Thoughts, thoughts, thoughts...

I think I'll do a more summary-of-my-week post this weekend. Right now, my mind is all a-churning with information. I just watched Food, Inc tonight (starring M. Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma!), last night I watched Food Matters, and Monday I watched King Corn. I promise I still do a goodly amount of homework and internship too, I'm just good at multi-tasking.

What they are:

Food, Inc-
A look into modern agriculture in the USA, specifically the pros and cons of the system we have now, and meant to expose the companies that have a monopoly on what we eat.


Food Matters-
The concept of the film is that proper nuitrition could ward off all disease, and the drug companies don't want you to know this, because it is more profitable for them to keep you sick.

King Corn-
Two friends rent an acre of corn, and follow it from seed to product, exploring the most subsided crop in the US.


My impressions:

Food, Inc-
Everyone needs to see this, especially people who consume meat. It shows the cruelty, disgusting conditions, and health implications of factory farming as it has been done in the last fifty years, as well as showing profitable, healthy alternatives. Watch it!

Food Matters-
Interesting concepts, unfortunately foiled by some bold lies. A mix of truthfulness and manipulation, it is well done artistically, but the information could get someone hurt. Watch it if you are the type of person who likes new ideas, but is willing to research them before application. One of the "therapies" the film advocates is banned in the US because it killed a fair amount of people- something not mentioned at all in the film.

King Corn-
Very informative, really accurate, fair information. Unfortunately, a little slow. Still a good flick, and really well done considering it seems like a film made entirely by two buddies. Watch if you are interested in what corn is doing to our land, our bodies, and our finances.

Why this matters:

The more I learn in my classes, including microbiology and toxicology, the more I see our current system of agriculture is killing our nation. Rodale just released a study showing that organic farming methods are more sustainable, produce higher yields in times of hardship (drought, cold or heat spells), and do less damage to the land. We know that the pesticides used on nonorganic plants store in our bodies for long periods of time, and we have only just started to find out how that links to disease. There are correllations to all these persistant organic pollutants in our bodies and rates of autism, attention deficit disorder, reproductive cancers, etc. People would be surprised to know you can find the main chemicals of DDT in their bodies even now, because those chemicals store in fatty tissues and don't ever leave. People who eat animal tissues and products have even higher levels because of bio-accumulation. Mothers who breastfeed their babies pass high levels into their children (breast milk is a fatty substance, and a good way for the body to expel toxins).

So why aren't we doing anything about it?

Well, because it is cheaper not to try to change it, and most people don't understand there is a problem. Yet it seems worth it to look into alternatives for your health, the planet, and the animals. Simple ways to do it- buy in season produce (means it has travelled less far to get there), when you can use farmer's markets, grow your own food (so easy, even in a small space- learn to container garden), buy local, buy organic, buy ethical, learn to cook. Even WalMart started selling rbST-free milk when consumers voiced worries about what bovine hormones can do to people. I'm not advocating WalMart, but if that is not an example of how powerful voting with your dollar is, I don't know what would be.


Plus, we need to prioritize better. A farmer on Food, Inc made the comment of "people will say how $3 for a dozen organic eggs is too expensive, while they sip a soda they paid .75 cents for," and even if I didn't point out that soda probably cost a $1.50, you can see the contradiction. Eggs are pretty healthy unless you have major cholesterol problems. Soda? It is a candy bar you can drink. I know it is hard, and I do this a lot as a college student, but realistically, eating right will save a lot of money down the line in medical care. It is cheaper to avoid getting diabetes than to treat it, and a lot more pleasant.

On top of all this, Iowa and Florida are trying to pass laws (http://blogs.forbes.com/kevinunderhill/2011/03/13/florida-bill-would-make-it-a-felony-to-take-a-picture-of-a-farm/, http://www.kcci.com/r/27226984/detail.html) to make it illegal to take pictures of farms. Why? So they can continue the abuse. There is a reason slaughter houses aren't open to the public anymore, and that reason certainly isn't sanitation. These new laws protect livestock operations as well as "commercial pet breeders"- ie, puppy mills. The reasoning? Well, the Iowa rep says it is to protect animals, as she says all those undercover videos are actually staged, and the animal welfare people are really sneaking onto properties and abusing animals. Really? What about that dairy farm in the "heartland" where the employees and owner took turns beating the calves with crowbars? That is the video that started a lot of this legislation, and you know what? They admitted to the abuse in court (though the owner, who is filmed stomping on a calf's head for fun, said something like he was under the influence of his employees, who were all Bad People, so I think he pleaded not guilty. Bull $!@#).

