It's Been a Year
by Farmer Greg
Editor’s Note. This is a post detailing another stage in Farmer Greg’s move from Phoenix, AZ to Asheville, NC and his journey starting a new farm. If you want to start at the beginning, go HERE.
‘Tiz been a year of learning and reflection. Plus it has been a year since my move. Today, April 21, 2023 represents the anniversary our first 365 days on our new farm in Asheville, NC. It has been exciting; we have seen some critters including a bear, watched as the frogs laid eggs in the front pond and exploded into hundreds of tadpoles, and seen 4 different seasons. It is very interesting living someplace that actually gets a winter.
A big takeaway has been that I needed a rest. Having been self-employed for over 45 years, I hadn’t seen how exhausted I had been until I took a major pause! Yet, given my entrepreneurial spirit, I couldn’t stay quiet for long. Besides, spring is in the air…and so are projects. This week’s video is about building a unique privacy fence to block the view from the road.
As I was pondering this build and looking for fence parts (one of my favorite things to do is build fences), I came across an 8-foot long dog-eared fence slat (usually they are only 6-feet long). This got me wondering: rather than typically putting in the 4×4 posts, running 2×4’s horizontally then adding the dog ears vertically,… what if I did it the other way by adding the dog ear slats horizontally for a more interesting look? The seeds for this idea were planted a couple years ago when I reused old fence panels for a cool look and more (look for the video on this in coming months.)
Well, here are the results in this video. I have a few more 2×4’s to add vertically to shore up the panels, but other than that this project is complete. Next step here is to build a gate for the fence. I hope this inspires you!
Projects on the horizon, which I will be posting videos for include:
- Building our back fence as a view fence to hopefully keep some critters out and maintain some of the view. (The above video is about our side privacy fence),
- Planting our orchards. I have in pots: 104 elderberry plants (two different varieties that are reported to thrive in the area), 60 stone fruit, 12 mulberries (Pakistani, Dwarf Black and Illinois everbearing), 20 blueberry, and a dozen grapes.
As a side note check out my podcast with Samara as she is the inspiration behind becoming an elderberry farmer. - Building our raised bed planters for our spring and summer garden. See last weeks video on how I transformed a slope to a level space for our gardens.
- OH and so much more!
Farmer Greg
I started my Journey at the young age of 9 with my interest in growing fish to eat. By 16 I was designing and building aquaculture systems for people in their backyards, and looking to see how to transform our local food system. I knew in 1975 we had a food problem and have since spent my life exploring just what to do about it.
