Corn, Corn, Corn, Corn, Corn

CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN.
Oh wait, what's that? I still have 102 plots left to harvest? CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN. What do you mean I have to hand harvest 8116 ears? Really? CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN. Oh, by the way here is a 40 year old truck with 330,000 miles and a cracked windshield glued together. CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN. Megan, you can drive stick shift, right? I forgot to tell you the clutch doesn't really work. CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN. Oh, and, you need to use the front gas tank first and flip this switch but sometimes it will switch to the back tank before the first is empty. Great. CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN.

“The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer and restorer and resurrector, by which disease passes into health, age into youth, death into life. Without proper care for it we can have no community, because without proper care for it we can have no life.”
-Wendell Berry

Oh, if you couldn't tell from above, I have a lot of corn to harvest. Just in case you missed it, I was given the world's worst vehicle to drive. I'd like y'all to know I can drive stick shift but not so much when the clutch doesn't work and the shifter is half broken. I rather drive a tractor to Rocky Mount on the interstate. Anyways, I'll be making a second journey to finish harvesting my plots so I can analyze how successful I was at inoculating my fields!!

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed.” -Mahatma Gandhi

Yesterday I did some volunteering at the Kadampa Center. I dead-headed the marigolds (discovered I'm allergic to them) around the stupa. Then I rushed home, picked up Emily and Emma, and went to volunteer at BugFest. I told little children all about bugs that carry pathogens that make plants sick. I'm 98% sure the kids just wanted the stamps and could care less about mummy berry disease or pine wilt nematode. Oh well, kept me entertained for awhile!

Well, that's all for now so have some stunning nature photos and quotes!

“If we kill off the wild, then we are killing a part of our souls.”  - Jane Goodall

We inter-breathe with the rainforests, we drink from the oceans. they are part of our own body. -Buddha

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”  -Martin Luther King Jr.

Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values. -Dalai Lama

“The earth does not belong to us. We belong to the earth.”  -Chief Seattle

“If you feel lost, disappointed, hesitant, or weak, return to yourself, to who you are, here and now and when you get there, you will discover yourself, like a lotus flower in full bloom, even in a muddy pond, beautiful and strong.” -Masaru Emoto

“Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.” 

-Gary Snyder

Exams, Puppets, and Liquid Nitrogen

The sun is shining and it's a beautiful 63F outside! So far I've managed to bruise my ankle, jam my toe into the metal square bedframe (WHO DESIGNED THAT?!), smash my finger in a drawer, run out of liquid nitrogen, and take an exam. Honestly, the exam was the highlight of my morning but it will get better. Instead of reading for my research ethics course, I'm going to write to y'all instead since I didn't have time this weekend!

Whether one is rich or poor, educated or illiterate, religious or nonbelieving, man or woman, black, white or brown, we are all the same. Physically, emotionally, and mentally we are all equal. We all share basic needs for food, shelter, safety, and love. We all aspire to happiness and we all shun suffering. Each of us has hopes, worries, fears, and dreams. Each of us wants the best for our families and our loved ones. We all experience pain when we suffer loss and joy when  we achieve what we seek. On this fundamental level, religion, ethnicity, language, and culture make no difference. -Dalai Lama XIV

Adopt the pace of Nature. Her secret is patience.

Last Friday night was "Late Night at the Wall" where there some mini competitions of speed climbing and bouldering. My friend, Emma, joined me and we had a lot of fun. By the way, I'm so close to being able to take the belay test - I would have been able to take it already if I would have remembered to get the card punched when I was there. Sometimes my brain is not with me. I really love delaying myself in such a way :)  So, I went climbing 4 in the past 5 days...love it. 

"I don't want to write about climbing; I don't want talk about it; I don't want to photograph it; I don't want to think about it; all I want to do is do it."    — Chuck Pratt.

Saturday, Emma and I went to a puppet/play at the Art Museum in Raleigh. So it wasn't puppets but people dressed up as animals and using a bunch of cardboard cutouts...I'll just show you pictures. It was called "Invisible Earth" which was put on by Paperhand Puppet Intervention. Phenomenal!! I was sitting by a lady with her grandson (maybe 4 or 5) and he said, "This is the part where we are killing the trees and we need to do something to help them!" Brilliant child - it's amazing how youngsters can pick up things like that! The show was about evolution, how the earth is adapting, climate change, and observing Earth. What a great way to spend the evening!!

