Organic farming is so much fun/hellish labor

On a hill walk 

Kiki

I have been working a little over a week now on the Devoy Farm. I wake up every morning and think about doing yoga and then change my mind because it is freezing. I did do yoga this morning and am thinking of going for a run tomorrow,  but you know how much I love running so lets see if that happens. I then eat my heathy breakfast of museli and milk and a cup of tea (the museli has raisins and I EAT THEM). Sorry, for everyone else. I hate raisins and never eat them... until now. Maybe this all natural organic lifestyle has changed my views on dried grapes....not.

Me drunk and typing this letter

I live with a frenchman, Remi, who is in no way effected by the organic healthyness of the place. He eats white bread with nutella and a cup of hot cocoa for breakfast. He loves meat and talks about eating it and how much he misses it all the time.  He is a so funny and just great. I am so glad that he is my roommte because there is really not much to do during the week. At night we make dinner and talk to each other. At the moment he is washing the dishes and laughing at me drinking wine and typing frantickly on the computer which by the way is his. So far we have only gone off the farm for walks. We live out in the country and the nearest town is a thirty minute walk. We went this past Friday to the local burger joint to eat meat for the first time in a week which for me is not a big deal but for Remi it was like torture. We also did a nice walk around the area to see the local beaches. It was all very beautiful and much how I thought Ireland would look. Also this weekend there were two markets. Our farm parcipitates in local markets one in Skibbereen and one in Clonakilty. Not that you know where they are, but they are the closest big towns to where I live in Rosscarberry. I really enjoyed the market in Skiberreen. It was really refreshing to see people coming out to buy local organic goods and wanting to pay a little extra to support local people. It is so different to what I have seen in the States. It also made my day to have rhubarb and custard pie. I think I am in love with rhubarb. Too bad ours won't be ready until after I leave.

Remi and I on the beach in Ireland

As for what I do every day that is hard to say. Everyday has some routine, but also some surprises are always waiting. For the most part in goes like this: collect the eggs from the hen house, grade and clean the eggs, pick and/or package kale/purple sprouting brocolli/salad/spinach/potatoes, load the van with needed veggies for the grocery store, plant cucumber/tomatoes/spring onions/lettuce/snap peas/endive/etc, eat a veg lunch, then more of the planting or weeding; One day we had to clean one of the polytunnels (a giant plastic tunnel used to keep plants warm in the cold Irish climate) and it was the worst job ever. Just annoyingly hard labor that I never want to do again. I really have fallen in tune with this life and althougth it is back-breaking I love it. Today some rocket (salad green) that I seeded started to sprout and I was so excited. I think I was working for two hours hunched over trays meticuliously putting one seed just under the surface of the soil. Then John, the boss man, told me I used the wrong compost and nothing was going to sprout. I did a dance when I saw the first sprouts come up. I feel like I am learning so much and I know I will be sad to leave in two weeks. It is too early for me to think like that.

My Rocket before it sprouted

You say that you are in great shape, well I am also getting into shape. I can feel my body coming to life after so many months of sitting around. I love the feeling of my body waking up. It has been too long since I did this kind of work. Now I need to do more exercise so that I get the best out of the work I am doing. I hope that in the morning it is not raining, so I can run. Although with the wine I am drinking I do not think that I will be able to go for a run. Remi is making fun of me again saying that he thinks another word for crazy is Laura. I love my roommate because he knows I am crazy and just laughs.

Lulu