Day 15 - by Anna Zakelj and Emma Santoianni

                Today Michelle tried very, very hard to wake us all up at 7:00, which to us was actually 6:00 because of the daylight savings. Her attempts were not very successful at first, as only five of us were present at circle, but eventually (after a bit of harassing) the remaining five trip members dragged themselves out of their tents in order to devour the available and scrumptious camping-classic cream of wheat.  After breakfast, we packed up relatively quickly and were driving out of camp at exactly 8:31, on our way to White Oak Pastures, a certified organic cattle ranch not far down the road.

                At White Oak we met with a woman named Jenni Harris, the fifth generation of the Harris family to work the ranch.  The first thing she showed us was the kill floor. It smelled similarly to the yearly AMS turkey slaughter. We saw a recently-deceased cow early in processing, right after skinning. Jenni explained to us that the cows are slaughtered humanely and completely by hand. Then Jenni took us outside and showed us a little house thing where they were raising  black soldier flies so the chickens could eat their larvae and so that the flies could eat the dead cows’ insides to turn them into compost. Then the gay garden manager who Michelle is going to marry someday told us about the soon to be certified organic garden. Then Jenni took us to see the chickens who have no fencing and are fed very little food by humans. Then we went back to the main office and picked up yummy grass fed beef to take back with us.

                 We listened to Harry Potter and consumed delicious cherry Garcia ice cream while driving to Keely’s house. When we got there we were greeted by Nicole Seals whose shoulders immediately struck me as very similar to Michelle Obama’s. She led us into the house where we feasted on chocolate Easter eggs, humus and pita chips, and strange but good chocolate covered pomegranate things. The boys were immediately sucked into the addictive and horrible powers of the wii.  Then Patrick, being the ace that he is, grilled us hamburgers made from the White Oak Pastures meat. Yummy. Then Isaac Ashcraft got crazy and broke a window with his butt which resulted in no window and glass in Isaac’s butt.

                                                             THE END

Emma\Anna

Day 14 - by Isaac Ashcraft

 Today we woke up in our dew covered tents and were attacked by the swarm of gnats again. Ughhh!  We folded up a Vietnam hospital tent for Nick at the Crystal River Archeological Preserve.  There were many giant fire ant mounds under the tent which was scary.  We then drove for “six million hours!!!” says Michelle Rehfield and Anna Zakelj.  It was about 6 hours. We arrived at Kolomoki Mounds and were all very tired.  We set up tents and had a super good curry made by Pete.  We then went to bed and I slept terribly! YAY!  See you soon peeps!

                                                Isaac Ashcraft

Day 13 - by Reginn Ramsey

Today, we woke up around nine and started packing our stuff. I was the first one packed for the first time this trip! Maybe because I had decided not to use my sleeping bag and just sleep on the COLD, hard floor. After we packed, we ate some granola, grapefruit and some tangerines. We started eating outside until we were attacked by a swarm as big as Jupiter of gnats. Everybody then decided to eat inside. After we ate, we didn’t know what to do the rest of the day, so THE staff (Pete) decided that we should go swimming with manatees. After a long time of calling, we were finally on our way to the “mantees”. So after our drive, lunch, and hours of watching a video about “mantees” we were on our way. I felt a little bit nervous with Pete driving the boat. We saw trillions of “mantees” and got to pet a lot of them. After that, we went back to the site we were staying at, ate some delish pasta, and tried to sleep. Unfortunately, the “Jupiter Gnat”-bites kept us awake.

Sincerely,

                  Reginn (ray-in)

Day 12 - by Keely Seals

Today, we drove. A lot. We arrived at an organic grapefruit grove around lunchtime, and we traversed the rows of grapefruit trees, chomping down on as many grapefruits as we could stuff into our mouths. Not really. We just ate a few, and then we crossed a dam and picked tangerines and grapefruits alike. They were yummy-licious and I liked them a lot. We also learned how to sectionize grapefruit, which makes eating them a whole lot easier.

After we left the grove, we went to the Crystal River State Preserve, where we met Nick. He was really cool, and let us watch the movie Captain Ron, which was funny. We camped there, and ate more grapefruit. Overall, today was an excellent day.

