Birthingway plant sale and Earth! First funraiser all in one day!

So today was an extremely busy day, jam-packed with fun activities and benefits of every shape and size! The day started at 6 am when I boarded a bus for my schools' (Birthingway,) annual plant sale, where a local organic farmer donates 30 percent of the plants she sells (and we students help sell,) over the first weekend in May to our school. The farmer, a woman named Polly, had twins at home with some of the midwives who work at our school, and apparently has been greatful to them ever since and has since been on the board of the school as a "consumer advocate" and has made the fund raiser possible every year. Actually, in previous years she has just donated all of the plants we would sell, but she was losing too much money doing it that way, so she decided to start only donating part of the proceeds, with the rest going to her and her lovely family. Anyway, so I had a blast at the plant sale as I did last year; despite the fact that it was raining on and off all day, pretty heavily at times. I got to talk with the knowledgeable Polly about plants and people (farmers usually have pretty deep insight into human nature,) plenty of midwives and future midwives about birth, life, plants and dancing, and also, since the plant sale was held in the Ben and Jerry's parking lot on Hawthorne, I treated myself to a hot-fudge sundae. That was really nice, despite the fact that the amount of ice cream I got for $4 at that Ben and Jerry's was minuscule and with that $4 I could have bought myself a pint at the store...oh well!

After the plant sale, (which prompted me to buy things for my garden, of course,) I came home for a while and watched my roommates dolling up for another fund raiser, this one for JOIN, a group my roomie Emily works with to find housing for homeless folks. They where going to an "adult prom" meaning a dance with alcohol for adults; to raise money for the homeless. Some people, Emily reported, where taking the adult prom very seriously and getting dressed formally for real, but not my roommates! In very much my roommate style, they had gone to the Goodwill to find the skankest, eighties-style slut dresses known to man! And, to top it off, they where doing their hair all wild and crazy as well. Dave, my male roommate, was squeezed into bright pink pants, a shirt and tie and a very ugly suit coat. He was also wearing his long, wild hair down, something Dave doesn't do very often. So I hope they had fun!

In the meantime, I went to an Earth! First fun raiser that was a blast! I'd always assumed Earth! Firsters where dirty, punk rock kids with only a penny between them (because I have definitely met plenty of Earth! Firsters like that,) and so I pictured the Earth! First benefit to be at some broken-down, derelict house with dogs and dreddie kids on the porch sipping whiskey. Nothing wrong with that folks...in fact, I love and respect those kids! It was just very surprising when I came to the house where the Earth! First thing was happening; in fact, I walked by at first, thinking to myself "that can't be the house, it is too clean and unpunk looking..." Boy was I wrong! Inside the house, I ran into and met for the first time, the radical among radicals..(to be continued, I'm tired and I gotta get up at five again tomorrow...)

Love ya,
Carrot