And people are agreeing to this, because you know if you take away the right of someone to produce anything in mass, inhumane conditions, whether it is chickens, cows, or puppies, you are un-American. If the government tells you can't lock dogs in wire cages and force them to have inbred baby after baby, it's just one step away from taking away all domestic livestock and giving you tofu. Well, I call BS. I'm going to urge people to vote with their wallets. Don't buy from people who support this sort of legislation! Yes, it makes things harder, as more than 90% of our nation's meat is from these abusive agencies. But it is worth it. I don't see the point in buying items produced by companies that are destroying the health of Americans, destroying the environment, and torturing animals, but then giving a donation to an agency like the Humane Society or any other animal welfare agency. If you didn't support the people causing the harm in the first place, you wouldn't need to donate to lessen the ramifications.

This probably seems like a rant, but, honestly, someone needs to do it. I know awareness is the first step (I hope I don't get sued by AA). People don't want to be cruel, don't want to make antibiotic-resistant superbugs, don't want to get diabetes or cancer from pesticides. They just don't know it is happening. I'm going to put even more of an effort into local, sustainable food. I might document the costs on here, just to prove it can be done on a tiny budget. The biggest change I would have to make is just eating in season produce, but it's worth it. Plus, lose my unholy rice cracker addiction. Hah. I might see if I can make it into some sort of an eating right (morally and nutritionally) challenge. I will look into this more, but for right now, I'm tired and all ranted out. I hope you will all check out Food, Inc (it's on instant watch on Netflix), and maybe King Corn if the first catches your interest. For now, to all a good night.

So many happenings

This week has been jam packed! I like it though, as it has been full of mind, body, soul nourishing events, rather than too much homework. Let's see:

Monday- School, Starla, and homework.

Tuesday- I met up with a high school swim team friend who has class in the same building, and we caught up for the first time in years. It was really nice, and I'm hoping we'll have the chance to get together again soon. After I had class, and my internship at Seattle BioMed (can I say how much I like these people? We spent a half hour talking about our gardens- my boss is going to hook me up with a pot of already established oregano from her garden. Another worker has promised me replacement basil if I can't tenderly raise my own. Scientists are the best).

Mom and Dad picked me up from work after and we went to the Melting Pot. After some confusion finding it we sat down to delicious cheese, salad, and chocolate. I was really glad we got to have a little family time in the middle of the week (Mom is on spring break). After we went to see Paul at the Cinebarre in Mount Lake Terrace. I had no idea the amount of people who attend the $5 movie Tuesdays. It was nuts! I guess it makes sense when you consider that is basically half price. It was a lot of fun though, and I really enjoyed hanging out with my folks.

Wednesday- I found out there are exercise videos on netflix, so I did a forty minute intro to belly dancing. It is awesome! I, am not. Very bad at it so far, but I will work on it. I had my first real enviro politics class, and it was fantastic. Debate got very heated- there are only four of us, two from my science department, a law student from Chile, and a politics student from Korea. Very different backgrounds and opinions. I love this class!

After class I went to the UW student run farm meeting. It seems like a really good way to learn more about urban gardening and sustainable agriculture. We went on a tour of the farm, then attended a general meeting. It was a bit intense for my first visit, as they must be revamping their organization, and the meeting was all about revamping the program and trying new things. Great time to get involved, sure, but with my schedule I was looking forward to joining something a little more concrete. I am going to go to the meeting/pizza bake next week, and see if I can get a better feel for what goes on, and whether I would like to be involved. I don't feel a need to be a grower, as I have my own growing greens, but I would not mind doing outreach or education.

When I got home I was tuckered out from eight hours on campus, so I mainly just talked to Leo for a long while when I got back. After we got off the phone, I settled into a bath with the book I am presenting on for enviro pol next week- I don't like it yet, so hopefully that will change.

Thursday- more running around. I met up with Marissa on campus in the morning to study, since I don't feel like I'm accomplishing too much with my late school schedule. I had a lot of long classes today (Thursday is going to be my drudge day, blah). After I went out to the barn, and hand-walked Starla around outside for a little while. It was good to get some different exercise, and my back has been hurting a lot lately. When I got home Leo and I caught up a little more.


