Greetings from Olympia!
For the past two weeks we have been staying at farm a little south of Olympia, WA with a farmer called Bee. It's been an adventure as always. On our way across the state we decided to do a ride share for the first time. Court was an awesome, easy going guy. Not fifteen minutes down the highway we smelled burnt rubber and saw some smoke. We pulled off at an exit called Fishtrap and assessed the damage -- one of our 3 pulley/spindle things stopped working and broke our belt. Woo! Right? Lol, no! A nice passerby stopped and offered to bring Brittany to the nearest NAPA Auto store in the town we had just left. She brought back a tow truck, which luckily our roadside assistance paid for, and they took Teddy for a tow. The tow truck could only fit Brittany and Court so Logan and myself got to sit and sunbathe on the side of the road for almost 2 hours. (we got some good sun, y'all.) After Teddy got his new belt and alternator spindle fixed we were off to Tacoma to drop Court. We got there late and decided to stop at a Wal-Mart to see about sleeping there. Lucky that we did because when we arrived we noticed that one of our headlights was out, we needed power steering fluid, and coolant. Oh, man, what a journey that day was. We stayed the night and made it to our farm the following day.
Bee was a pleasure and his farm was a wonderful jungle like oasis with giant old cedars, all the green you could dream of, and a lovely river spot just a small hike to the back. Living Energy Farm was in the process of rediscovering itself because Bee had taken a couple months away and it became overgrown so we got the pleasure of seeing our impact in an immediate sort of way. Clearing land is an instant gratification sort of task -- when you start it looks like nothing, by the end it's a whole new experience. While we were there we tackled a couple fun projects like building a chicken coop (Copper and Brayzli both love chickens, guys), leveling the dirt floor kitchen and adjusting the tarp roof, and also helping finish raising a garden up and preparing for the fence around it to be built. We made a lot of land, Logan kept saying. (Shout out: Rebecca and Bryce, it was like real life Settlers! We thought of you guys a lot.) At some point Bee, his partner Wysdom, and Brandon, a fellow WOOFer, all left for Seattle for the weekend and we had the farm to ourself. That was the day we did most of the kitchen work since we were the only ones. On the Sunday we got the pleasure of going into Olympia to scoop Brandon when he got back from Seattle. We didn't end up picking him up until Monday, but we did get a chance to wander around Olympia for a while. We found Jake's On 4th, which is our friend/old roommate Bree's favorite bar in the world, so we had to go. THEN we found out they were having Glitter Party that night! WHO LOVES GLITTER? I DO! Hahaha, it was a great coincidence and we had a lot of fun. The next day we found the Olympia Food Bank and passed through to pick up some groceries for the farm for free. Overall our stay at Bee's farm was great and we hope to stop back by and visit on our way down into Oregon.
During our time with Bee we got to join him at the
Olympia Food Coop doing some landscaping. It was a great experience to see what a conscious community can accomplish -- every city should have coops, especially ones like this because it even has its own garden in the front where it grows its own food! In our visit we met Sharika, which is who we're staying with right now. She has a yurt in her back yard that she built herself and we're here to help her build a porch for it! It's our most exciting project thus far, I think anyway. Sharika is a beautiful, pint sized, wonderful energy that we are super excited to have a chance to get to know. We are so grateful she has opened her home to us and given us great things to remember from Olympia.
The best part of WOOF for me is being able to meet so many amazing and beautiful people even if it's just for a short time those connections are made forever, you know?
The one thing different at this farm than our past ones is that we weren't able to find any side work to get some cash for gas and the pets (and let's be honest a case of beer every now and then). Not being able to find work, plus our Teddy expenses, has put us in the $4 category for our cash flow, which won't get us very far. I've never been one to ask for things, but we need help. We plan to continue our search for work in our next city, but we have to get there first. If there is any way you can show your love and support with a small $5 donation to our
Fundly Account it would be incredibly appreciated. Every little bit counts and we love you to the moon.
Tomorrow we head to Seattle to pick up my little sister McKenzie who gets the pleasure of joining us for 3 weeks. (THANKS, MOM, FOR LETTING ME BORROW HER! I LOVE YOU!) We're heading to
Feral Farms in Rockport for a couple weeks next. I am so excited to see my sister and show her what this adventure is all about. If anyone else is interested in joining us for a minute, you're welcome to. :)
Anyway, that's my Olympia entry for you. Thanks for reading and keeping up with our adventures. We love and miss you all. Have a beautiful day!
All my love,
Jordan Lee.
