The sun’s a shinin’ !
Mornin’ y’all !
Gave Josh a ride to work this morning and just had to sit in the driveway for a few and watch the lambs playing in the pasture. Peace like a river….
It’s foggy up here on the hill this morning, but according to WKSK, it’s going to burn off and be a beautiful day. A good day to get back to the garden, I reckon, if it will just dry up a little bit.
My wonderful helpers finished processing all of the first round of pastured poultry yesterday, so they are in the freezer pasture now. Thank you Chris and Jessica and Karen and Mama and, heavens to betsy, did I almost forget Matthew? He’s the backbone of this operation for sure. I tell y’all what, he rocks, he rolls, he kicks poultry butt. He will turn 16 next month, of course I’m not biased, but he is really turning into a terrific young man, I am so proud of him. The chicken tractors are empty for a week or two and it’s kind of sad. It will be about 2 more weeks before the little diddles in the garage are ready to move outside. We sure will enjoy the break from the tractor moving chores.
Well, I said finished… but apparently we missed one. Last night we were cleaning the kitchen, and the back door was open.. I heard something and looked around, and there’s a little cornish rock hen standing behind me looking very lost ! I put her out in the chicken coop with the other pullets, and may just keep her. I wish that I had words to convey to you how funny it was to see her walking through the kitchen…Josh was fixing everyone fried bananas and ice cream, Jess and I were cleaning and Mama was packaging the last of the chilled and drained birds. All of the young’uns were here and there was just generally a party going on in the kitchen.. We were all bent double laughing at this chicken!
I am going to take a boar pig up to Elk Creek to my sheep shearer’s house tomorrow, trading him for this years sheep shearing, really looking forward to seeing their farm! I’ll also be visiting my friend Tina’s farm and picking up some Merino ewes from her. She came by last night on the way to her farm in VA, from their home in Florida and brought some pullets that she had hatched in an incubator that she built herself! We’re going to try laying hens just ONE more time, never have had much luck keeping them safe from predators through the winter before. Maybe this year will be the charm! Lit’lun, our guardian dog, has done a fantastic job of keeping predators run off this year.. maybe she can keep the hens safe too. Prayers said and fingers crossed! A good friend always says “Well, I figure they belong to the Good Lord and all I can do is take care of them the best I can, the rest is up to Him” He’s a pretty smart old feller, and I’ve had a lot more peace about the safety of the farm stock since I started following his philosophy.
We’ve got a couple of farm days planned for this year, our annual Shearing Day Potluck, but I don’t have a date for that yet. We will be doing Fiber Day again at the Ashe County Farmers Market on June 9th, Charles Young will be shearing sheep, and there will be lots of hands on fiber demonstrations and stuff for the kids to do. Lord willing, Foxfire Holler Farm will be participating in the High Country Farm Tour this year on August 4th & 5th, we are really excited about it… Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture and Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture do such a wonderful job with the tours. A lot of hard work goes into the preparation for and the putting on of the tours, y’all be sure and get your tickets early to go see some awesome farms this year! I need musicians and fiber folks to volunteer for that weekend, so if you want to come out and pick and spin under a shade tree for a couple hours, call me please!
Okee dokee then, I must get my butt in gear and out of this chair, there is much to do if I am to make it to town to see the Appalachian Mountain Girls concert at the Backstreet Park at 5:30 tonight. Make it a great day y’all, enjoy the sunshine, and remember .. the word love is a verb.. get out there and show it ! Nancy & the Critters
P.S. I almost forgot! Fran at the Eclectic Pantry in West Jefferson has our pastured poultry for sale, as does Bare Essentials in Boone. As always, you are more than welcome to come out to the farm for it too. Hopefully, we can get some hogs moved to the freezer pasture before too awful much longer too. My number is 336-384-9463, if you would, just call and make sure someone is here before you make the driveway trek. Much love from the holler!
Chickens !
