Our Neighborhood

Yesterday evening I walked five children, mine and my neighbor's son, to a benefit carnival. Tickets were a quarter and you could get Papa John's pizza, snow cones, face painting, or play the duck pond game, each with one ticket. The inflatables were free. Usually I would avoid such events because I don't enjoy crowds, spending money on games, or taking five children out alone. I choose to go because it was about a mile away, the children are getting older and easier to take places, they had to scrounge for their own change to spend, and it was a benefit for a pool that is in our neighborhood.


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The pool, which I have never even seen, was closed this year because it was in disrepair and the city lacked the funds to maintain it. It was the only pool within the city limits. It serves primarily a very underprivileged community but was open to the public. The few times we went swimming we drove out the Kennedy YMCA center or to Beech Fork State Park pool.

None of our friends mentioned this downtown location. No one talked about it, I assume, because of the population that visited that pool. That particular neighborhood and many more like it are filled with a very low socio-economic class. The project housing in the area is some of the most beautiful architecture in Huntington, again, in my opinion. Yet, you will always see families sitting on stoops, likely because they don't have air conditioning and strollers parked by doors, probably because they get around without cars. Folks are often crossing Hal Greer, a very busy four lane, to the Par Mar convenience store and hollering across to home. There are many petty crimes in the area, a lot of boarded up and broken homes, over grown lawns, occasional shootings, graffiti, and you will read about police reports for drug trafficking and child abuse with addresses from this neighborhood. It's not the city's pride and joy.

The carnival.

In recent years the neighborhood has been the home to the Barnett Center Weed and Seed office, the Fairfield Community Gardens, and the Ebenezer Medical Outreach Farmer's Market. All these efforts have been put forth by many hard working citizens. These programs are some of the city's jewels. There is a great buzz about each of them. Our family has been minimally involved in several of these projects. We strive to do more. This is our neighborhood too.

London got an owl.

Oliver's first snow cone.

When we were driving more, it was very easy to say those areas were another neighborhood and someone else's problem. Our street, our little block was ours. We drove out of town to the hardware store and across town to the other markets. Now that we are staying closer to home and seeking out options for goods that are convenient, a mile radius is very much our community. I would even say that two miles in any direction is our extended environment, it's where we are seeking our services, food, entertainment, and friends. It's also every bit our responsibility to care for it all. We can no longer blame anyone else or expect everyone else to change things, not that we should have before. These are our neighbors, for richer or poorer.

Walking the children to the AD Lewis Center, drove this idea in deeper for me. The sense of understanding is growing.

Our 125 Mile Van Day

With the turning of the calendar, we begin our car free month. We parked our Honda Odyssey (still for sale) and the Cavalier in the drive way and plan to walk, bike, carpool, and bus our way through the 31 days of August. Before we pulled High Speed, a.k.a. the van, into the drive at 10:30pm last night, we managed to give it one more good trip to remember.

Farm Bound
We loaded up our family and our neighbor's son just after lunch yesterday and headed east. We did a few errands in the hilly neighborhood before filling up the tank at Kroger in Barboursville. $53 later, we stopped at Sears in search of backpacks and school clothes, but left without anything. We then embarked on a 60 mile trip north east to Jackson County WV to visit the Four Season Farm where our eggs, raw honey and basil are delivered from. The farmers invited all their Huntington customers up for a garlic tasting and to see where their food comes from.

The hens that lay our eggs.

Going to Jackson County means obligatory visits to see family. Brent's kin all herald from Ripley and Ravenswood, WV. These small towns on the Ohio River are home to his parents and grandparents, aunts, cousins, uncles, and old high school mates. We slipped into his grandmother's for a late lunch and sat with his aunt and dad before going to the farm. We managed a quick stop to see his mom at work before we returned home.

The garlic tasting crowd.

Now about this farm. I have been on many farms. My grandparents are dairy farmers in central Ohio. My cousins all farm hundreds of acres. Hay bales and feed piles were my first playgrounds. My farm roots are strong, but the distance in time and space has let my city girl shine. I pine for a loft space with a fresh market down stairs. Being at Martin and Kathryn's Four Season Farms brought an urge for peacefulness back to my heart.

I think I will let the pictures tell the story and savor the memories of a great space in the hills of WV from which we are proud to purchase our vitals.

Kathryn's gardens.

Roasted garlic varieties.

Martin showing the children the rooster.

London milking the goat.

The farmers have their own saw mill and built the barn from timber on their land. The honey bee boxes are on the right.

Martin and me.

Baby doll sheep and one Icelandic.

Kathryn's favorite meadow.

Martin's favorite meadow.