Wood's Hole

The next step on my trip back in the spring was a little house off of the Appalachian trail in Virginia named "Wood's Hole".  The house is a working farm owned by a cute couple named Neville and Michael.  Neville's grandmother had owned it before and she had spent many summers there.  Neville's greatest passion in life is agritourism where people come and stay, help out on the farm, and cook some wonderful meals together (which is what I did at my stay there).  The house sits on top of a mountain, and is mostly visited by people walking the Appalachian Trail.  In fact, when I was there they had their first visitor of the season "House Broken". The best part of the house was that it was only accessible by a 4x4 or a 1.5 mile walk up a hill. 

Inside the house:

The most rewarding part of the trip by far was taking care of some 4 day old baby goats.  Two of them battled hypothermia and barely had made it to see their fourth day of life.  I had the responsibilities of feeding them, giving them their medications, keeping them warm, and making sure they were breathing.  I even got pooped on a few times.  But honestly nothing was more fun then nurturing these baby goats.  I felt like a bona fide farm woman.

Amikura nudging the baby goats around the hostel.

The second day I went for a five hour hike on the Appalachian Trail to a beautiful peak that overlooked the entire valley.  Even though it was cold and snowy, my mind was the sharpest.  I enjoyed more of the snow covered branches and the homemade map guiding me.  Neville's lab Amikura ended up walking with me for the whole trip.  I would throw her branch until it got smaller and smaller...and then we would start on a new one.  It was just her and I and our simple rhythm as we walked up the mountain.

"Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated" - Confucius