Well, we have harvested our first batch of pastured poultry for this season… and they are beautiful! I have them for sale here at the farm, or you can buy them at The Eclectic Pantry in West Jefferson. They will be available in Boone at Bare Essentials after Thursday of this week too ! I sent out some samples through New River Organic Growers co op last week, and the reviews were all good, I’m tickled pink. I did make the decision to sell wholesale this year, so as to get the product out there, more conveniently to more folks, but honestly, if you buy straight from me it’s better for the farm, and the price is the same. I am willing to do some delivery also.
Any of my CSA customers from last year will get a 10% discount, and if you are one of the CSA disaster customers from last season, if you could just let me know when I can get these birds to you, I really would appreciate it. I need to get this off my conscience ! I will never, never, ever attempt to do a CSA again, this is my solemn vow. Not only did we lose nearly all the birds last year in one failure after another, but then I missed some folks in trying to send out refunds, and didn’t realize it for several months. Sheesh !
OK … I must get some stuff done, this rain has thrown us so far behind! Much love to you, Nancy
Is the Word Church a Noun?
I reckon it is, according to Webster anyhow.
1churchnoun \ˈchərch\
1: a building for public and especially Christian worship 2: the clergy or officialdom of a religious body 3 : often capitalized : a body or organization of religious believers
Some of you are aware that when we moved back here in 2001, we attended the church that I had been raised in, Warrensville UMC. Some of you also know that our family was politely and quietly asked to leave. I think the words the Pastor used were, “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something. Folks just don’t feel like you fit in here, and you should find another church.”
Let me tell y’all what’s the God’s honest truth, there just ain’t nothin’ that hurts like a church hurt ! From our earliest memories in Sunday School, words like brothers and sisters in Christ, children of God … I remember the words to one of the first little songs I ever learned, red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world. I remember my little sisters ruffled tights going across the altar rail when she was 2 and an angel in the Christmas play, my Grandma’s funeral, 5th Sunday dinners, my Daddy’s deep voice singing Church in the Wildwood. So many memories! I loved every nook and cranny of that little church. Then they tell you, well .. we took a vote, and you aren’t welcome in this church. Your children aren’t welcome. Talk about something that will flat rock your world, but that’ll do it !
We tried to approach it philosophically, tried to laugh about it, visited some other churches; It wasn’t that we didn’t like them, but they weren’t really home, and the fear of rejection was just so close to the surface, I would spend the whole service on the edge of my seat, waiting to be asked to leave, so we stopped going to church. Matt was only five and bewildered, our four teens pretty much fell apart, mostly because their Mama did not handle it well. There’s so much hurt and anger to deal with, we are all supposed to be equal in the sight of God, right? Created in his image? Sisters and brothers in Christ? I would look at my beautiful children and the words to that little song, Jesus loves the little children, all the little children of the world… Oh heavens what a hellacious couple of years that was !
But eventually the dust settled, time helped to heal, and we found ourselves on the other side of that crisis, with new compassion and new understanding of what Christ really wanted from us, what a relationship with Christ really meant. It all boiled down to one thing, we are commanded to love others, to be the hands and feet of God, to show others The Living Christ, less telling, more doing. Every morning I pray that the people He puts in my path will know by my actions that I am a follower of Christ, that someone will be able to feel His love through me. In other words, if I have to tell you I’m a Christian, I ain’t doin’ it right.
Which brings me to church becoming a verb in my own vocabulary, I want to change it from being a noun that stirs up near panic attacks, in my own heart anyway, into an action. For 10 years now, an invitation to church from a well meaning person, has set off a panic attack. The words “Where do you go to church” stirs such fear. Heart pounding, what do I say? Do I tell this person that I’m a misfit? That our family was too weird to go to church? I generally wind up mumbling something and walking away with my head down, berating myself for not handling it better. It’s sort of funny, this need to turn it into a verb, because the only time it’s used as a verb, to my knowledge, is when someone gets churched, the mountain equivalent of excommunication, which is pretty much what happened to us! How many others are there who have the same problem with church? How many others want to reach out in a physical way on a day to day basis to folks in need? How many folks are there who need to be reached out to ?
