A couple of weeks ago, 6 or 8 Earth Lodgers, myself included, headed downtown to the William Byrd Community Farm. Yes, you heard right- DOWNTOWN! How could it be?! Turns out Richmond is just full of little surprises. The William Byrd Farm is tightly kept away behind Cary St, between Hollywood Cemetery and the downtown expressway. From the outside, it looks no different than a typical apartment building or maybe even a historical museum. Behind those doors leads to a one acre plot (approx) filled with good intentions and most importantly, opportunities. A farm is not something one typically happens upon in the middle of a mid-sized city- but Richmond is something special. The seemingly earth-loving culture that inhabits a large portion of the city is the perfect home for such a place.
The day started at 8AM on a SATURDAY. For me, it felt like the crack of dawn. I don’t believe I’ve experienced the sun at such an easterly acute angle in months. It was a struggle to say the least. BUT, all that faded away when we were on terra firma and had a task at hand. There was weeding, building, and sorting to do. I chose to build. The thought of tearing apart pallets and building a compost bin from scratch was surprisingly appealing to me. So, we went to work. The day was filled with close calls (Georgia almost taking her foot off with a crowbar) and laughs all the way through. The time FLEW by; I was shocked when noon rolled around. It was effortless. I was surrounded by awesome people and we were helping out an organization who is able to bring their love of the earth alive to the Richmond community. In turn, we added to the community and it felt amazing. Not to mention Mark and I’s trip to Raising Cains- an AMAZING fried chicken joint down by VCU. It was a fantastic day, and by the time we returned to UR it was just getting started. In all seriousness, I would most likely be in the initial hours of my weekend routine of waking up and having D-Hall eggs at 1 or 2 in the afternoon. Having the experience of waking up and taking advantage of the early hours of the day was incredible- something I realized I need more of in my life.