A bit late with this post, wouldn't you say? Apologizes for the delay. Being off the grid for the past three weeks in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California, on top of the two weeks prior traversing the country highways, in addition to catching up with family and friends along the way, has presented me a fair share of worthwhile (and some not so worthwhile) reasons to procrastinate.
At Larry's request, I initially drove to his fireplace depot located just west of Portland, and about 45 minutes by drive of Buxton, for a meet and greet plus a rundown on how to get to his far-flung farm. Figure his demand was to get a face to face in a safe setting and make sure I wasn’t a raving loon. Passed the test!
The shop’s another standard strip-mall storefront, abutted with your ubiquitous fast food stops, gas stations, and mom and pop-killing mega shopping centers. Larry was out of shop for the day installing stovepipes for various clients so instead I made acquaintances with Mrs. Jessica Matthew upon arrival. We got to talking about what was in store with help with around at Harmony, particularly with the animals. She also inquired whether or not there were any dietary restrictions of mine.
After her recommendation to check out Portland’s own Forest Park and Pittock Mansion while in town, I headed east to introduce myself to Carlos and absorb the closing of a workday at Harmony before he departed for the evening. The free-and-easy, yet laborious working, foreman of the land works 60 to 70 hours weekly for a stingy $10/hr. In addition to no benefits, health care nor breaks to show for it.
Hailing from Mexico City, he’s made his way up the west coast at a snail’s pace trying his hands with day labor, construction, caring, milking and slaughtering of various livestock, and even a processing stint a local cheese company. Carlos mentioned pros and cons for all his past vocations in the states, but the ultimate factor favoring the work at Harmony over elsewhere came down to the amount of steady hours, thus steady money to support his three kids and Mrs.
Puzzled from the alarming barks of the household dog, Moon, greeting my drive into the farm, Carlos wandered his way from the fowl grazing land to where the canine noise took place. From the bewildered look on his face after seeing my bearded hippie-self park climbing out of my VW, I gathered Larry hadn’t mentioned anything about extra help for the next three to four weeks. It was already after 4 pm by the time I got, so he was just starting to feed and water the livestock before bringing them into the coops and barn for the night.
Bringing in the birds was relatively easy; step 1) Fill up a large bowl with poultry feed; step 2) shake around feed in said bowl along the banks of the pond where chicken, geese, duck and turkey congregates; step 3) stroll your way to pens and birds will follow in tow.
Every other day or so, there’d be 5 to 10 stragglers left outside after the pen doors and windows were shut and lowered, respectively. To get em in we’d have to corral and/or corner them, grab their legs, and carry them. Occasionally the chase after them around a good chuck of their 1,500 sq yard area was a bit enervating.
If fetching after the winged animals was the 3k, running after the sheep, goats and cow after unleashing them from their day spots was more of a half marathon. The moment of my arrival to the tethered spots serves as Pavlov's Bell, proclaiming dinner is ready in their respective barn stalls. Once unhooked, their mini stampede commences. Assuming the quadrupeds had the courtesy to get into their designated sleeping grounds and lock up after entering, pursuing them, mainly uphill for the length of about 4 or 5 city blocks, to shut the barn gates and to ensure goats weren't eating the cows food and vice versa, wouldn't be necessary. However, they were born in a barn, so what do they know?
With the animals all taken care of for the day, Carlos heading out around 5pm, and Mr. & Mrs. Matthew not expected home for another 2 or 3 hours, I had the house along with the 40 acres to myself. Good time to explore my new surroundings! Downstairs were a pair of dormitory-sized bedrooms to choose from. Instead of the cream-colored chamber with a closet full of Salwar Kameej and Sari clothing, and wall-mounted shelves filled with a multitude of self-help books, romantic novels and dozens of VHS, I opted for the one tucked into the corner next to the storage room. Painted cobalt blue and ornamented with ordinary, cut-rate Arabian decorations and an abnormal high placed standard sized bed, the out-of-sight room would act as my home away from home for the next three to four weeks. Oh, it also housed on it's book shelf more self-help books, which I left in place to collect more dust.
After unloading a few belongings from the VW, my appetite began gnawing at me. So I decided to head upstairs and see what was in the fridge. In the kitchen, I noticed, to my complete shock and disgust, numerous flies swarming a plenty and food scraps scattered about the floors and counters, and the sink and adjacent areas piled with about three loads for the dish washer. It was then I decided all my meals would have to be in unopened boxes, cans, jars and/or bags and would preferably be prepared by yours truly. The diet would be my eating style of college days all over again.
Feeling satiated enough off of processed Safeway Spaghetti and productive from gettng one load of dishes on full cycle, I deliberated on other some other tasks I could get done before the Matthews got back. Watering plants in the two greenhouses out front seemed the perfect way to go as far as jobs I could do without Larry or Carlos showing me the ropes. As with the kitchen, the two buildings had an unpleasant surprise awaiting. Namely, the numerous resident plants looking withered, crisp and tan brown. I made it my mission to make sure to water the area for 10 to 15 minutes everyday during my stay.
...Alright, sorry to cut it here but I gotta get some grocery shopping down here in Santa Cruz before I head back up the mountain before sunset. Stay tuned next Wednesday for more of Harmony!
Road Trip Tunes:
