SEATTLE AT LAST!

"We're taught to buy things we don't need, to impress people who don't give a shit"

I'll discuss this quote in a little bit, because this post is going to be a jumble of events and experiences running all the way back to September when Ali came to visit me in Alaska. There is so much to catch you up on... including leaving Calypso, traveling down to Seattle, and beginning my new job as an AmeriCorps volunteer. These monumental events in my life have included no shortage of adventures and new experiences. In fact it may just have been the most action packed, at times stressful, emotional roller coaster I've ever been on.

September in Alaska was beautiful (I can't believe how far away it seems now). The dry summer lasted almost until it snowed. Ali's visit was full of crystal clear sunny days. We seized our opportunity to explore the back trails of Calypso, berry pick with Addie, Elsie, Kara and Judy, listen to some local music... and explore Denali National Park!! I could write a whole blog entry about our visit to Denali (otherwise known as Mt. McKinley or "the great one"). But there is so much more to fill you all in on that I will only write a little.

The day we went into the park was one of the last sunny days in central AK. The sun was out and played beautifully off of the mountain's vivid peaks and crevices. Each time we caught a glimpse of Denali I could only imagine the wonder that inspired so many native legends about the mountain before white men claimed it during the gold rush. It is well known that Denali is an elusive mountain to view. Our bus driver explained that only 30% of visitors to the park ever get to see her. Ali and I were beyond lucky; we had clear views of her ALL DAY! My favorite part of the trip into the park (and Ali might say differently) was our hike up the ridge at Eielson Visitor Center. After eating our amazing homemade peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, with carrots picked strait from the farm, we started our assent. It was only about a mile hike, but on a basically vertical trail. It was steep! But so worth the pain. At the top we could see, what felt like, clear across the park into the snow capped mountains. We were on top of the world. Seeing Denali was awing and inspiring. There are so few opportunities to see a place so natural, wild and beautiful these days and it was so special to be able to share it with one of the people I care most about.

Just a little under a month after Ali's visit I left Calypso Farm and Alaska... the catalyst event that caused the roller coaster I have been traveling on.

It is not that I am not enjoying Seattle. I have put a lot of thought into my conflicting feelings over the past few weeks, and this is what I've come up with. Calypso Farm taught me a lot about life and what it means to BE alive. For one, Calypso was an amazing community that seemed more true to the "real world" then anywhere else I have ever been. They live their lives for every moment, whether that be tending to the plants, taking the time to make meals from scratch, going on hiking, canoing or rock climbing adventures, and most importantly actually connecting to people. My experience there changed my whole perspective on what the "real world" is. When I left the farm I saw myself as returning to everyone else's life. It's a very odd feeling to REALLY SEE all of the shortcuts that people access everyday... me included. To try and rebel against that is tough, and it has been a constant battle for me to try and keep some of the habits I formed on the farm from disappearing. I also learned a lot of things about myself.
My moral is that you can't jump into a six month internship on a remote organic farm without it affecting you deeply ;). I never thought in April when I arrived in Fairbanks that I would be continuing to work with agriculture and food. Yet here I am in Seattle, a place where you can garden year round, continuing to teach kids about food and gardens. This brings me to the quote at the top of this entry. We are taught to live in a world where material goods are the meaning of life. Where money rules who we are, what we eat and who we are allowed to be friends with. But is that really life? and is this really the way we should be living??

Calypso was a step removed from this "normalcy." Money didn't seem to matter as much because we were living off of the garden, and people traded for many other things. At farmers markets with other vendors it was not uncommon to trade some vegetables for a tart, tomatoes or some sort of sauce. We also traded with a yoga instructor who came to the farm every week to teach in exchange for vegetables. Anywhere else we would've just paid for these things without giving any consideration to exchanging our own talents for payment.

Well. that's my tangent. And I think with that said, I am going to have to leave the rest of this story for my next post. I'm looking forward to writing you all about my ferry ride to Seattle and getting settled here over the past three months!

I have also uploaded new pictures to my Picasa album! Take a look!!!

The State Fair

"Who are you here for... my boss Tom"

This blog entry is a little (or a lot) late in coming. I meant to write it directly after the end of the fair... but a bunch of other things have gotten in the way!

about.... a month ago the much anticipated State Fair started in Fairbanks. The fair was one of the events that I had heard about since I arrived at Calypso Farm. This year we were in charge of the Agricultural Hall-so there was a lot of preparation in the days leading up to it... and really during it as well. Those ten days I spent more time in Fairbanks then I have spent the entire time I have been here (about five months).

