departing these parts for other parts

today is our last day here at sand holler farm. we are hopping about twenty minutes away to a different farm. at this farm, the wife is from thailand so i hope to learn some thai....and she cooks thai for everyone frequently i hear. this farm is called simmons family farm, they have horses that are rideable apparently. many more infos to come on this when we get there today and hopefully some pictures will be put up. so sorry the posts havent been happening. just didnt feel like it haaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

we have met an awesome family that got here maybe five days ago, very artistic and musically inclined. they have a 2 a 4 and a 6 year old. we have become so close in a very short amount of time. lifelong friends im sure. anyways bye, gotta pack up our stuff.

-austin

Ello lovelies!

I hope all is well with you all. The farm has been a bit low key the past couple days. We have been working in the garden mostly, planting seeds, transpanting, preparing new rows for future veggie humble abodes. Today we also worked in the woodlot, clearing out a rather large pile of brush. We would have taken before and after pictures - you would be amazed - but alas, no phone. sowwwwwy!

A couple wonderings we have had since our last post are such -

How fast is a shooting star traveling? It seems to cover such a long distance, and it is quite mind boggling to think about. If someone would be willing to explain such things to us, that would be swell. Also, starfish. When you cut an arm off of a starfish, and it grows into another starfish, or a worm or whatever....it works with multiple creatures if I'm not mistaken...would that starfish be able to communicate with it's other half on a deeper level (like would they share the same mind and memories and things?)? Just random thoughts.

Austin finished his book today, which is always exciting. I have only 7 chapters left of the Secret Life of Plants. I highly recommend this book to EVERYONE. It is so fascinating, I feel like my whole outlook on life in general is totally different now. I love it. And I love you.

chapter fye

yesterday and today is our days off. quite fantastic. i dont know if this place will ever feel like home but it certainly is a nice place to call it that for a while........anyways, i aint cryin, just peein my pants a little.

yesterday we went into Austin, started off the day at the humungous whole foods there. ate some good food, got fourty dollars worth of delicious beer to bring back. the weather was about seventy degrees and was super sunny all flippin day .

this photo doesnt do it justice at all. but its very large

we found a gigantic aloe plant that could easily swallow you up and make you feel very relieved and your skin smooth....

so after whole foods we started walking down a certain street and went to some record shops, i bought a gyuto monk tantric choir cd. we found some awesome graffiti along our path........

the man, who actually his birthday is coming up feb 5th. and we came across a flyer in austin about a concert/event celebrating his birthday on his birthday. which we are going to....

here is another awesome graffiti we stumbled upon

we went to a book store called brave new books, this book store was focusing on conspiracies and political stuff and they love ron paul and its like a place that graham hancock would go speak. i bought a documentary called "jesus in india" it focuses on jesus' lost years in the bible from the age of 12 to 30. its crazy the bible says nothing of this large portion of his life. i also bought a ron paul sticker for my car. after this we went to a pretty hopping street mostly full of hip shops and bars and healthy restaurants. we ate at a japanese place called zen. delicious.

we actually saw a man just riding down the bike lane in the middle of downtown austin on his horse....even funnier still, he was on his cell phone.

today we are watching "jesus in india" and i have begun writing letters to various peoples and working on some music. here is the address here if youd like to mail me or aimee something, we would love it.

Sand Holler Farm
1208 Sand Holler Rd
Dale, TX 78616

hearts and love.

chapter 4

hello to all you peoples out there! today was a very slow day cause last night was a glorious thunderstorm. which was quite nice because we happen to sleep in a loft that is directly under a tin roof, so thems cats and dogs coming down made quite a beautiful ruckus for us to cozy down with, so much so that i slept 12 minutes past my alarm, so the 80 or so chickens were let out a bit late and fed late. they happily cluck on. so yes, the thunderstorm caused quite a flood in and around the surrounding pasture lands so we had to move the donkey and some of the sheep and goats to a place that wasnt flooded, that was certainly a tough job because they didnt want to do this, there was a lasso involved. so yes, all work halted today because the garden had a lot of standing water and elsewhere were lakes also. so today aimee and i just cleaned the harvest house, which is where they prepare their csa boxes. i had a lengthy talk with the owner of this farm scott the physicist and aimee and i get to visit his lab at some point. now i am just drinking a guinness and hanging with the other wwoofers doing a crossword and aimee is playing the guitar. here are some various photos. unfortunately i did not take any pictures of the flooding, maybe tomorrow i will, it will still be there. much love i miss all of you very much! peace.

