Something New and Different
at Long Shadows!
 August, 2016
Well, to be totally accurate, there is someone new and different at Long Shadows.
As most of you know, there have been some medical issues at Long Shadows.  Dianne's oncology surgeon made a suggestion that perhaps we needed to do a little less work, take things easy, get someone to help with the heavy lifting.  She suggested a WWOOFer.  A WHAT? 

After a little research we learned what that meant:  World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms or Willing Workers On Organic Farms.  Hummmm.  We have never thought of ourselves as a farm.  We have what would qualify as an organic garden, but farm?  After a little more research we discovered Workaway.info.  That is where you open your home to volunteer workers.  The workers can be from anywhere around the world.  They are willing to do whatever kind of work you want.  The host is obligated to provide room and board.  The exchange is a 4 or 5 hour workday, 5 or 6 days a week.  Sort of like an exchange program, but for any age.

We signed up to be a host family.  Then the offers started coming in.  Women from Poland, a couple from Georgia, a girl from Iowa, and a young man from Arizona.  Some were easy to eliminate - smokers, vegans, (sorry, but cooking for a vegan for an extended period is very difficult).  Some had strange profile pages and we did not think they would fit in here.  But this one guy stood out from the crowd.  Jordan.

He has a college degree in Digital Culture from Arizona State.  Dean's list!  He is a smart guy.  He has had a job for a year following graduation, but it was in Arizona.  Arizona is HOT.  He wanted to travel to the Pacific Northwest and find a job there. 

When we told friends and family about the prospect of having a 24 year-old total stranger living in our house, they thought we were either a little crazy or else geniuses.   You know, they could be right.  This guy could be a less than desirable individual.  But the thought of someone to help bring in the firewood was sooooo tempting.

After a phone interview we felt a lot better.  The guy sounded so personable, so friendly, so willing to work.  We even talked to his current Workaway host, a hostel at Lake Tahoe.  She loved him.  Gave nothing but glowing comments about him.  So the deal was struck.

Wednesday, August 3, Jordan arrived.  All three of us made a quick trip to town to stock up on food items HE liked and some work clothes.  There was a lot of getting acquainted during that trip. 

Thursday the work began.  Splitting, hauling, and stacking firewood.  Since Jordan had never operated a log splitter before nor driven a tractor, we felt that it would be a 3 worker effort.

Splitting the BIG logs

WOW!  We didn't have to roll those big rounds to the splitter.
We could get used to this very easily.

Go, Jordan, go!

A team effort.
Well, that splitting job was easier than ever before.  Jordan had a complete wilderness experience on his first day.  He had bear sausage at lunch and for supper he had sloppy Joes made with elk meat.  We have to be truthful here, both of those were new to us too.  Willy, our logger neighbor, gave the stuff to us as a thank you for all the veggies we gave him from our garden.

Second day of work, was a continuation of day one.  More log splitting.  We finished the pile of logs in the front yard.  The end result was 1 full cord of fir firewood. 

Then we got the next surprise from our new worker.  He fixed guacamole to go with the carnitas for supper.  It was amazingly good.

Master chef at work
Jordon had a real surprise.  Shortly after he arrived he had a phone interview with a company in Portland.  He had submitted a resume to them before arriving here.  They told him they would get back to him in a couple weeks.  Well, they must have been impressed with the guy, because the next day they called to schedule a face-to-face interview.  Now he is really stoked.

But the mundane tasks of working here continued.  New job opportunity.  Rather than splitting wood, Jordan drove the tractor down to a lower location on the property, filled the trailer with already split firewood, then brought it back and stacked it in the barn.  He can now add tractor driving to his resume.  Of course, I'm not sure people looking for a computer expert require such a skill.

Saturday is the day we experienced something totally new and different for Long Shadows.  The two of us worked in the garden while our firewood was being hauled in.  This is an unbelievable first.  What a wonderful experience.  It is like multitasking and we weren't doing one of the tasks!

Nancy planted the first row of the fall garden.  Broccoli and kale starts got planted in the row where we just harvested the onions.  Then she covered the row with straw to help conserve moisture.



Meanwhile, Dianne tilled a spot in one of the flowerbeds for the perennial kale.  Oh how quickly we forget how wicked bad the soil can be around here.  It was baked dry clay and hard as a brick.

Dianne is behind the camera, that is why she isn't in the photo.
Meanwhile Jordan is making trips down the hill and back to the barn hauling in firewood.  He said he really liked doing this job because it involved multiple different tasks and he loved being in the forest. 

The first load.

Loading firewood into the trailer.

The temperature is 69 in the shade!
Later we realized Jordan had the preferential job for the day.  The temp in the garden was MUCH hotter.

Jordan's words: The hat is dorky, but comfortable.

Coming into the barn - the SHADY, breezy barn.

So, crazy or geniuses? We're voting for geniuses!

And the story goes on.  Click here.