Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

The entire Levis population of Manchester, VT has gone off to Aruba and Theo flew away to India, so things have become exceptionally quiet. Before Theo left he invited us to go to the Red Fox Inn. My reply was "mayyyyybe," which usually means no, but that my mind is open to be changed. When he told me that it was a reggae show, I decided to talk The Logger into going, because I figured he might like it. My idea of talking him into it went something like "OK, I've decided we're going and there's no use arguing because I'll win. Also, I'll pay your cover charge."

I also convinced Jason, the cook at the inn, his friend Brian, and Pedro to come along. Because if it's not worth the cover change and the drive out there, I'm bringing you all down with me. Well it was worth it. The band was called Gokh-Bi System, and they weren't actually reggae, so much as music from Africa that you can rock out to. They were great, and it was well worth dragging myself and The Logger out of the house after dark for it.

Last night we went over to the inn for dinner, because Jason was cooking. I've been missing vegetables a bit so I decided to indulge in some out-of-season yummies, though honestly the best thing for dinner were the mashed potatoes, which are not exactly an indulgence, considering we have tons of potatoes in the kitchen here. But it's nice to have good company and a professional chef to make them for you. Plus the asparagus and green beans were wonderful. I think when spring comes I'm eating nothing but fruits and veggies because I miss them so much. Just gonna go ultra-vegan.

I also went and took pictures of the Dorset Marble Quarry, because it looks amazing in the winter. In all honesty, the only reason for this blog entry was so that I could share these pictures, so I'll shut up and post them now.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

Last night Albert came over and asked The Logger and I to go with him to an inn that had closed a few months ago, to pick up a few things. From what I've been told, the inn was having financial troubles and it closed. They were unable to pay electric bills, or have someone drain the pipes, so they froze and burst and the building flooded. It is now condemned, but no longer flooded. The Logger insisted that Albert did not need anything from the inn and did not want to go, but I was eager to see the place and poke around a little, as I am prone to doing, so The Logger agreed, reluctantly, to go. Also, his car was at Albert's place and Albert wouldn't take him to go get it until after we went to the old inn to "loot."

Albert asked me if I had any flashlights, because there is no power in the building. I suggested we go during the day when we would be able to see, but Albert insisted that he didn't want to. I called him a criminal and then went upstairs to get all of my flashlights (electricians need these things!), because good criminals need backup and getting arrested would make for good blogging.

I've always been fascinated with abandoned places, even though abandoned places like hotels and hospitals, which are never dark or empty under normal circumstances, kind of freaks me out. While Albert was going through the kitchen with The Logger, I wandered into the dining room. The ceiling was falling apart and the floor was all wavy. It was easy to see that it used to be a great-looking place.


Dining room fireplace

There was also a snazzy little bar attached to the dining room. I went through the cabinets behind the bar and was surprised to see that there were still untouched bottles of alcohol. I had to remind myself that I was not in New York and that people in small towns in Vermont probably don't make a habit of breaking into buildings just to look for alcohol. Nor were there squatters, who would have probably drank the alcohol and then trashed the place even more, for whatever reason. No, the place was left pretty much untouched except for the flood. Even the final menu was written on the dry erase board in the kitchen, along with a shopping list.


A pretty little bar

I then moved out to the lobby area and picked through a bunch of computer parts and piles of office supplies. Again, this was a good-looking room with a cute front desk. It even had a snazzy little telephone booth.


I'm quite fond of this picture because it shows how straight I hold my camera. Precision and grace, I'm all about it.

I went up the stairs to look at some of the rooms, but didn't do much exploring. I admit I was a little freaked out sneaking around in the dark place alone. I didn't even take any pictures up there because the thought of looking into my camera and seeing something that wasn't actually there maybe terrifies me a little. IRRATIONAL FEARS! I'm good at those.

When I went back downstairs Albert was looking through the box of computer stuff in the front lobby. He asked me what several things were and asked me if he needed them, to which my reply was always, "No. If you don't know what it is, then you'll never use it." Albert seemed to have the intention of taking anything that wasn't nailed down. As someone who can't stand excess junk I only considered taking things that I thought would be useful: some tape and notepads for the house, a few old keys for my friend Lisa who makes shadow boxes, sheets of stamps, smoke detectors, and 4 reams of paper. Albert tried to talk me into taking some crap-tastic old desk chairs for my own desk (which I don't have by the way).

We loaded everything into the Jeep and minivan (except for an open thing of corn oil which Albert wanted us to take, but I hid from him because who knows how old that was and really, is corn oil that expensive anyway?) Albert asked us if we wanted to go out to eat, and I considered it for a moment because I hadn't eaten yet, until Albert said, "We'll go to Friendly's" and I suddenly realized I wasn't hungry. Not to mention I would not have let him buy me food anyway, because for some reason I've always found that awkward.

The Logger scored us a can of kidney beans and black beans, and also got two cans of refried beans for the chickens (because no one else will eat anything with lard). The chickens had an all-out feast.

Just to mention, Albert did give money to owner of the Inn, and she knew we were there. We weren't really breaking and entering, and then looting, and then rolling around in the profits like the filthy pigs that we are.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

Woo! I forced The Logger to take me climbing in Rutland on Saturday. He used to be a hard-core climber but has not climbed in quite some time. I decided (in that way that I'm good at making decisions for other people) that it would make him happy to go climbing. So we went off to Green Mountain Rock Climbing Gym. Don't let the website fool you though, it's not really just $15 a person, there's an extra $10 charge for a "belay lesson" which isn't much of a lesson considering you belay with a Grigri, which is self-locking so it's pretty hard to drop someone if you're paying attention. I wasn't actually annoyed about the belay lesson, but The Logger really didn't need it. Oh well, goodbye extra $20.

I haven't really been climbing since high school, when I took a climbing class. I loved it, although I was never great at it. Being short and not especially physically fit makes climbing tricky, but no less fun. It's no secret that I love heights, because I have always been a backwards person. Anyway it was a little sad that once I got to the top of the wall the only thing left to do was come down. I would have loved to be able to traverse a little around the top of the gym, but the belay system didn't work that way. I suppose I could have traversed along the bottom, but what's the fun in that? The floor is right there, you may as well just walk.

The best thing about this whole experience was watching The Logger stretch out all his limbs and climb. The walls were pretty high, but as soon as he started climbing it really didn't seem that way. I was worried that it was too easy for him, so I suggested he try doing a course (only use holds that were labeled with a certain color in order to be more challenging), but he feels the same way about courses as I do about traversing along the bottom of a wall; why only use certain holds if there are others around? Anyway it wasn't too easy for him, he just made it look that way.

I would have loved to put up some pictures of this amazingly giant person scaling walls, but I'm pretty sure he would have been mad at me for taking pictures while I was supposed to be keeping him from falling off of a climbing wall. So I didn't bring my camera.

The day ended with an adventure of finding food in Rutland, which is impossible for whatever reason. Good luck finding a sandwich in Rutland after 4pm, because it's not gonna happen. Not even on a weekend. Especially not on a weekend. So The Logger triumphantly got Taco Bell and I waited until getting back to Manchester to make an avocado, chile, cheese burger. Vegetarian style, of course.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

Last night we had an early birthday party for The Logger. Oliver and family took off for Aruba today and will be gone for two weeks, which includes The Logger's actual birthday. We made burritos, his favorite food, and after much harassment he finally told me that lemon cake was his favorite, but that I should not take the trouble to make one. I of course ignored him and made two.