David and Nan Jones are leading a ministry comprised of folks who feel led to be the hands and feet of Christ. Who want to be all inclusive, to show love to all of God’s children, not just the ones who fit in.
It is called Compassion House.
“ Dear friends…this so the time for Compassion House…we have heard the talking..Now is the time to get off our rears and get together and do something in this county…Everyone in the sound of my voice…can you come and meet with us…All are welcome…We need to stop talking and live out the words of Jesus” -David Jones
I have decided to work at overcoming my fear of the noun, commit to the verb, and become a part of this ministry. Lord help us ! Holler at me, or check out the All Are Welcome in His House group on Facebook for more details about Compassion House. I do know that a covered dish supper has been tentatively scheduled for Friday evening, to give folks a chance to meet and put some plans in action. I think they are just waiting on confirmation of a location.
Be tender with each other today y’all, there’s a lot of wonderful human beings hurting today. Share some hugs. Show someone today that the word Love is a verb. Peace, Nancy & the Critters at Foxfire Holler
Sarvis Winter
That is what my daddy, Hoss Weaver, would have called this cold snap we’ve been having this week. Sarvis, for those who “ain’t from here” refers to the Serviceberry tree that is in bloom right now. Dogwood winter, blackberry winter, variations on the same theme. I think my strawberries got bit a little, my fault, should have covered them up. Darn it, I hate when I do dumb stuff like that! On the upside, this cold spell has brought some fine rain with it. The pastures are greening up really nicely, I always love it when the mountains start turning green. I do so love springtime! Hoping this weekend to find some time to go check on the branch lettuce and ramps up in the mountain. I think a mess of branch lettuce and early ramps might just be the spring tonic I need right now.
Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we should start processing Foxfire Holler pastured poultry next week. We are going to have a couple for Sunday dinner, just to make sure they are ready, and then start processing in earnest Monday about 5 AM. I know Matthew is really looking forward to it, he hasn’t actually said so, but I can see it in his face every time I mention it. I’ve got this bridge for sale up in New York too, by the way.
The first birds to leave will be the unfulfilled CSA’s from last years disaster, then after that we should have poultry all summer long. If you want non frozen, fresh birds, please call me and you are more than welcome to come out to the farm and get some before I freeze them. We plan to be done with packaging and have everything in the freezer on Thursday. If we can get done, Matthew gets a birthday surprise for his 16th. (if you’re reading this buddy, it ain’t a car.. just so you know )
The lambs are gorgeous this year, I think this is our prettiest crop ever, I say that every year, and the young’uns always laugh at me.. but it’s true! We love to watch the lamb races at dusk, watch them chase each other and jump and run like they have springs on their feet. There is nothing more joyous & peaceful than lambs. One day I am going to try to capture that on video. I always say that too.
If I can remember it, after I finish this writing, I need to call down to Mays Meats and see about moving these hogs to the freezer pasture, and we can all have sausage again… I’ve been out for so long, I’ve bout forgotten what it tastes like! Seems like these days my forgetterer works better than my rememberer.. Reckon why that is? Old age ? Probably, but I’m just thinking I’ll stay in denial for a few more years yet!
There is so much to be thankful for this spring, my heart is so full ! Seems like we are being blessed with lots of new relationships, as well as cherished old ones. Maybe it’s a sign of my own personal growth that I am seeing the richness and wonder in relationships, and recognizing that they all bring something different to the melting pot that is my life. When I read the book The Shack , I struggled with fully appreciating the concept of relationship which Papa keeps asking for. Maybe I am growing closer to it. And by the way, if you haven’t read it.. Do it. ASAP !
