Silly Mascots

While visiting my sister in Ohio, we went to a Wheeling Nailers hockey game. I had never really watched a hockey game before, and it was a lot of fun!!! The mascots were also pretty hilarious.

Sliding along the ice

Rough housing for the kiddies

Hitching a ride on the goal

In these days leading up to Christmas, take a deep breath, and remember that the best things in life aren't things!

Foggy weather and a great read

I read Abraham Verghese's novel Cutting For Stone this weekend. It was fantastic. Engrossing. I literally wouldn't put it down, which put my parents a little on edge as we were hosting several visitors up at the Bit of Earth. READ THIS BOOK.

"Ghosh sighed. 'I hope one day you see this as clearly as I did in Kerchele. The key to your happiness is to own your slippers, own who you are, own how you look, own your family, own the talents you have, and own the ones you don't. If you keep saying your slippers aren't yours, then you'll die searching, you'll die bitter, always feeling you were promised more. Not only our actions, but also our omissions, become our destiny."

Young Farmers Conference... AND MORE!!!

Oh my, so many adventures I haven't blogged in over a week cause I've been so overwhelmed by all the awesome stuff I've been doing! First was last Thursday and Friday- the Young Farmers Conference at Stone Barns!!! An older crowd than myself (the 25-35 range...) which was fun because I got to meet a bunch of people who are a few years ahead of me in the game. The first morning I was feeling a little overwhelmed- EVERYONE seemed to know EVERYONE! But then I found Dina, who runs The Hickories, where I interned my senior year of high school. We had even signed up for the same first workshop. Relief! She introduced me to a bunch of people and it was fun to catch up with her.

Young Farmers socializing in the hay barn!

I went to a bunch of awesome workshops, ranging from specialty crop production to farm-to-school initiatives. It got me so pumped about all the possibilities of farming! Got lots of good resources and ideas!

The greenhouse is GREEN!

The greenhouse was in full swing, with greens and chard and all sorts of green things! Beautiful to see!

Packing up christmas trees with Dad over the weekend at the Bit of Earth

Then on to Vermont to cut down a bunch of balsams. Good hard work!

Adventures!

The first, into this complete gem of a book! Pretty much the same caliber as Jane Austen, only with FARMERS. I know, right!?!? I hardly put this book down until I finished it. I almost succumbed to car sickness on the drive home from Vermont, but it was WORTH IT! My mom's friends gave this to us for Christmas, and delivered it to us this weekend because they knew we would buy it for ourselves ASAP if they didn't!

Read more about "The Dirty Life" here.

The next adventure was to IKEA! Found some measuring cups for baking adventures back at school, some linen fabrics, a 49 cent dishtowel, and some 99 cent simple wrapping paper. All in all, I spent less than $15, for a whole bundle of stuff that will become craftiness, bakiness, and wrappingness!

Updates from Thanksgiving and a weekend in Vermont!

Thanksgiving was lovely! Got to see family, eat delicious food, and see the cranberry bog! My sister and I came up with our own rendition of "I'm on a Boat"... "I'm on a Bog!" I think it will be the next hit SNL digital short... anyone know how to contact Andy Samberg?

Then up to Vermont for a weekend of relaxing and fun... went to Montpelier with Marm to see a fiber arts exhibit, ate the "garlique chic" crepe at The Skinny Pancake, went antiquing, and experienced some SNOW!

Then Sunday me and the "parental units" went back to Montpelier to catch the 1:30 showing of Harry Potter! Even better the second time.

Home again, home again

After a day of traveling and dealing with crazed people trying to get home for Thanksgiving, I am finally at home! It is quiet. Which is really very nice after being on a college campus for the last 3 months. Eating good food (already I've had really good cheddar, roasted root veggies, and delicious carrot soup!)

More fun times to come!!!