Theo, Pedro (who works at the inn), The Logger's mother and the Levis family were all in attendance. I admit I was a little worried that people wouldn't have a good time and it might be awkward for some, but there were no problems. Why did I think there might be? Mostly because The Logger made such a stink over the fact that I invited his mother, because he claims she would not have a good time. I think she was very happy to be here and loved seeing Guv and Talula.

A little while before we ate, Bonnie and Guv disappeared for a bit. When they came back downstairs Guv gave The Logger a hand made birthday card, which was full of his favorite things. It's pretty much the best birthday card I've ever seen, so it made it into the blog.


I think I might be attacking that tree.

I am now going to boast about this amazing cake that I made, mostly because I have never tried this recipe before and normally when I cook something for the first time it's not all that great. Maybe it's because Guv helped me, but this cake was really yummy. When the batter was all made I tasted it and I really liked it, which made me worry that it wasn't lemony enough because I don't really like lemons. I ended up making two round cakes and putting a layer of lemon bar (without crust) between the two cakes. I used my mother's amazing fluffy frosting which I call marshmallow frosting, because it tastes like marshmallows. Anyway, here's a picture.


When Bonnie saw the cake she called me Martha, which pretty much ended my cake-making days forever.


We didn't have birthday candles, but this one is home-made.


Happy birthday Logger.


So, maybe I didn't think about how huge the slices would be if I stacked two cakes right on top of each other, but no one complained.

This morning I remembered that I had gotten The Logger an exceedingly stupid birthday present (I'm good at that). Because of my love for little plastic animals and The Logger's new-found fondness of chickens, I gave him this little plastic chicken I had found when helping Oliver organize some stuff and had been carrying in my pocket. He of course did not understand what it was for and has thus become the pouty chicken, which comes out whenever The Logger feels like he needs to pout to someone (or something).


Sally the chicken

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

Yesterday some pretty amazing things happened. I went with Bonnie, Oliver and The Logger to go check out a farm in Pawlet on the border of Wells that they were thinking about buying. The land is owned by The Larsons, who I had met a few nights before when they were invited over for dinner. I thought the Larsons were amazing people and they seemed to really be interested in helping Bonnie and Oliver succeed. The land is not on the market, there are no brokers or real estate agents involved and they would sell it for the same price they bought it for. They are dairy farmers and they think that a partnership with vegetable farmers would strengthen both businesses. They would trade dairy for veggies and use some of the land for pasture, which provides great fertilizer for the plants. When they left the house after dinner Bonnie asked me what I thought of the whole thing and I asked her if we could move tomorrow.

The farm is about 30 minutes from here on a back road to Wells. It's a very quiet road and the views are so spectacular. The house is right by the road, which makes it easy to get to in the winter snow. Especially because the Jeep could not make it up the first big hill in such deep snow, so we got out and walked around the property.


Those tracks in front of the Jeep are from a snow mobile.

Oliver first led us into the woods and The Logger stated that there was no good logging wood in this section but plenty of fire wood. Oliver then took us to the better of the two barns, which he planned to make into a WWOOFer house. I took a look at it and said "no way." He talked excitedly about the changes he would make and how great it would be for summer housing. I asked him what he planned to do for a bathroom and said there would be a composting toilet and a shower head "around the back." No way Oliver, I don't mind pooping in the woods, but I draw the line at a crappy shower after a long day of work. But then again, I can't speak for all WWOOFers and I'll be in Dorset again by summer (using a crappy indoor shower).


Ummm. But there are no walls on that thing. And how do you explain the phantom pants?

The other barn is so structurally unsound that it's falling apart and just needs to be taken down. It used to be used for Dairy, but now it might be good for scrap wood. Part of the structure seems ok and might be saved, but for the most part the farm needs a new barn. It was at this point that my camera battery (which said it was full when we left) died. No more pictures. Arg.


"Stop wasting my battery Oliver."

The last part of the tour was the farm house, which Bonnie was not at all excited about. Honestly, from the outside, it's an ugly house. When we went in, it was still an ugly house. It had so many weird spaces and all the walls and ceilings looked like wooden floorboards, which was really odd. The place also smelled a little uninhabited, because it had been for a long time. The rooms were pretty small and the whole house has only one bathroom, which is right next to the kitchen. However, there is a great fireplace downstairs in an amazing room that was added on later. After a very long debate in which everyone was interrupted several times Oliver finally made a plan for renovation that sounded pretty great. He would move the kitchen to the living room space, knock down a few walls, and put a sink and toilet upstairs in the kids bedroom. My only input was that he should draw out a groundplan and really look at the measurements to make sure there was room for everything, including his two huge refrigerators and three bay sink. It sounded like a really exciting plan, but it could end up being an expensive one. I told him that if he bought the farm, then the Logger and I could live there this season and start the renovations while he farmed his last season in Manchester. He asked me how many day a week I worked for the theatre. Six. Ha.

From there Oliver wanted to take us up to see the rest of the woods and see what kind of trees were there and if there was good logging. Bonnie said that she and Talula were too cold to trudge around in the woods, so she called the Larsons and asked if Bonnie and the kids could go over and see their place and say hi. I decided to go with them, because the Larsons have horses and I would pass up a freezing walk in the woods to go meet some horses any day. We talked Guv into coming with us by telling him he could pet the cows and horses. I told him that petting a horses nose was one of my favorite things to do, which it is. Guv agreed, so off we went, leaving Oliver and The Logger to go look at trees.


Talula is not into this whole snow thing.

The Larsons live right across the street on their own huge piece of property. The house they have there is amazing. Apparently it used to be a much smaller house and then they built a larger house right onto the back of it. So the front part of the house is used mainly for interns and one of their sons. It has its own kitchen and living area and four bedrooms. Not too bad, especially if they decide to share WWOOFers, which was talked about a little. Although I'm not sure if I would chose to live with the Larson family over the Levis family, especially because the Larsons eat meat. Boo.

Two of the Larson kids took us out to see the cows and horses. There were two dairy cows, though only one was producing because the other was pregnant. I don't think I've ever pet a cow and I was a little charmed. I've always thought cows were very sweet-looking creatures and these cows seemed sweet enough. I love their big sloppy noses and wide foreheads. They are such oddly proportioned creatures, with their jutting hips and bulging bellies. Bonnie pointed out that it was hard to tell which one was pregnant, even though she and the cow are due right around the same time, about a month and a half from now.

We met one horse, which Guv was shy to pet. It's funny how he was all about petting the cows, because he had done so in the past, but was hesitant to pet the horse, which he has less experience with. I was the opposite. I stuck my hand under the horses nose and let her lick my hand. I love how most horses will do that. It must be the salty sweat on people's palms, but she was also licking the gloved hand of one of the Larson kids. Guv got a little lick. When I told Cynthia Larson about my experience and love of horses she told me to give her my email address because she could use some help. I jumped at the opportunity and could not write my emil down fast enough. How exciting if I finally get to work with horse again. I've spent so much time in farm country Vermont and these are the first people I've met with horses. Yay!

