a routine is a routine is a routine

For as much as we – humans, as a collective, intelligent species – would like to pretend every kind of knowledge is at our mercy, sleep is still a very elusive mechanism which we cannot really define, much less comprehend. It is, as I write, ten minutes to five in the morning: the birds are starting their singing activity, to which contribute the distant gravely sounds of what I suppose is (or are) a cow; even further away, an engine faintly roars. As much as I would like to get full, uninterrupted eight hours of sleep, it has been three consecutive nights I have woken up around this time. I had yearned for watching the sunrise, to experience the full scope of the Slovenian daytime; lo and behold, here it is.

Sleep is a very sensitive thing. Looking at it from the outside, nothing much seems to be happening; but pay a little more attention, both to its processes and its influence in our daily, wake-life, and its complexity starts to show. Nobody sleeps exactly the same way, although the underlying fundamentals are probably generally the same for (almost) everyone. Jetlagging is definitely a real phenomenom; as of late, I've started to believe meal eating times also have a profound influence on these internal, ineffable rhythms of ours. It is now a little past 5 AM – there is not much point in trying to go back to sleep. I yearned for a little quiet time in the morning for work; lo and behold, here it is.

still some misadaptation to the schedule routine

What a hectic day. I came back to bed at 5:45AM, but never got into anything deeper than a light slumber: I had dreams, yes, but I was also always too aware that my body was too cold, and I went to regular waking life just a couple of hours later. The sun was, however, in its full force; we read a little in the back of the house, in which direct sunlight shines uninterrupted until noon, but soon had to be inside again. It was just too hot and strong. Strange weather, heh?

The prospects of a strong sun made it possible to try our first shared batch of laundry; we all need some fresh clothes for the upcoming trip to Metlika next Monday. Just as the washing machine finished the cycle (it took one hour and a half; I usually do it between fifteen or thirty minutes back home), some greyer clouds and very light drizzle came over. It is not easy to manage our actions in function of the weather, and the clothes didn't dry as quickly as they would had it been under direct sunlight.

cooking and getting back to work quickly

As I was worried about the laundry, I missed some of the cooking preparation for lunch. A dish of tomato sauced, boiled potatoes was decided upon, and we would have some sautéed cauliflower on the side, as well as a light and traditional Slovene cucumber salad. Oh, and pesto; we did some really good vegan pesto to go with bread.

The tomato sauce looked really nice. Alas, they are canned tomatoes – but Riccardo made it very savoury.

Ready to serve. We were treating ourselves very well.

Riccardo was, as always, very passionate about the job; it really is a privilege to share the kitchen with him – if willing, one learns a lot just by asking some questions. Unfortunately, the group wasn't reunited in its full force for meal time: there are things which you just cannot predict, and farm work that, given that there was an absence of heavy rain, superseded the nutritional need.

In fact, today was the heaviest day on the farm so far, work-wise. After lunch, we divided ourselves into two different tasks: the freshly-cut high grasses – Daniele had been at this for the whole period of lunch time – had to be raked into piles, so that they could later be collected, via a wheelbarrow trip, to a composting pile nearby; and there's also a lavender field which has been sharing the soil with some weeds; these had, too, to be pulled from the soil.

A very interesting place in the farm. This is a hexagon. The grass is still very high; soon, the landscape will radically change as we cut more grass.

There are some little piles of grass; those are raked, later needing to be put into the wheelbarrow and carried away.

Under the again present direct sunlight, one has to have the utmost care with sun protection and proper hydration. Not only that, to have some electrolytes handy is also a boon, as it helps restore some important nutrients for labor.

working quickly until getting indigestion

I'm exhausted. Truly, truly – I haven't felt like this in ages. Just before my nap, around 4PM or so, I was weeding the field of lavender. It was going well, until I found a particular root which was very strong; and I suppose I overdid my effort. Going down and up repeatedly triggered my low blood pressure, and I was getting a little tipsy; and working these strong roots made me suddenly very aware of my undigested lunch: I might have overeaten, and the potatoes were still very much present, all the while making themselves very known to the rest of the system.

We kept at it up until it started raining (somehow, I kept the laundry always under a tight eye, and nothing got wet); so it was a perfect time to take a break. NSDR protocols come in very handy in times of distress. Of course, the whole day was overshadowed by the irregularity of my sleep, but this physical, digestive discomfort was obviously the lowest point of the day.

After some rest, I went back into raking: it's much milder than having to remove deep roots from the ground. I was in the fields alone, while Daniele, still close, kept cutting the tall grass with the rotor shaver. This was a great opportunity to catch up on some records: I recall listening to Lagrimento, Ornette Coleman, even Against All Logic; it was time for experimentation and for some audio fuel to the work. Whoever rakes a field suddenly becomes much more comfortable with the idea of sweeping the floor.

The work never ends, of course: there is raking, and raking, and cutting, and cutting; after the piles are done, someone must come in with the wheelbarrow and remove the cut grass; it goes into a very big compost pile that will help naturally and organically fertilise the soil. The work we did today will keep the jungle moderate until next season; the fields look much cleaner, and there is also less room for mice to hide; at the same time, it exposes some bug habitats that might benefit the bird population (the hoopoe in particular). We kept running into slugs, larvae, other bugs; it is a really rich ecosystem and this really is a sign of a very healthy soil.

This amounted for more than one hour and a half. At some point I called it a day; invited Tiago and Hanna over for some sun salutations – Tiago in particular will find these very handy, as he nurtures the ambition to be a good climber –, and after a good, warm shower, I went to dinner. Alas, there was still no hunger, and I ate very little: I still feel some of burden of the heavy lunch. Tomorrow is another day, and I'll try to wake up earlier than usual – I deeply enjoy the morning work.