Eastern Triangle Farm Tour

This weekend my parents and I visited several local farms as part of the Fifth Annual Eastern Triangle Farm Tour, put together by the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association. It was quite fun! The hours are 1pm-5pm, and there were 24 farms participating, spread out far and wide. We had to pick just a few to visit. It was a tough decision. Hopefully this will help any future participants choose.

Saturday

1. We started out at Turtle Mist Farm in Franklinton. It was easy enough to find (we used the Garmin) and were greeted by two volunteers who gave us our "Support Local Farms" button that would serve as our ticket for all the visits (I'd prepaid for the tour online--only $25 per car load for all farms, both days). We were warned that the fences were electric, but that they weren't lethal; just a mild shock. Of course that meant I had to touch to see what it felt like! Not painful, but definitely not comfortable! The first thing we saw was a beekeeper selling honey. We bought a glass of "honeyade," which was delicious. We walked over to the chicken coops where they had several different breeds. They were allowed to just roam around wherever they pleased. Then we went down to the pens where they keep turkeys, ducks, and geese. We spoke with someone who I believe works on the farm. She gave us info about raising the birds and showed us the incubator where she was keeping turkey eggs warm until they hatch. We strolled around the garden area a bit, then wandered over to the pasture where the pigs are kept. There were four big brown ones, and a box of past-their-prime vegetables to feed to them.


They were in a mud hole and splashed around trying to get around each other to get the food I was holding out. We saw a cow, but it was behind fencing so we couldn't get close. We walked back up to the front and bought a cup of lemonade (it was a HOT day) and then it was off to the next farm.

2. Next was Homestead Harvest Farm in Wake Forest. I enjoyed this one more because we had a guide the whole time who answered all our questions and provided lots of information. We had to put little surgical booties on to prevent contamination of the farm. Here we got to hold a baby chicken.


If I remember correctly, this one was 4 weeks old. He (she?) was very warm! He was molting so wasn't fully covered with feathers, and his skin was against my hand. We walked around to several of the "chicken tractors," which are coops that you can move around to different parts of pasture so they always have fresh grass, and they fertilize as they go along! These were meat chickens. The laying hens were in a different type of portable coop, one with boxes where they could lay their eggs. My dad is interested in building a coop and having laying hens so he had lots of questions. We also saw a couple of pigs. They were young, but not babies. I got to go inside the pen and pet the girl.


She was very sweet. The boy was not as friendly. Next we walked down to see the turkeys. They have a ton of them and they are so vocal! It goes in waves. If one starts off, the rest chime in. I was squatting down to get some photos and one came up to me, very curious. Then she suddenly reached out and bit me! It wasn't a big deal, but it was funny. It's also funny to see the males, who can turn their faces blue to impress the ladies.


We went inside the processing house, where the chickens are defeathered, dressed, etc. We bought more lemonade (!) and then headed back to the car.

3. The final farm for Saturday was Meadow Lane Farm in Louisburg. This was also enjoyable because the owner, Martha, gave us a tour and filled us in on all the history. The farm has been in her family for almost a hundred years, and the farm house was originally built in the early 1800's. They are in the process of restoring it, which is quite an undertaking. We met Lily, their sweet Australian Shepherd working dog, and stood in the shade of an absolutely enormous pecan tree. We saw the goats that they show at the State Fair,


and as we were driving in we saw lots of their cattle. They raise them as nature intended--open pasture, lots of sun, etc. They are even certified humane. Mom and Dad bought a pound of ground beef and I said I'd eat a hamburger made from it...since I know it came from a cow that lived a happy life. It will be interesting to see what it tastes like. I don't know if I'll even like it! They were giving out samples of their bratwurst, but I didn't have a piece. One thing I was shocked to learn from Steve, Martha's husband, was that only about 10% of what's sold at the Raleigh State Farmers' Market is actually grown in NC!! He said the Durham Farmers' Market is much stricter about who they let sell there. I will definitely have to check that out soon.