Anyway the farm is beautiful and the house has potential to be beautiful at some point. I'm not sure you could find better neighbors anywhere. Here are a few more pictures I managed to get in before the camera died.


Walking back to the Jeep.


Now imagine that in the fall and summer.


The Logger is uncertain of how to carry something so small and squirmy.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

Now is as good a time as any to explain my love for Friday nights here at the Holon. Every Friday night is Shabbat, starting at Sundown on Friday until Sundown on Saturday. Because things are so slow in the winter, I don't find myself counting down the days until Saturday, but I do look forward to Friday night dinners. Theo and Max always come over and Albert and Georgette generally stop by. The food is extra special and we all sit down and spend time together. Theo, Oliver, Max and The Logger play music and Guv usually sings along and drums. Talula loves to dance. I'm not always the most active participant, but that's just my nature. I love to sit in a room full of people and enjoy what goes on around me. Fridays are late nights around here and there's a lot to enjoy for the evening.

For the last few weekends there have been cyber creeps in the house, which means we can not use the dinning room and we eat in the kitchen. This is usually a kind of cramped thing with some people eating standing up, or in the big comfy chair in the corner, but last night Oliver had the idea to pull the wooden counter top away from the stove and make a dinner table we could all sit around. It worked perfectly and we could all sit down and look at one another while we talked. Mostly about Obama and a little about the environment vs. gay rights, which sounds like a ridiculous topic, because it is. Theo's argument was that the state of the environment is more time sensitive than gay rights. Oliver's input was that the people who argue against gay rights are the people least affected by it. I said that the argument of who can marry who is such a stupid topic to begin with that I couldn't believe anyone would put effort into it, especially while there were pressing issues like global climate change hanging over us. This was something everyone could agree with. However, the argument does exist and I feel very strongly that we can not take care of the planet if we can't even take care of each other. How can I say that it's more important to buy a hybrid car than for someone to be able to openly display affection and marry the person they want to grow old with? Just because one is more time sensitive does not mean that it is more important. I don't think I expressed this very well last night, but I don't think that anyone was arguing against this point, just saying that it was so stupid that such prejudice even exists when the world as we know it may not be here in twenty years.

Getting back to the Friday night Shabbat dinner, I've been thinking it might be fun to put up a recipe or maybe a bit about what we've been eating. Generally when I am in charge of my own meals and no one else is eating them I don't eat unhealthy, but I do eat lazy. Since being here, I've found that it's still easy to eat lazy, but also really well. Many of our meals do not take a serious amount of effort or prior planning, but we still eat like we live on a farm(...). Last night was home made seitan (which does take effort and planning, or you can just buy it for an outrageous price) with mushrooms, carrots, sunflower seeds and soy sauce; follards (Which is what Bonnie and Oliver call their fake collards: the greens of broccoli, which are not generally eaten, but yummy nonetheless) sautéed with garlic; everything served over rice. I made some oh-my-god easy bread and Theo brought over some home-made nut butter, mayonnaise, and horseradish (which was so amazingly strong I wanted to die, but in a good way). Guv was kind enough to do the bread blessing twice and Talula did not break anything all night. Success!

oh-my-god easy bread (also known as Simple Crusty Bread) recipe:

1 1/2 tablespoons yeast

1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt

6 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, more for dusting dough

Cornmeal (optional).

1. In a large bowl or plastic container, mix yeast and salt into 3
cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees). Stir in flour, mixing until
there are no dry patches. When using white flour I find I usually have to add a little more in when mixing. Dough will be quite loose. Cover, but not
with an airtight lid. Let dough rise at room temperature 2 hours (or
up to 5 hours).

2. Bake at this point or refrigerate, covered, for as long as two
weeks. When ready to bake, sprinkle a little flour on dough and cut
off a grapefruit-size piece with serrated knife. Turn dough in hands
to lightly stretch surface, creating a rounded top and a lumpy bottom.
Put dough on pizza peel (or a cookie sheet)sprinkled with cornmeal; let rest 40 minutes.
Repeat with remaining dough or refrigerate it.

3. Place broiler pan on bottom of oven. Place baking stone on middle
rack and turn oven to 450 degrees; heat stone at that temperature for
20 minutes. If you don't have a stone, don't worry about it. I've tried it with and without and it makes no difference at all.

4. Dust dough with flour, slash top with serrated or very sharp knife
three times. Slide onto stone. Pour one cup hot water into broiler pan
and shut oven quickly to trap steam. Bake until well browned, about 20-30
minutes. Cool completely.

Yield: 4 loaves.

You don't really need cornmeal or a baking stone, I just use a cookie sheet and extra flour.

This recipe is very skeletal and easy to change for different kinds of bread. I made a few loaves with half whole-wheat flour half white flour and put raisins in it. I thought it came out pretty yummy. I'm curious to try one with rosemary and olive oil.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

Happy New Year everyone!

The holiday season this year was calm and wonderful. I spent Christmas with The Logger Family in Pawlet. There was yummy Mexican food a-plenty and good company. Fighting was kept to a minimum except for one outburst about appreciating your family history and being proud of being Dutch because they weren't WWII Nazis. I didn't mention anything about the horrific Dutch slave trades or the fact that they ruined their own economy with their obsession with tulips. Being Italian probably makes my own family tree pretty dark at parts, but if you go back far enough in history, no one is innocent anyway. Being American makes your family heritage seem extremely far away and removed anyway and being American is not currently giving me much pride. Thus, I declined to take part in this conversation.

New Years Eve was spent here in Manchester. Albert fired his DJ for the evening so Max and Oliver and I kind of threw some list minute stuff together with Theo's sound system. I borrowed a mirror ball from the Dorset Theatre and Albert found this crazy mirror ball projector thing that projected shapes onto a disco ball which spun the shapes around the room. The fact that there were star shapes spinning around the room made me super happy.

The Logger ended up washing dishes all night, which was a shame for me because I had no one to entertain me (read: no one to pester) all night. He bought a new sweater from The Gap and put on clean jeans for the occasion, which might be the most dressed up he's been since Oliver's wedding. True it was a formal dinner and dancing New Years Eve party, but that's pretty formal for The Logger, so it counts. But like I said he ended up in the kitchen anyway.


Max and I downloaded a ton of music to play and I watched over it during dinner, and then Max took over during dancing. This worked out well because no one wanted to dance to the music I put on. Story of my life. This crowd was not into anything after 1970. Nothing. Don't even try it. Johnny Cash? Who the hell does that guy think he is anyway? Can't dance to it. Micheal Jackson? Hell no. Frank Sinatra? It's about time, now where's my dance partner? Lost him when you put on that modern crap you call "music".

I left the Inn early and got a New Years Eve kiss all snuggled in bed. My offer to play Auld Lang Syne on my compy was declined. I love going to bed early, even on New Year's Eve.

The Logger's House - Pawlet, VT

For Christmas this year we've got kind of a long post, but stick with it, because like all good stories worth telling, it's a bit of a long one.

Oh chicken moving day. Bonnie said it would be a crazy and funny, and those chickens did not fail to deliver.

