Day Three—Caroline

On Wednesday morning we ate a quick breakfast, then headed off to Shakefork farm, a small sustainable family run farm. We were given a thorough tour of the farm and were shown the many animal inhabitants that help the farm run. After our tour we headed off to their garden; a large space with plants of all varieties, including potatoes, strawberries, onions, and lettuces. Our particular service at the farm was weeding the onions, a fairly mild and easy task, but still fun. After about an hour of weeding, we went to lunch; a delicious burger with vegetables fresh from the farm. It was an interesting experience because we had lunch with the farm crew, and got to interact with them more than we had earlier. After lunch we were guided to a local swimming hole, a place in the nearby river (which is fairly shallow) where it is deep enough to swim. We swam for about couple hours in the river, and it was quite enjoyable; the water was refreshing but not too cold, and there was a rock that we could climb up onto and jump off into the river. After that we started to head home, got some ice cream on the way, and ate at a local fish food truck for dinner.

One of the very Interesting things on the farm was that everything has a purpose, and nothing goes to waste. They have animals like chickens, cows, and oxen, each for a specific purpose; some chickens for laying eggs and others are for meat. They also have both dairy cows and steers. They also try to make everything as local as possible, and sell at farmers markets. It was a really cool experience to swim in the Van Duzen River, which was shallow and cold, but also really refreshing and fun to swim in. I found that jumping off the rocks above the river was very enjoyable, but so was sitting on the shallow rocks in the river, and swimming around a log sticking out the riverbed. I ended the day exhausted from all the service and swimming, but very glad that I had such a good day.