We are living in the future!


That just makes blogging one step creepier. Now complete strangers can know what I talk like. I don't really even know how I talk. It's funny how much we don't know about ourselves. I mainly talking about physically--like what my voice sounds like, how my mouth moves when I talk, mannerisms, nervous habits.

I bought the new Alanis Morissette cd and it really disappoints me. Bummer. Bummer in the summer.

Another weekend is already upon me!

I received a package yesterday. It was my first and probably only parcel of mail to receive here at the farm. It was from a special lady in my life* and contained the contacts I left at home, as well as some unexpected goodies. This included a bunch of candy. I opened the package while sitting at the lunch table with all my farm peeps and so passed the gummy worms and tootsie rolls around the table. Candy is not a usual part of our diet here at the farm, where the norm is organic produce, goat milk, black beans, and homemade ice cream, but it was welcome. So thank you, special lady.

Also in the package was a book of useless information, which I thought would be useful in the girls' composting toilet. Haha, not in the toilet, but in the room where the toilet is contained. I crack myself up. And I always enjoy some reading material when . . . during that part of my day.

Today I helped with the Village Store, which is the fair trade store at the farm. There was a bunch of stuff that just came in. It felt like Christmas, opening all the boxes and seeing all the cool stuff fairly traded from around the world. You should come visit me at the farm, if nothing else, to buy something at the store.

(the below picture has nothing to do with the Village Store, aside from the fact that it was taken down the road from it)

While the above picture was loading, I went to the bathroom and this is something I learned:

Polar bear fur is not white, it's clear. Polar bear skin is actually black. Their hair is hollow and acts like fiber optics, directing sunlight to warm their skin.

Fascinating!



*The "special lady in my life" refers to my mother, not my female life partner, which is what I realized that sounded like when reading over this post after its publication. I don't have one of those, as I find myself to be romantically attracted to boys. Just fyi, in case there was any confusion.

I do enjoy this life. Sometimes it's physically grueling, and sometimes I get sunburned, and sometimes I get headbutted by a baby goat, but it's all good. It's enriching. Not always at the time (like with the headbutting), but afterwards, when I'm showered and resting and thinking about it, I appreciate it.

And when I'm playing. Like today, when we had a farewell tie-dye party for Scott.


I appreciated those moments while they were happening. And some of my plain garments of clothing, are now funkdefied. See, I appreciate that.

I'm at my home in Colleyville right now, just waiting for the time to come to go to church. It's been nice being home this weekend, enjoying the air conditioning, movie channels, and meat. Oh yeah, my friends and family. They are cool too. There was a bridal shower in the mix. And good music listening.

I've had some reverse culture shock though. Especially when I went to Target on Friday. There was just so much . . stuff. So much unnecessary stuff to buy to make myself feel cooler. I tried on a couple dresses but looked at the tags that said stuff like made in India," "made in Nicaragua," "made in China," and I just couldn't buy anything. I could just picture the chinese woman, getting paid a dollar a day so I could buy this discounted dress and feel cooler. I don't know if that's really the reality for all companies that offshore outsource, but it's all I can think about.

Bleh. So I just bought a CD. Fiest:

One of the summer live-in volunteers--Scott--is leaving next Wednesday. Sad. I remember going to the airport to pick him up. It was on memorial day. I wrote about it, maybe you remember it too. He wrote a post on the farm's blog that made my heart happy. Click here if you want to read it.

That rain today was wonderful, but the way.

I spent my working time today cleaning the main education building--sweeping and mopping and dusting and stuff. Things that don't usually get done around here. It sounds kind of lame, but I actually felt myself enjoying it. Not because of the actual cleaning itself, but the fact that I was cleaning a building used by so many people, used to accomplish good things, used by people I care about. You know? Also, I got to stay out of the heat for a day.

I'm listening to a lot of M. Ward this summer. Will left a cd of his in my car and I've been digging it. Here's one of my fav songs on it. It's called Chinese Translation.



I have new poll. Che-che-che check, check it out.

