It’s been a while y’all, but we’re back…and bigger than ever! Our farm family has grown by 2 dogs and 3 (likely pregnant) goats! I’ll introduce you to our new furry friends in just a moment, but first, I want to highlight all the great work AC has done to get us to this point. I’ve been busy with a big project at work so AC single-handedly built the goat barn. The structure has 3…
The past (almost) month has been quite busy with hurricane relief efforts, Airbnb guests, and farm projects. First off, thank you to all who donated hurricane relief funds to the Cherokee Clay Food Alliance (CCFA). To date, we’ve raised almost $30,000 and are busy distributing that collection to nonprofits in impacted areas of Western NC. Shortly after hosting our donation drive, CCFA somehow found ourselves in charge of operations accepting incoming supplies at our small…
First things first: We made it through Hurricane Helene safe and sound, just a bit soggy. Cherokee County was spared the dangerously high winds and flooding that was forecasted, but our friends in neighboring western NC counties weren’t so lucky. Places like Chimney Rock and Lake Lure have been almost wiped off the map; Asheville and Boone are under water, and so many roads have been washed away or closed that it’s very difficult to…
I’m coming fresh off my birthday weekend and have lots to share! I am excited to share that we made our first profit from the farm! I’ve recently joined the Cherokee Clay Food Alliance (CCFA), a local nonprofit that aims to improve access to locally grown food in Cherokee and Clay Counties. One of CCFA’s initiatives is the Local Growers’ Farmstand, a booth at the farmer’s market where local, small-scale producers can drop off produce…
Yesterday marked 1 year since we embarked on our big adventure. We’ve seen and learned so much over the last 365 days and we’ve enjoyed almost every moment so we wanted to share our biggest takeaways and highlights with y’all. Highlights We did A LOT of things in the last year, but we’ve tried to narrow down our top five favorite experiences, so here it goes: Takeaways We learned too much to sum it all…
The farm has been keeping us busy! Our land came with 4 outbuildings: a raised barn, a garden shed, an Amish shed, and a chicken coop. We decided to convert the little Amish barn into a cabin so that we have more space for friends and family when y’all come visit. Well, steps one & two – plumbing and electric – are now complete! The plumbers had a tough job because they had to dig…
We’ve been movin’ and groovin’ on the homestead this past month! And we still have all our fingers and toes 😉 Our area is full of lakes, rivers, and streams, and AC had been itching to check out the waterways. So a couple weeks ago we took the kayaks out for the first time and we went fishing (separately). We drove up the Nantahala River, to a spot that several locals have recommended, and cast…
Yesterday we got our first egg! One of our ladies finally decided to start pulling her weight and has given us 2 eggs so far (one yesterday and one today). Now we just need her friends to get with the program, too, before AC follows through on her threat to turn them into dinner. This past weekend was very “homesteady.” It was exactly what I expected homestead life to feel like: productive! Last Friday, we…
It’s been a busy few days on A|C Acres and we’re loving life. We’ve had a ton of rain lately so everything is a bit waterlogged and we’re waiting for it to dry out before we start any big projects. But that didn’t stop us from venturing out to pick up 4 Golden Comet pullets late Friday afternoon. They all look alike so we haven’t given them names; only one has any distinguishing feature and…
Last night was…eventful. I was sitting on the porch at 8:30p when I got an emergency alert on my phone about a tornado warning and advising me to seek shelter. I checked out the map and we were on the far right side of the endangered area; the valley didn’t look too doom and gloom so I decided to wait a bit to see if it blew right over us. In the meantime, I started…