How was your Halloween? Mine was everything I wanted this year. But I have even more great Monday news: I'm going to be traveling to Salt Lake City, UT after my visit home in January!! And to celebrate this, and the end of Halloween-time, here's a little recap of one of my favorite times I visited Utah during the spooky season (two years ago). Including general Halloween ideas for next year ;) 

Last night while attending a Mormon rager hosted at our house complete with lots and lots of sugary sweets and attempts at making s'mores in the microwave and over candlelight (we literally had one girl sitting at our fake fireplace roasting her mashmallow with a knife over one of the candles placed there (and it actually came out really good)) because — due to rain — we were unable to break in our newly constructed firepit in the backyard, I was working out what I wanted to do this weekend with some new friends here in Nashville. 

In the back of my mind, I felt like there was something going on this Saturday. But I couldn't remember what. And then... oh ya, Halloween.

Maybe because I've been so lost in moving madness and trying to get settled into this new area, time has become slightly irrelevant to me. And although it feels like fall here and I'm in love with it all, I am missing Los Angeles just a bit. I've been reminiscing on the last couple of years especially and all the random findings that only Los Angeles dreams up that I would usually do around this time.

So, in that spirit, I put together a little list of my favorite Halloween-y things I've done in LA:

• Museum of Death
• Dearly Departed Tours
• Nightmare Before Christmas at the El Capitan Theatre
• Theme Park Scare-a-thons: Knott's Scary Farm, Universal Studios, & Disneyland
• West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval
• Día de Los Muertos on Olvera Street

READ MORE FOR PICTURES AND EXPERIENCE DETAILS

Is it just me or did anyone else just realize that "shepherd" almost exactly breaks down into "sheep herd(er)"?  

Don't worry — I just checked Wikipedia (which knows all, right?) and it confirmed that shepherd is, in fact, an amalgam (looked that up too — it means a mixture or a blend) of sheep herder! I knew I was kind of onto something.

Anyhow... THE SHEEP. 

I went to visit and help Jesse and Lizzie out on the farm yesterday because it was the big day where the baby boys would be separated from their mamas. Kind of sad... but it does prevent them from getting a little too excited and impregnating the other females. 

Backing up a little: giving water to the sheep was actually my first solo job on the farm. It was also the first time I drove the "gator" by myself, in the same day I was taught how to drive the gator. Moving fast, I know. 

CLICK THROUGH TO READ & SEE PHOTOS OF HOW WE SEPARATED THE SHEEP & MY FIRST SOLO EXPERIENCE

This post could also be titled, "Learning how to not ruin the plants and greens when pulling them out of the ground or chopping them," but that might be too long. 

Yesterday was the first morning in three Mondays where I didn't get up at 7am (well, more like 7:30am if we're going to be honest) and have some fresh duck eggs for breakfast prepared by Jesse, go out and check on those ducks, put water in their kiddie pool and fresh food in their bowl, and then go help Lizzie harvest.

I remember when first talking to Lizzie on the phone, she asked me questions about my experience harvesting. I think I grew a sweet pea plant for a school project one year, does that count? Not so much. She said something also about hoeing and plowing. I realized that I have heard the words, and know they have to do with farming, but I've never participated in them and had no idea how that even looked. Thank goodness for Google Images. In any case, I felt I at least could learn. 

After arriving on the farm, I remember going out the first morning and seeing the field we would be "harvesting." I thought to myself, "What/Where are we harvesting?" In my mind I imagined the obviousness of cornstalks growing out of the ground. And while there were tall stalks of okra growing in one area, from the distance I was standing (and maybe it's also because I wasn't wearing my glasses to sharpen things up) it just looked like there were some greens in various lines along the dirt, and some white blanket-like covers. 

Lo and behold, the "some greens" turned out to be a lot of greens. Just like the sweet potatoes I talked about last time — which were hidden under a lot of what looked like dead vines — there were more plants/food like radishes and turnips hidden beneath the dirt. A whole lot more greens were revealed under the white blankets as well (the blanket is used for protection against certain bugs and extreme weather). 

Because it's the end of the season, harvesting and planting was not as demanding or intense as it might have been just some weeks before. The weather was beautiful most days, and we had time to enjoy being out in the field.

Harvesting at first was really slow for me. I was really tedious about picking anything out of the ground, asking Lizzie almost every moment if something like a radish was large enough to take out. For those plants that are hidden in the dirt, you have to dig around it to see if it's ready and large enough to join the bunch. And then there's other plants — the "greens" — where you take a knife and just cut from the stem near the bottom. In time, I was a little more speedy. I was almost matching Lizzie at one point in making bunches of mazuna. Kind of.

In essence, it's been one of the greatest joys these last few weeks in understanding what goes into planting and harvesting, and being part of each process. I definitely now know what a hoe and a plow is. So you could say I've come a long way. 

I've been asked what exactly we've been harvesting on Sugar Camp Farm, and although you can find a list on their website, I've also compiled a little photo journal below with a little video (yay!) of Lizzie explaining the process of harvesting pink beauty radishes (it's a fitting name considering they're pink, beautiful, and radishes).

CLICK THROUGH TO SEE ALL THE PHOTOS & WATCH THE VIDEO...

Because at the laundromat, you really have some time to reflect on this random day filled with sunshine and my own spider paranoia among the limitless options of washers and dryers and clothes going round and round. 

READ MORE ABOUT THE CYCLE OF MY DAY... 

Hello! HAPPY OCTOBER FIRST!!!!

It's been awhile. But September was definitely a blur in a really wonderful dancy twirl sort of way. Like when you're just dancing and spinning and a little exhausted from twirling but having the best time anyways? That feeling.

I haven't had the chance to compile a day-to-day account of my Route 66 yet, but I promise it's coming soon. What I have done is transferred my blog from Blogger to Squarespace (I've been using Blogger for about five years now so this is one of those life-changing technological moments for me) and even made a fancy Facebook page if you want to check it out and "like" it. It's all coming together. Slowly. But surely! 

Just to catch you up — I left September 2nd on my Route 66 road trip and successfully made it through eight states starting in Santa Monica, CA and ending in Chicago, IL before things started to slow down. I had a couple days in Chicago before spending five days in Ohio and one day in West Virginia before FINALLY driving through Kentucky (honorary state mention) and making it to TENNESSEE. I literally cried when I crossed the state line randomly listening to Danza Kuduro (which is probably the most opposite-of-crying kind of music). Out of joy mostly. It felt really great to be here. 

I spent that first night near Nashville (although I got here too late to do any actual exploring), and then took my time the next morning before making it to my destination of the next 3 – 5 weeks: Sugar Camp Farm. 

READ MORE TO SEE LEARN ABOUT THE FARM, WWOOFing, & WHAT I'VE BEEN UP TO...