Travel Update!

Hello there everyone!
(For those of you who still check this thing, congratulations. You get a very special gift from my travels when I return home.)
This last month has been a complete mad-hatter of a time. I honestly have no idea where to begin.
It has been one month and (seven?) days since I have written a blog post. Yeah, I know. You may be asking yourself how I survived. Well, to be honest, it's been challenging.  This last month has made me very concious of my addiction to social networking sites and I have been working to rid myself of the need to feel self important by posting something silly for the world to see. The good news is, I no longer think in Tweets, Facebook updates or blog posts. Go me.
For the sake of keeping you all updated on my travels and future plans I going to share with you here the email I just sent to my family.

Hello everyone!!! I just wanted to write a quick hello and update you all on my travels so far, as well as my travels to come... As you all know, I flew into Sydney on the 25th of March. What you may not have known is that I was scared shitless of leaving such a loving community and family to venture into the unknown. But, travel and grow I knew I must so I packed up my gear into a small backpack and headed into the wild.
When I arrived in Sydney I instantly felt a connection to the people, places and smells around me. My first day was spent at a craft market helping Kate (the women I was staying with in Sydney, and one of the team members at Play in the Wild!) sell her incredible hand-made books. The fashion, the vendors and the accents were all too beautiful. The next week was full of fun, making myself a journal in Kate's workshop, planning Play in the Wild! activities and spending quality time on the white sandy beaches of Sydney.
When Catherine and Jesse (the founders of Play in the Wild!) arrived, planning Play in the Wild! along with Dialogs of the Heart ( a Nonviolent Communication Training that we did the weekend before camp) became our top priority. The adventure continued as we packed up our gear in the Rav. 4 and drove the 14 hour trip to Brisbane.
Play in the Wild! was amazing experience for every youth and trainer involved. We laughed, cried and danced our hearts out in the green bush of Oz. The trans-formative week reminded me of how much a community and individuals can share and learn together when a container of love holds them all.
As we said our tearful goodbyes, we all parted ways two saturdays ago, going back to our prospective homes around the world, taking with us the feeling of strong love, support, community and friendship.
One more successful Play in the Wild Youth Intensive under my belt.
The next few days were filled the brim with site seeing of the Sydney Opera house, relaxing on the beach and trying to regain my voice that I had lost due to allergies at camp. (Think Marcel the Shell type voice.)
Then we hopped on another plane to Melbourne for Catherine and Jesse's wedding celebration at a beautiful wildlife sanctuary. The wedding was on Sunday the 29th of April, surrounded by Dingos, Kolas and NVC trainers. We danced our hearts out and ate purple cake. It was a perfect way to part ways with friends and family, celebrating the love and connection that lives in us all.
Which leads me here: one more day until I am in Auckland, New Zealand. 28 more days until I am in Wales and a month and some time until I am back in the Capay Valley in California USA.
Thank you so much for supporting me on my walk-about, and know that wherever my travels take me, I am thinking of you and how fortunate I am to have such incredible family and friends. See you all soon! XOXOX
-Hannah Rose.

I'm Leaving.

Goodbye everyone!!!

I will try to update soon. 

Or maybe some of my friends and siblings will be kind enough to write a little ditty once in a while. 

 

Things I'm Going to Miss.

Let me say first and foremost that I am DAMN excited to adventure into the land of the unknown in less than 48 hours. 

Damn excited, I say.

Now that I got that out in the open, comes the REAL reason that I wrote this blog post:

My sister asked me the other day (after I had been home for a whopping six hours) if I had to choose between leaving the Capay Valley forever or having to stay in the Capay Valley forever, what I would pick.

 If you had asked me two years ago I would answered honestly in a heart beat, 

'get me as far away from this place as possible. I don't want to ever come back.' 

Harsh. Yes. I know. 

But when you live close to something for so long you start to despise everything about it. 

Especially when that place has annoying siblings, high school memories and chickens. 

Yet, the other day when my sister asked me that question I actually said that I would stay. 

STAY, I SAY!! 

Crazy. I know. 

But the truth is,

I love the people here.

 I love the community and the way that everyone knows everyone. 

I love that we all share a connection and passion for food and learning. 

And yes, I understand that staying here forever would mean missing out on a lot of adventures, but if I can't be surrounded by the people that I love I don't want to experience any of it. 

I love sharing my life with the folk of Full Belly Farm and the Capay Valley... and even Eugene Oregon.

 I can't picture my life with out those people and as I travel to distant places and experience new things that becomes much more clear. 

So, in memory of those times, friends and family members that I am going to miss a whole heck'of'a'lot when I am away I give you this:

 A list (in no particular order) of some fun times that I am going to cherish no matter when in the world I am.

The Roommate. Pretzel Price.

