farm life

i suppose the only way to start writing again is to write.

i've spent the past week at a sheep farm upstate in genoa, ny. a coworker and her husband own the place. it's also a woolen mill with pre-WWII equipment. this place is just loaded history and cool stuff. sheep, a goat, chickens that try to steal the dog food. a cat with brain damage that is as sweet as can be. oh and chicks! little baby chicks that have to be cared for and checked up on.

we go to diners for breakfast and drive around in a vegetable powered old benz. on memorial day the town of moravia had a parade that had more people following it than in it.

barn swallows with their forked tails are in the barn and lizzy, the dog who protects it all has killed at least two groundhogs and maybe a baby skunk while i've been here. every time she's awfully proud of herself.

one of the sheep is due to lamb any day now and her newborn will add to the boy triplets and a girl lamb named thistle.

i got the idea that i wanted to make ethiopian food and looked online for recipes. you be surprised how limited and awful some of the recipes are. when i looked for ethiopian cookbooks on amazon there was a total of one book. a book that is out of print. so i've pieced together some dishes and any day now the injera will be fully fermented and i'll attempt an ethiopian meal. if i don't fall over dead i'll post here about it.

things are pretty alright. still haven't found out if i'll be going to sea for the summer but hopefully i'll know soon enough. i'll either be spending six weeks in the middle of the pacific or i'll do some timesharing between berkeley and baja. i would love to be in new york for summer, with all its free cool outdoor activities but the heat, humidity and general stink make me miss berkeley all the more.

so we'll see. if my boss is fine with the telecommute then i'll put my stuff in storage, bow out of my month to month lease and live the rent-free life of home and baja.