From Grease Gun to Green Thumb
Let me start by saying, until this point in my life, I´ve never had any real gardening experience. Sure, I´ve mowed and raked the yard. Perhaps a better way to put it is I´ve been assigned those tasks. In actuality (especially in my younger years) I pushed the lawn mower around, smushing down the grass sloppily until my frustrated father told me I was doing an unacceptable job and took over for me, giving me a more benign job like digging a hole. ¨But I was almost done!¨I would argue. ¨Grab a shovel¨would come the reply.
I feel like I was pretty competent at my old bike shop job. I worked with precise instruments of adjustment. Tools that were specific to the job down to the millimeter. Working conditions were spotless (well, some of the time) and precision was goal number one. All of this changed the second we stepped onto our farm job. After nearly two weeks worth of work, I have used a large stick to capture spine covered vines, an old wire basket on an old painters pole modified to pick oranges, and bed sheets to transport material to the compost. Necessity is, in fact, the mother of substitution. Back to the basics, indeed. We never know what we´re waking up to. ¨Morning, folks! Let´s go plant some corn!¨ could just as easily be replaced by, ¨It´s time to clean out the solar dryer and get some new fruit in there!¨
Our responsibilities are as colorful as the fruits we pick each day. Off the top of my head, crops on the farm include coffee, chocolate, passion fruit, mango, oranges, bananas, avocado, basil, oregano, green beans, black beans, lettuce, cabbage, spinach, tomato, peppers, corn, sweet potatoes, lemons, limes, thyme, watermelon, etc, etc, etc. If it grows from the ground, chances are it grows on this farm. We´re having a great time. Mom, dad, you would be proud. Do you remember that time I convinced some of the neighbor kids to help me do yard work, because then I could play with them sooner? Well I am happy to report that I type this with dirt under my finger nails, back sore from a days worth of weeding. Hopefully this post finds readers well, perhaps fresh from their own garden or other summer day pursuit. As always, we´ve been thinking about home and our friends and family are never far from our thoughts.
Love,
Garrison (and Elena)
