Can You Travel With You?

In order to travel you have to be pretty secure with yourself. I don't mean you must be arrogant or 100% confident in everything you do. Rather, you have to be willing to do what it takes to get from where you are to where you want to be, and not be too worried about the occasional embarrassment. You have to take in the present and accept what is current and now. You have to be forgiving of your own stupid mistakes so that you can quickly get back on track with plans, move forward in life, and get done what needs to get done.

Example: The first thing I did when I landed in LAX for my layover on my way to Colorado was something really, really stupid. I was extremely focused on making sure I got to my second flight on time, and this is the only reason I can think of for being so dumb. Keep in mind, I've flown by myself before with no problems. I thought everything was going fine, and I was happy that I found my way to my next baggage check-in... that is until I decided to save money on this second flight by removing some items from my bag. During my hectic morning after a night of no sleep, out of convenience I had decided to pay extra for going just a little over the limit on my first flight. I figured now I had a good amount of time to kill so it wouldn't be a problem trying to shuffle some things to my carry-on. Once I zipped open the suitcase, however, a feeling of dread instantly coursed through me because the items inside were not mine. Ahhh yes, the good ol' baggage claim switcheroo. That would explain why the scale gave me a number just slightly off from the one in Hawaii, which I thought was weird but negligible. Sigh. It wasn't. I thought to myself, "I grabbed the wrong suitcase?! Hooooow could I let this happen?" Great. I just assumed the suitcase was mine because I had never seen another like it. Even though it's the first thing a person should do, it didn't even cross my mind to check for a name tag, because all I cared about was where I was going next and not where I was in the moment. I simply wasn't paying attention. In the end things worked out okay because I raced back to the baggage claim area dragging the 50+ lb. bag behind me (future post on cardio routines for travelers?) and a very nice worker helped me pin down where my bag really was -- with a family who was still nearby at a car rental. I felt a little less idiotic when I realized the other people also didn't notice that the suitcase they had wasn't theirs. Turns out, this is a rather common mistake. I felt better about everything when I realized I would still be able to make my next flight.

Other Lessons of Traveling:

Privacy... you won't have it, much of the time. Depending on what kind of space you are sharing, other people will be moving your stuff around and/or absentmindedly gazing into the messy contents of your suitcase. You might feel like your life is on display. People will know what you look like when you wake up in the morning. You might hop into a laundry closet on more than one occasion to change your clothes when other rooms are taken. You will have other people question your method of doing things, even though it's what you always do and you're comfortable with it. At one point you might just find that you are itching to go hide in a corner of a coffee shop for a few hours. Which is what I'm doing right now. :)

Let go of control... even though you made the decision to go somewhere all on your own, you are now at the mercy of other people's schedules, lifestyles, and capacity for hospitality. Of course, how much you are at the mercy of these things is dependent on what resources you brought with you. For me, the hospitality issue was not really an issue at all. So far I have found that shopkeepers, park guides, and other hikers in Colorado are generally pretty friendly. I also had generous friends to stay with. In terms of routine, well, letting go is usually what most travelers want. This becomes the most fun aspect of the experience. It can be very freeing, and a good lesson in adaptation. If you're not a morning person, become one. If you don't usually eat that kind of food, try it today.

Time... does not exist when you are in transition. This has been the weirdest part about traveling and having a major lifestyle change. My thought process about this subject has gone something like this: "It's been a whole month? I feel like that went VERY fast. Wait. Do I? Now that I think about it, I feel like I've been here for 3 months. What's today's date? I'm not totally sure, because it hasn't been an important factor lately."

Here is another question that arose when I started thinking about time: How long can you stay somewhere before it's okay to tell people you've lived there? I feel like Colorado has left an impact on me. I mean, I worked here, I got to know people here, and I learned a lot here. So it's safe to say it's been home, right? It's definitely become a part of my life that I won't forget.