Keely Seals.

Day 11 - by Ethan Rountree

March 10, Day 11

                Today (aka three days ago) we woke up at early (very very early) to get to Monsanto by 10:00. While we (Pete) were driving we got caught in a hurricane which picked up cars and flooded some small towns. Luckily Pete has ninja driving skills and didn’t let us die. When we got there the guy, named Tim, took us inside and gave us all water bottles and pens sporting the catchy slogan ”Monsatogether”. Then he talked to us about Monsanto and what they did which consisted of “staying one step ahead of evolution.’’ Interestingly enough the products that have not been tested in the US can be used in other poorer countries. He then showed us around the test greenhouses where they were growing cucumbers, bell peppers, and tomatoes. We ate lunch in their cafeteria where we had our food in buckets that had bumper stickers saying “eat organically, local, and fairly made”.

                Then we drove to Sarasota where we stayed in a nice house. We then walked to the beach where we did not swim but instead wrote in the sand and sat around.

                For dinner we ate at “hungry Howies” an all you can eat pizza buffet. All you can eat pizza however is not necessarily a good idea because I think we all felt relatively sick afterwards.

                Finally we went back and sat around and went to bed.

                Extremely sincerely,

                                                        Ethan  

Day 10 - by Emma Santoianni

Today was our last day at the Winsburg’s.  We woke up at a somewhat reasonable hour, like 8:15 or something.  At 9:30 we walked about five feet out of the door to meet with a nice lady named Nancy.  Michelle is going to be just like Nancy when she grows up. Nancy runs what remains of Green Cay farm. She showed us the farm and talked about the different plants and let us eat some of the herbs.  We also saw the old empty silo where owls live. The floor of the silo was littered with mouse bones. We collected some skulls.  When our tour was done, Ted Winsburg pulled up in the tractor and told us if we got on the trailer, he’d give us a ride back to the barn place where we were staying. Afterwards, Ted gave us some papayas.

We went into the apartment thingy. We was super tired. I took a nap. Also, other people took naps.  Then Michelle, Anna, Reginn and I had a blonde party upstairs. But not really a party kind of party. More like a, “Holy buns, am I fried or what? Let’s lie here and talk drowsily” sort of party.

At this point in the day, since we’d woken up at such a perfectly reasonable hour, it was only lunch time. So we ated quesadillas. Then we walked to Publix and bought some popsicles. Then we walked back. Then we had a super crazy dinner with a whole turkey and some sweet potatoes and salad. Then we cleaned the whole house. Then the boys and Pete decided to have exclusive dude time upstairs in the room that you have to go through to get to the bathroom. Keely and I decided to hang out outside on the porch. Anna joined us and we made up a handshake and a tribal dance, then pulled up our pants really, really high.

Bedtime.  Yay.

                                Not-necessarily-so-sincerely,

                                                                Emma

Day 9 - by Isaac Galton

Today was our day to chill and relax.

In the morning, we slept in. Most everyone was awake by nine-thirty and we ate some breakfast burritos around ten. We sat around for a while and finally Keely bugged/convinced us to go to the beach. We got into the van and drove for like half an hour. The drive, especially the one through downtown Delray reconvinced me that Florida is ugly and fake looking, with all their lush, green lawns;  their perfectly trimmed hedges and ornamental plants, and red mulch. Once at the beach we enjoyed the company of lots of old, tan, fat, white people with also some middle aged, tan, fat, white people and some young, tan, white people. Almost everyone got stung by jelly fish within minutes of entering the water so we ended up mostly just making sand creations and sunbathing. We ate lunch, trying to avoid the defecating seagulls overhead. Many people were very happy to leave once we did. Sunburned, hot, sandy, and dehydrated, we walked to the nearest Ben & Jerry’s and spent some kitty money. I got a new flavor with chocolate-covered potato-chip chunks, and it was delic… sorta good. Then we drove back and showered (not at the same time). After games and reading and relaxing we ate and then did some more of that stuff. I’m really happy right now cuz I didn’t put any sunscreen on my ears and not enough on the rest of my body.

                Sincerely, your Clerk/blogger, Isaac Galton