Sunday

1. I ventured out on my own to visit Prodigal Farm in Rougemont. They raise goats and have a dairy that was just certified two weeks ago. I was escorted to where the next tour would begin, and while I waited with some others, we sampled different cheeses. I tried the marinated feta (delicious!) and the "Bollywood" which had curry and pear. I also had a sample of the "goat cheesecake." It was chocolate flavored and tasted just like regular cheesecake until the end, when you got that little punch of goat cheese flavor. Dave, the owner, brought the goats up to the dairy


so the visitors could pet them. They were very friendly and liked to rub up against you. I caught one little goat drinking from what I would assume was his mom, but who knows. He wasn't a baby, but must have been young enough. I went over to get a picture but then he stopped. I pet him, and when I stopped, he took his hoof and pawed against my leg, which I interpreted as, "Don't stop!" I love the shape of their pupils.



We got to see where the goats are milked, but they didn't do a demo--the goats are only milked in the morning and evening, and put out a half gallon each time. We were told that other breeds produce much more. Then we went into the room where they put the curds and whey into molds and let the whey drain out. Then, depending on what kind of cheese they're making, it either goes into one fridge to age, or it goes into a colder one until it's time to be sold. They did have a few things for sale but apparently Saturday's crowd pretty much cleaned them out. That's a good thing!

2. Next I went to Son Rise Farm, which was the tiniest farm I stopped at, and was the shortest visit at only about 10 minutes. I saw sheep and chickens,



but they supposedly have rabbits too. They spin the wool into yarn,


and make soap out of the goat milk. There were signs up around the different pens, explaining the different breeds, but most of the animals were out of sight, likely due to the heat.

3. The last farm I visited was Brinkley Farms in Creedmoor. It was the biggest operation that I could tell, at least in terms of produce. We got to go on a hayride


around to the different fields (they're currently growing different kinds of beans and arugula as well as late-season corn)


and see the pastures (again, all the animals were out of sight in the shade). They had a big barn where they were selling pumpkins and other squash. I got one to put on my porch. I heard another tour participant saying that they really enjoyed Vollmer Farm, so I'll have to remember that for next year.

Tips for future participants: Bring lots of water! Wear closed-toe shoes. A hat might be helpful to keep the sun out of your eyes. Bring cash to purchase drinks or the items the farmers are selling. There was no pressure to buy though. All of the farmers I met were very friendly and eager to share about their lives, the land, and what they grow and raise.

There is another tour in the Spring--the Piedmont Farm Tour in April. Here's an article about last year's tour.

We leave tomorrow!

I arrived in L.A. yesterday and the first thing we did was go to In-n-Out. Yum! Then hopped on the 405 and sat in traffic. Welcome back! We headed for Nicole's friends' house--Aaron, whom she teaches at La Mesa with, and his wife Kim. They have an 18 month old baby girl, Kara. She is so cute! She was a little unsure of me, but while I was there, she played fetch with Ellie (their min pin), and giggled profusely at the dog's reaction to the squeaky ball. She ran across the yard with Aunt Nicole. She stared intensely at her shelves of books until finally picking out two for her daddy to read to her. And she ate a tomato like an apple! Earlier in the day, Kim had told her that she could go outside after dinner. So when Nicole and I came in with the food, she immediately went to put on her shoes. What a memory!

I tried to sleep on the plane and thought I would do really well, because I was feeling nappy when we first got on, and I figured taking 2 benadryl would seal the deal. But it was still pretty much a very deep "rest" more than a light "sleep." I think the key is the alcohol-benadryl combination! Also, only a 5.5 hour flight, in the middle of the day. The flight to NZ will be 13 hours and overnight, so that will also encourage sleep. The onboard movie was He's Just Not That Into You, which I'd already seen, so I didn't bother watching it. But afterwards was an elephant documentary which was very interesting. You know how most nature films they're like, "This baby has wandered away from it's mother and will surely die. Elsewhere on the plain..." and you're like, "You're right there, why don't you help it for crying out loud??!" Well, this film was about people who DO intervene to help, so that was very satisfying. I saw the part where they had to sedate a baby and its mother to give the baby an injection of antibiotics for its broken foot, which had become infected internally. High drama, because there was a risk that the mama would pass out on top of the baby. Then it looked like the mama was going to land on her chest, blocking her airway. They had to tie ropes around her and use their vehicle to roll her over! In the end everything worked out though. My kind of animal documentary!!

