A Blog about Finding Inspiration

"We have a wonderful world to be inspired by and each new day is like an adventure into the unknown, where things that require a second glance can be captured in time on a canvas for anyone to enjoy forever." (Louise Corke)

Friday, June 12, 2009

Mountain Home Farm 6 '09

One of the more interesting places we stopped in the Blue Ridge Mountains was

The Mountain Home Farm.
I got  some great photo references  of this gem.
Set up and maintained by the US National Parks Service,
The Mountain Home  Demonstration Farm has authentic original  farm buildings that were purchased when the Blue Ridge Parkway was being constructed and moved to this location to demonstrate what life was like on a  pioneer farm in the Blue Ridge mountains.
All of the buildings on the farm have  signs explaining the use of the building , and  Forestry Service  personnel are there to answer questions more detailed questions about the exhibits.
Of course most farms shared their services with their neighboring farms rather than attempting to be completely self sufficient.  So rather than representing a typical farm, the buildings on the Mountain Home Farm shoe  complete  collection of buildings dedicated to every aspect of farming that would be represented in the community.
Most did have pigs, or some form of livestock, and those that did not relied on hunting.
and most had a kitchen garden with herbs for medicinal and culinary use.
But some were wealthier and had really large  barns and farm plots on very fertile soil
When one considers that all of this building and planting ,( including the clearing of the land and the cutting of trees for the buildings), was generally done by hand and by hand tools, it is truly an impressive accomplishment.

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