It was with the help from folks during the International Intensive that we got the hoop-House skeletal structure up. Thanks everyone for your help. We decided to put the roof on in the fall to spare it a year's worth of blazing summer sun. We'll plant it open as in the open fields.

As I am working in this amazing garden, working the soil, there's often feeling of a deep familiarity, appreciation and a certain ancient connectedness with this. There is deep gratitude for water and amazement at the beauty of plants. Farming and gathering is deep in our bones. Without great strength, even seemingly lighter tasks can feel bone-breaking. I can totally see why you'd want a water buffalo, oxen or horse to pull your plough. What an advancement it must have been to have metal rather than wood to break the earth's crust way back when. And when a late frost totally destroys all your fruit crop for the year...wow, no wonder they used to pray to weather gods. And what about pests, even those darn gophers that ate about 1/3 of the lettuce crop by destroying the roots. The slugs are harmless compared to them.

Some of you know this in your bones from this lifetime experience. Just from the bit of green house experience in the last few months, let me tell you it is not cheaper than buying organic. It is not easier. It is back-breaking work. You do know however how exactly you did grow your food, and what exactly you used to supplement the soil. Best of all, you are independent of the commercial food supply. And then there is the taste...

The other day, I had the best salad of my life, all garden lettuce. I never knew it smelled so good either.