So I made it until about 10:00 pm last night, which is 1am Eastern time, before I had to crash. I slept until about 6:30. I had a disturbing dream in which I took my iPhone out of my purse, and a bracelet I'd brought was wrapped around it. The problem was, the bracelet was magnetic (?) and had messed up the phone pretty bad. (Of course, there is no hard drive inside the iPhone--it's flash memory--which is not affected by magnets. But you know how dreams are!) So in my dream I was very upset because the phone basically wouldn't work, and I could take it to the Apple Store and have them restore it to factory settings, but then I would lose all my content. Not forever, because it's on my home computer, but my home computer is 2500 miles away at the moment! Oh so distressing. I was very relieved when I woke up and realized it was a dream! I do have to call AT&T customer service, though, because yesterday at Dulles airport I was unable to use the AT&T wireless service which is supposed to be free for all iPhone customers. It said something about not recognizing my number. When I called the wifi customer support, they said something is wrong with my account, but of course AT&T is closed on Sundays so all he could do is authorize access to the wifi as if I'd paid, and then I could deal with AT&T the next day. I swear, I've had nothing but problems w/ AT&T. If I was not absolutely head over heals in love with and addicted to my iPhone, I would go back to Verizon in a heartbeat. I have heard rumors that Verizon might be getting the iPhone next year, and if that's the case, I will be switching back for sure. I don't care if I have to pay an early termination fee! At least Verizon doesn't screw up your account twice in 4 months!

Whew! I must be in a mood to type! I haven't posted this much in eons. The plan for today is to get pedicures and maybe go to the movies. Pretty chill. The weather here is super nice. Unseasonably cool for June. I'll take it! Mid-70's all week, while it's high 80's and low 90's with thunderstorms in NC! That is one part of NC I won't miss while I'm gone! I do miss my baby, though. Comet is in good hands, though, and I am just going to keep telling myself that animals don't really have a sense of time, so me being gone 3 weeks isn't different from me being gone overnight. Hard to believe, but that's what they say.

Okay, ta ta for now!

Piedmont Wildlife Festival

A couple weekends ago I was the "official photographer" for the Piedmont Wildlife Festival in Durham, NC. I volunteered for the role, and was pleased as punch to be taking pix of animals all day. Here are a few of my favorites:






I came to know the Piedmont Wildlife Center when a coworker tried to trap a mouse in my office and it went terribly awry. Only the poor little guy's leg was caught. I tried to release him into the woods behind our building, but he didn't want to leave the box we'd put him in. So we took him to the wildlife center, where they accepted him with no hesitation, with as much care as they would a grander animal. Alas, he didn't make it, but I was so grateful to be able to take him somewhere that would give him a chance.

Lost & Hopefully Found

This morning a dog that looks just like this one was waiting for me outside my garage. He (?) was so friendly and cute. No owner anywhere to be seen. He followed me down to the mailbox, and then wanted to jump in the car with me. I spent a couple minutes petting him and talking to him ("Where's your mommy? Do you know how to get home? I bet your mommy is missing you.") I finally had to leave, but he did not move along. I had to back out the driveway an inch at a time, keeping my eyes glued to all my mirrors, and then when I closed the garage door, make sure he didn't run inside. He was wearing a collar with a tag, but it did not have a local phone number on it. I hope that he found his way home.

Dog show

So this was a few weekends ago, but I wanted to post about it because it was so much fun. I went to the Raleigh Kennel Club dog show. I'd seen dog shows on TV, of course, but never in person. And this one is a small local show so it wasn't anything fancy, but I was just there for the dogs! They were everywhere in large numbers and it was spectacular. They are (almost) all just so adorable. My two new favorite breeds were the Shiba Inu (looks like a fox!):

And the vizsla:

I think what's so striking about the vizsla is its sleek reddish coat, and the fact that its nose and lips are pink, rather than being black.

