mind body planet

Ithaca Farmer’s Market

Good evening all. I am back at the computer tonight after a long and wonderful day here in Ithaca. If you didn’t read form yesterday, I got here two nights ago to an intentional community that my friends are a part of. I’m staying here until the 23^rd so I may have lots of different things to tell you about. Expect plenty of inspired entries since I am surrounded by a very amazing community of people. Today our itinerary was basically just one item. I wanted more than anything to see the famous Ithaca farmer’s market.

This morning there were some chores to get done before we could do anything else. I was more than happy to help out with some tasks since I want to eventually live in a community like this and because I am staying here for free. My task for the morning was to collect up the eggs that had been laid in the hours before we got up. So around seven I went out in to the yard between the garden and the woods where there is some flat grass and I collected about thirty eggs. These chickens are grass fed and totally free range so their eggs are significantly larger and of better quality than normal eggs that you would find in any supermarket. There were no duck eggs but we had plenty of eggs for my friend Jamie to make her amazing eggs Ranchero. She made them with onions, green peppers, and garlic from the garden as well as salsa that another housemate made this morning.

After breakfast we all pilled in to the car which is another topic which I might need to discuss at length. My friends Jamie and McKenzie who used to live here in town before they graduated, bought a new car about a year ago. The car they found on Craigslist and it was like a dream come true. It was a 2000 Volkswagen Jetta that had been converted to run on vegetable oil. Every week they used to pick up oil from shops around town and then just filter it at night in their back yard. Then they simply pour the oil in their car and go. They go through a tank of gas about once every month or so when they have been driving a lot. This summer though they have only put in one tank of gas and just a lot of vegetable oil. The van that the others took is also powered by vegetable oil and they actually converted it here themselves at the house when they all moved here. The process I hear is not hard if you have a mechanic on hand and so I think that this is where we should be moving if we want to really becoming independent of oil consumption.

I just realized I have made a bit of a mistake and took too much time going off on my little veggie oil tangent and I have run out of time for the day. I will continue this story tomorrow and maybe I will have some new things to talk about as well and keep me from the topic even longer.