So weekend duty is done. And I had yesterday off because of it. I find days off to be a lot of pressure, because I feel like I should to do something that I wouldn't normally do, but I have a lot of free time anyway so there's not a lot I can't normally do. So I just did things I normally do. Like read and play guitar. I also bought some fabric, because my new friend and roommate Melyssa is going to teach me how to make a wrap skirt. It's going to be reversible. I'm stoked.

Today I spend a lot of time moving hay around and ended up looking like a person of a different ethic identity because I got so dirty by all the hay-dusties.


When it's windy, the doors in the dorm slam themselves shut a lot. It's doing it right now. It sounds like everyone is angry.

These people challenge me. Like, they really care about things. Like the state of the starving world or the evils of high-fructose corn syrup or the conservation of resources or the importance of local agriculture or fair trade or helping each other. Stuff like that.

Who can name the song that is my post title first?

I have weekend duty at the farm this weekend. Each weekend two of us farmers are to stay at the farm all weekend and attend to animals and such that need attending to. Basically, keeping things alive--milking the goats (a lot), feeding the goats, rabbits, and chickens, collecting eggs, watering some plants--things like that. So that's me this weekend.

This morning was kind of frustrating. One of the chores was to let the dry goats (as in the goats we don't milk) out to pasture and feed them, but as soon as I walked in the gate carrying my bucket of feed, all fifteen of them (including one donkey--Lollita) swarmed at me and about six got out. So I had to chase them down. It was no bueno. They ran away from me, and only by coaxing them, one-by-one, with a bucket of feed could I lure them back in. It was an ordeal.

But I'm ok. I think I'm free until this afternoon for the second round of milking. Should be good times.

And apparently an unwritten duty of the weekend people is to write in the farm's blog. That's a lot of pressure. I'll be thinking about what I want to write, that is if my fellow weekender doesn't do it himself.

That reminds me of that Saturday morning cartoon The Weekenders. Do you remember them? I liked that show. I liked Saturday mornings. Cereal and cartoons. What else does a kid need?

Ok. Let's try this picture thing again. These first few are from my cooking adventure on Friday.




These next ones are from Saturday lunch and hang out time



And this is from ninja time today


Phew. Ok. That's enough.

It has been a really good weekend.

Here are a few picks from the farm. I don't feel like captioning them, so you can just make up something.





The photos are taking a while to upload, so I'll guess I'll talk a little more about my weekend specifically. There was Guatemalan food involved, and swimming, and Felicity, and sleeping in, and pie, and seeing friends I haven't seen since school ended, and coffee, and church, and Panera, and National Geographic, and a new roommate name Melyssa with a "y" who has a cool tattoo, and ice cream, and Lake Waco at sunset, and moments I want to bottle in a jar to remember for the rest of my life.

Not in that order.

Ok. I'm giving up. I'll show you more pictures later.

One of the things I was most anxious about moving onto the farm wass that I knew at some point, I would have to cook lunch for everybody--everybody being 20-30 people. Well, my turn came up today. And I'm still alive! I owe much to my new friend Molly, who helped me every step of the way. Ok, I pretty much just did what she told me to do. We made fried rice loaded with goodness and somosas and a tomato salad. So from 9 to 12:30 we cooked. I then rang the bell to signify lunch wass ready, which is a fun thing to do. So much power. Everyone stops what they are doing and walks down to eat.

I finally got my food and sat down and looked around at the people sitting and eating around me and thought, "Wow. It worked. Everyone is eating. No one is going to make a PBJ Sandwich. They're eating was we made and are satisfied."

Did I mention I never cook?

I probably will have to again sometime. I'll worry about it when it happens.

And I can sleep in tomorrow! Even though I wasn't working outside today because of the cooking, I am really tired. I did have to wake up at 6:30 to milk goats, so maybe that contributes something.

Today definitely felt like summer, and I'm not just talking about the sun and the heat. Both of those were involved in the day (but thankfully today I wore sunscreen) but there was also swimming in a pond. It was a sizable pond, though not quite a lake. I don't really know where the line is between pond and lake. I think it has to do more with depth than expanse. Either way, a dip in this body of water was very refreshing and very summer. It will be happening again soon. We did see one and a half snakes though. I say half, because one was just a baby. The other one was gliding along the surface of the water. It looked pretty cool, but was not a comforting sight.

