A Farmer's Life...

Camping on Wye Island, After the Festivities

2009-08-18T06:29:00.000-07:00

Everyone is invited to camp. Bring a tent and try to arrive early, 1 or 2 pm to set it up in the designated camping area. If you are going to camp please let us know so we can get an estimate on how much camping space is needed.

See you at the Island

babies at mas franch

2009-01-24T08:29:00.000-08:00

we return to the mystical, magical mas franch in girona, spain. And there have been 6 new babies born... I have been taking care of these beauties... practicing my motherly ways... just talked to my love who has been in a 10 day meditation and he will be joining me at mas franch tomorrow!!!!!... we have only a short time left on this adventure... heading to dublin on the 31st... looking forward to our return... on the 4th

in the depths of the medina

2009-01-10T12:52:00.000-08:00

Lost in the medina of Tunis, where you can find anything Tunisian you may fancy, but finding the best price takes some haggling and befriending. We paid a bit too much for a few things but then met a buddy who got us in with the locals and we picked up some beautifull exotic gifts.

The remains of the Roman baths at Carthage. Huge granite columns once towered along the bay side of this grandiose bath house.

Viva tunisia, flags flying in the medina.

Whitney and her bridesmaid at a traditional Tunisian wedding.

The characteristic town-scape of Sidi Bou Said, the hillside, seaside suburb tourist hub, much less heavily trafficed in the winter. Nice place for a tea and a shisha.

manga! eat!

2008-12-21T04:12:00.000-08:00

biscotti, cookies made by our grandmothers,,,,, following one of the holiday traditions. we shared our treats with our italian friends... and check out our albero di natale... christmas tree. and notice our festive lights...bumba the dog keeps us company in our country home... not much to do but make sweets.....

NOTO, Sicily

2008-12-21T04:05:00.000-08:00

from creepy Catania to the neat little Noto... good change. just a few photos of our arrival.

campania, NOTO, Sicilia

2008-12-21T03:48:00.000-08:00

resting up for our return, eating for three, taking hikes to the ancient city and cave dwellings, reorganizing the piles of stones, appreciating our time alone, working on our italiano, thinking of home around the holidays,

we reside near the city of noto in the valley where the oranges grow. vittoria and juan carlo join join us around noon each day and cook up some sicilian cibo...polipo, melazane, pomodori, pasta..

italy is treating us well and we stay here through the new year... then spend a couple days in tunisia, north africa... with a couple who sound a bit like us.... couchsurfing is a wonderful network of people. on jan. 13th we are heading back to barcelona, adam will meditate for 10 days at a vipasana center and whitney will return to our farm, Mas Franch, outside of girona. 15 days in espana and feb 1 to Dublin. we stay with a friend of my sisters... and on the 4th.... back to bmore!

much love

Rome, then North to Tuscan countryside.

2008-11-16T12:39:00.000-08:00

The chickens, those little peckers, glare through the wire with desire for the pastures of plenty: the orto at sunset, while Adam recycles some fennel scraps from the Roman farmers' market at Campo Del Fiore and suddenly, Whitney is illuminated by the spirit of the holy goat in the Pantheon.

you' re never alone in barcelone...

2008-11-16T12:28:00.000-08:00

The lovers lay low outside the Gaudi headquarters. Whitney appeases the eager spectators who proceed to scale the rocky animated cliffs and deadly cacti in reach of the summit: heaven.

per scarpe o por zapatos or for shoes?

2008-11-16T12:09:00.000-08:00

clay (barbatine) + sand +straw +hay (for fermentation)= body coat (body coat). Plaster the house with the tierra dug when excavating. The skeleton is made of selected oak branches, the ever-pleantiful hazel wood, and bamboo, then body coat is smoothed on. The community healer, Guisep likes the organico style of the shoe shelves. The design is a merge between Whit's art pieces and the form of shelf mushrooms. Practically-speaking, it has German-engineered spaces for all varieties of shoes.

in barcelona doing a bit of administrative work....

2008-11-08T13:19:00.001-08:00

we finally uploaded all of our photos to photobucket.... let me know if you have trouble viewing them but i think you just click on the large photo and it will bring you to a link where you can see hundreds of our photos over the past few months. we still need to add titles and rotate a few...
keep sharing your comments.

we are currently in barcelona staying with a friend of a friend that we met at our last farm. it was really hard to leave the family at Mas Franch. a few tears and many hugs... we will return and be reminded of them as we continue our journey.

does anyone know what kind of fish this is? adam cooked an amazing meal tonight. we went to the market this morning and loaded up with fresh food for the next few days.

