this was supposed to be the first of two posts

i never said anything about the farm. it was a funny situation, coming at the peak of my indifference towards what will happen next year. the story takes place just after i posted the ten minute post.

when i got out to my car in the morning after sleeping a lot, the year's first frost was on the windshield. kids were arriving at wharton as i drove by. i waited for a while while a bunch of them crossed the street in front of my car. by the time i got out to ephrata, the frost was only in the shadows of trees and buildings. no one was outside at the farm, so i walked over to the fence and watched the black horse eat grass. i called david and he said he was eating breakfast. he told me to come in. the horse came over and i rubbed the side of its head and neck. the horse turned and faced me the other way, so i petted the other side. i found the whispering satisfactory. maybe they had something there.

david was finishing a bowl of raisin bran and he went to get dressed to go outside. gavillan was asking him about going to a friend's house or a birthing or something and maggie and oliver took me into the other room. we asked each other questions and they showed me things. they had me climb onto the top bunk of the bed in their playrooom with them. maggie opened a secret cupboard and brought out a book and asked me to read from it. after i was done she pulled another book out and asked me to read that too. at the end, oliver asked me to read the story backward. i started, but then i asked if i should read it page by page or word by word. they replied "word for word" together, so i did.

while we were cutting kale, david was telling me about his work. he eventually asked me what i wanted to know, what i wanted to learn. i knew what he meant, that it was an uncomplicated question, but i still took a moment to work through it. i told him it was a bigger question than he knew he'd asked. i said that i didn't know about so much else, that i was just there because it felt good. apparently it was the right answer cause he warmed right up to it. i told him the fascination with farming was as much with farmers, who are, in my experience, an interesting class of peaceful people. it came to my attention later that the other thing about farming is that it's transparent. the benefits are right there. a good education is useful, but you can't taste it the same way.

i shared a cookie with david as we worked through lunch. we picked kale, two types of radicchio, baby boc choi, escarole and green leaf lettuce. more than 1000 heads in all. i took a head of baby boc choi home for dinner.

after the truck left, peggy invited me in for a bowl of ice cream. everyone but david sat and ate. david came in and we were talking. he said i could work for him all the time. i said i'd let him know, especially about next summer. i'm busy for the next few weeks but i hope i'll at least be out there again before winter break. there's more to talk about, if nothing else.

amsterdam isn't what it used to be