Tea with Bashir

Today I felt like a real farmer.

We began the day weeding and thinning four long rows of carrots--strange to have to remove so many growing carrots so that the whole rest of the bed can thrive; we then moved on to planting a bed of lettuce, which felt like a nice juxtaposition to the "plantacide" we'd been committing! Just then, it began to rain in earnest for the first time since I arrived here some 10 days ago.

While a few people stayed in the greenhouse to work, two other folks and I headed out the new field in our rain gear to plant eggplant and serrano peppers. In a little over an hour, we planted about 130 plants in the pouring rain. At a certain point of wetness, you're just wet, and more rain can't make you wetter. We hit that point about 15 minutes in, and it honestly felt great. By the end, my jeans were caked from top to bottom in mud (not sure quite how to clean them!), and my hands were just mud pies. I felt like a kid again, only this time, I was SUPPOSED to play in the mud! We got the work done, and returned to camp to dry out and wolf down some lunch.

This afternoon we mostly spent in the greenhouse "potting up" tiny basil and tomato plants which were started about a month ago from seed and were ready to be put into slightly larger containers. Soon, they, too, will be ready for the field. We also started some more tomatoes and squash from seed in tiny little plastic holders, and placed them under a heat light to accelerate their growth. Finally, I harvested some lettuce, garlic scapes, green onions, sugar snap peas, and strawberries for Bashir, as promised. So we really experienced the whole planting cycle today, from seed to small plant, from medium plant to the ground, from thinning the ground to harvest-- a pretty awesome day!

The day ended with a trip first to the bike shop and then to Bashir's house-- so hard to believe that that was just 6 days ago! He greeted me warmly; we exchanged bikes and I gave him the produce; we shared some tea and warm wishes, and I was on my way. I had decided not to tell him about the blown tire; my friends here suggested I could tell him about the tune-up, but it just never came up, and I didn't want to boast about it. Curious what y'all think about that decision...

A good, damp day... Supposed to be dry tomorrow. I'm off to figure out out to wash my clothes...

Lailah tov!