The chickens are here

Yesterday morning I got a call from the post office letting me know that the baby chicks I had ordered arrived. Twenty-eight baby chicks, less than a week old, arrived from central NM in a box smaller than a shoe box. It was a long and scary ride but most of them made it through in good shape. Right now they are living in our basement on a bed of wood shavings under a heat lamp. They are destined to live on the farm and graze in the fields, the good life for a chicken. I plan is to have a mobile chicken coop built for them within a few weeks.

Journal entry, May 12

Sitting outside on the farm, watching and listening to the night begin. It is the darkest part of dusk, but the day has not yet ended. There is still light to see across the fields. The day ends with a roll call of all the creatures up and down the Rio Grande. The dogs and coyotes start it and today it travelled north past me just before I saw the first bat come out. Along the way guineas, roosters, and anything else that feels like it chimes in. I think they are proclaiming their territory.
Then the first star comes out and the night begins...

The Farm

There are two greenhouses which we are emptying right now as we fill the fields with little baby plants.

We have lots of tomatoes to transplant.
Ladonia, the farm cat, enjoys laying around all day and posing for the camera.
This is a view of a shade tent which is full of lettuce.
Our estate has many huge cottonwood trees which provide good shade and a wind break.

This a view of the farm looking east with the Sangra de Cristo Mountains in the background.

One of my fellow interns, Daniel, enjoys romping in the carrot beds on the weekend.
On the weekends we have free range on the farm and enjoy looking at the pretty flowers to pass the time.
A ground level view of the strawberry beds.
The views from the top of the hill are spectacular.

Another view of the Sangra de Cristo Mountains from the farm.

The perennial garden in the background will be full of flowers this summer.

Evan's Big Adventure at the Grand Canyon

This weekend I saw the Grand Canyon for the first time! It was beyond words. My best good friend Miranda just happen to be in Arizona, so I took a trip to see her and the landscape of Arizona. We had a great time hiking on the rim of the biggest hole in the world. It was really cool to see Virginia friends in Arizona. We also had some fun hiking around in a lava tube. A lava tube is like a huge worm hole that is half full of rock and debris.
This past week on the Seeds of Change Research Farm, we hosted a two day long sustainability immersion/conference. All the new SOC employees from the processed food side of the business came to the farm to learn about being green. People came from far away and strange places like New Jersey and California. My favorite part of the whole thing was all the free food. We even went to a real business dinner at a super shwanky spa and resort near Santa Fe. Two words: open bar.

I plan to take some good pictures of the farm once we get some plants in the ground and there is something to take a picture of. Until then enjoy some pics from my trip to Arizona

Things That I miss about Blacksburg

Even though I am having so much fun here in New Mexico digging holes, I still miss Blacksburg, Virginia and all the good people that live there. I miss them very much. I also miss my cat, Margeau.

I miss the mountains (even though there are bigger ones here)

I miss riding bikes with friends

But, most of all I miss the people that are close to me

What I did at work today

At work today, I dug some holes:

Then, I shaped some soil into blocks:

It was a pretty good day at work. The holes were for irrigation lines and the blocks of soil were for seeding lots and lots of flowers. My fellow interns are really cool and we have a good time working together.

My Journey Southwest

For anyone who doesn't already know I have had a slight change of scenery recently. A week ago I arrived in New Mexico to start an internship on the Seeds of Change Research Farm in San Juan Pueblo NM. I'll be here for about six months (if I don't decide to stay longer), and will be working and living on an organic farm in the mountains of northern New Mexico. Seeds of Change is an organic seed company and the farm I am working at is where they research and test old and new varieties of vegetables, herbs, and flowers. My job involves lots of manual labor sprinkled with plenty of new learning experiences and wonderful vegetarian cuisine.

I took the long way out here and made a stop in Big Bend Nationap Park, Texas. I've wanted to go there for a long time and finally had the oppurtunity to make the long, long drive down to the southern tip of Texas, where there is a Big Bend in the Rio Grande. I enjoyed a couple days of exploring the park. Here are a few pics from my stay:

I will post some pictures of the farm and San Juan Pueblo soon. I hope all my family and friends back east and all over are doing well and I hope to see you soon (when you come visit me, that is).

P.S.

It is cold and snowy here too. At least today it is. The rest of the week was sunny and beautiful all day long.