Day 11 - Sirsa (Grewal Organic Agricultural Farm)

Quick update from last post...the family we were meant to stay with came home on Monday and we've since been staying on their farm and working. The mid-days here are generally over 100 degrees, so work is from 6ish-9:30ish and again from 4ish-dark. That leaves ample time during the day to read, sleep, talk and whittle away the time (speaking of which, I should get a piece of wood and learn how to whittle).
So far, Laura and I have done a tone of weeding. Their isn't much farm work to be done until the wheat needs to be sown in a couple days. So, we've doing a lot of work in the yard, creating a garden for the wife to grow more vegetables and such. It's been really good work and I've already learned a lot. Of course, I have experience landscaping and that's the majority of the work I've done so far. But, I'm also reading about building garden plots and perusing books on vegetables. I'm excited to translate this into a garden back home sometime soon.
Let's see if I can paint a picture for you. The grass is probably 30'x30' (roughly) and we've been tilling and churning the dirt around it. We've completed two sides and have begun on the third. The garden is about 3' wide and a couple inches below grass level, with an irrigation trench through the middle. The irrigation needs some work so that the water flows smoothly and quickly, but it actually works quite well so far. We've planted some sunflowers along the back and there's some existing trees that are young and still growing. I think the plan is to plant some for flowers there in the next few days. The wife also has two other areas she wants turned into vegetable plots to grow fenugreek, spinach, carrots and some other vegetables. Laura and I are taking lots of pictures to illustrate the process and hopefully we can accomplish a lot before we move on.
Life here is tough, but certainly not as tough as it could be. It's dirty and hot with no clean water, but there's indoor plumbing and electricity (both of which go out multiple times a day). We sleep on cots that are thick fabric suspended between metal frames, under a mosquito net that doesn't seem to keep out these tiny black bugs which swarm us at night (harmless but annoying). The food is great and though I've helped in preparation, I really want to learn how to cook some of the dishes. There's a really delicious eggplant dish cooked in mustard oil that we've had.
It's been so nice getting to know these people. The men of the family are outspoken, well-educated and love India and Indian culture. They're quick to tell us why it's ideal and criticize Western culture as wrong. They don't mean any offense and I take it in stride, but it's difficult to have your culture attacked, even if you agree with much of what they're saying. If someone says the divorce rate in the US is high, you can't exactly say it's not. It's more difficult for Laura because she has to deal with comments about women, and men speaking to me directly rather than her. She's afraid of doing work that is stereotypically "women's work" here because she's stubborn and refuses to conform. More power to her. It must be hard for her. The grandfather is one of the sweetest old men and he's both of our favorite so far.
It's hard to believe we've only been in India 11 days and it's just the beginning of October. I know that's typical of travel and by the end it will feel so short, but I have to deal with how I feel now. I already miss movies, soft beds, sushi, clean water, clean nails, and clean skin.