We have come so far already and we have barely scratched the surface. Austin and I arrived in Cedar Grove, North Carolina on Thursday the 26th of October.
*For the introduction.
Austin Genke
Austin is originally from Vero Beach, Florida. He spent some time at a vocational school for cooking in Olympia, Washington. He then graduated from the Culinary Institute of America, in New York, with a Bachelors Degree. He has cooked for John Novi at the Depuy Canal House in High Falls, New York. He then took an opportunity in Las Vegas to work for Diegos, a Mexican restaurant at MGM Grand. He also was invited to open a restaurant for Mario Botalli, called Enoteca San Marco, at the Venetian. Since then, his passion for cured meats has grown, and he has been grinding, stuffing, and curing his own meats. He has also developed a love for woodworking. After needing to display cheese and charcuterie, he launched a business making cheese boards, chopping blocks, and cutting boards. He is very creative with all of these hobbies, and has decided to move to North Carolina and focus on sustainable farming as a backup for his trades. One of the newest satisfactions I see from him is with tractors. If it’s dry-ish, he is mowing.
Dani Copeland Genke
I was born in Des Moines, Iowa, raised in Israel, and attended college in up-state New York at SUNY New Paltz. My majors were fine arts and graphic design, and because of a lack of architecture programs, I minored in math. I currently get fulfillment from learning about sustainable buildings, ways of living without global impact, passive solar and alternative energy harvesting, green anything, and mother nature the way it should be. Though architecture is my craze, I have luckily been submerged in the service industry too. I have worked the front of the house at two restaurants in New York including The Depuy Canal House and The Emerson @Woodstock. I also spent time in Sacramento at an Italian restaurant called Piattis, and then in Las Vegas, at Bradley Ogdens in Caesars Palace, and Thomas Keller’s Bouchon. Most of these places focus on a simple concept, “farm to table.” For a restaurant, I can’t think of a better concept.
Samantha Genke
Samantha is also from Vero Beach, Florida. She went to Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA, where she was employed by two Randall Hoff restaurants, Portofino, and Firenze. She later came to North Carolina to do her internship at Goat Lady Dairy. She is now in her sixth year of making cheese and does so at Chapel Hill Creamery in Chapel Hill, NC. She is attending Central Carolina Community College. This is the only school in the country with a degree for sustainable agriculture. Plus, Sam works at Piedmont, a stylish restaurant in Durham, NC whose theme is LOCAL.
Chris McKinley
Chris, additionally a Vero Beach native, moved to Asheville, NC where he worked with hydroponics while cooking at Richmond Hill Inn. He then headed to Washington State to cook for Randall Hoff, and then back to Greensboro, NC where he became the Sous chef at the Proximity Hotel. This hotel observes the ultimate sustainable practices. It is the first and only LEED Platinum certified hotel in the USA. He is now the Chef at Goat Lady Dairy in Climax, NC, and milks the cows at Chapel Hill Creamery. All of these businesses, people, and small farms exploit and moralize the crucial system of eco friendly and sustainability. Furthermore, Chris is attending Central Carolina Community College, and currently benefits from a small engine class. He is pursuing many aspects of propagation (the production of more plants by seeds, cuttings, grafting or other methods).
*For the house (built in 1772)
Before we had the truck unpacked, we had torn up carpet in two rooms and a hallway. We had intentions of laying a hardwood floor, but luckily we uncovered a beautiful heart or yellow pine floor already in existence. Even though the floor has more waves than Oaxaca, we spent some rainy days sanding, and chipping away 70’s linoleum square tiles, and pulling out nails and staples. We then discovered the rooms were built on top of older carpet. We curse this carpet and the genius that constructed walls on top of it. It is impossible to rid the place of it unless we tear down walls. Speaking of walls… we have walls built completely around an extra fire place, and a wall closing off an exposed fire place. We have our boxes covering up a third fireplace, which is supposedly the working one, and we luckily have a heat pumping wood fired stove. I say luckily because even though to many this is not cold, us Vegasers are not so used to 50 degrees F, yet. As we are learning, we are also becoming acquainted with many things taking much longer to accomplish than we are used to and would expect. Getting our gas heat up and running took a good week, a simple land line, a week, and a day, and my favorite, the internet, still not quite at 100 percent. We are in a dead zone of many forms. No cell service for one, and if a 32 inch dish can’t catch it, you'll just need a much bigger one. We are trying every option for being connected that we possibly can before resorting to the shady saucer on a pole.
For the farm.
Chris had tilled about a quarter acre on the east side of the house, previous to our arrival. This is where we originally planned for the garden to sit. As we found out more about the soil and drainage, we decided we also need to section off a garden area on the west side of the house. It is closer to a creek and it has much better drainage and less clay. We will be experimenting with similar crops on both sides. Chris has also started a small bed of strawberries, brussel sprouts, parsley, chard, collards and broccoli. Even with the large amount of rain, they all look pretty good. Sam and Austin’s dad, Paul Genke, and wife, Lila, came out for the weekend of November 6th through the 8th. They showed up equipped with working gloves and painting clothes. Paul and Austin rented a post digger and drilled approximately 76 holes. This is enough for two paddocks for the goats. They put in the posts, which were found on our property, to the first enclosure. They also began a partial demolishing of a structure that will be turned into housing for the goats. While the boys were getting their workout outside, Lila and I spackled, sanded and painted inside. We used an environment friendly paint with no VOCs called Organic Garden, Of the Earth, and Almond Wisp. The colors are all perfect. All are natural earth tones of grey, taupe, and blue. We also painted the trim, closets and ceiling with an eggshell white that Austin and I picked up at one of the Habitat for Humanity Restores.
