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Southeast Kentucky: Knock-kneed and bug-bit, since I arrived at Musick Mountain Farm I've been asking myself what the hell did you get yourself into? And didn't you know farming was fucking hard?! I jumped feet first into long days of 90 degree heat and dry dirt. I still haven't finished weeding that damn sweet potato patch. Right into late night coyotes coming a little too close and a copperhead even closer. I am not as alone out here as I believed. Right into family histories at the dinner table with Janice and helping her bury her cat when the dishes were cleared. I was really never much for small talk anyway. Feet first into southeast Kentucky knock-kneed and my neck crooked back from staring too long at the stars. I am stronger than I've ever been. Below I have included a slideshow of images from life on the farm. Last week was three pairs of hands. Caroline's hands lead me back to the dirt when I go out to her farm in Valle Crucis on Friday and help her harvest and prepare for the Watauga County Farmers' Market. With our hands in the dirt Caroline and I talk about and life and love and how both seem utterly unnavigable at this moment and how everything is in flux and how ultimately that's all okay, we're doing just fine. ...we're fine, right? Yes I think so, because the movement of my body is purposeful and strong when I pull bright red beets from the ground and I take great delight in the dirt under my fingernails.
Yes, everything remains fine when I stop moving long enough for my Joybird and my Longbird to hold my heart in their sleepy fingers. A few weeks back Heron was overheard calling my brother Eli on his play-phone he said "Hi Eli, this is Heron. I just want you in the world and I want to hold you." Yes, don't you see? Everything is just fine because there is so much purpose in those four little hands, they want you in this world and they will hold you here. Come on in, you need rest. Your body hasn't been as faithful to you as you had always believed it would and you can remind yourself a thousand times that modern medicine can do wonders these days but that still doesn't stop that rising serpent called panic from constricting your chest, the slow kill. Come on in, take a load off. You have dirt under your fingernails and mud on your boots and your body is stronger when you work with the land and modern medicine really can do wonders and that serpent he's just a rising smoke.
Last week I finished the project I have been working on for the past year. I have had the incredible privilege of working with Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture to interview and photograph the farmers in this book. Through working with Suzanne I learned about the determination, knowledge and patience it takes to have a farm in this region, and additionally, what the area gains from having a strong local farming community. Documenting the participating farmers, I bore witness to a love of for the land and the Blue Ridge Mountains that inspires me and gives me confidence in a sustainable future for our community and region. Join us to celebrate the book launch on May 17th at the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum. To view the online portion of the handbook for farming resources please visit http://handbook.brwia.org.
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