Penultimate weekend at MSF

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It's 18.59 on the 2nd June. Today I'll just give a little update as to what we've been up to Friday, Saturday & Sunday, as nothing much of note has happened between now and my last blog.
So, Friday was a usual work day. We got up earlier than usual - about 7.30 - as Sandy had agreed to pay us $11/hour for any hours over 7 a day. I can't exactly remember in what order we did work, but most of the day was spent clearing out greenhouses, planting corn and tomatillos out in the field. Is was another very hot day, and at about 2 we headed to the house's garden where Sandy had barbecued some veal steaks. We sat and ate and chatted about the work we'd been doing and the work still to do, before heading back out to work for another few hours. In the evening we followed our usual routine of writing, reading, cooking, eating and chatting. We also, of course, took turns showering as we were filthy by the time we were out of the field.
Saturday was the day the weather broke. This was very good news for the farm, and was also a nice change from the baking heat. Mike wasn't around on Saturday, so we really just got on on our own - asking Laura and Dakota every now and again if we were unsure of something. Now seems to be a good time to mention that one of the other interns, Rachel, has left for good after she had an argument with Sandy about something or rather. The other intern, Danni left on Friday for a week off - but since she was best friends with Rachel everyone is sort of expecting her not to come back. The general consensus is that, although it's a shame as they were perfectly nice people, it not so much of a great loss as they didn't exactly pull their weight in terms of workload.
Anyway, our project for the day was to hoe the entire length of two of the smaller greenhouses, compost them and plant Lunchbox Peppers. The temperature reached 28•C that day, and thunderstorms and heavy rain passed frequently through the farm. The greenhouse work meant we stayed dry, but in the intense humidity amplified tenfold by the plastic houses the climate was stifling. Sweat poured off of us all day, and I worked shirtless more or less from 9am.
Laura and Dakota were heading home for the night so left at about 3, do we were the only ones really running the whole farm. We'd finished our work by 5pm ish, and closed up the greenhouses and sorted out the greenhouses - getting thoroughly soaked in the process, but nonetheless proud that we were entrusted with making sure everything was as it should be before turning in. We were eager to shower and early to bed after a hot, long and dirty day.
By Sunday morning a cold front had moved in. The temperature barely hit 14•C, and the weather remained stubbornly dreary and drizzly. It was technically our day off, but we'd decided to do a few hours of work anyway to earn a little more cash. Since the fields we drenched no planted could really be done, so it was back into the greenhouses (which were mercifully cooler that day) to weed.
Weeding sounds pretty tedious, but with good hoes and the Gator to take the weeds to the compost pile the job is both easy and satisfying. So, we worked for a little while, talking and listening to music as we went, then headed in for lunch. The weather made us fairly reluctant to head back out, but just as we were gearing up to do so Mike came in and said that he was feeling pretty under the weather and was going to head home. He said that once we'd weeding the greenhouses we could call it a day too.
This was only about an hour or so more work, so we'd clocked off by 4pm. Rosie and Kate went with Laura and Dakota to the shops that afternoon, while Matt and I sat around chatting to Adam at the dining room table. Once everyone returned, we spent most of the rest of the evening at the table, talking with a couple beers while dinner was on - and finally watching some TV on Laura's laptop before bed.
This, as I'm sure is pretty apparent by now, is the general layout of most of our days here. Hard work, spaced out by barbecues, beers and bonfires as and when people fancy them. And that is why, I suppose, we came for a few days and ended up staying near enough a whole month.

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