New sights and sounds

The senses are overwhelmed here at the homestead in New Mexico. So much to study that it has been difficult for me to know where to begin.  I had to introduce you to someone I met while weeding the raspberry patch. I stopped everything to take some photos of him.

Calligrapha vicina / Calligraphy beetle

I was quite literally stopped in my tracks when I saw him -- I had never seen markings this intricate on a beetle or bug in the Midwest and was taken by how much they looked like the hollows in a guitar or musical notes.  Lucky for me, there are experts on site and all I needed to do was ask.  The calligraphy beetle.  But, of course!

There are many more creatures here that I have never seen in the wild; roadrunners and lizards to name a few.  The lizards are quite funny to watch but hard to capture on film.  I have set a challenge to do just that.

I am learning after my first week in New Mexico and hope you are enjoying following my adventure in WOOFing.

New Mexico WOOFing Trip Pictoral

View from kitchen window in the WOOFers quarters [click to full view all photos]

WOOFers quarters, outside

Weeping willow out front is where the turkeys roost at night.

Biochar stove - just fired up today

Hothouse/greenhouse

Potatoes, squash, melons and raspberries

Solar water pump, pump house and cistern

Second solar water pump, in front of goat house

Yummy asparagus patch behind WOOFers quarters

View from the fire pit

Another fire pit view

The goats, L to R, Bella, Lillian and little Peanut

My host's straw bale house

Two of three turkeys that like to follow you around

Lillian is quite a ham

The solar oven - first try with beans but it was overcast

The outdoor kitchen

Wood oven in outdoor kitchen

It is indeed rare for me to find myself speechless when visiting a place -- but this is something that needs to be absorbed and savored [and I'm also learning and working every day!]  Valuable life skills to take back to Indiana that I hope one day to build upon with a like-minded community.