The chickens haven't been coming out of their houses much since the snow fell and so they hadn't really been eating much either. I started giving them grain inside the chicken houses and putting the buckets of food right outside the doors, but it's still a little cold for them and they have trouble moving around in the snow. They went from laying about four dozen eggs a day to laying less than one dozen. Last winter Oliver moved all of the chickens over to the other greenhouse at the big white house. They cleared out all the old plants in there and made the soil super fertile, and stayed warm all winter. This year he has so many more chickens than last year, so he wasn't super anxious to move them.


Chickens do not like snow as much a Krysta likes snow

We had originally planned to move them at night, while they were a bit calmer and sleepy. Apparently he still did a bit of chasing them around last year, but they stacked into plastic totes pretty easily. Plans eventually got changed and we ended up doing it the next morning. The Logger and I found as many plastic totes with lids as we could, but even with so many of them, we knew we'd have to do it in more than one trip. When we were all ready to go Oliver walked up to us and said "OK, how do we do this?" No idea Oliver, you're the chicken moving expert. It ended up that Oliver and I were the ones catching chickens, while the Logger (who is also a ninja as it turns out) kept them from jumping back out of the totes. Oliver reminded me of my camera, so I took a few pictures during this ridiculous task.


Logging-Ninja skillz

The chickens were a little unsure at first, but many of them are used to being picked up so don't freak out a ton. Once they started to realize what was going on though, they all started running around like crazy. Nisi did not help the situation at all and I eventually had to lock her in the kitchen. Oliver, who is quite tall and quick, was grabbing several chickens at a time, but I could only really catch and carry them one at a time. At one point Oliver told me I was doing such a good job, considering I wasn't very keen on even touching the chickens when I first got here. It's true. Since when in my life have I even run after a bird, instead of running away? Never. Not once. And I'd like to make it clear that it's not because I think chickens are gross, it's just because they have wings and beaks and scary ways of being. It helps that they don't actually fly. I will admit that when I sometimes caught them without holding their wings I had a mini-panic when they flapped around in my hands.


Oliver with 4 or 5 chickens

Finally the totes were all filled and piled into the truck. Oliver drove it over to the greenhouse and got as close as he could in the snow, which ended up with the truck just down a small hill, but still very close. When we opened the totes the chickens were all huddled in together and looking rather cuddly. They made no attempt to climb out of the totes, so we had to kind of dump the totes over and encourage them to check out their new home. They seemed to get happy rather quickly after the ordeal. We closed up the remaining holes in the greenhouse, moved the nesting box and various chicken supplies in, and then got back in the truck to go deal with the second load.


Settled and cuddled


The chickens were unsure of this new and white tunnel

Oliver backed down the hill and backwards up the driveway of the big white house and then as he pulled forward and turned towards the street, the truck got stuck. When we got out to see what the problem was, we couldn't really tell. The wheels were on the ground, not really dug in at all and the snow was not very deep. We got some snow shovels and tried to dig the truck out, but that didn't work. So then The Logger tried bouncing on the back bumper to get some weight on the tires, no luck. He and Oliver pushed while I drove, still no. Then Max called and Oliver told him to bring the Jeep and some chains to try and pull us out. While we waited, we tried putting wood under the tires to give them something to grip to, but nothing was working. Finally Max and Bonnie arrived with the Jeep, but our angle was so weird that the Jeep couldn't do much and when we tried to put the Jeep at a better angle it ended up getting a little stuck in the snow. Finally we decided that since there were so many people there, Bonnie should drive the truck and the other four of us would push (I would like to state for the record that I only suggested Bonnie should drive because she is pregnant and falling in the ice and snow would stink. I did not suggest she should drive because she isn't tough, ok?). This crazy idea actually worked and the truck bounced forward and the wheels caught.


But why is it stuck?


Very bad angle for the rescue Jeep

But the story is not over yet! The truck now had to move backwards to have enough room to pull forward down the driveway and onto the street. The Logger got in and started to back it up, only to get stuck again, this time at a slightly less ridiculous angle. So we got ready to push again, but this time it didn't want to come out. We were able to hook the Jeep up to it again and with the Jeep pulling and three of us pushing, the truck got out of the ditch we had dug ourselves and aimed straight at the road. Hoo-ray. It's worth mentioning that Talula was asleep in her car seat in the Jeep through all of this.


What was left after the truck was finally out

Oliver then went with Bonnie and Max to the Inn to help his dad with something that needed to be done that afternoon and the Logger and I headed back to catch the last load of chickens. This should have been pretty quick and simple as well. The remaining chickens were mostly closed into one of the chicken houses and we had already brought over the extraneous stuff and gotten that mostly set up. So I ran around catching the chickens, sometimes asking The Logger to help me corner them. One particular breed of chicken is super speedy and hard to catch, but we eventually got all the ones not trapped in the house. When we went to get the ones that were in the house, that went super fast until the end when there were only a few left. We quickly realized that we could not have more than one white chicken in a tote, because those ladies are just too crazy. I started getting dizzy chasing the remaining chickens around, so The Logger took over. He's a very tall guy with a long reach, so he just kind of reached out and grabbed them like it was the easiest thing in the world. I have to practically get on top of them to catch them because I need two hands, but he just used his ninja skills and packed the rest of them up.

Then back into the truck and over to the greenhouse. Unfortunately we could not make it up the driveway even half way. It's a far enough walk to the greenhouse from where we were and those totes of chickens were pretty heavy. We carried two loads to the greenhouse when the Jeep showed up with Bonnie and Oliver. Oliver backed the truck out to the street and let the Jeep in first, then he attempted to back the truck up the driveway by flooring it with a good head start from the street. He only got a little further than we had. So we loaded the chicken totes on top of the Jeep and drove the remaining chickens over in that. Meanwhile several other people had been trying to get up the driveway, because there are more houses behind the big white house. Albert was worried that the plow would come and wouldn't be able to plow the driveway because of the truck. We got the rest of the chickens into the greenhouse speedily and then The Logger and I took the truck back to Teleion Holon, all before the plow came. Those freaking chickens better be so grateful.


Happy chickens

After we got back we threw our things together and headed out to spend the holiday with The Logger's family. We did not get stuck on the way there. Amazing.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

Last night we went over to Theo's for a winter solstice party. It's hard to believe that last night was already the shortest day of the year and that days will start to slowly get longer. It is not hard to believe that it is winter though; a two day snow storm just ended as we were leaving Theo's party.

It was pretty much just the Teleion Holon crew at the party due to the weather. It's a good thing we're a big crew, because there was no mistaking that it was indeed a party. Theo's house is pretty amazing, and there's a little space with really fun acustics where he's got his instruments set up. Guv did a little one-man rock-out on the drum set with a microphone and sang a song about people being good and doing the right thing. It included lyrics like, "listen to your mom and knock down all the junk food factories." I managed to forget my camera, as usual, but Theo took some pictures, so maybe I'll be able to post evidence of this occasion after all.

I wandered around the house a little during the musical session. It's a nice sized house and it looks like someone put a lot of thought into it. When I went upstairs the only room with an open door was easily recognized as Theo's room, so of course I went in and looked around. His room kind of reminded me of a dorm room with all its mis-matched posters and printed quotes on the wall along with a lingering incense smell. He had a hand written sign that said "Strength" above the bathroom mirror, which I thought was pretty awesome. What better way to start your morning? Anyway I think Theo reads this blog and I should stop before he thinks I'm a total creeper, which I am.

