Nurf Adventure Trails: Woodcrest Farm 1

The wonderful family we stayed with on our last night in Asheville.

Farm life is really making me realise how unfit I am!

I spent the whole of today mulching with some other wonderful wwoofing people.

Mulching as far as I understand it, is basically the process of spreading plastic or some other material over the surface of the soil as a covering. It is used to retain moisture in the soil, suppress weeds, keep the soil cool and make the garden bed look more attractive. Organic mulches also help improve the soil’s fertility, as they decompose. Today we were getting rid of the biodegradable plastic coverings for the organically grown veggies and then tilling the ground to prepare it for the next crop. I realised very quickly that organic crop land is FULL of spiders, snakes, all kinds of creepy crawlies and frogs. There is therefore no time to be finicky!

My boot was bitten by a copperhead snake (Thank goodness it wasn’t my leg!) and a Black Widow spider jumped on my hand (I was wearing working gloves, so no harm done!) I saw 5 more Black Widows after that, but learnt quickly to be careful with mulching about.

Russell spent the day helping Allan (the owner of the farm) to start installing the solar panels on the house.

Over-all we are absolutely loving the experience of being here. It is an adaptation, living with such a big family (we are 11 people at the moment) but we are really liking the people and the wonderful atmosphere of this place. I have a feeling we are going to learn a lot!

"Surprise" the premature orphan lamb with 6 year old Mica

This is the room Russell and I are going to stay in for the next couple of months: (Please notice the fireplace!) I took these early this morning when it was still quite dark; the light is that which is coming in through the window...