Harvest Hosts: Justus Orchard

After our stop in South Carolina we headed into the mountains of North Carolina. Driving though mountains towing your house behind you is a little frighting. I think the signs along the road actually made it scarier than it really was: 'caution steep grade', 'no trucks in such and such lane', 'caution falling rocks'. Coming from Florida, where the roads are straight and flat, these signs were a little disconcerting. We were headed to Knoxville to see my sister Citabria and her husband Brett. We knew we needed to stop overnight somewhere in NC but we weren't sure how far we would get. That's how much of this trip has gone. We haven't really planned out our stops, we just find a campground when we feel like parking. This stop was a little more difficult, Eric was about ready to stop but we weren't anywhere near a campground. Luckily I had an ace up my sleeve... Harvest Hosts.

Harvest Hosts is the coolest program ever. I actually found Harvest Hosts on Pinterest before we found our Airstream. We pay $40/year to be members. This gives us a list of participating Farms, Wineries, Breweries, and other agribusiness that invite RVer's to stay overnight on their properties for free. In return we purchase some of their produce, wine etc. It's seriously so cool!

Parked for the night at our first Harvest Host, J

Okay so there we were in the NC mountains, tired of driving and ready to park for the night. With no campground in sight, I pulled up the HH membership directory and found Justus Apple Orchard about an hour up the road. I gave Don (the owner) a call. I was instantly charmed by the kind southern man on the other end of the phone. "Oh yeah Harvest Hosts, sure come on over... we're out in the Apple house so y'all just come on in when you get here. You can park where ever, it's a big drive so you should have no problem turning around. Now if you get here before 5 we should still be in the apple house... our season hasn't actually started yet but y'all come on in." He gave us directions to the orchard and with that we were off to Hendersonville.

From the moment we exited the highway I felt like we were in the pages of a story book. This part of North Carolina is absolutely magical. Rolling hills covered with orchards and farms, mountains in the background. The winding roads were lined with charming signs for this orchard and that farm, along with the occasional green John Deer tractor. We pulled in and headed over to the apple house where we were warmly greeted by Don. He told us to get settled and if we'd like we could take a walk through the orchard later. "Now just make yourselves at home, if you decide to, later on you can pick some blackberries over that a way. You can just pay me in the morning for whatever you get." "Oh and I almost forgot" He said as he handed us two big sacks of apple cider donuts "these are for you!"

Justus Orchard is absolutely picture perfect 

We took Don's advice and spent the evening walking through the apple orchard and picking blackberries. It was almost comical how perfect the evening was. Everything about this place was amazing. As we walked down the rows of blackberry bushes we were stopped suddenly (and I swear to God this happened) a family of ducks crossed directly in front of us in a perfect little line right across the row. I scrambled to get my camera but I wasn't fast enough. In the distance we could hear the goats, they sounded like this. The sun was setting over the mountains and all we could do was pinch ourself... is this real life? The night was capped off with Eric pair programing outside the Airstream in the orchard. Absolutely amazing.

Blackberries for a pie!

I'm so glad we stopped at Justus Orchard!

We absolutely LOVE Harvest Hosts!

Coding by the light of a coleman lantern...

If the previous evening hadn't been surreal enough, the next morning we woke up early and went for a jog on one of those amazing roads we drove in on. Have you ever seen the Discovery Channels documentary Sunrise Earth? (If not you totally should) This jog was exactly like an episode of it. The sun was just coming up, it was foggy with just the tiniest bit of misting rain. There were roosters crowing, some cows mooing, maybe a dog bark here and there, a tractor somewhere off in the distance. Now, I know what you're thinking, you're thinking I'm making this up... I know how ridiculously perfect this all seems. Its true though, this place totally exists, and it is as incredible as it sounds!

When we got back to the orchard we were able to chat with Don for a bit. We talked about family businesses (he's a 4th generation apple man) and travel. He told us about the different types of apples they grow. Some are good if you just need an apple fix, but the best (we're talking better than Honey Crisps) are the Mutsu. Unfortunately for us, the Mutsu's weren't ripe when we were there. After buying some Apple Jelly and local honey we said our goodbyes and reluctantly left Don's slice of heaven just as he was putting a batch of apple pies in the fryer.