Theo's such an interesting guy and I'm really glad we got to go over to his place. I had just been saying to Oliver that I thought it was a little odd that Theo was over here all the time, but we had never gone to his place. There's so much to learn about a person from their home and I don't just mean wandering into a bedroom. For example, none of us knew that Theo had a drum set. I never would have pegged Theo as the kind of guy to have one. I guess there's a downside to this kind of intimacy as well; if people came into my room and hung out they'd quickly realize the extent of my zebra and plastic animal obsession.

All right everyone, I'm adding some new features to this blog. I was helping Oliver create a Teleion Holon blog and was inspired by some of the features I saw in other blogs we looked at.

There is now a navigation bar at the top of the page under a pretty terrible masthead. I'm not much of a graphic artist and I don't have any image editing software, so it'll have to do for now, until I can either get some software, or find someone to make one for me. Out of love. If you know of any free (read: illegal) copies of Photoshop, I'd love to know about it.

Another wonderful new feature is that by clocking the daily photo (Foto!) you will be taken to a full sized image. This is my second favorite feature after the nav link "The People," which sounds like a cult name, but is actually a little about the people I write about most frequently.

Everything else is self explanatory. To most people.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

I'm finally done planting in the greenhouse! The last few times I went over there were not so terrible because I brought my computer and listened to Vegan Radio podcasts. My brain just needs something to think about and react to if I'm going to be doing repetitive tasks for hours at a time.

I went back to the greenhouse yesterday to make some row-cover magic and I took my camera.


Three and a half rows of salad goodness. Can I just point out how wonderful it is to listen to a vegan talk show while planting salad greens. It's pretty sweet.


These half-circle wires, called wickets for obvious reasons, were put in about 5-6 feet apart down every row.


A double-layer of row covers will keep the plants warm. Putting the row covers on wickets will prevent the row covers from freezing to the plants and will also stop them from pressing the plants down.





And then The Logger helped me knock all the snow off the greenhouse roof so that light could come in and the roof did not get too heavy. We got a crazy amount of snow since it started yesterday so this process of knocking snow off the roof with the high-tech broom gadget will need to be repeated as often as necessary. The Logger loves this job though, so it's good thing about winter for him.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

Yesterday was more greenhouse planting. The sides of the greenhouse had so much snow an ice on them that they could not be rolled up, so we had to till with the greenhouse all closed, which made it kind of smoggy. We left it open for a few hours and I'll go back today to do more planting. No one can work in there when it's full of exhaust.

The Logger had come with me to give me a hand with rolling up the side (abandoned) and starting up the rototiller. It may be a little sad to admit, but I have never started a lawnmower in my life and the rototiller engine is the same idea. In my defense though I moved to the desert with my family before I was old enough to mow lawns, and we didn't have a lawn in Tucson, because that would be stupid.

Anyway, after much annoyance, the damn thing finally started up and The Logger started tilling. He had complained that he was moving in slow motion that day and true to form the greenhouse was already stinky though he had barley gone a few feet. So five-foot tiny Krysta took the tiller from six-foot extra-large Logger and speed-tilled the rest of the bed. Classic.

Anyway I want to put up pictures of the greenhouse once it's all planted. The salad looks so amazing and yummy. And it is.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

After years of avoiding it, I finally caved and purchased some long underwear. Long gone are the days where I would only be cold running to and from the subway. I spend enough time outdoors to justify this purchase, no matter how much I was trying to fight it. They're even nice indoors on chilly days, because Bonnie and Oliver don't heat the whole house, just the kitchen, which makes sense. No point in heating the rooms no one spends time in. It's cheaper and more efficient to just put on a sweater (and long underwear).

When it gets so cold the car doors won't close because the latch froze, it's time to think about ways to keep yourself as warm as possible. The Logger is outside right now trying to get his car door shut. I guess that one of the hidden dangers of smoking. If he had just let the chickens out and gone back to bed he wouldn't be stuck outside freezing, waiting for the car to heat up. At least it's not snowing.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

When I came back from NY after my ob had ended I rented a car and made some vague facebook references to having a puppy. To clear things up, I did not get a puppy. My friend Angie, who lives in Poultney. Bella was staying in the SoBro house with our friends while Angie had a job with the admissions department of Green Mountain College. She had to be on the road recruiting at high schools for a few months, so she was not able to look after Bella. When she found out that I would be going to NY for a job she suggested that I drive back with Bella, because her job is over now. She paid for the rental and I got to hang out with Bella. The poor little puppy got carsick though.

The drive back was a little crazy. The directions I got from google were not great and they were all back roads, often unmarked. I was able to get back without asking for directions or getting too lost. Four hours is not bad time. Returning the car turned out to be a bigger problem because no one knew where the Budget was. The Logger and I drove around Rutland forever trying to find this place. I now know Rutland pretty well. But this stupid Budget was tucked way back behind a shopping center and the sign in front was super tiny. I finally called Budget to find out exactly where it was. That's the last time I trust anyone else's directions. Poor Angie was waiting there forever. She doesn't have a cell phone, so I wasn't able to call her. Of course the place was closed when I finally got there so they charged my card for it. Gr.

While I was in NY, I took Bella to the dog park on Thanksgiving. She was kind of hilarious because she was so excited to be out, but she was also terrified. The other dogs tried to play with her, but she immediately jumped on my lap, or tried to cower behind Slocum, who had come with us.





I took her back to the SoBro house after that and hung out with my friends there while they cooked a turkey. Their dinner prompted me to go out and buy some fruit while I waited fr 6pm to roll around, which was when I planned to head over to my own Thanksgiving, which would be vegan. We had a little dance party during all of this.



And of course, the vegan Thanksgiving was amazing. Because really, everyone knows that the best part of Thanksgiving dinner are the sides.







Squash, sweet potatoes, kale, stuffing, bread, cranberry sauce, and dumplings (which I purchased from Dumpling Man). The best Thanksgivings I've ever had were the vegan and vegetarian ones.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

Snow today!!! White, beautiful, amazing snow! I took Nisi out to the meadow and we ran around a bit. That dog loves snow so much! She ran about scooping snow into her mouth and jumping on me. What a wonderful way to start the day.

Theo came over today with the Sunday Times. He encouraged a fire in the dinning room, read the paper, talked a bit about blogging, attacked me with magazine perfume (ugh) and then took off. I guess it's hard for anyone to want to work when it's so cold and quiet outside. At least the chicken fence got fixed today and the eggs got washed. I guess since Alex left I've been less excited to work because I end up spending hours working alone, which makes me feel a little sad. I'm just so used to working with a bunch of people and spending down time alone, not the other way around. It's an adjustment, I'll get used to it. The days have been colder and darker, which probably doesn't help my mood.

Anyway I've decided to spend Christmas here in VT. Christmas has no religious meaning to me, but is a good excuse to be with the people you love (though it's a little troublesome that I need an excuse for that). I was going to have Christmas with my aunt in the Poconos, but the more I think about it, the less I want to go. Maybe if they were having it at home on Long Island I'd still be into it, but getting there sounds like a huge ordeal during an already nightmarish time to travel. They want to ski and make a big sport of the holidays, and I really just want to be warm and relax. Plus I don't like to ski. Of course the main reason I don't want to go is because I can't think of anyone I'd rather spend the holidays with than The Logger. I missed him terribly last time I left and I really don't want to repeat that so soon. Maybe I could ask him to come with me, but I think we'd both be happier here.

