A Great Farm Diary: Womerlippi Homestead Annals: A day off -- finally

Sunday, January 29, 2012

A day off -- finally

I haven't been posting much lately for folks to read, and I haven't had time to take any pictures. Apologies for that, but I'm having a busy start to 2012 at work and at home -- that is, when I''m home.

We were all set for our regular trip down to see Aimee's folks in Harrisonburg, VA, before Christmas. That trip is normally plenty of travel for me, and once I get down with it, I'm usually happy enough to hunker down and not go anywhere except to work and back for the rest of the winter.

But this year I'd signed up to take students to a conference in DC. This is a great conference for students, the National Council for Science and Environment annual meeting, and for one reason or another no-one had wanted to do it this year, so muggins of course said he would, and I did and even enjoyed it.

But while we were still down in Harrisonburg I received the news from my sister that my mum's condition was worsening, and on the drive back home Carol called to say that she'd passed away. So then there was the flurry of activity, more or less routine at this point since we've done it so many times, that accompanies these emergency visits back to the UK, and then the visit itself and the funeral, all described in earlier posts, and then the trip home, which was pretty bad since I was delayed for twenty four hours in Dublin and then landed at Boston in an ice storm, and the worst one of the season so far to boot. The bus ride from Boston to Portland was delayed, and the two-hour drive from Portland to Jackson took four.

Five days later there was the conference.

So, having arrived back at work essentially a week late for the start of the semester, this last week has been one big catch-up, and about seventy hours work total. Luckily I get up early, and so there are usually an extra three or four hours available. Following a few of these early morning sessions, I'm now more or less back on track in all my classes.

This process of catching up is complicated by the fact that I've signed up to teach an extra class in renewable energy over the next three weekends, at our local community college, Kennebec Valley, or KVCC.

This class is part of a multi-class program that is itself part of the current federal government effort to provide "retooling" for mid-career professionals in the energy business, to enable them to make the transition from conventional energy management to renewable energy and energy efficiency, and I'm quite tickled to be invited to give what is essentially the overview class.

Yesterday, after a slight delay because of another ice storm, I taught the first eight-hour class, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. My students are all established professionals, including two engineers, a manager for a large local HVAC contractor, and two more with experience in support tasks for the energy business, back-office and sales and so on. I also enjoy KVCC because of the tech school atmosphere. It reminds me of my first college, Number One School of Technical Training, RAF Halton.

It's a knowledgeable crowd, my favorite topic, and a great setting.

But I don't think I'll have much time for this blog these next few weeks!

2 comments:

Carol GJanuary 29, 2012 at 6:19 PM
I was so sorry to read about your mother. My thoughts and prayers are with you (even though you don't know me). Your eulogy was touching and I got a really good idea of the type of woman your mother was. I hope you will post when you can. Hope the new dog is working out and that all is well in your part of the world. And I hope you have some time to catch your breath!
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MickJanuary 30, 2012 at 3:11 AM
Thanks, Carol. Ernie is working out well, although he's chewed up some stuff. Another dog, Flame, is arriving from a rescue outfit this week.
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Welcome to our Farm Blog.
The purpose of this blog is for Aimee and I to communicate with friends and family, with those of our students, and other folks in general who are interested in homesteading and farming activities.

The earliest posts, at the very end of the blog, tell the story of the Great Farm, our purchase of a fragment of that farm, the renovation of the homestead and its populating with people and animals. Go all the way to the last post in the archive and read backwards from there to get it in chronological order.

After getting tired of spam comments (up to a dozen or more per day), I required commentators to be Google "registered users". You can write me at mwomersley@unity.edu if you have a serious comment or question and are not a registered user.

Spammers -- don't bother writing -- there's no way I will post your spam to my blog. Just go away.

The Farm

The "Womerlippi Farm" is actually a homestead or smallholding where most of the food is grown for our own consumption and that of our friends and family. We raise Corriedale/Romney-cross sheep, feeder pigs in season, and Golden Comet, Aruacuna, Black Laced Wyandotte, Brahma, and Buff Orpington hens. We have wooded pasture, old apple trees, and a large kitchen garden. We build and maintain our own energy-efficient buildings, service and fix our own vehicles and farm equipment, and generally live a thoroughly self-reliant lifestyle. Our farm goals are less economic and more psychological/spiritual and lifestyle oriented. We like an independent, quiet home life with a lot of interaction with animals and the earth. Farming, building and energy-related engineering were also part of our education work at the former Unity College. Having said all that, we're practical people and grow a lot of pretty solid food and fiber. We're also happy to sell you some eggs or yarn or lambs.

