On Monday we arrived at Queensdale, our next farm, just down the road in Hillsborough. Our farm hosts are Barb and Marsha, two very sweet women trying to start up an “edible landscape,” as they call it, on their property. After unpacking our things into the lake house we were to stay in, we joined them for dinner and a few good laughs sharing stories of travels and farming. Over the next couple of days Ryan and I worked on dismantling and the reassembling the fence for their garden. Aptly named, the crazy lady fence was a conglomeration of various pieces of fencing Marsha and Barb had acquired over the years and has since gained several holes, allowing animals of all sorts into the garden to feast. It took us some time, but the end result was a much sturdier, hole-less fortress.
ζ
Before: After:
Just for good measure, the next day we sprayed deer repellant around the garden and other fruit and nut trees on the property. The high that day was 45 degrees so we didn’t do too much outside other than that.
The following day we spent some time moving around a few items in the garage. Took nails out of some spare boards, moved pallets, and stacked wood for the outhouse construction project. Our next undertaking was to fix the chicken coop, which we decided to completely disassemble as well. Once taken apart, we drew up a design using the pieces given and then executed our plan.. The new chicken coop we constructed was perfect and Marsha and Barb loved it.
On the evenings that didn’t bring in too much chilly wind, we really enjoyed sitting out on the deck of our lake house. The lake was well stocked so Ryan had fun wrestling the bass to the surface.
The weekend before leaving we decided to check out the Carrboro farmers market, which is supposedly one of the top in the country, since the area is so rich with progressive food movement. Once we got into town, we walked around a bit and found a nice little dinner where we had breakfast before investigating the market. The produce, breads, flowers, pottery, and many other things were all amazing and well worth the drive into town.
Our stay at Queensdale was great and Marsha and Barb were every bit hospitable and then some. We really enjoyed getting to know you two and are glad to have two new friends. Thank you for everything!
On our way south we stopped in Jax Beach to visit Ryan’s friend Oliver for a few nights. We also got to check out St. Augustine, tour the old town, and eat at The Floridian which was a great restaurant serving only local and sustainably raised ingredients.Then we headed west towards St. Pete, stopping in Spring Hill for a night to visit my friend Lauren (who is expecting a son any day now!).
Ryan and I both are so grateful to have had the adventure we did. We learned so much, met many amazing folks, and really just took our time exploring!
We are looking forward to spending some time at home, but already have the itch to head out west.
As Tolkien once put it:
“It’s a dangerous business going out of your door. You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
Until next time,
Tonya & Ryan