So,
Darby and I have been borderline hermits for the last few weeks. Besides showing up for work at The Ovens, we've spent most of our time on the land.
However, we decided to make a foray into town with Darby's mother Lynn the other day to buy whole milk from a hippy commune.
After we survived a pot-holed, winding backcountry road through the wilderness (passing at least one rusted-out car wreckage on the way) we came on to this sunny spread of land and were greeted by Jake, who instantly reminded me of Christopher McCandless.
Jake gave us a tour of the commune, which has a few couples living there in yurts, tents and vans. He explained to me that they hope to build an entire community over the next few years. They also explained that they were now completely car-less, having abandoned their vehicle after it broke down.
How do they get to town? They ride their bike to the river, then take a boat.
When we walked by an ATV, Jake shrugged.
"I'm morally opposed to these things in basically every single way," he said. "But they're so darn useful."
We met Jake's son, his wife and one of the other commune members. We also got acquainted with a gang of pigs, a pair of horses, a bunch of chickens and a baby bull. But what was Darby most excited about?
Well, apparently one of the perks of buying milk straight from the source (other than avoiding some nasty hormones) is the chance to meet the cow herself.
As we drove home, we fantasized about joining the commune. But after picking a few ticks off (including one from my beard) and discussing how I would be unable to keep up to date on Mad Men, we decided that our current cottage suited us just fine.
I've posted a few pics after the jump.
Will!!
PS--I was blissfully ignorant of the whole milk issue until I read a piece in The New Yorker a few weeks ago about Rawesome, an organic food co-op that was raided by the F.D.A and L.A.P.D. Apparently some people are really serious about their milk, and we've got a whole new bootlegging thing going on. Who would've guessed?...If you want to read more, click the link.