The state fair in Fairbanks is like a huge culmination of the year. One person I talked to described it as Christmas... without the cold and presents. It's just one of those times where you see everyone that you haven't seen since high school, or all the people you've lost touch with over the years. For me, it was more of a chance to get to see some of "Fairbanks culture."

Everyone goes to the fair... if not everyday, at least one day. They have the same rides and the same food... the same booths... but they do different entertainment and animal shows on all of the three stages. I personally spent a lot of time in the horse barns. They had outdoor stalls set up that you could wonder through and see the horses. Each stall was also labeled with a little description of the horse with their name, breed etc. There was also the petting zoo which Tom and Sus's girls liked to check out.

The other side of the fair was the glutenous smorgasbord of Deep fried, beer battered, powder sugar covered food! I tried to refrain from eating it as much as possible, but I did have some fried dough and a deep fried halibut pocket. If Cheryl (a calypso volunteer) hadn't been volunteering with me the majority of the time, and bringing me incredibly yummy pockets of dough filled with rice and beans, peas, stuffed cabbage leaves etc. I think I would have gained double my weight by the end of the fair! Most people I saw walked around touring the rides, which as is custom, consisted of the well named "fair"eswheel, death drop bungie ride... and other Topsy Turvy man made thrillers.

I might write about this culture as if I wasn't apart of it... but I definitely hopped on the fairiswheel with the girls, joined in eating the glutenous food... and even went up on stage to get hypnotized...

Yep, I did it, and for all of you skeptics out there.... IT WORKED! The first day of the fair I had unsuspectingly told the girls that I had always kind of wanted to get hypnotized... mistake 1. The next day I came in with them again and Tom had already picked out the hypnosis show on that days entertainment line up. I was stuck. So when it was show time I got up on stage... followed Mr. Hypnosis's (for lack of a better name) instructions.... and boom.... I was out. Well kinda. Throughout the show I kept falling in and out of hypnosis... and really it felt more like I was wide awake, just following his instructions and pretending to be a dog... or changing sexes. The farm still knows me as Brad... the man who likes woman who can hike. (hah!)

The highlight for me though, and I know that sounds wierd.., was when Mr. Hypnosis told us we were on the Jerry Springer show. His instructions were to make up as big of a lie as we could about somebody in the audience. Well... I thought about who was in the audience (pretty much the whole calypso staff) and decided on Tom.... my boss. When Mr. Hypnosis approached me he asked me...
"who are you here for."
-my response
"my boss Tom..." (Tom started to hide behind his wife Sus)
-Mr. Hypnosis
"and... what's Tom's problem"
-me
"....He reads romance novels in the outhouse...."
(hysterical laughing)
-Mr. Hypnosis
"is there anything you'd like to say to Tom"
-me
"That's JUST not the appropriate place"

After the show I approached Tom and all I had to do was look at him to send him into one of his frequent laughing attacks... which of course sent me into one as well.

There is so much more to write about in this post... I have a million stories to tell you all about the past month including Ali coming to visit. I am trying to upload pictures and I hope that they will be posted soon!!! In the meantime please hang in there, I only have two weeks left here!!!! ahhh... and then I am off to Seattle!!
much love to everyone-especially those who have lost loved ones recently. I am thinking of all of you.

Fire, Fair and Fall

"Only YOU can prevent forest fires"

It has been an extremely dry, hot summer in Fairbanks. In fact we have gotten so little water that instead of watering the garden with runoff rain water we have had to call the fire department up numerous times and beg them to bring us some more water!!! At this point they've come up and sprayed water into our pond three or four times. They get a good deal out of it though. In exchange for water we bake them all the cookies they can eat =). From what I can gather a normal Fairbanks summer is not this dry. Normally it is hot and sunny through the end of June and then in July it starts to get wetter. Then august is even rainier and colder. By the end of August the leaves are turning yellow and falling from the trees! This normal summer cycle keeps the fires down, but this year we've been dealing with extreme smoke rolling into Fairbanks from the more than 60 fires in the surrounding areas.

The worst part for me is that the last few weeks of summer field trips were really slow because of the smoke. Two weeks ago I had four Pizza Making field trips scheduled for a group from the Fort Eielson base, but partly because of the smoke all but one field trip was canceled! Then This past week two field trips were canceled, including my last summer field trip. Granted the smoke was so thick on those days that I couldn't even see the upper garden from the resource center, which is right across the driveway. No kids or adults should be spending a lot of time outside in that kind of environment... even if it is part of the natural burn cycle of central Alaska.

