I'm settling in here. The heat wave seems to have passed, which is a relief. We keep finding signs of the approaching end of summer in the garden, like planting the last crop of corn or harvesting the first watermelon.

I had all of Sunday off, which was lovely. I think I will continue to take off at least one day a week, just for the sake of my own sanity. I plan to avoid burning out on this place.

The well for the agricultural areas went down earlier this week. The gardeners were worried about the crops not getting water, the dairy people were worried about sanitation, and it was generally a top-priority project. About a dozen members pitched in on Tuesday to fix the well. The well itself was fine; the problem was with the pump. The pump is at the end of 300 feet of plastic tubing, all of which we pulled out by hand and laid out in the grass. We replaced the wire on it (300 feet of wire!) and stuck it back down the well. Things seem to be working now.

Rick and I talked about our grand plans for Degania. We need to find someone who wants to teach the preschoolers; Rick wants the older kids, and I want the middle kids. We're carving out three classroom spaces, which is pretty exciting. I'm going to have a classroom again. What will be my classroom is currently this weird, overcrowded kids' library space. I've spent about eight hours now going through books, moving the parent/teacher resources out of there, and getting rid of shit. The library will be moving to Rick's classroom space, which actually has room for shelves. To be honest, I'm getting the worst room, but the other rooms have to be convertible school/social spaces. Mine gets to stay set up as a classroom 24/7. I think this is an acceptable trade off.

Yesterday, I fed the calf I helped birth. I also fed the calf in the neighboring pen. They're funny little creatures. They sucked on my fingers for a while after emptying the bottles.