missing everyone.
whitney and adam

spain

2008-11-08T13:17:00.001-08:00

Photobucket Album

france

2008-11-08T13:16:00.003-08:00

Photobucket Album

Wales

2008-11-08T12:34:00.001-08:00

Photobucket Album

catalanya

2008-10-22T06:17:00.000-07:00

after our brief stop at the dali museum in figueras, we arrived at Mas Franch outside of Girona spain and began building with straw, barbatine (clay and water) and stones. Our spanish friends have great things happening, good food to eat from the garden and they love to make a fiesta, especially for birthday boys. we plan to bring some of these bioconstruction techniques back to baltimore where clay soils are plentiful. the barbatine makes a nice exfoliating mask and helps with the venom from a whasp sting. half way point and we still sleep in the same bed.

crossing the spainish border

2008-10-22T06:09:00.000-07:00

a view from the hills of collioure, with our big hearted friend. we made it across the border and saw this mural in figueras.

peasant camp by the french castle

2008-10-22T05:53:00.000-07:00

preparing for battle with a stomach bug. apparently the protection wasnt enough. we spent a few days camping in a small town near the train tracks with a bit of food poisoning from professor sambroskis polish stew. adam has whit safe and sound in the gilloteen. we continued south to avignon with flying colors and met some friends along the way.

les grandes terres, bully region in france

2008-09-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

the view from the vineyard, while harvesting grapes

the viking collects the grapes from the peasant workers and our friend Torro the King looks out over the fields, chopping off the fingers of those that leave a grape behind:
there are many woofers and workers, we all dine together, a four course lunch and dinner: cutlural differences make for good laughs as we navagate through languages
je swee fatigue, nois allon sud en 3 jour. se fine por menow; au revoir:

sorry that some of you are having trouble posting comments:
i dont know what the problem is but i guess you can always send me an email

2008-09-15T11:07:00.000-07:00

my friends from argentina in paris under the willow tree; me at the louvre; the tanning man at the louvre; a view from the contemporary art museum; one of the many parks where young people happily play

still in paris

heading south soon to lyon

love you all:

sorry it has taken a while to update the blog

st lo; north france; normandy

2008-09-15T10:59:00.000-07:00

the yurt where we sleep, my friend noriko, martin the mushroom hunter, and mushrooms for sale in the town:

south wales

2008-09-15T10:41:00.000-07:00

the welsh dragon i carved for 3 days to be placed on the roof of the guest house:
adam and the beloved goats that needed to be milked each morning;
the campsite at the top of the hill: we slept outdoors to get some fresh air and wake up on the hillside:
the hedges that they take a lot of pride in: there are hedge trimming contests:

a walk in south wales; clunderwin

2008-09-15T10:31:00.000-07:00

The Waldorf school in south wales was incredible. If adam and I ever make a school, it will look something like this. the farm in south wales made goat cheese and used goat products in every imaginable way; not wasting even an ounce of this precious juice: the pictures are of the day we escaped the farm and wondered around the town:

welsh land

2008-09-15T10:18:00.000-07:00

it has been a while since our last blog

in reflection of our time in wales: a magical place where you can get lost in the hedges that surround the streets and create tunnels and surprises at every turn.

we went to bell ringing class and climb to the top of the old

bell tower. we helped make the prize winning veggie basket for the town food festival. on my birthday we went out west to the Center for Alternative Technology and i found some new fancy cheap pants: these images are from our first farm in north wales.

Collaboration in Wales

2008-08-21T14:12:00.000-07:00

"No, no, turn that piece the other way to pave my path, farmboy!"

Whitney and Adam piece together these Welsh bricks and stones while the sheep on yonder hillside chew wet grass.

Scotland

2008-08-17T04:28:00.001-07:00

Photobucket Album

Sweet Days in Strontian

2008-08-13T12:47:00.000-07:00

All washed up! Finally, a good use for that blasted thistle, use it to bitter beer.

Free time to forage and it's chanterelle season. Brilliant! Chanterelles for breakfast lunch and dinner. We made omlettes with them tonight, with herbed goat cheese....quite tasty.

The view at Sunset from our luxurious camp site, house sitting site, Longrig Manse. This picture was taken at about 8:45 pm. It's after 9 now and it's still light out. It feels good to have days this long.

Robert and Justine's mushroom farm, strotian, scotland

2008-08-09T05:05:00.000-07:00

baby shitake mushrooms growing from a block.

Whit taking a deep breath of Scotish air. This is the view from the mushroom packing house.

Adam, loading mushroom cakes into a bath to promote a second flush. A day in the water, then into the polytunnel's humidity, and boom, the shitakes pop again.

whose cutier?

