Girlfriends

In high school and college and post-college I had lots of guy friends. In my 30s I discovered the deep and lasting love of girlfriends, and now I have both NYC and AL posses.

Before I left NYC my dear friend Jane threw me a "go forth and be bold" party. She also always, always, always offers quietly powerful insight that's often turned me around or made me hold on or allowed me to let go. Holly, a Brit who refuses to say "tater tot" and loves to visit Alabama to shoot guns, has had my back on too many occasions to count. Cheri, Sarah, Amanda, Kirsten, Nancy -- all enrich my life in different ways.

Here in AL my core girls are Anna, Val, and Kyes. Since Kyes married Karen, she's also become an increasingly important part of the crew. This weekend my girls came through for me.

I love working here at the farm, but the house itself is more like a sty. Between adjusting to being alone in the country, tending to mom, then coming back to a nasty house, well I was more than a little disheartened and depressed. Or I was until Anna (not in hat) rallied Val (in hat) and the two of them came up and helped me clean this place top to bottom.

We swept, mopped, wiped down cabinets, windows, and doorframes, cleaned the oven and cooktop, scrubbed out the refrigerator, went through 2 containers of Arm & Hammer pet odor remover on the carpets and furniture, washed out garbage cans, dusted, lemon oiled wood furniture, rearranged and made up Charline's (the new volunteer who arrived today) room - and then we tackled the bathroom. Oh, and in our spare time we took care of the chickens, dogs and cats, planted 3 flats of lettuces and spinach, and weeded the greenhouse.

Now I'm happily tired because for the first time since arriving I can actually cook and eat at the house without getting a queasy stomach. And seeing as how I'm here to grow food, being able to eat it is pretty damn fundamental.

That's what girlfriends do -- take care of your fundamentals.