WINTER SOLSTICE: Happy first day of Winter 2024 – the darkest day of the year!
(Beauty Berry, Usnea, Moss, Turkey Tail Mushroom, Oak leaf, Honey Locust thorns, Fern tips, ring of Fire Bush leaves, on Walnut)
SPRING EQUINOX: Happy first day of Spring! Here’s to cultivating a season of spirit and presence with the power of gratitude and good health! (dead nettle, moss, dandelion flower, hyacinth, dandelion leaf, buttercup)
WINTER SOLSTICE: Happy first day of Winter 2022 from all of us at Half Hill Farm. It’s the longest night of the year. The days only get longer and brighter from here, so hang in there!
Winter Solstice 2022 Mandala: (Sunflower, Rose of Sharon, Perilla, Foxtails, Broomsedge, Pine cone, Cedar)
Trudy Capootie quality checks the Solar Eclipse viewers at Half Hill Farm.
On Monday, August 21, 2017 at 1:29 p.m., a total solar eclipse will pass almost directly over Woodbury, TN and last a whole 1 minute and 47 seconds. The partial eclipse will begin 12 p.m. and end at 2:55 p.m. It’s a once in a lifetime event for most people, and a swath of America will share this celestial event with us.
In a time when shared experiences are increasingly rare, the solar eclipse can bring together millions of people at the same time to marvel at the universal precision and geometry of something greater than us. If the weather is good, you will likely want to look up and share in the experience yourself.
FREE Solar Eclipse Glasses: We’re giving away solar eclipse viewers that you see Trudy modeling above. They are yours free with any purchase at our store in the Arts Center of Cannon County while they last. These viewers are ISO compliant for direct observation of the Sun – and they were made right here in Tennessee!
When and Where to view the 2017 Solar Eclipse: Click the map below to see NASA’s interactive 2017 solar eclipse viewer. Once loaded, click the map to see instant calculations for that point on the map.Here are a few local events you may want to consider:
(Woodbury, TN) - Half Hill Farm is opening a kombucha brewery in the Arts Center of Cannon County. The USDA certified organic farm will sell 16 oz. bottles and fill half gallon growlers of the carbonated beverage on site with both sizes available in local stores and restaurants.
The organic mushroom extract maker will team up with tempeh maker Short Mountain Cultures to work collectively as The Kitchen @ the Arts Center starting January 1. The collaboration will bring locally handcrafted fermented food & beverages to Middle Tennessee.
“We’re excited about the opportunity to share our handcrafted organic kombucha and everything we make together. It’s awesome,” said Half Hill Farm co-owner Vince Oropesa. “And it’s completely solar powered. How cool is that!” Oropesa added pointing to the Arts Center’s 30 KW solar panel system.
Half Hill Farm will also make live kombucha culture food products and barrel-aged kombucha vinegar. The farm will also expand its mushroom extracts to include Chaga, Lion’s Mane and other certified organic mushrooms.
Kombucha is sweet tea fermented with special yeast and probiotics into a carbonated beverage often flavored with fruits, vegetables, roots, or herbs. The craft of brewing and fermenting kombucha with a SCOBY (a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast) is thousands of years old.
“Making these craft products at The Kitchen with like-minded partners feels right,” Half Hill Farm co-owner Christian Grantham said. “It’s the right people, the right place and the right time to revive a sustainable food culture that has lasted centuries.”
Apple Ginger Kombucha samples don’t last long on the farm.
Follow us for more information: A grand opening date for The Kitchen has not yet been announced. You can follow Half Hill Farm on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more information.
Photo (left to right): Vince Oropesa, Christian Grantham, Simmer Tidman, John Parker
The delivery guy knew the exact location of the only loading dock I could borrow in town, even though it really has no address. It’s a small town, but the driver had been here before delivering freight to Short Mountain Distillery. When he saw the tanks, he knew what was up.
“Someone’s about to do some serious brewing in Woodbury,” he said with a smile. It’s certainly a first big step in starting our farm’s brewery and churning out some organic fermented goodness!
These 58 gallon (220 Liter) stainless steel fermentation tanks ought to help us brew a lot more kombucha, vinegars and other things to come, but we’re definitely going to need some bigger space to do it right.
The kitchen is full of bottles. The living room is full of bottles, and the quiet is broken by the low hum of a small fridge full of more fizzy booch! There is a home somewhere underneath it all. This year we made a lot of kombucha and shared some with neighbors. We love what it does for our health, and we can’t wait to share it with you!
Follow us on Facebook to watch our brewery grow and to learn when, where and how you can enjoy our kombucha products!
Construction started this week on Half Hill Farm’s mushroom workshop pavilion. Made of locally milled oak & cedar, it’s a perfect setting to help foster an important relationship with nature through a hands-on learning experience. We can’t wait to share this beautiful space with you this Fall here in rural Woodbury, TN!
We could not have done this without you! Back in March of last year, several of you helped us raise a portion of the funds we needed to build this shelter. We didn’t meet our goal, but with a little hard work and support we are finally creating a space to share sustainable fungi-culture & our love of the outdoors.
We are also humbled by the love and appreciation for the healing products we create out of personal needs and our deep reverence for the natural world. Our 1:1 Red Reishi mushroom dual extract was first introduced as a gift to donors of this project last year and has since shipped to over 40 states to folks seeking nature’s balanced remedy. There is never a day we are not here quietly listening, learning and creating. Every day you reach out to us and share your story of why and how you found us affirms our commitment to serve.
Elder Jones went places – Texas, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, California, Massachusetts, Utah, Ohio, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kentucky. He’s an awesome concrete artist and a little bit of an admitted hoarder. He eventually found his way to Readyville, TN where he left a few things from his life travels, including this wonderful box of maps.
I love maps, and I especially love this very personal collection and how practical and necessary a resource it was to someone finding their way in the world. Elder eventually found his way in love and married.
When Nora Robinson bought his place on the Stones River across from the Readyville Mill, she thought enough to keep the maps and a few other things Elder had to leave behind for a new life. She brought the maps over yesterday and warned me that what we were about to do with them was as permanent as concrete.