Soo stoned

Another incredible week at Raices del Sol has transpired and another is in its adolescence.  Last week got a bit heavier on the labor and instruction as the orientation was waning.  Monday honestly cannot remember except the wonderful dinner at the local soda.  First time I have had pork in a while and it was heavenly.  Tuesday was an early riser to catch the bus to Puriscale, the local biggest city, at 530.  Two and a half hours later we arrived had some breakfast and got our errands done early, mainly to buy rubber boots, socks and a notebook.  The rest of the day was spent drinking some very very cheap local rum in the park enjoying the sunshine and the day off.  

Wednesday we cleared a lot of room for the greenhouse that is about to constructed.  Thursday we finally got to go to the river as the truck had been out of commission the day before.  That was something, searching for perfectly round stones or flat ‘tortillas’ to use as path borders.  I lifted as many as I could but the mere two hours we were there beat me into submission. All us internes were sunburned and pooped but after lunch we got to moving all the stones we had collected.  

Friday is always a fun day.  Work in the morning on more path construction but the afternoon we made our first ferment.  First we made some mead, I decided to add a bit of lemon grass and ginger to spice mine up a bit then we made some homemade ginger beer.  The brews should be done sometime this week and I cannot wait.  We used wild yeast aka yeast naturally occurring in the air or on the skin of the ginger.  Ginger beer is started with a bug, simply chop up fine non irradiated ginger, put it in some water and add a few spoonfuls of sugar and check to make sure it bubbles (usually within a day) and add sugar daily for 4 days.  The brew is prepared by simmering chopped ginger in water for half an hour with some added sugar-we used a local unprocessed sugar called tappa dulce-which is cooled to room temperature then the bug is added and stirred in to make ginger beer.  You can wait a week or usually up to a month depending on how much alcohol is desired.  Saturday we started our personal projects: Frankie is painting signs, Caitlin is inoculating an oak log with shitake spores, Katie is making a top bar hive and I am building a dam at the big waterfall to make a deep pool for swimming and hopefully deep enough to jump off the two story cliff.  After deciding our projects I got started with Vince moving stones.  After lunch I came back with Frankie and moved more stones.  The dam is now standing about 2 feet high and about 50 feet wide-I am all stoned out this week.  Sunday we went into town for a soccer game that we didn’t stay for but ate some food, then just went to the bar and drank and played pool all day; a very restful day indeed.  

Monday was pretty sweet as the new saddle arrived and we got to ride Thunder a bit and have some fun with him.  The afternoon we did a bit of designing for the greenhouse and finalized out plans.  We had a talk about consciousness that was fun and provocative but philosophy almost bores me now.  Not that I know all but I have already thought about most of these things and have achieved  a certain understanding, coupled with the knowledge that the universe is ultimately unknowable the deep thought that troubled me in my youth does not phase me.  I suppose I am just bitter from today, I had a talk about being politically correct and sensitive to peoples feelings.  For the other interns consiousness is being aware of all the variables in a situation and our place in these things.  But for me it is the ascention to a higher plane, the filter between reality and the mind that brings true consciousness.  I subscribe to the buddhist philosophy, removal of desire and embrace the void which makes all the feelings that get hurt nothing major, eh but karma and all that but i degress.

The rain is brutal, it rains and rains.  My sleep cycle is in tune with the daylight, bedtime is rarely past 9.  The work is taking its toll on my body but I am sure I will be built back up even stronger.  I am reading alot of cool books and my mind is racing.  This internship is just what i needed to reboot after college, I even found a new direction that may be my true calling, naturopathic medecine.  Till next time dont do anything i wouldnt do