I hate to say this, but I actually think I will miss studying for classes. Yeah. Wow.

Good friends and great study parties.

Sunshine in Eugene.

Well, the Urban Farm o'course.

Walking to classes.

The kind of beautiful place I call home.

These folks. They're pretty swell.

Best friends.

Drinking wine with the family. (Ignore the wine teeth.)

Sunshine with the siblings in Lake Tahoe.

My sister....

The sillyness and giggles.

The romance.

Do you think that they have Frozen Yogurt in New Zealand?

Half-drunk and fully silly photo sessions with the Roommate.

Well, it's been fun ya'll and I know I'll be back soon... maybe then I actually WILL stay in one place forever. 

As of now... Ta'ta and see you on the other side.

xoxox

Farmer Girl.

Life is Good.

I am leaving in two days for Australia. 

TWO days. 

I hope you all understand the lack of consistent blogging these days. 

The only thing that is consistent at this moment is a sense of panic. 

And a sense of "Eeeeekkkkk"

I have a To Do List about as long as myself....

 I have an ever growing backpack that looks mighty small compared to all of my supplies lying on my bed and a room that looks like a tornado just ripped through it.

But, life is good. 

Life. Is. Good. 

(I think I may be spending a littttttle too much time at REI.)

I have been home for almost a week, feeding baby animals, painting toe nails, laughing uncontrollably, eating incredibly good food and I just got my term grades back with a whopping 4.0. 

I told you folks. 

Life is good.

I can not wait for my adventure, it will be the grandest and funnest I am sure. 

But, as of now the idea of getting on a 14 hour plane ride to a country I know nothing about and figuring it all out on my own...

Well,  it just seems a little daunting that's all. 

I hope to do at least one more blog post before I head out for two and a half months. 

I don't know what the internet and blogging ritual will be like on my trip.

But I am going to keep a daily journal.

And take PLENTY of photos

And I will have an email list hopefully.

If you would like to be included in the list of emails I send to...

PLEASE feel free to leave a comment below. 

<3

My Old Room

I am home for one week. 

I have pictures to upload from my trip home with my mom and sister and my crazy packing experience...

 I have SO much to do in this one week before Australia. 

SO MUCH. 

But right now? 

I am sitting at my dad's computer searching through old pictures from my high school years. 

One thing that I came across was this bad haircut:

Taken on photobooth of course. Push up bra and all. Classy Hannah. Classy.

Another gem I came across was my old bedroom. 

I have NO idea how I convinced my mom and dad to let me do this to my room in high school... 

But somehow I did. 

And looking at the writing NOW brings back some memories that are almost as bad as my old hair cut.

Thank goodness I have a little better sense about these things now...

A little. 

It's also

A good thing I was so pretty back then. 

Yeah. 

These old pictures are PURE GOLD. 

Uggh. 

Bye. 

I'm off to delete these pictures so they will NEVER be used for blackmail. 

Hunger Games Gold Wedding.

So, as you all SHOULD know, The Hunger Games movie is coming out in less than a week and I seriously can not wait. 

I read the book a long time ago... ( A sophomore in high school?) and fell in love.

 I have gotten inspired to do a farmish, gold hunger games wedding post for some time now. 

So, here it is. :) Enjoy and please watch the movie. 

But more importantly, read the books. 

I got all of the pictures off of pintrest.

Things I've Learned from Having Farm Animals.

When you have 300 acres as your back yard you learn a lot of things. 

When you have four siblings you learn a good amount...

But, 

When you have 250 sheep you learn even more. 

The title of this blog sums up what I want to talk about today and that, my dear readers, is the life experiences and well-learned lessons that I have received by simply having animals prevalent in my (already crazy) childhood. 

When I tell people that I live on a farm, I usually get one of two questions first:

1. "What do you grow on your farm?"

2. "So, do you guys have animals too?"

The first question is actually not as simple as it seems, seeing as how the majority of people that go to college here don't even know what a rutabaga is, nor care to... and saying that 'we are a diversified farm that grows over 80 different varieties of fruits and vegetables' usually just gets greeted with more questions or blank stares. So, I usually just end up saying. 'Well, we grow a lot of things, watermelons and tomatoes and corn and such.' 

Yeah. I know. Not the best answer in the world but it's really all the same to the questioners. 

The second question is actually a funny one. 

Mostly, I have come to the conclusion that students believe that by living on a farm means that you have three types of animals. Cows, chickens and horses. 

But, for some odd reason, people always ask me about the horses first. Which, leads me to have to say: "No, our only horse died a while ago." (Yeah, I know, not the best icebreaker in the world.) They feel bad, I feel... Well, not bad because I hate horses anyway. Yeah. I know. Its a strange thing to hate. But, they are big, mean and I am pretty sure could kill me in a second. I'll stick with docile cows, thanks.

