everyday and chooses joy. That’s a hard thing to do, but he does it. When I think about him, I think of a guy smiling from ear to ear, waiting to give us a hug. I think of guy who works hard and also loves hard. He’s an encourager and a supporter and a complimenter. He’s grateful for the simple and taught us to enjoy the small things as well. Not only does he give out gut-busting laughter, but he’ll dish out tears as well. A man who laughs hard and often, but tears up over inspiring, moving stories; a man fully alive...I wanna be like him.

One of my favorite writers, Henri Nouwen, said:

“One of the most beautiful things that can happen in a human life is that parents become brothers and sisters for their children, that children become fathers and mothers for their parents, that brothers and sisters become friends and that fatherhood, motherhood, brotherhood, and sisterhood are deeply shared by all the members of the family at different times and on different occasions.”

I think that’s happening with my dad and I. We’re becoming friends. And I like that.

So I raise a cup of French Roast coffee to my dad, Owen Mitchell, for being the kind of dad I’d love to be someday.

Happy birthday Dad,

Kyle

Wheat, Berries, Hay and the Tale of the Prodigal Ducks

Lynea and I recently went to a wheat conference. Much of it was over our heads, especially the talk about the genetic structure of wheat, but lots of it was very interesting. It was neat to see farmers, millers and bakers hashing out the best ways to do a local grain system - that is, how to grow wheat locally, mill it locally and bake it locally. This is a tough thing to do here in the northeast, given that most wheat is grown in the midwest. Real folks working through real issues in their lives. Cool to sit in on their conversations and hear about the ancient-future wisdom of growing and processing wheat.

Bringing in the Sheaves

One of my favorite...no, hands down, my favorite thing to do is pick berries. We’ve got wild black raspberries and blueberries that we pick everyday. I’m fascinated by it. Maybe I’m meant to be a berry-picker. Nothing quite like picking a ripe, juicy berry off the bush and popping it in your mouth. It’s a mystery. It’s magical. The earth provides delicious treats that are good for our bodies. I’m sure I could figure out how it works scientifically, but that still wouldn’t explain why it gives me such joy. Kinda like understanding all the numbers behind the earth rotating around the sun compared to laying on the beach and watching the sunset. It’s magical.

Blueberries

Black raspberries

Hay is a cool word. It means “there is” in Spanish, but is pronounced more like the English word “hi”. Which is funny cause the English word “hay” rhymes with “hey” as in saying “hi” which is similar to how the Spanish word is pronounced. There is hay in our field. Or if I was going to speak Spanglish, “Hay hay in our field.” And we cut it, wind-rowed it, tethered it and bailed it.

And finally a story of Rabbinic proportions:

We had 5 ducklings in a cage. 4 squeezed through and ran away, while 1 got stuck in the cage. It was a cold night and we feared the ducklings would either freeze to death or get eaten by a larger creature. The next morning, we put the mother duck in a cage with 3 other ducklings. 1 hour...nothing. 2 hours...nothing. 3 hours later I went to check on the cage and there before my eyes, the 4 prodigal ducks sitting safely outside the cage by their mother’s side. We rejoiced.

We've got about 40 new chicks!!