Buckner before the farm tour

This past weekend Noel, Danielle, Mike and I went to the 13th Annual CFSA Farm Tour. We drove up Saturday night to the land in Silk Hope, ate dinner at Chatham Marketplace and sat in the camper trying to figure out which farms to visit.

The choices came down to our individual interests and proximity of those farm choices to each other. The proximity issue was important since the 35 farms on the tour were spread out over several counties. Our hope was to visit four farms in three counties.

Since we have seen vegetable production in full scale operation as part of our jobs and lives, we decided we wanted to visit farms that incorporated animals, passive solar greenhouses and alternatives to the things we see everyday. We went over the maps and each made our choices. With little debate we picked four farms that were pretty close to each other and fairly diverse. After the choices were made there was nothing to do but make fun of each other.

Saturday night was the full moon, but it was obscured right after I took this picture and didn’t return. The rain came soon after. We could faintly hear the Shakori Hills Festival going on nearby as the thunderstorm came through.

We fell asleep in the Wolf Den to the pounding of rain.

Sunday morning was a chance to explore the new growth around the farm. The spring oats that we spread out a bit ago were a few inches high. It looks like it is going to take. The yellow clover was harder to figure out, and we aren’t sure what will happen with it.

The mint patch near the house was already a few feet high.

Wildflowers were coming up everywhere. I haven’t identified anything yet since I forgot to take pictures of the leaves, which is where my key likes to start.

Noel thinks this is a Quince tree.

The picture below is Cedar Apple Rust (Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae), and its presence makes the poor health of the surrounding apple trees make more sense. The fungus needs both cedar and apple trees to complete its life cycle. This cedar tree is about ten or so feet from an apple tree. The only source I could find on the edibility of the fungus simply said, “I have no information on the edibility of Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae.” Thanks.

I find new things every time I visit the farm, and of course I had to set up a nice still life with the note I scrawled in the lean to when we bought the place –

I will have reviews of the four farms from the farm tour coming up over the next few weeks…