Busy Time For Us

Once Linda picked me up we started the trip to Texas. I didn't realize it until I did some research but we would be in close proximity to the Crater of Diamonds State Park. This is the only diamond mine in the US that is open to the public where you can go and dig for diamonds...real diamonds. This was something I really wanted to see so off we went...There is a 37 acre field where you can dig, sift, screen, etc to your heart's content. Every so often they plow the field to bring more diamonds to the surface.
This area was home to a massive volcano ages ago that brought the crystal beauties to the surface. You can find clear white, yellow and brown.


The diamonds aren't all that elusive either (although we didn't find any). More than 700 diamonds are found each year and someone had even found one the week before we were there. They have a gorgeous RV park and splash water park there which makes for an awesome family getaway. So if you ever get to Murfreesboro, Arkansas, be sure to go check it out.
Our next stop was Austin, Texas. I needed to do some training with another one of our teams so we joined up with them west of Austin for a few days. Last Friday we left there and went to Montgomery, TX for our annual company meeting. It's like a family reunion as we get to spend time with folks we usually only see once a year. Lots of hugs and laughs from Monday to Thursday. When we arrived, we called a local RV mobile tech because our outside shower was leaking and our inverter was not supplying power to the rig while we were traveling. We couldn't run the water pump, receptacles or anything that usually would run off the inverter. Power was going TO the inverter but wasn't going to the rig. Turns out one of the 12v breakers, under the front steps, was shot. This isn't the type of breaker as in the electrical panel but one that can usually be reset if it trips due to low load when the batteries are low. Junior replaced the outside shower and breaker but it didn't fix the problem. Turns out the solenoid that tells the battery disconnect to turn on and off was not working so the batteries were not charging. We had to stay an extra day till Junior could order the part but on Friday, around 2, we hit the road for Rockdale, TX.
While I was doing my internship at White Violet Center, you may recall that I did my project on aquaponics. One of the farms that is big into aquaponics is located in nearby Cameron, TX and had a farm tour scheduled for yesterday so we signed up. Sand Creek Farm participates in a CSA program but they have four high tunnels and in three of them they do aquaponics. They grow many vegetables outdoors in the ground but they grow a lot of specialized things indoors, where they grow super fast and virtually free from pests. He grows a whole lot of Asian greens that I had never heard of before and he said they grow really well in an aquaponic environment. Onions, that typically take 100 days to grow in the ground...he grows them in 8 weeks. The seeds are started in a vermiculite/coconut coir mixture in little net pots (bottoms have a lot of openings in them to let water in). The pots sit in cut outs in the foam board, that is floating on top of the water in the troughs. You can see the fish tank in the background behind Ben i this picture on the right. He has silver sheets of rigid insulation around the tank and on top of it to keep heat in during this cold snap that Texas is having. The basic concept of aquaponics is that the fish poop, which provides the nutrients that the plants need. The fish poo water is pumped into the troughs where the vegetables grow and the plants extract all the waste products, creating clean water that is returned to the fish tank. Cool, huh ? It's a symbiotic relationship of raising healthy fish and vegetables in a closed loop system. In our country over 60% of our fish come from China, which has sometimes had unscrupulous practices when it comes to food production. Wouldn't it be cool if we could get enough aquaponic farmers in this country so that we could provide our own sources of fish. Ben uses Perch and Tilapia in his tanks but there are many other types that can be used, depending on what temperatures you hold to have in your system. In cold climates, trout would be a good source because they are a cold water fish.
During our tour, we also got to see his cheese room, where he produces Havarti and Gouda cheese. Look at those beautiful wheels of cheese ! The cows that he milks used to be wild, free range type of cows and he would have to round them up and lasso them to bring them in to milk them. They are now accustomed to being milked so it's not a rodeo every time he needs them to come to the barn at milking time. I can't even imagine how wild a time that must have been. He also makes yogurt and had a batch in the oven when we were there. It was a really neat farm and there were 42 people on our tour. It was raining lightly while we were touring and once we got home, it really started to pour and continued through the night.














