Getting to Know our Neighbors

We had a great night, albeit chilly, with Tom and Linda Savage of Allied Organic Farms in Person County, and their friends. Delicious meal served up by Chef Lucindy Willis, formerly of Yancey House Restaurant. Five courses from local ingredients, including her signature Three Little Pigs, Roasted Pork Loin wrapped in Bacon, stuffed with House-made Sausage and Swiss Chard with Peach Mojo and Blackberry Wine Sauce, which took first place honors in The Best Dish in NC. Many local farms represented around, and on the table. Fun and delicious night, especially since music was provided by Yolanda Rabun.

Water, Water Everywhere . . .

. . . but not a drop to drink.

You'd think that having land on a lake would solve the water issue. But our lake serves as a back up reservoir, so we can swim, boat & fish in it, but no pumping is allowed. Since we aren't living on the orchard land, it didn't seem to make sense to drill a well. So we bought 1100 gallons of cisterns. Next project: build a roof to cover them and an adjacent shed, each with rainwater collection to keep them filled. Simple solution.

Miss Daisy

So we figured we'd need a work vehicle. A gator is the normal choice, but we wanted to avoid dealing with the maintenance & exhaust. So we found an E-Ride rechargeable electric mini-truck. Ours was bought from Dallas, after being used in a reality cable archery hunting show.

Leslie named her Miss Daisy after the movie. Guess that puts me in my place! Daisy's entrance was a dramatic one. Our shipper sent her up on a car carrier, and her axle was a bit short for the treads. She slipped off when the driver tried to back her down and we had to talk a local wrecker into using his boom to pick her up and get her back on track. Anyway, pretty cool, quiet, and no fumes!

Fruits of our Labors

If you add an orchard & garden, what do you grow? We want food we can't get in the market, or can't get fresh enough. We found a local orchardist who has preserved over 400 varieties of heirloom southern apples. We're starting with five. The complete list (in so far): Fruits: Apples: Old Fashioned Winesap, Golden Grimes, Blacktwig, Arkansas Black, & Virginia Gold Pears: Keiffer, Seckel, & Korean Giant, Plumblee Figs: Brown Turkey, Italian Golden Honey, & Black Violette Peaches: Indian Blood Cling & Elberta, Plus Asian Persimmons, Pomegranates, Plums, Kiwis, Pawpaws, & Jujubes. Berries: Blackberries, blueberries, cranberries, serviceberries, elderberries, gooseberries, plus ground cherries and scuppernong grapes. Plenty more: asparagus, sorrel, ginger, horseradish, saffron, rhubarb. Annuals next spring.

Good eats. Even if we'll be giving away a lot.

Planting a Best Practices Orchard & Garden

We started with the clearing. Mulching everything in place: 1 to 3 feet of wood chips cover the site. Then we brought in Bountiful Backyards to plan and plant. This Durham group is converting city lots and yards to urban farms, using permaculture techniques. Great design. Hard work. Fruits, perennials, companions, pollinators all now in over a very long week.

Don’t Fence Me In

No sense in planting our orchard and garden just to feed the deer and rabbits. So we went down to local farm and feed for advice. Fence builder Bill Hutchinson stretched alot of line for us. 8 foot height, high tensile on top, no climb below, solar electrified. The battle begins!