Like many other things, I never knew that there is a whole section of the army devoted to fire control. These fire fighters are broken up into two groups, the hot shots and the smoke jumpers. Many of the staff, friends and share holders at Calypso have connections to people working in these positions. So I have learned a thing or two about them while I've been here. The smoke jumpers work from the air, dumping water onto the burning fires. The hot shots on the other hand, work on the ground in teams. They dig ditches to stop the fire, cut down trees etc. They dig ditches because forest fires can go underground and continue to burn through the long, cold Alaskan winter. Then when it gets dry at the end of spring the fires pop out in unexpected places.... you can see the danger in that I'm sure.

I have actually been staring at the fire alert board at the bottom of the hill all summer. Every time we drive past it to go into Fairbanks I look to see what the fire danger is for the day. At the beginning of the summer there were a lot of moderate days... but now almost every time I drive past it is EXTREME (written in black letters over red!). I anticipate that the danger will be going down now that we're getting into the end of August though. It is a known fact that the Alaska State Fair in Fairbanks always brings the rain, and this year is no exception.

Right before the Fair got underway last week it began to get colder. Then the day after Susan predicted that there would be no rain until it snowed... it of course rained. After a beautiful clear night, I woke up to pouring rain outside of Steve's house. It has been raining on and off since then. Normally the mornings are a bit rainy, it mellows out in the afternoon and then eventually clears. I actually like the rain here thus far. It's not too cold yet, and it is always so much fun to go wander the woods and see how different everything looks after it's been sprinkled with water.

more on the fair to come in my next post...

ps. I have a new job!!! At the end of September I will be taking off from Alaska down to Seattle where I'll be working as an Americorps in the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods P-Patches (aka community gardens)

House Sitting

"His camp was invaded by polar bears!"

I've joined the Fairbanks fad. I have become a house sitter... well at least until August 21 when Steve Kendel returns from Northern AK . It all happend quite fast actually. One of my Field Trip volunteers asked me about it when I randomely saw her at a small music festival in Ester a few weekends ago. When I caught a ride from her back up the hill, she offered to take me to Steve's to show me his place. The rest is history.

He has a gorgeous house that looks out over the rige line with one of the best views I've seen in Fairbanks so far! The access to running water, shower, bed sheets and radio, all of which I haven't had much access to since arriving at Calypso Farm, don't hurt either. House sitting also gives me my own space. I think I mentioned in a previous post that my sleeping space is also the intern public space... I am a very open person... but everyone gets grumpy sometimes.

House sitting here is pretty common. A lot of people take week trips to other parts of Alaska and need someone to take care of their animals or their plants. Both of the other interns on the farm have been commissioned to house sit for friends of the farm, and some of the school garden coordinators in downtown Fairbanks as well.

House sitting here is a little different from other house sitting jobs I've heard of. Sitters don't expect to be paid for their services. As long as they get a space to stay in for a little while and some food they are happy. My gig is actually a breeze compared to most. Steve only wants me to water his plants once a week for him. In return I get all the fresh raspberries I can eat and access to all his house appliances!!!!

The only slight glich so far was Steve's very sudden return last week!! On Tuesday he called the office and talked to Christie (Calypso Gardener), telling her to let me know his camp had been invaded by polar bears and that his group was coming back to Fairbanks to re-group. Later in the week I spoke with him, and found out there was actually much more to the experience than just the polar bear attack. Before the bear attack his group had actually survived a flip into the Artic Ocean, drifting onto shore and managing to set up one tent in blistering winds howling around them!! So, he just left again on Monday for his second attempt to set up camp....

On a lighter note, THE SQUIRELLS ARE GONE! For the past few weeks I have enjoyed chirp free mornings. It's a very beautiful thing =).

The mish mash

"Their going to have a HAY RIDE!"

It hardly seems like two weeks has gone by since the fourth of July. Time is flying by way too fast here, and I find myself catching my breath every once in a while to think back on my time in Alaska thus far. I know that I have also completely failed at updating my blog the past few weeks, and in my defense, I tried to write this entry right after the fourth and the computer didn't save it. So here I go again....

