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Third part of my four part series on my adventures in New York City, which focuses on different restaurants and a good place to eat said food (if it happens to come from a food truck or the Maoz near Times Square). Watch more New York City videos at tripfilms.com Here’s the second installment of my New York City videos, this time focusing on movies that filmed in or were inspired by New York City. Watch more New York City videos at tripfilms.com This is the first video of a four part series and it’s focus is specifically on literature. I will be posting a new video will post daily for the series, each one focusing on a different interest. Please check them all out! Watch more New York City videos at tripfilms.com
This past week has been a weird one because I’m experiencing firsts and lasts as I’m preparing to leave. On Wednesday our house went to the New York State Museum in Albany. This was our first full house outing that wasn’t celebrating a birthday or a holiday. The museum was quite big and it’s exhibits spanned a lot of New York’s history. It went from Native American times all the way through to modern times–featuring exhibits on Sesame Street and the September 11th tragedy. While it makes sense that Sesame St. is modeled after brownstones in New York City, I was still surprised to see it there. Izzard left afternoon work in the vegetable garden early on Wednesday to go milking and I thought Sid had gone with him. As Eddie, Ellie, Eme and I were collecting the tomatoes we’d harvested I saw that Sid hadn’t gone. So at the end of work I got to take pictures of the afternoon crew (which is lacking a few members due to vacations) and I. On Thursday Pele and Paul took Froud and I out to Baba Louie’s in Hudson for a farewell lunch. It was the only time where Froud and I hung out with Pele and Paul in a social fashion and without interruptions (we’d had a couple of Monday morning coworker meetings but we could never get through one without interruption so we gave them up). For afternoon work the vegetable garden crew and a few members of the seed garden crew went to Thompson Finch to gather apples that had dropped when the Thompson Finch farmers harvested. They weren’t really meant for immediate consumption but for cooking/processing.
Prior to lunch Friday I started processing the Black Krim tomatoes for making sauce later in the evening. I managed to wash, cut and salt the entire bucket before lunch started. Followign afternoon work the veggie garden crew had a small farewell for me with the two varieties of cantaloupe we are growing (Golden Gopher, Delicious 51). Thus far Delicious 51 has proven superior to Golden Gopher. After dinner I started the tomatoes stewing to cook off as much water as as possible before I got ready to make sauce. While the tomatoes were simmering I went down to the 2nd Annual Art Show put on by the summer painting class because even though the event was open to everyone, Eme had invited me to come. When I got back the tomatoes were ready to be pureed and made into tomato sauce. Miss Whatsit came over and helped, cleaning up after my mess and cutting the garlic and basil to add. Having Miss Whatsit was probably a tomato sauce saver because I’d completely forgotten to wash and sanitize the jars. I’d been expecting the process to take four hours or so, but because I’d been prepping and stewing and using the entire tomato the active sauce making part of the process probably took an hour and a half. Yesterday was my day off but I had my well fare party for myself at the swim pond. I’m not much of a party person because I’m easily overwhelmed by and uncomfortable around to many other people. However I had a lot of fun yesterday. Hara was the first to show and she helped set up. Eme was the second to arrive and second-to-last to leave. Eme talked about two things: where Zak was and the fact that she didn’t need to go to cafe because she could get soda, sweets and chips at the party. I was surprised by the turn out, thirteen people in total– and with the exception of Eme the party guests came in two shifts.
Saturday Miss Whatsit and I went to Bash Bish Falls. It was Copake Falls Day, but I found out Bash Bish is actually on the bum end of Massachusetts and not part of Copake Falls. When Miss Whatsit and I got to Bash Bish we took the scenic route down to the falls, meaning we hiked. As I have previously mentioned I am not a hiker. I’d like to say my sense of adventure was completely responsible but most of the first half of the hike was down and I have a feeling that helped convince non-hiking me to keep going a lot. We went off the beaten path walking toward the sound of water, passing signs stating things like “No Swimming Restricted Area” and “Do Not Enter”. Past that point we found a beautiful clear pool that looked to be about 7 feet across, 10 feet wide and 10 feet deep. I made the rookie mistake of thinking I’d taken a picture of the pool when I hadn’t. I did take a picture of the mini-waterfall leading to the pool. Miss Whatsit dipped her toes in and declared that the water was frigid. But before I could stick my big toe in a couple of guys who work for Massachusetts parks came and told us we were in restricted area. Our only defense was we didn’t swim (I know it sounded thin even when we were saying it then), which was the case, but since Miss Whatsit and I were both wearing our bathing suits we clearly had intended on swimming. We gathered our stuff and the two guys who came to break the news to us waited. As we walked down I was unsure if we were being escorted out or if they were going to take us and book us for being on restricted public property. Our single line formation was what worried me most- a guard, Miss Whatsit, myself and then the second guard. Turns out they were only escorting us back to the right spot at the bottom of the falls. After we got down to the bottom, Miss Whatsit and I turned around and we walked back up to Bonnie. The walk up reminded me why I don’t hike and since I didn’t bring any water with me I ended up getting a hangover-like headache from dehydration. With our original plans busted, Miss Whatsit and I decided to go get ice cream in Hudson. Although the two people working at Lick didn’t know if their chocolate products were made with fair trade chocolate I still like the ice cream parlor. Lick has all these crazy flavors like lavender and minced ginger. Miss Whatsit liked her killer chocolate waffle cone, but I loved my chai waffle cone. Although now that I’m thinking about the experience I probably should have asked if they used chai spices or chai tea instead of assuming they only used chai spices.
