Why I'm here

So in the late Spring, I was telling a professor of mine that I was coming up for a "life experience" summer. I wanted to see what it was like to live on a farm and do manual labor. I wanted to see how I liked getting up early, taking care of animals, and living in a rural place.

I'll admit something, though. I was wrong. I had no idea why I was really here.

Turns out, this is all about the people.
I guess I should know this by now. Where you are is really just the context of who you're with.

So how did I come to this decision? Well, about 10 days ago, Bill, Emily, and I were riding in the 'vertible with the top down as night had fallen on rural Maine.
Usually, I'm the person asking questions in the car, but she said to me, "What more do you need to complete your Maine experience?"
I thought for a moment, and I said "I want an outdoor experience, I want to be able to ride a horse, and I want to leave having made good relationships with people here."

I was kind of pleased with myself. Relationships, which are normally the words of those clever spirituality people, had come straight to my mind.
But, the glory did not rain down here.
I immediately started thinking about people in Maine that I might have met for the first time (Bill excluded) and I realized that I didn't know that many people. I was kind of bummed because I didn't have much time then, and I have even less time now.

So the rest of my trip back to the farm was kind of down time. It wasn't until the next morning when I started to think: Oh my gosh, A) this whole thing is about enjoying the relationships I've created and B) I don't have to look anywhere for those relationships. They are right here. They are the connections (los legames, spanish: Los vinculos, italian) that I have with my family.

So here you have it.
this is why I'm here: to be in and grow through my relationships with others and it just so happens that those others are by and large my Maine Mitchell family.

So when, during that same conversation with my professor, he told me to get out of my head, stop thinking that life is just about fly-fishing (referencing a book he is making me read). He told me to get a girl and go for a walk along a creek for a few hours.
So maybe I haven't done that, but I think I got the gist of it, and if my Maine version of that scenario will be to walk slowly as I take a horse out the pasture, or play with my little cousins or talk to my older cousins, then I'm going to appreciate and love that time as the reason that I'm really here

M.O.A. II

"...she thinks my tractor's sexy..."

so this song might seem a little silly, and sure it is. but let me say something. I sorta get it now.
Here's a story. I was talking to one of the people who rides horses here. She is a professor, but she lives in a small town in Maine, and she is very nice and informed, etc.
So I go up to her in the barn and say "You know I'd turn the music to a different station, but I'm sorta starting to like this country music." and she turns to me and says "Wait, aren't you from Arkansas or something?"

so I say "yeah, but I never listened to country music before."
"really," she says, "but I thought that people in the South listened to that sort of thing."

Lucky for me, I'd been thinking about this recently, so I had a ready answer. "Just because I'm from the South doesn't mean I like country music. Country music is not a Southern thing, it is a rural thing." I live in a city of 200,000. we don't have farms around.

People in the city don't drive tractors. Farmer's tans are farmer's tans, not Southern tans. Country music is country music, not Southern Music.
I don't mean to pick on my friend, I just wish to point to the distinction.

Regardless, what I've come to discover is that I like this music because I've begun to understand it. Farmer's tans, tractors, people you hang out with down by the river bank, driving trucks. It makes a lot more sense with my experience here on the Farm than "I hoped off the plane at LAX...Welcome to the land of fame, excess"
-Miley Cyrus, "Party in the USA"

Country music makes sense within my day to day activity. People talk about beer, women and big trucks. At least two of those are a semi-frequent part of my time here.

And so I'm glad that I can appreciate it, now, especially since it's the only thing available on a lot of backwoods roads.

so this has been dedicated to the Music of Arkansas. Our music is not country, it is southern, but I can say that regardless of being a southerner, I do now appreciate country music.

M.O.A. I

As I have mentioned several times, I have lived in various places in my life both in and out of the country. I have seen different levels of consumption that I ascribe to different places, and within that context there are different thoughts on energy use.
The US, far and away, has had greater energy use. I would get yelled at in Italy if I didn't turn the light off each time I left a room, and in Argentina the apartment was unlit until about 6 pm, even though it was late winter, early spring. It's not these countries are any more environmentally conscious ( I don't think there is even real thought about "being Green"), it's just that it costs so much that they literally can't afford to keep the lights on. But I'm not here to talk about lights, I'm here to talk about Air.
Air conditioning. It is not a novel thought. But it doesn't exist in as many places as you'd expect. And by that, I mean, I'd expect it here in the land of freedom and artificially propelled air.

In the South, we wouldn't be able to live without AC and one of the greatest feelings in the summer time is coming from the outside sweating profusely and then being rocked by the wave of cool/house-circulated air as you grab something the drink and sit down on the South.

In Italy, my air conditioning meant opening the balcony door at night. What was I was also opening the door to were bugs, and the blood stains of smashed mosquitoes on the walls, and the swollen eye-lids where I was bitten at night still haunt my memories.

In Argentina it was literally too cool for cool(ness) and so it wasn't a problem.

But here in Maine, in the good ole US of A(ir conditioning) there is no AC. We have remedied the problem slightly with box fans, and I understand that it rarely gets above 90, with 85 being a "scorcher," but you are missing out people.

And clearly, on the days that it's got and you're tired, you need something that'd counter-balance the sleep inducing sweat and glisten.

AC is what makes summer summer, along with poison ivy, hot stearing wheels, and bad hair from driving with the windows down.