Vermont is the place to be.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

I've been neglecting my blog and my photos. I have a bunch on my camera that need to be posted, but I am being oh so lazy. My sleep pattern is still all messed up and I usually blog in the morning. The Logger and I drove this woman, who works at the inn, to the bus station in White River Junction (90 minutes from here) in the middle of the night two nights ago and then picked her up last night at the same time. There was a bit of an ordeal involving some crap-tastic cars and shortage of gas and coolant, but everyone eventually ended up where they needed to go and she was very thankful for it.

A few people made negative comments about the whole ordeal and thought that maybe we had been taken advantage of or "suckered," but I really don't feel that way. I think that helping the people around you and those part of your community is generally more important than getting a few more hours of sleep. After all, working here on this farm I get no pay, but I am given food and shelter, the minimum needed to do this kind of job. She gave us gas money, the minimum needed to do this favor. I did the driving for the second night and other than being paid back for gas, I don't really want anything extra. I don't have a ton of money, but I'm not hurting and I never feel ok taking money from someone in a worse situation than myself, especially when I don't need it. Helping people can be its own reward. That being said, I am not keen on being taken advantage of and I let this woman know that we only took her because she had no other options and was in a bind. I am not so eager to do it again and I know The Logger isn't either.

The only regret I have is that the house is full of guests renting the 9 extra rooms for the weekend and they were up 2 hours after we got back. The kids are so loud in the hallway and I was not able to sleep in like I thought I would be. Maybe if I had known that would happen my willingness to help would have diminished slightly. I'm not a fan of napping, but I did sleep for a few hours this afternoon. That helped. Early to bed tonight. I can't wait to be back to waking up naturally at 6am.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

Oh to be back in the VT. I feel like I never left, except that my sleeping pattern is all screwed up now. I knew I would miss it here, but I don't think I'd realized just how much. Some of my friends and co-workers commented on how grumpy I was and they were right. I didn't even enjoy my job as much as I usually do, and I love my job. Bradford even made fun of me for not wanting to climb the extension ladder. It's true that they freak me out, even though I love climbing ladders, but it's not like me to say no. Normally I just tell myself to suck it up and get on the rickety thing, reminding myself that I have never fallen off one, nor have I even seen anyone fall off of one. This time I told him I'd rather not. So he did it. Lame Krysta.

It didn't help that my normal "whatever" attitude clashed sharply with the "hurry up and freak out" attitude of one of my co-workers. I'm a bit spoiled by working with Bradford all the time because he trusts me enough to just let me do my job and know that it will all get done right. He also knows that if I have a problem, I'll ask for help. This other person did not know me. I guess I don't blame him for freaking out a little. He's very serious about his job and I like to goof around. It would be a little worrisome to walk into a theatre and see that your Master Electrician is 5 feet tall and looks like a kid. And she also sends silly emails and takes huge chunks of time out of hang and focus to teach interns and unskilled labor how to do the jobs they were hired for. But, it's low-budget. Not everyone knows how to focus every light and some people are trying to get over a fear of heights. I know everything will get done on time and I would never decline to answer a question just because we could potentially be done 3 hours early. If given a choice between working with people who know what they are doing but are annoying, and working with my friends who don't know everything but want to learn, I'll work with my friends every time. That's why I work for Keen company. I enjoy their work ethic of "If it's not fun, it's not worth doing." I like to keep my job fun. But not everyone find joy in the same things that I do. Some people don't care much for the process and only get something from the finished piece. I am not that person, but I think my co-worker was. At least Bradford got a laugh out of all of our bickering.

After everything though, the lights were done and I think the show looks great. And a shameless plug happens here: Go see Beasley's Christmas Party at Theatre Row if you happen to be in the NYC area. The designer folks did not even have to come in on Monday. I had hopes of leaving the theatre by noon on Monday, but I ended up having a ton of extra work. I left NY at 7:30, even though I had planned to leave at 5. Who knew that you needed a real credit card to pick up a rental car, instead of a debit card. Well too bad I had left it in the Bronx and I had to go all the way up there to get it and then head back to 43rd. Ah well. It was a nice night drive, but I was so tired by the end. I got in at 11:30. The cute freaking logger of mine had waited up.

So now it's back to Vermont farm work. I love it. I feel so relaxed again and I am catching up on all that sleep I lost in NY. I love living where I work. The subway is great, but not having an hour commute in the morning is quite wonderful. Not to mention the fact that I can not eat the lights at my other job, but I can eat the spinach I planted today. And I did. Tasty.

Theatre Row - New York, NY

Yesterday I had hoped to avoid the whole turkey situation, but I was not planning to meet my friends Daniel and Ceora for vegan dinner until later. The SoBro kids made a pretty big deal about the turkey and at one point asked me to admit that it was a good looking turkey. I avoided the question. I did not, however, miss my turn to give my thanks, which I would love to relate here.

This Thanksgiving I have more to be thankful for than I have for a long time. I am thankful for all for the changes I have made in my life to get where I am today. I am thankful for my new friends and my new lifestyle. I am thankful for my old friends who have supported me through all of these changes as well, even changing dinner plans so that I could be with them for this holiday. I am thankful for my family who has also supported and put up with all my craziness. I am overly thankful that even though the economy is in terrible shape and people can't find jobs, I am still able to work for Keen Company (another set of people I am thankful to know), so that I can continue to work without pay on the farm. More than anything, I am thankful for John, my wonderful new friend who loves to wear purple crocs while he cuts down trees. I feel so lucky to know someone so wonderful.


I am also thankful that my best friend Joe is not answering his phone or even turning it on anymore because I don't want to talk to his stupid-face anyway.

SoBro House - Bronx, New York

I'm so tired! Why am I even posting? You know how when you get so tired you can't even function enough to get yourself to sleep? That's what I'm doing now.

Today was one of those stupidly long days. I was so proud of myself for having gotten all the lights up and working at the time I said I would have it all done, but then focus took forever. Higgs and I ended up staying and working while everyone else went to dinner and got more work done in that hour than they had gotten done in four hours. It wasn't really their fault, there were too many people there and the wrong people were up on ladders. This should have been a much easier focus than it was.

At some point between last night and this morning one of our rented I-Cues got broken. I feel very certain that it wasn't our crew that did it, but was one of the people who have been passing through the building for the film shoot that's going on. First of all, I'm mad because these film people barge in here and we have to move all of our stuff out of the space we rented. They have infinitely more money and people than we do, yet we have to cut into our time to clear a path for them. Then somehow one of our really fancy expensive instruments gets broken. Luckily the rental guy was cool about it and is bringing a new one in the morning. I don't know who' paying for it and how much it will be though.

I have been doing nothing other than working. I miss VT so much. I miss the logger. This trip would have been 100% better if he were here. My friends are great, I just have so much trouble keeping up with everything because I have no desire to. I need someone else who agreed that faced-paced is not always the best thing ever. SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE PEOPLE!!

OK, enough of this. I'm off to bed.

SoBro House - Bronx, New York

I'm going to bed three hours later than usual and setting my alarm for the same time as always. Ugh. I hate not living where I work. Do I really need to get up 2 hours before it's time to be at work? /Whine.

