I reached the halfway point of my internship at the beginning of October, which by itself is mind-blowing. Add to that the fact that there is only one set of interns with more seniority than Laura-Catherine and I, and you have a recipe for really good head-explody. What this means in terms of how I relate to the farm is as follows:
1. Tours are routine and the topics flow smoothly and it's easier to pick and choose things to talk about rather than sticking to the standard talking points. It's easier to judge the groups and tailor the tour to them, whether that means a focus on gardening techniques, appropriate technologies or mission training.
2. Basic gardening techniques are second nature. Having built 4 compost piles, made six or seven raised beds, mulched hundreds of square feet of soil, planted hundreds of seeds, transplanted hundreds of seedlings and pulled thousands of weeds, those tasks are no longer ones that require thought. The concepts are understood. Brain energy is now expended on more subtle growing techniques like managing sunlight, intercropping, fertilization timelines, detrimental and beneficial insect population control, and plant control by pruning/selection. Experimentation plays are larger role in the rain forest.
The second group of interns 'graduated' at the end of September and left the farm, once again a hard experience. Laura H is moving towards the Peace Corps and Kim D will be working with the ECHO Asia office in Thailand. Joseph L is getting married but will likely continue using technology appropriately.
ECHO's projects around the world are also moving forward. The experiment station in South Africa is getting underway, as we hosted Ndibu and Josh over the last few months to get them up to speed on ECHO's vision and capacity in Florida. The first West Africa forum was held in Burkina Faso in September, bringing together hundreds of delegates from dozens of countries to learn about sustainable small scale agriculture.
As for me, I have been tending the rainforest and my ducks and hesitating to kill any more (ostensibly because they're hard to pluck, but in truth because I like them). After a three month hiatus they have begun laying again, so the first five eggs are marked for the incubator. Baby ducks are one of the cutest things ever. My plans after ECHO have become more solid over the last few months. I have things to pursue in Nashville TN and will be moving there for a time. Reading about and experimenting with small scale agriculture and communicating with its practitioners will occur during this transition period with an eye toward agro-missions (which has always been the long-term goal). My remaining months at ECHO will be spent partly looking for God's direction for a location or people group or demonstrated need. Of course title of 'missionary' and location of 'Africa' is not a prerequisite for engaging in the spread of the gospel...
One thing I've been thinking about recently has been time-management. Everyone can agree there is value in a well-cooked meal, but at what point does this example of a made-from-scratch meal become a poor use of time? A four hour prep for a delicious ham with homemade stuffing is a self-focused activity. Couldn't three of those hours be spent reading or studying or doing something 'other focused?'
New experiences in the last three weeks:
1. Saw, correctly identified, and tasted a sea grape.
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| It's like pre-made jam. |
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| I'm not very original with names. |
3. Painted pottery.
4. Was thoroughly justified in worrying about a bike falling off a bike rack on the freeway.
5. Took an Army PT test in Florida (ran a 12:22, which isn't bad for me)
6. Went armadillo hunting to catch the animal that has been messing with my mulched beds.
Andrew L, I like your vision of life. The second half goes by in about 1/4th the time as did the first half. . .but don't despair, I think I got more and better work done the second half of my internship, I just look back on it and wonder where it went.
ReplyDeleteDrew,
ReplyDeleteAll this information on "life" is great and all but a 12:20 two mile time...what happened? (Shaun)
I make a lot of food "from scratch" -- maybe not as scratch as y'all, can't tell -- but it rarely takes me 4 hrs of prep even when I'm feeding 20 ppl. Can you tell me more about this, I'm really curious? Is the prep time because the procedure is new? Is it because there's so much food being prepared? Does it actually take 4 hrs of constantly watching the food?
ReplyDeleteI learned to bake bread this year and initially it seemed like a huge time suck, but I've gotten a rhythm down, memorized the recipe, and it's now about 15-20 min a week spread over 2 1/2 days. As I said, I'm just curious and I agree that 4 hrs of prep seems like more time than should be given to food prep except for rare, special occasions. But I've found that with a little practice, from scratch doesn't have to take long.
Andrea - In general I am talking about more 'from scratch' than folks are used to (maybe not you). We've been making bread lately and that process has gotten quicker, but the long road from digging up a potato, washing it (or 10 of them, if I'm feeding the group), cutting it into fries, heating the oil and frying them is a rather more involved process than spreading PB&J on bread. I think the ideal would be having a group do stages of processing all at once. The potatoes could be processed to the point of ready-to-drop-into-hot-oil, and then stuck in the freezer. That's the convenience that most of us are willing to pay for in America.
ReplyDeleteA chicken and pasta dish with hollandaise sauce on top is quite daunting if the pasta has to be made, the chicken has to be harvested and the butter churned. A lot of pre-planning (or pre-processing) would have to go into that meal. It's easy if i have butter in the fridge, frozen chicken breasts and pre-made noodles that I can boil up real quick. It's that kind of example that makes me appreciate specialization of labor and mass market production (as much as the hippies decry it).
Also, I am a slow cook.
I promise you I am not cultivating and harvesting anything in my backyard, so that's a different level of "from scratch". Haha.
ReplyDeleteThanks for responding. I think I'd take two lessons from what you describe. One, as you mentioned, is that it takes a lot of work to get food on the table and thank God we live in a place and age where we can trade relatively little money to skip a lot of the process. It is still cool that you have the opportunity to experience the process from beginning to end. Even if you don't do it your whole life, I hope you share with your kids what that's like.
Two, you don't have to always be a slow cook. One thing I've noticed lately among my new Caucasian friends is that very few people have good knife skills. Probably because Chinese food requires really fine chops, most Chinese folk I know are pretty handy with food and a knife. If there's one thing that will speed up cooking it's knife skills and a super sharp knife. Experience also helps. Rugrats underfoot are also motivating (get some your self :)
In short, you're having a really cool experience now, and you'll figure out how to adapt it to a life that may prioritize other stuff.
First, you didn't explain what your firmer plans in Nashville actually are.
ReplyDeleteSecond, was that my bike rack you had an issue with?
Third, you commented in your reply to Andrea, "I think the ideal would be having a group do stages of processing all at once." That's what farm kids are for. ha ha.
Praying for and happy for you andrew. The Lord's blessing is on you and I pray many more blessings for you as you move on from ECHO to a new adventure...the adventure of a lifetime. : ) Enjoy every moment of the journey, my friend.
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