It was a cloudy day when I opted to try to find the Full Circle farm. Armed with the map that Tim Brown drew me, I started off. After about 25 minutes of driving, I saw the "little pink house" in the middle of the field that Tim told me to look for. The friendly greeting from both of them lit up my day.
Creating Full Circle Farm
I met Tim Brown and Georgia Pomphrey about one and a half years ago when I joined the East Tennessee Daylily Society. Tim seems to be ready to help in any of the society's endeavors. Volunteering in our present society seems to be difficult for some people. When you help people without financial compensation, it is very unusual. Georgia was a teacher for physically challenged children for 22 years. She has a rare muscular disease called Charrot-Marie-Tooth and is not able to do much of the physically challenging work that having a daylily farm entails, but she keeps good records and assists as much as she can. I understand from another friend that she makes beautiful wreaths! Her chocolate soap smells wonderful, too!
They have been active in the Daylily Society since the early 1980's. This couple started out in Knoxville, then moved to Atlanta, Ga. After they live and worked in Atlanta for many years, they did what many of us only dream of doing. They "retired"! First, they sold their house and land, then they quit their jobs. In Blount county they found the 10 acres that was destined to become Full Circle farm. You see, they had come "full circle" by the move back to Tennessee. They follow the natural cycles of growth and the seasons. Organic gardening is the method that they are working towards, but they aren't totally there yet. But they do use large amounts of manure and compost.
When they arrived on their farm, they pitched two tents: one for them and their cats, and the other for their possessions. (After looking at all their bookshelves, I bet most of the space in the tent was for the boxes of books!) It was too hot to move plants when they arrived so they start to build the 16 by 32-foot cabin to shelter them for a few years.
Helpful Neighbors Get Them Started
