Scenic Farm Walk

Springtime and farms - is there anything better to do in the transition from spring to summer? For us, not really!

We definitely spend more time at farms than most other places besides our own house, and it is great! We go to the farms for fresh food of course, but a lot of the farms where we are also have absolutely stunning scenery that we soak in and really try to appreciate. It makes it all the better to then support the farmers so that we can keep them owning this land!

This particular farm is gigantic, honestly. I know there are other farms in the country that are way bigger than this one but for a local farm like this, in an area where there is a lot more business than anything else, this is an enormous chunk of land reserved for the most important part of a local economy: the farming! In the day that we live in, there is absolutely a gigantic push to get rid of farmers and push all of that shit to massive, disgusting and corrupt companies. That's the fastest way to destroy civilization in my opinion!

The local farms are the most important part of an economy because, in this case, they are family owned and that's crucial. The people who live in the community, work in the community and feed the community. That's getting back to humanity 101 in my opinion. This farm here has certainly grown over the years, seemingly with a recent acquisition. This massive chunk in the back here wasn't something that we saw before!

What I love about this farm is it's a general purpose farm - meaning they have lots of wonderful selections of fruits and vegetables. I understand that some places definitely need to specialize in order to maintain what they have but the farmers that own this farm have done an amazing job of growing their business. They have I believe over 30 different kinds of apples, they've got a dozen different peaches, nectarines, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and some others that I'm forgetting on the fruit side. Then for vegetables they've got the full variety of lettuce, beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, squash varieties, potatoes and so many more!

This is great because when we signed up for a share of their food called a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), we get all of these wonderful choices every week. They also have a few hundred chickens to boot, so fresh eggs all the time! It's an amazing and perfect blend of different fruits, vegetables and eggs every week. The only thing they don't do is meat but that's okay because there are a few other farms locally that provide the meat, so we get a really well-rounded selection of goodies!

Besides the wonderful food though, the farm is absolutely beautiful! I know that it's difficult for farms to get and maintain the land but this one does a great job. They are positioned on a hill which can be challenging for a terrain perspective - growing things on it and all that. Thankfully they've got a really wonderful setup, where the apple trees are lining the hillside and they support them really well with different beams and all that so they don't fall over. The trees that are positioned on the hill might be the oldest, because they are certainly the tallest! I think that's good because that's the hardest part in terms of terrain and growing food.

The sloping hillside is really nice to take a stroll through. We've done it a few times but every time I do take a break to pause and soak in the wonderful scenery, the farm and town stretching out into the distance beyond us!

You can get a little glimpse of the sprawling farm here, but best in the 2nd and 3rd photo in the post. The expanse of trees and rolling hills into the distance is really relaxing. We didn't sit and take a break on this particular jaunt but in the past I've sat on the hill for a few minutes with my son to enjoy the scenery. Take a break, soak it in and just breathe and relax a little bit.

In the increasingly chaotic world we live in, one of the MOST important things in my opinion is to find local and grounding things like this. Places that we can visit and bask in the beauty of it, understand that the food we buy comes from the community and the only transportation and packaging costs are the ones that come from us driving to their farm, walking into their store and buying their stuff.

The absolute best thing we can do is reduce barriers and friction. Yes grocery stores are important in the world that we live in however they are becoming such a controversial area because the food that is stocked in them has dubious origins, quality issues and is increasingly being messed with in nefarious ways. With the local farmers, we can directly ask them if they do X Y or Z that we disagree with and if they do, we can see if we can work with them to move away from a particular practice or reduce it. These are things you never get to do when you are shopping at a massive corporation.