This first bit might seem like too much information, but read to the end it gets better. Last Friday Eme farted. This is not an abnormal occurrence anywhere for anyone, but what happened next is definitely something I have never experienced. Eme blamed it on the basil. Eme blamed her not-so-silent farts on a plant whose sweet fragrance is well documented. I know it was the closest thing to us, but with all the frogs and toads and crickets around I’m still in shock at Eme’s choice of scapegoat. And ever since then Eme has been blaming all her farts on me– even the silent ones which works out well because it serves as a warning to not go near Eme for a few minutes. On Tuesday Izzard, Zak, Scout, the new kid and I pulled two beds of red storage onions out of the ground and managed to fit about 75% of them on one of the farm’s hay wagons. I was in the wagon setting onions out and I imagined myself as a lion in a cage for the circus or at the zoo, can’t say that I envy those animals– no matter what Pi says. I also watched the first half of Across the Universe with Miss Whatsit. On Wednesday Izzard, MB and I went up to the Argo greenhouse to plant lettuce. Shortly after our arrival we were greeted by Bacon, Pork Chop, Pork Roast, Hot Dog and Baby Back Ribs. The pigs don’t get names because they’re food, but the pigs are not food to me so to they have names. Anyway we found out five of the pigs had made a break for it sometime earlier that morning (or late the night before) . I helped Izzard and a couple farmers herd the five back toward their fenced off pasture. With the morning excitement behind us I went back to the greenhouse to finish seeding the lettuce and realized I won’t be here to transplant them. I’ve really begun my final countdown at Camphill.
Thursday night I pickled the last of the cucumbers I had from the garden. They had been picked over a week prior to pickling and were starting to yellow, but I think they should still taste like the rest of the pickles I’ve made. While I was pouring the brine into the jars I kept singing the chourus to Chevelle’s song Jars. Now that I’m done though I’m seeing mistakes I’ve already made, like only using garlic and basil for pickling spices. I’m hoping the pickles still come out well- I’ve got another week before the first batch will be worth testing. With all the effort I put into processing these cucumbers and tomatoes though I hope they turn out well. Last week finished with Miss Whatsit and I watching the second half of Across the Universe and then telling each other stories about MB, who is the latest addition to our morning crew in the garden. This first story happened some time two weeks ago, but upon Miss Whatsit’s insistence, I’m including it here mainly for her chuckles (since I think you need to know MB for to find humor in the first story). Izzard was told that if you call MB MacScotchy she will correct you saying her last name is MacDonald. Izzard decided to try it out and MB corrected him the first time he said it. But after he kept asking Scotchy to get the bucket and telling Scotchy to help us clean up the tomato plant carnage, she stopped correcting him. MB started calling herself Scotchy-head. Now every so often Izzard calls her Scotchy or Scotchy-head. The nickname drives me nuts, but MB doesn’t seem to care. The second is an on-going occurrence. MB has quite an imagination, MB isn’t a big fan of work and encouraging MB to work requires as much attention to her as it does to the work being done. So I’m constantly reminding MB that it’s time to work. Last week Izzard asked her what she thought would happen if she didn’t start working. Her completely serious and unprompted response, “MB will be in big ass trouble.” Which left Izzard and I stunned saying, “Yep, big ass trouble.”
I’ve known for a few weeks that I miscounted somewhere along the line and added an extra week to my year, but since I still can’t put my finger on exactly where it was I’m giving in and having two Week 50s. Alright on with my week. Last Saturday I visited Omega Center, which many of my fellow co-workers have visited and quite a few of them rave about. I was picking up Mitch, who had been visiting Gaia. When I got there they gave me a tour. I really like the retreat center and I’m glad I got to see it before I leave the area. They have a building called The Sanctuary which is a peaceful meditation room at the top of a windy set of stairs. On our way down from the Sanctuary I noticed that along the rock ledges someone had been writing out various inspirational words and phrases with pebbles. Last week I saw a lot of vegetables that came in what Eme calls the Big Mama size. (Side note: Eme also insists on bringing the Big Mama vegetables home to her housemother.) There was the zucchini, which actually came from the Seed garden. Then there was the turnip, which I pulled out of the carrot bed. Lastly was my favorite, the Big Mama tomato in the greenhouse, affectionately nicknamed The Pumpkin. Looking at the plants (pictured left) I expect more Big Mama tomatoes to come from the greenhouse.
I also learned in order for tomato seeds to be viable they need to ferment. Izzard spent a rest hour squeezing the seeds out of many sungold cherry tomatoes into a jar so they could ferment for a few days. As the seeds ferment the liquid rises to the top and becomes less opaque.
I also went through a major pickling phase. I pickled green tomatoes and cucumbers over the week. I pickled 6 gallons of green tomatoes, totaling 33 jars. I also pickled 4 gallons of cucumbers, totaling 21 jars. I was pretty proud of myself not having a single jar go into heat shock and shatter. Although I didn’t take any pictures of the jars during the first few minutes after pouring hot brine onto the garlic, basil and cucumbers (or tomatoes) I saw that the green things in the jar turned a more brilliant shade of green. I think it’s the same thing Zak was telling me about flame weeding- the cells on the surface of plant burst causing the chloroplasts to all turn bright green for a few moments. It only took a few moments before the veggies being pickled started to look more like something marinating in vinegar and salt. |
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