Down on the Farm

If you follow my facebook page you saw that yesterday I spent most of my day at Flying J Farm. I arrived about 9:15 in the morning after a beautiful drive through the Ohio farm lands. When I got there I was shown by the owner back to the horse barn to see the two horses and the donkey getting their mani pedi. The guy doing hoof work does that for a living. Traveling form farm to farm with a huge set of nail clippers and a file that would not have looked out of place in shop class. I should have asked if he did gels. As this was going on there were chickens coming in and out to see what everyone was gathering around the horses for. The chickens are able to just roam the farm freely during the day and then put up at night. As I watched them I couldn't help but think "little dinosaurs."
I then spent most of my day turning over some beds in a large green house. This green house was fantastic. It was about 20 feet wide and 100 feet long. Tons of tomatoes, kale, broccoli, cilantro. Oh, and crazy huge spiders, living in this greenhouse. I thought the spiders at my house were big. They guys were more than an inch in length, not including legs. The spiders abdomen were yellow and black. Just after I spotted the first one it jumped to grab a fly that had just gotten caught in its web.
 To turn over the beds we slashed all the existing plants down. Then we added a layer of sticks, then a layer of grass clippings and finally card board. It was hot and hard and my grass allergies made it miserable. However, the day was was also lots of fun there were kittens and chickens running around my feet the whole time. The people who I was working with were very interesting. I learned a lot and I hope to go back very soon.

Run Hot and Cold with Caution

I have recently started my "extreme environment" training again. Sunday I took home a five gallon bucket of ice home from work and made myself take an ice bath. I have taken a few ice baths since then. When I do them I run my bath in on the coldest setting it will run. My bath tub is so small that I can only fit waist down or mid thigh up to neck at a time. After my tub is full I get in and get my legs down after a few minutes I get my upper body in. Then I grab the bucket of ice and pour it over myself. This moment is also accompanied with a lot of cursing and me yelling about how I hate myself. I then try to stay upper body in until the ice melts. Then I switch back to waist down for another ten minutes.
I have also started doing my heat training again. This process is simpler, I put on sweats and run around in the ridiculous Ohio heat. If you want to start doing something like this, start with sweat pants with shorts under. BRING WATER. After doing sweat pants for a while then move onto sweat shirts.

Farms, French and Four Chords

I finally got to talk to the owner of the "Flying J Farm" today. We set up for me to come volunteer this Thursday. I am really excited. I will be working in their vegetable garden for the moment. I hope however to be able to at least see the animal husbandry side of the farm as well.  I know what ever I am doing there I will be learning a lot and working really hard. 

In other news, I am on a 5 day streak with duolingo French, and I just reached level four. I am still working diligently on the piano. I have fallen off a bit at the n-back training, but due to some positive results at name learning at practice last night I am getting back into it. 

New skill piano.

Today I watched this video about 30 times http://youtu.be/vXd9nAs4eSs I hope that in about a week I can play a few different songs. I am confident that I will get there. This morning I knew nothing about playing the piano even though there has been one in my house for years. But now I can make some noises that are kinda like music.

Pardon my chicken scratch.

As you can see I have my phone back. I feel whole again.

A good day.

A good day today. It had a slow start but once it got going it was great. I started using duolingo to learn French. I am already on level two. I am still going strong with n-back training. I had a really good lifting session with Moe. She hit a body weight squat. Then I went to our Parkour practice at wetsone community center, but forgot we didn't have class this week. Luckily, two of our students forgot so we did some training on our own. Now I am enjoying the beautiful weather with a friend on her front porch. I am gonna stop ignoring them and sign off.

Update 8-21-2013

Just a quick update. I went to the Westerville Farmer's Market today. I got two kidneys. I am a bit apprehensive about what I will do with them. Kidneys are an organ I have yet to do. I am not sure they will be something I stick with in the end. We will see. I also talked to the two people from Flying J Farm, the people I get my meat from, about volunteering there. I am gonna call the head hancho tomorrow and hopefully be working there by the end of the week. Excited!

Best Beef Heart Yet!

I cooked my most delicious heart to date today!
1 Beef heart
1 Tbs cold liver oil lemmon flavor
2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs lime juice
1 large (really large) garlic clove
Dried tyme
Salt
Pepper

First cut the heart to remove all the vessels and sinew. This is by far the hardest part of cooking a heart. it sucks and there is no other easy around it. I used a for instead of my hands this time and it helped a bit I think.
Mix the cod liver oil, olive oil, lime juice, garlic, salt and pepper into a small bowl. Add about 1 Tbs of the mixture to the heart steaks and mix the heart around until covered in the marinade. Let the meat sit for 30 minutes to 24 hours (I did about 1.5 hours)
Pour the remainder of the oil stuff into a large frying pan and heat on medium heat. Once hot add the heart steaks, cover with a lid. When they get brown on the top side flip the steaks and keep them on for a few more minutes. It was when I flipped them that I added about 5 cherry tomatoes from the garden. After a few minutes on the second side remove from pan and let sit for about 4 minutes. Enjoy.

Green Curtains

Today I am going to buy the first part I need for the Window Farm. The air pump needed is about 20 dollars. I will have to buy the components for this project in increments for about 20 dollars. At this pace it should take about 3 or 4 months to collect all the pieces needed to build my first window farm. Typing it out like that makes it seem like a long while, but its a lot sooner than it has been for the past year. I have dreamed of having green window curtains for a long time. I hope to be able to get the plants so dense that they block out the light from the street lamps and my neighbors at night. 

Holy Guacamole

1 avocado halved seeded and scooped out
2 tbs grass-fed butter
1 spoonful salsa (I had mild G.E. natures basket)
Squirt of Sarricha
Squeeze of lime juice
Fresh cilantro
Put all this in a big bowl and mix it together with a fork or masher. Eat with a spoon or a paleo friendly chip.

Update 8-15-213

Today had a slow start. I got back into my garden today. There was a huge chunk taken out of the second tomato that was coming on my plants. I am pretty bummed about it. The Zinnas are blooming though so there is some justice in the world. I figured out that my butternut squash is not ready, the stems are still green. When they turn brown and shrival they are ready. I also saw a bunch of new squash showing up. I also got to cut off a bunch more dead heads from the sun flowers. I am going to seed them all around my garden next year. I want there to be so many that I have a wall of green and yellow all the way around my garden plot. 

ON an unrelated note I started doing "N-Back" memory training today. I will keep you updated on its progress. 

High Performance

I just worked 12 hours at my new job. I did a double shift. They made me take an hour lunch break, but was hardly a break cause I had to walk the dog I am dog sitting and manage to feed myself. The thing is though, I feel fantastic. My energy was so high all day long. I started the day with two cups of bulletproof coffee. On my lunch I got two chipolete burritos. At some point in the second half of the double shit, one of my co-workers asked me "don't you wanna take a break? you have been working all day. Aren't you tired?"To which I said "No. I feel fantastic" I hadn't realized the extent of the 'Higher performance" I was getting from eating this way and treating my self the way I do. Even after I got off work I went to a near by bar and hung out for an hour. The house band was fantastic, they played "Rock Me Momma" almost as soon as I walked in. This was an exultant day. I love my new job. I am so pumped about life.

Dear Insperation, Part 2

Dear Ms.DeCock, 
For the past three days I have been taking on one of your challenges. I have been writing down at least three things that I am grateful for every night before bed. I have also been writing down five tasks that I want to accomplish the following day. So far its been going very well. I have noticed a generally better out look on life. Also, I feel more productive. I was wondering what sort of challenges you were working on these days? I know life has been a bit hectic for the both of us for the past few months and our blog lives have suffered, But its a good time to set things "wright". 

Liver Success!

In the past three days I have eaten two grass-fed beef livers. They have been delicious. The recipe I am using is very simple. First I get the pan hot with some butter and add some crushed and diced garlic on low heat. Then I chop 3 small onions, just under fist size and add them. I saute them until they begin to get soft, adding another clove of garlic during this stage. Then I take all that out of the pan, put more butter in and let it melt. As the butter melts I take the liver out of the package and rinse it well in a colander. Then, I put the liver in the pan, with a lid on, on medium heat. Once the top of the liver starts to brown I flip the liver and add the onion back in. Then I let is simmer for a few minutes. Finally, enjoy. 
The liver flavor is not really like anything else I can describe, but its not unpleasant. In fact if you go into the operation with no preconceived notions, it can be quite good. If you are expecting it to taste like a steak you will be sadly disappointed however. I think it is safe to say the I will be eating a liver at least one a week for the foreseeable future.