ROARING FORK

May 8, 2006

We woke up to a report of mixed weather.  Sometimes it is rainy and sometimes it is sunny.  We had our coffee on the deck and discussed what we wanted to explore first.

After some grocery shopping we set off for Roaring Fork, a small community in the mountains.  The first farm we visited there, the Ogle farm, is a hardscrabble little pioneer farm in an unlikely setting—a rocky hillside in the middle of the forest. 

The setting is beautiful, with a stream babbling along, and pretty dogwoods and maples and hemlock trees.  The undergrowth is mostly wild rhododendron and must be beautiful when in bloom.  But, what a hard life.  There was little level land here, and what there was had to be cleared.  That meant chopping down the trees and pulling the stumps with a mule.  Seeing how thick the growth is it is hard to imagine how a man and a mule could clear enough land to even plant a little farm garden.  Then the rocks had to be dug up and cleared out of the area before the land could be plowed and planted.

The Ogles just had a few small plots for growing corn and a kitchen garden.  They had a one-room cabin made of logs and a rustic barn with an uneven dirt and rock floor and a little pigpen.  What a hard life.

We meandered through the forest, learning about the different plants they used for medicine, tanning and food, the methods they used to provide for their family and farm animals, farming techniques and clever solutions to problems they faced.  In these days everything was used.  No part of a slaughtered animal went to waste, any plant in the forest had a use, worn out items were remanufactured into something else.

We left the Ogle’s farm with an appreciation of what a hard life they lead, and moved on along the road to another home.  This farmer was much more prosperous; perhaps he was more enterprising or a harder worker.  He had a very nice little 2-room house and plenty of farmland.  He also had a mill and a country store.  His house was painted in all three colors of paint stocked by Sears and Roebuck—white, blue and yellow.

All along the route were beautiful creeks, waterfalls, and brooks.  Every time we turned the corner another gorgeous photo-op appeared.  This is a beautiful park!

When we returned to our home the neighbors were out on their deck. They alerted us that the local bear had just been visiting and showed us where he was sitting down the hill, in the trees and rhododendron.  We went inside and got our glass of wine and sat on the deck, waiting for more antics, but he eventually meandered on down the gully and off to other pursuits.