So I say this in honor of all colliding molecules. Let's get some M(ovement) O(f) A(ir).

horse camp

Horse Camp! Wow, what a different camp experience! So it wasn't a sleepover, and Emily didn't pre-face the camp with a week-long staff orientation, which would have meant Emily and I talking to each other about leadership skills and fun horse games and going to Walmart on our off nights. But I digress. Basically the kids showed up at 9, and Emily had a rough schedule that was made and adjusted throughout the day, and which had to be repeated to me countless times. It was so lax that sometimes I didn't even feel like it was camp. Also, because Emily was the singular horse trainer, there were only 7 campers...7! It should also be noted that they brought their own lunch so it was picnic lunch instead of taking care of 80 campers at a cafeteria meal.


So here's the deal. At Horse Camp, we only had one activity: horses.

Now this might seem trivial because the activity is named in the camp title. But understand that my conception of summer camp comes from Wet Hot American Summer, Heavy Weights (two Oscar-worthy films) and Episcopalian church camps. Horses have never figured into summer camp for me.
So the focus of camp was totally different. First of all, I had no expertise about riding horses so any confidence i showed was part-cherade. Secondly, the camp really wasn't about community in christ or building relationships with others, or creating moral groundworks. it was about riding and taking care of horses.
*It is true that this teaches responsibility and ownership, but there was never morning christian-edu.

So what does this mean? It mostly meant that I spent time being sacrilegious about horses instead of Christianity. So I'm a fun guy, and so I made sure that we had some fun.

Cane and Abbot rest at lunch.











It Olivia about 8 attempts to get up on her horse bareback









What is camp without playing in the rain?









Very funny guys.









I even got the horses to have fun.









Our own Midsummer Horses' Dream.





But here is the deal. At the end of the week, I had an experience I'd never really had before in terms of cam. I was PROUD . I had a little 7 year old who was about to take care of a horse all by herself.












And there was this nine year old boy, the only guy camper, who was riding, and goofing off just like I knew he could.




















In fact, they were so good at washing horses that Olivia either a) couldn't believe it or b) was frustrated at them for not giving her a bath, too.






So I've never felt pride before about my campers, but these guys had come so far or had been so mature and helpful with beginner riders, and they were so happy to show their families what they had learned and been working on, whether is was making a horse do S-turns or have them jump consecutive jumps at an even canter.
It was just amazing.





Thanks Emily and everyone for a great week.

My list of firsts (Thru pt. 1 of MaineCane)

I have now reached the half-way point of my time here. I don't want to impress people with all the things I've done, but the following is the daily updated list of all the things that have highlighted my time here so far.
So I had this list in my profile section, but that got too long so I'll try to keep this list updated throughout the summer.

drive Cadillac, -My uncle has a blue, green, purple Escalade and I got to drive
drive truck, - driving a truck is an extremely empowering experience
drive bushhog/tractor, - the most persuasive evidence that I'm slowly becoming a farm boy.
made phone calls for a campaign, - i hated it. I didn't know how to talk to people
seeing an eagle, - that was pretty sweet. Bill and I didn't know what it was until it flew by
tacking up a horse, - now this seems like old news
walking/cleaning a donkey, - won't try this again, the most obstinate beasts ever
held a rabbit, - there are two on the farm. I did it just so I could say I did.
went to a horse show, - that was an experience. horseriding as being call the most elitest word in the english language
successfully navigated a round-about, - did you know there are rules on a roundabout?
held political signs on election day, -I was hoping I wouldn't get hit by an angry voter
went to a town hall meeting, - that was fascinating. Direct democracy at its finest
bought a John Deere hat, - It's my working hat and I wear it to fit in with local worker guys
went to a municipal trash dump, - in the south we are so behind
saw a wild turkey, - i definitely didn't look like the pictures from thanksgiving cartoons
coaching a girls soccer practice, - I succeeded in keeping their attention for 1 1/2 hours!
posting on a horse, - you gotta get the rhythm of the horse
put together a horse jumping ring, - tedious but slightly creative
ran a drag harrow over a horse ring, - I was glad to help out with the actual jumping of horses
saw a horse have teeth cleaned, - she put her arm halfway into the horses mouth!! EWW
saw horse have it's shoes put on, - It smells really bed
had my gas pumped by a station attendant, - so awkward. Can I not pump my own gas?
ordered "fish and chips"- it was good while it was a generic taste but then it started to taste a lot like fish.
when to a moose hunting license lottery.- seeing about 500 men nervously waiting for their name to be called was quite an experience.
Went to a drive-in movie.- Bounty Hunter was an awful movie.
Went to both the New Balance AND L.L. Bean stores.- I love low prices
walked a dog and a horse at the same time- it was a veritable Dog and Pony show.
Got stepped on by a clydesdale. I am so glad that I have steel toed boots.
went on a trail ride with bill and emily- it took us a month, but we've finally done it.
had a bird poop on me- no worries, it was only my arm.
painted barn doors- the scraping is tedious, slow, and annoying, but the painting is extremely satisfying.
acted as a super- I've done all the clean up I've never done before: weeds, bathrooms, spackling, wiping, and, oh yeah, flea bombs.
drive a VW Bug- yeah, I know it's a mom car. Even worse for me, it has flowers next to the dash.
Drove a (bug) convertible. If a truck is like power and dominance, the convertible is pure fun and freedom.
posted on a horse-so now I can have personal experience with some of the stuff I see riders do.
picked up a yawn from a horse-and the same day (also a first) I rode on a horse with a spoon in a mouth, carrying a marshmallow in my mouth)
Being a counselor for a horse camp-the most important focus has changed from jesus communities to equine care and riding.
I've ridden Bugsy, Ivy, Jeeves, and Daisy- 4 down 8 to go.