I awoke at 3a.m again, even though I was really exhausted when I went to bed. But this time when I woke, my mind was empty and I felt calm. Hmmm, I wondered what in fact had woke me, usually I awake with a list of things to do going round in my head, feeling somewhat overwhelmed. But not this time and I lay there trying to figure out why I had, in fact woken up in the first place.
Then I stopped myself, because the last thing I wanted, was to keep myself awake trying to discover the answer. So I picked up the latest book I am reading, one I found at the boat and which is not really the type of book I would usually go for. But I needed something to help me get back to sleep, since I have been experiencing this sleepless nights. So I grabbed it a few weeks back, and it has been laying next to my bed since then. I am currently half way through it and i must say, even though if is not that exciting to read, it does the trick in helping me get back to sleep.
If I am reading a really good book, I do struggle to put it down, which certainly does not help me get to sleep, so slightly boring books work a treat. Which it certainly did last night.
This morning I woke up early, to find the P was already outside getting ready to harvest the biggest tree on the land. I felt pretty tired still, but also pretty motivated to get out there and start my day, so once I got myself dressed and watered ( Chaga tea being my morning drink), I was ready to go outside and start my day.
As always, we start by laying out the nets, as this is the largest tree we will harvest, we focused on one side first, which utilized all the nets we have. She is huge and the tallest tree that J has ever harvested. We reckoned we got about 300kg just from her today, which took us about 6 hours in total. I worked from the ground mostly, climbing a few walls to get better access to the olives and P was in the tree, as well as on the roof of the truck and the roof of two different caravans, yes the tree really spans that far!
I really did not feel in my full power today and by midday, I realized why, my moon cycle had come on early. I know how important it is to take it easy on the first day, but I had work to do, so I tried to find a comfortable rhythm in which to do it. But my body did not appreciate me lugging and sawing big branches, along with carrying big buckets of olives. But we have to get the harvest finished in time for the mill at the end of the week and it is important not to leave olives sitting for too long, as it affects the quality of the oil.
So today was a long day and by the end of it, my whole body felt weak. All I wanted to do was get into my bed and sleep, but life does not afford me such luxuries. I still had dishes to wash and a truck to tidy, as my eldest two were gone off to their kids space. By the time I done that,it was time to make dinner. Usually I stand at the counter and prep, but today I had to sit.
Well my two eldest returned and we ate and now, now I am writing this from the comfort of my bed (finally). I had a very productive day, but wow am I feeling it. Hopefully after a good nights sleep, I’ll be back on form tomorrow, as we still have quite a few more trees to harvest and I have to try and organize my things to move.
Yes I finally have a place to move to and it is quite close to where I am now. I can take my truck with me and she will be parked amongst some olive and avocado trees. I could not be happier!