Linda eating Red Russian Kale that Ben picked out of the garden. She loved it !








As I finish up this post, we are rolling down the highway towards Waco. We should arrive in Keene around 1:30.  Time enough to get set up, get some lunch and settle in for NASCAR. Tomorrow morning we start our training at home office. We're excited to learn new things and work to develop the northern region of Texas. We feel great things are just over the horizon. Nothing's gonna stop us from going full steam ahead !

Merry Christmas from Indiana….

It’s Christmas eve and it’s very quiet in the convent. The other two interns left on Friday to spend time with their families. Linda was hoping to come out here right after Christmas to spend some time with me but couldn’t find anyone to watch Boomer. It’s tough enough to be apart for the holidays but now she is sick with something that resembles the flu. She has body aches, a high temperature, and a sore throat but decided to go to her son’s house anyway so she can spend time with them over Christmas. It would really suck to be home for the first time in the seven years, that we’ve been on the road full-timing, and not be able to spend it with family. Should make her feel better.
I work with Ann in the morning, on alpaca duty, so it will help her get out of here sooner. I’m on alpaca close all week (takes me about an hour each afternoon at 3 p.m.) and watering the new seedlings in the greenhouse. Somehow all of these critters and plants don’t understand that it’s a holiday for people….they just know that they need to eat and be taken care of and those activities don’t take a day off. Tomorrow, after I do the close routine, I’ll go to Sister Maureen’s house to have dinner with her and Sister PB.
Last week we moved thirteen alpacas to their new home, about 30 minutes from here. It wasn’t too bad to halter that many animals and load them up. Two of the thirteen were put in the mini van for the ride to their new home and the rest were loaded into a horse trailer. There is a large lake near their new pasture. When we got them into the new area, they took off for the fence and just stood there looking at the frozen lake. I don’t think they’ve ever seen a body of water like that before. I don’t know if it was either the smell or sight of it that intrigued them so much but they thought it was the coolest thing. There are several more crias to be moved but they won’t go until they’ve been weaned from their moms. Peanut is one of the crias that will go to a new owner. That will be a sad day….I’m hoping that it will be after I’ve left in February.
Yesterday I finished skirting the last blanket of fleeces from our alpacas. Wahoo ! Sister Mo thinks that this is the earliest that they’ve ever finished with the skirting. Now we will start in on some of the fiber that another alpaca farmer gave us from his farm. The goal always is to get each year’s fiber processed before it’s time to shear again. The fiber that has been skirted can now be shipped to the New England Alpaca Fiber Pool to get processed into hats, gloves, scarves, boot inserts, etc. for our store in the White Violet Center. I’m still hoping to learn how to spin and weave before I leave here in eight weeks. There are some workshops coming up in January and February that I should be able to take that will teach me those things.
I’m putting the finishing touches on my project for my internship. Each intern is required to do a project while they are here. My project is on how the dining units can benefit more from the produce raised in the gardens here as it ties into the land ethic that the sisters have created. It’s a twenty page report that I’ve been working on for the last three months so it will be great to see that done and turned in.
It was really cold here this morning. With the wind chill, it was –5 degrees. Once the sun comes out, the temps in the greenhouse really heat up. When I went to water the seedlings at 3, it was 80 degrees in there. Everything is covered in the high tunnel….nice and comfy. The thing that we have to watch is that when the sun comes out, it can create a lot of condensation on the roof of the high tunnel.

If it gets too drippy in there, the plants will start to rot so that is when we need to open the sides or ends to ventilate it and get the condensation out of there. We haven’t had to do that in quite a while because it’s either been really cloudy or cold. We keep an eye on it though.
Guess that’s all that’s going on here. We’ve missed some of the recent snow and ice storms, which is fine by me. Hoping everyone has a blessed Christmas and a prosperous New Year. Until next year, be safe and have fun with friends and family this holiday season.

Terra Haute Farmer's Market

It's been a busy week, between the CSA on Wednesday and picking to get ready for the Farmer's Market on Saturday. It has been really  humid all week but I started wearing shorts and it has made it much more comfortable to have less fabric clinging to me when I'm hot and sweaty. I went with Rusty (another intern) to our "South" pick-up location for those CSA customers to help him hand out bags and see how things are done. It's nothing fancy...just us handing out the bags out behind Caboodles cupcake shop. Rusty bought a dozen cupcakes to take back with him and gave me one. I've seen these gourmet cupcake shops popping up all over in our travels and I must say at $2 a piece, it should be pretty profitable for them. They were way too sweet for me. This shop even has gluten free ones to choose from.

On Thursday we started out the morning by visiting the chickens. There are 24 of them and they are free range chickens, who also share the pasture with the alpacas. They are also heritage breeds which means they come from a long lineage of the old breeds that have been around a long time. Some breeds of heritage animals are also on the endangered species list since so few of them remain. There are groups that are dedicated to preserving heritage breeds of different kinds of animals, which I think is so important to do since many of these breeds are ideally suited for small farmers.
We gathered the eggs and filled the water dispensers. I got a look at the fancy timer that is connected to the little trap door on their coop. There is a string connected to a motor (see picture on the left) so that when the timer goes off it opens the door at a preset time to let the chickens out in the morning and then when you want them inside for the night, it lowers the door. They are $106 on Amazon if you want to set up a curfew for your cats on their kitty door. Pretty neat, eh ?
Thursday night there was a U-Pick tomato night for the CSA members and about 20 people showed up. They could pick all they wanted for free and they did a really great job of picking the whole area, since we hadn't picked it since Tuesday. The ones they didn't get were in the middle of the plants or down low, where it's hard to see them. We still picked 6 totes worth on Friday morning so you can imagine how many we would have had, if they hadn't come the night before.
Friday we spent the morning picking for the farmer's market booth which I worked with Ann, the assistant garden manager. After lunch, we cleaned everything and loaded the tent into the van to get ready for leaving Saturday morning. I met Ann at the office at 6:45 and we loaded all the produce we had prepared and off we went. The farmer's market is held in a parking lot across from the factory that makes Clabber Girl baking powder. I've never heard of it but it's been around for a really long time and is still produced in the plant across the street from where we were. The area where I took this picture of all the old style tins is where there is a little coffee shop and museum type of area. They've restored all the old woodwork and there are tons of displays set up. Too bad I didn't have more time to check it all out. Maybe I can take time another day to go see it. It makes a great setting for people to spend their Saturday morning's at the market and then gather for coffee and a danish in their coffee shop.
We had a busy day at the market. It reminded me of when I was 12 and had my roadside produce stand. You meet the neatest people at places like this. I spent some time talking to the vendor next to us, Jason and his wife Kathy. They have a 100 acre farm where they do grass fed milk. Kathy also makes homemade Kombucha, which is a fizzy, fermented drink. I've tried the store bought ones and didn't care for it at all. Kathy gave me a sample of her Hawaiian Tropic flavor and it was really good. She makes about five different ones and even sells the kit so you can make your own. They sold all sorts of items and I really enjoyed visiting with them. They said that the interns have come out to their farm before for a tour. I hope that we get to go while I am here. I'd be interested to see their operation. They make all sorts of products like cheese, soap and cottage cheese, plus they have an acre planted in vegetables.






