Work And Being Tired

We have two WWOOF volunteers here at the moment. Our lovely returning WOOFer Hannah, who is a UNH student and ceramics teacher, and Zack, who may very well be the kindest and most polite 20 year old we’ve ever met. Both of these visitors are a great help to the farm and nursery. They are hard workers and upbeat, easy going and curious. We like them a whole lot. After a long day of farm work, moving sheep fence, and learning to shingle an out-building, they are tired. Farm tired. Work tired. Tired to the bone tired, but proud of their accomplishment tired. They sit in the evening after a good hearty meal, legs slung over the arm chair or stretched out across the ottoman, and knit. Both of them. Zack leading the way with his craft experience dating back to the age of 10 ( his mum taught him to knit, good mum!!), helping Hannah to cast on with round needles and to keep her stitches from twisting. I join them, advancing on my current knitting project until my own sleepiness gets the best of me ( is it 8:30 yet?). Last night we talked about being tired. Hannah pointed out how good it feels to climb into bed, rest your head on a pillow, and know that you’ve really earned a good night’s sleep. We talked a bit about the different kinds of tired….emotional and physical, and how being emotionally tired may keep you up at night ( thoughts still racing), but being physically tired is conducive to collapsing into a decadent slumber. In your early twenties, I think sleep is still something coveted. I was amazed at how many times they both hit the snooze button on their alarm clocks before reaching their actual wake up time.I don’t use an alarm clock and waking to a buzzing noise every 5 minutes seemed pretty disruptive to me, but they assured me that this was all part of their morning ‘time to get up and pull yourself out of dreamland’ ritual. I told them I just wake up, eyes wide open, and bolt into the day. My approach seemed to scare the hell out of them.” Why would you do that?” they asked. After several rows and a few more inches on my own knitting, I trail off to bed. They’ll stay up a bit longer, I know. Tired they are,….bone tired…but can’t quite give up on their night life here at Fernwood. Knitting and drinking tea beyond a proper bedtime….. real party animals these two.

And now a poem to sign off with….

“I may never be happy, but tonight I am content. Nothing more than an empty house, the warm hazy weariness from a day spent setting strawberry runners in the sun, a glass of cool sweet milk, and a shallow dish of blueberries bathed in cream. Now I know how people can live without books, without college. When one is so tired at the end of a day one must sleep, and at the next dawn there are more strawberry runners to set, and so one goes on living, near the earth. At times like this I’d call myself a fool to ask for more.”
—Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals