Thursday 12 June 2014

That time Talia left ….. and taught a bunch of Americans how to play baseball - I mean Rounders!

Once upon a time I left the city to face my fears.  My fears about Poirot style murderers living in the woods, my fears about working in the elements whether rain or sun, my fears about leaving my dresses and home comforts for rough hands, insects that terrify me and mosquito bites, my fears that I wasn’t strong enough, fast enough, brave enough and my fears of being lonely, missing my familyand friends, bezzers, having no group, leaving Josh….

Sitting in the airport here I am leaving again. Though I am obviously so excited to go back to the arms of my bezzers, I am going home and facing new fears.  Fears about sitting in an office all day, fears about staying vegan without support and sticking to my values in the city. Fears about loving my clothes again and remembering how to wear mascara. Fears about how I will wake up without goats, without getting my hands in the soil, without the lake, without being part of the food I eat, without my beloved farm friends who have become a part of me?

Well enough of me pouring out my emotions to the internet – this is what the farm has done to me! On to the Rounders bit…
There are some solar panels on the farm that power the main office. There is a little bed - of I think peppers? – down there. My work schedule which I get every Friday said there was to be a solar panel dedication with Tsuf (Janna and Arthur’s baby) on Sunday which I of course didn’t question. Why wouldn’t there be a solar panel dedication with Tsuf named as the leader? Well after a bit of an emotional afternoon of packing where I mostly just sat surrounded by all my things and moved bits of scattered collage pieces around the floor, trying to work out how I would get my 5 ft collage into my suitcase, I rode down there on my bike.  There all my friends stood, under the huge maple tree and they ushered me, the last person to arrive, into a circle where we all had to huddle up and do a bit of singing and swaying – also a usual activity.  All of a sudden they parted and there it was – a picnic table laid to the nines with Twinings English Breakfast Tea, Vegan Spinach Filo Pastry bites, Sourdough and a whole china tea set.  After some odd squealing for about ten minutes where I kept trying to say something but high pitched type yelps kept coming out instead… things started to come together.
I remembered that time during lunch where Meredith had asked which kind of tea did I drink at home? And I went on an hour kind of soliloquy where I explained about all different types of tea, posh tea vs builders tea, the difference between tea-cups and mugs etc. I mean I went ON and she didn’t stop me! 
I remembered that time I was hand weeding next to Janna for the afternoon when she asked me what kind of parties I liked. It was like nothing could stop me talking, I described Dad’s Moroccan party, Mum’s 1920’s party, the Alice in Wonderland party, various tea parties etc. I mean I thought she wanted ideas to throw a party – maybe for Arthur? So I just kept throwing out the ideas till it sounded like the Chain family were some kind of party fiends!

After I calmed down enough to speak, we drank lots of tea, ate a bunch and then sat in a circle where I got more and more embarrassed as everyone went round, gave me a special stone and said - like - really, really nice things to me.  Can’t talk about that bit too much – still a bit embarrassed in a good way - I am English afterall…
We then played Rounders – a game which we had had so much chat about on the field. They even found the right bat and set up 'posts'. Is it like Baseball? NO OBVIOUSLY! This was proven by an epic game which I filmed a bit below... – though much of it was just me shouting rules which were probably a bit wrong... The tea party was beyond brilliant and I think it was the first time Rounder’s had ever been played at Adamah.

A bit more leaving…
I threw another leaving party Tuesday night (maybe we are party fiends) which of course was also fabulous with a loud/exciting game of salad bowl, some gin and tonic and vegan cake where everyone wrote me nice messages which I read on the cab on the way here because I couldn’t wait for the plane….
I stayed last night at Marisa and Eitan and crashed the second week of their marriage – thanks for the welcome guys!
This morning, though I was half an hour late having wondered around Union Square with all my baggage and my goldfish sense of direction I finally met up with Danny and Yemi at the Coffee Shop and had brunch - a great send off! 

