Wordless Wednesday

 US Coast Guard Station, Woods Hole, Mass.

strawberry picking

I managed to get some extra work at a local organic farm for the next week or so since it's getting to be the busy season, especially for strawberries. I spent half the first day weeding onions along with about 8 other girls around my age and since all we had to do was sit along the rows and loosen the soil around the plants to pull weeds, there was plenty of time to chat. Most of them had worked at the farm last year, several grew up in Puerto Rico, some studied anthropology like me, and all are travelers. One of the more permanent workers is from Nepal and she knows Tibetan as well. We had plenty to talk about and they were very enjoyable to work with!

The farm is quite large for an organic farm, and the farm stand has a steady flow of customers throughout the day. They've got produce as well as pork and chicken eggs. There is a leanto shed for the tractors, which looks like any other farm building, except when you go to the outside, the entire roof is solar panel-- not something I ever saw in Kansas! Still, I feel like I'm at home in Kansas when the dust is flying. I suppose anywhere the natural ground vegetation is removed will be as dusty as a desert.

Today our task was to spread organic compost over three rows in preparation for beet planting. The compost came from another organic farm in New York. I suppose this one does not produce enough compost of this type, which was made from stall shavings, horse and cow manure, among other things. (Actually, I found the tine-end half of a fork that was accidentally in there.)

Then it was more strawberry picking! I feel like I've seen about every shape and size of strawberry possible, and it's like a treasure hunt trying to find the best ones. We pile them into trays with 8 berry baskets each. Others with brown or squishy spots go in the cull box, and those are available for people interested in making preserves. Even though it's tough work, it's been fascinating to me simply observing the process of organic growing.

another trip to the city

The Northeast had its first heat wave come through last week. I thought I was melting. My house does not have air conditioning, and opening windows only helped slightly. I also took a few days to go to New York City, where it was just as hot. My friend's apartment did not have air conditioning either, but since I had a car, we drove the measly mile to Home Depot to purchase a window unit. It seems everyone in New York buys these, sells these, or carries them on to their next apartment. Home Depot had pallets upon pallets of them all stacked up at the front! If you're car-less in NYC though, it can't be too easy to get one home from the store.

It seems there's never enough time to see everything on my NYC list, but I am getting to know the area from simply walking.

 Despite the clouds, it was very hot and humid, and I wanted nothing more than to jump in that water!

The clouds eventually starting clearing, and we made a beeline for Bryant Park for its abundance of shade trees, but not before being asked for help by a woman trying to figure out how to get a bicycle from the new Citi Bike stations. I really like this idea of the bike sharing-rental system; it is clearly already popular and easy to use, especially for visitors. I decided to tough it out and keep walking, though.

The park was close to our next destination: The Great Gatsby movie. I loved it! I've always loved the book, and I had been waiting since last year to finally see the movie. I didn't realize the theater I chose was in Times Square, and so $18.50 a ticket. Oops. The showtime we originally planned for what sold out so while we waited for the next showing, we posed for photos (like everyone else) with the mounted police officer, who was just as indifferent as the horse, although the horse appreciated a face rub!

It was all such fun! I am hoping for many more trips to this city!