One Year Later

Posted on 03/10/2012 by Melissa

So much can change in a year.

A year ago this week Mark and I took our first trip to Charlottesville together. The trip was a much anticipated – and deserved! – vacation from the recordbreaking winter in Vermont. When we left, there were still several feet of the white stuff on the ground, and it wasn’t about to end anytime soon. Here’s what our house looked like around that time.

Some of us were genuinely grumpy with the weather. Not that I’m naming any names.

It wasn’t just that we were sick of being cold, and the winter darkness, and the shoveling. It’s also that we were literally worried that the roof might collapse (turns out we didn’t have to worry as our attic roof was structurally overbuilt, but we were worried nonetheless). We also were itching to start gardening, and it was hard enough to even think about garden season let alone start seedlings indoors when our backyard looked like this.

We really thought spring would never come.

So imagine our surprise when we took our vacation 500 miles south and found daffodils blooming, community gardens bustling with people, and farmers with their hands in the soil! In March! With no snow on the ground! And no dreaded mud-season!

One year ago today I began picturing myself living in Virginia, and for the first time, and I kind of liked what I saw. Of course Mark and I had talked about it before then – he had been looking at Virginia real estate online for months prior to our vacation. But I never really gave it much thought. Because when I did think about it, it made me sad. Say goodbye to Vermont? Leave the house that we had put so much energy into renovating?

Being the sweet guy that he is, Mark wanted to ensure that if we did ever move to Virginia it was as much my idea as it was his. In other words, no forced relocation or ultimatums. Gentle prodding? Yes. Coercion? No. Mark simply let Virginia speak for itself.

Over the course of about a week spent in the Charlottesville area we visited some of the many places that did the talking – loud and clear.

First, there was Edible Landscaping, an amazing nursery that sells only edible plants that can grow in this region. Like figs and peaches and tea plants and peanuts and artichokes and almonds and pecans and lemons! (Yes, lemons and other citrus will grow here, if they have a protected greenhouse.)
We toured around wineries, meaderies, and breweries, and we attended a local homebrew club meeting. Of course, a great beer, wine, and homebrew scene exists in Vermont, too, but the number of breweres in VA, combined with the state tourism push (especially along Nelson 151) ensured we caught the Virginia craft beer buzz. We even won a prize from the homebrewers: ten pounds of English pale grain that we had to figure out how to lug home to Vermont with us.
We visited properties for sale that had garden/farm space measured in acres, not feet. And they were affordable-ish and close-ish to Charlottesville, which was more than we could find in the Burlington area.
And we met amazing people everywhere we went – not only through the CouchSurfing community but also through daily wanderings and conversations. Of course there is no way to compare VA and VT here. We find great people everywhere we go. (Law of attraction, perhaps?)

But above all else, there were two defining moments from last year’s trip: Viewing a particular property that was on the market, and visiting the Local Food Hub’s farm in Scottsville, that we now call home.

Let’s start with the Local Food Hub first, shall we? Through our pre-vacation research we learned of the LFH and thought it sounded like the kind of place we’d like to learn more about. They support local farmers, grow their own food to supply local schools and the food bank and were similar to Burlington’s Intervale (in fact, modeled on the Intervale in many ways). We got in touch and arranged to take a brief visit.

On March 9th, 2011, we met up with the Food Hub’s Marketing Manager – Emily Manley – who explained the nonprofit’s mission and projects, and gave us a tour around the farm. We saw wide expanses of beautiful farmland, low tunnels protecting crops from the nightly drop in temperature, as well as intimidating Virginia clay. We met farm apprentices who were digging in the soil to prepare for imminent potato planting. We wandered into the greenhouse to find happy, healthy seedlings, and noted that the mushroom logs looked nearly ready to bloom.

I immediately compared my situation to theirs: Potato planting? We’d have to wait for the snow to melt and mud season to pass before we could dig into dry enough soil to plant potatoes. Greenhouses with seedlings almost ready to go in the ground? We hadn’t even started most of our seedlings yet since the ground wouldn’t be ready for them for months. Oh yes, the land was speaking to me. Despite Virginia’s contentious red clay, the land looked way more appealing than the four feet of snow in our backyard.

At the time, we could not have fathomed that one year later the happy seedlings in the greenhouse would be our happy seedlings, and the hands digging in the red earth would be our hands. We had no idea that Emily and the rest of the LFH staff would welcome us into the Hub with open arms.