Time to go - they are calling my flight!

A note to my dearest Adamah friends - it has been an honor to know you all, you have taught me so much and shown me there is another way to live that I can align with my values. Though I go home to face new things, you have made me brave.
Please come and visit! 



Remember the picture of building this? Look at those Tomatoes

          Tea party pics!






ROUNDERS








Sunday 8 June 2014

That time Talia chased a goat wearing a tutu and went Contra Dancing in Cornwall....

Goat Roadtrip

So this Rabbi goes up to Meredith and says "how do you usually take the goats around?" Rabbi! Did it look like we usually transport goats when we rocked up with 6 goats in a - I want to call it a van but at most it was a car with a kind of large boot - with a hole in it covered up with a bit of wire so the goats didn't climb out and an electric fence we couldn't plug in to create a two hour makeshift pen at a synagogue?

At one point, Meredith turned to the 25 kids in this tiny pen with 6 goats and said in a whisper in all seriousness "sshhhh, don't tell the goats it isn't plugged in!"
Child: "can they understand?!"
Meredith: "I don't know - maybe?!" Not telling the goats about the electric fence was all we were going on that they wouldn't run for the nearest tasty bush - across the highway or into someone's garden.

To be honest, the road trip couldn't have gone smoother considering how unpredictable goats are. You just never know what their next move might be! I mean if you are taking 6 genius goats for a 2 hour drive where the first stop is to set up a pen at a synagogue for kids to pet goats while we simultaneously run a cheese workshop, then pack up and drive them up to their final destination, summer camp, then you need to be ready for unpredictability.  Luckily all the mishaps happened before we left the farm (the goats got into the 50 pound bag of grain before we left because they are Derren Brown Goats, 4 bags of 50lb grain don't stack - they fall onto the person already squished in a tiny back seat - me, and a few more minor things).

It took many hours and there were many crazy moments - especially when you turn around in the car and see Baclava the Goat staring back at you wide eyed - but we were victorious!

The Goat Parade - the next day!

On the festival of Shavuot, the harvest festival, at the Isabella Freedman Centre, the goats get dressed up - of course - in tutus, event staff shirts, bandanas etc, for their big day and walk at the front of a parade of people wearing white, singing, carrying a chupah and lots of offerings of first fruits, vegetables, grains from the farm.
Goats' favourite thing in the whole word is grass, weeds, other green things on the ground so when given the option between following even their most beloved human, Meredith, into a crowd of jubilant, singing people or the woods..... it isn't really a choice.
The songs of praise coming from the mouths of the children of Israel stop as they hold up their offerings. They wait for the holy goat herder to open the gates for the goats and to lead them up the mountain (tiny hill) in a parade of joy and song to the entrance of the feasting tent.

Mama and Baby Goats (who are now more like teenage goats) are let out of the barnyard and ... run straight to the nearest greens. There is now a mad rush where some staff run after them, some grab their collars and manage to start walking, half following, half trying to get in front of the crowd of Israelites who have started on their way, while others have to stay behind chasing the rest of the goats around the woods.  I managed to grab my favourite goat, Talia, and we get in front of the crowd though Talia has to stop every 5 feet to eat everything along the way. We walk the circuit though the crowd who have now fallen a while behind and have a few minutes of peaceful walking before heading back to the barnyard and trying to get all the goats back in.


And this was just a little bit of it! All in all, an exhausting but amazing and emotional few goat days of mama and baby separations and general goat madness.

Also I went Contra Dancing - because I am a farmer in New England - in Cornwall!



Me hilling potatoes with a hoe


goats getting out of the car 


eating dinner next to our car and little goat pen when all the kids had gone inside


there wasn't a lot of room....


the VICTORIOUS TEAM


The goats - happy as Larry at summer camp



Saturday Brunch under a maple tree


Cornwall!


The town hall in Cornwall


Us Contra Dancers



Talia the goat


Potato plants