bootlicking, total eclipse of the fart, herp alert, etc

i hesitate to confess this, but my job is kinda... good? like every single workplace where i've ever been employed, i showed up here feeling excited, but wary. usually it only takes a couple days, if not minutes, to get wind of whatever tension or dysfunction or character will ultimately become my problem. and... not to sound utterly brainwashed, but i'm three weeks in (!!) and so far my workplace appears, by all indications, to be a functional, dignified, and enjoyable place to work? and-- this genuinely isn't a pointed statement about any organizations at which i may have previously been employed, because this standard felt unthinkably, impossibly high for any workplace past or future-- i think i might have an ACTUAL reciprocal and healthful relationship with the organization that employs me.....

i've been reading jenny odell's new-ish book saving time (how to do nothing-heads let me hear you!!!!!!*) so i've been thinking a lot about what it means to have a job, to exchange the hours of my life for a wage, and the inherent inequity of that exchange. and she's right about pretty much everything, as i have come to expect, but i feel so lucky that i can't really map much of what she's saying onto my current working** experience. and surely it's possible that i'm speaking too soon! but i feel a real sense of equity, support, transparency, genuine personal benefit, and dare i say..... love.... at the heart of this experience. historically, i have experienced goodness and love and support in many of my working relationships-- work has been the birthplace of my greatest friendships since college! but generally, that love and support is working against the grain of the structure of the work environment. caring supervisors and co-workers going above and beyond to secure my safety or wellbeing, or joyful friendships formed where we helped each other survive and occasionally thrive, united against The System, The Man, etc. 

here though, i feel lucky to report that the structure and operation of this organization seems to have been designed with this thought and care and equity in mind. that's to say that i feel very human at my job, that i am supported and cared for in a formal capacity as well as an informal one, all the way from the top of the organization to the bottom. and that i am reaping benefits***!! most especially, a thoughtful and thorough education not just for the sake of me doing my job better, but for my own good and edification. 

ok enough bragging and bootlicking about my job. it's all just to say that i'm glad i'm here. hope i don't look back on this in a few months in humiliation for drinking the kool aid!

some other stuff has been going on too!

- the eclipse. in my very own backyard! transcendent!!!!!!!!!

- tragedy struck yesterday when upwards of 15 of our beautiful laying hens died in one afternoon. the girls spend the winter here in a hoop house, but our farm is situated in a very intense wind tunnel, which poses big time structural concerns to the hoop house when the winds are ripping and the doors are open. friday was one such windy day, which meant that the ventilation opportunities for the hen house were severely restricted. not ideal in general, but fatal when the sun came out unexpectedly and brought temperatures to intolerable heights. it was a very sad and sobering thing to have failed these animals that have served us so well, providing beautiful eggs for our breakfasts and generally being lovely members of our team. luckily, we'll be moving the layers back out to pasture soon, and it seems next winter the farm will be exploring other housing options for our flock.

- the GERD stuff in the last few weeks has been bleak i will be honest!!! but through a series of weird coincidences i stumbled into this zoom workshop on wednesday run by some nutritionist about managing acid reflux and-- i don't wish to speak too soon-- but it did give me more hope than i've ever had about someday resuming some of my beloved former food habits...... i will be employing the services of this nutritionist, and if i make any progress i WONT be shutting up about it so no need to bother following up

- i'm starting guitar lessons! and a ceramics class!

- emma and i were lucky enough to see the bread and puppet theater perform THE HOPE PRINCIPLE SHOW in barre vt (:0, in her honor.) we sat on the ground right next to the stage with many small, charmingly voluble, children, and right in front of a man who (having come late, and having requested an already occupied seat in the front row) explained to those around him that he was turning 100 next week! which at the time of writing is now last week, so happy belated birthday to that man :)

- late last night i went on a herping jaunt with my housemates where we got to bear witness to an assortment of amphibians on their annual migration to wetland from their underground burrows... spring salamanders, pickerel frogs, eastern newts, and the most deafening chorus of spring peepers i've ever heard!!

- as soon as it's warm enough i am yurt-bound!!! updates to follow

that's about all for now. if you're reading this, i probably miss you! and sorry to caroline specifically for bragging about my job!!!!

your friend,

isabel

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*this is irony (look it up) because everybody in my life refuses to read this book even though it changed me forever......

**SERVICE. yes, it's true that as defined by the federal government and also my employer that i am not an EMPLOYEE, that i do not WORK, but rather SERVE, at my PROJECT SITE, and receive a LIVING STIPEND as a treat. and let it be clear that nothing im saying in this blog post is meant to be complimentary to the institution of a****corps

*** ok not like. actual benefits such as healthcare or a 401k. so maybe its not ALL that. but still..............