MIA

The goats are missing. They followed me to the garden around 1:30pm yesterday and that was the last time I saw them. No one knows what happened and we searched for hours. We called all the neighbors and the police department. We biked, walked, and drove all over the vineyard baaing and calling their names. Maybe a dog scared them away? Maybe the ran after a car? Maybe the chased someone? Maybe someone took them? Maybe they're lost in the woods? Maybe, just maybe they'll come back? I realized I've never gotten attached to something to strongly in such a short period of time. I got Little Bit and Flora exactly a week ago. I haven't felt this sad in a very long time. I'm very confused as to what I'm feeling and what happened. I just hope they're okay and safe. I really wish they come back. I miss my goats.

work

Saturday, Sylvia and I now have a pretty good handle on milking the goats. The only problem is we aren’t getting nearly as much milk as we should be nor as much as my grandma is able to get out. We often max at a little over 2 cups in total. My grandma gets out about 5 or 6 cups. The goats are supposed to make about 8 cups total. A day we should be getting 16 cups of milk, but we only get around 5 cups.
I had to go to work today. Whenever I’m in public and living in a regular society I feel like I’m new in town. I have lived in Southampton for 14 years and I’ve worked at Annie’s all summer, but since it’s the only public relation I have and it happens once a week, whenever I go I feel overwhelmed with smells and sights. I know all the smells and I know all the sights, but not seeing them for a week at a time is a very long time. Living in the wilderness you lose complete track of time. I feel like I’ve been living like this for years, when in fact it has only been a little over a week. The tranquility and longer days are most likely the cause.
When I got back to the tent it was completely alone and around 9:30pm. Throughout this project I am working Saturdays 1-9pm and Sundays 11-6pm. Although it was late, I still had to milk the goats. This time my grandma was with us and I was sure she would get the same amount of milk we’ve accumulated since the last time she was here. I was right, she managed to get 5 cups of milk while we would make 5 in 2 days. I watched her very carefully and tried to figure out what she’s doing differently to get them to release more milk. Milking the goats takes around 30 minutes so about 10pm my family said their farewells and left. I was all-alone. Sylvia has gone to her friend’s for a party and called me saying she would be spending the night there. This would be the first night I’d be spending alone in the tent. I am a complete baby about being alone, especially at night, and better yet in the middle of nowhere. Surprisingly, I was fine. I was actually excited. The sense of security and the peacefulness of my natural surrounds made it possible for me to stay alone.

Today, Sunday, I woke up alone in the middle of the woods, surrounded by a very thick and misty fog and looking out to the open field is one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen. It’s almost as if the sky and land were frosted together and in the mist you can make out the outlines of other woodland creatures. The serenity that embodies me is empowering.
This morning I was up at 6am doing my chores. This is a little earlier than usual because I had to go to work at 11am. My dad arrived from Colombia today. My dad visits for a couples weeks in the summer every year. He came over around 9 am and helped me milk the goats. He had never milked goats before, only cows, but he got almost as much milk out as my grandma. Then I biked to work and made plans with my dad for later. When I got off from work at 6pm I went over to my house to visit him. We spend the evening together and then went back to the tent to milk the goats. This time my grandma came and milked them. She got 5 CUPS of milk! I still do not know how she does it.

