Miz S

You Can Call Me MISS Miz S From Now On.

I have wanted to visit Angie's farm for over 2 years, ever since I first read her blog. Here is a short list of things that Angie knows how to do: design blog templates, sew clothes, refinish wood, repair furniture, paint rooms, garden, can her own vegetables, cook anything, wire a barn for electricity, raise chickens, and God only knows what else.

The woman made her own wedding cake. Who the hell makes their own wedding cake??

I am fascinated by people with such a wealth of practical skills.

So, I ventured into Ol' Virginny on Friday, so I could visit Miss Angie on her farm. Normally I like to boycott Virginia because it pisses me off.  It is a measure of my affection for Angie that I made the journey.

I had so much fun. I got to meet the whole family, even Steve, who took the week off from work to get ready for the goats. Angie charmed me by referring to me as "Miss Mary" in front of the children.  Colby (age 20) is sweet and polite and kissed her momma goodbye and said "I love you" when she left for work. Gracie (age 9) is as sassy as could be and revealed family secrets to me, including that after the family eats Mexican food, the children close their doors at night because Daddy emits noxious -- oh never mind I won't finish that anecdote. J. (Steve's daughter from his first marriage) is 12, and looks exactly like her dad, right down to the shy, quiet smile. Little Steven is 17 months old, and might be the cutest little boy on God's green earth.

Angie spent the entire morning cooking me a home-grown meal. Almost everything on the table came from their garden. Vegetarian lasagna (with zucchini), garden salad, red and yellow tomatoes with mozzarella cheese and fresh basil, and homemade tapenade as a starter.

And it was all gooooooood. I ate myself silly.

After lunch, we toured the barns and the meadows to see the goats, chickens, and ducks. You should see that damn chicken barn. It smells better than most people's houses. Those chickens are living the life of Riley, I'll tell you what. The best chicken feed, augmented with expensive sunflower seeds and kitchen scraps, pristine water dispensers, a radio playing music, and an electric fan in the afternoon when it gets hot. That's a sweet life for chickens.

The goats, which were delivered by my brother on Thursday, seem to be adjusting to their new home just fine. (When I asked my brother if it seemed like the goats would be happy on Angie's farm, he said, "If they can't be happy there, they can't be happy anywhere.")

All too soon, it was time for me to face traffic on I-95 again. Which sucked, if you must know.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun to meet the person behind the blog. Angie is really nice and funny and easy to talk to. The only thing I can't figure out is how she ever has a minute to sit down and write a post because DAMN, running a farm, even a little one, requires a lot of work.

Angie's Secrets

Angie had two secrets, really. The first one was that my brother and my niece drove from Pennsylvania to Virginia yesterday hauling an open trailer with 6 goats, so as to deliver said goats to their new goat momma, Angie.  The thought of some horrible goat/car accident had me fretting all day yesterday, but the pictures up at Angie's place prove that they arrived safely.

Angie's other secret is that we planned our own little Blogher convention for today. Just the two of us. Oh, and her daughters and her son and the goats, chickens, and other assorted animals. Yep. I am driving to her farm in a couple of hours. Angie will be chairing the What Do Farm Wimmins Serve For Lunch breakout session. I will be leading a panel discussion on Does Angie Take Special Vitamin Pills?  (For those of you who don't read Angie's blog, she is famous for having an inordinate amount of energy and doing stuff like wiring the barn for electricity before lunchtime, then making a quilt before dinnertime. I exaggerate only slightly.)

Anyway, I am excited about meeting her. Angie was one of the first people outside my family to read my blog.  (Leah was the very first one. Do you know Leah? She is so awesome. Back then I referred to her as The Mysterious L from Chicago.) Angie and I wanted to get together last summer, but somehow the time got away from us. Angie is this funny, paradoxical combination of old-fashioned, conservative, Southern farm girl and modern, tech-savvy, I-met-my-husband-on-the-internet woman. I am dying to see her little farm and meet her kids and hear her Georgia drawl.

If I am going to arrive on time, I had better get started with dog-walking and other little chores. Shit, Angie has probably canned 40 quarts of beans while I sat here typing this.

I don't have any other special plans for the weekend, other than bonding with Josh while doing yard work or perhaps cleaning out the basement. We know how to have fun around here. What about you? Are you hanging out this weekend or going away or what?