I've always liked weimaraners. Their coat is such an unusual greyish brown color, and their blue eyes are beautiful. I think I may have overcompensated on the red eye removal, but here's the weimaraner I saw:


Here are some more pictures from the show:

I love great danes! They are sweet, gentle giants.

A collie all fluffed up for the judges!

I wanted a beagle for a long time. They are the perfect size, I think. But I heard they have a strong natural odor, and the last thing I need is a house that smells like dog!

A ginormous Irish Wolfhound...I'm not a fan of the shaggy hair though.

All the basset hounds looked like grandmas with their ear protectors on.

Here's a basset in all his (or her!) beauty.

Wow, those are some hairy, hairy paws! And again with the ear protectors. Not sure what kind of dog this is.

I love how whippets are so sleek looking. They are very similar in appearance to Greyhounds (which are bigger) and Italian Greyhounds (which are smaller).

Must be named Fifi. That, or she escaped from the Yearning For Zion compound. That part down the middle, it's meticulous! Owners of these dogs must have never gotten over their My Little Pony phase.

The whole reason I even knew about the dog show was because my friend has two purebred Sharpeis and she was showing them. This is the male, Marker.

A poufy Keeshond.

Here's a shot of all the pugs in a row. I wish it was of their faces rather than their behinds, but no matter what side of the ring I was on, it always seemed to be the wrong side.

How does he even see?

We saw lots more dogs, but my photos of them are mediocre: Chihuahuas, dalmatians, bulldogs, pit bulls, boxers, minpins, Dachsunds, spaniels, corgis, Chinese cresteds, sheepdogs, labs, terriers, and German shepherds.

If you have a chance to check out a local dog show, I highly recommend it. It's a great way to spend a morning or an afternoon. You just need to make sure you get a schedule of what breeds will be in what rings and what times, if you care about seeing a certain kind of dog. But you can also just wander around aimlessly, or pick a chair and camp out and watch the dogs pass by you. Most owners were happy to let me take a picture of their dogs. But there were signs in the grooming area that said no photos or videos allowed. That was a bummer since that's when the dogs were up high and holding still!

Cute video!!

Maybe I'll get a pig instead...

Kingsford is too cute!


Kingsford Goes to the Beach - The funniest home videos are here

Strike two

I did not get the puppy. :( I knew it wasn't good when I hadn't heard from the foster mom even by 10pm. I checked my work email after I got home from the department dinner, and saw that the potential adopter was apparently able to convince her husband to take the puppy.

I know there are plenty of dogs in shelters that need good homes, but I am wondering if the universe is trying to tell me something. This is the second dog I have tried to adopt that has fallen through. Both times they just came to me, crossed my path, fell into my lap, so I thought it was meant to be. Perhaps I should take heed that neither adoption panned out. I do have enormous anxiety over how Comet will react to a dog. He is my baby. We are best buds. He is not like the average cat. He is waiting for me at the door when I get home. He follows me up and down the stairs. We cuddle in the mornings. If I am sitting, he is on my lap. If I am lying down, he is right next to me or even on top of me. I love him more than is healthy, and I'm afraid if I get a dog he will change. He will hide all the time. He will be scared and mad at me and hold a grudge and feel betrayed and ignored. But when I see dogs, my heart aches for one. I want to take my dog to dog parks, and for car rides, and to bagels, and to the flea market. I heard of a restaurant that allows dogs on Sunday afternoons. How great is that?! For these past two adoption attempts, I have talked myself into taking the plunge, and then when they don't come to pass, part of me is hugely disappointed, but part of me is also hugely relieved.

I think the best thing for now, since my ambivalence is so strong, is to wait. I think I remember saying that last time. Perhaps if and when I am truly ready, the right doggie will come along.

I have not heard about the puppy...

...and it is driving me mad! The latest news is that there is only one left, a female,


and it was promised to someone already--IF she can convince her husband to get another dog. The woman who is fostering the puppy said she would give them until today to decide. I hope I get a call soon.

It's almost quittin' time, after which I will suit up for the gym, and then we have our new monthly department meeting off-site. We are going to Napper Tandy's, an Irish pub in downtown Raleigh. My manager promises it will not be too loud to talk, seeing as that is the whole point of the meeting. But hey, free dinner, I'm in.