decisions

Today I woke up and took a nice cold shower. My showers come from a hose connected to a well. Sylvia likes to heat her water with the sun first because it is very cold. This morning however was extremely hot. After my shower I milked the goats. While we milked them they ate the last bit of the food the farmer had given us for them. I would have to go to Agway and get them more food. Orlando came over and picked me up to go to Agway. On my way there I figured I should read up on goats to see what else I might need. Wow, goats very needy creatures. Goats are also like humans. They are very sociable animals, they get stressed, they require a lot of maintenance, and they like everything to be clean and orderly. Goats need to have a consistent routine in everything that goes on with them. Their diets have to be very balanced and nutritious or else all sorts of bad things can happen. And one of the most important things I learned is that for them to drink water it has to be crystal clear with no trace of hairs, insects, food, hay, grass, etc. Goats need a lot of water to produce milk and if they do not drink water their milk output decreases and their diets crash. I had been giving the goats water in a plastic container and I only changed it everyday. Turns out I have to constantly be checking that their water is clean and in a metal container so they do not absorb other tastes. I also got them some salt lick because it is very high in minerals and makes them drink more water.
Back at the farm, I took out the orchard/alfalfa hay mix I got for them and they went crazy. They hadn’t had hay since they got here so they were very excited and concentrated eating it. I then scrapped some salt lick into their feeder so they would drink while they ate. The goats are eating a lot more now and are starting to gain their weight back.
The sun has been scorching all day. Once I finished with the goats I did some laundry. The plastic bin I was using for goat water is own our laundry station. I put all my clothes in the tub of water with some Dr. Bronner’s soap and just let it sit. The sun really is the best cleaning detergent. While my clothes soaked, I mapped out the fence we are going to put up around our quarters. We then started collecting and gathering posts for it. When can’t build it until we get some actually fencing though. The fence needs to be built in the next few days because the amount of flies we have is outrageous, the smell is overwhelming, the goats try to get in the tent all the time, and now the chickens are crawling underneath the tent.
A problem we’ve run into is what to do with all our free time. Once the sun comes up around 6 am I am busy with my animals and housekeeping until around 9 am. Then we usually have some left over dinner for breakfast. But then we end up having the entire day until around 4pm to do anything that needs to be done. Sometimes we weed the garden, or go fishing, and other sorts of activities to fill our time. But this doesn’t happen everyday. With school around the corner my time will be filled with reading summer reading books. This relaxes me because I don’t feel like I’m wasting my time.

just the two of us

My grandma was not able to come this morning. UH OH! I have yet to figure out how to milk a goat and even if I were to try, Orlando won’t be here either to help wrangle and hold the goats down. I panicked for a couple morning hours, but then Sylvia and I agreed that we could do it. Orlando had showed Sylvia how to hold the goat from the horns the other day so she did that while Patricia hugged the goat in place. I decided it was now or never for me to figure out how to milk a goat. I tugged, squeezed, pulled, and pressed the udders in all different manners until I finally figured it out. I was milking a goat! Another awesome part about it is that we didn’t have to tie their legs together either. The only thing stopping the goats from running or fighting was Sylvia holding the horns. This is a lot to say because when we first started off milking it was Orlando holding the horns with all his might, me hugging the goat and rubbing the stomach, and my grandma tying the legs and milking. Now, all we need is Sylvia holding onto the horns and me milking.
This morning I took the goats for a walk. I find myself laughing right now because how often do you hear someone is taking their goats for a walk. Anyways, I was walking the goats through the woods when we came across a huge deer field. The goats trust me completely now and they don’t have a leash on them so when they saw the deer they ran off towards the tent as fast as they could. This was really surprising to me because:
1) I had never seen so many deer at once in my life and
2) there was this huge reindeer with gigantic antlers staring directly at me and not running away with the other deer. When the goats noticed I wasn’t running with them they stopped and started baaing (goat sounds) like crazy.
The entire time I was completely still just staring at the reindeer and field because I was so shocked and scared. Then when I heard the goats I reacted and walked away from the deer. I don’t really know how to better explain this experience, but I feel like the goats were trying to protect me or warn me in a way.
On a sadder note, Patricia has left us. It is now down to Sylvia and I. She had decided to go about this experience a little different from what Sylvia and I were doing. Her way of doing it only allowed her to do it for a week because that’s all she prepared for. Also, with school coming up soon she really needed to get her senior project together.
I was planning on doing some laundry today, but the weather was too humid and cold to dry anything. Everything was very wet from the rain the night before. With this humidity came a very powerful smell of feces and other bad odors around our living area. This needs to stop. After serious discussion, Sylvia and I debated whether to make a bigger enclosure for the goats and chickens or an enclosure around our campsite. We decided that the best and easiest thing would be creating an enclosure around ourselves to keep the chickens and the goats from attracting flies and bad odors to our living space.
Hopefully, tomorrow will be a lot better day weather wise.