 

Anyway...

What I love to do is list off numbers. That way, the questioners know that our farm isn't just some "hobby" farm that dicks around. We don't dick around. Ever. 

I start by listing off the number of animals that we have.

(Now, I'll admit, I don' know the exact number right now because I haven't been home in a while.. but it's something like...)

5 Dogs.  

4 Pigs

8 cows.

15 goats.

200 Sheeps.

1000 Chickens...

You get the point. By the time that I state the number of sheep their eyes get wide and start exclaiming and swearing. Yeah. I told you fools. We don't dick around. 

Living on a farm you grow accustomed to different set of chores. Instead of (or besides) cleaning the windows, you take compost to the chickens. 

Which, by the way is one of the most horrible jobs in the world. 

It actually has been deemed that title by the institute of farmers children. 

I mean, besides the heavy and stinky compost bucket that you must carry across the yard. 

There's the total ick factor of compost back-splash as you turn the bucket over to the hungry mungry chickens.

 Yeah. It's sick.

 I am going to do this in the only way I know how to write these days....

Lists.

 I write so many lists it's really unnecessary.

 I make sub-lists of my to-do lists. I make to do lists of my to do lists. But, my unorganized brain somehow basks in the neatness of lists, so here's another one for ya'. 

Things That I've Learned from Having Farm Animals.
I grew up around crowing roosters, snorting pigs, bully billy goats and the smallest brained sheep you will ever meet. They have taught me many things. 

1. Goats are out to get you. Always. 

Okay, the truth is, I only say this because I have been head butted by a goat and it is one of the LEAST fun things in the world. My friends would actually tell you differently, one of my best friends actually had two goats that she would put on leashes and take for runs... That is, until they got too big for her and started dragging her behind them. True Story. The time I got head-butted is not as fun of a story to tell, I was moving the goats to a new pasture, they hated me for that. I bent down to pick something up off the ground and a billy goat ran full sprint at the back of my head and knocked me out cold. I hate billy goats. They are mean and grumpy and smelly and foul. Baby goats are the only ones that I can handle. 

2. When collecting eggs. Always wear protection. 

I mean gloves of course. But for real. Bring a stick, or an extra egg carton or an unsuspecting camper that will willingly stick their small hands into a nesting box for the whole "farming experience"... Really anything that will lesson the pecks given out by moody mother hens. 

3. Baby pigs are cute. But then they get ugly and fat and mean...

The good news is that eating them is an option. So I'm not too worried about it. I love pigs. They are delicious. :) 

4. It's the circle of life yo. 

Some people get freaked out about the fact that I have witnessed the slaughtering of hundreds of animals. And yes, when I walk outside and see a mountain of sheep heads and guts it can be a little overwhelming and unexpected. Not to mention when I go into a cooler looking for food and get shocked to DEATH when I see a hanging pig corpse. But, I have grown up with it. I know that the animals on my farm have had a pretty amazing life. I know that we use almost all of the parts of the animals that we kill and that those animals will serve as our delightful dinner. I have lived and grown up around deaths, loss, babies and poop and I know it all connects. It's the circle of life and if you have a problem with it, you shouldn't be eating nameless meat. Sassyness. I know. 

5. Animals are a HUGE responsibility. 

I guess that I learned this the most with cows. My mom has milked a cow non-stop every day, twice a day for the last 25? years of her life. There are no days off, there are no... "It's too cold" or "I don't feel like it right now." The animals are expecting you to care for them. To protect them. To love them. This is why the only pet I plan on having for the next couple years is a fish. 

6. Naming animals is fun. 

We have named many a bummer sheep. Once, we named one Carmen Electra, because she was born on an electric fence. (She walked backwards for the majority of her life) We named another one Fish because it was born in a water bucket. We named another one Aurora Frankenstein. She died.

 

7. Cows have one udder and four teats. 

You would be surprised how many people don't know that. 

 For those people: 

Did you also know that milk comes out warm?

And frothy? 

And delicious?

And that milk you get from the store?

Well, to be honest, it has no flavor.

8. Animals always give birth on the coldest, rainiest, moon-shiniest nights.  

Yeah, I guess that it has to with their birthing cycle and all that... but really? I think they like to mess with the farmers sleeping pattern. 

9. Wild pigs are smarter than they let on. 

Did you know that they will not eat, or go near eggplants or tomatoes because they are in the nightshade family (The botanical name of which is Solanaceae. BAM just dropped some knowledge on your brains)?? They just KNOW! It's crazy the kind of instincts that animals are born with.

And 

10. Dogs will always be the favorite animal on the farm. 

I work at a summer camp and have lead MANY student group tours... EVERY time the kids leave loving our dogs Mister and Salsa the best. Every time.