How much wood . . .

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We started the chilly morning by moving some firewood off the stacks (on the left) and onto the wagon.

A nice load of split wood.
Notice some of the many wood sheds in the background. 
That's Brother Martin, the resident priest.

We drove a few meters over to the house.
One of the members put a metal slide into this chute under my window, and we quickly threw the wood into the cellar with a lot of clanging noise.

I am really impressed.
The Franziskusgemeinschaft here in Austria, with 18 members living in community, heats the living quarters and water solely by burning wood which they chop in their forest every winter.
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Austrian apples

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I got to help the Franziskusgemeinschaft men pick apples! 

Well, actually I was picking UP apples, the ones that came down while the brave men were 8 meters up on the ladders.

One apple fell hard on my back as I was bending over.
A sign of the times: my first reaction was "OMG I've been stabbed!"
I may be in Austria right now but my heart is in and with Israel as she bleeds.
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(Linking to Our World Tuesday.)
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Peace and quiet and horses

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I am happy to be here in rural Austria for the next month, especially after  hearing  about tonight's terrorist attack in the Beer Sheva Central Bus Station.

I went for my first walk in the woods and in the countryside today.
The silence was deafening.
The most exciting part was watching this beautiful horse rolling on the earth.

She saw me and got up and came over to the electric fence to say hello.

Later, on Am Kreuzweg road that leads up to my host community, two more lovely horses came by.

Should have asked for a ride, no?
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(Linking to Camera Critters.)
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I finally know where west is*

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The sun came out for a brief hour this afternoon and I ran out to get these pictures in real sunlight!

This is the house where I will live as a guest-volunteer for the next month.

When I arrived in Austria on Tuesday, and ever since, it looked like this, wet, rainy, cold, and foggy.
It's fine, though; the community members have hearts full of light! 
More about the commune in the previous post.

*I realized that for four days I did not know which direction was which.
Today I saw the sun for the first time and knew that my room faces west. 
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Peppers and more peppers

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So here I am at a farm in rural Austria, at a community (as in commune) founded in 1984 and built by a handful of idealists seeking to live together in the spirit of St. Francis.
I will be living here for a month, helping in whatever work I am given, and learning a lot.
It is my first time in Austria and I'm really excited.

This is an exceptionally rainy and cold October in Europe, so we can't work outside much.
Instead, the members had what we used to call in the kibbutz a giyus, where everyone who possibly can comes in to work together on a project that needs quick attention.
Today we took care of the many beautiful peppers from the big garden.
In German they are called Paprika. 

After I washed each pepper, we started chopping them.

Letscho, or in Hungarian, lecsó, will be the end product of this morning's work.
Wiki explains that "Lecsó is a Hungarian thick vegetable ragout or stew which features green and/or red peppers and tomato, onion, lard, salt, and ground sweet and/or hot paprika as a base recipe."
New to me.
 

A good time was had by all, mostly in German but partly in English.

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