pole fishing

FISHING! Today we went pole fishing. I woke up at 6:30 am. This is very normal now and not early at all because we go to bed around 9pm once the sun is completely set so we end up waking up when the sun rising around 6am. I started the day with my usual routine of feeding the chickens and changing their water. The chickens have successfully understood that I don't let them out of the pen until they all lay their eggs. Now we have 6 eggs each day by 11am opposed to 6 eggs after 4pm. I have also noticed that they are eating a lot less concentrate since they are out grazing most of the day. My grandma came over around 10 am to milk the goats. I tried again to figure out how she does it, but no luck. I really don't understand why I can't do it. This morning the goats followed me! I was so happy. I couldn't believe they trusted me enough to just follow me around. I started running to see if they would follow and they did. Then I hid in Orlando's car and they went crazy looking for me. We have created a bond. They no longer run away when I come near them and they aren't scared when I pet them. They eat right out of my hands and cry when they don't see me. I am so happy that they are friendly with me. The only problem is since they are still adapting to their new surroundings they are still a little freaked. Every time a plane flies by the go crazy running and looking for shelter and whenever a car comes they try to get in it. They do know where their pen is though and know that their food and water is over there. I am worried because they seem to be losing a lot of weight and aren't drinking or eating as much. Today they didn't produce even half of the amount of milk they made yesterday. Their hooves are also looking pretty beat up and dirty. I'm not sure if that's how they are suppose to be or if they should be taken care of. My main worries right now are figuring out how to milk them and how to milk them in a more comfortable way so that they aren't scared anymore and also getting them to drink and eat more. Around 11:30am Patricia's dad came over. He told us he could take us fishing and we got really excited. He drove to the pier in Sag Harbor while we biked behind. When we got there he gave use long wooden poles to fish with. I had never fished in my life before, but compared to the other fisherman with "real" poles, we got more fish with the poles. The poles were just a bunch of sticks taped together to make a fishing rod and then a fishing line attached at the end with a bob and hook for bait. We were their for a couple hours and we went through a lot of bait.
We had some problems with the hooks being too big and too small and the fish just eating the bait and not getting caught to the hook. In the end we caught 2 small snappers and 2 porgies. We actually caught 5 porgies but there are size regulations for those and they have to be over 8 inches long. Once we used up all the bait and called it a day, Sylvia walked over to Provisions and picked up the 25 lbs of walnuts we had ordered as a back up. Lately, we've had plenty to eat, but the walnuts are a good thing ot have on hand just in case we are low on food. Walnuts could actually grow out here and we are calculating how much 25 lbs of walnuts really is in terms of walnute trees. We have also been cooking with walnut oil, which we could also make if we had a walnut tree.
Back at the farm, we wrapped the fish in corn husks and put it in the grill. We also cooked up some poached eggs and roasted tomatoes with kale. Yummy! After living off of quinoa and zucchini for a couple days I was very delighted to have this change in diet. Going fishing was a great idea because we really did need something to chew on. The chickens smelt the fish and came running over. They picked at the spine and ate every little piece of meat on it. They truly are scavengers. Our hefty meal really made us happy and helped us move along. The last couple of days had been very slow because we weren't really sure what to do. Milking the goats at night seems to be a lot harder than it is in the morning. I'm not really sure why that is. In general it is getting a lot easier. We were pretty full from dinner so we decided to save the milk and make cheese for tomorrow. I'm not really sure if its going to work, but its worth giving it a try. Rain! It started raining around 9pm, which is when we go to bed anyways so it wasn't bad. After such a long day, the night breeze and the sound of rain was just the thing to put us right to sleep.