Austin has been keeping the grass and pastures manicured with a tractor and bush-hog lent to us by the house’s previous owners. He has found many uses for the tractor including, but not limited to the removal of fence posts in unwanted locations. He devised a system of drilling a hole in the post near the ground, slipping a rod iron bar through it, and positioning the 3 point hitch under the poll. He has the tractor lift the hitch, and it loosens and pulls those babies right out. He can now relocate them to the new holes.
*For the animals.
We started this farm with our 7 year old blue crowned conure, Felix. Sam and Chris have a few animals too; Angus is their 13 year old Australian Sheppard mix, they have two cats, and an ever changing goat population, presently 7 alpines. The milking girls’ names are Turnip, Nancy Ann, Emma Rocket, and Anna Lee (a.k.a. Banana). Their pet boy goat, or weathered buck (castrated), is Rudy. And Samantha and Sabrina are at Wilderness Trail Dairy in Trinity, North Carolina.
We had ordered 27 female chicks from Murray McMurray Hatchery before we left Vegas. The post office called Wednesday, November 11th at 7:30 AM to let us know our baby chicks had arrived. Once we got them home, we discovered two of them had died. It was a cold rainy day, and we think that is the reason. The different breeds we have are: Araucana /Americana, Black Australorps, Black Star, Red Star, Buff Orphingtons, New Hampshire Reds, Silver Laced, and supposedly a miscellaneous exotic one. All of these breeds are egg-layers, not broiler (meat chickens). We also hope to order some different breeds in the spring, as they become available. The chicks should be grown and ready to lay eggs by spring time, depending on the breed, between 18-26 weeks. We had noticed on Sunday that one of the brownish colored chicks wasn’t looking so good. It appeared as though one of her legs wasn’t able to support her, so she was squatting and getting trampled by the other 24 chicks. It also looked as though two other lighter yellow chicks were acting as body guards. Austin put together a separate box for the trio so they could have some privacy. I read that it was possibly a mal-nutrition problem, which then probably escalated to overall weakness. I found a vitamin supplement at the pet store for regular avian birds, and decided to add it to her water. It contained all the same vitamins that were mentioned in The Chicken Health Handbook including riboflavin, zinc, vitamin d, thiamin, and choline. The interesting thing is over the last few days, several different chicks have hopped boxes to check on and protect the hurt chick. Austin and I believe the ones that are doing so are possible head peckers in the making. This is referring to the pecking order that emerges in every chicken flock. Someone is head and then everyone else falls in line down to the last chicken. As of today, the baby brown girl, though slightly smaller than the others, seems to be doing so much better.
Two days after we arrived in Cedar Grove, so did Spider. She is a beautiful one year old part Siamese part grey kitten. Her eyes are crystals of sky blue. She snuck into the house when Austin and I were in one of the back rooms, and Samantha was visiting. Samantha saw her on her way out, but she got spooked and ran off. The next day while Austin, Deb (Austin and Sam’s mom), and I were walking the property, Spider was waiting for us to return. It was true love ever since her first taste of goats milk, and first glance at Felix. She got her name a few days later, when we watched her climb the wall of our barn, and the wall of an out building like she was Spider Woman. I suppose it became official at the vet, where they made me write it down.
I had been on the lookout for rescue dogs in the? area since before we left Las Vegas. I was trying to pay attention to dogs that are known to enjoy farm life. I found a Border collie rescue that contacted me when one of their rescue dogs gave birth. They believed the puppies were part Newfoundland and then, like their mom, part Border collie. I drove out to Wilson, NC, about an hour and a half away, and picked out two of the seven pups. Believe me, one of the hardest decisions I have ever made. Luckily as I took my time deciding, two other families quickly made up their minds, helping me narrow my choice. The two dogs we have are completely opposite and therefore a perfect combination. The girl is short haired, mostly white with several speckled black dots, and one large black spot on her back. I believe the speckling is a characteristic in merle coat colors. She also has black on her ears and across her eyes. She is the smart, energetic, mischievous pup weighing the least of all the pups. She looks much more like her mother, than her brother does. The boy is all black with a tiny spot of white on his chest and bottom lip. His fur is long and smooth, and he has a square nose, much resembling the Newfie as opposed to the Border collie. He is definitely big boned and a bit clumsier than the girl. We haven’t come up with the perfect name yet. I believe in trying on some, and also getting to know the animal a little before you brand them with something they have to answer to for the rest of their life. We have tried on ‘Sausage’ for him, and currently all that really lead us to for her was pepper. The boy came with the name Darwin, and I kind of enjoyed that. Then, because of the speckles, Austin thought the girl could have the name ‘Pollock,’ as in Jackson Pollock. I still need some time. If I remember correctly, Felix took over a month to get his name, and ‘Coltrane’ was what he was almost stuck with.
*For the progress.
The four of us have designated Thursday as our meeting night. We have divvied up a few starter projects based on our gifts, passion, and knowledge. Sam has the reins on the goats, soils, cheese making, permaculture and compost. Chris’s concentration is on the garden. This includes orchards and berries, herbs and vegetables, seed ordering, spring garden plan, starters, and season extenders and so on. Austin is investigating the cost and designs of the buildings needed for the shipping crate converted creamery/milking parlor. He is gathering the local quotes on digging a well, installing septic and connecting electricity. He is looking into the business license, grants, and financing. I have been designing the chicken coop. I am working on this blog and hope to get a website up soon. Next is helping Chris and Austin design both a temporary and permanent greenhouse.
I hope this caught every one up a bit. I’m sure there are many gaps and many questions. You might be interested in the master plan, and that will be on the way soon. Feel free to ask.
