April 26

Hello family members,
Here is your weekly update.
Last Sunday, all the interns went on a hike led by a naturalist. We learned about the native plants, animals, and cultures as well as current issues that are threatening the forest. It was a really nice hike even though it was lightly snowing for a lot of it. The week started out well with our bull escaping on Sunday night. He is kept down in a field away from the other cows because he is not breeding with them this year. He broke down the fence (he was probably just rubbing on it when it fell over. He is not a ferocious bull.) He escaped and went up to where the cows are, but he couldn't get in their field. We ended up herding the whole herd down to the corral field and isolating him in the corral and letting the other cows out. They were not happy to leave him. We set up new cow and sheep pastures and herded them into their new eating grounds. Also, the irrigation ditches are finally cleaned, and we opened up the main one yesterday. It's a pleasant little stream. On the the veggie front, we started potting tomatillos from their seedling flats. On Thursday, our neighbors had a concert at their dairy. It was very fun. Today we'll be helping to build a straw bale post and beam house, and tomorrow we will be teaching our fellow interns how to rock climb at Emigrant Lake.
Hope all is going well you guys. Not that I would know since no one emailed back with updates of their lives. Tsk tsk. What wayward family members I have.

April 19

Hello family, This week was a pretty fun week. All the interns met last Sunday, and we are going hiking tomorrow. Hopefully it won't snow. We should be able to get some to come climbing with us too. On the farm we got to prepare the mobile chicken coop for the chickens' move to the pasture and transfer them into it at night. We got a barn ready for some baby goats that might be coming. We herded sheep and cows and built a field fence and paddocks with electric fencing. Also, we helped trim a sheep's hooves. We also did a lot of tree potting, seed planting, and irrigation ditch cleaning. On Wednesday, a bunch of middle school students came out with their teachers and an entomologist, and we set up traps, took soil samples, and caught bugs with a beat and sweep. Lots of fun. Hope everyone is doing well, and hopefully other people will start to write updates as well.