Living on Paros

My life on the farm was fantastic. I had my own room overlooking the valley with the ocean not far from that and island appeared, massive and blue on a clear day. i worked 5-6 hours a day, 6 days a week. i cut myself a lot and get cut by others, i gained a few new blisters and a better sense of the type of life i might want to live. Hidden in a valley i learned some really amazing things from Irini, Jim and Hillary. Together we worked on Jim and Irini's dream. To create... well, check it out for yourself www.tothegarden.org. They can tell you better than I. The garden is alive with all manner of life. The sound of bees seems an ever present feature. At night you hear hundreds of bells shaking as goats in the fields move around for a midnight snack. Ant armies so large they make paths though the wheat in compass wheel fashion. Birds with names i couldn't guess at sing and squawk around at a constant rate. There are two dogs, Fred and Charlie and five cats. The cats and i had a rocky start. Lou, just sits on the windowsill looking into the kitchen all day. He never comes in the house, just sits there. He was alright, i could avoid his contact by avoiding the window. Pepe, i never got past the time early in the month when he tried to bite my head, twice from behind, while i sat on the couch. "he has a thing for hair" i was told. So i watched Pepe with a hearty distrust. Pinks was blind as a bat. He came down with something or other and he cant see a thing. He gets out there, i saw him on top of the car once. He has taken to spraying a lot to mark more things by smell, that's a fun dinner time show. He runs into a lot of stuff but hes rock in it. Shorty, the one eyes queen of the kitchen and I, are currently not speaking. she was saved by Hilary years before found eyeless under a tree and had quickly taken over the house. We seemed to have a good arraignment until she betrayed me. I would sort of look the other way when she jumped on the table and she gave me my seat back when i needed it and i gave her a decent combing every so often. But she lashed out and cut me pretty good on the face as i was escorting her off my lap one morning. they aren't deep enough to get a really cool badass face scar unfortunately. but you can certainly still see where her little razor blade claws almost pierced my nose. So Shorty got the cold shoulder too. Now Olive, she was a good cat, one out of five. Olive had been banished to the compost pile, the big three wouldn't let her be in the house.

She was the queen of compost and ruled the lower half of the Garden. She was the cutest and the friendliest of them all. there was 13 ducks whom had decided not to lay eggs, their days were numbered. At the farm i got dirty creating an earthen floor, installing ollas in two test gardens. Compost management and shoveling from one pile to another. I learned some about water catchment and organic gardening and . i whittled most nights after work and just bought a carving knife for 10 bucks in Switzerland, I'm going to whittle my way across Europe. I went camping once, without a tent next to the sea, went swimming in the crystal clear waters of the Aegean and drank the very cheapest wine. It was a great month. I wish them all well and hope i see them again sooner then later. Thanks for everything you three.

 Fred, the thinker, if we were digging a whole and he would stand as close to the flying shovels as he could get and stare at the whole being dug. 14yrs old

the sunset from the porch, i miss it, every night

 Hiking with Hillary and olive, two really down girls

Jim. i wish i had a picture of everyone together but i don't. It was a hard place to say goodbye too, but i am on the road again. I am currently in Switzerland heading for the Netherlands tomorrow. only a week and half behind in my blog. Much love, Jake