PS: "Womerlippi" is a combination of our last names, "Womersley" and "Phillippi." The one is broad Yorkshire, the other Greek, although Aimee's ancestry and home culture is Pennsylvania Dutch/Shenandoah Valley Church of the Brethren. When Aimee and I married, she didn't take my name. She said she "wasn't trading up."

Why is this "A Great Farm Diary?"

Because the setting for the events recorded here is the "Great Farm" of Jackson, Maine, that's why. (Not because this is such a great farm, although we like it.)

Started by privateer and financier Israel Thorndike in 1806 as a vacation home, the famous Great Farm of Jackson was an agricultural showcase for this area of Maine, and Thorndike used it as such, an advertisement for his private land office business, as he disposed of the famous Waldo Patent, in which he was a part owner. Land purchasers could work off their mortgages as laborers on the Great Farm. Most deeds in Waldo County trace back to Israel Thorndike.

Thorndike, born to a family of modest means, went to sea to make his fortune. He captained a privateering vessel during the Revolutionary War, and tweaked the nose of the great Royal Navy more than once. He then settled to a life as a financier, merchant, and captain of industry in Boston. He remains listed as one of the fifty richest Americans of all time. He was the author, with Eldridge Gerry, of the first recorded gerrymander, and so his name went down in history for that peculiarly undemocratic deed too.

He was, in short, a rich, arrogant, unrequited arse, whose primary redeeming feature was impressive ambition. If you are such a person, you should feel ashamed. My work in academia has introduced me to many such wealthy people, and frankly, I'm tired of them. The world doesn't revolve around you and your silly ideas of what is important. Grow up.

Our own much smaller farm sits on a few acres of the original 2,000 that Thorndike developed as an agricultural showcase. As he was a famous Federalist, while Aimee and I are obvious neo-Jeffersonians, of sorts, I doubt he'd be pleased with what we've done with the place. But we don't give a rat's wotsit. As I said, we like it this way.

Read the very last posts in the archive for more details, or use search terms like Israel Thorndike or "Great Farm history" in the Google Blogger search engine (above, on the left).

How this Diary is Arranged:

From Mick:

The purpose of this blog is for Aimee and I to communicate with friends and family, with those of our students, and other folks in general who are interested in homesteading and farming activities.

The earliest posts, at the very end of the blog, tell the story of the Great Farm, our purchase of a fragment of that farm, the renovation of the homestead and its populating with people and animals. Go all the way to the last post in the archive below, click on the link provided, and read backwards from there to get it all in chronological order.

To find out what is happening right now, read the first post first.

Other blogs by Mick: UC SAR, UC Sustainability, Farm Diary

Enjoy.

Farm Produce

Purchasing Womerlippi Farm produce in season can be done by email arrangement, and/or by shopping at the Marsh River Coop in Brooks.

We sell yarn, fleece, lamb, and livestock for meat or breeding.

The yarn is Bartlett Yarn's 4-ply, a medium-thick yarn, in natural gray and brown, as well as natural dyes. It is soft and bulky, and makes nice old-fashioned knitwear. You can buy it for $7.50 a skein by emailing womersleymick8984@gmail.com. We ship priority mail, minimum four skeins at a time. The shipping is extra. We also have raw white and brown (natural colored) fleece in large quantities each spring, unwashed, untreated. Email us at mwomersley@unity.edu and name your price. Expect to pay shipping or pick up in person. Coming to the farm itself without prior appointment is not recommended. We have a child. We also have a dog who bites. We like that he bites, because we have a child we want to protect. If you come unexpectedly to the farm, stay behind any temporary hot-wire gate or fence, or park in the driveway, until someone comes. We'll know you're there because the dog will tell us. Loudly. Annoyingly. They will wake us or our kid, if we are asleep. We will be mad about this.

If no-one comes, we're not home. Go Away.

If you are yet more foolish and try to get out of your car and/or cross a gate or fence, expect to get bitten by a shepherd dog, rammed by a ram, or chewed out by a shepherd.

A Great Farm Diary: Womerlippi Homestead Annals