To beat the Friday blahhhhhs

1) Go see Harry Potter at 12:01 (check)

2) Go to your last three classes of the term and celebrate with a "Yahoooo!" over the phone with your mom (check)

3) Make new friends (check)

4) Realize that life is great even if you don't absolutely ace your finals (still working on it...)

5) Listen to this awesome song by Pearl and the Beard!

This is what finals week looks like...

I decided to take a page out of Color Me Katie's book and add some color to my laptop...

translucent stickynotes to the rescue!!!

Please note the sadness of how little of my history paper has been written.

At least I wrote an awesome outline, AND did all my econ notes for next week.

Sorry the pictures are dim, but my roommate is still sleeping!!!

(Despite it being 1:28 in the afternoon. Wish I was capable of that hardcoreness of sleepery!)

Feelin' Farming

Today in Soil Science we were wrapping up the term, aka why is soil important, what can we do to steward soils better, whether or not we had hope for humanity... ya know, the normal topics for an Environmental Studies class!

We discussed an article we read about organic vs. conventional farming, and my professor asked "Is anyone planning on being a farmer?"

I, of course, proudly raised my hand. No one else did. In a class of the 11 people who actually cared enough to take a class about soil science, I am the only one who plans on farming. Just makes me kinda sad that at a liberal arts school, which in my opinion is a good place for a generation of thoughtful, sustainable farmers to come from, I am the only one I know who is 100% dedicated to being a farmer. I know that it's not exactly a lucrative profession, and it's hard to ask a bunch of 18-22 year olds to make a definitive decision about what to do with their life, but COME ONE PEOPLE!!!

And it doesn't help that I love dirt so much that yesterday I felt the distinct urge to lay down on the ground and just let its energy pour into me, or hug a tree to make myself less stressed. But it was icky and rainy and that probably wouldn't have been a good idea, plus the fact that it's prime prospective student season and I don't want to scare off any high schoolers!!!

Mostly I am just having one of those why-can't-I-just-quit-school-and-farm kinda days. Yah know?

I think I can, I think I can

I understand what all those lines mean!!!

One week left of classes. 1 test, 2 papers, 2 final exams, one lab report, one presentation.

I think I can, I think I can!!!

Thoreau

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.

In my life, I love Knox more!

Awesome, awesome weekend.

Friday: lazy all afternoon, then Off-Knox, which is an awesome open mic held off campus. Great poetry, great music, great time. I performed a Damien Rice song with a friend, and my a capella group performer "In My Life" by the Beatles. Lotsa fun!

Saturday: Sleeping in! For the first Saturday of the year, for volleyball season is over! Saw the theater department's production of "Medea", very good!

Sunday: Harvested chard and kale at the community garden with our campus group Food For Thought, and then went to the professor who runs the garden's house to cook it all up for lunch! It was delicious and so much fun and I got to hang out with some pretty fantastic people.

Forgot to bring my camera, though, so no lovely pictures of chard to be had!

Two more weeks of craziness and then HOME for six weeks, in which I will

-be going to the Young Farmers Conference at Stone Barns

-having a lovely thanksgiving with family

-visiting my sister at Olney Friends School in Ohio

-sledding, cutting down trees, and generally having a blast at the Bit of Earth

-AND MUCH MUCH MORE! Stay tuned!

The Dust Bowl

I have been slaving over a 10-15 page research paper for soil science, a draft of which is due Friday. SUCCESS! I at least have 10-11ish pages... can't necessarily vouch for the quality! I'm writing about the American Dust Bowl and it's affects on soil conservation in the US... aka not as much as it should have had. Although there were some New Deal efforts to restore the lands, which lost an estimated 480 tons of topsoil per acre, these lands soon became recultivated or turned into pasturelands. Sad times, right?

The real irony is that small farms are blamed for the majority of wind erosion during the Dust Bowl. They were smaller and therefore less likely to invest in preventative measures like windbreaks and fallow strips. These days, small farms are the ones making the intentional decision to make the sustainable choices.

