A sheep-heavy post

Well, it's still just me on the farm with Don. Either these people keep cancelling or he's full of shit. I'm highly suspicious it's the latter... Anyway, he's still really hard to stand, but I'm getting better at dealing with his crazy control issues and wild mood swings. In fact, he was screaming "fuck you" to the lawn mower when I left, like actually addressing it. I wonder if the mower's learned its lesson. HA!

Things have really been put in high gear on the farm. Mya came for a week to help with getting the farm ready for some inspection. I went from not having much to do to working 10-12 hour days for 6 days straight. I'm finally getting to learn actual sustainable agricultural lessons, though. We're planting a taro field, which is actually kinda fun! :) as well as clearing a whole bunch of Guinea Grass, which has thousands of tiny needles on it. My arms are covered with scratches and I've finally learned to wear long sleeves. We're planting coconuts, and papayas, and dealing with animals. I'm learning to use a lot of new tools. I'd never used a pickaxe before. It actually feels kinda Zen when you get into a rhythm. I highly recommend it!

Another sheep gave birth. She was a new mother and wouldn't let her lambs nurse. Mya and I bottle fed them, which was incredibly cute and sad all at once. Neither of them made it, unfortunately. The farm seems to be having bad luck with livestock, the water buffalo Kane also passed away.

It's been a real blessing to have Mya come to the farm. She acts as kind of a buffer to Don. He's much nicer when she's around and she's great company. She's a very kind and genuinely fun person. She comes about once a month from Oahu where she lives to help out on the farm. Don's hoping that she'll move here once the sustainable farm model really gets going. She's coming again on the 23rd for a week, which is the day before Don leaves for China! I'm counting the days..

Still no vehicle but I've managed to get off the farm to some frisbee pickup a couple of times. I just gotta say, God Bless Frisbee. The friendly, welcoming comraderie is truly universal. The people I play with are really nice and a lot of fun. There aren't any bars where we play (Koloa, an old plantation town), so there isn't any hanging out like in Atlanta. I suppose I should bring a cooler next time and really get in good with them. :) I'm really glad to have found it here, otherwise I'm not sure how I would have met people. One of the girls is really sweet and invited me to hangout in the North Shore. She offered to teach me to surf! I'm really looking forward to that! So, anyway, I'll close for now and include a couple pictures. Nothing terribly exciting. Hopefully, I'll have some more interesting things to show sooon!

The new rows of taro by yours truly and Maya

a biiig taro (~ 10 lbs)

lamb twins resting after a bottle feeding

sweepy. :P