Jenna and I moved to Rota, Spain in April of this past year. Well let me rewrite that. Jenna and I were supposed to move to Rota, Spain together in April of this year. I received a new assignment overseas with the Navy, due to red tape and the misunderstanding of the meaning of Dual Citizenship within the State Department and the Passport Services Office in Washington, Jenna did not arrive here until May 24th.
We have been married for 10 months now, though at times it seems like 2 months and other moments, our familiarity with each other makes it seem like 10 years. Our goal for our relationship and life together, has been to always be intentional with our relationships with others and the method in which we live. Prior to moving Spain, we had dreams of living in a beach side villa with enough rooms for offices, beer making closets, guest bedrooms, and a master bedroom. Due to the instability of the American Dollar and the abundance of mediocre housing on the navy base, we have been confined to government housing. Though we live in Spain, the housing development on base looks much like a suburb of a Florida golfing community. After a month or so of disappointment, we have adapted and overcame. Our walls have gone from a sterile hospital white to shades and hues of blue, grey, and yellow.
Jenna has been appointed the captain of the interior, I fully trust in her ideas and expectations for our ever-progressing domicile. My domain has been the small amount of land outside the home. The backyard of our home is surrounded by an aging wooden gate around a 50'x50' area of semi-sun bleached grass. The front of the home is a 20'x20' plot of land mostly covered in concrete door landings and stepping stones. Even in these constraints, we attempt to be intentional.
After moving into the house in the beginning of June, Adam Palumbo, Jenna, and I broke ground for our vegetable and herb garden in the backyard. What started as a small 5'x5' plot has become a 12'x6' plot and a 10'x5' vegetable plot in the corners of the backyard. The Spanish sun beats down from 7am until 9:30pm each day, allowing for ample amounts of sunlight to kick start and continue the growing process.
I write about this, because to my excitement, the gardens garnered their first bounty today. Under the huge leaves of the zucchini plants, we saw 2 zucchinis growing, ready for harvest next week. In the other garden summer snap peas grew off their sprouts, meaning they were ready to be raised and affixed to a rise fixture, helping the sinews grow vertically. The large garden is filled with three beds that include: Zucchini, baby carrots, beets, mixed greens, corn, thyme, basil, cilantro, and chives. The smaller side bed has fully germinated all the plants that include: cucumbers, yellow summer squash, watermelon, garlic, and snap peas. Even the smallest growth has been a triumph.
My personal ideal for this garden is that we have the understanding and ability to grow from the earth something that will be beneficial for our lives both nutritionally and financially. The beginning investment was 10 bags of organic compost/manure at $7.00 a bag, 5 bags of organic fertilizer at $3.50 a bag, 10 packs of various plant seeds at $1.79. My outlook and expectation for the gardens is that we will harvest approximately 50 Zucchini, 25 Summer Squash, 1 bushell of peas, 50 ears of corn, 100 beets, 40 carrots, 4 pounds of each of the 5 herbs we are growing, 25 cucumbers, 10 pumpkins, and 10 watermelon. From each of those plants, we will be able to retract seeds that will be reused for next spring's planting. All of the unused vegetables will either be canned, frozen, or dried for later use. The remnants of withered and dead plants will be mixed in the continuous compost pile we keep and turn each week, giving back to the garden itself.
It is early Tuesday morning here, about 12:30am, I am going to be posting photos of our progress in the morning. Planting and maintaining this garden has been a bit of a stress reliever for me, working the narrow plots of land gives me time to reflect on the possibilities we have to totally change the small things in our lives. The families that live around Jenna and I are constantly popping their heads over the fence, looking at the flowers growing, seeing the vegetables, and seeing the interior decoration that Jenna has brought to life in our home and they are confused. They are mostly confused because most cannot see past the objects that are pushed on them from department store circulars and popular culture. People have forgotten how to work with their hands, they have forgotten how to create life and change with their imagination rather than their credit cards. Co-ops in Orlando, used by people like Cole Nesmith and Casey Stewart excite me, because their is promise of rediscovering the simplicity of our roots through the planting of roots.
Here is a link to a co-op farm on 2 acres of land, they are doing it for real: http://tinyfarmblog.com/
On an entirely different topic, to the dismay of many people in the states, I have decided to shoot nothing but film for the rest of the year, less iphone photographs that are meant to display specific objects rather than artistic representation. This year marks the 35th birthday of my favorite camera, the Pentax K1000. I have personally owned the camera since I was 12 years old, a gift from my grandfather. It has travelled with me and has been dropped on 5 continents, 30 states, and 45 countries. To celebrate our travels and adventures together, I will give it the lead on my life, displaying life through my right eye. In addition, I am brushing off my old 120mm/220mm, 110mm, 260mm film cameras and using them in an attempt to substantiate having a collection of over 150 cameras. I owe this to a couple things:
1. My hardheaded belief that digital photography is the downfall of an art form, I keep preaching it, but never take action in my personal life to challenge myself.
2. Jenna has allowed me ample room in the house that could be used to store and show off many other things, in order to store my cameras and equipment. I need to show that I actually use them, rather than keeping them on the shelf to be eccentric.
I will continue to either self-develop my photographs or use local processors in Spain, they will be scanned, but not edited in anyway. Most of the photographs will be posted on here once I get my act straight.
America, we miss you, but a warm Spanish summer with late nights has brought a way to ease the home sickness.
Mixtape 27 July, 2009:
1. Bane - Bold and Beautiful
2. Have Heart - Bostons
3. Have Heart - Hard Bark on the Family Tree
4. Ian North - Skates
5. Texas is the Reason - Back and to the Left
6. Two Tongues - Crawl
7. Lucero - Summer Song
8. Bon Iver - For Emma
9. Hopesfall - Decoys like Curves
10. New Found Glory - You Have a Friend In Pennsylvania
11. Shai Hulud - Given Flight By Demon's Wings
12. Saves the Day - Through Being Cool
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Texas Is The Reason - Back and to the Left
Texas Is The Reason - Back and to the Left 
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