The Amazing Organic Farm of Tennessee

B*ROCK here!

All right everyone grab a cold brew, kick back and prepare yourself for one of the greatest part of our journey yet. I present to you "Kayce and Brock visit Signal Mountain Farm, Tennessee". http://www.signalmountainfarm.com

After departing from Bristol, VA we took the side roads till we reached Chattanooga, TN (once again). My good friend Allie Eady gave us directions and mentioned we'd be hanging and spending the night on an organic farm. Kayce and I didn't really think much of it until we pulled into the driveway. The following pictures don't do justice to just how amazing this place is. We arrived during their weekly pickup for the CSA. Honestly, the best we have ever seen.

Kayce showing off the organic tomatoes. Little Paul Dewey?

Allie giving us a tour and giving us the down low on everything that grows here.

The farm sits on 100 acres and is Tennessee's second largest organic farm. This is just a small portion of the farm.

Allie and myself. Walking through all sorts of goodness.

Tom here, the owner dropped out of school at 14 and started the farm with help from a handful of friends. Sit down and have a conversation with this guy and you'll learn the many wild tales of his adventures riding motorcycles through South America. Tom is an absolute intelligent and amazing dude. Thanks for letting us stay Tom!

Swiss Chard Close up!

Sawyer. One of the many dogs on the farm. He decided to hang with us due to the approaching thunderstorms.

Kayce and Allie at one of the many ponds on the farm.

Allie headed towards one of the cabins.

Tom's cabin. One of the greatest features was his custom made floating deck on top two catamarans with a bass trolling motor.

Storm rolling in. The power got knocked out for over two hours.

We had plenty of old school lamps to give us some light.

Eat organic! Be a hippie!

This one's for Paul Dewey.

We stayed in Tom's mom's cabin. It was filled with amazing antique items and old school livin'.

What?

The next morning we were able to watch Tom and his staff plant organic cucumbers.

Another small cabin on the farm.

Kayce and the farm dogs.

My good friend Allie and myself before departing. Thanks again for letting us stay Allie! Wish we could have stayed longer...

DC, Baltimore, and Bristol VA

Kayce here...

We woke up early Friday morning and took the metro downtown to tour the monuments! Brock had never been to the city so I was excited to show him all I could. These are just some of the places we visited:

Waiting for the Metro

The Capitol

Washington Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

BikeShare

White House

 After we walked and walked and walked around, it was time to meet our friend Sarah in Georgetown. We went to a place called The Bayou, a play off everything Louisiana. We met a guy named Mike, who has roadtripped a bunch in his lifetime.  He gave us great advice on places to stay, different roads to take, books to read, and places to camp.  He was a very rad dude... and even bought our beers!

Recommendation from the Bartender

When we went to eat, Brock tried a new dish... Mussels!He loved them!

Sarah and Brock in Georgetown

We left to drink some wine on Sarah's porch and watch the lightning bugs.

The next morning we woke up early and headed to Baltimore for Maryland Traditions FolkLife Festival. http://marylandtraditions.org/festival  Sarah works with the NCTA, one of the collaborative partners for the festival. http://ncta.net/  I loved watching Sarah work! She loves organization and order as much as I do!

It was such a fun festival!  There were all types of performances and vendors!  We listened to traditional Persian, Bluegrass, Hip Hop, Doo-Wop, Blues, Irish and many more types of music.  We even took a traditional Mexican Dance Class!

Refreshing fruit on a hot day!

Mariachi Band

Persian Music

De Colores

Sarah and Kayce

Bill Kirchen

 

 

Egg Decorators

 

Face Painting!

I have no idea folks

 The next morning, we visited the Holocaust Museum.  It took us almost 4 hours to go through.  It had been about 15 years since I went last and it was quite a different, more intense experience this time.  Afterwards, we headed to Old Ebbitt Grill for some jumbo lumped crabcakes, oysters, and Bloody Marylands! Perfect drink on a summer Sunday afternoon.

We caught up with Sarah and went to the Arlington Cemetery.  We saw the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as well as JFK's Grave.

Then we went to ChinaTown to see my good college friend, Sara!  We shared Dim Sum along with stories and it was a great ending to the evening.  Love Sara....absolutely adore her!

Sara and her badass bike!

ChinaTown!

 We woke up ready to drive!  We took the Blue Ridge Parkway through Virginia and it was a beautiful drive.  

We ended up in Bristol about 8pm, ready for some good times!  We met up with Mary Lewis, my old Charleston roommate, and her fiancee, Mark. They definitely showed us a fun time on the town! Mary Lewis and I laughed all through the night!

Brock smells "uh oh!"

Yep! Thats ML!

I don't know how this happened...

 We packed up and said our goodbyes.. not knowing the AWESOMENESS that was just around the corner...

You can come next time Sophie!