7:00 wake up came extra early this morning, as I had difficulty sleeping due to my inability to tame the wild beast that is my stomach. After opening the goose gates and being honked at, I was on my up to the big house, anxious to wake up. After the rest of our crew regained consciousness, it was time to focus, as we did our morning yoga routine. After the meditation, it was time to switch beds. After an emotional parting ways between myself and the “casa micro”, it was time to get to work… after a gorgeous breakfast and chore doing.

We met Angel (the farm manager) in the greenhouse where we began making a scientific soil that would give our plants the best chance of being fully alive. After conquering our fear of urine and some intense sifting of compost, we had a large amount of healthy growing soil. We then were taught the art of pumping out small cubes with a seed hole in the top from a small hand held mold of the desired cube.

After that piece of fun, we planted the seeds, covered them in compost and gave them water.

We then parted ways with Angel as we went to the spring water pipe to further discuss want we want to get our of our time here. After the talk, the four of us stayed behind to talk about what specifically we wanted to modify or capitalize on our schedule.At this point it was 2:00 and lunch was served. We had beautiful enchiladas, beans, and lentil soup as we went over a six-some what our near future would hold. After a productive talk, we were off to do our post-lunch chores which is instinctively followed by a nap. Following the nap, we met with T. Paula to discuss issues with the worlds agricultural systems, and their inefficiencies. We broke into groups and thought about some solutions to various issues. We then took a couple of minutes to round up a dozen chickens that had escaped, which was followed by the rest of the lecture. After that, we got our boots back on and went to see and work first-hand on sustainable, earth, friendly crop yielding and planting methods. After a quick taste of all our veggies, we were taught how to transplant young plants into our garden.

This strong group effort was brought to a gradual stop as the sun was no longer prominent. We began collecting tools, watering plants, and stargazed as we walked back from the garden to greet our new/old neighbors Pati and Hector. After an amicable conversation, we walked back to the big house where we are right now; preparing a fruitful feast of leftovers. After all, it is only fair that a great day is met by a great dinner!

Peace, Sam

P.S. After dinner we went through a power-point, “cacaphobia”, showing the unnatural path that human nature has adapted too, where we avoid dealing with our waste. It went into detail on the lengths we go to (i.e. the amount of effort we put in and water/material we waste) to avoid using our “waste”, instead of seeing its intended use – as a crucial part of human self-sustainability.