Tomorrow, I'm leaving for Salem to go to the senior art show, go hiking with friends, drink at the barn, and generally enjoy myself. This will be my last hurrah until I see Leo for Memorial Day. I'll give this weekend it's own post most likely, and I'll try to take pictures while I'm down south. Well, I'm tuckered out, and need to get some sleep before my next adventure. Bye!

Spring has sprung, but things sprang back pretty quickly

It is cold. And wet. And April. Where is the justice? Last week I was gardening, riding my horse, and hiking. This week? Basically bundled up in bed with tea. I'm hoping that if I'm very good, we'll have a sunny day sooner or later.

This week was odd. I was pretty happy, though really missing Leo (there is always such a stark contrast after he leaves, but I typically adjust after he's been gone a week or two). Mainly, I felt kind of guilty for feeling good when there is so much awful stuff going on right now. I'm disgusted with our political in-fighting, dismayed with the mindset of the nation, and distressed over the situation in Japan. But personally, I've been feeling pretty good. I guess realistically it wouldn't help for me to be distraught, and I'm hoping there is something I can do to be more constructive. I am playing around with organizing some sort of fundraiser, even something so mild as having a game night where people bring small donations. Or a dessert potluck where people bid small amounts on dishes? I don't know, I shall ponder this more.

First week of classes. I like this quarter. I have yet another epidemiology class that was required, but at least this one seems to be taught better than my last, so I'll work through it. Plus, it just has a take home midterm and a term paper for assignments! Woot. I have toxicology, which my adviser recommended as easy, but apparently the tests are notoriously hard. Not good, but at least I know ahead of time to stay up on things. I'm kinda hoping my background in biology will help me out with this class, as so far none of the concepts are that new or difficult. We'll see though. I also have a seminar class (this week was super depressing, and all about how the democrats in office support big business and are anti-worker health, but hide it better), and my thesis writing class. But mainly, I have Global Environmental Politics. I'm in love. Or rather, in fascinated disgust, horror, enlightenment, and inspiration. The class is going to be amazing. We do have to read 200 + pages a week, but it is all really interesting works on environmental science, politics, and law. For this class we also write a research paper of our choosing, and I'm debating between two climate change topics.

I either want to write my paper on how climate change is causing formerly tropical or contained diseases to spread to places where they aren't seen as often, or year round, and how we will need to respond to the situation. This is very interesting to me, as it takes a lot of the things I'm interested in and puts them into a correlated package. I'm worried I won't find enough information though, as I think the driving US belief is that climate change is "unproven". I know there are lots of speculative microbiology articles on this topic, so if I was able to speculate on the global response issues I might be able to write a really interesting paper. My other idea was to talk about how climate change, specifically the desertification associated with it, contributes to warfare in countries where water is scarce, and probably use Darfur as my main example. There are many examples, but the genocide in Darfur is a huge reflection on how water scarcity from climate change and environmental damage can cause nations to be torn apart.

The first week of new classes is always the best. Planners are filled in, and possibilities are endless. I'm just hoping if I manage things well, I won't drown under my five classes and internship. I'm trying to be pretty proactive.

My latest kitchen experiment was grapefruit shaved ice. Pretty much delicious. I have a ton of grapefruits right now, as they are pretty cheap at Freddie's, and I decided to get creative.

Grapefruit shaved ice:
Juice of three grapefruits
1 cup sweet white wine
1/4 cup baking splenda (not the concentrated stuff)

Freeze, but break apart with a fork periodically as it freezes, so it gets a fluffy texture. Yum. If you use sugar instead of splenda you'll need to dissolve it by heating the grapefruit juice a little and stirring before adding the wine. If I had champagne, that would also be a lovely addition to the recipe.

Grapefruit Muscato Shaved Ice.

Friday I just chilled at home after class, as it was pouring. I rode on Thursday, so I didn't feel too guilty about not getting to the barn. Instead, I did yoga and watched a documentary on oceans. I've become a true Seattlelite.