Judgement... of others will decrease. Judgement of yourself may increase. You will be in a constant state of evaluating the world around you, and any moment could be a chance for you to discover how you handle being out of your comfort zone.

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Final words on my first WWOOF-USA experience:

I am very happy I did this! There's no better way to learn than to attend the school of life. I gained a greater appreciation for hard work and knowing where food comes from. Perhaps I need to say where it should come from, ideally. I especially enjoyed eating eggs from chickens that I got to see for myself were happy, healthy, and free to roam. If anything, vegetable gardening will become a hobby for me in the future. There is a possibility I will seek employment in the field somehow. I need more real-world experience before I can make that decision.

I wonder how meeting people, spending a lot of time with them, then leaving soon after is going to affect me in the long run. On my last day at Raisin' Roots, a part of me felt really sad. I felt a bit like I was abandoning a project I had put a lot of effort into, without any real reason for leaving. Yet, I know I do have a reason. It just seems like a vague idea at the moment, because it will throw me back into the unknown. A part of me worries that leaving Colorado is a mistake, because I LOVE it here and it seems like a place full of opportunity. This state is awesome. It is like the "cool kid" of states, minus the ego or hint of trying too hard. In other words, it is actually cool. Still, I must remind myself that I came to the mainland with a plan, and part of the plan is going somewhere else and continuing to try new things. I suppose if I really want to come back to Colorado, I won't let anything prevent that.

Behind The Scenes At The Farm + The INFP Brain

Week 3: Direct seeding, random tasks, and looooots of rain! It was a different kind of week, with most of the focus on small details.

Here I am helping the team plant peas. My RV roomies and I put up the T-Posts and trellising. Later on the orange stuff got swapped for a more aesthetically pleasing wire fence, which now continues down along the other half of the plot, too. The peas should grab onto this from both sides as they grow. We planted a few more beds with mixed greens, beets, and arugula. Some of it was by hand, some of it with a garden seeder which kind of looks like a toddler's bicycle that you push from behind.

The seeder evenly spaces out seeds as you walk, dropping them from a rotating plate. Fun!

The rain kept trying to tell us to stop being farmers, so at times, I got to do other tasks and learn a bit more about what the planning process is like for starting up a brand-new establishment. For example, I sat in on filling out forms for a Food Safety Plan and contributed a page to it. I walked around outside with a clipboard in order to draw this childish map in which everything is disproportionate to each other, and it is made obvious that I never learned to stay within the lines. :) My RV is the one across the road from the water spigot on the left. (Where you can see that my trailer is clearly smaller than the spigot. I just think water is very important, okay?) Near the bottom left corner of the map, you can see that not pictured is a mafia of numerous frogs which are very loud but have thus far remained mysteriously undetected by my eyes.

Better at drawing than me, is this guy Rawson. He is a funny, world-traveling, really friendly street artist/teacher. Here he is working on one of his shipping container murals. This particular one is on the outside of our break room.

I love talking to Rawson when I get a little break between tasks. He is passionate about his art and it shows. His main process seems to be all about feeling and just going with the flow! It's pretty great. It's also kind of funny to come to Colorado from Hawaii and find him here, spray painting while blasting some island jams outside. You can view his portfolio here: emagnz.com.

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Little Things: Here are some notes on a couple aspects of farm life that usually get ignored...

Another roommate. This baby mouse was so tiny and cute, it hurt a little. XD Notice the giant face to rest of body ratio. How does it even walk? This mouse has defied gravity. It is an anime cartoon. After running around on my bed, it paused to rest its tiny paw on my hand. It then realized my hand was connected to a large living being and subsequently freaked out, jumped, then headed toward the bathroom. May it never enter the toilet. Or, may it go live in peace. Somewhere else. Where it won't wake up the three girls who can't bring themselves to kill a rodent.

I thought my hands were in pretty bad shape when I was doing ceramics, but I think "farmer hands" can definitely compete. Ceramics = bloody cracked knuckles, whereas farm = my hands appear to belong to a dried up, dirty corpse. Hmm tough call on which is worse. Haha.

