Out of order

As always, my abilities to keep track of days and blog accordingly have failed me, so while this post is dated for Sunday, it's actually about the amazing time SoS Fayetteville had on Thursday and Friday.

In early July, I interviewed Mark Cain of Dripping Springs for my Know-Your-Farmer project over a late lunch at Taste of Thai. It was a pleasant, relaxed conversation. We lingered well past the last of the lunchtime crowd. When we did finally finish and part ways, Mark invited our entire SoS team to come tour and garden, and complimented the color of my car.

So Thursday, August 12^th was devoted to that visit.

There were several changes of date and time, so we had a few hiccups actually beginning our journey out to the garden. Google maps told us it was at least an hour outside of town. But after winding our way through county roads and gravelly drives, after I nearly killed the bottom of my Taurus trying to climb over gates and hills, we arrived! At least an hour late, but nonetheless excited. The initial reactions, in my car at least, were all the same: wonder. The flowers and vegetables were thriving with a living color (!) and vibrancy. The placing of the garden, the buildings, everything seemed so natural.

First, Mark briefly showed us his beautiful house that his friend designed, all made out of local timbers. It was magnificent, but not in a flashy way. Just beautiful. Then, armed with an Asian rice hat, we headed outside to help the interns start planting the seedlings for next spring’s flowers.

There were two rows of landscape fabric lined with identical holes. Nancy, Ryan, and _____ showed us how to dig holes into the rocky soil and stick our little green guys in, quick, and cover 'em back up. And you had to get down deep, or it would kill the plants. Mark had to correct several of mine. It was relatively easy, though, and so soon we were on to our next task: weeding the potatoes. I still have some thorns embedded in my pinky from that little adventure. We basically ripped up all the green stuff and threw potatoes that were unearthed into Saba’s bucket. Weeding concluded with Joel and Michelle’s arrival and Stephan eating a cricket.

“It didn’t taste like anything.”

We finished weeding another bed, and then it was quittin time. We got to go down to the creek. Through a bamboo forest. To the most pristine little swimmin’ place. Gives Wattle Hollow a run for it’s water. Michelle’s pictures will do it better justice than my words, so I’ll leave it at wonderful.

Then we dried off and set up on the porch for yoga. Apparently, the entire Dripping Springs crew does Ashtanga yoga, led by Mark, every day. Mark did not mess around, according to the child of a yoga master. I think everyone kept up pretty well, but Mark did not baby us. It was great. I hadn’t practiced yoga since I took from Mrs. Caffrey at the end of 11^th grade, but I felt good about my abilities on Thursday. Until we got to the standing-on-one-leg-grab-your-toes-from-the-other-side-of-your-body-stick-your-leg-out-breathebreathebreathebreathebreathe-pose. But basically only Mark could do that. And Joel.

Then we swam in wonderland creek again, and then we ate delicious organic homegrown veggies enchiladas and salad and melons lunch, prepared by the other female intern whose name escapes me for the time being and who went to market with Michael that day (meaning to make all that food for us she had to get up at like 4 or something). Basically, their hospitality was astounding.

After lunch we all sat out on the porch and I asked Mark my follow-up questions and we had a long, relaxin’ conversation about all things Dripping Springs. And after that came to a natural close, we decided to do the tour. And then we realized it was 5:42. Five hours had passed like twelve minutes. It was crazy. But it also felt so appropriate. They definitely have a different way of life out there, and I liked it a lot. Several of us left that day seriously considering applying for an internship next year.

That’s a whole lot just for Thursday, but it was a very full day. I think Friday can be summed up pretty concisely. The U of A sent over 14 ROCK Camp volunteers, incoming freshmen who want to move in early and make friends before school starts. My future classmates. So we tackled pesto makin’, sign design, bamboo construction, and OMNI cleaning. They worked hard. Not a whole lot to report. It was work-filled morning, and most people trickled away by the afternoon, excited for the Gathering.

And now we’re in the middle of it, and it’s great, and I’m glad I’m finally finishing this post.

Love,
Andrea