Defining moment number two: viewing a particular house on 12 acres of land that had everything we were looking for. (Mind you, at the time I still didn’t know I was looking for anything in Virginia, but after seeing this place I was fairly convinced I would find it here, whatever it was.) The house was in our price range, 20 minutes from Charlottesville, and had existing farm buildings in good condition. This place had us dreaming about starting our own small farm (and B&B?) within the first five minutes of setting foot. In fact, the house and property got our creative juices flowing to the point that we were ready to make a bid, and so we did. Only then we learned that there was already another bid on the house, and it had been accepted. We were quite literally a day late… (not sure about the “dollar short” part).

We saw other properties before and after this one, so why did this make such an impact on me? Maybe it’s because, unlike most of the other properties we’ve looked at, I was able to picture myself living there, starting our farm business, renovating the house (minor renovations – the house was in great shape), and spending time in Charlottesville. Maybe it’s because, once we decided to bid, it was an intense, and often draining, emotionally engaging process. We made up stories about the other people who had placed a bid. Maybe their bid was dependent on financing, and it would fall through? Maybe they would think it over and decide it wasn’t the place for them after all? Maybe it was someone from out of state just buying up cheap land to re-sell it and we would have another opportunity to get our hands on it?

None of those things happened. After several very emotionally draining months of back-and-forth with our realtor, we learned that their sale eventually went through. We were bummed. Since then we haven’t found a property as good as this one in terms of location (location! location!), quality, infrastructure, and price. That, plus the fact that this house was symbolic as my turning point in becoming open to moving to Virginia, and we have ourselves a place to which no other property can hold a candle.

Thus, we found ourselves today, a year later, driving past said house and dropping a note in the mailbox for the current owners. The letter said something along the lines of: Hi. We’re jealous. Call us if you want to sell your house. Only a bit longer and more narrative-driven.

We didn’t expect anything to come of it, but figured it would be nice to see the house again, one year later. Maybe meet the owners. (Only they weren’t home, hence the note in the mailbox.) And I’m glad we took the trip out there. It offered a chance for some reflection. Now that a year has passed, I could see it with new eyes. The trees in the orchard are still ugly and stunted, the neighboring houses look kind of trashy. And I bet the 70s carpeting and linoleum kitchen flooring is still inside the huge house. Yes, it still had some appeal, but maybe I need to trust in the universe’s message: that house isn’t the place for us.

The truth is, we have found our home in Virginia, albeit temporary, thanks to the Local Food Hub. Last year’s vacation literally changed our lives. No, we didn’t get that particular property but I think we got something even better: the chance to farm and learn, to grow as food producers and as people, starting to put down Virginia roots together at Cottage View Farm.

Shopping in Our Garden

Posted on 12/02/2011 by Melissa

The next time you are shopping for ingredients for dinner, imagine it’s pitch black, you are wearing a headlamp, and have to watch your step to be sure you don’t crush a head of cabbage.

Now that it gets dark so early, I have to remind myself to go outside and “shop” for produce from our garden before it gets too dark to see the options. If I forget to grab an ingredient during the day, I will sometimes “shop” in the dark, using a headlamp or simply the light from our deck light to guide the way, but the result is usually less than stellar.

The alternative, of course, is to go to Hannaford’s grocery store down the street, where, thanks to fluorescent overhead lights, it’s always daylight (even, I’ve noticed, when the store is closed, which I wish someone could explain to me). But, while we still have a nice assortment of garden veggies, especially greens, I’d rather shop uber-locally. You’ve heard of the 100-mile diet? This is the 25 foot diet.

Today I remembered to do my shopping early, while it’s still daylight (albeit grey and slightly rainy) out. I’ve included a few photos below to show you what’s available in our garden these days.

oh how we love you, kale

There are a few heads of red cabbage lingering that haven't yet been turned into sauerkraut

Asian greens

Beets

Beets selected for tonight's salad

One of the last bowls of arugula this season

Mustard greens

What are you shopping for in your garden these days?

My World According to Tabs

Posted on 09/04/2011 by Melissa

As anybody who’s seen my computer knows, I always have no less than a dozen or more tabs open in my web browser at any given time. The reason? I’ll often stumble upon news or a recipe or a well written blog that I want to spend time reading but don’t have time at that the moment, so I leave it open to come back to later.