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On this adventure there are questions and thoughts, swirling in my head.

All the time, really, but most people won't hear of them because as one friend of mine constantly reminds me, I'm an INFP. It's okay that he does that, since he is of my kind, as well. And if he is reading this right now, then I know he is about to laugh. Especially when he sees the second picture.

It's so true. Haha.

As if I'm getting increasingly addicted to the "newness" of things, I find myself wondering more and more when I'll be able to make myself permanently settle somewhere. I know it's only been 3 weeks, but over-thinking everything is part of the INFP life, I'm pretty sure. Maybe the reason I always feel like I'm itching to be on the move is because I'm not meant to stay anywhere. The problem with this is that it clashes with my need to be productive and my need to feel like I have purpose. Maybe I have ADD.

I sort of expected things to be more difficult than they have been, just in general. I mean, in terms of dealing with the sudden onset of a completely different lifestyle, and heading out into uncharted territory on my own, I kind of thought... it would be a little scarier, I guess? Don't get me wrong, I'm not wishing it was scarier, and there are certain things that are difficult to deal with even if I'm not necessarily afraid of them. I get the feeling that all this just means I was sooooo ready for something, anything, to change. I was desperate, even. Terribly bored with my station in life. I've become incredibly comfortable with the constant process of further simplifying my life and replacing familiar, tangible luxuries with new memories instead. Once one realizes how much stuff or how many things one doesn't really need, one is able to make room for more meaningful experiences. Sure, one day I would like to live in my own home, decorate it just the way I want, and get a sense of security... but right now, I wouldn't change a thing. I can't believe how little money I've spent in the past few weeks, with the exception of dining out. I live out of a few bags, periodically sleep on the floor, and I'm kind of a loner at times. To someone else that probably sounds horrible, but for me it's working out pretty well. The less I need, the more free I feel.

I'm glad I decided to do this thing that some would consider a little crazy. You know, packing up some bags and leaving the only place I've ever called home, with a one-way ticket, and a loose set of plans. I do miss my friends back home, but I have friends here, too. Really, it's not that crazy. Crazy is settling for a life that deep down inside you know you don't want to be stuck in forever.

Leslie Knope Is My Spirit Animal

Week 2 at The Farm: I imagine myself as the half-Asian version of one of my favorite tv characters, Leslie Knope from Parks and Rec. Pictured above is my version of The Pit.

Long hours, out in the sun, and a few moments where I realized I was talking a bit too much to myself -- that was my life for the past four days.

I have a glove tan, and it kinda looks like I'm still wearing some thin white gloves when I'm not wearing any gloves at all. I look like I should be a cat named Boots or Socks.

This week was all about "crunch time" and making a real effort to finish the manure spread, lightly till the soil, and cover tilled areas with plastic tarps to trap heat and inhibit weed growth. I was amused to find that a few tarps we had were old billboard signs. Now our garden plot has some random guy's giant face on it! Unless that was just something I hallucinated in a daze caused by dehydration...

Big farming lesson: attitude is everything. There have been some clashing viewpoints within the team, and all I could do about it was stay in my own headspace. When it comes to a project, I am on Team Git-R-Done, sometimes Team-I-Have-Nothing-Else-To-Live-For, and Team There-Is-A-Vision-Now-Let's-Make-It-Happen. Mainly, I am on Team Positivity, and as such, I tend to lose patience with anyone who is not. Which then, ironically, makes me sound like I'm going negative.

Perhaps it is something I need to work on, or maybe it isn't. I just feel that it always helps to keep a good attitude about things, particularly if there are no other circumstances which you can control. If there is something else you can do about it, then do it. I don't like to let others drag me down. I view such an occurrence as the plague. That's why I'm feisty about it. It also bothers me to see people doubt someone else who's working hard toward a goal in the same way I would. I'm always a bit stubborn about my goals, but truth be told my stubbornness is usually worth it. So there! Haha!