Dia De Los Muertos

Those who are dead are not dead/

They're just living in my head

-Coldplay 42

Maturity

"In a sense, what we face is the test of a simple proposition: does age bring with it maturity? Let's define maturity this way: as the understanding that you're not the most important thing in the world. It's hard for anyone succored by a consumer culture to mature. But it's maturity we need, maturity which must undergird any sustainable world. Only mature people might utter the two words our civilization most desperately needs to hear: 'That's enough.'"

-Bill McKibben

"Growing Old Gracefully", The Boston Globe Magazine, May 10th, 1998

From The Bill McKibben Reader

Ginkgo

Way back when, my family bought an itty bitty ginkgo tree.

We named him Gary.

Here on campus there a few HUGE ginkgo trees.

Gary is still pretty small, but someday, maybe he'll get to be that big!

These trees always make me think of my brother and sisters.

As the crazy prairie winds blow leaves around, some ginkgo leaves made their way across campus to my doorstep...

Autumn colors and an appreciation for good friends...

A few weeks ago I got a message on facebook from one of my former summer camp counselors. She is pretty great- hilarious, compassionate, and wonderfully talented. She is one of the people who inspired me to take up guitar. She wrote to a bunch of us campers asking us to support her music. She wants to get in the studio to do some professional recording. For a few dollars she promised to send us a cd of her music, so I sent her some moolah in the mail and THIS came yesterday. I've been listening to the 13 tracks on this demo all day. SO GREAT. I hope she goes places.

You can listen to her music here.

Also during this WINDY day I've been thinking about autumn colors. We're beginning to move from oranges and yellows to browns and grays as the leaves all get blown away. I've been drinking out of my favorite mug- a gift from our family friend Jamie Utt.

He is also wonderful, inspiring people all over the country to think about difficult issues with confidence. Read his blog here and visit his professional website here.

There are so many good people and the world, and I am so happy that a good number of them are in my life!

Also...

This video has made a stressful week SO much better. Especially the break-dancing tractor.

Seems to me change is in the air...

...and someone is getting what they deserve.

Prairie!

Out on the prairie for a Soil Science field trip! We took soil cores all over the place!

Fun Soil Facts!

A few fun soil facts from a book I'm reading for Soil Science (Tales From the Underground by David W. Wolfe):

- We may have evolved from clay! Basically, clays have a crystalline structure that could have evolved into DNA.

- The biomass underground probably exceeds that of the biomass above ground. Go microorganisms!!!

- Most chemical reactions take place in seconds. Nitrogen fixation takes 1.2 seconds.

- In the United States, more than 90% of fertilizer nitrogen needs in most cropping systems are met by man-made nitrogen fertilizer.

15 Artists in 15 Minutes

My mom had this on her blog:

"making the rounds on the internet

is a fun "quiz" asking us to name our

15 favorite artists in 15 minutes or less.

in other words, no researching/agonizing...

just a quick, from the gut list."

So here are mine:

Andy Goldsworthy

Nikki McClure

Glada Grodon

The artists over at Bread and Puppet

Kysa Johnson

Sabra Field

Kseniya Simonova

(okay I cheated and looked that one up)

Kara Walker

Leonardo Da Vinci

Vermeer

Jackson Pollack

Andy Warhol

Jane Davila

Elin Waterston

My Marmie!

TADA!

Food from other people's parents

This last week was parent's weekend, so I was fed by a lot of my friends' parents! It was nice!

Kate's mom cooking us delicious chicken!!!

Amazing lemon bars from Moira's mom!

Snail Mail Blitz!

I absolutely LOVE snail mail. Maybe it's all those years of summer camp with only letters as communication to the "real world", but there is something really fun about getting a physical piece of love from an awesome person in your life. So far this year I have gotten some awesome snail mail, including some ribbon with veggies on it and articles about beets and goats from family members.

I had a lot of things to send, so yesterday I sent out a whole bundle of fun stuff!

Most of which was in homemade recycled envelopes!

In my mailbox yesterday was this awesome card from my Grandma!

