* the meat chicken died on friday; she overheated in the greenhouse. soupy and i buried her under a tree in the garden.
* last week we had a few adventures with the water system… it really is so cool that our water is off-grid (so to speak) and we are the only human users of this small watershed. we get to see the effects of our actions pretty quickly. last week we woke up one morning to a totally empty ag(ricultural water) tank—took most of the morning to isolate and repair the leak that caused it. and our potable tank—usually there are two potable tanks in use, but one is empty at the moment while we prepare to install a new u.v. filter to comply with someone-or-other’s regulations—was dropping two hundred gallons a day despite lots of rain and plenty of flow into the sand filter. after a few days’ observation and detective work, it seems like the sand filter is clogging more easily than it should be. we are harrowing it (running our fingers over its’ surface to break up the stuff clinging to it) daily, and the sand may be due for replacement.
* friday’s dinner: black-eyed pea and white bean soup, tasty buttery whole wheat biscuits, and the most amazing salad! kyle and kalyn gathered wild greens (plus nasturtium and borage flowers) for a truly s.l.o.w. food salad—sustainable, local, organic, wild, and prepared with love. they even made a little key so we knew what we were eating.
(cutting the thistles off of milk thistle.)
* i like being here and i like the people and i like the process of telling my stories to new people and learning other people’s stories. i am so excited that for six months, all of this will not be the exception, but the rule.