It started with the movie Food, Inc. It is a great movie and I was really amazed at what it had to say. I was touched by the farmers featured on the film - especially one in particular, Joe Salatin. Well, if you are into the agriculture farming sustainable living type of thing you know that Joe Salatin has "rock star-like" status in the farming world. Anyway, when I got the chance, I bought a bunch of his books off of Amazon and started reading.
During that time, Ted and I had signed up for a kind of "on-line farmer's market" called Athen's Locally Grown (ALG). We started selling our surplus of eggs to the online members (at what we considered an amazing price but what was considered "fair market value" for free-range, farm fresh, natural brown eggs). We quickly realized that our chickens were going to be able to pay for all the feed that we need for all the animals on the farm with money left over! We were thrilled and knew we were going to be regular sellers on the ALG market!
During this time I had seen an ad in Acres magazine for a "Field-Day on July 9th" at Joe Salatin's Polyface Farm. It would require us to travel to VA, and have family fly here from Michigan to watch the kids, but I finally convinced Ted that we "needed" to go.
About the third time we listed (and sold out) our eggs on ALG, I was just finishing reading the last Joe Salatin book I had purchased. As anyone who knows me can tell you, I am never without a book for long. It just so happened Tim and Liz Young from Nature's Harmony Farm posted their new book "The Accidental Farmers" for sale that week on Athen's Locally Grown. I thought about buying it, but didn't.
That week when I was delivering the egg order placed online, I parked next to the large delivery truck of Nature's Harmony Farm. I saw a couple of people talking at the back of the truck so I quickly checked my purse to see if I had any cash. I headed over to the man and woman and asked if they happened to have any books left over that I could buy. That is how I met Tim and Liz Young.
Our conversation wasn't long or life changing or anything, but I left them with that good feeling you get when you meet someone so nice it really make's your day better. Later that night I started to read the book....and....didn't.....stop. I swear, it was like someone had written my and Ted's story. Obviously, some of the details were different but it was "our story" nonetheless.
Forget Joe Salatin - I had new "farming 'Rock Star' idols" and it was Tim and Liz Young.
Their book motivated me to check out the Nature's Harmony Farm website. While there, I discovered the "Farm School Weekend" upcoming event. This time, it didn't take much convincing at all. Ted saw that Nature's Harmony Farm was only an hour and a half away and that meant no long car rides, hotel costs or visting relatives so he told me to "sign us up".
All winter I was looking forward to that weekend. I was so excited! Then, about a week before "the big event" I discovered that Preston's Solo & Ensemble music festival (which he was in four different events and in one of them was performing a piece of music that he had arrainged himself) AND Preston's prom was on that same Saturday.
Let's just say, I am probably not in the running for mother of the year for 2011. I told Preston that since this was not his senior prom then it really doesn't count anyway and I asked him to ask some of his friends to take him to and home from the music festival. Honestly, I am not as heartless as this makes me sound. I really, really, really wanted to go to the festival - and I probably would have if I didn't know we would loose the $900 we paid for the farm weekend. Although, I do admit, I was indifferent on the Prom thing. Preston is a Sophomore after all, he still has plenty of "proming opportunities" ahead of him.
The Thursday before the "big weekend" Ted and I got in a horrible fight. The kind that makes you change your facebook status to "divorced" (yes, I really did that, I was that mad - LOL). It was so bad we didn't even talk to each other on Friday. Friday evening I asked Ted if he was still coming to the farm weekend with me and he said "I don't know, I'll see". UGH! Needless to say Saturday morning the car ride to Nature's Harmony Farm was tense and I could tell that Ted was not looking forward to spending the weekend with Tim and Liz as I was (what can I say, he didn't read the book - LOL!). We arrived at 8:55am and "school" started at 9.
You'll hear all about Farm School Weekend 2011 in the next post.
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| Tim and Liz Young Nature's Harmony Farm |
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