Saturday I went to a pretty fantastic and inspiring talk called Culinary Herbs: Rediscovering Kitchen Medicine. It was a talk that focused on common kitchen herbs and their benefits, as well as giving tips on how to cook with them, make herbal teas, bath soaks, and salves. I really enjoyed myself, and I liked the information was backed by scientific journal articles. I like my hippie habits to have weight behind them. The talk focused on oregano, parsley, sage, thyme, rosemary, mint, lemon balm, marjoram, callendula, and anise. I will not be growing all of these herbs, as some would never get used in my garden except for herbal concoctions, but I was inspired by the talk to go buy lemon balm. They served tea made from this cousin of mint at the talk, and I really enjoyed it. I also have parsley, rosemary, and thyme growing. I'll buy oregano, and that combined with my chives, basil, and all the other herbs I listed should keep my life pretty flavorful.

After I rode Starla in between bouts of rain. I can tell spring is here when I start brushing a small animal's worth of hair off her before each ride. I hope this is a sign it will get warmer soon!

On my way back I stopped by the Yakima Fruit Market, my new favorite place. They have such cheap plants. I bought my all blue potato starts there, and my lemon balm today. The place is also helping feed my kale addiction. I very much recommend it to anyone traveling out on the Bothell-Woodinville Hwy.

I lucked out and happened upon a wine tasting on my way back from the market. Nothing like getting pleasantly buzzed for free. I even bought some of the wine being shown, since it was massively on sale.


Saturday night I went to my friend Sarah's for her bday, but was kind of tired and ache-y, so I only stayed an hour. This worked out to my favor, because I got a surprise phone call from Leo when I got home, telling me he finally found a car to buy. This will be fantastic in a couple months when I head out, because we can go camping on Mt. Lemmon and beat the heat. I'm excited :) It was nice to talk and catch up for a couple hours before bedtime.

Made vegan scones on Sunday morning, while finishing up homework and getting ready to head out to the barn. This is one of my favorite recipes, off of VegWeb.com at http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=5767.0. I tend to modify the heck out of it though, as it is a super modifiable recipe.

My version (today's version, rather; I've also made fruit scones, vanilla scones, poppyseed scones, etc, using this base):

Strawberry Almond Scones:

1.5 cups flour
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon turbinado sugar
1/8 cup margarine, softened
1 tablespoon almond extract
3/8-1/2 cup nondairy milk
1/4 cup diced strawberries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Mix dry ingredients together. Cut in margarine until crumbles form.

2. Stir in milk. Drop by large spoonful (or make them into cute shapes) onto an ungreased baking sheet.

3. Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until just brown on top.


Serves: 4-6, Preparation time: 5 - 10 min

Mmm. Spread with strawberry jam and you are golden.

I realize a majority of this rambling post has been about food, but what can I say? It is cold outside, and I like eating :) I leave you with tonight's dinner, asian stuffed bell peppers with carrot, onion, tofu, cabbage, cracked wheat, and swiss chard.

Damn, it feels good to be a gangster.

In for the long haul

School started up. Though I only have had two classes so far, I know this quarter is going to be insanely busy. At least I know it will be over in two months, and I'll have accomplished a huge amount of my degree, just with this quarter. In theory I'll have 16 credits, my practicum, and part of my thesis done by June. We'll have to see how that goes.

Spring break wrapped up lovely. I went to a cabin outside of Gold Bar with Gabby, Charlie, and some of their friends. It was beautiful. Gabby and I had the whole first day to ourselves in the hot tub, where we chatted and drank a fair amount of alcohol. We had a good time, to say the least. Sunday I went home to Mville and saw my folks and my doggies. Pretty chill vacation. I think I actually enjoyed staying in Seattle, riding my horse, hiking, and relaxing with friends more than I would have if I had traveled. Of course, if Leo hadn't visited me last week I would have wanted to see him. Now I need to start planning a trip to Arizona for May.

On the road headed to the cabin.

View from the deck of our cabin.

Hot tub where Gabby and I spent most of the trip.

The front of the cabin.

Sleepy old bear.

Monday I just had one class, Toxic Chemicals and Human Health, which is a basic toxicology course. Not too bad. After I shuttled to Seattle BioMed to work on my research, and I helped perform laboratory safety inspections. In Sunset magazine they featured South Lake Union as a daytrip place, I'll have to look up what they suggested and try some new things, as I'll be spending a lot of time in that area for my internship.

