I decided to move outside to sleep. I still have a good few weeks, two and a half, before I set off to New Orleans, but I want to get acclimated to the outside noises and being alone in a tent at night. Last night was gorgeous though, very temperate and a full moon. I did not put on the rain fly and my tent is virtually a mosquito net without it so I was just staring directly up at the moon. I had a very long day, but a good and fulfilling one, as well. I spent to morning reading a book about entitled Food and Healing by Ann Marie Colbin written nearly twenty five years ago. She must have been on the leading edge of nutrition back then and I found she had some very promising revelations in her work. One thing that I thought was worthy of mention was in regard to the Macrobiotic diet. "Macrobiotic" means literally long life and that is what it hopes to accomplish. It was a diet made popular in the by George Ohsawa in the early part of the 1900s. It is an Asian rooted diet that bases itself off of the yin and the yang. It is more of a philosophy for life that has a large focus on food. It emphasizes many whole grains, some vegetables, a few beans and legumes, seaweed, and fermented soy. However, it is not completely vegetarian and reccomends fish, eggs, or local rasied poultry or native wild game 2 or three times a week. I like the emphasis on local that suggests that eating things from the area you are in is what will make your body react best. I think thats true.
     I went on to work the afternoon on my own weeding and thinning long rows of chard and kale. It was slow work, but the time seemed to move rather quickly.
     At 4 o'clock, I set out on my typical bike tour of which I went farther than I typically do. I passed peacocks, papaya groves, semi trucks, and huge hundreds upon hundreds square acre farms that bordered the Everglades National Park. It was a great ride, I flew down those rodes with no shirt on and just continuously pushing myself, but enjoying the view and simplicity of riding. I even saw a chicken cross a road. I came home played my banjo under the moon and just celebrated in gratefulness.
     Today, was another long day. We worked on harvesting a "brassica" mix which is a mixture of vegetables from the mustard family. This included turnips, mustard, pei sei (sp?), yukina savoy, and arugula. This took much of the day to divide into 8 oz bags for about 250 shares in the CSA.
     Alright and now for the exciting stuff. I went on a bike ride that was shorter than yesterdays because we were scheduled to have dinner at another local farmer's home. I was trucking along, doing my thing. I see two dogs that are behind a fence and think little of, except for one thing, their curiously not barking as I ride by. So the fence goes on for a good acre or so, and then, I'm getting to the point where I usually have continue on as they are left there to another escapee. However, I see that the littler of the two big dogs is all of a sudden climbing under the fence! I then just go into ultra speed from a rather mediocre middle gear as he continues to gain ground on me and I hear him growling and panting. Within seconds I am out of reach, I made it away, but with a brain that got completely flooded in adrenalin. It was a good experience in the end. I had been expecting this to happen at some point because there are a lot of stray dogs living around here and I felt a satisfation that I was able to get away.
     When I returned, it was not long till, we were off to a man named Robert's house. We pulled into this thickly wooded, tropic setting. We approach this old timey, one storied, Florida house with a porch spanning the whole front. It had a rich bronze texture on the inside wood panneling and ceiling with windows lining all rooms of the house. Robert is a farmer who attended University of Florida and got an agriculturalist degree in Tropical trees and that is exactly what he knows best. We walked around his property and he recited the latin names of all sorts of palm trees and other trees with certain facts about there uses and native lands. He gave us exotic fruits to try and pointe out trees like the Macadamian nut which I never even thought of where it came from which is native to australia. He said "when our country's economic collapse occures I will hopefullly be able to provide for 50 people here." I asked him another question about why he had some poisonous tree that could not be touched or god forbid tasted. "Cause God made it" he said "and everyone else is tearing down species, I'm trying to save what we can."
     We ended up making these awesome grill smoked pizzas on a this large barrel grill. He had prepared extensively for us. He had made all the dough and had it risen by the time we arrived. He made different toppings all neatly lined up for us to choose from. It was rad. I liked that experience a lot. I met an old bamboo farmer from Davy, FL who I talked to about New England and he sang Peter, Paul, and Mary songs as I'd take a turn and play a newly formed banjo song. It was good times.
     Well, another long day awaits,
Peace friends, buena noche mi familia
          Tommy