On Our Own.

This was our first week alone on the farm.

No more Michael.

:( *moment of silence*

We bid farewell to Michael on Sunday evening with promises of trying to get together in September when Steve and I would be in Austria, and then he was gone.

And now we're all alone.

On Monday evening, Steve and I went with the family out to Lake Balaton for the first time. It is the largest lake in Central Europe. It is only 14km across at its widest point, but it is 78km long, which means that at Szigliget, the area of the lake where we went which is fairly close to the middle, we couldn't see either end. However, the Balaton is very warm because it is very shallow; its average depth is only about 3km (about ten feet) and at its deepest point it is less than forty feet deep.

We also had more langos after our swim and we watched a very long parade of birds flying overhead. It was a very pleasant visit to one of Hungary's most famous places.

In other news, Steve got a new job on the farm: splitting, sawing, and stacking firewood. Aaron, Naomi's boyfriend Barney, and Steve were on firewood duty all day for three days and still only filled up maybe two-thirds of the wood barn. Aaron told us that in the average winter, they go through most of that firewood. Wow.

And where was I when the boys were off doing manly work?

Why, I was picking weeds, of course.

It was a very long and irritating week for me because I expected to "graduate" from weed duty and move on to more complicated, higher level farming jobs, I guess. But those weeds are relentless - farming isn't like the corporate world, where you get promoted to better, cushier, more advanced positions. Steve got promoted using the wood splitter (which looks like a giant drill) and the circular saw; although it wasn't as boring as picking weeds and nettles, he ended up with splinters, blisters, cuts, bruises, and more general fatigue than I did. I was just bored. But I suppose this was a lesson in patience for me, and a lesson in farming: the weeds never sleep. Neither do the animals, nor the weather, nor the fields. Farming is a 24/7 job with no promotions, no vacations, no paid sick days. It's hard work, farming is.

One of the highlights or my nettle-picking endeavours was pulling out a nettle by the roots and finding a toy car! Even though I was by myself, I couldn't stop laughing (and what a much-needed laugh it was). I should've left it; maybe it would've grown bigger? :)

Some other pictures from life on the farm, since pictures are more interesting than any story of mine could be:

Saturday was Hegyesd Village Day, which is basically a picnic with entertainment like kids singing songs and there was a cooking contest (there were multiple fires around where people we cooking stews from fish, beef, lamb, wild boar) and Barbara came in second place! Look at how happy she is. Excuse my run-on sentence.