the inaugural morning, and an introduction to Titi, the cat
This didn't feel like the usual Saturday β but I suppose nothing will feel like usual for some time ahead.
It was the first night at Zelena Centrala. My mattress is definitely the thickest I've ever been sleeping on; whenever I sit or lay down on it, it feels like I descend twenty centimeters into the bed. It's a weird feeling, but yesterday I felt asleep just fine, as I was so exhausted from the travels.
When I woke up today β earlier than everyone else at the house β I went for a ALCAR and electrolyte powered cup of water, and a walk outside. It was not cold, but not summer warm either. This was probably 8AM or so, and Daniele was already working on the farm, so we talked a little; in the meantime, I was introduced to the farm cat, Titi, which was happily strolling around with a (live) mouse hanging from its mouth. It was entertained with the live prey for a couple minutes more, even indulging in some sort of make-believe paw fight, up until devouring the opponent, starting from its head. The mice are not very welcome in the farm; they eat the roots of the plants, and Titi helps keep them under control (this mouse, in particular, was quite pregnant).
some field recognition around the farm
I attempted a sun salutation, and shortly after went for a shower (not yet with cold water). In the morning, we walked around the farm and got to know some of its structures. There is a sort of old barn, that was converted into a kitchen β one that is much better equipped than the one at our house, and into which I hope we eventually transition. We got to know the pond, and we saw some flowers with which to make a sort of sleep syrup (these flowers are very much alike cicuta, Socrates' poison, and so I suppose we must be very careful to understand which plant is which).
We didn't work in the whole morning. After a pause for some homemade vegan biscuits (which were amazing, and I'm already trying to get ahold of the recipes!), we went further into the fields above the house, even getting into the woods at some point. At every handful of meters, there was something new to take note off: either an aromatic plant whose leaves could be used in cooking, or a place where a pond shall be created in the near future. The untrained eye will not notice many of these details, but for a farmer β specially for the land's farmer β every square will have its significance.
Daniele was to make us lunch, and he cooked some pasta for us. I spent that period putting some reading in, with the re-read of Ecology of Wisdom's introduction. The lunch was quite tasty, although I felt the lack of some protein (we won't have neither tofu nor seitan for a while), and he revealed some memories of past trips to southern America.
fencing, the first work on the farm
Afterwards, we went high into the fields again, where we separated upon two different tasks: the rest of the group would rake and pile the yellowed grassed all over a certain area (the garden, the lavender fields, the road), while Daniele and I prepared some fencing for the mini sheep ahead. To be fair, I got the sweeter end of the deal: raking is physically much more intense.
It was a very doable task. At some point, we realised there had been a mistake when putting the second half of the fence: it had more denser squaring at the bottom, supposedly to avoid smaller animals to leave, but we put it upside down. Daniele only noticed it after all was done β frankly, I would never have β and we will wait until somebody notices it (he supposes the villagers will notice it right away, and also notice that we won't do anything about it).
We came back to work after a short break. This time, I was to secure the fence to a preexisting wire than ran close to the ground. As it involved lots of kneeling, wire cutting and avoiding the fiery ants, this felt like some real work. At some point, I put my earphones in and listened to the remainder of Kara Jackson's Why Does The Earth Give Us People To Love. The sun was, at this point in the afternoon, the strongest it had been all day, and I feared for some sunburn. Luckily, nothing came out of it.
This later part of the day took, at most, one hour. It was probably less. By the time I was done with securing the fence, Daniele built the remainder of the fence: a small gate was improvised to allow for access to the field. NataΕ‘a joined us afterwards; she spent the whole day either in transit to or in Ljubljana, attending a photo shoot because of some publication (I've already noticed she seems to be into the world of publishing, and we'll have some interesting guests at the farm β I really must come back to the Slovene work).
finally, the first dinner I'd cook
Our fridge was resupplied with lots of vegetables, and I proposed to cook for the other three volunteers Hanna, Luka and Antonella: Paula will arrive tomorrow in the evening. I started a stew with some onions (they were quite small) and the stem of fresh garlic (which I had never had before: I cooked maybe half of the stem, and had a taste of it when raw); I later added two of the bulbs, which is what we usually cook. Just a taste of it proved very intense. I added some carrots, zucchini (with a much lighter peel than what we usually have in Portugal), a pepper, some corn; I added turmeric just at the end, and it was a little sour (or tart?), which I tried to correct with vinegar and salt. Maybe it was the lack of soy sauce. I was not too happy with the taste. I did do some eggplant on the side β cut in stripes, heated up on some olive oil and salt with a pan over it, as my friend Michele taught me β and it was amazing.
Tomorrow we have a free day. They will go to mass, but I'd rather not; I'll probably use the time to catch up on my Slovene, on my notes, on my computer work; and we'll see about the rest. I must start adding some pictures to these blog posts, and I might also edit this entry with some pictures from tomorrow.