Twin Oaks Farm - Dec 7, 2009

Sunday Dec 6, 2009 - I arrive back at the farm around noon, Renee had fed the chickens before leaving that morning but she didn't let them out of their coups so my first order of business is the noon feeding of the broilers and then let the ducks and the layers out. Then catch up on the egg cleaning and before I know it the time has slipped by and it's time for the evening feeding and collection of the chicken eggs, boy time flies when you're listening to financial interviews and reports on your mp3 player while cleaning duck eggs, lol . Everytime I pass by the jars in the family room I wonder how long it's going to take to get them all upstairs. I'm thinking I should jump in and get a batch done tonight, make a dent in the whole process and ..... naaaahhh, it's 6:30 and I'm headed upstairs to play on the internet. I get upstairs and sign on to facebook and what do you know, I find a friend from Cali online to chat with, I end up squirreling away three hours or so chatting with bjh about financial stuff and organics etc, while writing the blog for the previous two days. It's freezing cold outside and Renee doesn't like to use the heating system so I grab an extra comforter off the bed in the guest room and hit the sack at 10:30.
Monday Dec 7, 2009 - I wake up very rested, the light outside is diffused through the overcast and is a neutral overall gray. I had reset my alarm from the usual 6:15 to 7:00 but looking at the cloud cover I can't determine an approximate time .... and since the cat is away the mice will play so I roll over and fade back out. I make it back to REM but the alarm pulls me back, it couldn't have been too long but it was worth it anyway. Since Renee is not here to fix breakfast I decide to change my morning routine slightly, skip the shower and go directly to the morning feeding and get it out of the way, then back to the house for breakfast. Afterwards I make a big dent in the jar mission. I use a large plastic storage bin to carry 13 boxes at a time up the stairs and down the hall into the storage room. This goes on for about an hour, I'm dripping with sweat and can feel my back starting to ache in a new way so I start to think about ending this first phase and then whamo, I stumble on the stairs at the landing near the second floor level, no damage to the jars and no pulled muscles or anything like that but that decides it, break time. I think it's justifiable, I've moved about 40% of the boxes and there's really no rush as long as it's done by the time she returns. I go to the kitchen and decide to fix a cup of tea, then go upstairs to cool down and check emails before heading off for the morning shower. Ahhh, that's better, after the shower I feel like a new man as I head off to the commercial kitchen to the oldest activity ever discovered by modern or ancient farming .... cleaning eggs. I have this mornings and yesterdays duck egg plus two buckets of chicken eggs from the last two days. I finish the duck egg and then proceed down to the pasture for the noon feeding, then back to it and finish up the two buckets of chicken eggs. After I had left on Friday night to go back to Tallahassee, Renee had kept working late to finish canning and labeling the preserves for Saturdays farmers market, then got up early to load up and get to that market, then picked up the compost material from the Hilton on her way back, then did the evening feeding and egg collection and then packed for her trip to Miami on Sunday. She is getting stretched six ways to Sunday to keep on top of it all and naturally there's no time for clean up, all over the house and commercial kitchen there are little work stations set up where she did this part over here and the labels over there and the boxing over here, etc, etc. Her event horizon is about as long as her right arm. So after cleaning the eggs I straighten up the commercial kitchen and make it presentable. Renee did mention that the commercial kitchen is due for inspection by the USDA, so we need to keep things tidy. A peek out the window and it looks like dusk in about another hour so I head out for the evening feeding and chicken egg collection, then back inside to knock out the remaining jars. An hour later it's around 7:45 and the jar mission is finished, my back is fine but feels a little stiff in a new kind of way .... call it cross training. I have another cup of cold tea and raid the fridge of leftovers for dinner and then I'm off for my evening shower.