Boy does she know me well :)

Young Farmers Conference!

Me and my coworker/farmers this summer

I'm signed up for the Stone Barns Young Farmers Conference!!! I am waaaay beyond pumped for this. So many awesome workshops... it makes me so excited to get started on all the work I have to do to make my dreams of agrarian bliss come true! To find out more and register, go HERE!

Learn... or not.

(From Path of Life Garden)

In preparation for my Soil Science midterm...

I am thinking about summer and remembering fondly,

as some of my very favorite coworkers got together at Fall Harvest Weekend and I was here...

I may or may not be insanely jealous :P

I prefer the "learn" option, I suppose.

Although there's no law that says you have to pass soil science to play in dirt.

10/10/10

Today is 10/10/10, or Global Work Day For Climate Change! Find out more at 350.org, and look for a work party near you!

BUSY!

Oh man. What a week it has been. Just constantly on the go, between practice, class, homework, clubs, tutoring... it sure can be overwhelming, and I find myself forgetting what actually matters. That missing a 5 point question on a test is NOT very important at all in the grand scheme of things, that I'm not going to remember how many serves I missed in practice today next week, etc etc etc. What I WILL remember is that I got an amazing opportunity to go to college, play a sport, make awesome friends... even if some days I think wistfully of my life to be- planting veggies in the dirt whose cation exchange capacity I am trying desperately to understand, sitting on the porch playing guitar and drinking lemonade, breathing in good Vermont air and not air with Chicago smog drift.

Today in Soil Science we watched the majority of dirt! The Movie, which had all my favorite all-stars in it- Vandana Shiva, Paul Stamets, Wangari Maathai, and a whole host of others who re-inspired me today. I can't wait to really get my hands dirty in life, but until then, I can continue to learn and take advantage of the opportunities I have here! Like trips to local farms, helping in the community garden.... and soon growing lettuce in my new/old mini greenhouse!

What a weekend!

Friday:

An awesome open mic

Playing card games with friends (egyptian ratscrew is so fun!)

Saturday:

Slept in (!!!)

No game (for once, a free day!!!)

Beautiful bike ride with my news friends from bike club

Hanging out with my best friend who I hardly get to see

Seeing The Social Network in celebration of a friends birthday

Going to a party for about 10 minutes and then realizing,

in unison with 3 other friends,

that we'd rather just be hanging out and eating pizza instead.

Sunday:

Slept in AGAIN (!!!!!)

delish brunch

homework, cleaning my room finally

study party!!!

I really really really like all the people in my life, and how a random text from a summer coworker ("Sneak attack love!!!"), a facebook message from someone you've never spoken to saying "I hope this isn't creepy, but I realllly loved your performance friday", or a friend sharing their popcorn with you can automatically make your world just a little brighter!

"For Inquiring Minds"

My Microeconomics textbook has little boxes every so often called "For Inquiring Minds". Generally my mind is not too inquiring when it comes to Microeconomics, so I tend to skip over them and onto things I really need to know. But yesterday this one caught my attention: "Where Have All The Farmers Gone?".

"What percentage of Americans live on farms? Sad to say, the U.S. government no longer publishes that number. In 1991 the official percentage was 1.9, but in that year the government decided it was no longer a meaningful indicator of the sixe of the agricultural sector because a large proportion of those who live on farms actually make their living doing something else. But in the days of the Founding Fathers, the great majority of Americans lived on farms. As recently as the 1940's, one American in six-or approximately 17%- still did."

It then goes on to talk about elasticities, and about how "the share of total U.S. income earned by farmers has fallen". The second reason it gives is that technology causes food prices to fall- "progress in farming is good for consumers but bad for farmers."

"In short, the U.S. farm sector has been a victim of success- the U.S. economy's success as a whole (which reduces the importance of spending on food) and its own success in increasing yields."

(Microeconomics, 2nd Edition, Krugman and Wells, page 157)

So basically farming is a crap profession if you want to get rich. Good thing I'm not in it for the money.

