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Published: June 23rd 2009
Fearless readers, I'm apparently a good salesman when given the chance. At least, this is what several of the other vendors of the Ennis market noted yesterday at the close of market. I was able to go in to town with Chris and help him setup and man the market booth, where he sells plants and preserves. Chris also had several errands to run, and left me in charge of the booth for hours at a time. This was my 'work' for the day, and was quite nice. Sure, I'm not 100% on the soil conditions and the needs of some familiar plants in this unknown environment, but I'm picking it up. For example, I now know that neither peppers nor cucumbers will grow outside in Ireland. They will, however, grow in a polytunnel or in a giant pot on the porch. It's just too cold and unreliable in the ground here. Anyway, the old skill of upselling that I learned in my days working at the movie theater kicked in, and I was soon able to get someone walking away with more plants than they had intended. We well exceeded the target sales for the market, and so now I get to go to Kilrush and help with the market there next Thursday. Huzzah!
Today was an odd day. I am given two days off if I wish, as Chris & Hilary only ask 6 hours of work, 5 days a week out of their WWOOFers. Anyway, I am just sort of getting into the swing of things here, and so I opted to stay here on the farm and help out. It started with Chris and I making and preserving plum jam to sell at market (fortunately I have a little experience in this area, so I was rather helpful), then outside for some nice hard work. When I arrived, one of the first questions I was asked was "Are you any good with a chainsaw?" That's always an interesting question to hear, and usually leads to some wood work. This was no exception, as there is a stack of giant logs out front that require sawing in half, re-stacking, then sawed down to small logs for chopping into firewood. They decided it was a better use to put me to work lugging the logs from one pile to another, so I spent about two hours carting 80-100 lb logs the 10 feet or so that it took to get to the secondary stack. Tetris skills kicked in and I was able to do some quite optimum stacking. Beats going to the gym anyday...plus I was then able to take some aggression out on the small logs with an axe. After a delicious lunch (they're feeding me really well here), Hilary and Chris went down to take care of some bee business. I got stung when they came back from one of the bees swarming around their suits. Damn glad to know I'm not allergic to Irish bees, because otherwise I'd probably be dead now. Hurt like the dickens, but no shock. Thanks, Mom, for not passing on the genetic gift of possible death due to bee stings.
Did something interesting this evening. Well, not particularly interesting work, but the purpose was. One of the neighbors has had some of his turf (peet) from the bog mechanically picked up and layed out in rows by a tractor hopper. Well, the main use for peet around here is as a heating fuel in the winter instead of wood. It burns in the fireplace/stove in a more smouldering fashion, so the fire is consistant and longer-lasting. But before any of this happens, you have to dry out the turf by letting it get some sun. Hilary & Chris had been offered 10 hoppers of the stuff, which meant 10 long rows. So we went down and, with spades, split it into foot-long sections. It was a good hour and a half spent straddling these long rows, and given my stumpy legs that was no fun feat. But we got it done, and so now in a few weeks they'll be able to go back and turn the turf to let the underside dry out.
Have promised to roast some cauliflower for them tomorrow. Apparently it's a very intriguing and foreign concept to the British and Irish. Oh well, it's something small to pass on. Also going to help Hilary make Picklily, which is a mixed veg pickled in a mustard/tumeric/vinegar sauce. Pretty good stuff, a bit spicy...I tried it with this afternoon's lunch. It went well with the fresh poached eggs and bread.
Lessons learned:
When chopping firewood, aim for the front side of the log. That will typically cause the log to split.
People at the market really take care of one another. I should like to sell something of my own at a market someday, but prepared foods look to be too difficult in that you have to accurately judge demand.
Homesickness/thoughts of the people behind kind of hits you after a few days. Wouldn't be so bad if I had a phone to use and could call home. Oh well, Galway is only a week or so away. I can make it with my books and work until then.
Gadget people are universal. Hilary loves gadgets, and has been tinkering the last couple of days with a new weather station that she can use to store data on her computer. Helped her a bit with the setup, but she wants to really do it on her own. Go you
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Geoffy
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large for just a quarter more!
I've only read the first couple of your newest entries, and I'll undoubtedly blow some more time at work on the others this afternoon, but it sounds like a good trip thus far :) Keep enjoying yourself, and keep us posted.