The fourth of July, the day we gained independence from Britain, aka. time to kick back with a cold beer and stuff yourself until you couldn't move a muscle from your cozy lawn chair even if a firework came flying your way. Well my fourth of July was a little different this year. Instead of kicking back and watching free entertainment, I was the free entertainment. And I deffinitely moved a muscle from my lawn chair and then some.

It was a perfect day. There was no smoke in the sky (from the 60 some fires that are burning in the Fairbanks area), and the sun was out. In the morning we all prepared to vacate the farm after choreographing movements for Cara and Spencer's genius catapilar float, and harvesting a whole two beds of the most delicious radishes you have ever tasted!

The Ester fourth of July parade is nothing huge, but it does attract some outrageous people. Upon arriving in downtown Ester (consisting of the Golden Eagle, main bar and hang out of Ester), a man dressed as a CIA agent clicked a camera at me saying, "thankyou for your face." He then proceded to stop a van with 'peace' taped to it's side exclaiming, "excuse me sir but there is no peace allowed here." There was also the famous fourth of July pig with it's toe nails painted sparkly blue, and a woman plastered with Sara Palin reasons for "pailing" out.

Calypso farm was not out of place. Our group was composed of George, the catapilar tamer, the catapillar "ribs," and the radish throwers. We were quite a spectical in and of ourselves. After the 1/4 mile parade was over, there was a huge potluck in Ester park. Parade spectators all brought something to contribute. From what I hear there were also many fun games later in the afternoon, including a hosedown from the water wagon.

I say I heard... because I jumped in the farm's rickity old trucks to go out to Quist farm and help hall bailed hay. It just so happend that the fourth of July was PERFECT hay bailing weather. As Tom put it to me, when the hay is being bailed it's a mad dash to get it. As we rode along the bumpy, dusty road to Quist farm Tom watched for trucks coming the other direction filled with hay. He anxiously counted their bails wondering aloud wether there would be any left for us.

He had no need to worry though. When we arrived farmer Quist was just starting to bail a new field of hay. We rode around behind him, halling up his bails into three trucks color coordinated for the day (red, white and blue). After filling our trucks full and paying for the bails (6 dollars/bail), we headed home.

I only wish that had been the happy ending to our day. Almost immediatly after leaving Quist farm the red truck Edge and I were driving broke down. There was smoking... gas leaking... the whole shabang. We finally left Tom and Edge working on the truck while we shuttled the rest of the hay back to Calypso. The intent was to return with the two remaining trucks to get both Tom, Edge and the rest of the hay. There was no saving the red truck though. Edge and Tom litterally glued it back together, and actually got it started before it pooped out again. So we spent the whole next day halling hay back to the farm to.

Needless to say my fourth of July was unconventional. That is the way things go around here. If there's hay available, it doesn't matter what day it is. And there are always adventures to be had that make the work more exciting.

Just a quick catch up on life since the fourth....
-Last weekend we took a farm "black out" day to go float the upper Chattanika river. It was a great day filled with lots of awesome canoeing and river swimming!
-This weekend was the farm's open house, a somewhat large milestone in my experience here. The two events I've heard the most about since coming to Calypso have been the open house and the auction in August. The open house went really well. I was in charge of almost all of the station set ups, and they came off REALLY smoothly. Everyone was very happy, and Christie told me that it was the most organized their stations have ever been.
-Pizza Making field trips have also started!!! It is hard to keep myself from stealing the pizza right out of the kids hands... I hold back most of the time though.

NEW PICTURES ARE UP! Check them out

The most annoying animal in Alaska

"They do it because they enjoy it!"

Small, rodent like, fury, scavengers! From the title of this blog entry, and my current location, you might have thought that I was finally going to complain about mosquitoes. But honestly they don't bug me (pardon the pun) nearly as much as these tricky creatures. Allow me to elaborate...

I have been involved in a constant battle with the local squirrels for the past couple of weeks. They make me so angry I wish I could scare them back into hibernation! Although I've known about my little thieves for a while, the real battle started two weekends ago when my second cousin Elizabeth came to visit.

The weatherport is set up so that my sleeping space is separated from the public kitchen by a makeshift wall made from a cotton sheet and a heavier blanket. So during the day I tie the blanket back, and every night I pull it down. Well, Elizabeth came to Calypso from a 12 day hike in Denali Park, so without question I gave her my bed and decided to sleep on one of the couches in the kitchen area. The second morning she was here "the incident" occured (aka. my first weatherport thief viewing). I had of course been hearing the squirrels chirping away outside the weatherport for a while... but this time was different, I had a front row seat to the debauchery in my home!

