White Oak Farm

We've been at White Oak Farm, near Burnsville, NC since a quite dark, rainy, and chilly Sunday night. Unfortunately it's stayed dark, rainy, and chilly since then. As a result, our wwoofing experience here as consisted mainly of food preservation and childcare. We're now experts at canning; the lineup of products includes Apple Ginger Marmalade, Zucchini Apple Butter, Apple Plum Butter, Applesauce, and Raspberry Blueberry Preserves. Today it's Apple Basil Jelly, Pickled Okra, and trying to figure out how to make fruit leather.

White Oak Farm is way up near the top of a mountain, with a beautiful view of multiple ridges out of the panoramic living room windows. The house is really neat, with a few stone walls, and raw timber beams inside. A greenhouse is attached to the basement, which keeps our room down there bright and warm.

Our morning and evening chores consist of taking care of the animals - letting out the three flocks of chickens to roam around for the day, collecting eggs, feeding the goats, milking one of them, and checking up on the two horses. I wish I could ride more, but it's been too wet and nasty out. Christy rode bareback on Frosty one morning, and Connor even got on a horse for the first time!

There is another wwoofer here, Adrienne. Turns out she went to William and Mary for a year, and we know quite a few of the same people. Yesterday was her 21st birthday, so the boys Jack (age 10) and Haven (age 6) took us on a hike down the mountain as a surprise for her. It was a beautiful walk, complete with mossy forest and small waterfalls. Yesterday evening we went into town to celebrate with the whole family to Jack of the Wood, a small Asheville-based brewing company and British-style pub.We had a deliciously appropriate meal and listened to the old-time jam that just happened to be going on right then. Afterwards, we poked around downtown after hours, enough to get the idea that it's a pretty cool town and that we'd like to hang around during daylight hours a bit.

We'll probably stay here until the beginning of next week sometime. Then we're talking about moving on to another farm about 45 minutes away from here. They grow sorghum, and right now it's time to harvest it and make syrup out of it. We think it'd be interesting to learn how to do that. After that, maybe we'll couchsurf in Asheville for a few days, then head out west? We'll see.

Dancing So Hard

That's what we did last night. Whew!! We're visiting Tim (Christy's brother) and Maggie (Christy's BFF) in Charlottesville for a few days. Maggie took us to a contradance of sorts "on grounds" last night, and we had so much fun learning all kinds of group dances from Appalachian to French Canadian, from Russian to Jewish.

Let's back up for a minute.

We ended up spending a full week at the Acorn Community, leaving last Tuesday for Charlottesville. Working at Acorn allowed us to participate in a wide range of tasks associated with seed-saving and food preservation. We spent countless hours cleaning, sorting, and packaging aliums (plants in the family which includes onions, garlic, and shallots). It's the right time of year to plant alium crops, so Southern Exposure Seed Exchange is hard at working satisfying a multitude of expectant customers.

Besides working each day, we had a chance to get to know most of the interesting and knowledgeable members of the Acorn Community. A large part of the day's work at Acorn is preparing meals for the 20+ inhabitants. Christy got the chance to help Acorn member Ashley make a wonderful lunch one day, one of many delicious meals we enjoyed during our stay. On Friday night, Acorn threw a great party on the lawn, with beautiful decorations and a solid house band. Friends from nearby Twin Oaks Community came over to enjoy the potluck feast, Hank Williams covers, and XXX watermelon punch.

On Tuesday afternoon we drove into Charlottesville, where we've been exploring, relaxing, and planning our next move for the past few days. We'll be in this area until Sunday, and then it's on to North Carolina!

Photo gallery:

Tunnel of beans

Red Noodle Bean Flowers and Bumblebee

Chicken Salad: Salad for Chickens

Goats!

Connor with Scythe

Cotton

Friday Night Party (note the dolley/mic stand)

SESE Seeds for sale in Charlottesville!

Acorn Community

So we've been settled here at the Acorn Community in Louisa County, VA, since Monday. At its core a commune of about 20 souls, it's been quite an interesting and enlightening experience so far. In a nutshell (an acorn shell?), this is how it works. People who decide to live here give up everything they own to the community, and in return, the community provides a job, small stipend, housing, food, medical expenses, transportation, family, and basically takes care of your every need. Every member is expected to work 42 hours per week, but most end up working more because things just have to get done. Acorn's main source of income is running the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, which specializes in open-pollinated heirloom seeds. For a comprehensive explanation of open pollination and its importance in sustainable agriculture, read this.

This place is quite beautiful. There are many different garden plots scattered all over the property, since space is needed between crops in order for pollination to occur properly. It's also really cool to see plants let go to seed, and to enjoy the flowers, scents, and insects that come with that. Pictures will follow soon.

There is much to occupy our time here; we're definitely getting in our 42 hours per week. We've weeded a lot, harvested veggies (for food and for seed), processed veggies (for food and for seed), ran errands, and cleaned up garlic bulbs to get them ready for shipping out. Tomorrow Christy's trying her hand at cooking lunch for 20+ people, after an early rise to transplant strawberry seedlings. We're really excited about all there is to be learned here, and the variety of knowledge Acornians have.

A Fresh Start

Last night was our first night sleeping indoors since we left. Our friend Andy (from WM)'s family in Glen Allen, VA, hosted us and gave us a place to rest and recoop before heading on our way.

After leaving Fredericksburg, we headed westward deep into the George Washington National Forest near New Market, VA. There we met up with some folks from William and Mary and spent the weekend rejoicing and recreating in the forest and nearby Shenandoah River. But on Sunday morning, when the campfire died down and the car was repacked, we had only a vague sense of what and where was next.

