My birthday has come and gone. Another year! What will 23 be like? When I woke up last Friday morning there was this cake, a dart board and a day full of wonderful adventure waiting for me. Thank you to everyone who made it special! (side note - these flowers are a product of my first dumpster-diving escapade. Can't get much better than that!)

I got to meet Jimmy Carter. He attends/preaches at a church in Plains, GA which is only about 9 miles from the farm. He spoke a little about the involvement he still has in trying to maintain peace internationally which was really inspiring. It was cool to see how lively and involved someone can still be at that age.

This is a really awesome family that has been staying on the farm for the past few weeks. They live in the bus pictured below. They are on an educational tour of the United States; teaching everything from self defense, to justice and peace activism, to permaculture. They are really leaving a positive impression.

This is my work mentor, Brendan. (Those are pig ears right before they were thrown in a pot to be apart of homemade dog food)

The last of the dog food. Look close, you can see the cooked ears!

We picked up some tile that was donated by a friend of Koinonia. It was great. We not only filled up the flat-bed but also the back of another truck. Next step, sort and organize it back at the farm!

This guy was hanging out in the pile of tile we picked up. Mother Earth sure is creative.

We had a lovely afternoon of snow awhile back. Best snowball fight ever! Ida (the little one coming after me there in the front) was ruthless when it came to packing that snow. What a ton of laughter we all enjoyed!

Adam made snow-cream. I'd never heard of this. Basically it is fresh snow, sugar, and milk. So yummy! (And once it gets a little old it makes for a great make-shift root beer float)

Other things that have been going on include:

- Emily and I picked a wheelbarrow full of turnips. Half of them we diced and froze; the other half are being made into turnip sauerkraut.

- Have been pruning the grapevines like crazy! Got to get them done before it starts to really warm up.

- Continue to move the sheep/cows throughout the farm to trim the clover and grass.

- Am drinking a TON of coffee

- Started taking piano lessons. (Well, have had one.. and we'll see how the rest go)

- Have been playing a lot of Spades late at night. Good game for sure.

- Propagated fig trees.

- Best of all, am watching seeds I planted in the greenhouse awhile back start to sprout!

All in all, things are going great. Some days I'm pretty tired; both physically and emotionally. I'd have to say I'm learning a lot. Both about myself AND about farming. Can't ask for much more. Thanks for your support.

Would love to hear from you.

Hope all is well.