At our booth, we sold all sorts of items, including a sunburn cream and bruise salve that Robyn made. We had two different types of okra and I got to cook with that when I came home from the market since Ann gave me a leftover CSA bag and there was a bag given out to each member last week. We also sold soft and hard neck garlic, which I am not familiar with. It's almost time to plant that since it gets planted in the fall and harvested in the spring. The soft neck garlic keeps longer than the hard neck.
We had some Asian pears, which were super sweet and delish. We had tomatillos, cherry tomatoes, jalapeno, bell and anaheim peppers, apples, garlic, onions, purple and green beans, eggplant and beautiful flower bouquets. It was fun and I came home with a large loaf of zucchini bread from a nearby vendor. I had to water the chickens when I got back to White Violet Center, before returning to my room to relax and do some reading. I'm reading Beekeeping for Dummies, which is an interesting book.
Last night some type of disturbance came through and the winds came up. I found a number of tree limbs down in the park this morning
where I walk and this one was pretty big. I'm hoping that no car had a close encounter of the worst kind last night when it came down on the road. The hot spell is moving out and we should have cooler temps this week. We are still off work tomorrow but I'm hoping to catch up with Tracy, the alpaca manager, who's working tomorrow and learn more about their care. Hopefully she'll let me tag along while they feed and care for them. Hope everyone is having a restful holiday weekend with family and friends. This weekend always signifies the end of summer so we need to enjoy the nice weather while it still lasts. The almanac is calling for a cold and snowy winter, here in Indiana. Wouldn't you know that the winter I come here will probably break all sorts of records. Let's hope not !

Hot Hot Hot

The forecast for this week was for temps in the mid 90's and high humidity. So far the weatherman has been right. Yesterday, I learned how to make soil blocks. You take a device that you compact a potting soil mixture into the bottom of so that when you push the plunger it  pushes out five blocks of dirt, ready to plant a seed in. It takes the place of little seed starter pods that you buy. The potting soil has to be just the right consistency....not too wet and not too dry for it to work correctly with the seed. Get it too wet and when it dries, it gets hard as a rock. Too dry and it won't germinate the seed. We started some broccoli and cauliflower plants for the winter CSA program. We did this in the greenhouse where it was REALLY hot. Glad we didn't have to do too much in there.
Yesterday and today we picked tomatoes. They are going crazy in this heat. Today's weight was around 285# and yesterday's was a little less. Wow ! On Thursday the CSA members can come to a "U Pick night" to get as many as they want. After the amount they'll get tomorrow, they may not want any more. We did deliver Roma tomatoes and regular ones to both dining units today so that will make a dent in our massive quantity on hand. In the last two days we've also picked okra (red and the usual green), green beans, cucumbers, ground cherries, apples, berries, parsley and cilantro. We spent the tail end of today cleaning the cilantro...Yuck..I can't stand the smell of that plant. I can't even put my finger on what it smells like to me but it's so strong.
Yesterday while we were in the tomato patch, two male alpacas were fighting like crazy in the pasture near us. One brother was screaming at the other brother, spitting, throwing his neck into him, chasing him, trying to bite him, etc. I don't know what got into them but they must have carried on like this for 15-20 minutes. Ann said that they fight like this a lot. They actually split them up for a while but they both got so mopey that they put them back together again. The other two males in the pasture with them, just kept a wide birth while the show went on as if to say, "There they go again...."
Tomorrow will be the hottest day of the week, with temps of 95 and a heat index of 105. Our day now starts at 7:30 so we can beat the heat a little bit and finish up earlier. Tomorrow is CSA day so the afternoon will be spent indoors packaging the fruits and veggies for pick-up from 4:30 - 5:30. Probably will have the farmers market to work this Saturday, since we didn't go last week. Working out in the bean patch at mid-day made for hot work....someone turned on the spigot running down my back. It was sort a like Chinese water torture of the drippy kind.
We also got a bed ready for fall lettuce. Since lettuce needs cooler temps to germinate, we put shade cloth over the rows, which will get the soil to cool down 8 or so degrees from the surrounding soil. Hopefully the temps will cool off a bit next week to aid in cooling it down to where it needs to be by the time we plant the seed.
I'm starting to formulate what my project will be. All of the interns need to do a project while they are here. Mine is going to be tied to Sisters of Providence' land ethic...(go here to read it http://spsmw.org/sp/about-us/green-projects/land-ethic/ ) and how it relates to the food plots and sustainability here. I hope it will shape up into a usable document for the sisters to have moving forward.
Bree's friend, Andrew is volunteering here with us this week. He is interested in sustainable agriculture and wanted to check out what is done at White Violet Center. It's so nice to see young people, without a background in farming, showing an interest in agriculture. It gives me hope that our food system can be turned around if enough people get involved.
That's all from Indiana. Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their week !

