Officially Night One in the Wolves Den

This past Saturday I drove up to Noel and Danielle's house at Black River Organic Farm, then it was off to Circle Acres Farm in Siler City but first Noel had to dig out some earthworms for the compost pile at Circle Acres then he showed me how to layer right for the cold(I have my own ways but thanks Noel)and he let me borrow a scarf which I plan on returning the next time I see him. When we all finally got our ducks in a row and got into their van, we started the two and half hour drive to get to Siler City which was a very interesting trip between the adventure to Wal-Mart for a Itrip cause the radio is too much to bear and just listening to what Noel had to say. 

When we finally arrived at the farm, I got shown around the farm and the house which is going to be a big project but before I even knew it we were moving again to meet Trace at the Co-op for some delicious dinner and conversation(I was starving and cleaned my plate). Then it was off to the house to keep warm for the rest of the night with a beer for me and everyone else had cheesecake. It was good. The next morning I woke up tired cause borrowing Nick's 15 degree sleeping bag since 3 people and a heater in the Wolves den gets it pretty toasty anyways, but I woke up with Noel around 8 and went outside to chop some wood to heat up Trace's wood stove, we also saw some snow flurries it wasn't much. 

When we finally all got hungry enough we went to General Store Cafe to have some of the damn best brunch I have had in a long time, then it was off to ECO where Trace works its a distribution center for organic food around central NC it also house Piedmont Biofuels and an array of farmers. We then ventured on back to the homestead to try and figure out where to erect the greenhouse but it was hard to tell how much sun each potential spot would get cause it was super cloudy, then I just wondered around the rest of the time till it was time to say farewell if only for two weeks time I shall be living in a camper and enjoying the hell out of life for a extended period of time.

 

Tasting the fruits of my labor..

In late August Sarah and I visited my mom and step dad's vineyard to help them harvest their first year of Merlot grapes, it was suppose to be two days of picking but my step dad did not get the bird netting out in time so the crops yield was not as great as he had hoped. We only pick a little over a ton of grapes with the help of my brother, his friend and some guys that work on a farm nearby, Sarah cut her hand twice with the sharp pruning scissors once in the beginning of the day and then once more to end the day and I cut mine once. But all in all it was a great day of hard work in the fields and I cant wait till August to see what the second year's yield is going to be hopefully it will be in the 4 ton range.  Well during the holiday season the vineyard that my step dad sells the grapes too Westbend Vineyards put a holiday wine into production with the grapes that he had harvested stems and all,    my mom gave Sarah and I a bottle each of the wine even though Sarah does not drink she did serve it at the Soapbox employee New Years Party and everyone seemed to enjoy the wine except for Katie.

I thoroughly enjoyed that whole night but that is a whole different story.  I ended up drinking the other bottle of wine around Nick and Sarah last night after we went to see this horrible horror movie and it was delicious to the last drop especially with a little drop of hard work and blood from Sarah and I.  I look forward to doing again in August and maybe I will be able to get more than two bottles of wine out of it, Boy I love wine.

Well in 14 days I will be starting my apprenticeship at

 Circle Acres Farm, and of course I am waiting till exactly the last minute to get all of my eggs in the basket cause it seems to me that I have alot of important things to take care of before I leave and start this wonderful journey. Till then, wish me luck.                                                                                                                      Might have been my                                                                                                                               second glass but who's counting.

Going back to the start..

Well.. I've been putting in some thought into when my farm apprenticeship ends after the two or so months of hard time, what are going to be my plans after that. Well I know I shouldn't think of it that way but it is always good to have a plan for the ever pushing future, so I think that it would be a good thing to take it back to the start of my very short farming stint as a kid on my grandfathers garden, he never farmed the full potential acreage of his land cause he was retired and prolly just wanted to fucking relax. 

         

Just a bout to the tree line is whe

re that plot stops, if your wondering.

I have talked with a couple of the elders, and my chances are in the weeble wobble stage at this point, but I have some things that I have in my corner like my background in construction and the fact that the house needs some work unless my family is going to let it rot in place. So hopefully we can make a deal for me to stay there in the house while I do some tuning and cleaning up on the old house, I would hate to see the house and land that I spent tons of time at in my childhood go to waste. 

So the last part of the plan is where I get to farm the land, that has been sitting idle for 13 years and get the ball rolling to see whether or not I was actually listening during my internship.  But that plan lies months and months ahead with a whole lot of meetings on what needs to be done and by who. But if I cant dream about then I would have nothing to do with my day, cause I could also step up the acreage of the land I could in theory farm.(take a look)

 

Well all and all it was a pretty good holiday season, but not saying that I am going to miss it. But It was good to see family and dream up some plans for the future.

My boots are starting to buckle

Some new updates on the farm excursion that i learned today while standing in the cold with a 1/4 of the committee at the Riverfront Farmers Market this morning, is that i will be living in a lento coming February burr that would be cold. But realistically i will be living in what has come to be known around town as the Wolves den which is a camper that is said to sleep at least 6, but for two short short months it will only be home to me and Brother(my vicious dog(he has a record)) who will be living the high life of a 2 burner stove, possibly 2 space heaters, a mini fridge, and one extension cord that will power my everyday necessities like this thing i am typing on and who knows what else. I also got some insight on the type of farming that i will be helping with, but that information will come later after i read the many books that have been put on my plate for my holiday reading list, which i will be posting soon so watch out cause the one i started today already has me sucked into the life that i will be taking part in. Also hopefully in the next couple of weeks i will be venturing all up in Pittsboro to see what there is to offer for me, and what i have to offer in return also since i have minimal knowledge in a vast amount subjects(so i think).  I also got my first taste in a many of years of handling money during a customer transaction, but it just had to be my bitch of a landlord asking what these are and i replied carrots.

Beginning of something old

I told myself sometime ago that i would never start a blog, but look at me now about to finish my first sentence on my shiny new blog.  The reason for me starting this and possibly keeping it running for the next couple of months is because I have a golden opportunity to work and live on a organic farm in Pittsboro, NC, the exact coordinates have not yet been given to me by the high committee who governs these 12 beautiful acres of land. That does not concern me at this point in time cause I am in a state of awakening in my life and hopefully when February of next year slowly but surely rolls around, I will be in a different town, a more sound and sustainable community. But most likely just starting to learn how to live life a few steps simpler, cause in the society that i feel like i have grown out of in the last couple of years just maybe now i have found something to bring my perspective of nature and how we can balance our lives around where we live so not to destroy the age old infrastructure of our earth. Well that is all the information i know and can release at this particular time, but maybe soon there will be more.

visit this to see a little bit of the farm as it stands now. Cricketbread