And this is from page 248 of the aforementioned novel:

As well as touching on the sensitive topic of religion, Athena had gone further: she had talked about diet, a subject of national interest, more important even than wars, strikes, or natural disasters. We may not all believe in God, but we all want to get thin.

Ouch, America. That hurts. Oh wait, this book is set in England. Really--ouch, humanity.


The human mind is an amazing thing. I was thinking this while typing that quote. I was looking at symbols (letters) with my eyes that form into thoughts (words) that flowed into my mind and back out through my fingertips, which knew which buttons to press to transcribe those symbols to form those ideas again on this document. Wild!

There are a few new folks on the farm now. That's fun. Two people moved in yesterday. One on the previous Thursday. One on the Tuesday before that. One on the Friday before that. One on the Thursday before that. That last one was me. I'm practically a veteran. So if you didn't catch all of that, there are six people who have moved in within the past two weeks.

Today my foot got trampled on by goats. It's ok; it'll just be a bruise. And I furthered my sunburn. Now, every section of my body is a different color. My arms and neck are pink. My torso is white. My legs are tannish. Oh yes, and my face is somewhere in between my arms and my legs (not physically, I'm referring to its color. Physically, my face is above both my arms and my legs. Don't worry. Everything is in order). I think it is a pleasant combination.

Sorry I'm being weird.

So I checked my sitemeter and apparently someone from Kansas reads my blog? Is that true? You can give me an anonymous holler of that is you.

I will leave you with a bit from page 198 of the novel I am reading right now by Paulo Coelho called The Witch of Portobello

Anyone who believes they have failed will always fail. Anyone who has decided that they cannot behave any differently will be destroyed by routine. Anyone who has decided to block all changes will be transformed into dust. Cursed be those who do not dance and prevent others from dancing!

The World Hunger Farm also has bees, and yesterday I got to experience them. There are eight or so beehives and I and another checked on them yesterday, to make sure they were on schedule in honey-producing and what not.

I got to wear a stylish hat like this fellow here, except I wasn't as crazy as him and I also had gloves that went up to my elbows and a long sleeved shirt. It was a little terrifying at first, hundreds of bees buzzing around me. Bees are pretty smart, and if they really want to sting you, they will sting you. Two flew up my pants' leg and stung me in my leg. I am alive to tell the tale. I ended up putting tape over my pants at about the ankle so no one else could squeeze through. It looked hot.


And now tis the weekend and I'm super excited about sleep. I said earlier that I'm getting into naps, but it's been hard for me. I keep trying to nap, and I'm tired, but I just lay there. Like today. It's annoying.

Life is hard.

I have a wonderful sunburn now. It is especially brilliant on a strip of skin on my back right above where my pants ended. My tank top didn't always cover that little area whilst I was bent over, working in the garden this afternoon . It was probably the hardest work I've done since I've been here. Four and a half hours of rolling around in the mud, basically. I still dig it though.

Haha. Dig. I'm punny.

And apparently the majority of my audience would like to be my pillow. That is very sweet of you three people. I'm not saying that it tied with being a garden gnome, because at least two of the three garden gnome votes were me from a different computer. Possibly all three, I don't remember.

You dig?

"When will i realize that the skin I'm in, hey, it isn't mine? . . .though I know I can't hid and oh how hard I try, but this is just the shape I'm in."

That's from a Blind Melon song that's playing on my iTunes. Interpret it as you will.

I experienced my first farm rain. It's better than normal rain. Farm rain has more meaning than normal rain. And there is much more mud. But there is much less care about being muddy. I've been caring less about my appearance and cleanliness in general, which is a lot of fun. Here is make up free, dirty, farm Laura, leaning against her farm wall while sitting on her farm bed, typing on her farm laptop.


