Sprouts and Pizza

It has been a quiet week here on the farm with the participants out on their study-tour of Western Japan. Jenny is working in crops and vegetables for morning and evening Foodlife work. They have been finishing cleaning up all the vegetables from late summer and sowing winter wheat.

This means that the kitchen has large baskets full of final harvest. We don’t want to waste the green tomatoes, and green chilies that haven’t matured yet so we find things to do with them. We fry the green tomatoes or cook them with eggs. Today we worked all morning to put up some coconut chili sauce, and salt and vinegar chili sauce.

I’m in meal service for morning and evening Foodlife work this month. I’m working in the fields with the crops during the day and then using them in the kitchen to cook everyone’s meal that night. It is a dream come true for me.

News from Knight Field

 

We had a good rain this week so our spirits are high for Knight Field. Every day we squat and peer under the rice straw we laid down for mulch to see what is sprouting. Yesterday we high-fived and gave our thanks to the God of small things upon discovering several garlic sprouts peeking up, catching their first rays of sunlight. We also suspect a few needle-sized, green sprigs to be wheat, but we cannot be sure just yet.

Pizza Party!

Saturday, Jenny and Kathy turned the kitchen into a pizzeria. Together with the help of the volunteers, they made ten pizzas. Two were dessert. All were delicious, especially for us pizza deprived American volunteers.

 

Afterwards…

To celebrate our full tummies we piled in the van and rolled in ARI style down to the local karaoke joint. The place smelled like a bowling alley (cigarettes) but there was a free soft drink bar, complete with coffee and hot chocolate!

We rented a whole room and commenced jamming out.

Ricky opened us up with "Having A Good Time," by Queen.

I chose to sing “Seasons of Love,” from the Rent soundtrack and “Say It Ain’t So” by Weezer. 

Jenny sang “Zombie,” by the Cranberries "Hopelessly Devoted to You," from the Grease soundtrack, and, "Sk8er boi," by Avril Lavigne. She closed us out with "Bohemian Rhapsody," by Queen.

Today, we are resting up, doing laundry, and preparing for Monday to arrive. This week we'll also be preparing for the return of the participants. Last time when they returned we surprised them with a water balloon fight and a candle-lit dinner. This time we have to do it bigger and better. Jenny is heading up the effort and she is thinking along the lines of Christmas in November. We'll keep you updated in next week's post. 'Til then, enjoy this beautiful autumn season.

Your fellow servants in Christ,

Doug and Jenny