2008-08-06T05:07:00.000-07:00

A Fort William night

2008-08-06T04:52:00.000-07:00

The bus rolled into Ft. William late in the afternoon and rain was falling. We dragged our packs into the Morrison's supermarket, ate lunch and waited the rain out. Then we scouted out camping spots and decided to hike up the valley to Ben Nevis and camp along the river. We found a splendid spot next to some wild raspberries and mushrooms and had our first night of peacefull camping. Adam sliced a hole in the bottom of the tent with his razor knife while dismembering his holey shoes to harvest leather for patches. Too bad the leather couldn't be used to patch the hole. We found a sticky patch at the local camp store the next morning.

we go to glasgow

2008-08-06T04:27:00.000-07:00

a quick stop for 2 nights in glasgow, scotland. couchsurfing with abi and her two girls. there was never a dull moment. we traversed the town with the girls and found a great cafe/bar called mono. it served all vegan food and they had music performances, kelpie beer and a record shop. while waiting for the bus, a disgruntle glasgowian was kicked off the bus and preceded to kick in the door window. quite a scene but reminiscent of home. Abi builds community gardens with people and local school children in deprived neighborhoods. During our walks, we discovered a really nice farmers market: no repeats, each stand had its own specialty.

Birmingham, UK

2008-07-30T14:00:00.000-07:00

birmingham,
a place of diversity, large public squares, clean streets, cheery people, and the lunar society of lunatics. We travel quite easily by bus for 1.50 pounds. And we are being spoiled by our hosts who cook meals for us every night and take us out on the town for music and a taste of cider. Tomorrow, they are feeding us Balti-, a curry dish. fattening us up for the farms!

Adam is about to eat some faggots from west bromwich: Ingredients
25g/1oz unsalted butter
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
175g/6oz minced pigs' liver
2 lamb or pigs' heart, trimmed and cut into chunks
450g/1lb belly of pork, trimmed and rind removed
½ tsp mace
4tbsp freshly chopped chives
1 tsp freshly chopped sage
1 egg, beaten
salt and freshly ground pepper
115g/4oz fresh white bread crumbs
25g/1oz beef dripping or 3 tbsp olive oil

Parked in the park

2008-07-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

So we decide to get out of London and travel to Birmingham via train. Full of delerium, we don't want to go back to the city so we hop off the train in Leamington Spa and pass out in the park. Dinner from TESCO: Wheat bread with French goat cheese, Dutch tomatoes, Scottish smoked salmon, and a Belgian beer....all fairly locally made, and scrumptious. On the way out of Leamington in the morning an Irishman told us what Baltimore means. It's Celtic-speak...Balti is large and more is a town/city so it's Large city. "If you don't know your history, you don't know shit." Blessings...

london luncheon

2008-07-28T08:33:00.000-07:00

jet lag...hiding behind dark shades and a glass of oj, coughing up the recycled air from the airplane. Should we stay or should we go? My bank account is screaming, "get out of London!" The Londonites have alot of dough and lots of places to go, but they don't walk quite as fast as New Yorkers.

alot going on.

2008-07-24T20:25:00.000-07:00

New York City with no money....that's a challenge, but not really if we have a place to stay and we bring some food. Today we woke up here on the 27th floor @ 31st and 6 Ave. in the comfort of our dear friends apartment. tomorrow we will explore brooklyn and make sure we get to the airport early for our flight to london. 7:45pm!!!! There is no turning back...

2008-07-23T18:47:00.000-07:00

beginning the trip by reflecting in union square.

we are 27th floor...looking out over the new york city in the comfort of our friends fancy apartment. who knows what tomorrow will bring.

we were sent off with blessing from b-more. Thanks to all of our friends and family for your support.

The state of our home

2008-07-07T18:54:00.000-07:00

The homestead is almost patched up, ready for 6 months away, able to handle the watchful eyes of the Baltimore city housing inspectors. Actually, the shack project in the back of the house is really coming together. It may be the room we live in when we return to Baltimore. Cutting the timbers and piecing them together is making me interested in learning the old world ways of carpentry where tightness of fits matter more than squareness. I hope we find some places on our journey where the best methods for construction become clear.

2008-06-29T09:04:00.000-07:00

gin gin, are you ready for me?

I think I am going to enjoy my life in NC. I am ready to get away from this city. I have become quite spoiled and I am not used to being alone for long periods of time. I am sure you will want to get me a new fancy collar... my mom is cheap.

I just got my shots and I am resting up for my trip. We leave on the 11th of July.

I will be greatly missed.

nara face

the hardest part of the trip.

2008-06-11T19:20:00.000-07:00

She's gunna be a city dog for all her life...

sniffin' the bee balm and chasin' the mice

searchin' for shade in the concrete abyss

she makes her escape, she won't miss us a bit.

2008-05-18T07:50:00.000-07:00

getting ready for our big adventure... saving money, eating beans every night.

learning about the farm life at the hamilton crop circle... dropped a damn beam on my toes.

eager to soak up new scenery and fresh air.

telling the boss about the plans.

lots of loving and working on the house.

who wants nara face?