Regardless of differing attitudes, I believe the desire from some of us to see this plot transformed has proved to be a sufficient driving force, and I am happy to report that STUFF GOT DONE! Tilling was about 60-70% finished by the end of my shift yesterday, and I think it will be completed this weekend while I'm away from the farm. Our progress has brought us closer to our goal of planting. I only have one week left, so I'm not sure if I'll get to see that stage.

This will be about 2 acres of veggies, with some flowers on the side.

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Aside from working in the soil, I did manage to squeeze a little extra photo snapping into each day. It's hard to get photography done when each day is already filled with tasks, but I've been given approval to take small breaks here and there, to see what kind of pictures I can get. I also keep telling myself to wake up extra early to go on a little photo hunt, but when I see the sun barely rising outside my window it's suddenly difficult to convince myself to do it. Hopefully I'll do better with that next week.

There are quite a few of these wild baby bunnies hanging around the trailers in the morning. This one was sunbathing near the water spigot. I enjoy seeing them, since in Hawaii the closest thing I got was a mongoose here or there quickly scampering away as I approached.

Alpacas always seem to be a hit, so here are two males for you. :)

And as usual, I couldn't forget about a macro shot. Near the garden plot, and next to a pond, is a patch of dandelions that is pretty enchanting in the evening glow!

Next week I'll aim for some shots of the magpies (not crossing my fingers though lol) and maybe some shots of the little beehive. I hope those bees don't mind me getting in close... so far they seem pretty docile.

Tata for now. It's time for a very relaxed and suburban weekend. :P

It Just Got Real

Earlier this year, I made arrangements with a Colorado farm via WWOOF-USA so that I could start an extended working holiday. WWOOF stands for World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. It is a program that allows individuals (and sometimes couples or small families) to work on organic farms in exchange for room and board. The length and conditions of stay may vary with each farm, but one thing that is generally promised is an interesting experience.

This post is a collection of random thoughts that I have gathered, now that I am a slightly experienced WWOOFer at Raisin’ Roots Farm.

First on the agenda is a series of…

I shall impart some wisdom to my readers (all five of you) in the form of these 7 memorable phrases inspired by real happenings on the farm. Ready? Okay. And you’re welcome.

1. Never pile more chunks of sandstone onto your wheelbarrow than you can handle.

OR

Never bite off more alpaca steak than you can chew.
2. Not showering for several days does not the Apocalypse bring.
3. Shipping containers can transform into any kind of room, but a porta potty is just a porta potty.
4. If one proclaims to lack experience, it is prudent to expound the meaning. That is to say, whether the deficiency lies in certain things, or in life. (I'm talking about myself lol)

5. When assembling a beehive, practice restraint. Let one man perform the task, while others film from a distance of many paces.

6. Do not question where the Internet comes from; merely embrace it as a thirsty desert wanderer receives drink.

7. A woman’s mind is her best tool, but when a metal rake fails, she must kick poo with her boot.

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Now, I will get to the nitty gritty. The hardest part about WWOOFing so far has been, as one might imagine, the physical aspect of it. Each day there is something new to deal with.

As I am naturally not a morning person, waking up early hasn't been the easiest thing. Still, it can have its charms. Wednesday morning I woke up at around 5:30 to the sound of something chewing on a wrapper. I immediately knew it was a mouse – one which my RV roomies had told me about the first night I was here. Turns out I had forgotten about a half-eaten Clif Bar sticking out of my camera bag's mesh pocket, which was right next to my bed. I tried to get a photo of the little guy but he ran off after staring at me like a deer caught in headlights. That has been one of the best ways I've woken up since arriving in Colorado, since he was an adorable little thing, and he woke me up around the time my alarm was going to go off anyway. Waking up because other people have to pee, or because for some reason I can’t breathe through my nostrils when I lay down, hasn’t been as fun.

