I heard about Jeff Poppen's farm from my buddy Chris who I met in New Orleans. He had just returned home from being at Jeff's for four months. He told me there were a lot of musicians there and the best veggies I'd ever eat. Oh, and not to mention the scenery and culture of Tennessee. It remained in the back of my mind throughout this trip until I arrived in Asheville the second time, where I finally decided I give Jeff a call and see if I could come up and see it for myself.
I packed my things once more and set out on that dusty road, first on an onramp to get me out of town. As soon as I got there I saw an old man with the same plan. His name was Bob and he told me he was four days clean of heroin and that he was a professional panhandler. We chatted for a bit until I turned away for a minute. When I looked back, Bob was hopping over the fence to go under the overpass. Ten minutes later a nice older lady pulled over and gave me a short ride to the I-40W which leads all the way to Nashville. She dropped me off at a nearby onramp and I threw my thumb up and flashed my smile for another 20 minutes until a pair of local guys, in their twenties, stopped for me up in a beat up ford pickup. "Where you headin'?" "Nashville." "We are on our way to Cherokee. We can take you about 30 miles." "Okay. Thanks!" I hopped in and was off again. They took me out of their way about twenty minutes to a rest stop. As I was steppin' out of the truck they passed fortune to me in the form of a few nuggs of green. I thanked them kindly and they were off to enjoy the rest of their Sunday.
It only took me about five minutes to find a ride from the rest stop. An older couple was walking their three small dogs and one of the dogs came up to me. From that conversation started and I was off again. They said they could take me about an hour or so on the 40 to just outside of Knoxville, before the 75-S begins taking them to Chattanooga. It was a pleasant ride. They put on this some music they liked which they thought I would like. I told them I did. They dropped me off at a Flying J rest stop and the lady gave me a twenty and told me to enjoy myself some dinner.
After I ate, I walked to the onramp and waited patiently. Twenty five minutes later a volkswagon bug gets off the offramp and continues straight to the onramp. Passes me and begins to slow and move over. My excitement lasts but a second, as I see two girls exit the car with backpacks and a cardboard sign of their own. I'm feeling pretty screwed here since any logical driver would pick up two girls instead of a tall bearded fellow, as myself. One of them comes over and apologizes for the circumstances. We make a deal that whoever gets the ride will try to extend it to the left out party. Twenty more minutes. Finally a young guy pulls over and says he can take me most of the way. I ask if he has room for the two girls as we pass and he says yeah. We get comfortable and introduce ourselves. Matt says he lives about 40 miles south of Nashville but that he'll take me the whole way! The girls' names are Veronica and Sara Brown and they are traveling from Asheville. The ride was great with good conversation. We dropped the girls off and continued to Nashville. I had a one night reservation at the hostel there so Matt drove me right there, I checked in, and we proceeded to Lower Broad(way) for some drinks and music.
I had heard of this place called Robert's from a friend I had met in Asheville. The music was loud, the bartenders friendly, and the drinks cheap. My kinda place. We drank and talked about the women of our lives. About our past mistakes, future plans. He dropped be off at the hostel and I went to sleep feeling pretty damn pleased with the day. Tomorrow to the farm!
I woke early and walked to meet up with Allen, the guy who runs the Long Hungry Farm's CSA (communtiy supported agriculture). He drove me to pick up some blueberries and then to the CSA pickup spot. Up pulls Mark, the farm supervisor. I'll get into him on the next post. But he turns out to be such a funny and cool dude. I help him unload all the veggies from Jeff's farm and we leave to go get some tomatoes from another farm outside of town. We get there and meet Eric, a young guy who is running the farm. He immediately rolls us a joint and we pick up guitars and play a bit. I'm beginning to like Mark by this point. We load up the new bushels(wooden baskets), and the tomatoes and we are on our way back to the CSA site. We run into traffic and arrive late. I meet two of the interns there, Riley and Chris. Young men, 20 and 21 years old, both happy and lovin the farm life. We leave and get back to Jeff's farm far after dark. I spent my first night on the farm in a old post office that Jeff has moved to his property.
I shared it with an older man working on the farm named Gary and Blacky, a feral dog that hangs out on the farm and will not leave. He is the farm dog now and he looks so unique.. like a cartoon; big head and paws, short legs. Watching him through my days on this farm was a treat. He looks so happy running through the foxtail grass.
