It has been a while since my last post so I decided it's about time and plenty has happened since this past September. I have completed my internship at Piedmont Biofarm in December. It was a wonderful, life-changing opportunity. I went to learn how to organically farm and came out with a completely new look on life. I believe whatever walk of life your from, that everyone should experience an internship on a farm and learn where your food comes from. I am now one step closer to building my own homestead farm.
    In February, Ian and I will be entering our next step in building our farm by moving into a cabin in North Carolina to start our very own farm on an accomplished artist's estate. She expressed a need for a vegetable garden on her land and asked Ian and I if we would be up for the adventure. As we plan and set up for this exciting step in our lives, we have been spending the winter with my sister in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
    The winters in Massachusetts are cold but we have seized the weather with a hike-a-day attitude. Each hike has a unique history that I would like tell through some pictures.

The Boulder behind me in this photo was engraved along with a hundred others by out-of-work stone masons during the great depression. Each boulder inspires hikers with words of strength and courage.
    This hike was great and riddled with history. It was originally a settlement in the 1600's. Disease, witches and prostitutes drove the original inhabitants out of Dogtown, leaving their dogs behind. The dogs became the owners of the land, hence the name Dogtown. There is an eery feel around the now grown woods but also a very exciting map of trails that follow some marked cellars left over from the 1600's. Here is a couple of photo's from Dogtown:

This hike was wonderful. we saw hardly a soul and the swamp trail in the winter was beautiful. It was a 6 mile hike and the best part was the board walk over the frozen swamp. The tree roots coming up from below and the boards floating on ice gave it a very surreal look. The first time we hiked this trail it was completely snow covered which added to the wonder of Ravenswood. Here are a couple pictures from our adventure:

Halibut Point is located in Rockport, Massachusetts, next to Gloucester. It is a reservation with an old quarry that overlooks the ocean. There is an overlook on one of the trails where you can see Maine and New Hampshire from across the ocean. The shore is mostly giant boulders with great nooks and crannies to sit and look over the water. Halibut Point is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.

Here is some links of the hikes and trail maps if anyone is ever in the area and would like to experience the great New England wilderness.

Dogtown: http://myweb.northshore.edu/users/ccarlsen/poetry/gloucester/dogtownhistory.html
Ravenswood: http://www.thetrustees.org/places-to-visit/northeast-ma/ravenswood-park.html
Halibut Point: http://www.thetrustees.org/places-to-visit/northeast-ma/halibut-point-reservation.html