kilkenny's - i think she looked like a moe.

As Molly Malaney would say "I'm a typical mid-western girl." As I would say "What the hell is up with roundabouts?" I am used to 4-way stops. They make sense to me. You get there first, you go. You wait your turn but you are at worst 3 cars away from moving. Someone please explain to me what is fair about waiting at a yield while an uber-dominant string of cars coming from the highway not on your side cruise for minutes, literally minutes. Gracias a dios. That was just an intro, tonight actually was really nice. I've been really wanting to meet people. And while living where I live is beautiful, it has proven more of a challenge than the middle of the jungle to meet folks. Ash, the guy who more or less got me this job recommended tonight that I go to a bar called Kilkenny's. Two months in Grand Rapids with very few social options and an often desperate need to escape social situations has gotten me well acquainted with going to the bar alone. Tonight, I set out again sola. This turned out great though. What I thought was a South Park reference turned out to be an outstanding Irish hole in the wall with chill decor, a stellar jukebox and friendly people. I ended up sitting in between two people that work there (on their "night off") and got a few drinks bought for me because they wanted to make sure the new girl in town felt welcome. I may be going bowling with them next Saturday which may end up being the most random thing I have done so far in NH. The point of the picture though, before I met anyone I sat watching this lady who was originally sitting next to me at the bar. After finishing her drink she walked behind the bar and with more grace and class than I have seen in a while she got ready for her shift. Each move she made, rolling towels and sticking them in specific spots, preparing the bar and sinks, all the while keeping up with genuinely friendly conversation. Everything she did was done with careful thought and consideration. It made me think about Karma Yoga, something that was explained to me in Costa Rica. It basically means putting all your enegery into whatever you are doing not because you want to get something out of it, but because you recognize that you are alive just this moment and the present is all you have. She radiated with that light. I am pretty sure that it is becuase of her good vibes right when I sat down that I had such a great night.

a snipet of life at gb

Glen Brook is totally a family community. With the exception of Dan and I - all the employees live with their families in private farmhouses throughout the property. Their kids are always coming in and out of our main house and their are dogs running around. I am really starting to feel like this is home (for now anyway) and it's easy to be comfortable here. Tonight, Grant (the facilities manager/fix-it-man), his wife Jennifer and their son Jae invited us over for dinner. This is the second time we've eaten with a family here and it's so nice to be in a real living room and feel so welcome sitting around the fire and having a beer (or bourbon). Reverse to today, we finally got that warm weather you were all enjoying in GR and Dan and I spent a gorgeous morning/afternoon outside and continued hanging the maple sugar lines with the help of our neighbor John. Him and his dad "sugar" (yes, it can be a verb) and they produce 6% of NH's maple syrup! He really helped us out and taught us a lot. We are actually tapping the trees soon and I am excited to see everything in action. Not much else happened today, loved on our two new baby bunnies, learned how to sharpen loppers and chainsaws and a little more moving beds and shelves to get ready for winter camp. I also assembled the campers into their Winter Olympic Teams for the grand finale activity of camp which will be a riot I'm sure. Here are some pics, rather random but who would read a blog without pics?

Numero Uno - Mt. Monadnock, beautiful and looming just in the distance beckoning me to go hike it. Better I wait till all that snow is gone though I reckon.

Numero Dos - My little room. It's only half of it but there is this wack post (huge) right in the middle making a good shot impossible, I use the other side for yoga. Now that I think about it, this post is actually a chimney from downstairs.

Numero Tres - My moon boots keeping me warm as I work outside. Those boots and long johns are two things I never leave the house without wearing. I should have taken a pic of my whole body to show how I wasn't wearing a coat and how nice it was out today. Whoops, afterthought.

last night was a full moon

That has nothing to do with this post, I just love paying attention to lunar cycles - and seeing how they relate to my life over the past year has become a new love for me. Not too much new info to report here and sadly no new relevant pics. We at GB are getting ready for winter camp, a welcome invasion of youth and energy that starts next week. It also means a whole slew of new staff gets here this weekend which is also awesome and I am very much looking forward to meeting new people. Unrelated but fun, we are hosting an awesome Literary and Arts festival in September and today I spent hours on the phone contacting local schools, colleges and universities to create relationships for promotion and sponsorship. Sitting inside and being warm for a long time was a nice little break from the cold. I (unlike you GR peeps) am not enjoying 50-60 degree warmth in the middle of winter :) Since I haven't much else to say I am going to leave you with a poem that gives me chills every time I read it...

