I have a close friend about to graduate from Marine Corps boot camp which is on Parris Island in South Carolina. Having not seen the place since August of 1986, and to show support for my young friend, the family and I are road tripping that way. We will leave on Thursday, Seltember 13th to be there for the graduation ceremony to be held on the 14th. We will visit with my friend and his family (we are all very close) for the remainder of the day.
On Saturday, we will part company and continue on northward. We plant to visit Joel Salatin's Polyface Farm either Monday/Tuesday or Tuesday/wednesday. I plan on asking lots of questions, taking many notes and filling up the iPhone's memory with pictures and video.
After our tour of Polyface, we will next go to a town in VA, the name of which escapes me at present, and participate in the harvest of pure American chestnuts as part of an act of service to The American Chestnut Cooperators Foundation of which I'm a member as of last year. In return for our labor, we will be given enough American Chesnut seed to fill up "a dog food sack." That sounds like more than it probably is as they will still be in the bur.
Once the harvest is over, we will head back Mississippi way and stop by DeKalb, MS to make a large purchase of corn meal that is still ground via a water-powered mill that was established in the year 1790. The name of the mill is Sciples Mill and you do an Internet search using their name and learn more about them. And if ya ain't never had corn bread made outta fresh ground corn meal, let me tell ya, it don't taste nuttin like that store-bought junk.
After returning home and resting for only one night, I will then road-trip-it with Youngblood to Rayville, LA to purchase Madona and Paris Hilton - my cute little Berkshire porkettes.
I hope to use this thread to blog the trip and pass along any good permaculturally type stuff I learn.