If it were possible, I would prefer to always be woken up by a baby alpaca smiling at me. However, I don’t want to sleep outside and the RV is already pretty snug. By the way, baby alpacas ALWAYS look like they are smiling.

The farm is not all goofy grins and living, breathing Sherpa blankets, though. Sometimes, there is pain. In your body. Body pain. Mental pain, too, but that is usually caused by the body pain.

The first day I managed to repeatedly hit my shin in the exact same spot. A few times with the handle of a pickaxe, on the edge of a wheelbarrow, etc. I'm not sure why my spatial reasoning is so bad, but this is really nothing new for me. Looking at my legs right now, I can see bruises and random marks everywhere from ankle to thigh. How did they all get there? Did a bunch of garden gnomes sneak into my RV and assault me in my sleep as revenge for digging through their turf? These questions, and more, come up in everyday farm life.

Due to the title of this post being "It Just Got Real" I have decided I will share information about my second day, which was the worst day. I started my morning bright and early by trying to ignore some intense menstrual cramps while using the aforementioned pickaxe to dig heavy pieces of sandstone out of the soil. Dealing with my girl problems was the one thing I was dreading on my way to Colorado.

Rock picking the day before + inadequate sleep + Mother Nature's monthly blessing =
 GOOD VIBES  a desire to crawl into a hole and emerge 1 week later

As part of the garden team, I often find myself as the only girl working with three other males. Not wanting to promote gender stereotypes, I had to "woman up" and keep quiet about why I was feeling miserable. In the end we were all feeling miserable together (yay team suffering!) because the guys had to pick rocks for a few days before I showed up, and they lifted stones way heavier than I could ever handle. Still, I must say I get a strange satisfaction from finally digging out a hunk of rock that's been embedded into the soil. It's like treasure hunting when I discover a hidden rock and manage to drag it out. At first glance it's a mystery how big it's going to be. Then it's like that "Test Your Strength" game found at carnivals – you know, the one with the hammer – when I find out I can actually lift a rock I thought was too heavy for me.

The third day my sinuses sort of felt like they were on fire, and sweeping composted manure off a dusty path didn't help with that much.

Here is Mr. Boss using a BobCat to move part of a giant manure pile onto a dump truck. Various challenges with equipment have slowed this process, so soil prep has been behind schedule all week. Regardless, people have been powering through each day and maintaining a great attitude.

Actually, the third day was pretty easy and I got to relax while looking through some photos by late afternoon. Through all the little annoyances I have striven to see the natural beauty around me, and I have come to the conclusion that I am successfully living a dream of mine. All I wanted to do was travel, live a different kind of life for a while, photograph new sights, and do a few unexpected things every day. I am enjoying it immensely despite a few body aches and things I can stop complaining about now. :)

I will leave you with some shots of the greenhouse. It is a place I find to be a bit magical.

I bet most germination units are not built in a shipping container at the foot of an old sandstone mine! If you look in the background carefully, you can see lines in the rock where it was drilled for placing dynamite.

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Alright, that’s it for now! The only other anecdote which might be worthy of blog mention is that yesterday I heard one of the alpacas got bitten on the face by a rattlesnake, and it is likely to die. I was told if a rattlesnake is ever caught, it shall be cooked and eaten.

I have reached the end of my first week at Raisin' Roots Farm, with two more weeks to go. I’ll be spending weekends back in Fort Collins at my friends' place. I'm excited to see how much progress has been made on the garden plot when I return. It's time to start transferring those seedlings!

Until next time…

Wendy the WWOOFer is out! (Probably passed out, on my friend's really comfy couch.)

A New Old Town

Rain or shine (and rain it was!) I knew I would have a blast today playing tourist in Old Town, Fort Collins, Colorado. Much of this area reminds me of places I've seen in movies growing up. Perhaps that is no coincidence, since Fort Collins was actually used as a model to create Disneyland's Main Street. The architecture of Fort Collins is comprised of a variety of styles, but on my meandering stroll I mainly witnessed a lot of art deco.

