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We are so glad that you'll be joining us this spring for the Piedmont Farm Tour. More information about this annual event is available on-line by Googling: Piedmont Farm Tour.
Bring your coolers, there will be plenty of Beef, Pork and Eggs for sale!!
Box Turtle Bakery will be joining us on Sunday with lots of samples of their wonderful breads. The spelt and wheat you see growing as you come up the drive were planted specifically for Abraham to use at the bakery.
The bakery will have a variety of scones and pita flatbreads for sale!
As you're driving up, look left and you'll see the deep green organic spelt, an ancient grain enjoyed by many people unable to tolerate modern wheats. To the right, the bright green wheat. We raise all our own organic grain for our animals, and part of the wheat from this field will be ground for feed. Barley is across the street and appears as a bright green patch in the far left field.
As you continue up the drive, you'll see an old wooden structure: the last of the tobacco barns left on the property. A number of years ago we needed to decide if were going to save the barn, or let it go back to nature. Kip Johnson restored the barn to its original look. The walls are original, as are the tobacco hanging poles inside the barn. I now use them to hang garlic, as it is cool and well ventilated with a dirt floor. The stone foundation has been replaced with cement. Circa 1860.
Look right and you'll begin seeing lots and lots of chickens.The aqua structure is a mobile chicken house built several years ago by Allison of Chapel Hill Creamery. Right now it houses 13 Barred Rock hens, 1 rooster and if you look closely, you'll see a black and white Lakenvelder. She's a bit flighty and spends most of her time under the shelter of the house.
Next comes the orignal brooder house, circa 1860. The small chimney coming out of the roof vented the wood stove that kept the biddies warm. Someone would have had to stay with the birds for most of the time right after hatching; a problem with the stove would have cost them the entire flock of biddies. Right now you'll see a great variety of hens and several different roosters. They lay their eggs in layer boxes inside the house, and rest on roosts that are angled so that they are not directly on top of one another while sleeping.
Next up: more chickens. 60 Barred rocks and their rooster. We are in the process of building a mobile house for them as well, but until then, they have plenty of room to roam, as well as shaded shelter in the alleyway behind their present house. Behind the caution tape are freshly sowed grazing greens.
Ahhh...the pigs. Very curious animals; if you stand still, they'll come right up to you. Please watch the kids as the electric wire is hot. The 3 sided shelter is another old brooder house, circa 1860. The animals come and go between pasture and shelter all year round. In the winter, deep straw bedding keeps them warm and in the summer I keep their self-made wallows filled with fresh water. Pigs do not have sweat glands, and need to be able to find relief from the heat. They don't mind the chickens running around them...the pigs root for grubs and the chickens keep the fly population at bay.
There is lots more to see...farm machinery used in getting up hay, the combine we're still working on that will get up the grain, the mill that grinds the grain into feed that the animals can use. Depending on the number of people, kids will be able to help collect eggs. (You may want to bring some plastic supermarket bags to tie around their shoes, as a lot of whats in the coop you don't want to bring home.) And if Forrie cooperates, you'll be able to pet this nanny cow.
And then, there's GUSSIE !!!
LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU HERE!!
ESTA AND MURRAY