October 25, 2011. ~8:30am
I was knocked out last night. Mom
and I were late coming home from her Vitamin C treatment (I ended up on the NE
extension of the turnpike by accident, not realizing it until we got to
Quakertown). So I got to the gym around 5pm. By then, a lot of the high school
athletes were there. Jason Coon was having a lousy day on the squat rack – he
was doing jump-squats and dropped the bar – loaded with 225 lbs – and just
about put a hole in the floor. Dane lectured him on staying in control. Jason
went outside in the dark and in the dew and chucked sticks around the yard by
the throwing circle, talking to himself all the while.
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| Anton. |
Meanwhile I had a leg day. The
cool thing about Dane’s routine is that I was warming up with what I normally
would consider my workout – a few rounds of front squats and overhead squats
with the bar, plus split squats. I started warming up for snatch with 25s on
the bar, gradually moving up to 35s and I think getting about 120 or 130 for
three or four reps, which is okay considering I have not done that move in
years.
Power cleans went better, and I
maxed out at 175, more than my bodyweight, so a success in my mind. I felt good
last night. I squatted as well, managing 225 for five before failing after one
rep at 235. Again, it has been about five years since I did anything with that
much weight on it, so not bad. The ‘warm down’ – again, what I would have
considered a workout on its own – was kettlebell swings with the 80 pounder
(mine is only 36), followed by pistol squats (one-leg, butt to the floor, no
weight), and jumping lunges. Four sets of this just about did me in. My calf
was shaking on the drive home trying to depress the clutch when I shifted
gears.
We ate the chicken soup I started
making at Kate’s on Sunday. After picking the bones clean for dinner with Kevin
and Kate on Friday night, I slow-cooked the bones in a crockpot for twelve
hours or so. The next morning the rest of the meat fell off the bones into the
soup, and I brought it home. It congealed into what Dane calls ‘chicken
gelatin’ overnight in the fridge, and to get mom eating more I packed it full
of rice, beans, carrots, spinach, half a stick of butter and some flour to
thicken it. She managed to get down an entire bowl last night (plus half an
avocado). The soup was excellent.
I do not think I was fully
recovered this morning. I went over at 8:30 for a cardio routine. I am playing
golf tomorrow and do not want to be sore from lifting heavy (though I fear my
legs will be anyway from yesterday, but that is manageable on the golf course.
Sore arms less so). Dane had me doing circuits of kettlebell snatches with the
50 pounder (heavier than I have ever done), rope climb, pushups, the walrus
(walking across the floor on one’s hands, feet propped up on a wheeled block of
wood, in a pushup position), more pushups, box jumps, jumping lunges and
pulling the prowler. I could not recover between sets for some reason, and had
a headache all morning. My heart rate was through the roof and took far longer
to come down than usual. I only did two circuits and left after collecting my
computer (I was recording the ambient sound of the gym to play in the
background during some of the interviews).
Dane’s sister Kai (sp?) was there
today working out. I have a time set tomorrow to chat with her about the farm
and how her and Brant have helped out get the farm under way. She told me her
five-year-old daughter works out once a week in the barn. “She has lats,” Kai
said.
I also chatted with another woman
(name?) with breast cancer. She was interested in mom’s Vitamin C treatment,
and attributes her quick recovery from surgery to Dane’s diet and exercise
program she had been on. She is back in the gym, seemingly healthy, and starts
chemo shortly.
Both Dane and Dan were sporting
new haircuts last night. Dane declared it is his last shave of the summer – he
will let his beard rip from now on through the winter.
I left the gym this morning with
another chicken (Dane claims the broth should get my mom some of her strength
back, even if it is the only thing she can get down), plus some mint chocolate
he let me try, which is amazing. I brought a dozen eggs home last night, which
I ate for brekky this morning. I still have about half a gallon of raw milk (in
the midst of Kate’s party on Saturday, seven beers deep, I started offering
people gulps of the stuff out of the jug. I think her friends thought I was a
little off. I also made myself an Ezekiel English muffin which likely
contributed to their opinions of me).
Questions for Kai:
- Whose
idea was it to buy the farm?
- What do
you think of Brant mowing with your 18-month-old on his back?
- How do
you guys split the financing?
- How
much influence did Brooks have on this?
- Tell me
what you know about Brooks deal?
- Who is
Dane’s biggest influence? Brooks?
- How
close are the three of you to each other and your parents? How does that
contribute to the success of you guys as a family?
- How do
you think Dane and Caitlin will raise Lincoln?
- How
often do you workout in the barn?
- Do you
and Brant have your own responsibilities beyond the farmhouse?
- Tell me
about the history of the farm and the house.
- What do
you do for a living? Brant? How do you guys reconcile that with the lifestyle
your brothers are living?
- How
much influence does Joel Salatin have on Dane and/or Brooks?
- I heard
Brooks is presenting Food Inc.
at the National Archives? Are you going?