milking issues

After seeing Bob milk Flora we were convinced it would be a piece of cake. WRONG! I took the strength of 4 people to hold her down and milk her. She was the easiest too because she was small and has already been milked by people before. Little Bit put up a huge fight. She was being weaned so she didn't want use to milk her because the milk was for her baby and she had also never been milked by hand before. The only way we were able to milk them was by Orlando holding them by the horns, me hugging them in place, and their legs wrangled and tied close together as my grandma bent over and milked them one by one. These goats are suppose to be milked twice a day in dominant order. With being only two goats we didn't know which one would take reign because the oldest one was the smallest. The youngest and biggest, Little Bit, ended up winning their butting fights and becoming the leader of the pack. We know knew that we would have to always milk Little Bit before Flora. Also, you will never learn everything you need to learn in life from a book. Sure you can read how to milk a goat, but until you've really physically done it you do not know how. That was my lesson of the day. My grandma started milking Flora like it was no big deal and I had read on milking goats so how hard could it be? Very. I could not get milk out of their teats. No matter how I pulled, squeezed, tugged, pressed, etc. I could not get milk out. I tried a thousand times on each goat and no luck. This was my new challenge. The gaots are also still very scared and frantic since they were brought to my tent. They were both born and raised at the farm I got them from and the long car ride and new environment and people has got them freaked. Both of them are really panicked and scared. Little Bit cries all the time for her baby. She also butts her head into the pen door to try and get out and screams really loud all night and day. It's honestly the sadest sound to bare. I almost wish I could quit this entire thing and give the goats back. But I know that they will eventually adapt and learn to love this place (cross my fingers). For now I just have to make them feel at home and figure out how to milk them. I tied a longer leash on them so they can graze in further placest without me being afraid they will run off. I spent the entire day just petting and caring for the goats. I really want both of them to feel safe and not afraid anymore. I dug up a couple carrots for the garden for them to eat as treats and recognize me as their owner. I am the only one who feeds them and gives them water. This is also what I did with the chickens and now they fall me everywhere and don't fly away from me. I am hoping this will work with the goats too and have them trust me. A couple times today they willingly walked over to me and let me pet them. But they will still not let anyone near their udders without force. Milking them seems like such an uncomfortable experience but if we don't milk them they will get sick. I spent the majority of the day with the goats and when I petted them up at night again they seemed to want to come with me so I think they might trust me. I keep wondering how I should approach them. Should I just treat them as animals and I am their keeper? But I can't help ignore their emotions, feelings, and reactions. My grandma says the best thing to do is desensitize myself from them and see them as a livestock which produces milk I need. But to me they are more like pets who have feelings too. This dilemma will solve itself as I figure out what type of relationship I actually create with the goats. The first thing I need to do is figure out how to get milk out of their udders. Seriously, it's not as easy as books say it is. This is was its all about though. Hands on learning is the only way to go when you're trying to survive.

