(this picture is from earlier this summer, but gives us a chance to see Nicholas, and a few others mentioned later)
From: nicholas leete
Subject: drought
Date: Monday, August 24, 2009, 10:32 PM

just in case the weathers still dry there, i thought id let you know that queretaro is in the middle of a drought that has killed 90% of the siembra (i think it means the recently sowed stuff (crazy 12 month farmers)). How´s the farm going? right now im writing a reaction summary of a chapter of for my sustainable development/ecology class, that started out (the chapter) with "the ideal ecosystem we have described obviously doesn´t contain men" which i found somewhat hilarious.
Mexico is going pretty well, my classes are pretty cool, probably my least favorite is my spanish class because it meets four times a week and in the morning, and when we´re comparing uses of verbs, the teachers always like, well this conjugation is best for this reason ( to her credit her reasons usually make sense ), but a lot of time people could also use this tense, and this third tense is equally good as the first one because in this contexti, it also signifies uncertainty about a situation in the present, so im not really sure how we´re going to be tested on this stuff. my other classes are contemporary mexico, in which the teacher is pretty cool, and im now at the point where i can understand most of what he´s saying, my statistics class has so far been pretty easy pure math, which is nice and relaxign (i kindof púnked out and took the easiest statistics class because originally i was taking multivariate analysis , and i realized i didn{t know anything in the "review" section , so now im learning things that i had sortof alreadly learned how to do at my job at isu. Im sure ill learn something though, mainly shortcuts for computer programs, and how to say mathematical terms in spanish (desviación estander!)), and my geographic information systems class has been suprisingly not boring, especially since i already knew some of the students from my trip to california. the city of queretaro is also pretty cool, about 1000,000 people, with a enough things to do if i can get homework and such done.

anyway, How are the tomatoes? have the pumpkins and squash and melons produced anything or contracted pumpkin/squash/melon plague yet? how's your stress level? hope everything is going well

love
nicholas

ps i know you'd prefer a post card, but ive yet to find a place to mail things ( i tried sticking postcards in my door, but when i got back home only one was there and i think the other one blew away.

pps heres my reaction ( i said more constructive things later in my essay)

Primero, “En el ecosistema ideal que se ha descrito faltaba evidentemente el hombre.” Aunque seres humanos causan daños grande del medio ambiente, y el jeraquismo del género dominó un gran parte de nuestro mundo y entonces las acciones de hombres han dañado el ecosistema más, este declaración parece una excusa por hábitos mal por el medio ambiente. La dice que nunca lograremos a vivir sin dañar el medio ambiente. Hay muchas sociedades que han tenido éxito en ser parte de un ecosistema, porque la estructura de su economía cabría/cubre en su ecosistema. Un declaración que un ecosistema ideal no puede coexiste con seres humanos contiene la conclusión que nada hay que hacer. Pero digresión.

ppps i gotta go home, but heres babelfish's quick translation:
First, “In the ideal ecosystem that has been described it lacked the man evidently.” Although human beings cause damages great of the environment, and the jeraquismo of the sort dominated a great part of our world and then the actions of men have damaged the ecosystem more, this declaration seems an excuse by habits bad by the middle atmosphere. It says it that never we will manage to live without damaging the environment. There are many societies that have been successful in being part of an ecosystem, because the structure of its economy would fit/covers in its ecosystem. A declaration that an ideal ecosystem cannot coexists with human beings contains the conclusion no that there is to do. But digresión.

and a response from Alice:
hi nicholas,
can i send you a letter? do you know how to receive real mail?
it's wonderful to hear from you - and while your translation of your essay sounds like you are a lunatic, reading the actual text makes me think that you know bigger words and more complex grammar than I. Luckily i got to read more than the first sentence, because i was imagining an ecosystem with only women.
it is not dry anymore. and the cucumbers and melon are dying back a bit, but the zuchini and winter squash are still taking over the world (and the beets and little trees near them). our tomatoes are sickly and pathetic, but taste wonderful. Our latest wwoofer was here and gone, and she did a great job and was fun to spend time with, and is now back to the big city. She and Colette, and Hannah and Ehsan
and I all went to the state fair and saw a goat judging contest, and ate surprisingly delicious and high quality fair food, like chocolate dipped bacon, lamb kabobs and lamb barbeque, blooming onions, gyros, roasted turkey legs, corndogs, and many scrumptious ice-cream things that I didn't get to eat.

We also visited the quilters and stitchers sections which i like. There was a cabbage with a purple ribbon that looked exactly identical to one we have on the farm - so maybe we should have entered the cabbage contest.
i'm desperate to post something on our blog - can I post this latest update you sent for all the folks that are as eager as i was to know how you are doing? do you have a picture?
love
alice