That We May Serve Together: Peanut Butter Crackers

Hello! Doug here. Jenny is currently riding a "shinkansen" (the fast one) back to ARI! I have been on my own all weekend. Jenny has been at a conference in another city. It was a conference for women so naturally, I wasn't invited. I wasn't too hurt. I spent the weekend cleaning house and just relaxing. We stay so busy that we have no time to clean anything during the week. So while the wild girl that always fills my weekends with plans is gone, I have cleaned nearly everything here. I have done dishes, laundry, swept up the dust bunnies, and scrubbed the mold off the shower.

I have come to realize that cleaning you surroundings is like a sort of meditation. In order for your mind to be clear and at peace, your surroundings must be clear and at peace also. I have cleaned the whole house and my mind is nearly as clean.

Here at ARI we have had some really nice meals. There has only been six or seven people at each meal so we've all been at one table. It felt like a meal at home!

I spent all day Friday missing Jenny and tending to onions. Onions are hard to grow. We plant them in November and harvest in June. They need as many hours of daylight as possible so that the bulb can grow. They are just the size of chop sticks now. When it gets really cold here, the water in the soil freezes and pushes up to the surface. This causes the onion seedlings to pop out of the soil. So we have to go and squat next to each one, put it back in the frozen soil, and add mulch to keep it warm. I did this all day. My back is now in the shape of a question mark. What? Yes, a question mark.

I've decided to make this week's blog short and leave you with a few good pictures from our experience here!