putting some very hard work in for those who deserve it

As expected, I went to bed a little later than usual, and the night, although not necessarily rough, was a little cut short. I woke up at 6:30AM; had just enough time to get some sun and hydration, as we were shortly after on our way to Matjaž and Maja's farm, in a neighbouring village. This had been communicated just the day before – I was still in Ljubljana, strolling around the city during lunchtime – but they requested this help with the utmost urgency. It has been a tough Spring and Summer for many farmers, and at this point all that is left to do is work with whatever the weather permits. Their farm, in fact, had already been mentioned by Nataša in some casual conversation, among the lines of this being the sort of farm we should really get to see: not only because of it's dimension – quite big, with lots of fields available at view in the many valleys that surrounded their central storage structure –, but also, and maybe most importantly, that they do it as organically as possible. And while there is not, for now, any sort of serious production in Zelena Centrala, Matjaž and Maja have a steady stream of produce, and many families which rely on their vegetables. So it really is a whole different level of responsibility.

The work was very tough. We were mulching the fields with hay – all by hand, of course –, preparing and defending the crops from weeds and other possible nefarious scenarios, under an already quite high sun and with very little offer of shade. We managed to do the work of two days in just three hours; on a farm, having more sets of hands available really is a boon. And while it was interesting to see how a bigger, production oriented farm really works – in fact, most of the produce we consume comes from that farm, and from those fields – I'm not sure I'd trade our much more relaxed, non-garden-centric experience at Zelena Centrala.

taking a breather, and catching up with our own farm

On the afternoon, we had a meeting with Nataša and Daniele; it was the ideal moment to catch up from the pretty hectic combo of spending a week away, then coming back on Sunday and, in less than twelve hours, having worked through toughest working morning yet. Afterwards, we repeated the walk around the farm, akin to the one we had as we first came in (while Paula wasn't around yet.

The farm, unsurprisingly, looks quite different now: a great part of the weeds is gone, which lets the structures appear more exposed and more integrated with the landscape; we also discover that some more paths are now available. Unfortunately, I was a little tired, and couldn't shake the prospect of dinner out of my mind.

Tough day. Being tired is really not cool; but tomorrow we start even earlier, with the hopes of constructing a routine with work from 7AM to 11AM, and then from 4PM to 6PM. It seems a much more reasonable proposition, considering the heat patterns of the summer weather.