Variety of expeditions

Whelp, as Meriweather Lewis would say, I have "skarcily" updated my journal!! Not that anyone is dying to read it but if I had a president to report to I'd be in trouble.

Given my intro, I should mention that I am currently enjoying the book Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose, the very detailed account of the Lewis & Clark Expedition through "Louisiana" (aka the entire US from W of the Mississippi to E of the Rockie Mountains) and on to the Pacific. It's really fascinating!! One thing I find particularly glorious is the impressive (and occasionally acknowledged) contribution that women made to the survival of the expedition (Sacajawea!!). Women, and Sacajawea in particular, were often the reason that the expedition achieved peace (or "piece" as Lewis would spell it) provisions, or guidance upon encounters with the numerous tribes along the route to the Northwest. Mostly this was due in part to Sacajawea's knowledge of the Shoshone & Mandan/Hidatsa languages, and her ability to provide translation. She was also skilled at finding food and saved a number of important items (including records that the expedition had been keeping for over 2 years) from a capsized boat. She's so mysterious.... It's really a shame to not know more about her.

Anyway, not too much to report. The past few weeks have been what the MCC coins as "commuter weeks" or, as the term implies, weeks where I do not have to spend the night at a project site, but can stay at home.

Jack and I (and my co-worker Carolyn) have taken advantage of this fun by baking up a lot of delicious treats including mocha brownies, smoothies, pecan pie muffins (!), and chocolate chip cookies whilst the oven is available to us. Jack, the culinary artist that he is, also made an interesting Indian-inspired potato pancake, fried and stuffed with spices, veggies, and beef (the original meat called for was obviously not beef, it was lamb, but we couldn't find any at the grocery).

The pancakes were really beautiful with their salad garnish (red onions, tomatoes, yogurt sauce, etc.)

Next week I will also try to provide photos of the organic farm I've been volunteering with since February, Terrapin. I'm hoping to join their CSA though it might not be worth it since I can buy produce for free (oxymoron) with EBT (thanks Montana!), but cannot use EBT to purchase my membership in the CSA. Darn Socialist CSA can't recognize (and thus take advantage of!) socialism when it stares it in the face! ;) Poo. O well. Judy, the woman that owns and pretty much singlehandedly runs Terrapin, is a really nice middle aged woman who originated from Buffalo New York. She's knowledgable and a patient and kind communicator. I have learned a lot from her but sadly for her, my memory of plants evades me. She often treats my volunteership as work trade and pays me in produce. Early in the season she gave me potatoes and onions from the cellar from last year's crop. But recently I came home with a bucket full of onion grass (the tops taken from a huge variety of onions including walla walla, red, scallion, and a billion others). We had to trim the tops to encourage hardiness, I guess. I was pretty pleased with the outcome :) *chomp chomp chomp*

Judy has a lot of strong political opinions which, with the exception of the topic of vaccination, we tend to agree on. Which means I get to blast NPR while transplanting little plants, or building hoop houses, or pea fences, or what have you.

She will be employing what she calls "apprentices" during the summer. I'm excited to meet some fresh faces outside of the MCC. Sometimes socializing exclusively with the people that you work with can really challenge variety. It's fun to expand your horizons in terms of the types of friends that you make, and I've found that to be difficult since graduating!

I haven't decided what I would like to gain from working on the farm other than enjoying the social experience, and the obvious free organic produce. I'm trying to learn as much as I can but haven't decided exactly toward what end. I think it would be really fascinating to go into a career related to agricultural policy and have definitely started to receive some grassrootes opinions on the subject (pun intended, HA!) from Judy.

I'll let you know.

Okay, well, speaking of food, we are currently out. Off to the ol box store.