It’s a rainy Sunday on the island, which keeps me inside. It’s a good and bad thing. I get to relax, but I also go stir crazy. The rain is less irritating when I’m out working in it!
March is here and I’m thinking strongly about farming. I’m really wishing I had my own place. I think this year I either want to partner with someone or do more freelance work to save money to buy a place for next year. For now, I’m at Sun Island Farm on Vashon and it is a great option to stay here, as I’ve got a great living situation and I certainly wouldn’t mind spending another summer on the island.
However …
North Carolina, here I come?
This week has shifted my attention to North Carolina. I’ve thought of NC before. But it’s been years. And, I have not done any farming research into NC since I’ve been farming and thinking about a place to farm. Needless to say, I haven’t mentioned it much over the years. The reason I’m thinking about NC is that my delicious farming friend Dana mentioned it being on her list of places to buy land. A little bell with off in my head … hmmm … I kinda forgot about North Carolina.
It turns out it’s quite a great place for small-scale organic farming. The cities of Asheville, Chapel Hill and Raleigh have quite good markets and supportive communities of farmers and shoppers. So the market is good.
It’s closer to Florida. But far enough away. It’s a 10 hour drive or so. Not exactly a hop, skip and a jump, but an easier trip than from the far opposite side of the country like I am now.
It’s also beautiful and quite a bit more affordable place to live. From my research, the Asheville area is very mild tempered. The average annual temps are close to what we have here in Seattle, plus or minus ten degrees or so in the middle of winter and summer. One page even said there are no bugs … which is like Washington too …
All that and it is closer to my family. I can’t deny the urge to be closer to them. Especially now with my brother on the verge of divorce. I really want to be closer to them so we can all see each other multiple times a year. My mom and my brother have said repeatedly their dream is that I have a farm somewhere that my nephews can come and work at in the summer. And what a great dream it is …
North Carolina is sounding good. And I might do something crazy or sensible (depending on how you look at it) and move there. Maybe this year.
Not Chicago.
If you read my last post, I was looking forward to a trip to Chicago. And it was a trip I’m glad I made. But, I can’t say it turned out quite how I had … well … I’m not sure what word to use here … let’s just say it didn’t turn out quite like I had hoped. It was a good trip, though. I had a good time and found out exactly what I needed to know. Which is – I not going to Chicago! Mainly things didn’t work out with Alissa and I. Something I mostly knew before my trip. She’s not ready to tell me why she isn’t ready.
I enjoyed my time there. Alissa planned out a great weekend and we did all kinds of stuff – from working at a Farmers Market, to taking a great long walk in the city and even doing some contra dancing. And overall I don’t like Chicago as a place to live. I think it’s a great place to visit. There’s a lot of great stuff going on – especially it’s “green” initiatives. It’s just too … too big, too gritty, too cold … too much of a big city for me. The trip confirmed my place in the country.
I will say it was really nice to spend the weekend with a good friend, though. It was very different from my typical weekends on the island in the container where I’m mostly by myself.
Dana Doodad
My delicious farming friend mentioned above is Dana. She’s standing right next to me in the photo below. I’ve known her for over a year now, but didn’t meet her in person until April 2008. She’s farming at Old Tarboo Farm in Quilcene.
Dana is an amazing girl and I wish I was closer to her so we could spend more time together! She came out to the island last weekend for dinner and live music. We cooked some good meals and we finally got to spend some quality time together. Previously I had visited her at Old Tarboo, but it was always on her working days. We worked together on those days, and that was fun and satisfying for sure. However our alone-time was usually at the end of the day, a bit tired and sweaty and with me knowing I had to keep an eye on the time to catch a ferry back to the island. I’m hoping to see Dana again in a couple weeks to go do some dancing up in Port Townsend!
Continuing Education
It’s been a busy year so far on the farm. We’ve built a kick-ass shed from the ground up. It’s very cool to have the second small building construction under my belt. I can’t wait to build my own some day! This one was similar but different in a lot of ways from what we built at Plum Forest. Very cool …
This past week I went with Joe and had my first experience with solar work! We continued a solar thermal project he started working on in the fall. I don’t have pictures yet, as I didn’t think about taking my camera that morning, but I wish I had! We disassembled a botched installation and installed a new panel. I mostly took down a fried Thermomax Solamax Evacuated Solar Tube panel. Then we modified the mounting system to accomodate a new Alternate Energy Technologies solar collector. I learned the very basics of solar hot water systems. It was awesome! I hope we get the chance to do some more solar work while I’m here …
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