We've been back for a few days now, but I'm just now catching my breath. The whole farm family hit the road for Uncle Dave's wedding in Durham, North Carolina. Leaving a farm is so involved we don't do it much, but after procuring two wonderful girls to milk our Toggenburgs, our neighbor to feed and water the pigs, goats, chickens, and cats, and depositing one dog each at my parents and in-laws, we were *finally* ready to go!
We took Rt 301 down, a long meandering route along the coast. It was a nice drive - much prettier and more relaxed then going through Washington, DC and Baltimore. I'm also not much of a highway driver, so with this slower route I could do a bit more time behind the wheel.
We left Thursday AM, and Gi slept through pretty much all of the drive, so was up and raring to go all night long. It was actually a good thing, since there were plenty of folks more then happy to hold, snuggle, play and otherwise entertain her into the night while everyone got aquainted. We made Dave a backyard chicken house for their wedding gift as I mentioned before, and so had loaded the car down with that along with some other supplies he would need. We decided not to bring actual chickens on the eight hour dirve for obvious smelly! reasons, but just a few miles outside of Durham what did we hear but an ad for the state fair in Raleigh. If you need chickens, a state fair is the place to find them!
Early Friday morning E, Gi, and I took Dave to the biggest state fair I've ever attended. Fried food was consumed, (new sights to me were a stand called "Fool the Guesser" and food stands selling fried pickles and fried green tomatoes, though none of us have yet to figure out the technical marvel advertised as "Fried Coke"), and we went on a quick tour of almost all of the livestock exhibits (sadly, we somehow missed the goat tent). There were hundreds of dairy cows, as Friday was dairy judging, and I wanted to bring every Jersey heifer home with us! Thank goodness we didn't bring a livestock trailer with us :) In the poultry tent, we got lucky and found three un-attached hens for sale, most were being sold in pairs, and we quickly boxed up our finds and headed back to Durham. We came back with a pretty Buff Cochin, and two Aseels, a breed I'm not too familiar with.
Chickens in hand, we headed over to Dave and Karen's CSA farm. They had traded in the remainder of their CSA shares for flowers for their small, backyard ceremony, and we loaded the back of the jeep with loads of fresh cut cosmos, along with a box full of mesclun for the night's party.
Vegan chili, rice, bread, and salad were made, and E and I went to settle in at my cousins' who kindly let us bed down there for the remainder of our trip. After Gi went to sleep we headed over to meet some of the locals and other family who had arrived. Saturday morning we set out to do some "market research" - and get breakfast - at the Durham Farmer's Market. I guess the laws are less restrictive there, but what fun it was to see and talk to so many people selling eggs, cheese, meat, and baked goods. We picked up some new egg distribution ideas for the winter, as well as some produce ones too - I really liked the idea of selling pots filled with mesclun - cut and come again salad!
The wedding was a simple, small affiar in their backyard, accompanied by the clucking of the new chickens. A friend Dave met while working in Guatamala did the service, and it was short, sweet, and simple. Afterwards we went out to a local restaurant committed to local agriculture, Panzanella, for lunch, and everyhting was delicious.
That night, E headed over to play board games, but Gi and I hit the sack early - we were all exhausted! On Sunday monring we had a nice leisurely pancake breakfast with our cousins, and then dropped by Foster's Market to have some hot chocolate and say goodbye to everyone who had gathered there for brunch. We made good time coming home, but it was still rather late when we pulled in, and we're still getting back on track.
All the animals fared well while we were gone, though Rooster the cat must have gotten into a brawl as his nose in one big scab, and Lucretia went to the vet with her goat-sitters since they were worried she had mastitis. She was just being stubborn and not letting down her milk for them, but a shot of oxytocin seemed to fix that. Just after we got home our friend Kim asked if we'd like a goat house her boyfriend was getting rid of. We couldn't say no to that, so Kim and her kids came over and we took the truck down to New Hope, PA to pick it up. It turned out to be a molded palstic calf hutch, which should be great for the pigs all winter - it's much lighter then the wooden chicken shed they currently use, so it'll be easier to move as well.
Our traveling adventures aren't over yet, as wedding: part II, the reception :) is a big texas barbeque in San Antonio. It'll be Georgia' s first plane ride, and my first time in Texas. Should be exciting. Right now, though, I'm grateful to be HOME. |
