FIVE

In the midst of Tuesday's runaway, car-wrecking, bridge-smashing excitement, I failed to mention the day's other noteworthy event. Two new interns, Matt and Peter, began their tours of duty at the farm.

Peter arrived in the morning, and Matt arrived in the afternoon, not 15 minutes before the horses broke away. That's quite an event to witness right out of the gate.

Peter grew up in nearby Pennsylvania and has a background in carpentry. He's already expressed interest in helping out with projects around the farm. Today he's scheduled to work on the bridge with Farmer Ian, who is also a carpenter by trade.

Matt graduated last week from Paul Smith's College in upstate New York. His degree is in adventure tourism and he's said he'd like to end up working for a living history museum one day.

There are five of us interns now. All big guys in our twenties or early thirties. We walk around the farm like a big posse, sniffing around for interesting jobs. It's nice to have the camaraderie, but one downside is that the real farm work that needs to be done is getting thin. With two interns, the load was about right. Now, with five, there's a bit more standing and watching.

I can also report that a typical farm intern's appetite is stupendous. Multiply that by five and we're churning through a lot of food at each stop, like a swarm of locusts. Yesterday at lunch the crew went through a dozen eggs, a big pot of couscous, a big pot of black beans, bread, canned peaches, and a few bananas.