Tejas!

we spent a wonderful week in austin, its always great to spend time with mama, watching her create awesome art. we spent our days lounging at the lady house (including us two there were 6 ladies under one roof), going to the local rivers and springs, hanging out with fun friends, we got our asses kicked for free, saw live music, had girl dinner partys, hiked to caves, swam, climbed trees, and got out camped by natalina who is 9 months pregnant and amazing beyond belief - her and her unborn baby lola valiantly rescued me and kaitlin respectivly from a crazy rabid water moccasin snake that totally tried to kill us all! (lola should be born june 28!!!). we left austin at 7am, drove 13 hours to get the fuck out of texas because that place scares me! now we are just outside gila natl. forest camping for the night in new mexico with a sky full of moon and stars and a full belly. tomorrow we'll check out the gila cave dwellings and then mosey on to arizona for another day of fun car dance partys and resurrecting roadkill.

We found a farm!

After several months of half-assed searching and deliberating, we finally decided on a farm to work on once we get out west. Come mid July we will be working at Little Rascals farm in Hansville, WA, a small raw organic dairy farm, with goats, sheep, chickens (for eggs), a vegetable garden, medicinal herbs & mushrooms. We will be learning all kinds of cool stuff like cheese making, raising poultry, utilizing worm bins, working with livestock guardians, animal husbandry, making natural soap, shearing sheep/goats/rabbits, fiber processing, weaving/knitting, etc. We are excited!!!

Now I know you are thinking 'you two were both stinky vegans for years and years, why a dairy farm?'
Well if you ask me, if you are going to eat something you should be able to get it to your plate yourself (omnivores should be able to look at and kill the animals they eat, etc.). Since I started eating cheese again, I wanted to learn about it, see if I was ethically okay w/ dairy production on this kind of farm (I still have the same ethical issues with the factory farms where most places in this country get their milk & cheese from).
Also, I wanted too see what its like to be a part of the solution to, and not just the boycott of, our predominant method of food production and the ethical, ecological, & economic mess it has created. If we want to move back towards sustainable small scale community based food production, we will need healthy and ecologically sound alternatives to factory farm eggs & dairy.
So this is why I choose to work on a dairy farm. Well, that and the fact that goats are totally cute.

Anyways, check out their website if you are so inclined:
http://www.littlerascalsfarm.com/

We love the Appalachian Trail

We just got back from our first trip on the Appalachian Trail (Belinda & Willow's first ever backpacking trip!). It was a great success! We had planned on doing 5 days beginning at the approach trail and ending at Neels Gap. However due to Willow's pre-trip limping, & Neels Gap's closure due to bear activity, to name a few issues, we changed our plans. Day one we did a test run day hike starting from Neels Gap and over Blood Mountain. Seeing as Willow kicked Blood Mountain's butt, we knew we'd be okay doing a couple days on the trail. The next day we started out at mile one. Somehow, our packs weren't heavy at all! about 20lbs each plus food and water. We left out a lot of creature comforts: We didn't bring sleeping pads, or a cup, or a change of clothes. We opted for the tiny iodine jar instead of a filter. We saved precious ounces by forgetting the map, I mean, leaving it behind intentionally. Anyways, we felt good.
The first night we stayed at Hawk Mtn shelter, where Willow valiantly defended us from bugs all night long and earned his trail name "FLY SLAYER!!!!"
The next day was the hardest. My boots were killing me so I strapped them to my pack and went barefoot for a day and a half, which was a totally great idea until we got back to the hostel and I saw the 15 or so blood blisters on my feet. Later on I was given the trail name "Gator Foot" which I think is pretty funny, so I think Ill keep it. Belinda got the name Giggles (I wonder why?), but she might swap out if she gets a better one. We had great company at the shelters both nights, and we just love the appalachian trail camaraderie we felt. We are hooked. I can't wait to get back on the trail. We wanted to do more but didn't want to push Willow too far. Yeah and thats why we were so slow, and why we had to take so many breaks all the time, because of Willow. Hes our scape goat, I mean, our weakest link is what I meant to say. Not me and Belinda, we are total bad asses.
Oh yeah and then this one time, we had to fight all these bears off with our bare hands, no big deal.
Love,
Gatorfoot, Giggles, and Fly Slayer

and the adventure begins!

We made it out o florida safe and sound! We had a great last hoorah at ichetucknee with some of our best buddies in the universe. Thank you to everyone who showed support and wished us good luck. Thank you to those who have been great friends and helped us to get where we are now: our parents getting us started, the earth for providing us its bounty, our friends who made fun of us until we started being cool, the lunch ladies that gave us all that pizza and corn, the nannies who kept us in line and taught us how to act good, the multiple park rangers who've almost, but ended up not, fining us $500, the girls in the music videos who taught us how to dance, the bullies that dunked our heads in the toilet, wait never mind that last part.
We're currently in georgia on our way up to the hiker hostel before we spend five days on the appalachian trail. We'll post some pictures as soon as we get a chance....