das loft

Pictures from my week-long farm holiday thus far...

Farm holiday, summer 2007

I biked for about 7.5 hours Monday to get from Toronto to Guelph (including breaks). You should try it. It sounds daunting, but evidently it's not impossible. I'm sure you'll agree that it's very rewarding, and you'll feel great for doing it. I took the bike trailer (thank you again, auntie Ann) to carry all my gear.

First stop: Tarrah and Nathan's little farm at Ignatius, where Jon is also living. It's a very cozy place. Tarrah's raising Berkshire pigs, turkeys, and chickens, and they all look remarkably healthy and happy. She also did some double-digging in the spring and has some really healthy-looking vegetables growing biointensively.

Second stop: Everdale. It took me about two hours to bike from Guelph to Everdale. I was welcomed there by Angie, one of the interns this year. Stacey is here as an intern this year (she was a volunteer last year), and Carl is back for his summer "voluntern" position. Over the course of the first day I met the other interns: Joe, Cam, Garrett, Harris, and "voluntern" Joscelyn. It's definitely an older and male-heavy crowd this year - quite the opposite from last year.

Last night we had a steambath. Holy moly. That was really intense. Last weekend the interns built a steam sauna beside the strawbale cabins, including cold shower with a rock patio (Team Ambitious!). The steambath was a great experience. But I almost thought I was going to die. :)

This weekend the plan is to build a trebuchet (like a catapult). It will probably be used to launch rotten pumpkins down the hill, put hopefully other things as well. They were inspired by McCully Farm's trebuchet (McCully's is a popular Everdale field trip destination).

Labels: bike trailer, bike trip, everdale, farm

Excellent. We just came back from our fifth gig, this one at the Smiling Buddah on College. It went really well, I think even better than our one at the Supermarket. The three of us biked there, and carried all our stuff on a bike trailer. I was so impressed.



All you need is a good bike, and old fluorescent orange bike trailer, and a dolly, and you can carry all your equipment. This time we had half a drumset, a guitar, my weighted 88-key keyboard (which I can barely lift) and keyboard stand. Carrying it on a bike was actually remarkably easy. Sometimes it was tricky turning corners; I had to adjust the connection to make sure the keyboard/dolly combo could swivel enough, else I'd end up in the middle of the road.

This gig was held by The Commune. We were the last of three bands that played, and people seemed to really love us. They said we were tight! It's so nice to hear that, because I always felt we were loose. So great response. A guy there called the bike trailer combo SICK! Twice.

Labels: bike trailer, cowboy mimes, live show, music