So this is it!

As my brother said , "Enjoy the first day of the rest of your life." I feel like this pretty much sums up the way that I'm feeling at this moment. This is the end of my first full day at the farm and I must admit I missed it. I found out about the farm by participating in the North American Summer Service Team (NASST) last May for 10 days and had the time of my life. It's pretty cool being out in the middle of Texas, living the agrarian life everyone once knew.

For those of you who don't know the details I'm currently a live-in volunteer at World Hunger Relief, a Christian-based sustainable, organic farm that prides themselves on "helping those that struggle to meet their basic needs by sharing and investing in others what God has given to us." Basically they want to teach those that are interested how to get the most out of their land without harming the environment (more on this later). Being a live-in volunteer involves working 20 hours a week (a morning chore then work from 8:30 to 12:30) in exchange for room and board. This combined with the company of about 19 like-minded individuals (I never can seem to stay away from large, communal living situations) coalesce to make one amazing experience. This leaves me most of the day for a part-time job and time to apply for the future. I'll be here until the end of May or the beginning of June...what comes next is still unknown.

I have taken some pictures so y'all can get a feel for what the farm is like:

This is a picture of 'the dorm'. This is where a lot of the socializing and all of the sleeping takes place. There are about 15 people that live in here, a small kitchen, and a TV with a VHS player (old skool). It's a pretty cozy place...maybe not the cleanest place in the world, but cozy. If you don't believe me, take it from the dorm gnome.

The next picture is of the education building (also known as the "Ed" building). This is where the educational sessions take place. There is an industrial sized kitchen, a small store where fair-trade food, clothing, and gifts as well as farm-fresh eggs,

goats milk, goat meat, and vegetables are sold. To the right of the Ed building there is a house known as the 'Nic' house (short for Nicaragua). Habitat for Humanity came to the farm and built a model home for what they do in Nicaragua. When I came last May this is where I stayed. It's pretty much a brick house with cement floors, screen windows, and a palm leaf roof. We may or may not have almost burned the house down when we were there last time....
In front of this is a small, open-air building with a wood-burning stove used in a third-world simulation (as well as for education for the kids that come).

Before this becomes too long, I'll postpone pictures of the rest of the farm 'til my next post.

Some interesting practices done at the farm:

All of the toilets here are composting. This means, as the name implies, there is no running water that goes to the toilets. If you go #1, you close the lid and get on with your life. If, however, you play 'bombs away' as my Dad likes to put it, you put a scoop of sawdust into the toilet and any odor is neutralized. This will save the between 80 and 90 gallons of water per day for the average family (considering we have 20 people, that's a lot of water saved for other uses). The best part is the waste goes back to where it came from!

A new practice that is starting to take shape is 'urine bucket 2.0' (did I mention this is a sustainable farm?). Urine is high in nitrogen, a major ingredient in the chlorophyll and the green color of plants, which, in it's initial state can't be used. If you let it sit and become stale, the urea becomes 'healthy' for the plants and, with a bit of water, can be as effective as commercial fertalizers. This contraption allows guys to hook the hose up to a milk container and collect their urine. May sound gross but in practice it's pretty cool. Ladies, watch out, I hear they're inventing the 'urine bucket 3.0'...

Moving on to a much to a more pleasant subject, when we were out here before, we witnessed the birth of two sisters. We decided to name one 'Ann'and one 'Arbor' (for obvious reasons). I'm happy to report that they are both doing very well. They can be seen below: Ann

Arbor

It's crazy to think that when we left in May these little guys could barely walk and now when they jump on me they're as tall as me. My little girls are growing up so fast!

For MLK, the farm is going around to different areas of Waco and working on urban gardens. There are 8 sites that are setup around town. Most of the sites will be planting potatos and onions as well as painting boards with messages of peace.

Yeah, it's pretty much a bunch of hippies out here. On off days the farm manages to keep themselves busy. Last night a group of us listened to This American Life, a great radio program, and watched Cool Runnings. Sunday mornings are reserved for church for most of the tenants followed by a lot of relaxing and reading as well as taking care of on-going farm projects. As I don't go to church, I'm going to start my own ritual of playing my sax after breakfast.

There is a lot to talk about in terms of what goes here and ways you can take some of the same practices and apply them to your (civilized) lifestyle. Oh, if you want to send anything to me, send it to:

Chase Estrin
World Hunger Relief, Inc.
P.O. Box 639
Elm Mott, TX 76640

More to come on the shenanigans of the farm. If you want to come visit, let me know and we can arrange it. I would love to have visitors! I hope everyone has a relaxing MLK Day!