Trip was fine. Nothing exciting to report. I've missed my friends and I was crazy-happy to see them, especially when Slokes started singing Aladin to me for some unknown reason. However, I miss Vermont like crazy already. I feel a little sad and worn out. I think I just need sleep. On the walk to the train tonight I couldn't help but kick myself for ever considering giving up my Vermont farm dreams to live in the South Bronx. It was never really much of an option, but it maybe could have been if I had pushed for it. I'm so glad I stuck with my original plan and went off to live in a greener place. No one can seem to wrap their heads around my not needing a car or tons of money out there. Maybe if they understood this amazing WWOOFer lifestyle of mine they'd all be running to farms too.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

I don't know if you readers follow the news very much, but there are some amazing things happening in Washington right now. Aside from Mr. Obama and the amazingly progressive-looking team he's building, congress is stepping up as well. The democrats are taking congress by storm, and while I do not identify myself as a democrat, I do recognize that they have a better chance of making the world healthier than the republicans seem able to or interested to do. The House Energy Committee just booted it's chairman and replaced him with someone who auto-makers have called an "irrational environmental zealot." I like that idea. Change some policies Mr. Waxman, because what we have is not working.

I'm pretty sure it was American auto-makers who said that if they were required to put seat belts in all cars they would go bankrupt. That never happened. And if they survive until January for our new president to help them out, they will no longer be able to get away with the excessively carbon-emitting crap they have been manufacturing, which helped get them into this spot in the first place. But, I'm ranting now. Anyway, read this.

Let's talk about Vermont. Recently I've been having bad dreams. Or rather, dreaming of bad memories. I wake up feeling sad, but relieved that I'm here. I guess if all of those bad memories didn't exist, I wouldn't be here, but it stinks that it took all of that to get me moving on a path that feels like the right one for me. This is something I've always wanted to do, but had always been waiting for the right time to do. I guess after the shit finally hit the fan for my life in New York, I realized there was no "right time" and that if I wanted to be a happier person, I didn't need to wait for an invitation.

A few days ago I woke up obscenely early (as I tend to do here), and started writing down my ideas and plans for what I want to do with myself. A long-term plan. The absolute perfect farm situation for myself. It's the first time I ever tried to organize my thoughts and goals into something anyone could read and understand. In the past I've always just sort of alluded to this farm idea where I wanted to focus on animals. My parents especially would like to know exactly how I would make something like this work. The answer is that I don't know yet, but I am finally starting to figure it out. So, over the next few days I'm going to work a little more on this idea and then post it here for your reading pleasure. The more it takes shape, the more excited I am that this is want I want to do with my life. I never felt this certain about theatre. Three and a half year of college and I always had my doubts. This, however, I know I want.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

Alex has been reorganizing the kitchen since I got here, because oh man, it was a bit of a mess. The kitchen looks so much better now, and is about a hundred times more functional. To finish it off and put in a little last Alex touch, he put a rock garden behind the kitchen sink.




Oliver thought it might be funny to mess with Alex a little so he started putting things in the rock garden in strange ways. He balanced a spoon on a rock, a small shovel, some food. Here's the latest and the one with the most effort:



And here's my favorite, The Zen Bagle:

A collaboration between Oliver and Alex.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

It's snowing here and outside looks quite lovely. I'm sitting in front of a fireplace, so inside feels quite lovely. Alex is napping on the rug and everything is so cozy and quiet I thought I had better just give a little blog update. A little one.

Today Guv and I painted the new egg washing table that I built a few weeks ago. I put him in my over-sized painting shirt so he wouldn't get his clothes all messed up. I wish I had thought to get a picture of it, because the thing was huge on him and he got paint all in his hair. The table looks nice and white though. Tomorrow we are going to get colors and go crazy. That was Guv's idea and I love it. That should be a fun project and a nice addition of color to the egg station. It's important to support emerging artists, especially if they happen to be three years old.

Bought my train ticket today. It's official now: I'm heading back to NYC for a few days. This is probably a good thing anyway. My comp is being funky and could use a visit to the mac store doctors. My feet will also be warm for nine full days. Right now I'm lucky if they are ever warm for nine full minutes.

Anyway, here's what I'll be missing:

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

Two nights ago I got an email from the Bradford asking me to come back to NY for a week to work on the next Keen Company show. It was tempting because I don't have any money coming in up here and I still have those student loans to pay off. However, I'm a saver, not a spender, so I'm not struggling and I really don't want to leave. I especially don't want to be in NYC for Thanksgiving. But... the money is pretty decent for only a week of work, even after travel expenses, so I took it. I'm a sellout.

I am not happy to be leaving my cozy life here to go stress out on the subways of NY, but I'll deal. NY comes scarily natural to me, even though I'm the kind of person who would much rather lay in grass on a sunny day before collecting eggs from the chicken coop. What a crazy switch it is to go between the two, but nothing seems to faze me anyway. I tried to get The Logger to come with me so I could take a little piece of Vermont with me, but he was not having it. "I promised myself I would never go back to New York Shitty." That's the end of that I guess.

To finish this post off, here are some pictures Guv took with my camera on November 1st. It was a warm day and we went over to the meadow near the house. Here are the results:


Oliver and Nisi


Bonnie (I love this picture)


Guv's typically mismatched socks. What kid could resist taking one of his feet?


Everyone sitting on the hillside


A self portrait



Talula in the sun



The hidden banana in Talula's monkey costume

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

Remember the logger in Crocs? Well I've got another story about him. Oliver has been making super compost in the chicken coop by adding leaves and hay and anything compostable. We added a huge mound of leaves the other day and Oliver wanted to add a bunch of hay that had been sitting on a hay wagon rotting for a few weeks. The rot was not intentional. The hay was super wet, also not intentional, and super-annoying, because wet hay is practically impossible to move.

Logger-dude (whose name incidentally is John, which is not as fun) pulled the wagon to the front of the chicken coop with the tractor. The plan was to shove all of the hay out and then push it into the chicken coop with the tractor. Simple. No. The hay would not come out of the wagon. We stabbed at it with pitchforks for a while and made no headway. So Logger-man gets this crazy idea that cutting the hay into squares with a chainsaw will do the trick. The man must dream about chainsaws because I don't know if anyone else would ever think to cut hay with a chainsaw. Oliver liked the idea, and I encourage ridiculous ideas at all times, so he went and got the chainsaw.

So here's the deal readers, if you are ever faced with the problem of trying to move mounds of wet hay, just cut it with a chainsaw, because oh my god that crap works. It still took us another hour to get it all out of the wagon, but we at least felt like we were getting stuff done. I wish I had my camera and could have taken some pictures, because Mr. Chainsaw was still doing it in Crocs and Oliver had them on too. You're putting your feet in rotten hay guys.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

When I was in college I took a lot of Political Science classes. I took them because they were taught by the best teacher I have ever had. His name was Robert Jessen (and I imagine it still is). He changed the course of my entire life by changing my cynicism about the world to a real desire to make things better. He helped me see that the ultimate solution is not to watch the shit hit the fan and then say "I told you so." He taught me that just being educated is only the first step. He also introduced me to my hero Scott Nearing. Without him I probably would not be working on this farm now.