I tried to finish up some of the more time consuming things I won't have time to work on once school is in full swing (as I anticipate it being starting Wed). I planted purple (All Blue variety) potatoes and rose fingerling potatoes. I made more veggie kraut in several different spices (my last batch turned out completely delicious!), and I started a new Kombucha in the bigger container. I made three large bottles of the currrent brew, mixed with sparking water. The taste is pretty lovely. It's like sparkling lemon tea. I didn't end up adding any lemon to the drink, as the acid from the fermentation tasted a lot like lemon juice anyway.

Seed potatoes the day I cut them to let them callus up.

Dinner- wheat pasta with tomatoes, onion, and swiss chard leaves. Spiced with basil and oregano.


New kombucha- mix of blood orange red tea and green tea.


One of the new krauts- beets, carrots, cabbage, onion, garlic, turnip. I spiced one bottle with dill and mustard seed, one with red pepper flakes, and one with the mustard/peppercorn blend of the first batch.

My first kombuchas. They are pretty yummy (as you can see, I've sampled one already).

Other than that, I'm just trying to start my readings for my Environmental Law class (the first session is tomorrow). I'll have to read roughly one 300 page book a week for this class. Luckily, I read fast, and the books are interesting, but it's the situation where I wish I could read on the bus without getting motion sickness. For the rest of the week, I'm just going to concentrate on working on getting hours on my internship and homework done, as well as seeing my horse. I'd hoped to ride tonight, but my back hurts from the classroom chairs. I'll have to switch them out again with office chairs. That is something to look forward to when I graduate next year- never having to sit in plastic school chairs again. They should make the people who order them sit on them for a couple hours, see how they like it.

On the school and graduation front, apparently you can TA now, but put the money towards a quarter's credit next year. I wish someone had told me that when all the applications were out, as I thought it would just be unnecessary extra work, as I'm funded through June. My advisor must know, as she gave a TA position to the other grad student in my lab. Either she thought I knew and just didn't care about funding, or she didn't want to tell me so I wouldn't get jealous that she wants the other girl to have funding more than me. I wouldn't care about that. I just wish I had known as there were classes I could have TA'ed for open, that are now closed. Oh well, just have to hope I can find TA positions this fall. The thought of doubling my debt for one year of school is in no way pleasing or relaxing.

This weekend I'm going to a lecture on how to use herbs from everything from cooking to medicine. Should be fun, and it's free at Molbaks. I had hoped to go hiking too, but it looks like constant rain, so I think I'd rather ride my horse. My friend Sarah (one of the Seattle Sarah's, not the Oregon or New Mexico ones. I have a lot of Sarah's in my life) is having a birthday potluck on Saturday, so that should be fun too. I figure this is my last not too crazy week so I should enjoy myself!

I'm such a hippie

Well, I picked up my Kombucha mother yesterday, and my friends had me taste their sauerkraut and kimchi while I was there, inspiring me to make my own veggie kraut today. I now have a black and green tea mixed kombucha brewing on my refrigerator, and a mixed cabbage-carrot-onion-garlic kraut fermenting in my cupboard. I'm so excited to try all of these things. Hopefully I won't give myself food poisoning in the process- I boiled everything before I used it. I get to try the kombucha next week, and the sauerkraut a week or two after that!

Green and black tea kombucha. Yum!

Veggie kraut made with cabbage, carrots, onion, garlic, peppercorns, a hot chile, and mustard seeds. Oh, and salt, of course.

After I finished my kitchen endeavors I planted beets and carrots ( a little late, but what can you do?), and worked on transplanting my tomato starts. I now have 27 tomato transplants. It looks like I'll need to do the hot peppers in a week or so. I still have work to do on my deck garden, but it is starting to look nice. Now for the rest of the day I need to run out to the barn, do more research, and chat with a friend who lives in New Mexico on skype. I can't stress how much I love spring break. My first textbook came this week, reminding me that school starts again soon enough. But I still have three more days of break, and I plan on enjoying them to the fullest.

My numerous tomatoes, plus hot pepper starts in the seedling tray.

My deck garden so far!

First sprout in my multi-herb mix. I think it's basil. Any thoughts?

I Heart Hiking

Spring break is the best! Not only have I gotten to ride my horse every day for the last three days, I got to go hiking today with my friend Jessie from school. We hiked about six miles at Cougar Mountain, an easy hike just out of Seattle. There was maybe a 800-900 ft elevation gain, so there were some parts where we were huffing and puffing, but mainly it was a great time on a pretty day! We're going to try to explore more in April.

