-"tickling" the microbasil. (Essentially, rubbing away the excess sawdust or soil, allowing the tiny basil shoots to sprout up.) I mostly love its name and wonder if I even heard a giggle or two.
-Visiting the local honey producers club, made up mostly of 80 or 90 year old men. I received a presentation about producing queen bees (a super advanced process of isolating and transplanting eggs--timing is key!) and many invitations to come visit and check out the local hives.
-attempting to make dandelion wine. I walked about 5 miles, searching for dandelion flowers but came out 1 1/2 quarts short. Not the season for "weed" wine. Maybe next spring when these yellow pests are out full bloom. I will have to settle with learning how to make cheap, homemade grape wine with Chad and Mo.
-The peaceful feeling of the sun on my skin and the quiet around me, as I work outside. Stretches of silence and solitude, with a physical, embodied task to do, allows me to just "be." I have felt a growing sense of peace and contentment, a slowing down of my racing mind and the ability to just be present in that moment. This I love.
-Watching a mob of goats, geese and pigs quarrel over the table scraps that are thrown into their pasture. My sentiments go to Piggy and Porkchop who hang back, grunting and waiting for what is left. They are no match for the hissing, bossy geese that stand guard over discarded radish stems and corn husks. I was surprised to note that a goose, with its gangly neck and short legs, are so aggressive towards the goats, honking and biting animals twice their size (with horns!). In the midst of this tussle, little baby goats grab at a scrap here and there, only to be repeatedly shoved aside and, finally, to give up and settle on a patch of clover, rather than stay in the fight. The phrase "survival of the fittest" (and loudest) now has a new, more concrete meaning connected to it.
-Eating pickled radishes and home made sunflower seed bread.
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