A truly wonderful friend sent me the coolest present last week.. guess ? nah, you’ll never get it.. An electric grain mill !!!!!! I’m telling y’all, this is the coolest thing since a wood splitter! I’ve been grinding everything I could get my hands on. I have to admit, we were getting lazy, it was somebody needs to grind corn if we are having cornbread for supper. Everyone would generally disappear and then complain a lot. And someone would wind up running out to pick up a bag of cornmeal (yuck) from the store. The Wondermill takes just a few seconds to have enough meal for a cake of cornbread and it never, ever whines! Now if I could just find my favorite whole wheat yeast bread recipe.. it’s put up somewhere safe, I know. Dadgummit!
Well, I reckon that’s all the news from the farm. On the fiber front, we’ve got some classes scheduled for the season. We will be kicking it off by demonstrating at the 1904 Courthouse Museum for their Spring Celebration this Saturday from 10-4 or so. As per usual it will be very hands on for young’uns of all ages, if the weather is pretty and we can be out on the lawn, we will be taking a couple of pet-able lambs along.
We will be teaching 2 spinning classes and a natural dying class for kids at the Florence Thomas Art School in Glendale Springs on the 27th of July.
We will also be teaching at the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair (SAFF) in Asheville in October again. Not only is this truly an honor, but it’s just SO much fun! Several kids spinning classes are planned, so keep your eyes open so you can sign up early as space will be very limited.
We signed up to do the High Country Farm tour with Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture again this August 4th and 5th, this is always a barrel of fun for us and hopefully for the visitors also. Just keep your fingers crossed we can talk GiGi into her famous fried chicken again this year and all will be right with the world. We are going to need some tour volunteers, musicians to keep jam sessions going, and fiber demonstrators. We promise to feed you good and hug your neck. Christy has a thing planned for the end of May. Not exactly sure what, but she’s promising good stuff, so stay tuned. I kind of freak out over the idea of farm tours, I know there is a demand, I know it’s a good thing.. but wow! It’s hard enough to farm without trying to keep a place storybook perfect all the time. Those of you who know me, know that I’m not good at that anyway! But I was reminded in a conversation recently, that the reason we have farm tours is to help people connect with their food, and see what a real, working, sustainable farm looks like. So, I agreed to do it this year again, but sometimes I think this particular funny farm might be just a wee bit toooo realistic. Y’all come on tho, we’ll have fun and at the very least you can go home feeling much, much better about your own house and yard keeping skills !
I have been wondering what kind of interest there would be in spinning classes here on the farm. Please give me some feedback and let me know if you would be interested. Possibility of some camping availability on farm too.
OK .. I’ve heard the dreaded what’s for supper question a couple times now, reckon it’s time I figured that out.
Hope all is awesome in your lives today! Much love from the farm, Nancy
We’re Back!
Hey y’all, I know it’s been a while.. a long time as a matter of fact. July of last year. Wow ! Seemed like everything just fell apart last summer. I am now referring to it as my Twilight Zone year.. things that just couldn’t happen, happened. Everytime I would sit down to write, it would just come out as WHINE WHINE POOR PITIFUL ME. But now it’s over, 2011 is behind us and 2012 is looking pretty darned awesome all in all 
We are getting a wonderful little shower here as I write this. We need it. The grass is turning green and the weeds sure have gotten a head start on us! Christy and I have spent the last 2 days finding the beds, so far we’ve made a good dent in the strawberry, asparagus and garlic beds. Ready to plant potatoes but haven’t got it done yet.. Last years taters got dug by Matt’s little sow pig, whose name just happens to be Tater, maybe just a touch of ESP in the naming of that piglet.. hmmm Thank God for Danny Harvey and his organic potatoes! I did really like the vertical way of growing them last year tho, and we are going to repeat that experiment this year, sans piggies we hope! I think the electric fence is good and hot now, so maybe no Tater in the taters this year ! I am such a bad “grower” that sometimes I think it’s cheaper just to let someone else do the growing, but year after year, I keep plugging away at it. I do so miss my Daddy and his green thumb!
