A foot in both worlds
"I'm
on the 26th floor of a hotel in downtown Atlanta," our movie star
neighbor explained when I picked up the phone. He never tells me
much about his work since I can't tell actors apart and wouldn't
recognize the names of even the leads in the Footloose
remake he was
working on. Still, I enjoyed imagining our farmer friend rubbing
shoulders with these shining Hollywood stars.
Back
in his hotel for a three day weekend, the movie star had taken off his
sunglasses and put on his straw hat (figuratively, at least.) The
purpose of his phone call was simple --- our neighbor wanted a weather
report. Once I mentioned our scant tenth of an inch of rain, he
asked if I would mind heading over to his place to water his baby
collards and lemon trees.
I'm
always glad to visit someone else's garden, and I was especially keen
on this project since my neighbor had recently added ten baby, dwarf
citrus to his collection. In case you don't remember, he's the
one who owns the gargantuan
dwarf Meyer lemon
that produces dozens of fruits every year.
After checking on the
baby lemons, I hosed down his garden and explored his tremendous patch
of butternuts. Although I wouldn't want to live the movie star
part of his life, I love the idea that a homesteader can keep a foot in
both worlds, growing sweet corn and tomatoes in his down time between
making movies.
Or explore more posts by date or by subject.
About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
Want to be notified when new comments are posted on this page? Click on the RSS button after you add a comment to subscribe to the comment feed, or simply check the box beside "email replies to me" while writing your comment.