ausaimstinee - chaptero numbero threero

Today was a day of a day of a day la da ooooh! Aimee spent her time in the garden, pulling weeds and was given a secret test on her transplanting skills. Passed with flying colors! Austin worked on clearing out the herb bed in the morning, and then spent the rest of the day in the wood lot. They are clearing out a space in the woods for a new pasture, and he got to haul around big heavy wood pieces, and turn some of them into mulch. Aimee learned about gathering eggs (some of them are blue!), and then we both learned the evening duties for putting the animals to bed for the night. We then indulged in some super nintendo times, and are anxiously awaiting tomorrows big adventure!

here is our humble abode

written by austin-------- my piece idea to tell you today is if your not happy doing it then dont do it, dammit! its easy.

this morn we woke around eight and went to the bunkhouse to make breakfast. i made a duck egg sandwhich with pesto and collard greens. aimee had cereal and homemade pumpkin soup. we started work at nine. the work today was putting up a new fence, all the wwoofers helped with this. we got mostly done and the last holes we dug for the posts were filling up with water so we stopped to see if the holes would dry overnight, cause you cant set a post in a soaking hole ya flippin wacko. at one point some of the goats and sheep and donkey got out so we had fun gathering them up. work ended about five and we played on a huge swing they have and the old man that owns the farm went for a swing, it was quite entertaining. after that aimee and i went to the gas station and bought some beer and called our mothers. OH, and i got my own clicker for the electric gate at the end of the driveway, its for real. upon returning i worked on figuring out the unicycle and aimee drew a beautiful picture. shortly after this some of the wwoofers made everyone a delicious meal of black bean pumpkin soup and sauteed collard greens with onions and homemade biscuits. super good. now we are sitting around.
bonne nuit!

here is a snapshot of the fencingness. green shirt is scott giant man who is a physicist and he owns this farm, he comes out a couple days out of the week. very smart and awesome.

ausaimstinee - chapter 1

the degrees today was in the 70's, don't be envious, it is a deadly sin. we got in last night, to be welcomed by two lovely farm-folk, and a sky full of stars. our humble abode is situated in the heart of a beautiful garden, which is surrounded by a multitude of crazy critters. there is a guard donkey to protect us from mountain lions and coyotes - don't worry, it really works! we woke up this morning to the crowing of roosters, and the quackage of many many ducks. after rising we were granted a tour of the whole farm, and then we got to harvest some gigantic heads of broccoli for the csa baskets to be delivered tomorrow. after this, we were taught about bio-char, which makes compost happy lovey dovey good stuffs. we then got to ride on a john deere tractor which had been refurbished with an electric engine. this very green locomotive took us into the woods, where we gathered ragweed to be burned for the bio-char. this went on for quite a while, and then we were very glad to hear the clanging of the lunch bell as we were taking another batch to the pile. lunch was amazing. there were fritters, which had ceased to be fritters, but were still incredibly delicious. there were also veggie burgers (with warm bread), and the most delicious pumpkin soup known to man. afterwards, we went back into the woods, this time to pile up firewood. they are currently clearing out a new place for some of the goats, sheep and the donkey to graze. we did this for a while, and then returned to the garden, where we harvested turnips, arugula, lettuce, and other yummy type things for the csa baskets and the farmers market, which takes place every friday. austin continued with this, while aimee went up to the farm house to help prepare pesto, chimichala, and pumpkin blondies for the market. we are hoping that some of the yummies aren't sold so we may have some special treats. after this we went to the bunkhouse, where 6 other wwoofers are staying. we are currently watching a movie with them, after having had a good time getting to know everyone. we could not have asked for a better first day, and look forward to sharing the rest of our adventures with you!