How man became powerful

Use our power to rise up and protect Earth

Now with my exams done, I'm going to have so much time to do whatever I want! Look out Nature - here comes Megan!! Actually, wait, there is a problem. If I disappear into Nature myself, I may never come back to civilization. Then there is the second problem, I can't find another Nature geek to play in the forest and mountains with. Where is Kiley when I need her? Oh, she's 989 miles away. Guess I'll just put an ad in the paper!!

If I can find this path, I'd walk down it forever.

When I was at the Kadampa Center, Geshe-la was talking about our true nature. This quote struck me: "We are the earth looking back at itself."

iClimb

Well hello my beautiful magnolias! I hope your Labor Day weekend was much better than mine! As much as I love libraries and spending my life in them, I rather be in the mountains. Speaking of mountains, I need to find people who are much of nature-geeks as I am. If I had someone to travel with, I'd be living in the mountains every weekend. But no, they are either married, engaged, or are happy staying inside all day. What I would do to get my Madison crew down here! I'm going to put an ad in the paper soon - "Seeking Nature Lover." Flawless plan right? I'm definitely suffering from Nature Deficit Disorder and it sucks. Guess I'll just disappear into the mountains myself!

“I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, "This is what it is to be happy.” -Sylvia Plath

I also discovered an entirely new portion of campus last night. I was going to go the Hunt Library, but I found a set of stairs that I never saw before and decided to go explore instead. I have no idea what those buildings were exactly but I think it was student housing of some sort. I also discovered that the Engineering Building was bigger than I originally thought. Have no fear fellow Badgers, Engineering Hall is way bigger than NCSU's. Also, they don't have a cool fountain outside like we do - we win!

There is something about Madison I can't describe. Not only is it one of the best universities in the entire world, it is a university that steals your heart and makes it your home the day you move there. After earning my degree at Madison and going on to NCSU for graduate school, my heart longs for Madison. There is just some charm about the city that you realize after you move onto a new city for university. I cannot believe how lucky I am to have spent the last 3 years of my life there. For all my fellow Badgers - don't take a second for granted at UW-Madison. I miss Madison everyday of my life - I would do anything to spend another day in Madison. All I can say is "Once a Badger, always a Badger!" 

So for that library. It is the ONLY completely non-brick building on campus. It's a beautiful library, but does not function like one. There aren't many tables to spread out on, only a few group study rooms, and have a lot of really really really tiny tables you can't fit a laptop on. Yes, it's pretty but that's about it. In aesthetic view, Hunt Library is a slice of Madison. Most of y'all have seen Madison campus and it's breathtaking views. The buildings are beautiful inside and out, the people are beautiful, the views over the lakes are unmatchable, The Terrace is the absolute perfect place to chill, and Bascom Hill to frost the cake. Here's a few pictures of Hunt Library - my sanctuary in this brick lot:

Hunt Library - my slice of Madison!

Cute - but where am I supposed to study?

iClimb.  As y'all know, I joined the Competitive Rock Climbing Club at State. We practice 2 or 3 times a week. I'm going to get climbing shoes later today so I can start breaking them in and get used to MY own shoes instead of different ones everytime I climb. The group I climb with is a great group of people. My friend Aaron told me that climbers are some of the coolest and chillest people I will ever meet - he's definitely right about that one. Oh, and thanks Aaron for getting me addicted. Hopefully after a few more practices, I will be better at traversing and actually be able to make the move I consistently fall on. I will get there one way or another even if it takes me all year. So if you can't find me in lab, the library, or the climbing wall - I died.

Devil's Doorway - Devil's Lake State Park - Wisconsin

Anyways, this girl has got to get to some epidemiology homework! Then for a 7 mile run, upper body workout, grocery shopping, and buying climbing shoes! By the way, it is a chilly 81 today according to the forecaster. I actually saw someone in jeans and a sweatshirt and I'm in tanktop and shorts. Bye loves!