Two weeks spent wwoofing in leicester, nc
May 31, 2015
While many college graduates spend the summer after graduation backpacking around Europe or roadtripping across the US, two friends and I decided to spend some time in rural North Carolina. We spent two weeks on a farm about 30 minutes outside of Asheville while volunteering with World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF), an organization that matches volunteers with farms that are looking for a helping hand.
Together with Neha and Alex, two friends from UNC, I stayed in a 'renovated barn," which was much nicer than we expected. The brothers who own the farm added two full bedrooms to the barn, which had a definite rustic feel but were well furnished. The barn contained a small kitchen with a fridge, hot plate and sink. We often ate our meals on stools across from the sink, with three dogs begging us for scraps of food. The brothers installed a compost toilet in the bathroom, which was just part of their efforts at sustainable farming.
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Our major responsibility on the farm included caring for the animals. The brothers have two beautiful horses, Rambo and Octavia, who live with three rams, two sheep and five baby lambs. They raise pigs for meat, so we cared for three large pigs and six piglets. In addition to the roughly 500 chicks being raised for meat, there are six egg laying chickens who lived with two ducks (one of which, sadly, was killed while we were there.)
In addition to the traditional "farm animals," there were half a dozen dogs on the farm at any one time. In addition to Neha's dog, we spent the days with the brothers' dog Porter (left) and their friend's dog Booger (right). The neighbors had two dogs who were always spending time on the farm, and other friends dropped off their dogs at various times during our stay. There was never a dull moment, because the dogs were always looking to play. The barn was also home to three cats, though I have little to say about them given my distaste for felines.
Besides our responsibilities with the animals, we spent time tending to the hop yard and the garden. The hop plants were barely peaking out of the ground, but we did our best to make sure the yard was ready for them to sprout up this summer. We helped install the twine that the plants attach to as they grow, in addition to installing the irrigation system and pulling as many weeds as we could. We also spent a lot of time tending to their microgreens, like sunflower greens and cilantro, which included planting and watering them. We got to witness the entire process, starting with the seeds and ending with us picking out the shells of the seeds so that the greens could be sold to restaurants. Finally, we spent some time in the vegetable garden, which included spraying the plants with organic sprays to help cut down on damage from bugs and caterpillars.
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Overall, our "work"schedule was pretty light. We would wake up at 8 am to feed the animals and water the microgreens, and then we were generally off for the rest of the morning. After just finishing the last semester of college, it was nice to get some time to read "fun" books, especially while sitting on a porch overlooking a beautiful farm. After lunch, we often did some work in the garden or the hop yard before heading out on some sort of adventure. We would feed the animals in the evening, perhaps do some more work in the field when the sun wasn't so hot, and then make a fire or watch a move to relax before going to sleep.
The two brothers were on and off of the farm, one working as a carpenter and one working as an accountant when not on the farm. Our first weekend there, they both went away for a wedding, leaving us to tend to all the animals we had just met. The weekend was fairly successful, besides the fact that the horses and sheep escaped from the pasture and we managed to drain their well by leaving one of the spigot handles up after doing our morning watering. We took advantage of the free time, though, by spending some time looking out at the views from the platform they constructed over an old truck.
The most vivid memory I have from the farm was from a time when normal morning chores turned into an episode from Animal Planet. While checking for eggs in the chicken coop, I saw a large head sticking out of the door - quite a bit larger than a chicken's head. Being particularly scared of rodents, I proceeded to run away while Alex and Neha called after in confusion. When we got a better look, we realized that it was a raccoon that had climbed into the enclosure overnight. While the raccoon walked out into the grass with the chickens, Alex looked into the coop and said he saw a dead white chicken, thinking it was an old animal who had died before we got there. With great sadness, however, we realized that the raccoon had killed one of the two ducks (who we had previously named Duck 1). Meanwhile, the raccoon crawled back up the netting to try to escape, but ended up perched on top of the net as all of the dogs swarmed below him. The raccoon quickly jumped down and ran into the creek, at which point it was trapped in a stand-off with three of the dogs. Willy attacked the raccoon, but it managed to escape and run a bit before another stand-off ensued. Willy attacked the raccoon again and immobilized him just as one of the brothers came out from his house with a shot gun to put the animal out of his misery. The brother picked up the dead duck and dead raccoon and proceed to bury them in the compost pile, though it seemed only fair to me to let Willy enjoy his treat. I'm not sure what show on Animal Planet the scene would be in, but it was truly like nothing I had ever seen before.
During our free afternoons, we had many opportunities to go hiking in the area. I was so excited to be back in the North Carolina mountains three years after my Outward Bound experience. Our first hike was along the Laurel River Trail, a 3.5 mile long trail that ends at the French Broad River and old railroad tracks.
Our final hike was to Max Patch, a beautiful bald along the Appalachian Trail located around 45 minutes from the farm. We explored around the bald for a few hours, walking along the AT before returning to the peak to watch the sunset. It was a chilly evening at the top, but well worth it for the spectacular views.
Outside of hiking, we also spent a lot of time exploring the town of Leicester and nearby Asheville. I had previously been to downtown Asheville, but it was great to explore the restaurants and music in West Asheville. Some of my favorite places included the Urban Orchard Cider Company (below) and the Highland Brewing Company (right), where we saw a great folk band from Colorado called
Free the Honey. |
The farm was 15 miles down the road from the nearest large grocery store or gas station. We seemed to find something new and interesting each time we drove down Leicester Highway. The "Little Store" was home to old videos that you could rent. A visit to Addison Farm Vineyards gave us the chance to sample some delicious wines while looking out at a beautiful landscape. Driving back to the farm from there, we passed "Beaton Path," which made me smile each time.