Work Hard, Play Hard

Sunday evening in the Red Dale

Considering the persistently dreary and drab weather Montana was oh-so fortunate to experience this  Memorial Day weekend (and most of last week, too...ugh), I have no better reason than to cozy up next to the oven (my only heat source in the Red Dale), un-cork a bottle of my favorite wine, crank up some Ella and Louis (to offset the pounding pitter-patter of freezing rain/snow falling on my roof), and update you all on what I've been up to these past couple of weeks.

Baby goats under Cassiopeia's watchful eye

Life is starting to fall into place with the smell of familiarity greeting my daily senses. Most mornings begin quite leisurely since we are still starting work at the outlandishly late hour of 0800 (gasp!), which allows for an hour-plus of coffee and NPR time cuddling under my comforter before having to pull on my overalls and muck boots. Quite extravagant for being a farmhand, I know...so I'm soaking it up while I can because before I know it (3 weeks time, to be exact), the 7am rooster will be calling my name. Literally. 

Chris feeding the babies

Yet, this upcoming week marks the start of our morning-milking schedule, which despite being dubbed the "goat-whisperer" due to my odd ability (more so than any other intern) to efficiently milk both goats in record time (under 30mins) without any mentionable disasters (i.e. Muffin pooping, kicking, or just straight up sitting down on the milking bucket/station...actual outcomes of Dean, Neil, and Chris's milking experiences as of late), I'm not particularly looking forward to my early-to-rise Wednesday. Sigh. At least I get fresh milk and eggs out of it, and get to take in the sunrise that dances across the surrounding peaks.  

Nature ain't perfect

YUM.

The work continues to be varied across the week, but each day is marked by certain "tasks" that occur on a regular basis. Wednesdays are reserved as "weeding & seeding" days (a sometimes challenging hump-day due to the monotony of such tasks), while Tuesdays and Fridays are just general "field" days. Which leaves Mondays and Thursdays as harvest days, our busiest (and soon to be longest) days; and although our CSA hasn't started yet (or the two local farmer's markets that we sell at during the summer), it's been an unseasonably warm spring, endowing us with a handful of things to sell to our restaurant accounts. Specifically, several varieties of lettuce, baby kale, arugula, radishes, asparagus, chives, lovage, and sorrel have all been in abundance and going fast! It wasn't until my second week on the farm that I tasted my first-ever, fresh-outta-the-ground asparagus....WOW! So sweet and crisp. Absolutely nothing like store-bought, trucked-across-the-US-from-California-in-the-middle-of-winter asparagus. And it's literally planted right out my front door. A stalk on my way to work in the morning? Yes please. And maybe as an afternoon snack as I head back to kick back? Why not. It's. To. Die. For. And sorrel is another one...an herb, actually, with a refreshing lemony-zing to it, the perfect accompaniment to nearly any dish. It's crazy that I'd never even heard of it before working here. I imagine this newfound knowledge of all things "vegetable" will continue to surprise and enlighten me as time passes, something I'm greatly looking forward to. 

Boosting my carpentry skills

Putting up wood panels on the ceiling

Home-made Ravioli

And I can only hope it manifests into the culinary magic that Mottola (aka: Chris, the fourth and final intern, who arrived for his second season at GVB a week after I did) demonstrates in the kitchen. Holy cow. This kid can cook! From scratch. 
Maybe it's his Italian roots. Or maybe it's raw talent. Possibly both. 




Either way, his cooking skills are BEYOND impressive and we've been eating like Kings...that is, of course, when we actually have the time and energy to actually cook dinner after long, hot days in the field.

Lunches still seem to be the main meal of the day (with the not-so-great habit of after-lunch coffee becoming more and more common...especially this last week when day-time highs were barely above 50 degrees amid on/off rain and snow showers); however, there have been a few evenings of shared cooking and company: a variety of home-made pastas, fresh greens to boot, home-made bread, freshly-made goat cheese, my first batch of Kombucha (started about a week ago and yet to be taste-tested as it's still curing), and of course, copious amounts of wine. I mean, when in Rome... :)

Voila!!

Mmmm, arugula

And in between all the work, sweat, and rain/snow, I'm still finding time and energy to play...at least a little. My first weekend in town, it was a 5mile road-run from the farm towards Bear Canyon on a lovely, non-trafficed country road, followed by a 30mile round-trip road-ride through Bridger Canyon up to the entrance of Bridger Bowl a day later. Talk about gorgeous. I want to ski those peaks right meow. 

The rainbow is behind me...

My second weekend saw yet another dual-sport endeavor, but this time it was a trail run up to Baldy Peak via the "College M" trail with Chris. Super steep, and my quads hurt for 3 days afterwards, but I loved it so much I ordered a pair of Solomon trail-runners the next day! Then, that afternoon Chris and I went rock climbing with a previous farm intern (Rose) at Frog Rock. The weather was a bit ominous and we got sprinkled on a little, but it was an awesome afternoon. Rose is an AMAZING climber (she's only been climbing for 4years and leads sport routes in the 5.12s, trad in the 5.10s...ridiculous!)...it was just awesome to get back on the rock after leaving Colorado...something I hadn't anticipated happening as quickly as it did. She mentioned a few boulder-areas around town that Chris and I checked out later that week, which are also super sweet. We spent an evening playing on one of them after work one night until it was too dark to see the holds anymore. So freaking awesome! 

Vibrant & fabulous to match my personality :)

Climb-time!

And once my trail-running shoes arrived in the mail later that week, Chris and I took a drive to Hyalite Canyon (an epic place in and of itself....drool-tastic!)


for a snow-covered and snow-flurrying run up the Hyalite Peak trail. 
Muddy, cold, wet...but absolutely beautiful and SO MUCH FUN!!! I think I'm hooked on the trail-running thing and might even sign up for a 10mile race in the Bridgers at the end of June. But we'll see...if it keeps snowing like it did all weekend, I'll be relegated to silly road-running again, which isn't nearly as much fun :)

All in all, life on the farm continues to amaze and inspire. Beauty and abundance surrounds, and the tougher moments are offset by a fulfillment felt by the bigger picture. My soul (and belly) are full of delight and happiness, and although I wish I could share these feelings and experiences with you all in person instead of across the miles, I can only hope you are seeking out the same in your own daily adventures. Until next time, love to you all and do keep in touch!

-B