One of the classes I took focused on environmental politics. One of the books we read was Hope, Human and Wild by Bill McKibben. The book was incredibly interesting and offered some real hope that not all governments and people were incapable of dealing with the major issues that plague the world today.

Yesterday Bill McKibben spoke at Long Trail School in Dorset and I was able to go see it with the Teleion Holon crew. The talk was short and not really mind-blowing in any way, but I think it was important. What Mr. McKibben was trying to get at is that each of us as individuals can not single-handedly stop global climate change. What we do as individuals is important, but the time has come for the governments of the world to step in and really get things moving quickly and drastically. He believes that if the whole world were to become more aware and have a goal and standard that is easily understood, it will be easier to demand better policies from our governments. He is basically trying to spread the word one person at a time. So here is the website he is promoting, which I encourage people to check out. Education is the first step. By raising awareness to people everywhere world governments would have an impossible time continuing to ignore the issues and the much needed solutions.

So yes, maybe the shit really is hitting the fan right now, but it's not over yet. Things don't have to get worse. I think the world can recover from this. Nature has the most amazing ability to heal itself. If we can stop making the problem worse, then maybe over time things can get better. I'm not sure that Mr. McKibben was right when he said it was too late to fix what has already begun and that our only option is to stop it from getting worse. We were wrong about how long it would take to see the effects of global warming, I can only hope that Mr. McKibben is wrong about how well the Earth can heal. I don't consider myself an optimist, but I need some optimism on this situation. I don't know if people can function on such a large scale if they don't have a glimmer of hope to aim for.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

I have so many things to say right now, where do I begin?

Let's start with Obama. I am so glad we just elected a rock star of a president. I found out at 6am the next morning and I was as happy as a 6 year old on Christmas. What I am even happier about is that he did not just barely win, he took the polls by storm. This was not an election that left half of the country grumbling, it showed the world just how ready the American citizens are to start cleaning up this horrible mess that we've made. So way to go America. I was never ready to pack up and head to Canada, I was ready to stand by and defend the fact that not all of us are represented by the current government. I think we are finally working towards a government I'll be proud to call my own. I didn't want to hang out with a bunch of stinky Canadians anyway. My only regret is that I now know that my life dreams of burning a draft card will not be coming true. A small price to pay I suppose.

Moving on to the chickens. A little while before I got here a chicken was injured in the gate to its pen. We think it broke its neck. It was moved to the greenhouse to heal in peace. We did an OK job of making sure it had food and water and for a while it seemed to be getting better. This is the infamous chicken that I picked up last week. A few days ago its health started to decline again. I'm not sure what did it. It was walking for a while. It would sometimes fall over, but it was able to get up again. Not anymore. The poor thing was stuck on its side and rubbing all its feathers off and really it wasn't pretty. It was kind of hearth breaking. Yesterday I brought her some food and she couldn't really eat it on her own because she couldn't lift her head well enough. So picked her up again and held her up to eat.

This stupid and pathetic creature actually got me to love a bird, melted my heart over a chicken. It's not so far-fetched considering my love of animals, but it is a little odd when you take into account my irrational bird fear. Anyway this afternoon I went to bring her some brussel sprouts and I found that she had died. I also found that I was more bothered by it than I thought I should have been. What the hell kind of insensitive person am I if I'm sad over this doomed bird? I guess the fact that it was doing so well gave me hope and that hope lead to a slight attachment. This got me thinking about the rest of the chickens. I guess I kind of like them too. I mean I spend a lot of time feeding them and cleaning out their houses and collecting their eggs. I even went out of my way to clean their water buckets and I'm currently trying to make their houses nicer.

A while ago I started questioning my feelings about working on a farm that raised animals for food. When I first began my search I specifically did not want to work anywhere that had animals for food. I felt it would emotionally stressful for me and I didn't agree with the practices. However, the more I thought about it, read about it, and talked to others about it, I started thinking maybe it wouldn't be the worst thing ever. True, I think it would be better if people did not eat animals at all. However, if they are going to, I think they should buy from small local farms that take good care of the animals and make sure they are happy and healthy. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to work at a place like that. Maybe I would be able to do it because I would be able to see these animals living healthy lives.

After this whole chicken episode I have decided it doesn't work that way. I can't even tall most of these chickens apart and I would still be upset if they were to become food. When I saw this one injured chicken, who was so obviously not a happy chicken, still fighting to eat and keep living, I knew that no matter what the circumstances, it's really not OK with me to kill something that wants to live. Furthermore, if I can get attached to one nameless chicken and feel some fondness for 50 others which simultaneously annoy the crap out of me, then I'll never be able to work on a farm that kills their animals. There is just no way I would not get attached.

I think there is more to gain out of any animal than its monetary value and I think that is something worth standing by. So there you have it. My list of possible farms to work on just got much, much smaller. So be it, I can't change who I am and I don't want to.

How awesome would a vegetarian president be?

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

To keep us all up to date, it looks like Oliver and Bonnie did not get that farm. They put in a bid, but someone else put in a higher one. However, Oliver went and met with some bankers during this process so that they could get to know him and perhaps give him a loan. The loved him and apparently want to support what he and Bonnie do. So even if they don't get this farm, they will probably be able to get a loan for another farm. I hope that this ends up being a good thing and allows them to find a farm that is closer to their price range.

To check in on myself I'd like to state that it feels good to come back to the same place every night. It's nice to know where I'll be sleeping a week from now. Even though it's not my place, or my home, it is stable and I like it and I have more privacy than I've had in years. It's nice to not be stressing about what happens next. I don't need to worry about it yet.

All of that, I can of course do without. I know it's just frilly stuff that I don't need. I have enjoyed roaming around for the past few months and planning my future trips. I have missed this calm and quiet though. Things in Dorset were quiet enough, but they were not so calm. I had friends there, but it still felt different. When I'm here, it's like all that other shallow crap that people in theatre worry about really doesn't matter. Here I feel like the problems are not just a way to pass the time. I don't really know how to explain it without annoying myself, so let me give an example.

I've been feeling a little sick the past few days. Last night I realized I had an another health issue, which required an actual doctor, which is probably why I got a cold that no one else has. My body is trying to fight two things at once. I mentioned this to my friend and he insisted we go out that night to Bennington to go to the hospital to get myself taken care of. I didn't realize it until we got there, but my friend is not the most comfortable person in hospitals. He went out of his way and put himself in an uncomfortable situation just to make sure I got better. If it had been up to me, I would have waited until the next day and been miserable, because I wouldn't have wanted to ask anyone to do any favors for me.

It's not that I don't have friends who would do this for me, it's just that all of my friends know me too well to argue with me about it and insist that I change my mind. This friend doesn't know that I hate being taken care of, not because I don't need it, but because I don't want to feel like I need it. I'm glad he doesn't know this, because it feels nice to have a friend worry about me. I've never let anyone do that before. And we won't even start on how nervous he gets when I start using power tools. Ha.

I shall end this post by changing the subject suddenly and drastically and say that the only thing AZ has over the rest of the country is that they don't bother changing the time for daylight savings. There. I stated a preference for Arizona. Remember it, because it won't happen again. Until I wake up an hour early tomorrow morning.

Also:
DON'T FORGET TO VOTE! Unless you plan on voting for McCain, in which case please reconsider not forgetting to vote, sleeping all day might sound like such a good idea to you. KIDDING!