updates

Today was another day spent in Greensboro. We went to the Farmers' market again and along with the usual pickup (eggs, milk, grain) I made a great contact with a local agrarian farmer. Sort of a Bohemian kind of man who has lived in the area for years and has grown sustainably for 18 years. "Growing for the table" as he put it. :)

Here's a shot of the place.

It's an indoor market that has been running for over twenty years. What's great about it is that most of the people who are selling products are local farmers who sell out of "excess" and they are extrememly knowledgable and helpful when asking questions about information relating to providing for your family by growing your own food. We have had two men invite us to visit their farms. One has a dairy farm (the man we are getting some of our milk from) and the other tends bees. The children hover around and ask lots of questions because he has a live bee display for everyone to see.

On our visit to Costco, we began talking to a women who had many small children. Long story short, their family seems to be just like ours and we struck up what could be our first friendship in NC.

The children have started studying for the year as well. Back to the math in the morning, and the usual thousands of hours of reading. Books on milk, caring for chickens, and books of God's grace are on the top of the list. We are starting a "farm" notebook that records the valuable information we are getting here about how and what to do in order to buy a farm. We are looking online at property in many areas of the south. It is difficult to narrow the search but we are working on ways that we can limit it so that it makes it easier to find a place. The children are crawling out of their skin in anticipation of actually owning animals.