The Start of My Internship - Getting Settled In

We left Chambersburg Sunday morning around 7:30 a.m., headed for Terra Haute, Indiana. It was a much quicker drive than we had anticipated....we arrived around 5:30 p.m. that same day. We're so used to taking longer, driving the motorhome, that driving the car makes much shorter work of a trip like this. Since White Violet Center wasn't expecting me until Tuesday, I shot off an e-mail Sunday night that we had arrived in town and were spending the night at a Day's Inn nearby. It turned out that Monday was a better day for me to arrive since Robyn had several appointments on Tuesday that would have conflicted with getting my orientation done.
I did some paperwork, Robyn gave Linda and I a tour of the facilities. I got my TB test and I'll go back tomorrow afternoon to have it read (it isn't doing anything...it actually disappeared from my arm). My room wasn't ready for me to move into in Owens Hall so they let us stay in one of the guest houses. What a gorgeous house it is and it was made from scrap materials. The hardwood floors are made from the wood in the bottom of tractor trailer floors. Odds and ends pieced together to make a beautiful cottage and it sits near a small lake. The house to the right of us is of straw bale construction so the walls are really thick but it makes for an excellent insulator. There was another cottage to the left of us but I'm not sure of any of the specifics on that one. We had a very pleasant evening in the house.
I spent yesterday afternoon helping to pick tomatoes cleaning dirt from potatoes that had been dug. This morning I started out picking green beans and purple ones too but got called away about 10:30 to go do my room orientation with Sister Martha. Linda and I moved all of my stuff into my room. My room is roughly 10' x 17'. As you might be able to see in the picture I have a TV, twin size bed, desk, big metal armoire with lots of storage space inside, a dresser, a nice recliner and another shelving unit.



Just down the hall is a large kitchen with everything I could possible need to cook with. This kitchen is only for the interns use so since there's three of us here...we each get a shelf in the refrigerator for our food and there is ample cupboard space for dry goods, although for right now I've got my stored in the armoire unit in my room.
There is super fast WiFi here, so it will be easy to keep up with blogging and surfing the internet. The campus is really huge and very beautiful, with lots of walking and meditation paths.
We finished up moving me into my room, around lunchtime. Right after lunch Linda left to start home. This afternoon I picked pears and cleaned tomatoes and potatoes in preparation for CSA pickups tomorrow. There are about 70 members in their CSA program with three locations where they can get their weekly allotment of veggies and fruit. From what everyone says, Wednesdays are crazy days here.


Fresh Basil....some was picked and dried. 



There are two other interns here right now...Bree and Rusty. I went with Bree last night to tend to the alpacas. She splits her week between gardening and the alpacas. We checked how much hay and fresh water they had. Bree hooked up the sprinkler for them so they could cool off. Boy, did they like that ! The dominant alpacas would spit and push the others away. Sometimes one would lay down on top of the sprinkler so the others wouldn't get any of the water. They were really cute to watch and each one really seems to have its own personality.
Everyone is super nice and helpful. Sister Maureen (Sister Mo) is really cool...she's the director of White Violet Center. Linda helped her this morning while she was waiting for my room to be ready (the wait for my room was due to it needing a deep clean and the floor needed to be waxed). Linda got to work with some of the skeins of yarn that had arrived from the processor. They send the fiber to an outside processor to be turned into clean yarn.
Well, you're up to date on my two days here. More later...
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