Coweeta
It’s been far too long without an update, but with good reason…we haven’t had frequent access to electricity or running water, much less the Internet!
The avocado picking didn’t last as long as advertised. We only harvested on a handful of days, as the farmer couldn’t find a distributor for his fruit. The farm itself turned out to be more of a sprawling homestead than an organic farming operation, so we didn’t feel that we were learning very much. We stayed in the area long enough to celebrate Christmas with Melissa’s first cousin twice removed (so I’ve been told) and her family, who treated us wonderfully, then packed up the Jeep and visited Melissa’s grandmother in San Diego.
We contacted a few other farms in southern California to see if they needed help, but none of our top choices were. So we widened the scope of our search, and found what has turned out to be a far more wonderful place than either of the farms we worked at in California. It’s called the Coweeta Heritage Center, and is run by a couple who are working to preserve the culture and traditions of the people that settled in the southern Appalachians. Paul and Lara are both semi-retired teachers, and they both are sharing with us innumerable pieces of wisdom about country living.
Our internship has been to help Paul renovate a 24-by-24 foot cabin that will house overnight visitors to the Center. Paul has involved us in all aspects of the project, including mixing and pouring concrete for foundation posts, framing interior walls, installing electrical receptacles and wiring, and hooking up the plumbing system. We know that this experience will be invaluable when it comes to building our own home…but what we’ve found most beneficial about being here is the opportunity to experience such a simple way of life.
For example, the cabin is heated by a woodburning stove, which is not a terribly difficult thing to operate. But learning how to use the stove is just the tip of the iceberg; we’re also learning how to fell, buck, split, and season the wood that fuels it, so that we can be more self-reliant when we’re living on our own. We’ve also had to learn to run the pump that sends water from a nearby spring up to a storage box above the cabin, to run the generator that powers the tools we’re using for construction, to operate the diesel tractor that hauls construction materials and firewood around, to understand the hydroelectric system that powers the main house, and other such things. While all of this seems like a lot of work compared to a typical suburban household, the lifestyle resonates with both of us.
But it hasn’t been all work and no play! We’re so close to the Appalachian Trail that we can day-hike from our cabin up to Albert Mountain and back, and we’ve done a few other out-and-back hikes on the AT in the area as well. The nearest city is Franklin, North Carolina, which has a decent public library and numerous grocery, department, and thrift stores to keep us entertained on the weekends.
We’ll be staying here until early March. Our current plan is to purchase a travel trailer before we leave, so that we’ll have a reasonably comfortable space to live in while we build our log home and get our gardens and orchards readied in Virginia.
I’m hopelessly behind on my correspondence, so please bear with me while I try to catch up. I’ll try to upload some photos in the near future of the places we’ve been, too.