After getting back into civilization where we could access cell phone signal, we made a few phone calls. We coordinated with both of our sets of parents and decided to meet up in the Short Pump area for dinner. We felt quite like fish out of water while we walked around Short Pump Towne Center, a new, upscale, designer mall catering to the nouveau riche residents of the Northern Richmond area. While delicious and relaxing, our meal was a far cry from the home-shot venison steaks and fried homegrown okra (cooked over the campfire) from the night before.

After saying goodbye to parents all over again, we met up with Andy and Connor's roommate of four years, Nishant, for a few rounds of beer. We spent a comfortable night indoors at Andy's place, and awoke to an insistent, growing feeling of profound uncertainty, as we didn't know where our next move on the map was. One thing was for sure, we had to get out of Andy's parents' house, since Andy was departing today for his backpacking adventure in Europe. We spent the morning on the internet and on the phone, calling what seemed like every farm in Virginia. "How can no farmer need our help?!," we thought. Finally, we got a hold of someone at the Acorn Community, which is in Louisa County. Not too much progress geographically, but at least we found somewhere to volunteer for the next few weeks. One plus is that it's still close to Charlottesville area, which means we'll be able to visit with a few more friends before we leave Virginia. We're hitting the road again in a few minutes, bound for Louisa County. We'll update you with stories and pictures from the Acorn Community soon!

Cooperation Situation

That's the idea, when it comes to what we'd like to see more of in terms of farming, as expressed by our host Micheal. He says he prefers the Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) model because it lets subscribers visit the farm to help with the work and talk to one another

Unfortunately, right now at San Ysidro, that seems to be only an idea thus far. The folks living there are about our age, and very busy, working multiple jobs and one is still a student. Nobody was around much, so we pretty much had free reign of the place, and not much instruction when it comes to agriculture. The garden was winding down for the season, so all we had to do was finish planting a few fall crops. To be frank, there just wasn't much work for us to do, or knowledge to be gained, so we're moving on.

We took yesterday afternoon to explore Caledon Natural Area, which is an old growth forest about 20 minutes east of here. We saw some pretty impressive-sized trees, a few deer (Christy's spirit animal), and enjoyed a 4-ish mile hike through some beautifully silent forestland along the Potomac.

After picking up some Oktoberfest brewskies, we settled down for yet another evening of cooking over the fire, playing with the dogs, and staring into the flames.

This morning, we packed everything up, stopped by the local farmers market for some eggplant and apples, and will soon be on our way to our Camp Two Fists reunion, (Three Fists) with folks from WM in the mountains near Luray. This means we'll be out of communication range until Sunday evening sometime, hanging out and catching up with good friends.

Our next stop: to be determined. Maybe near Barboursville, VA. Maybe DC to visit folks. Maybe Charlottesville. Maybe Shenandoah National Park. Maybe a doctor's office for Christy's fairly severe allergies. Or maybe we'll be hightailing it south and west sooner than expected. We'll just see.

Photo gallery for your enjoyment:

Our campsite

Romeo and Uh-oh the horses

Ancient Black Oak and Christy with handkerchief

Laurel Glen

Pants. Pump. Music.

This was the final list of things to be packed into our pack mule, a blue Subaru. We left Christy's home yesterday after spending a few wonderful days in Dillwyn. While staying at the Ottinger homestead, we spent a lot of time selling whatever we could at a two day long yard sale ("Many items. Good bargains."). After each morning of highly-lucrative transactions, we worked together painting the trim at a fixer-upper rental house, a project of Christy's dad. Two solid days of packing later, we were ready to hit the road. 

Our misinformed little GPS unit eventually led us to San Ysidro Farm outside of Fredericksburg, VA. Driving eastward from Fredericksburg, the sprawling commercial wasteland of the I-95 area quickly changed to rolling hills and a patchwork of neighborhoods and farms. We found the farm at the end of a long gravel driveway. Upon arriving, we met Michael Green, who runs the show at San Ysidro. Mike gave us a tour of the farm, showing us the four chickens in the backyard, the three friendly dogs (Oberon, Rodeo, and Nima), two cows, two horses (Romeo and Uh-oh), and the vegetable garden (about one acre). After learning about San Ysidro's one-year-old CSA, which is preparing to cultivate fall crops for its thirty shareholders, we walked back to the farmhouse and began to set up out campsite. 

Before long, Michael, a concerned expression on his face, informed us that the black mutt puppy, Nima, had run away for longer than usual.We continued to set up our tent and collect firewood until the orange sun dropped beneath the horizon. In the darkening twilight, we lit a campfire and ate Manchego cheese and apples. Michael occasionally dropped by the campsite to chat, appearing more concerned for the lost puppy each time. Eventually he ventured into the woods with a flashlight, thinking that Nima might be lost of stuck somewhere in the darkness. He returned empty-handed. Michael continued his search by taking his white pickup down the gravel driveway. Some time later he returned. "We've got a dog," he called to us, as a happy Nima jumped out of the passenger seat. It turned out that Michael's friend, who is also camping at the farm, had decided to take the puppy along for a ride while he ran some errands. We were relieved that the dramatic night ended happily, and went to bed.

This morning, we ventured out to the garden to begin some work. Michael was busy at his second job, which he took in order to "pay the bills", so we had the farm to ourselves. Following Michael's instructions from the previous day, we made shallow furrows in a pair of freshly-tilled beds and planted smooth kale, spinach, and three varieties of lettuce. After watering the seeds thoroughly, we harvested some green beans and bell peppers for lunch. Our work in the garden done, we ate lunch and hopped in the car to explore Fredericksburg. Our confused GPS failed to show us to the downtown area, so we found it by ourselves. We are now sitting in a coffee shop in the historic downtown area and deciding what to do tonight. An open mic downtown sounds promising...