Ben and Jerry's, at it again!

I love me some Ben and Jerry's Ice cream. Even if they sold out a little. Last week they held a protest of genetically engineered salmon currently being examined by the FDA in front of the white house, using their flavor "Something's Fishy" (really just Phish Food) to try to get the word out. You can read about it here at Grist. I wish every protest used tasty ice cream as bait!

Grist also has this article, outlining what President Obama has (and perhaps more importantly, hasn't) done for the environment. Very interesting. Not sure exactly how I feel about it, considering the fact that the author brings in other aspects of the Obama Administration somewhat unnecessarily. But it's true, we've heard very little from our President on environmental issues. You'd think in this economic climate it's about time to take chances on some new industries to revitalize. If we continue to be passive about the green sector, we will (and already ARE!) be surpassed by other countries.

This year's view!

This year's view is a huge improvement from last year!

This tree is so pretty, and I love to hear its leaves in the prairie breeze!

I'm excited to see it through all the seasons, because as I recall, it is going to have beautiful flowers in the spring.

Early in the term, and I'm already a little overwhelmed.

But at least I'm doing new (and old) things that I love to do,

and a little refocusing can only make them better.

Remembering to breathe, smile, and just have fun!

Love Book

Remember all those little books I made over the summer?

Well, I used one to make this little book of love.

I can open it on rough days and remember that no matter how I'm feeling, there are people who love me and things in my life that I love to do!

I put in some written appreciations from over the summer. We have a box that staff put little notes of appreciation in during the week, and then we read them out loud at staff meetings. They always keep me going!

I also added some pictures of things I love like plants, giraffes (yay tall creatures of the world!), and cows. Make your own love book, it's easy and you'll be surprised how much it can brighten your day!

Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front

I may or may not have an obsession with Wendell Berry...

But it is completely justified!!!

Today I was skimming through my copy of American Earth, and re-discovered "Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front". Excellent piece of writing! One part that stood out to me was this:

So, friends, every day do something

that won't compute. Love the Lord.

Love the world. Work for nothing.

Take all that you have and be poor.

Love someone who does not deserve it.

That last bit is especially important. Love someone who does not deserve it. Perhaps through loving that person, they can learn to deserve it. One very important thing I have learned in college is that not everyone was loved as much as me. I have family and friends who have always loved and supported me, and I always took that for granted. So many young people have not been given the love they deserve and are worse off for it. So my goal for this year is to love people who don't deserve it. Instead of writing them off as obnoxious or lazy, give them a little love! And perhaps they will realize a little more of their self-worth and pass it on to someone else.

Food Matters!

Last night I went to a meeting at The Center to plan a "protest" of a Tea Party Rally being held in Galesburg on Thursday. We, a group of community members and Knox students, are going to go and have thoughtful dialogue with the people at the rally. And some people might dress as members of the "Mad" Tea Party from Alice in Wonderland....

It made me feel empowered to be involved in the community outside the "Knox Bubble". But the evening only got better! It turns out they show movies at The Center most Sunday nights, and since I already had my homework done, I decided to stay. Good choice!!! The movie was Food Matters, and awesome documentary about nutrition and the "sickness" industry. Good things that often get pushed aside. The trailer makes it seem more sinister than necessary, but the movie is definitely worth a watch. I often think of "alternative healing" as a bunch of hippie kooks, but the people in this movie are just talking about eating well and eating what our bodies really want and need to stay healthy and heal themselves. It all makes a lot of sense, but as they say, health isn't as profitable as sickness.

Afterwards I was talking with a few people, including the president of our eco-club on campus. We met a Galesburg resident who has some training in bike repair and would love to teach some Knox students! So now we're working on coming up with a meeting time to start a bike repair group! Good stuff.

Enough activism, food politics, and bike talk to get me through the week!

Beginnings and Middles and Ends

Beginnings:

-New classes! Microeconomics, Latin American History, and Soil Science!