REQUIEM

the crucified planet earth
should it find a voice
and a sense of irony,
might well say
of our abuse of it
"forgive them, father,
they know not what they do."

the irony would be
that we know what
we are doing.

when the last living thing
has dies on account of us,
how poetic it would be
if Earth would say,
in a voice rising up
perhaps
from the floor
of the grand canyon
"it is done."
people did not like it here.

Kurt Vonnegut

This, my friends, is exactly why I want to save the world. And why I am doing what I am doing. Our world is amazing and there is so much and so many people I love. I can only hope that everyone in this amazing world of ours is trying their best to follow their hearts and be alive. Cause that is what this world needs, people who are alive, truly alive and living to make a difference.

Smooches.

Tie Dye Twins and Jumanji

Yesterday Dan and I learned how to make pie crust from scratch with Willow. And, if I do say so myself the quiche we made for our staff lunch turned out delicious. We also made a raw beet salad and my moms oat choc chip cookies (which some of you may know are the best thing ever). Much more fun that though and quite hilarious, training yesterday meant learning how to drive a John Deer mini tractor with a snow blower on it to clear the ice skating rink down at the pond. I have to admit, you automatically feel pretty hardcore with that machine under your butt. Especially since this tractor has chains on the tires cause it's so hilly here. Booyah. To my surprise later in the day I also learned how to drive the real plow truck "Big Green." I could barely see over the hood and truly needed to sit on a phonebook but it was BADASS gunning through snow like it ain't no thang. I also took my minibus driving road test and since it ended crash free I guess I am now allowed to transport children :)

Today, we had a morning yoga class and it was a lovely way to start the weekend. After that and breakfast I took the minivan to Keene (small town 5 miles away) where there was an ice carving festival. Keene is where the filmed Jumanji (remember Parish Shoes??) The town is really cute (Traverse Cityesque) and has everything I could want including a brewery and a venue for live music. It was a lot of fun being outside and walking around, heatwave today, a scorching 29 degrees. Now, I'm sitting on my bed and drinking tea - blogging for all you fine people. Done now though, about to go hike/snowshoe to a beaver damn that I hear is really beautiful. xoxo. Pics in order #1 Parish shoes, remember? #2 Keene,NH ice festival #3 path down to the lake #4 Sugar Maple Tree tap lines #5 The "Sugar House" #6 The skating rink I cleared #7 Me and Big Green #8 The John Deer #9 Me and my tasty crust #10 roomie Dan looking domestic

Let's see what happens this time...

Hello Everyone - I am going to try really hard to keep this thing alive. Lucky for all you who care to hear from me, there isn't a lot else for me to do here at night till the weather warms up and I think there is a good chance this time might be the time I really do blog. Ha! We'll see. Just to get everyone caught up I am working for the next ten months at a Bio-dynamic farm and Waldorf School camp called Glen Brook in Southwestern NH. The website is www.glenbrook.org in case you want to check it out. I was hired as the female land steward for this season and my job is awesome. Primarily, I am helping farm a half acre of land (which feeds this community) bio-dynamically (google it - too long to explain in the first post) with two other amazing people. Dan, my roommate and the male land steward and Willow, an amazing woman whom I long to be like when I am her age. The other component of my job is working with kids grades 3-12th leading adventure programming (canoeing, kayaking, hiking, camping, ropes courses) and leading them in activities in the garden and teaching them how to cook food that is harvested locally :) Yes, it is a dream come true. To boot, I am living in the beautiful foothills of Mt. Monadnock and wake up each morning looking out my window due east to a wicked sunrise. I feel like this could be paradise US style (aside from the fact that it's winter). This week I have been training and have learned how to care for the farms sheep and chickens, taken many hikes to learn the trails, learned about native plants and trees, cooked in the amazing kitchen and today got to snowshoe around and hang tap lines on Sugar Maple trees for our rapidly approaching maple sugaring weekend festival. I am going to be making Maple Syrup up the wazoo and basically living in the "sugar house." I can't wait! Hang in there peeps, more (and pics of what I am talking about) to come....until then, here are a few of the property.