I went to Meredith College today for lunch with my coworker Ashley, who graduated from there in 2007. It is a girls only liberal arts school only about 5 minutes from my office. We ate at the student cafeteria. It's only $6.45 for "guests," (non-students and non-staff) and of course it's all you can eat. I had a little pasta with chicken, some corn, a salad from the salad bar, and Diet Coke. Oh, and a cookie for dessert. I would totally go back and try the deli and the soup, with maybe some soft serve for dessert. They also had chili and cornbread, ribs, mashed potatoes, fried shrimp, and grilled cheese. It's a good deal.

Here's a pic of the campus.

Visitors

Yesterday I made a point of not mussing up my front yard, because I like the pristine "blanket of snow" look. But this morning, I woke up and someone--or something--had brazenly stomped all through it. In fact, it looks like two creatures.


Upon closer inspection, there are a couple of clear prints.


The guy who was here today to look at my heater is a hunter (but he's a really nice guy) and he confirmed they are definitely deer prints. This makes sense, because one night last summer I opened the front door and a deer ran away from right near my porch. They love whatever it is I have growing on my walkway.


I just went outside to look for the little marker that says what kind of plant it is, but it's covered in snow and a brief dig revealed nothing so it will have to remain a mystery for now.

Best dog video ever

Excitement 'round these parts

From the National Weather Service:

Precipitation is expected to begin as a mix of rain and snow this evening... transitioning quickly to all snow overnight... continuing through Tuesday. Storm total snowfall is expected to be at least two inches across the area... and could reach four to six inches by Tuesday evening in some locations.

I asked a coworker what HVAC company he uses, and called them today. I got a machine, probably because they are closed due to MLK Day. So, likely no heater appointment tomorrow. However, the above news may indicate I get to stay home anyway!

In other exciting news, another coworker (Jace) sent out an email this morning offering up stray puppies for adoption.


Seems a daughter of a coworker of Jace's wife (could you follow that?) found them and is trying to find homes for them, but all the "adoption centers" have said they're full. She is even willing to pay for the first vet visit and first round of shots! I have already emailed to follow up. If it happens, it was meant to be! They look like they're gonna be big boys, but last weekend I was watching the Doggie Day Care at Petsmart, and I was so drawn to the Great Dane, it makes me think a big dog would be a Good Thing.

Kitty elevator

New Puppy

My parents got a new puppy a couple of weeks ago. His name is Roscoe, and he's a chihuahua. He is the cutest thing you've seen in your entire life. Picture the most adorable baby animal EVER, then multiply that cuteness by infinity, then you will begin to understand how cute Roscoe is. These pix don't even do him justice.




He was playing with a leaf that was blowing in the wind on Saturday afternoon. Chasing a leaf, people. With such enthusiasm and curiosity and innocence it just makes your heart melt. Into a puddle. Then you step in that puddle and go, "Wait, that's not my heart, that's pee!" Yeah, he's still working on his housetraining skillz. But that only takes away from his cuteness by .1%, so he's still got plenty to spare.

Another Victory!

Prop 2 passed in CA, with 63% for to 37% against. Yay for farm animals!

Critters on the porch

Charlotte has spun a beautiful web on my front porch.


Alas, she herself is not a thing of beauty in my eyes, but she is outside so I will let her live. I don't even want to think of how badly I would freak out if I found her inside though. I will spare you the close-up cropped view; she's a hairy beast.

My parents noticed a green thing up near the ceiling of the porch, sticking to the wall.


They first thought it was a moth, but I took a picture and zoomed in and wouldn't you know, it looked like a frog! How on earth did a frog get up there? We thought maybe it had gone looking for water and perhaps was dead. When my parents were leaving, we noticed the frog had moved its head a bit, so I got a stick and a bowl, climbed on a chair, and poked at it ever so gently. It did not drop into the bowl, no, that would be too easy. It leaped and brushed against the back of my head (it was a BIG leap) and landed on the ground. Then it started climbing up the side of my house again. I sprinkled some water on him and he moved over to the railing.



Doesn't he seem a little tropical for NC?