Life is Beautiful and Bountiful

My first work week in Washington is wrapping up, and I've felt nicely settled in ever since the plane landed in Seattle. 

I met with my boss, Nicole, after being dropped off at a shuttle station from the airport. She brought me to her little farm house on Sunfield's property and welcomed me with a nice basket full of house-warming goodies.  

I stayed there for the weekend and was shown around the farm by Nicole, her boyfriend, Blake, and their two dogs, Sis and Jim. Sunday was a dreary, rainy day in the area, but it was the first sight I got of the farm in daylight, and it was still proving to be a very beautiful place to me. 

Throughout the rest of the week, Nicole gave me many opportunities to get a taste of farm life. I separated old strawberry roots, cleaned out the front of the long barn for the CSA in June, made runs to local restaurants and grocery stores to deliver spinach, and weeded...and weeded...and weeded some more (much to weed on an organic farm). 

Every once in awhile Nicole will pause what she's doing and explain the process of a task and the efforts that go into it. She will talk about ordering seed and the problems with ordering too much or ordering too late in a season; what to look for in plant germination, making sure weeds don't choke out the roots of plants; the energy and planning involved in uniting the communities of the Waldorf school and farm with the people of Port Townsend. I am starting to learn quickly how involved farming is in many different skill sets, not just cranking up the tractor every morning to till the soil and flipping on a water hose (like I'm sure many of us imagine when we think of farming). 

Also, since the farm is tied to a Waldorf school, the kids have to be involved in farm work. Every morning at 11, Nicole and I get some of the kids for 45 minutes to help us do farm chores to keep their little hands busy, as well as educate them about the many efforts involved in farming. This seemed like no issue to me, since I’ve always been very good about being involved with children in the past. But for some reason, there is a gleam in these Waldorfian eyes that is full of unharnessed energy and spunk, and I can’t help but just want to observe their interactions with one another without interference. 

Starting on Monday, I began my stay with a family of the Waldorf school, who live on the northern end of Port Townsend, about 15 minutes away from the farm. Their house is a nice modern design in a rural property with a chicken coop and pathway that leads out to an open, grassy field. The mother, Sylvia, took Nicole and me out for a stroll in this rolling yard and told us it was her neighbor’s property, but he let them walk out on it as they pleased. Slowly, we came upon what looked like an edge to this field. Soon snuck up a massive body of water...Puget Sound.

I couldn’t believe it...for my first co-op experience not only do I get to travel across the country to live in a place unknown and work with a Waldorf school and farm, but my backyard is equipped with a perfect, breath-taking view of Puget Sound!

Lovely Sylvia and her caring husband, Bernie, as well as their charming son, Roland, and sweet friend, Bo, have been nothing but graciously kind to me in the past few days. They make the meals, and I do the dishes. They go out for a movie, and I stay to play a game of sword-fighting with Roland. It’s a wonderful place to make me feel at home, and I'm loving every minute. 

This evening, Bo brought over an apple pie that he made (he marked a "Ro" for Roland, an "E" for me, and an "S" for Sylvia. He said he dedicated his pie to the ladies and the only reason why Roland was on it was so that he would actually eat it - Ha!). As I sat there with the family, tasting the spices in the apples and sweetness in the homemade whipped cream, I paused for a mouth-filled moment and thought, “How fortunate am I to be greeted with all of these new wonderful people and experiences!”

Hello, new life here in Washington. Thank you for your beautiful sights and unimaginable opportunities.