The Downstay

(a special thing made by our friends in Western NC)

Have you ever hiked Max Patch, the wildflower-strewn bald mountain on the North Carolina/Tennessee border & along the Appalachian Trail?

It’s an easy hike, less than a mile loop and not very strenuous! But also gorgeous, amazing, a place to fly kites, enjoy picnics, read books, take photos, and pretend to be Maria Von Trapp.

Our friends Elaine, Dov, Avi, and Sam have a homestead very near Max Patch and they will pack you the most wonderful homegrown picnic, complete with a healthy meal, incredible dessert, a blanket, watercolors, and paper. They grow and locally source all the food in their terraced gardens, which you will also get to tour.

Dov and Avi are brothers and vegan chefs—Avi is also a firefighter—and Elaine is a poet and dearest friend for more than half my life now. Sam (Dov and Avi’s dad) is a sweet, quiet mystic who loves languages and culture. They hosted us for an incredible day and night of eating the best food, grown by them in their gardens; hiking; counting fireflies; and drinking seltzer on their porch (which looks east to the sunrise).

At one point, not long into the trip, Harriet cornered me in my wicker lounge chair. “I want to move to the mountains,” she said, looking into my eyes. “No, I am serious.”

Not possible for now but we will be back! You can go too.

Dov, Avi, and Elaine are building tiny, perfect writing cabins so eventually you can stay on their mountainside.

But in the meantime! You should treat yourself to a hike and a picnic and maybe some dog smiles.

The Downstay also performs a neat trick: it will open your heart to the joys of your own (maybe less elevated) life. You will see, with new eyes, a kitten meeting a box turtle in your front yard; a special walk in your neighborhood; a writing corner; an open space for gardening (whatever that means to you).

Up, kite, up!

P.S. Tift Merritt’s Sugar is out, and it is on repeat in our house.

How about you, Frog Troublers? Any good journeys, recipes, hikes, listens to recommend to us and our friends?