We have 23 lambs on the ground, all healthy and growing fast. 6 of them are Rambouillet X Merino ewe lambs, so that goes a long ways towards replacing my finewool flock. Blossom had a wonderful litter of 10 piglets, and Tater is bred and should go in about 2 months with her first litter. But the best news of all is that our chickens are doing beautifully !
I’ve been afraid to plan or even be hopeful after last years poultry debacle. Don’t count your chickens before they’re in the freezer, you know but so far we have had low losses and they are growing like crazy. So, in about 2 weeks we should have pastured poultry for sale at the Ashe County Farmers Market, the Eclectic Pantry in West Jefferson, and of course here at the farm. I will be hiring about 3 people to help with butchering and packaging for about 3 days, so if you know anyone that would be interested, have them give me a holler please!
We should have fresh sausage about the same time also, I’ve been out of sausage for months now and my mouth is watering just thinking about it !
Christy, Matt and I will be teaching some kids classes during fiber week at the Florence Arts School in Glendale Springs on the 27th of July, so call Meghan and get those younguns signed up ! We are going to have a blast, that I can promise.
OK … I need to go get something done, even if it’s wrong. I just wanted y’all to know that we’re back. I wasn’t sure we would be. My state of mind is better, the universe seems to be smiling on Foxfire Holler this year, and it’s starting to look like Mama is in remission, which of course is the best news of all
Remember, Love is a verb, so get out there and do it ! ( not THAT…Geez, get yer minds outta the gutter people ! ) Thank you so much for supporting us.. thank you for all your love
Nancy and the crew at the funny farm
Independence Day
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Hey y’all and Happy Independence Day ! Thought I would take a few minutes and write while I eat my M&M sandwich.. Mater & Mayonnaise that is : )
Folks say .. think about what the 4th of July means … and I know, I know .. I am patriotic too .. and very thankful for the freedoms afforded me by being blessed enough to live in the USA ! But what about personal independence? To provide our own food, to provide for ourselves basic needs… To not be dependent on an infrastructure to care for and raise our families … That’s the point I want to reach!
And I feel that I am failing miserably. One step forward and three back .. whew! Wendy Painter just stopped by and I was standing on the porch talking to her and looking at all that is undone… I said seems like I get one thing done and look around and there’s 20 that need doing .. YESTERDAY ! She says .. maybe that should tell you something .. so I’m looking at her .. thinking .. oh yeah, this is it, speak wise one! And she says “but damned if I know what “ Thanks Wendy! Yep ! I reckon it’s just to work harder .. longer.. Seems like I can only focus on one thing a day anymore… I don’t run from one thing to another like I used to be able to do. Old age ? oh well! Just keep swimming I reckon!
I had something hit me the other day. Just out of the clear blue sky, there it was.. No one is going to rescue me … Now I know what y’all are thinking , well Tass, you goof, did you REALLY think someone was going to come riding up on a white horse and fix it all? and I thought the answer would have been no, certainly I was never conscious of thinking that way! So why did this realization make me so sad ? Part of the grief process ? I reckon it must be … Will this process never end ? 2 and a half years now, and I still can’t change the message on the answering machine or sleep in my bedroom..and some days it still hits me so hard that I am not sure I want to keep going. It’s like a dadgummed freight train that comes out of nowhere and wham, it just flat knocks me flat on my hiney.. I think I’m emotionally retarded for petes sake ! Another step in my process of learning not to be dependent on others for my well being? Happy Independence Day to me, huh ?
We have been processing chickens this week. Not as many as I thought I would have, the chicken hawks have taken their toll…just one of the hazards of raising free range poultry added to the attempt to live in harmony with wildlife I reckon. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, nor would I want to confine the birds… but man, sometimes I feel like the ‘yotes and the cats and the hawks run back to their buddies and say “Dude!!! there’s an all you can eat buffet over yonder!” Sheesh! At any rate .. when I finish this round of processing I will have my CSA’s satisfied and then begin to sell to retail customers.
