My application to VOF was not approved. With a Republican governor, the board is much more conservative and my plan to protect 120 acres forever won’t fly. Josh is going to contact the Western Virginia Land Trust and see if they can work with me. He said he was pretty sure they would be able to do what I wanted, but it would cost 7000 extra. That is a big blow and will wipe out a third of the tax break I hoped to get but I don’t have a choice. I wish Josh had told me earlier and moved me toward a group that would be more likely to support my goals for the property. I am not going to rush anything right now so I will attend to this in August when I return from my second trip.
Fresh lettuce and sugar snap pea pods every morning from the greenhouse.
I hurt my stomach real bad last week from too much shoveling, walking, golf and biking, but it is now feeling better and I even fished a little yesterday in the New right by the Dedmon center. I got four fish and many hits and nobody else was fishing there. My new combo rod worked very well.
My Maymester class is going well but I will be very glad when it finishes on Friday. I do have a three day weekend to recover and that should help me for the final four classes.
I have been cleaning up the cabin and I have gotten rid of at least 300 books, putting them on the free book shelves at RU. I vacuumed a little today and cleaned out the old newspapers and it is really looking much better. I still have a lot of books in the house and the cabin, certainly over a thousand.