mission impossible

GOATS! Orlando picked me up at 6am to make the long drive to Rome, NY. Only an hour into the trip, the lady behind us keep blinking her lights at us and signaling to pull over. Turns out that the right back tire was flat. We took the next exit to Riverhead to fill up the tire. Being only 7:30 am, there weren’t any auto shops open to check out the tire so we had to rely on filling it with air. After that quick pit stop we were back on the road. The drive there felt like it took forever, but it was interesting to see how much New York changes as you move further and further northwest. I have never driven through so many tolls in my life. I would have to say we went through at least 10 tolls both ways. Once we were in New York State the scenery was all forests, lakes, farms, the Erie Canal, cows, barns, mountains, beautiful tranquility. We had a couple scares with whether we were going the right way or not because once you’re heading in one direction on an interstate, there is no going back. The longest interstate was I-90. We drove over 120 miles on it. And then on I-87 we drove close to 100 miles. One way was close to 400 miles. We were pretty relaxed on the way there, which is probably why we didn’t get there until 3pm. The farm was located in the middle of nowhere surrounded by forests. The place looked really packed and smelt very strong. I was nervous because I didn’t know whether or not I was evening going to get the goats from the looks of the place. Then someone came out. Other than people of New Orleans, they were the friendliest people I’ve met. Rome, NY takes the cake for friendliest in the people of New England. The man, Bob, looked like the farmer version of Santa Claus. He was jolly and big, little beady eyes, plump rosy cheeks, a fluffy beard, denim overalls, a red undershirt, and big black rubber boots. His wife was Mrs. Claus. They were very relaxed and happy I was there and they were very considerate about the drive. Bob showed me the whole farm. There were rabbits, chickens, roosters, goats, kids, bucks, calves, cows, turkeys, and probably many more. All for sale. That’s his business. If I ever need any more animals I am definitely going to Bob. Trust me, it’s worth the drive. He was telling me about how close he was to the goats he was selling and how it really didn’t want to part with them. Bob suffered from a stroke a couple weeks ago and his wife told him he had to sell a couple of their own animals because he just wasn’t as able to take care of them all as he use to be. I promised to keep in touch and to take really good care of the goats. He gave me some food to last a couple days and helped Orlando and I get them into the car. What lovely, sweet, and sensitive goats. His daughter, son-in-law, and grandson came by to say goodbye to Flora and Little Bit. Flora is a brown and tan, two-year-old saanen and pygmy mix. Little Bit is a white and tan, one year old Nubian, boer, alpine mix. These were exactly the type of goats I was hoping for. I really do have good luck when it comes to animals (knock on wood). They need to be wormed in a couple weeks and their CD&T shots aren’t due until March 2010. They eat black oil sunflower seeds for selenium and they feed on milk maker, caprine or sweet feed. They are also grazers and will eat any compost. As I’ve said before, the most difficult part about this project so far has been trying to find goats. I have called, e-mailed, and talked to over 20 people. Bob called me though. After all of my searching and frustrations he found me. How? In late June I began my search for the goats. Along my way I put up a post on farm classifieds and for a while I checked it everyday. After noticing that people only posted every couple of months and realizing no one would probably read mine, I gave up on checking and went back to searching. What I thought had failed was actually what saved me. I asked Bob how it was that he came across my number. He said, “the internet.” What a useful tool. After our goodbyes Orlando and I just wanted to get home. He drove 90 mph the entire drive back. At one point we had to stop at a service station for gas, but the mobile was in repair. There was an emergency gas number, which we had to call because we were on reserve and the next station wasn’t for at least 20 miles. The gas would take about 30 minutes to get to us so we opened up the doors and let the goats walk around and drink some. The people at the service station were fascinated. There were tourists from all different places taking pictures, laughing, high fiving, and really enjoying the sight of two goats in the back of a Honda Element. When we got the gas we were back to flooring it on the interstate. We stopped at my house at 9pm to clean out the car, feed, water, and let the goats walk around. The farm they were at was mainly all mud and dirt so when they were on grass they went crazy grazing. Orlando and I cleaned out the feces and urine from the mats and put down a big, black plastic bag on the floor for the ride to Bridgehampton. Getting the goats back in the car was near to impossible because that is the last place they wanted to be after a 6-hour drive. When we got to the tent we tried to milk them but no luck. I would have to do it first thing in the morning because they were too tired and stressed from the trip to be milked. After such a long and eventful day all I want to do is go to sleep.

on we go

Saturday, we made BUTTER! The night before we put the gallon of raw whole milk we got from Mecox Bay Dairy in a big bowl and just let it sit. The next morning we delicately spooned out the cream on top of the milk and put it in a jar. We shook the jar up a little and then let it sit. We did this all day and every time a little milk was let out, until we had solid, soft butter. This was such an accomplishment because know we had something to cook with instead of water. Buttered potatoes, buttered quinoa, buttered eggs, buttered everything.

