Rainbow Chard Adventure Time

On our way out of Colorado I participated in a raindance with some friendly pachyderms, causing an elephantine storm which followed the Rambler all the way to Moab, Utah.

We enjoyed a few days of rain as we nestled into the surreal red landscape at our new home, Creekside Lane Organics.

Strawberry Fields (and kale forests) Forever

The farm is an oasis of fresh food, sandy soil, and fellow friendly farmers just a few miles from the touristy quicksand of Moab.  In Moab the streets are crowded by heavily sunscreened teeshirt buyers.  A multitude of desert-colored signs along the downtown strip advertise ADVENTURE in some expensive form or another, and even away from the commercial sludge there's an undeniable wind of exploration in the air.  The great red rocks are always within view, daring you to climb them.

Yesterday Q and I and the rest of the WWOOFers (a prodigious crew of huggable scamps) got ourselves all bolstered up on kale and chard and set out on a real Moab adventure.

Looks like candy, tastes like beets!

We got mildly lost in the sandy landscape and ended up in the middle of a golf course, where we scrambled up a cliff and continued on to discover both a cave AND a waterfall, plus innumerable desert treasures which filled our Montanan hearts with awe.

Song of the occasion: Avett Brothers - Paranoia in B Flat Major

Yak Glamour

Our stay at Delicious Orchards is coming to an end, and we have parked our carhouse on a cozy path between the pasture and the peaches.  When we are not working we sit on the couch and watch the yaks out the window as one might watch an episode of Planet Earth.  I got a few glamor shots of my pastoral spirit-cousins:

So majestic.

The orchard is beginning to blossom.  As a Maybaby I find that the pastel blooms, baby animals, and sudden storms of the season bring out my inner wood nymph and cause a lot of heart fluttery excitement for the upcoming months.

Q is feelin it, too.

The community in Paonia has imparted an impressive amount of wisdom during our brief stay.  I was privileged to meet James Huebing-Reitinger from Project InSECT, whose art you should totally check out:

From http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue/files/2007/03/l44938-2.jpg

Then I spent an afternoon sipping hard cider from Delicious Orchards' brand new bar while enjoying the live musical styling of Paul Sammons, whose music you should totally check out.

We will be sad to leave this mountainous fantasy, but when your home is the Rambler you just gotta keep ramblin.  We will carry with us the advice of one wise Paonian:

"You can drink some of the beer some of the time, but you can't drink all of the beer all of the time."

Song of the moment: Beats Antique - Crooked Muse