A NEIGHBORHOOD OF FARMS.
We hung out with our friend Eric this morning, and we find ourselves once again feeling inspired and challenged as farmers. Eric is the farm manager at Bell's Bend Neighborhood Farm - a group of farmers living and working together in the Bells Bend/Scottsboro community of Nashville. The goal of the farm is to be an example of how sustainable agriculture can improve the land and the community, providing jobs and food as well as preserving the valuable farmland. We love the idea of community - about joining forces to be able to achieve so much more, about specializing in one thing and relying on your neighbors for what you aren't producing yourselves. As Eric said today, homesteading and farming didn't used to be such a "difficult" way of life. Neighbors helped each other and depended on each other, and everyone was a farmer. Lovely, right?We are excited to be joining our own little community of farmers soon. And we are also excited after seeing Bells Bend's herd of milking Devon's, their amazing intern house, and the field full of telephone poles where they grow HOPS for Yazoo! We left with our heads full of new ideas and a lot of mud on our boots. A good day indeed.- Hannah.
WHAT WE'RE READING.
//// Links we are loving this week ////
ONE: We always enjoy visiting Whole Larder Love....who recently announced that they will be holding workshops (awesome). We are in love with the "glamping" stables they constructed for attendees. Maybe we could build one of these in our barn for visitors?
THREE: We are obsessed with Jenna Rose - a couple out of California who have a small farm, run an artisan cheese business, and have a passion for handmade and sustainable textiles.FOUR: We have no idea what is actually going on on this blog - our Swedish is not so good - but the photos of farming life and snowy scenery are beautiful and inspiring.FIVE: PLEASE take some time and watch Allan Savory's TED talk above. It is truly fascinating, all about the desertification happening to two thirds of the earth and the ONLY way to stop it: management-intensive grazing (just like at Bugtussle). - Hannah & Jesse.
see more TED talks here.
THE BARTER SYSTEM.
One of the best things about being a part of the small-farmer community? The barter system is alive and well. It seems that folks who are in the business of food and labor and livestock and hay are more than happy to use those things as their currency. And we LOVE this philosophy. We love trading bottles of homemade wine for Great Pyrenees puppies, heirloom tomatoes for raw milk, spinning lessons for a new logo design. It make so much sense.And on that note: we had the pleasure of spending this morning with Little Seed Farm. These new friends are running a lovely small farm in Tennessee, working towards many of the same things we aspire to. We had a blast running around with their menagerie of dogs, cows, pigs, goats, chickens, and guineas (more about that tomorrow). Before we left, we had a good old-fashioned swap of wares. Jesse and I came home with some amazing goodies - fresh eggs, homemade cheeses, and some items from the Little Seed Farm Store: Farmstead Milk Soaps (made from their goat's milk) and Herbal Lip Salve, plus some beautiful hand-drawn notecards!So not only did we walk away with a bag full of delicious cheese (which we could barely keep ourselves from devouring in the car on the way home) and Cocoa Stout Soap (made with a locally brewed beer!), we also walked away with our hearts and minds full of inspiration. It is always rejuvenating for us to meet other young people, working hard, leaving behind comfort and convention to try a better way. *So thanks, guys, for a wonderful day and a lot of fun! Good luck with the kidding season!*- Hannah.
PEACE PILGRIM.
Feeling very inspired by this lovely story on a Sunday morning.
Mildred Norman started walking in 1953 - with the goal of walking the entire country in the name of peace - and she didn't stop walking for 28 years. Leaving behind her name and calling herself The Peace Pilgrim, she never spent any money. She carried only a map, a pen, a toothbrush and a comb. She wore the same clothes every day. She depended on others to provide her with food and shelter, making the vow: "I shall remain a wanderer until mankind has learned the way of peace, walking until I am given shelter and fasting until I am given food." She became the first woman to hike the Appalacian Trail, foraging for food and packing little more than a blanket and some sheets. At the end of her life, she walked over 25,000 miles in her journey.Often asked how she could possibly be happy, with no possessions to her name and usually hungry and tired, Mildred would reply, "I certainly am a happy person. Who could know God and not be joyous? I want to wish you all peace."Her story is truly remarkable, and you can read all about it here (where I discovered it) or on The Peace Pilgrim official website. What an inspiration for us to live simply and peacefully and as a community, helping each other!- Hannah.