-New school year! Lots of new faces on campus. Lots of new opportunities to get involved in activities!

-New job! I'm starting my campus job as a spanish tutor next week.
Middles:

-Worked in the community garden one of my professors started last spring. I started helping out when we were seeding and planting. Now things are going crazy! Muddy shoes= good day!

-I'm about halfway through my college volleyball career (considering I won't be playing next year since I'll hopefully be abroad!), and we are doing great!

-Still developing the friendships I started last year. I appreciate my friends so much. When I'm completely exhausted after practice or a game, they are there for me when I get home!

Ends:

-Yesterday on the bus I finished Goat Song by Brad Kessler. So fantastic. I recommend it most highly! Here are a few little tidbits:

"Our fresh cheese was simply made from clean raw milk. As such, it couldn't be bought or sold anywhere in the United States. If we sold it we'd be put in jail. It was as if we were making not cheese, but moonshine."

"But the forest was a book too. I entered with the goats on page one and lost myself leaf by leaf. Out path climbed through a text of birch and beech. I learned my landscape twig by twig."

-And alas, I suppose, the end of summer. It was good while it lasted!!!

Econ minor?!

Today I introduce to you: Gretta the Economics minor!!!

How did this happen, you might ask... how did a Latin American Studies minor make such a decision. Well, it turns out I will only have to take one more class than I was intending to in order to complete the minor. Plus, econ is very useful, especially since I intend to run my own business. Perhaps I will have the time and energy to do a double minor later, but for now at least, I intend to declare myself and Environmental Studies major and an Economics minor.

Wowza!

First root veggies of the year!!!

Last year, in an effort to make my new college friends understand my life goals (to become an organic farmer, locavore, etc) I made roast root veggies. And of course, everyone loved them! So making root veggies has become a tradition in my group of friends. Tonight we all came together after a summer apart to cook in the creepy basement "kitchen" of our freshman dorm. Beets from Emelye's garden in Naperville, potatoes from the community garden we volunteer at, supplemented by lesser veggies from the chain grocery store. Good friends, good food, good to be back.

Goats goats goats!

Right now I am reading Goat Song by Brad Kessler, which I am borrowing from one of my awesome summer coworkers. It is a fantastic book about raising dairy goats. The writing is great! Here's a little excerpt:

"Today again this lovely wind; the meadows plunge like waves. Trees toss their heads, the pasture turns to swells. This wind that comes midsummer. I don't know where it rises from or where it goes. We don't have enough words in English for out winds. Boreas, zephyr, Santa Ana, Squamish, Chinook. We need one here in New England. A local wind god. He comes in this time of year, an ocean-faring breeze that brings hammered blue skies, clear mornings, fringed gentians, yellow hollyhocks, a constant seething in the dark. He makes these days seem so impermanent. A rock we cling to for a little while before we've scraped into the deep."

Good stuff!!!

Exhuastion

6+ hours of practice a day, team activities, not enough sleep (my bed creaks every time I move and wakes me up), soreness!!! Ah, the joys of volleyball preseason!!! It makes me slow to post about other cool things I'm doing, which include reading a fantastic book about goats, visiting Carl Sandburg's birthplace, and decorating my sophomore year dorm room! So soon, when I don't have 2-a-day practices, I will get around to it!

New silkscreens!

The drawings

Painted onto the screen with screen drawing fluid

After screen filler and a wash

The final product! On fabric.

I designed these two silkscreens to be used on shirts; the "soldier of the soil" for the front and the hands holding dirt for the back. They came out a little funky (bad choice to make silkscreens when it's hot and humid...) but I like that they look weather-beaten. Maybe if I get around to an etsy shop one of these days, we can all join the ranks of the land army by wearing this as part of our uniform, along with overalls, carhartts, or crapped up jeans. I'm almost done with a Farmerette one...

(Sorry for the poor picture quality, the weather has been ever so grey and crummy!)