I officially milked goats for the first time today. I say "officially" because I milked a goat Sunday too, but today was the first time I was scheduled to do so and I milked goats. As in two. There were eight to be milked, but since I'm new and slow, I milked two in the time it took my milking partner to milk six. Milking makes ones fingers rather tired. I will have stronger hands after this summer. And forearms.

There's another new guy we picked up at the Waco airport yesterday, which I had never been to before (I am having so many adventures). We made a sign to great him. I think we kind of freaked him out.

Now the rain is over and the clouds are racing past my window

You can expect a lot of posts from me this summer. I feel like I will have a lot of free time. And I am becoming ok with that. It used to make me really restless when I didn't have anything to do for extended periods of time. Just sitting around for more than an hour or so just didn't satisfy. Now I'm good with it. I can just sit and read and read and read or journal or nap or what have you. That was most of my yesterday, actually. I finished The Unbearable Lightness of Being, which is exciting. It feels good to finish a book, you know? Next.

So in anticipation of lots of sitting around, I bought the 2007 edition of The Best American Nonrequired Reading and a book by Paulo Coelho called The Witch of Portobello. Those will keep be occupied for a bit.

I'm looking forward to embarking on my first week of working at the farm--to being in it. I only did a little work on Thursday and then on Friday, and haven't gotten my hands dirty since then. I want to.

In the mean time, here is a picture from Whitney Travis . . . er . .Rushing's wedding last Saturday. Wow, that was just a week ago!

I've known those girls for most of my coherent life. I'm glad that I still do. They are good ones.

I've come to value and enjoy sleep a lot more. This summer I've decided to get into naps. I'll be waking up everyday at 7, at the latest, and working, so a nap in the afternoons sounds like a nice idea. I had a short one yesterday and awoke with the imprint of my quilt on my face. I've never really liked naps before, so this is a big deal for me.

So I have lived through two nights here. Yesterday I harvested a lot of broccoli. I also witnessed a goat giving birth! That was really interesting. And I saw one of them take its first steps. Life is amazing.

Another new girl has moved in. Her name is Anna and also goes to Baylor. We are both sitting in the common area right now and just had breakfast. She made bread yesterday and it is really good. I just had some toasted.

During the weekends the only people who have to work are those who have weekend duty. So I slept in some this morning and will probably go into town today and bother my roommates.

My computer is almost out of battery and I don't feel like going to get my charger, so I'll leave it at that.

I'm here now and I had no reason to be so nervous. This is probably one of the most chill places in the world, with really nice people.

So today I got here (here being the World Hunger Farm, if you're just now tuning in) at two and moved into the dorm. My bed is really close to the ground. I have my own little corner ("In my own little corner in my own little chair . . .") Right now I'm the only person in my room, but soon two more girls will be joining me. It'll be a party. Another girl lives in an adjoining room. So I moved in, and then was at a loss of what to do (most of the farm work occurs in the first half of the day). So I gave myself a little tour aka I wandered around (meandered, if you will). I said hi to the goats and cows and rabbits; I checked out what was growing in the garden, etc (I'm being way too detailed).

Anywho, eventually I spotted some people working in the garden. I walked up and asked if I could help. So then I assisted them in transplanting eggplants. I really love working with my hands. Blisters are already starting to form. Sweet.

My evening ended with getting ice cream with "the girls." One of them is leaving in the morning, so I joined in on their farewell activities. They are neat people and I'm excited to be here.

It feels so right to be here

Baa. Today I go there. Really? Today? Within the hour I will be there. That's cool. I'm cool. I'm all packed, and I'm cool.

Daytrotter is a cool website. So cool that they have become "of interest" to you (on the right). Che-che-che-check out, wha-wha-wha-what's it all about.

I've noticed that being nervous is kind of like a drug. My perception is a bit distorted and I'm saying weird things. I felt like this times ten before I played at Common Grounds, and before that before I played at Buon Giorno. And people keep trying to talk to me and that is just not a good idea. I hold not responsibility for what I may say. And I still have 30 minutes to stew in this!

I am an all powerful Amazon warrior
not just some sniveling girl
so no matter what I think I need
I can't possibly
have a need
in this world

Thank you Ani Difranco. Me neither.