Farm Friday, November 11th, 2022

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day

My “I voted” selfie

Today before we took students for a hike, I took a moment to recognize that today is Veterans Day and that they might have family who are veterans. I told them that this day was chosen to commemorate the end of World War I on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. One of the students said that we have a veteran in the circle, so-and-so’s mom, who was here chaperoning.

I had a long conversation with her at lunch and we talked about our families' connections to military service and how it feels important to honor veterans even as we might oppose a war. I think one of the ways we honor veterans is to protect the rights they fought for, like the right to vote in free and fair elections (such as they are).

We harvested all the carrots before the freeze. Pippa helped. A little thing I love is when animals hold items in their paws while eating them.

This was an exhausting week for me. Saturday and Sunday I was busy knocking on doors to try to get out the vote. Monday was harvest harvest harvest ahead of the freeze. Tuesday I worked as an election judge until almost midnight. Then Wednesday through Friday we hosted an elementary class at the farm.

We made 126 dipped beeswax candles with the class this week

So many amazing sunsets this fall

Some sort of frozen fungus on a twig. On our hike the students found many interesting items like this.

I LOVE taking photos at night with my iPhone.

The wind was too high to have a fire in the pit, so we did s’mores in the pizza oven

I have a question about the word “bro.” My students use it all the time. While I was dipping candles with the students I overheard them using the word and I asked them to consider the fact that the word is both patriarchal and potentially culturally appropriative. I didn’t tell them not to use it. I just asked them to think about what messages that word is sending to the people around them. My question is: what do you think about the infiltration of the word “bro” into the vernacular of a mostly white mixed-gender middle-class group of young people?

I keep starting to write Medium pieces in my head but I’m too tired to commit to the time to fully develop one. Maybe next week?