Day 1

We've officially traded this:

For this:

We successfully drove to New Haven, CT on Tuesday after a busy day of last minute cleaning and packing the car (thanks for the note, Arielle!). We had our first relaxing night in quite a while and stayed overnight there before saying goodbye to the kitties and continuing on to my parents. We got to the farm this afternoon and spent a few hours moving in and meeting our fellow student farmers along with the other staff of the farm. We had a delicious dinner of beef stew and all of the ingredients came from the farm including the piping hot apple crisp for dessert.

We have two rooms to ourselves in the farm house- perfect for visitors!- although I wish we had brought a dresser or something since we have one bed, four shelves and one unfurnished room for 12 months. Perhaps craigslist will turn up a couch or desk for our second room so that we can actually use it. Too bad we have everything we would need... in storage.

Soon my Red Sox flag will go up on the wall opposite Theo's new Phillies' one and we'll have pictures hung of all our friends. For now, we're happy to not have to pack or move anything and begin to settle in.

Moving Day!

Going

Going

Gone

Oh, Joy

Dear Car,

Next time you break, please don't pick North Philadelphia on the day we're moving, right before we drive you 300 miles to New England.

Thanks,

Ellie and Theo

Dear John (aka Philadelphia)

Dearest Philadelphia,

I love you, but I'm leaving.

I'm leaving because: you have too many homeless people, you are too hot in the summer, your baseball fans are obnoxious and really embarrassing, your public schools are the worst, and the subway smells like pee.

I love you because: your public market is the most wonderful cornucopia of culinary and gastronomic possibilities (don't get cocky Seattle. you have a lofty standard to achieve if you even want to be competitive), your parks are beautiful and expansive, your museums are world class, your restaurants are plentiful and top notch, your streets are easy to navigate, your public transit and bikeability are keen, your public art is without comparison (don't get cocky Portland. you have some art, but you're not in the ballpark yet), your rent is affordable, and above all you have a very well placed sense of pride.

Things to think about until I return: please clean up the Market East district, there is a lot of potential there; take care of your convention center, it is the beating heart of the city; FINISH THE SOUTH STREET BRIDGE, even if you have to pay 10,000 laborers overtime to work night and day and you sink into unimaginable debt, keeping that bridge closed is costing you so much more than money; keep your rivers clean; keep the park looking nice; fix I-76; fix the weather. If you do all of this, you will survive, thrive, and lead the world into a bright and shining future as you have done for the past 300 years.

Good luck

Love

Theo

Dear Philadelphia

Dear Philly,

Remember when it was FALL and you decided to be 90 degrees and incredibly humid? Remember how I'm moving away?

K, thanks, bye,
Ellie

So This Farm School Thing...

I can't count how many times over the last few months this scene has played out.

Well Intentioned Friend: So you're going to... Farm School?

Me: Yep, that's right.

WIF: Um.... why? You're leaving behind the city, all your friends, jobs you both like and your apartment to live in a commune, shovel manure, weed fields and live on no income for a year?

Me: We're so excited!

WIF: What exactly is it going to be like?

Me: Uh... don't really know.

I can tell you that when we first stumbled upon the Farm School last summer and started learning about it, we were over the moon anticipating a year there. While we know somethings about it- the prevalence of manure, the fact we're waking up each morning and doing chores before breakfast, the probability that we're going to be dirty and smell like animals for the next 12 months- there's a lot left to be discovered.

We know that (don't worry, Whitney), we will have cell service and internet despite living in the woods. We also know that we get some weekends off and most nights. We can have visitors! And we won't even make you do the really horrible chores! We won't get to have our cats there but luckily Rebecca and Anthony have been gracious in offering them a home. I'm pretty sure Rebecca's going to love them so much that Hobbes and Pippin won't want to come back after a year with her.

We don't really know what each day will look like (although I've heard that chainsaw lessons are week one) or how much we'll like it (we're hoping the answer is TONS) or what we'll do afterwards. But we're really excited to get on with the next phase of our lives even if that means leaving a lot of great friends who we'll miss a lot.

Cookies

Finally, my cookies are being recognized in the way they deserve (attn. sarah arkebauer: your recipe will never grace the pages of reputable published work). Check it out here!

Temple Grandin

How did I not know about this? I had heard vaguely of her research, but didn't know that she published books. For those of you who don't know, she's a farmer who has tackled autism and working as a woman in a man's field (field... get it...?). Her groundbreaking work has changed how we deal with animals and conceive of their thought process. In the midst of packing, moving and saying goodbye, I'm going to have to pick up one of her books.

Moving

I've been trying to think of something meaningful to say about moving and transitions and new chapters in life but really, as excited as I am for the Farm School, this kind of sucks. Every day I have less time here and we're closer to packing even more stuff and saying goodbye to everyone. Luckily my last week is filled with seeing lots of friends and a relaxing week of no work before we head out next Tuesday.