Coal Creek Falls- We ate lunch at the base of the falls.

Lots of streams all through the hike.

We wandered off the beaten path for a little bit, found some pretty surprises.

Happy because I'm outside in the sun on a Wednesday!

Jessie is excited to hit the trails.

Such a good time! No I'm going to clean up, work on my garden for a bit, do a little research, then head out for drinks with a friend and to pick up the Kombucha mother! Have I mentioned I love spring break?

I wish every week could be like the last

It was so wonderful to have Leo here last week. Best birthday gift a girl could ever get. I picked him up at the airport Sunday morning, and we got to spend the day together relaxing and catching up. I miss him so much when we are apart.

Highlights of the week:

-Monday was my 23rd birthday, and after a harrowing final in the morning, I got to go out to dinner with Leo, Gabby, Charlie, Stephanie, Angela, and Alisha. It was so much fun. I'm lucky to have so many great people in my life.

-Wednesday we had dinner with my folks and grandma, so I got to extend my birthday a couple days longer :)

-Thursday we woke up before dawn and headed to Salem for St. Patrick's day. It was perfect. We saw our old professors, and got to go to our favorite bar with old friends for St. Paddy's. I may have had a few jello shots too many, but it was a great night. I was so happy to see so many of my college friends, and I think Leo was pretty thrilled to be there too. Loved our cheap hotel too- nice hot tub.

-Saturday morning we cuddled, went out to breakfast, and prepared to say goodbye for another couple months.

This is where the plot thickened. Somehow, for some reason, Leo's flight was delayed long enough to cause the missing of his connecting flights, and through some ridiculous airline runaround, they couldn't get him out until Monday, and then only to Phoenix. For me, this was wonderful- I love any time I can get. For him, this meant missing an observation day in his classroom, as well as a day of classes. Not good at all. I really wished he could get on an earlier connection, and honestly, I don't understand how the airline made him wait two days to get to the wrong city in perfect weather conditions. It is spring break, so I imagine that increased the number of people flying out dramatically, but that is no excuse.

Despite that pretty huge disappointment (missing class is a big deal in a PhD program, as well as missing a teaching observation), Leo rallied, and we enjoyed our two extra days together. We played pool, and finally managed to beat an arcade game we first played in January (at a ridiculous cost in quarters). We relaxed Sunday night and watched Crazy Heart, a good movie about a washed up country singer finding some meaning in life.

Today I took him back to the airport, and he's on the trip back to Tucson. I feel so bad for all the nonsense he's going to have to go through, getting back from Phoenix by rental car. My day should be much more relaxed, as I just started spring break. I'm going to ride Starla, pick up a kombucha mother, and work on my garden, then head up to Mville to give my folks back their car.

I've transplanted most of the tomatoes to bigger pots. I was wildly successful growing them, and will have close to thirty tomato plants. I moved the swiss chard outside, and this week I will be planting beets outside, as well as carrots and starting more swiss chard outside. I started a herb medley inside (this could go horribly awry, as it is the Ed Hume gourmet mix, which includes chives, parsley, thyme, basil, and any number of other things. I won't really know what I have til the plants get big enough to differentiate). I'm going to start the cucumbers indoors this week as well. Hopefully, I'll get a great harvest this summer. I should have chard, beets, and carrots in May, if not sooner. At that point my tomatoes can go outside, as can my cucumbers. I'll plant more bean seeds next month too. Looking forward to posting pictures once I have my deck set up all complete.



I got great birthday presents in relation to my deck garden too! A book on what plants to grow together, a sun hat, gloves, giant pots, and gift cards. Looking forward to getting everything going this week. There should also be hiking and yoga on the map. Plus, I get to start kombucha this week. I'm picking up the mother tonight, and will start brewing Tuesday or Wednesday. I'll post pictures of that as well, once I have everything set up. Should take a little over a week to get the results I want, so by the first week of school I'll have my first trial batch. Ugh, school. I don't want to think about that, though I need to get at least 20, preferably more, hours of internship done this week. I'll let you know in my next post what I actually accomplished this week coming. Now I think I'm going to head out to the barn, and then prep my cucumber starts!