Orlando called, the SOLAR CHARGER has arrived! It took a lot less time than I thought it would. I wasn’t expecting it for at least another week. I had to go to work though, so I don’t really have time to play around with it or the butter. I got up at the crack of dawn. I’m pretty good at rising and setting with the sun now. I’ve realized just how much day there really is and frankly, I enjoy it a lot more. Then I fed and watered the chickens and put the escaped ones that can fly back in their coop. Then I had some left over dinner for breakfast and worked on my process journal. Time for work! I rode my bike to the Bridgehampton train station to take the train to Southampton. It was packed! I felt back because I had my bike and everyone was running and bumping into it. The people I work with are like my second family and all summer long I had been working five or six days a week so after not coming in for a week I received the most welcoming hellos I have in a long time. I thought about not working at all throughout this whole experience, but when I seriously thought about it I didn’t see why I should stop if I was getting there and back by bike and public transportation. Also, I love my job and I really didn’t want to give it up. This experience is about altering your life in more beneficial and sustainable ways, not giving up the things you enjoy and make life difficult.


Sunday was a pretty average day. We had really been anticipating rain because the weather was very dark and foggy. There were a couple drizzles here and there, but no seriously thunder and lightning. It was looking pretty boring until Patricia’s whole family came over to visit. They stayed around for a bit and help make a fire to boil some eggs, talked to us, and provided a very pleasant company. It really made me miss my family. I didn’t see why I couldn’t go spend the day with them so I rode my bike to the train station and took the next train to Hampton Bays. From there I rode my bike to my house and made a surprise appearance. My sister ran out the door to hug me and by mom was in shock. They didn’t think they’ d be seeing much of me since I moved to my tent. I told them how I really didn’t believe not seeing them would affect my project because that’s not what its about. I slept a very lovely day with my family and when nightfall came around I took my bike and the train back.

So much time

Today, the weather was spectacular. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the sun was shining bright all day long, but it was incredibly windy. My favorite type of day. We had a late start around 11 am when Franco and Aidan helped us chop wood. What power and strength those two have. We could not have chopped the wood nearly as fast as they did with our puny muscles. The wood was then put in a wheelbarrow and brought it back to the camp site. Sad news at the Channing house: the tomatoes got blight and half the vineyard didn't grow grapes. This weighed down heavily on all of us. The rest of the afternoon was very relaxed as we swam, looked over fishing maps, gathered crops, and did not housekeeping and furnishing.

Dinnertime! What a delicious meal. We had quinoa, zucchini, tomatoes, mushrooms, and eggs. We made a stir fry with garlic and mushrooms then sauteed the zucchini and tomatoes into it as the quinoa boiled. For dessert we had six sunny side up eggs. Best part, we had left overs! We had plenty to eat and even with an extra person we were stuffed. This was a lot more assuring and satisfying than our first attempt of living off the land. Nighttime came and guess what... we had LIGHT! I brought over two candles in glass jars for the tent. One candle was able to light the entire tent and the other I put on the dinner table.

After dinner a couple of my best friends came over and we did some stargazing with my new telescope. Everything about the atmosphere we are living in makes me feel 100% happy. The utmost joy is knowing that I am being one with the earth. At this pace, I hope this will go on longer than a month, at least for me. I have never been this peaceful and calm for this long. I've grow very close to my chickens. They follow me everywhere and no longer run away when I come near them. Watching them crowd around me like those deer and bird scenes in Snow White really reassure me that animals are my calling. I don't want to jinx anything, but so far everything has been perfect and gone very smoothly.

Take off!

After getting a break and a day of relaxation I was up and ready to go again. Tuesday was exactly what we needed for all our hard work so far and the difficulties I have encountered. For the past couple of weeks everything has revolved around my senior project and I hadn’t had any time to myself. Recharging was very important.

