Day 16 (6/30/12): Contra Dancing

Today was a nice day.  I’ve been slacking on my cross-training, although I like to blame it on having a broken bike – skewed front breaks and low air pressure in the tires.  However, this doesn’t excuse my lack of supplements, so I’m going to get into a routine of doing core and stretching every morning before breakfast.  There was a gentle breeze and the temperature was mild at 6:30 (perfect for a bike ride), though this indicated that we were in for a hot day.  I briefly got to talk to Mom and Abigail is now home from SEP camp at UVA.  I cannot wait to see them!

At the breakfast table, Mary explained my plans for the day, and with relief it wasn’t all weeding.  I was determined to work as efficiently as possible today and get everything done on my list.  While I started the day watering both hoop houses, turning on the tomato hoop house drip line for the tomatoes, and checking for leaks in the drip line, I noticed that my left wrist hurt.  It felt tender as I hilled all of the potatoes, with some much appreciated help from Sage.  I couldn’t put pressure on it without pain while taking out the harvested lettuce roots and planting lettuce seedlings in their place¹.  Both Mary and Katie agreed that the left was a tad more swollen than the right, so I iced it during the lunch break and Mary gave me some homeopathic ointment to rub on it called Arnica².  I think I might wear one of Katie’s wrist supports tomorrow to be on the safe side.

Lunch was relaxing as I cooled my body’s core temperature in the A/C.  I snacked on Kenya’s kale chips sprinkled with salt as I read the Omnivore’s Dilemma.  I took Mary’s 4 cinnamon bread loaves out of the oven and brought them to the farmstand to cool, so she could tell me my post-lunch plans.  

The heat and sun mandated that I switch from my UVA cap to the full-on sun bonnet.  I watered the tomato hoop house for the 3^rd time that day after lunch.  The seedling cells³ dry out so quickly, and even faster on hot days like this.  For the rest of the day, I composted a row in Field 5.  I dug out some 8-month-old-barn-animal-manure-turned-soil/compost and brought some Kale seedlings down for planting.  I pulled the Remay aside on the first row of Field 5 and weeded and composted all of the plants already there.  Of the 3 kinds of produce in that row, I can’t remember the first, the second was some kind of cabbage, and the third was cauliflower.  In holes where no plant had grown, I planted a kale seedling.  I used the compost that I’d brought down, but technically there’s a special compost used when planting (pot to ground, transplanting is smaller pot to larger pot) a seedling for the first time and the manure-compost is used at a later stage of the plant’s life in the ground.  I also stuck small sticks in with the kale plants to prevent damage from cutworms⁴.  I finished by 6 and headed up for a shower.  It’d been a while since my last shower. (Tuesday – what?!  Kenya wants to have a competition to see who can not shower the longest.)  The family is building an outdoor shower next to the farmhouse which will be handy on very muddy days. 

Mary decided that the planned roasted chicken was too hot of a meal, so we had nachos instead.  We could dip our chips in Newman’s salsa or Mary’s homemade aioli⁵.   Then we were off to contra dance.  One of the granges⁶ nearby in China, ME hosts contra dances on the 5^th Saturday of any month that has a 5^th Saturday – what a funny way of planning events.  This was my first time contra dancing, and I got to learn 3 dances and all the terminology (do-si-do, promenade, balance⁷, etc.).  I met a friend of a friend of Kenya’s who is from Great Falls, VA.  Virginians are all over Maine this summer!  I got to meet a lot of Kenya’s friends from swimming and school, too.  We sure did work up a sweat in there, but I loved contra dancing!  They explained each dance before practicing it, as there were many first-timers in the room.  Williams has contra dance fairly often.  I’ll be sure to drag some people with me next year to dance instead of at Goodrich.  On our way home, we stopped off at Hannaford’s for groceries, including milk – oh how I’ve missed it.  It was a long drive there and back, and Mary’s muffler broke on our way to the dance.  It was so loud!  We were driving home past 10 o’clock, probably waking everyone up that we passed – woops.  We pulled in as quietly as we could at 10:30, careful not to wake Katie who had her day off today, and Kenya put a sleeping Sage to bed.  

¹ Lettuce seedlings are without a complicated root system, so they’re able to be planted close to each other.  To plant the lettuce seedlings, I had to separate each seedling by taking a chunk out of the pot and pulling each one off as I planted them.  I planted 5 sets of 3 seedlings together, spaced about 4 inches apart from each other along the row. 

² Arnica ointment is a homeopathic treatment of bruises, muscle soreness, and tenderness due to falls, blows, or strains.  It can treat sprains, but shouldn’t be used on broken skin. 

³ Seedling cells are trays in which seeds are planted. Seedlings from cells are eventually transplanted to pots and then into the earth.  

⁴ Cutworms survive by wrapping themselves around the stem of a plant tightly enough for the plant to fall over and they then suck the juices from the plant (they sound like vampire bugs, almost, except for veggies, and not humans).  We put a stick next to the growing kale so that the cut worm won’t be able to wrap itself around the kale because it’s not large enough to fit around the kale plant and the stick together.  

⁵ Mary has recently begun to make and sell aioli in the shop; she says it’s very popular now.  It’s virtually a garlic mayonnaise, originating from Colombia, made typically of garlic (or garlic scapes), olive oil, and egg.  

⁶ A Grange is a grass-roots, bottom-up and traditionally fraternal organization with a rich history and a highly visible community presence in the United States. The grange we went to tonight was particularly, one of farmer’s wives membership.  They compete against other granges at fairs (like Common Ground) to see who can bake and quilt the best.  

⁷ do-si-do: face your partner and walk around each other facing in the same direction, circling back to your starting spot

Promenade: The man stands on the left and a bit behind the lady.  He holds her left hand in his left hand on the left side in front of his body, and holds her right hand in his right hand behind her back.  The man leads the lady in promenade. 

Balance: In a group or with a partner, hold hands, step to the center with your right foot leading and step back out with left foot leading.  

Chain the ladies:  4 partners standing in a square, the ladies on the right of their partner.  The ladies grab each others’ right hands and switch spots and partners for a promenade.  

Star: everyone puts their left hand in the center and grabs the arm of the person to their right, and walk in a circle.  The person to their left is grabbing their arm.  Vice-versa for the right hand.