by Caciques Emma and Nathan

Today was a Wednesday; everyone enjoyed their break from run/swim track and their sleep-in until eight. After breakfast both caciques went to Human Ecology class, where we saw a film that expressed the lives and struggles of an Eleutheran farmer. After we were debriefed and assigned certain areas to evaluate and investigate, we headed to meet Farmer Symonette and his livestock and plants.  Our first stop was to the goatherds, many of which had just been born a few weeks prior. As we gathered in the goat house we asked questions pertaining to everyday life on the farm and the struggles Symonette faces with the soil, rainfall and financial hardships. However he had a positive attitude about how he will improve his farm with more irrigation systems and raising more livestock. After the goats, we headed to see the pigpen.  The piglets were cute, but we noticed that they were being raised in concrete pens.  This seemed to be unnatural, but Farmer Symonette explained that with the amount of pigs he had and the space he had available for them to live, this was the only option.  Next, we headed to his citrus garden where he grows lime trees.  This interested the students because we thought we could potentially start making limeade or lemonade on campus. We left the farm with a new appreciation for the challenges of farming.  We attended afternoon classes, which included literature and two hours of math.  During exploration time, several students headed out to the sandbar for some relaxing yoga, while others stayed on campus and baked treats.  At dinner circle, the caciques tried to switch things up by having a dance party to relieve stress.  To go along with our musical theme, we changed the quote of the day to the song of the day.  We played Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zero’s “Home.”  The part of the song we focused on was, “Home, let me go home, home is wherever I’m with you.  Oh home, I’m home, home is wherever I’m with you.”