2013-05-05 39 -77

Location

Near some giant palace of a house in Potomac, MD

Participants

OfficeLinebacker
Allison

Plans

This should be fairly simple. 15 minute/5 mile drive out into the country. Just need to be careful of not trespassing, but per Google Maps Street View the property may be for sale so maybe we can just call the real estate agent and ask to explore a bit.

Expedition

Another amazing day. Weather perfect once again but we took a detour that proved really great, way better than accomplishing the hash itself.

So we started at the local Buddhist temple where we go to meditate many Sunday mornings. http://www.tara.org/

We checked in on the IRC channel via mobile but no one was there so we didn't live-stream.

On the way there we saw an address of a place we tried to go to once about a year ago after reading an article on it--a farm where they use sustainable techniques and all the animals--cows, lambs, etc, are exclusively grass-fed. At the time a year ago the gate was closed but we realized we were in the same place today so we stopped by. The gate was open so we went in. We met the caretaker who took us in back and gave us two pounds of frozen ground beef and a dozen eggs, in hues of blue, white, and brown.

So we had a nice conversation with the guy and apparently it's just a side hobby of an incredibly rich family and he didn't charge us. They used to sell to ultra-high-end restaurants but discontinued formal operations and just have it for friends and personal use, and personal interest. He showed us the pigs and some three week old piglets. Then he offered to take us into the gated area where there are these high-end, invite only art museums (http://glenstone.org/), but they were keeping some cows there as well. He introduced us to the cows and after some coaxing a few of the cows let us pet them. Then he took us on a quick tour of the property. He gave us his number and said to give him a ring any time, that he'd try to arrange for the owner to be around and have a chat, maybe get some more eggs or beef or whatever. Just amazing luck, this is so awesome because grass fed beef and animal products raised to the highest standards of sustainability and health is one of my great interests.

Then we proceeded to the hashpoint itself, it was really close to the road, next to the palace as expected, but closer to the road than expected. We then proceeded home and on the way home, found a yard sale with some cool stuff and had a great conversation with the people there about classic cars. Allison bought a couple pieces of clothing.