Becoming a True Gardener

So, I'm finally feeling like a true gardener. I get up, work in the garden, eat, work in the garden, then the sun goes down. Next, I eat again, and then I spend the night celebrating the good life with friends until it's finally time for a good night's sleep. I have dirt permanently caked underneath my nails, and I have tan lines from all the band-aids I have to wear on my beat up hands... blisters, hang-nails, cuts... the usual. I have also been told that my back is approaching the African-American look, as I spend most days bending over in the blazing sun.
Something else ya'll might find interesting: snakes. I like em, you should too. But the point is, they are EVERYWHERE here. You walk down the trail and every twenty or so feet one goes zipping off into the bushes. I was lying down in the field yesterday and one slithered right up to me and hung out by my face for a while. They are all garden snakes--harmless other than the stink they leave behind on you if you pick them up. On a similar note, there are no poisonous spiders here either; even no ticks... only bears, coyotes, mountain lions, and the occasional wolf. Haha, those are all much less scary though, and don't worry Mom, you're lucky if you ever even spot some of their tracks.
Another super plus about this place is the library they've got going on. There are soooo many exciting books on anything and everything I have interest in. Their library is divided into sections, get this: wild plants and trees, permaculture, wilderness survival, wildlife and tracking, ecology, inspirational stories, general resources, and other. Damn. This is my future bookshelf. Last night I looked at three different earthen building books and five different books on basketry alone. Haha, insanity. I'm in love.
What else... yesterday, after a super intense day of work, one of the interns, Steve (whom is called Junco or Badger), took us out to an all you can eat oriental buffet. I remembered half way there that I wasn't wearing shoes, but let me remind you that I have probably worn shoes less than ten times since I've been here. So taking that into account, it really wasn't THAT dumb. I ended up making some cardboard flip-flop things that probably drew more attention to me than going barefoot would have. Anyways, the restaurant was super cool. You get a bowl to fill with whatever you want, and then they take it and cook your food right in front of you. The sauces and combos and ughhhhh so good. Plus you can go for seconds, thirds, whatever. Haha, here I go talking about food again.

Just in case ya'll forgot what I look like. 

I can tell I've already lost weight from being here, too. My once modest boobs are now barely past teenage size, and my pants are beginning to sit a little loose around the hips (that might also be from being worn everyday without washing, though). :-)
Alright, spending the evening making good use of the library.
Oh and if you want to see some pictures, my friend Heath from the permaculture program has some really good ones on her flicker account. http://www.flickr.com/photos/heathashli/ Check it. There are a lot of the land here, plus some from the projects we all worked on.