pruny feet, centipedes and beyond

What do pruny feet, chocolate chip cookie bars and a 100 gallon tank in the back of our truck have in common?!  Picking season, that's what!!  This week was different and I loved it!  We were still picking and I suppose 'love' is not the right emotion to associate with that particular task.  BUT I do enjoy making progress, I'm grateful for the paychecks starting to roll in and, for several reasons, this week wasn't overwhelming like the past few have been!  Therefore, I loved it!

After a few days in the fields we mixed things up with the very first de-pulping of our own coffee cherries!  We want to take this batch through the different steps, all the way to roasted, packaged beans- ready to be sold, brewed and enjoyed!  Talk about exciting!!  This is what we've been working towards for the last eight months!  Plus, it was an adventure all its own; purchasing a 100 gallon tank, hauling 450 pounds of cherry to the 'other' farm, de-pulping them (in a down pour of rain) and filling the tank back up with the slippery, little beans.  Driving around town, running errands and going surfing with that tank full of floating beans in the back of the truck might seem slightly redneck but, trust me, that's nothing!  

The beans have to ferment over night, and this allows the 'bad ones' to float to the top and be scooped out.  My husband enlisted his other girlfriends for this task.  (Two, sweet girls from our church that love 'Uncle Derek' and can be talked into doing just about anything for him!)  There was no cajoling this evening, however, as they were eager to get their hands dirty and take turns with the strainer.  Their laughter (and the occasional words of guidance from Derek) floated up to the apartment as I relished the extra time I had for finding a new recipe and actually cooking dinner!

Here's where it gets even more redneck.  Because we don't have water at the property anymore (long story about another farm worker accidentally running over the pipe and draining the tank!) we had to rinse all the beans in our driveway at the church!  Derek built a screened, wooden frame that we dumped bucket after bucket of beans into for rinsing.  Then, for lack of a better place to keep the clean beans, they went into a (freshly washed) trash barrel!  Once our tank was emptied of it's contents, we could hose it out and put all the beans back in to transport them to the greenhouses.  Phew!  But wait, we're just getting started!  At the property we needed to scrounge up more wood to make frames, then staple the wire mesh to the frames and haul cinder blocks into the greenhouse to keep the frames up off the ground.  Then, once again, transport the beans bucket full by bucket full, filling up our new drying racks.  We'll begin to figure out better methods as time goes on, but thankfully my husband happens to have carpenter skills up his sleeve and all went well for this first round!

The day we did this was rainy.  Abnormally rainy.  We're used to the occasional wet morning or an afternoon shower, but the majority of the days here are always sunny.  So when the sun didn't burn through after a few hours of rain in the morning we resigned ourselves to being wet and tackled the project.  Then, not willing to waste a day, but unable to pick because we forgot to purchase new bags that we fill with the cherries, we turned to other tasks.  In our harvesting frenzy, and because we're not living out there, maintenance around the greenhouse has dropped to an all-time low on the priority list.  This was a perfect chance to weed wack, mow, clean AND replant the garden which had morphed into a mini-jungle of its own!  It was great to get caught up and it actually looks like someone loves the place again!  This is where the pruny feet come in, though.  By the end of the day we were sopping wet and looked like we'd been sitting in a hot tub for eight hours!  I was chilled to the bone but, making the most of the 'coldest' day we've experienced here, I was giddy about breaking out leggings, wool socks and a sweater that evening!  Unfortunately, our work boots didn't dry at all that night and even though the next day was sunny, our feet were once again confined to a full day of wet, sogginess.  Oh well... such is life in the jungle! 

Even though we live in an apartment for the time being, there's still many reminders of our 'jungle life'.  Some are wonderful; sitting outside the church at night, talking about the day and basking in the night sounds that have become so familiar.  Or it might be a little ad-libbing in the kitchen, mixing up cookie dough only to realize we are still lacking a cookie sheet!  So, we improvise and our cookies become bars!  And I realize that I wouldn't trade imagination and ingenuity even for a fully furnished kitchen!  Other jungle evidence, although expected, is never pleasant; ahem.. the centipede crawling across our living room floor the other night.  I have to brag a bit, though, I didn't freak out and was actually the one to smash it with a flip flop!  [Although, Derek did have to dispose of it!]  I may not have as many adventurous tales to tell these days, but our life is anything but normal.  And we wouldn't want it any other way :)
We had an awesome weekend!  Derek had a men's breakfast and we were able to celebrate two years of life with a beautiful little girl and part of the church family we love so much!  We headed to town Saturday night and I was elated with an excuse to get dolled up!  Working in the coffee fields all week leaves little reason to put on dresses, do my hair or put on mascara; so date nights must be savored!  We strolled through a downtown festival, ate delicious mexican food, went to the new surfing movie Derek's been dying to see... oh, and experienced our first tsunami warning!  As Coloradans we don't really know about natural disasters, apart from raging forest fires.  So, the sirens going off into the wee hours of the night, massive coastal evacuation and everyone in line to fill up gas tanks and stock up on toilet paper made for quite the commotion.  Thankfully, nothing came of it and island life resumed as normal on Sunday.
One of the highlights of this past week was being able to call and/or skype with all of our immediate families!  We saw faces that we haven't seen in a very long time, heard countless stories from nieces and nephews and just caught up on life with so many of the ones we love.  Thank goodness for communication!  That is the one improvement that we would make to this life- being closer to our families!  Thankfully, we are our own family, too.  I don't understand how this works but it's rather incredible:: when I'm fresh out of motivation and energy, Derek encourages.  And when he is not exactly feeling upbeat about the situation, I'm positive.  Every time!  If ever we'd both 'check out' we would be on the first plane back home.  But God knows exactly how we work and never gives us more than we can handle.  He's blessed us with each other and between the three of us we make a pretty great team!
I've been reading through Deuteronomy this week and realizing how much God wants His people to come to a realization of Him!  To accept that He IS the one, true God.  He is our Deliverer, He will fight the battle for us, He is our victory!  Everything He does is in order that we might know Him.  And as I reflect on each week I see so much evidence of Him in my life, it's truly incredible!  But I realize that so often I just assume He knows how much I love Him.  Yes, He is all-knowing but that doesn't let me off the hook for expressing my praise, gratitude and LOVE to Him!  Imagine my reaction to Derek saying "You already know I love you and would do anything for you, so it doesn't matter if I actually tell you on a regular basis.'  Or, 'You know you're my favorite so I shouldn't have to do nice things for you to prove it!'  Yeah, that wouldn't fly..  So, I'm going into this new week with that as my mission.  To truly know my God and appreciate Him and LOVE Him!  To put as much effort into my relationship with Him as I do into my marriage!   The parts of my heart that crave quality time and sweet words from my lover are a reflection of the One in who's image I was made!!  God may not need my love... but He absolutely DESIRES it!
Jeremiah 29:11 is one of my favorite verses, about the amazing plans our Father has for us.  But reading on, I find the Lord saying "you will call on me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me WHEN you seek me with all your heart... I will be found by you and bring you back from captivity."  This is a call to His children to talk to Him and to need Him.  A lover asking to be sought after wholeheartedly!  And then a promise that we WILL find Him and He WILL rescue us from the things holding us captive!