Wednesday, yesterday, I was back on the ball. I packed all morning for the final big move and cleaned my entire room looking for things that might come in handy. I came across an old mirror, a lot of incense, and I never realized how many crafts I have to keep me entertained. I also took a long and relaxing bath for the last time before the adventure. Around 3pm I was off to my new home. When I got there, Sylvia and I dragged two queen sized mattresses, some linens, an old bbq for when it rains, and other useful furniture. Mr. Schade, my mentor, came by at 5pm to see how my progress is going and what I need to work on before jumping into this. I called him the day of the successful failure because after that attempt I did not want to go through that again. He really enlightened me and calmed me down. His presence and reassurance really motivated me to not give up even in the most difficult times. Once he left I kept housekeeping until the sun went down. LIGHT! We need light! I don’t know how we forgot that nighttime exists, but we were left in complete darkness with no way of continuing. We called it a day. This was my first night sleeping in the tent, my home, that I helped build.

Thursday, today, I woke up to a very pleasant satisfaction of knowing that sleeping in my new home was perfect. It never got too cold or too hot. The tent is very well ventilated and the airflow really keeps it at a cool, yet warm, atmosphere. When Patricia arrived with beach sand we were able to finish making our refrigeration system. Material: two terracotta pots, a damp towel, a lot of sand, and a lot of water. First, you put the smaller pot within the bigger one. Next, you fill the space between the two pots with sand and dampen the sand with water. Once we got that going the three of us really sat down and thought about all the things we would need to get and do. We went over jarring food, cooking in the rain, storing wood, chopping wood, gathering crops, bartering and volunteering, biking, fishing, etc. We tried to cover every detail about this project. Finally, we concluded that we would need to go to the Green Thumb to get some local provisions for the first couple of days until we really got the hang of cooking and eating. We also went over to Mecox Bay Dairy to collect some milk until the goats got here. GOATS ARE COMING MONDAY! After serious discussion and brainstorming, I decided that going to Rome, NY would be my best bet with getting milking goats. Orlando and I will be making the long trip on Monday at 5 am to hopefully be back by 6 pm with TWO OR THREE GOATS. Depends on how they fit in the car. The chickens and now goats will complete my project.

What had looked like rain earlier turned into a light drizzle, but with this drizzle we realized that A LOT of water could be collected in a very short period of time. This would be very useful for cleaning, washing, and cooking. We still needed a couple of other furnishing for our home. Molly told us to go check in their Pod storage. We ended up finding some nice stools, a drum, and other comfy things to have on deck. After yesterday nights full and beautiful moon, which literally light up the entire night, I knew stargazing in the field would be phenomenal. Tom read my mind. He brought over a telescope he got me for my birthday! I was so excited to see that we would be able to really stargazing, especially with the Mars event coming up at the end of August. Once nightfall came again it was automatically lights out and to bed I went in the lovely tent.

today- postponed

Saturday, we finished the entire floor for the tent. It took all day because the floor was suppose to be 16 x 24, but the planks we had turned out to be 16 x 22.4. After the whole frame for the base had been set up, Ken measured a plank for the deck and realized that each one was 11'2''. Since we were laying them vertical in 2's to cover to 24 ft, we would total to 22'4'' not 24'. This was not a huge problem, but it was frustrating because we had to re locate the center at 11'2''. Then we got to work on putting down the planks. By the time the floor was done we had been too exhausted to continue so we called it a day.

