today i co-taught a workshop on wild edibles and got paid for it. i'm really goddamn proud of myself. just wanted to make a quick note of it.

i'm happy, i'll say that. i'm drinking homemade kombucha, the doors are open and i'm listening to winged insects try to find their way out before night falls. i'm enjoying the feeling of warmth hovering over my sun-soaked and -burned skin while the air cools around me; it'll be another hour and a half before the sun completely sets, but it's found its way behind the trees now.

everything's in the ground and here's a rough list of the things i've planted, from seed and baby plants: lettuces, arugula, swiss chard, purple and buttercrunch and another green cabbage, kale kale kale, broccoli, cilantro, dill, parsley, green onions, red and yellow onions, beans, peas, zucchini, yellow squash, butternut squash, cucumbers, red and yellow and green bell peppers, tomatoes (stupices and german pinks, better boys and early girls, romas and pineapples), sweet basil, radishes, beets, baby and big carrots.

the tomatoes at the abbey are already showing little green baby bulbs. the radishes only take 22 days. i'll probably have to replant the squashes and beans, the seeds are large and have probably rotted from all the rain and lack of sun. which, hopefully, will be a problem no longer. it felt like summer today and you can almost hear the sighs of relief from everyone, everything. it's been a hard winter for this town, a short and wet spring, and they're ready to move on. ready for gardens so thick they look like jungles, ready for a reason to move slower and to rest in the shade, ready for longer days, open windows, bug sprays, sunscreen.

it's amazing how liberated i feel being so far from home and not having a deadline for a return. the biggest step, that one-way plane ride, has been taken and i can't wait for what's next. i can't believe how much i'm learning, the quality of food i'm eating, the company i'm keeping, the trees and meadows and mountains that surround me, the air i'm breathing. i am blown away by everything.

and fresh goat cheese every week from a goat named nelly that lives down the street.

and my best friend quit her job and is coming to join me in ten days, to share my room and food and work and HAPPINESS. i don't know how long she's staying and neither does she, she bought a one-way ticket.

summer summer summer.

i don't MEAN to not update, but that's what happens. i feel that i should be writing and writing and keeping track of everything, taking notes, because my memory fades. but i'm not.

suffice it to say that i'm doing incredible. that i'm learning a lot and feeling great, etc etc.

maybe i'll write more when i can think of what to say.