up at the PEAS farm

Today I began my internship out at the PEAS farm. It is in a lovely spot up in the Rattlesnake Valley, a little ways out of town and surrounded by mountains. The rain was coming down gently when I got up, and its falling on the earth brought forth the richest, most springlike smell--of growth and soil and freshness. As I drove through town, the sun came out and a rainbow arched across the western sky and my mind was filled with hopeful thoughts, because what other thoughts have any right being in your mind when there's a rainbow in the sky?

We mixed potting soil today, too: 4 parts compost, 1 part sand, 4 parts peat, 3 parts vermiculite, and a tiny little bit of organic fertilizer. We sifted it all into a big pile on the floor, and then six of us walked around the pile with shovels, mixing and turning the ingredients together to create a light, rich soil. Then we filled up the planter boxes with our concoction and planted onions, thousands of them. I'm delighted to think of how they'll grow and grow and then, later this summer, I'll be able to eat them. Yum!

So it was a happy day. We worked in the greenhouse with the rain drumming on the roof, and we were all cozy and working hard inside. I am going to enjoy these hours spend on the farm, these hours of working and having something to show for it by the end--I've forgotten how satisfying manual labor is, especially when I'm laboring with other like-minded people.

Today is Tuesday, which means I have my writing class tonight, and nachos and Moose Drool at the Old Post afteward! Now there's a happy hour.

Things I'm Thankful for (in no particular order):

1. chocolate
2. icy cold weather!
3. clear skies and a gorgeous sunrise this morning
4. Old Post nachos (mmm)
5. Poe, very possibly the sweetest dog in the world
6. new pens
7. randomly running into people I know in little Missoula coffee shops
8. being done with filing taxes and filling out the FAFSA
9. young adult literature
10. students who ask questions
11. fuzzy blankets
12. sunshine coming in the windows and warming up the EVST lounge
13. granola from the Good Food Store
14. pictures of my grandparents when they were young
15. giving out silly Valentines
16. reading I Corinthians 13 this morning
17. talking to friends I haven't heard from in awhile
18. goofy pictures from various costume parties
19. the view of mountains out my window
20. the satisfaction of baking yummy things
21. getting to attend lectures by famous authors such as Linda Hogan
22. warm bus rides on cold days
23. a kick-ass roommate who makes scrumptious hummus and goddess dressing, among other things
24. the prospect of a Laura Ingalls Wilder-site-visiting vacation next summer
25. Lady Grey tea
26. that my sister came to visit me!

A bit of procrastination . . .

Not too many exciting things are happening at the moment, but requests have been made for me to update my blog. So here goes.

I decided this weekend that I'm going to drop the extra class I added. Saving a couple thousand dollars, frugal and economic though it would be, is not worth sanity, rest, and peace of mind. Or so I'm telling myself. After making that decision, though, I felt as though a weight had lifted: a good sign.

I'm enjoying my teaching so much this semester! I feel as though I know so much more. I don't, not really, but at least I have a semester's worth of experience behind me. I find I am able to field my students' questions much more coherently now. I had a good class today; nothing deeply profound occurred, but I felt as though my students were taking in what I was saying, and I was encouraged.

My sister is coming this week! She flies in late Wednesday night, and I'm overjoyed that she's coming. Hee hee. It will be so wonderful to show her around Missoula and UM, and have her meet all of my people here . . . oh joy. What a lovely event to look forward to!

I need to do some writing tonight. And then I need to print it out and run it over to school. You'd think that I could easily get the work done on time for a once-a-week class, but alas. I got most of my other work done in the meantime, though! And the apartment's looking much cleaner, and I'm suddenly inspired to do some baking tonight . . . in preparation for Andrea's visit, of course. Um. Strangely enough, I'm finding it far easier to write about subjects that have nothing to do with my essay. I am running into a mountainous mental block when I try to work on this essay, and I think I've figured it out: I want it to be perfect, and what's coming out of my mind and onto the screen is not perfect, and therefore I'm not getting anything written. I talk myself blue in the face telling my students that they need to give themselves the freedom to "write badly and silence their internal critics," but I can't give that same freedom to myself. Plah. Wish me luck.

This past weekend held a Big Labowsky party--imagine 40 grad students crammed into a medium-size living room, dressed as Big Labowsky characters, drinking White Russians, and watching the movie projected onto the wall. Just imagine. Afterwards, we all went out bowling (I bowled an 81! Woohoo! Or was it an 86?), and then Teresa and Jeff and Catherine and I went out to Oxford's Cafe for burgers at midnight, and Catherine and I played Keno--we put in 25 cents and got back 55 cents, so we more than doubled our bet! And people say they lose money gambling . . . I just don't understand it. Although I have this sneaking suspicion that if we'd gambled $250, we wouldn't have won $550, but who knows?