Green Inside

The blog needs a picture, but all I’ve got is one of the current batch of lettuce in the indoor lettuce system.

We’ll have some in salads this weekend. I’ll start a new crop out in the greenhouse soon.

Yesterday’s serger class was a bit of a challenge. The store had told me four students; I actually had seven. Three had L890 computerized machines, two had non-computerized air threading models, one had an older manual-thread Bernina model, and one had a Bernina model I had never seen before. All but two of the machines were combo machines that did both serging and coverstitch. One lady had a friend with her who was “helping,” although the friend was more of a disruption than a help. She left the class after about an hour to go shopping in the store. The Bernina model I’d never seen before caused some trouble for both the student and me, but thankfully, a customer was in the store who was familiar with it and was able to step in and offer assistance.

We managed. Everyone stayed calm and kept a sense of humor, although we were all exhausted by the end of the six hours. I taught them everything they needed to know about basic serging on their machines and threw in a few special lessons. The top-of-the-line sergers have a blanket stitch programmed into the machine, by name. One of the women with the non-computerized machines said, “Oh, I can’t do that stitch on my machine,” because she looked at her stitch guide and blanket stitch wasn’t listed. I said, “Yes, you can.” (It is based on a two-thread flatlock stitch, which her machine can do.) I gave the instructions for setting up all the machines, handed out materials for everyone to use—that stitch requires the use of some washaway stabilizer—and just like that, they all made blanket stitch samples. That’s the fun part of teaching.

I came straight home after class, did chicken chores, and checked on the plants in the greenhouse. By that time, the husband and two of our employees were pulling into the driveway. The husband lets the guys use his shop to work on their trucks, so they were here for a while and then came in to visit. Around 6 pm, I finally sat down, only to get a text from my friend, Twila, asking me if I was coming to choir practice.

I had completely forgotten about it.

I was really exhausted by the time I got back. And I need to polish up the accompaniment part to that piece because I haven’t looked at it in three weeks. We are singing it on Sunday.

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I stopped in at Staples yesterday morning on my way to class. If I have to ship anything via UPS, that store is the most convenient drop-off location. (I make the labels here using my account.) When I got there, however, the printing and copying area was closed, so I went to the register and asked if the store was still taking UPS packages. The cashier said, “Yes, we had to close the printing area because we only have two employees.” I left my package and checked my account this morning to make sure it had been picked up.

I heard last week that the state of Montana has a 2.4% unemployment rate. That is one of the lowest in the country and the lowest in our state history. What is happening here, though, is that the cost of living has skyrocketed. A lot of people just can’t afford to live and work here any longer and the effects are becoming widespread.