Organic veggies come with pets in Indonesia!

Last week we signed up to have veggies home delivered from an organic farm an hour or two away (near where I went paragliding, actually). We get an SMS (text message on my phone - everything here is done by text message) each Monday with the available veg and can either order specific stuff or just ask for a grab bag, which is what we'll do unless we start wasting too much stuff. Not only has the veg been really good, but it's for a good cause - the farm takes street kids from Jakarta, houses them, educates them and teaches them how to grow crops.

Last week we received a big bag full of lettuce, fresh peanuts, basil, mint and scallions, plus a special bonus - a big snail which I promptly put into the turtle tank and named Norman. Seemed like a fine idea at the time. Norman, Ernie and Burt lived happily together for a few days but it turns out our little pals are carnivores and they were just feeling out Norman to see if he'd fight back when they tried to eat him. Who knew? Norman had quite a scare and lost a little bit of his hindquarters (and maybe an ear), but I was able to yank him out of there before too much damage was done.

I'm happy to report that after a few days Norman is back to full health. It was touch and go there for a little while, but last night he crawled down from the roof of his new home and ate some broccoli greens, so we're ready to officially declare him a member of the family.

This coming weekend is a long one, so we're heading back to the beach we went to for New Years with some friends. Let's hope we have better weather this time. The rainy season is nearing its end, so we might.