Rainy Song

I’ve made up a song in response to all this rain. It goes like this:

Rainy rainy rainy rain
Wormy wormy wormy worm
Greeny greeny greeny green
Elly Elly Elly bean.

Maybe one day I'll sing it to you!

The last two days have been rain, testing the weatherproofness of the shed. In the middle of it all, we've had possum break-ins in the garden, so Tyler borrowed Bev's possum trap and after three days of no luck and lettuce losses, I set my intention to catch a possum, and we did. A black/brown one that seemed docile enough, until we lifted the cage (with long stakes through the bars, keeping our hands away from him) and he rammed against the walls until we set him down again, in the back of the Ute, for “relocation.” I was wondering about this affect on a possum's family, but Tyler says possums are loners who roam, never staying in one place too long. We let him out near a massive Gum tree, and got to watch some high-flying antics as the little guy scampered up, clutching the bark spread-eagled with his claws dug in, and then jumping from branch to branch to tree trunk while 20 meters in the air. I admit, I was a little worried about his high-rise jumping, but he didn't seem to be. It was neat to see what a possum's capable of; I've never really gotten to see them, since they're nocturnal and all.

Today's dawned fine and clear, with a breeze and a nip in the air. I would swear it's autumn, except everyone else around here thinks it's spring – you should see the newspapers! They think it's summer, and tout beach getaways and ads for swimwear. Ha. ha. ha.

I decided to look at some other communities in AUS, while I'm here. Tyler recommended a couple: Moora Moora outside of Melbourne, and Crystal Waters, also on the mainland. They've both been established for some years (CW for 30, I think) and use sustainable living practices and permaculture as a way of life. I'm not sure what I'm looking for at this point – I already know these aren't communities I want to join, and it seems that whatever I can dream up in terms of alternative living, I can look up on the web, so maybe it's people I want to meet and talk to about intentional living. I do feel isolated here, since the closest phone is an hour's walk, and internet access happens so sporadically and for such a short amount of time in comparison to what I'd like to look up and who I want to write to. I have a feeling that going around will help me see just how great this community is here.

I'm getting a feeling for this community here: I like the people, but the weather's killing me! Seriously, I'm pretty sure I almost didn't survive the night a couple of days ago. If I'd left one finger out of the covers I'd be one short now. I figured out how to layer three pairs of pants. That's how cold it was.

Everyone says this is unusual weather. I'm just cold.

Now, for the breaking story: We're planting potatoes! Tyler drives the tractor with the plow, and Della or I walk along behind, dropping potatoes every step in the open furrow. Then tractor comes back around, now driving with a wheel in the furrow, tamping the potatoes down, and plowing earth over it while creating a new furrow. We started last night and Della and I could hardly keep up with the tractor – that's one of us alternating each row, then running back to refill our potato satchels. I had a great time doing the drop one, tamp it down, step one potato dance. I felt like a native Aborigine, I almost started singing.

It's strange to participate in such mainstream farming practices as plowing and planting potatoes when what Abeo is about is permaculture and sustainability. Della wants a crop to sell this fall. She sees this as income, when all they've been doing is outcome lately, I understand her desire. She grew up in the part of the country, remembers planting potatoes as a kid, so this is probably familiar ground for her to be walking on and participating in.

**

Something I learned about Tyler: not his given name. Apparently, when he was working in Seattle, he did a lot of home improvements and came to work looking like it. When they asked what he'd been doing, he said “tiling my floor – you can call me Tiler Dan.” Then they shortened it to Tiler Jordan (Jordan is his last name) and it's been Tyler ever since.

I never would have guessed. Seems that people change their names for all kinds of reasons. Della has, too. It's one way of getting comfortable in your own skin, perhaps. I have – Anchen Sunshine Lover. Feels just right...