Green House

The weather does get cold here in North Carolina and often freezes. In order to protect the young winter plants the green house needed to be insulated. Leon and Jonathan were busy working on it.  

 The lettuce, kale and other greens are protected during the colder nights. Jonathan is in charge of starting the seedlings and care of the gardens.

The recycling of out-dated solar panels were used lined with insulation for warmth and reflecting the sun rays to keep the greenhouse warm. There are doors and windows that can be opened on warmer days.

Lorraine with Leon and Jonathan 

It is so nice not to have to buy fresh greens in a supermarket. These organic products grown on Full Circle Farm provides the family with everything they need during the winter.

Family Gatherings

Geni Lorraine Leon 

Lorraine Kayla Leon Geni 

Grandma Lorraine and Kayla

“Screw and Nail Sorters” and White Buckets.

Leon was working on his work shop, preparing the floor for the cement. 

He has many white buckets filled with things that needed to be sorted.

Lorraine and Kseniya

Randal 

For a few days Randal and I worked a couple of hours in our new tittle of “Screw and Nail Sorters”. We worked in the warm sun and in the completed building.

Kseniya, a young lady who lives on the farm, also assists with many tasks Leon assigns to her.

I learned that different sizes was not the way to sort the screws but what function each one has. Now I know what a dry-wall screw looks like.

A Savannah Maintenance Project

In early December it was 19ºC. It felt like a spring day when we drove to Full Circle Family Farm from our camp site in East Asheville KOA, Swannanoa near Black Mountain, North Carolina.

Whenever we go to the farm we offer to help out in some way. Leon gave Randal and I the job of racking leaves off the newly planted grass in the field near the chicken yard. 

Leon called it his “Savannah”

A savanna, or savannah, is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of grasses. The oak savanna is a common type of savanna in the Northern Hemisphere. Some classification systems also recognize a grassland savanna from which trees are absent. This article deals only with savanna under the common definition of a grassy woodland with a significant woody plant component.

It is often believed that savannas feature widely spaced, scattered trees. However, in many savannas, tree densities are higher and trees are more regularly spaced than in forest. Savannas are also characterized by seasonal water availability, with the majority of rainfall confined to one season. Savannas are associated with several types of biomes. Savannas are frequently in a transitional zone between forest and desert or grassland. Savanna covers approximately 20% of the Earth's land area.

Biomes are climatically and geographically defined as contiguous areas with similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals and soil organism and and are often referred to as ecosystems.

Randal and I racked a large portion of the field and throw the leaves into the chicken yard. They were happy and began to scratch an spreading them around. 

Crafty Wednesdays.

Every Wednesday a craft day is held. Groups of interested people who live in the Earthaven Eco Village area meet at homes to enjoy the camaraderie and sharing crafty ideas. I attended a couple of them with Geni and Kayla.

In November one was held at Rainbow's home, a 20 minute walk along Rosy Branch River in Rosy Branch part of Earthaven.

When Prince Otter, Bethany, Geni and I arrived Kayla and her friend, Katie, were already there. Kayla walked over the mountain and Katie lives nearby.

Rainbow has a earthy-home on a hill over looking the river in the valley below. She is very artistic and the house filled with her creations as well as signs posted with heart-warming sayings hanging on the tress along the pathway. She is Danish was has been living in Rosy Branch for some years now with her Jewish husband.

Everyone was offered tea and snacks and then settled in with their crafts. I did some colouring on Geni's bee-labels for her honey jars. Kayla was decorating hair clips, Katie was crocheting, Bethany doing art work and Rainbow decorating sweaters with contrasting yarn pieces. Later Lisa dropped by to join the group. She worked on a wool blanket, mending it. Prince Otter visited while others were busy. 

In early January Geni held a Crafty Wednesday. She was surprised to see number of adults and children arrive, men and women. The house was packed. It stated at 1:00 pm and lasted until 3:30 pm.

Crafty Wednesday is a good venue to gossip, get ideas, tell stories, snack and laugh. 

Every one had a project, knitting, crocheting, beading cutting out colourful pictures or writing.