You can learn a lot about what’s going on in my life by looking at my open tabs. When I started this post, I had 17 tabs across the top of my screen. Three are constant – even necessary – in my day-to-day life: Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Docs (where I store documents for work and for personal use). Another one is nearly necessary: Pandora. When I need news in my aural environment, I choose VPR. But when I want music, it’s Pandora. Recently I’ve been really enjoying meditating to music, so I have a Zazen station on Pandora that is my go to morning meditation station. Along those lines, two other tabs also relate to meditation: an interview with Jack Kornfield I want to revisit, and this, an article by karen maezen miller entitled rules for a mindful garden, that I just can’t seem to let go of. Get it? I have an attachment to mindfulness articles. Ha. But I digress…

Another topic of my recent web-browsing and, perhaps more significantly, real live conversations, has been the Keystone XL tarsands pipeline (proposed to carry crude oil from Alberta, Canada to the Gulf Coast) and the ensuing two weeks of protests in DC. Don’t know about it? Check out some of the tabs I currently have open (listed below) or an informative Wiki article here.

The White House and the Tar Sands – article on CommonDreams by NASA Scientist James Hansen
Inspiring photos of those involved with the Tar Sands protests in DC for the past two weeks.
Moving Planet – Global day of action on Sept 24th to demand solutions to the climate crisis

Maybe my better half will write a guest post about his involvement in the protests – the biggest civil disobedience action this century on this continent. In the meantime, those articles will have to do. Right now the world is watching as Obama decides who he truly represents: citizens who demand a clean energy future, or industry pushing for business as usual and a continued reliance on polluting fossil fuels.

Again, I digress…

From the remaining websites I have open, I bet you can tell what else is on my mind:

Pear Ginger Compote that looks great
Pickled Beets recipe that I will make once we harvest beets
Preserving Fruit with Alcohol article from NYT
Pear Brandy recipe with great photo set on Flickr
Zucchini Fritters that I can’t wait to try
Bread and Butter Pickles that I just made tonight
Cucumber Vodka – I think I’ll try that!

It’s that time of year: preserving and putting up food just feels right. Now that the heat of the summer is waning, it’s finally conceivable to spend hours in the kitchen over a boiling pot, handling hot jars of food. Like a busy little squirrel stashing his nuts for the winter, I’m harvesting/trading/buying fresh produce and putting it by for the coming winter. This year we’re experimenting with food preservation techniques that don’t involve typical canning – like freezing, preserving in alcohol, and cooking-then-freezing meals. Less labor – and heat – intensive, and usually less sketchy on the other end, months from now, when it’s time to eat the food. (The truth is, we’re scared of foods we’ve canned. Even though we followed the recipes and directions on length of time for the boil, it’s scary to think that some lethal bacteria could be present and we wouldn’t even know it by smell or initial taste!)

…

As Mark would say to my blog post thus far So What?

Here’s what. I’m on information overload. And I suspect I’m not the only one. My way of dealing with it has been to keep the information I’ve found close at hand, so I can return to it with one click if needed. Often, the sites I’m attached to require some sort of action, and I’m either not willing or able to take that action right then, so the tab stays open, waiting for the day when I return to it. What do I mean by action? Making the recipes, for example. Or this, the final tab of the 17 I mentioned, a link to continuing education classes offered locally this fall. We’ve already signed up for one each: basic plumbing and basic electricity. But if I’m not done deciding on classes, I’ll keep the tab open until the thought is complete.

Here’s what else. I think this snapshot of information in my life is symbolic of the bigger picture. I keep coming back to the fact that my life – all of our lives – are both global and local. I can preserve my harvest in order to secure my own future, but this only works to a point. Regardless of whether Obama approves the XL pipeline, we all have an uncertain future. The devastating flooding in Vermont after tropical storm Irene is a poignant example of how climate change is literally changing the game for life on this planet. As author/blogger/climate activist/Vermonter Ben Jervey said in a recent OnEarth article:

If there’s any lesson to take away from the devastation in Vermont, it’s that these “one-in-100 years rains” seem to be happening with increasing frequency, and that urban and rural areas alike need to take steps to be better prepared. Climate adaptation is an advanced and respected discipline in much of the developed world, but here in the United States, it hasn’t yet been taken very seriously. If extreme weather events really are becoming the “new normal,” then we have a ways to go to prepare and build better resiliency into our communities and our infrastructure.