Zackberridge’s Weblog

Greetings,  I apologize for not having updated my blog in a while for I forgot my password to log on and write, so I was unable to give a ringside update of my farming life.  Since Oct. 9 I lived on a 50 acre farm (only 2-3 were actually used for living and growing),  and basically was in the middle of the woods of central Georgia, and it was great!  We lived a very primitive lifestyle and we were completely off the electric grid (apart from a small amout of electricity harnessed by solar panels), therefore we had to cook all of our meals over an open fire, as well as gather our firewood and drinking water everyday.  I have managed to singe all the hair from my knuckles and backs of hands from fire building, but it doesn’t seem to bother me any, ha.  Almost once a week I was able to get a ride from someone who was going into town so I could wash my clothes and check my email, however I eventually started washing most of my clothes out of a pot of heated water.

Life was very simple and meaningful.  A typical day consisted of waking up around 830 or 9 and doing my exercises and stretches as well as reading  A Course in Miracles(a spiritual book Ive studied the past 4 years), all while the sun warms the air.  Then I would go down to the chicken coupe next to the outdoor kitchen and grab a few fresh eggs for breakfast; scrambled eggs with lavender and mint from the garden, as well as rosemary on a fried potatoe, and hot coffee.   (Mm, I’m getting hungry thinking about it). After an hour and half or so of breakfast tasks I would gather a wheelbarrow of firewood from the forrest as well as a jug or 2 of drinking water from a natural spring about 1/4 mile away.  Then I would either read some or play my guitar (I bought a cheap acoustic guitar from a pawn shop after my first week there) for an hour or 2 or 3.  After that I would usually work on a project I had going whether it be clearing the perimeter trail with a machete and swing blade, or building bridges and doors, or re-creating the sacred circle (the highest point on the land).  A few hours of that is all I could squeeze in before it got dark outside.  And when it gets dark in the woods, it get DARK!  =)   I’ve been in the woods at night before, but not this intimately and it didnt take very long for that ’strange’ feeling of “what’s out there that I cant see?” to finally subside, and I really took a liking to walking the trails when the moonlight was bright enough to light them up.  When the sun went down I would fetch a pot of water and heat it over a fire to use as bathing water which means I would squat down next to the bucket and use a rag to transfer the water.  It’s quite and experience to bath outside everyday (well, not EXACTLY everday, but as much as possible) with crisp cool air and hot steamy water.  For cooking and warming at night purposes I was making up to 5 or 6 fires a day, so I think I’ve got that down pretty well. ha!

The only downside would be that I arrived at the end of the growing season so I didnt obtain much agricultrure hands on experience, but I did pick a ton of okra, green tomatoes, and peppers. I did plant some raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries, as well as a bed of spanish lillies. 

I met a lot of people while out there;  3 hitchhickers from Minnesota, a couple from Pennsylvania, a rugged hitchhiker from Austin,  a lesbian sailor from PA, a traveling pair that met on craigslist-on is a freespirit and the other is making his way to disneyland to get a job as aladin. Also met a former anatomy high school teacher who quit teaching and is visiting farms all down the east coast and will drive across to the west coast and farm up to the northwest (his plans are very similar to my original plans, only I wasnt going to drive it all), and I met another couple-girl from New York and guy from Atlanta, as well a rastafarian in the parking lot of the Piggly Wiggly who asked me if I wanted to join his band.  Those were just the people who were wwoofing the farm (expect the rastfarian), but the list doesnt count the college group that stayed there for a weekend, and a beaver muck party we had another weekend that about 30 people showed up to.

Junebug was amazing to watch while he adapted to the presence of two dachshunds, a 100lb lab, and a 2 yr old boxer that was an asshole to him for a whole week.  After some time he slowly was comfortable with leaving the garden/kitchen area and roaming around the entire property.  He established really well where everything was in relation to each other as well as the directions of the trails.  I was somewhat concerned that he my go on an unexpected hawk ride, but it was pretty safe for him for the most part.  Since it would get pretty cold at night I would let him sleep in the bed with me, so I was lucky to smell his yawns everynight and morning, ha!!

This concludes a portion of my writings about my Georgia life. I will add more withing the next couple days.  Cheers!- Zack