The incident went like this:
at 7am they started
first...
I heard squirrel chirping
then....
I heard some scratching on the outside of the weatherport roof
next...
I saw a little squirrel head pop down from the top of the weather port window
finally... when they had decided it was safe enough...
the squirrel popped in the weather port window
subsequently I.....
jumped up and started screaming at him TO GET THE HELL OUT OF MY KITCHEN!

Since then... we have been at war. In the sense that I try different tactics to keep them out and they, without hesitation, always find a way in. They are in the worst way SUPER SQUIRRELS.

Cara, Spencer and my moves:
a. I pluged up the hole they had created at the top of one of my plastic windows
their move.... come in through the bottom gap in my door
b. Cara screwed a wood plank underneath the door so that they couldn't squeaze through
their move....chew through my other window in a decisively secret place that I
couldn't see until this past Wednesday.
c. Cara and I stapled chicken wire to the outside of the plastic windows and tucked it under the outer canvas so that they couldn't weasel their way in.
their move....has yet to be determined, but I heard them this morning chirping
inside the weatherport, and when I tried to sneak up on them I heard them run out.

My next move will be to shoot one, skin him and eat him for dinner.... just kidding.... maybe......

The problem with squirrels is that once they stake out a good spot to find food, they don't go away. I've heard stories from people who have killed squirrels in their backyards, and they say that the very next day there's a different one staking out the spot. So even though I've squirrel proofed all of the food in the weatherport, they still come in... and they still wake me up by chirping early in the morning right in front of my wool blanket makeshift wall.

All I can say, is that the war is not over yet.

ps. there are new pictures posted

CORRECTION: I think the squirrels have been chirping outside the window of the weatherport because they CAN'T GET IN! We'll see how long I can keep them out....

I'm in Charge

"YOU'VE GOT AN AMERICORPS"

I am now the supervisor of a poor unsuspecting Fairbanks teenager. yes... I am in a way her boss. This feels a little strange and at times completely un-characteristic, I never thought I'd be bossing around a teenager so soon in my life. Yet here I am.

The story is that even before I got to Calypso Farm, Susan was asking me if I would be willing to supervise an Americorp volunteer. When I was at home, and completely removed from the situation, I agreed that it would be a good idea. At the time though, it was a long shot that we would even get an Americorps. Then the second week after I arrived here I went to a meeting at Joel's Place, the organization that has the funding to put together this program, to talk about the supervisor requirements. I still felt that it was a longshot that I would ever recieve a volunteer though. The difficulty is that Calypso is not easily accessable from Fairbanks, and so few teenagers have cars or the means to get out here (ie. parents are unwilling to shuttle them back and forth).

Pretty soon after this meeting I went to a jobfair in Fairbanks. Talking to potential volunteers I got really excited about the opportunity. There were so many great people coming up to talk to me about the position. But none of those people ended up applying. So I gave up on the idea for the most part until I was hunted down at one of the School Garden's by a girl who was interested in the position. After talking with her a few times she decided that she couldn't make the time commitment. Then another girl Mariah heard about the position through an outreach e-mail I had sent out to the homeschool community. She seemed very into the whole idea of organic farming and really excited about the position... but she decided at the last second that she couldn't give up her other job. After Mariah dropped out I was dissapointed, but resolved to work harder on getting community volunteers for field trips.

Then last Wednesday Jaime called Marylee saying she was interested in the "field trip" position (ie. CALYPSO FARM!), and by Thursday she was up here! Jaime is not like any of the other potential volunteers I spoke to. She is reserved. When I talked to her over the phone for the first time I was even a little worried, because when I asked her if she was interested in organic farming she said "sure." Nevertheless I decided to give Jaime a chance and she is really working out. We had our first "Wool and Felting" field trip last friday and she jumped right into helping the kids felt wool and learn about the Calypso Farm sheep. Over the past few days I feel like I've watched her open up a little more. She seems to really like the people here, and to enjoy working on the field trips. I do have to push her a little bit to take more of a responsible role. She is aprehensive to run a station by herself. She also never eats the food we cook for lunch. She prefers to bring a sandwich from home even though I have told her multiple times that she doesn't have to.

So I'm slowly learning how to be a responsible adult. I don't know if Jaimee knows it... but I think I may be learning as much from her as I hope she is learning from me!