One of the calves has pinkeye .. poor little guy, I feel so sorry for him.. We are treating it with sea salt and it’s looking much better today. He’s such a sweet little feller !
Something is chewing on my broccoli and brussel sprouts and collards … I reckon I am going to have to spray .. going to try dish soap and borax first, before I do a (organic) pesticide.. I hate the thought of getting my beneficials as well as the pests, so I hate to make that my first line of defense. Bear and Littlun decided that the 2 beds of greenbeans I planted looked like a great place for them to waller .. so I only have 4 little bean plants there. Reckon I will start over , I have two 150 foot rows of half runners out in the orchard, but I don’t think that will be enough, and mama really wanted the bush beans that I planted out here, so here we go again !
The sheep are sheared, nekkid and happy .. we missed one merino and one cheviot .. I don’t know where they were hiding out at but they definitely didn’t come to the party. It was a very nice day, lots of people came to help out and oldest darling daughter Lori fixed us a fantastic dinner.
I had the most wonderful experience yesterday. An old neighbor, whom I haven’t seen since high school, and that was a LONG time ago, posted a kind of down post on Facebook … and I said something.. and someone else said something .. and we wound up in a sort of encouraging brainstorm-y kind of 142 comments kind of conversation… By the end of it, we all felt energized to face the day with a bit more of an attitude of joie d’vivre , and I for one felt truly blessed to have been a part of something wonderful, and in the process made a new friend! Sometimes I just know that God put me in the right place at the right time and it’s such a good feeling.
’tis off I go… Going to fill up the pig’s mudholes so they can stay nice and cool .. and work on Juniors eyes a little more..and plant some beans and well, just see what else I can get into today. I hope y’all have a most wonderful holiday weekend.. Love! It’s a verb you know ; ) Nancy
Sunny Saturday Mornings
Hey yall : ) Good morning ! Lori woke me up at 4:30 this morning because of a weird noise in the pasture… I heard it twice more and never could locate the origin, but I think it must have been a rabbit dying : ( That is just the saddest sound ; ( but the owls have to eat too .. right ? yeah ..
I love early mornings, so full of possibilities ! My garden isn’t big enough this year, so I need to build more beds, got to get ready for shearing next Saturday, and have to harvest chickens one day this week. That should have already been done, and I apologize to my CSA customers for running behind on this first batch.. Our plucker got backordered and we just got another one ordered that should be here on Tuesday … fingers crossed ! We were going to pluck them by hand last week, but one of those danged time stealing migraines hit me about Tuesday and there just wasn’t any getting it done! I hate those things! Such is life I reckon…
I am thinking of moving some fence and adding some garden area out at the orchard for beans and such … and we have no where near enough greens to get through the winter .. but we should have lots and lots of squarsh … which is good cause we love to can it to use year round. The pigs look good, growing like weeds … should be on target to be sausage around October or so. The chickens all look good too.. I am tickled with how they are growing out this year.
We bought a few cherries from Phil and Betty Stanley over in the Stanley Holler yesterday… I will be so happy when my cherry trees are producing and we have our own! and apples and pears and plums and berries and and … well you get the picture : )
I am wondering if I could use the same trellis that I put up for my blackberries and raspberries for beans just for this year… the bare root plants (is plants the correct term?) anyway, they are just sticks this year .. and I wonder if beans would shade them too much? Mama will know … if I can remember to ask her later on today! The trellis is about a hundred and fifty foot row with metal posts and 3 wires … so I have two of those and if that would work … It would sure ease the where to put more beans quandary !
Mama has started on a chemo pill .. well .. 8 a day for 2 weeks.. don’t know how that is going to affect her yet. Praying it doesn’t make her too sick ..and that it WORKS !!!
OK .. I am off to wander the farm with my coffee and piddle in the garden a bit til the rest of the house wakes up… Have a wonderful day .. Love !
