Keeping It Real

I may have mentioned that I live in shared space. That means that I live in a studio apartment with no toilet, shower, or hot water. It's not as bad as that sounds because the big house is maybe 15 steps away from the door, and the bathroom is just inside it. The shower in the big house is powered by solar energy. I don't know if you know anything about Ireland's weather, but I have seen only one day here where the sky didn't get completely overcast for more than half the time. I would say that 5/6 days have a period of rain. Therefore, hot water is in short supply. Sara told Camille, the French girl I shared the space with in the beginning, that we don't need to shower daily. Camille, who prefers to get the smell of chicken poop off her skin, said to me, "It's a joke." Ha. It's not a joke.

We make most of our meals and eat them in our little space. We boil water to wash the dishes. I choose to think of this as a way to always be grateful for hot water coming from the tap. We make a list of food for our hosts to buy for us about once a week, and so we're well-fed.

There's a shed separating us from a hen house in the back, but it's all one building. Occasionally, the chickens wake me up in the morning, but at least they stay asleep for most of the night. We don't have much contact with our host family unless we seek it out, considering that we live in separate houses. When I arrived, John said to me, "You'll meet my children, but since we've had WWOOFers since they were born, you'll just be another WWOOFer to them. No offense." That's not the wording I would have used to welcome a worker onto my farm, but it's true, nonetheless.

There are three children here: Oisin (17), Aisha (15), and Marielle (13). I really like Marielle. She is sweet, gives great directions, and is always willing to talk to me. Isha boards at the school, so she rarely comes home. I think I've seen her twice, and she's not as nice. Osheen is an interesting character. I could legitimately write an entire post on his life, but suffice it to say, he speaks when spoken to, is quite clever, and has his own opinions.

Collecting, cleaning, sorting, and packing eggs can legitimately take one person all day, but luckily there are usually two people involved. This gives me time for a couple more projects throughout the day, like picking courgettes (zucchini), grapes, and tomatoes, shoveling gravel to continue a path around the property, or painting one of the buildings.

That's about as real as it gets, folks. We should be getting two new French girls on Saturday, and no one knows where they will sleep yet. Stay tuned for updates and pictures from my adventures outside the farm.

For now, though, more photos from Rosscarbery walks: