Wednesday, February 12th
Green Flamingo Organics
Oak Hill, FL

Today after harvest and planting were done, we focused on a lot of preparation for the upcoming party/event – on Friday it  would be Valentine’s Day, and GFO was hosting a dinner and movie on the farm.

There were muddy puddles all over, thanks to the incredible amount of rain they’d been having, before and after we arrived here – in what is normally the dry season. With over 60 guests expected,  we worked to help fill in some puddles along the walkway from the area the event would be held to The Duffer – the composting toilet that was the only available place for people to relieve themselves other than the palmetto thickets outside the edges of the farm.

The woodchip pile we used was infested with large, angry red ants – much larger and scarier looking than the horrid Fire Ants we were used to dealing with. But these lacked the burning venom of the fire ants, so it wasn’t actually bad.

After work was done, we gathered some firewood – but we woudn’t be able to use it that night, as it turned out.

The weather quickly changed – the temps dropping in a blink.

And then the rain came. And it came HARD.

Yeah, it had been raining  lot a few days previously, leaving us farming through the mud puddles in our rubber boots … but that had been steady & delivered unimpressively.

This though – this was crazyrain; falling in bathtub loads, driven sideways by incredible epic winds that bent the palms and shook the trailers and rattled the outdoor kitchen, soaking everything.

The solar power failed, leaving us with flashlights and candles for lights – but the candles were almost impossible to keep lit in the gusting, furious tropical gale storm.

We built tarp barriers to tame the wind in the kitchen, and hunkered down over warm, comforting piles of pasta and farm fresh veggies.

I LOVE storms.

It was

absolutely

AWESOME.

Tuesday, February 11th
Green Flamingo Organics
Oak Hill, FL

Sorry that the details are being lost a bit … I’m now writing these posts 10 days later, and memory of what happened when has become dim. This is largely because we don’t have any internet connection on the farm, but also because we’re very busy.

Unlike the previous two farms we stayed at, Green Flamingo is in full swing, and we work solidly, moving from one task to the next,  from 7:30 in the morning through the afternoon most days – and sometimes more.  There are seeds to plant, seedlings to move into larger containers, baby plants to move into the field, weeds to weed, vegetables and greens to harvest and process and package, and all kinds of random tasks that must be accomplished. Liz, the farmer, is incredibly motivated and comes to work every morning with a long list of tasks to get done.

So, we’re really busy, and the days tend to blend together a bit …

Anyway, on Tuesday, we woke up and got the day’s work done.

Afterward,  went out with the dogs and the longboards in the late afternoon, finding a nearby business with a looping parking lot and no one around. The dogs chased us around and around, Cleo showing incredible energy for a big ol’ dog that will be turning 14 this summer.

Once the dogs were exhausted and we’d had enough wiggling for the day (the way we ride, “distance pumping,” involves carving rapidly back and forth to generate forward momentum without needing to put a foot to the ground to push), we headed back to the farm to enjoy some fresh oranges.

Monday, February 10th
Green Flamingo Organics
Oak Hill, FL

For our second day off from farm work, we decided to explore the coastal areas, just across the highway – taking “Bill’s Hill Road” down and then into some unmarked maintenance roads that, on aerial images, seemed destined to bring us out to the ocean.

After a few dead-ends, we eventually found a place to park the car and walk out to the water’s edge, taking a long walk along a lagoon bordering the coast … surrounded by alligators, armadillos, and air plants, through the woods, into the swamps, and back again.

Sunday, February 9th
Green Flamingo Organics
Oak Hill, FL

At Green Flamingo we get two days off – Sundays and Mondays. Today was our first day off, and we had the Farm to ourselves for the entire day – the other WWOOFers were off on various beaches and activities.

We stayed at the farm, sunbathing, hammocking, drinking and eating endless freshly picked oranges, exploring the surrounding woods, doing some trailer remodeling, and getting comfortable with our new short-term home.

Saturday, February 8th
Green Flamingo Organics
Oak Hill, FL

We awoke to discover that racoons had raided the outdoor kitchen and made off with most of the WWOOFer’s food supplies. I followed the trail of debris into the woods, finding the plastic spoons, sucked-hollow oranges, and wrappers they had not seen fit to consume, from this raid and previous assaults.

We made breakfast with things the bandits had spared, and got to work in the fields – harvesting, weeding, and planting.