Earth day is behind me now, such a relief, and a mild success. I left the house, running late, around 7:15 am and got to the Clinton Presidential library on time for set-up. There were lots of eager volunteers around to help a little pregnant lady in overalls unload her wares, so setup actually went really quickly. My friend Claire is the co-executive director of Earth Day Arkansas and she saw to it that all her friends were well situated and within shouting distance of each other. So, on one side I had MC representing her Backyard Gardening project (or BYG if you will), and one booth over on the other side were Rebecca, Luke, and Jack repping the local food cafe and community center they're opening next year called 'The Root'. I had lots of fun chatting with my buddies, but also with Jody Hardin, the director of a new all-Arkansas farmers' market in Argenta (North Little Rock) and with the president of the Arkansas slow food chapter. There's always networking to do!
More friends from the ranch were either volunteering or working the Heifer booth, so when I wasn't schilling my meats, I got to do a lot of visiting and joking. And of course, everyone was eager to bring me snacks or watch the stand for the thousands of pee breaks I needed. If this pregnant thing wasn't so uncomfortable, I'd highly recommend it- everyone bends over backwards to do everything for me!
The whole event didn't really get going until noonish, but from then until closing time at 4, there was a steady stream of curious families, couples, and lots of wacky hippies asking questions about local food and sustainable meat production. I had fun chatting it up and managed to unload all of my business cards. I even sold some turkeys and a CSA basket! I'm hoping all of the new contacts and names on the mailing list turn into future customers- only time will tell.
The only real downside to the event was my cheap patio umbrella. I got a crazy good deal on it, and felt like I was well protected from the sun, but came to discover around 3 that most of the UV rays were really going right through the dang thing and onto my face. Today I'm beet red, very tender, and grumpy about deals that are too good to be true. Next time I'll wear sunscreen and a hat despite my beautiful, easy to setup umbrella.
This morning, Travis helped me milk and then we (finally!) got our garden going out in the field. We're both very excited about it. Gerald brought us some sweet corn seed from his most recent trip to Iowa, which Travis very diligently put in straight rows across our garden plot. About every 2 feet, I followed and put a green bean or pea seed in the corn rows, and then throughout we staggered little hills for melons and squash. This is probably the biggest garden I've ever been involved with, and the first time Trav has done any real companion planting so we're both keen to see how our little project develops.
With the rest of our day we're tearing into the house, hoping to get closer to being ready for baby. Kim and her midwifing partners are coming for the 36 wk home visit on tuesday and I don't want just a clean house by then, I want to hear them all exclaim how cute our little home is. It's probably silly to care what they think about the house, but it's good motivation to get everything organized and dusted off.
On Thursday of last week, Sarah lent me her truck and her company to go pick-up the new piggies. These little guys (and gals) are Duroc-Hampshire crosses, both old breeds known for bacon making, so I bet they'll taste delicious. They're smaller than I was expecting, but they've been out on pasture since the very beginning and it shows. They're very weary of strangers and already have pretty thick hair. One of the piggies aparently never learned how to oink like all the others, she just squeeks like a rubber duckie! I've never heard a pig make that sound before and wonder if she'll grow out of it. Right now the four of them are living in half of our milking shed while they learn about feed, and until we can get the electric fences really hot again. Those darn fences just haven't been up to snuff since the first of the flooding more than 6 weeks ago. Thankfully, our crimps and fancy new fence tester came in the mail this week so it shouldn't be long until we're rolling at full steam again.
Well, it's off to do dishes and laundry!
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