Sunday, now that the floor was done we thought we were ready to put up the tent. WRONG! The blueprint called for 4- 2ft extensions on each side with 5ft verticals and diagonals on each one. There also had to be 2 railings attached to the extensions/verticals. Now we needed to get the wood for all of these additional missing parts. Being Sunday the closest place that was open was Riverhead. Ken said to call it a day because Riverhead is over an hour away and being 12 noon, we wouldn't start until at least 3pm and we wouldn't have enough time to get anything done. I was determined to finished to I begged Orlando to take me to Riverhead to pick up the necessary wood to finish the tent. When we got to Home Depot, we realized that his van was not going to fit all the neccessary wood and that our trip had turned into a lost cause and a lot of lost gas and time. The only thing we could do now was pick up a battery for the solar panel and some electrical wire to hook everything up. I didn't get back to Sylvia's house until 5pm! Our last couple of science classes before summer were all on electricity so when I got to the solar panel and battery operation I knew exactly what had to go where and how to hook it up. With some help from Leandro we were able to get the solar panel up and running. With a little extra time we thought it would be perfect to dig our fire pit. A shoveling we went and soon we had a adequate fire pit. We then lined the pit with rocks to make it look nicer and hopefully balance a grill. The fire pit was ready for cooking!

Yesterday, OUR FIRST DAY TURNED INTO A TRIAL RUN! We had decided that yesterday was going to be our first day and we were ready to get going. For breakfast I had hand picked berries and some water from my house. I don't really have a big appetite first thing in the moring so I was fine. We straight to work on finishing the tent. Ken got there around 10am with all the neccessary wood. We quickly attached the extensions with joist hangers and drilled the verticals to them.
Soon we had the finished and complete frame. By this time it was a little after noon and we were starving. Also, the sun had been very bright and beaming the whole morning so we were exhausted and light headed. Ken agreed we should take a break before the tent went up.

Being our first day we were about to have our first off the grid meal. I collected five eggs from the chickens, Sylvia put the old grill on the fire pit and I scrambled the eggs in one of the old skillets my mom generously donated to the cause. Creating a fire was not as easy as we hoped it would be and keeping it going was even harder. We had to use matches, which we hope we won't have to for long, and a lot of kindling was burnt up quickly. Water from the hose in the vegetable garden has been our beverage of choice. Five scrambled eggs with a zuchini and water is not enough food for three growing girls who have been hard at work all day. Although it wasn't much, we were the happiest eating our tasty meal under a shady tree. Now with a somewhat we recharged system we went to put up the tent. Sylvia said the instructions called for 2 people to put it up. BIGGEST LIE EVER. It took Walter, Ken, Sylvia, Patricia, Molly, Tom, and I to put up the thing with all our strength. It took a 30 minutes using all our strength to put the tent in an upright position while still holding it up. Walter, Sylvia, Molly, Tom, and I held up the tent inside with Ken and Patricia quickly tied the outside to the railings. THE TENT IS COMPLETE! Sylvia, Patricia, and I, however, did not feel complete. We were hungry, tired, light headed, and just not very alive. I left to go home and get all my stuff for the final big move. As I was home packing I got a call from a panicked Sylvia. I guess once it really hit us all that this was it we quickly backed up. After talking it over, the way we felt today is not the way we should feel about living off the land. It should not feel like we are struggling to stay alive nor that we are too weak to carry on normally. Also, with the tent set up being an entire project on its own we hadn't had much time to really talk about the project itself. We realized that jumping right into it was not the smartest thing. Yes, we are set back a couple days but we are simply not ready. We need to figure out how to fish and where first, spend a night in the tent to see how we do at night, bike to the places we need to get and see if its too much on us, and most importantly we shouldn't feel nerve wrecked and scared on our first day.

Tuesday and Wednesday we are going to seriously talk over everything we will be doing and hopefully move in on Thursday or Friday. That week that we missed can be made up in September. After talking to my mentor I realized that this attempt was not a fail, but a success. This was just a challenge that we were not aware of and now we know what we will need to work on.


About an hour ago I also got a call from someone in Rome, New York that has a couple of milking goats for sale at a really great price. Surprisingly, his 6 hour distance has been the closest person I've been able to find. After yesterdays experience we also learned that water is not a fufilling beverage. The goat is a need, not a want. The only problem with this is how to get them from Rome to here. It is a 12 hour drive round trip with 2 or 3 goats. I'm working on that right now because frankly, without the goats we will not last very long.