I spent the day hopping from one store to the next in order to stay out of the cold and rain. The shops here are big on niche market products. For anyone who seeks antique, vintage, quaint, or earthy items, Old Town is the place to explore. Fans of Victorian era style may particularly find themselves delighted by the trinkets they discover.
 

Inside The Perennial Gardener, it looks like a fairy wonderland exploded and hit everything except the floor. At first it is hard to comprehend the sheer amount of stuff that exists in this shop. Right as I walked in, I saw a plethora of knick-knacks filling the space from floor to ceiling, wall to wall. My immediate response was to utter to myself in disbelief. Every corner of the shop looks like this! The store sells a wide range of items meant for both interior decoration and outdoor gardening.

Nature's Own seems like the kind of gift shop you would find at a science museum. The coolest things I found here were real animal specimens, like the ammonite fossils above. Ammonites are an extinct group of molluscs closely related to octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish. Some fossils are found with a mineral called calcite filling the shell pockets, giving the specimen the appearance of a neat-looking gemstone.

Of course, it wouldn't be an "old town" if there wasn't an independent bookstore! I love finding shops like these because they are becoming ever so rare these days. Old Firehouse Books had a lot of entertaining merchandise, including a book of Grumpy Cat postcards. I managed to say no to that one. Somehow.

The bookstore displays a little paper art to encourage people to read. Although, I must admit this rather encourages me to try cutting up an old book into fun shapes instead.

Overall, my first outing wandering about in an unfamiliar town was a pleasant one. Not every day is going to be a window shopping or an "I feel like I'm on vacation" kind of day, but it's good to take them when I can. People here are very friendly! Perhaps they just want to represent a little bit of Main Street charm.

The Jungle Snowglobe

In a few weeks, I'm thinking this will become a travel blog that I actually regularly update! Whether anyone reads it or not, it will be a fun way for me to keep a diary of my upcoming adventures. It will also be a routine writing and photo challenge for me. As someone no longer in school, I've been wanting one of those for a good while.

I have just made arrangements with a Colorado farm via WWOOF-USA so that I can start traveling and working on the mainland. WWOOF stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. It is a program that allows individuals (or couples!) to work on organic farms in exchange for room and board. The length of stay may vary with each farm, but one thing that is generally promised is an interesting experience.

In my last few weeks as a Hawaii resident, I plan to visit my favorite spots and do some last-minute adventuring. Lately I have been visiting the Manoa Falls area. I love spending a long moment taking in the view when I first reach the trailhead. It hasn't gotten old even after several frequent visits.

In this spot, I soak up the foresty vibe and nothing else seems to matter. Suddenly I realize that Hawaii can be a beautiful jungle-snowglobe-bubble world. If someone were to shake the snowglobe, all that would fall is a bunch of dewy leaves and maybe some cartoon smiley faces. :D

At the pool I totally feel like I could just lay on a rock and take a long nap.

What I love about this trail, despite it being one of the easiest and shortest on the island, is that everywhere I look, I can find some sort of neat texture or object to look at. The ease of the trail means I am free to pay a little less attention to the ground, and more attention to every spectacular detail I can find all around me. Spending my whole life thus far on this tiny rock in the middle of the Pacific, I've discovered that the beauty here often lies in the smallest of things.

A white-rumped shama a.k.a. shama thrush

So why, if I can go to places like Manoa Falls on the weekend, would I want to leave this paradise?

What happens in the five-day stretch between each weekend is important, too. Hawaii is gorgeous, but one can only live in a snowglobe for so long. When the dewy leaves and the cartoon smileys settle at the bottom once more, what happens next? I've waited a long time to find out. The hunger for broader horizons and bigger opportunities must be fed. The snowglobe will always be sitting on a shelf right where it has always been, should I decide to return to it.