A Farm and a Futuro

Today I'm going to share a small adventure that Abby and I had recently in the nearby town of Carlisle, Ohio.

A little background- the area we live is considered part of the Dayton metro area. But we also aren't far away from Cincinnati. It's about a twenty minute drive to downtown Dayton from our house and a fifty minute drive to downtown Cincinnati. The latter is a bona fide big city while Dayton is considered a medium sized city. When taken into account the combined Dayton- Cincinnati area, I read somewhere that it's the 14th most populous area in the country. The area has lots of suburban cities and small towns that are considered part of the broader Dayton or Cincy metropolitan areas.

We have a tendency to shop at, go to, support- whatever you want to call it, the same towns and areas near us. Some of the smaller towns in the vicinity we've not gone to much in the past because why would we go to just a random small town if we didn't know anyone who lives there? As an example, I'd never been to Oxford, Ohio before we went on a campus tour there for Abby. It's about an hour from our house so it's not far away but we'd never had a reason to go there. We'd also not been through at least one of the towns that's on the way to Oxford, Trenton, again, just because there was no reason for us to go there in the past.

Such was the case with the town of Carlisle, Ohio. It's about five miles to the west and north of us. It's small with just about 5000 people in it. Prior to this year, I had been through it maybe once or twice before- I remember one time, there'd been an accident on the highway and my GPS had me leave the highway and the non highwayed way home took me through it. Other than that, I don't recall ever being in it. 

Then early this year, we started attending a church that's further to the west and north than Carlisle is. The route to church takes us through Carlisle. So after having gone to this town once, maybe twice in the twenty plus years we've lived in the area, we now go through it every time we go to church. Like all small towns, it's impossible to drive through it and not notice certain houses and businesses.

One business that we pass in town on our way to church has a sign that says, "Farm on Central." I like the juxtaposition of the words "farm" and "central." I associate the word "farm" with a place out in the country and the word "central" with being the name of a street within a town (which it is in Carlisle) so the two don't seem to go together. Also, with the first time that we saw this business being in January (not exactly farm time) and on a Sunday (when a number of small businesses aren't open), I didn't know if the business was going to open in the spring or if it was a defunct business.

Turns out that it is an open and thriving business!  The business operates a CSA, it sells plants and flowers and has a shop that sells produce and locally crafted items like baked goods and honey. The owners also have a upick strawberry patch that's a couple of miles away. The owners are passionate about their small business and I can see why... I adore the Farm on Central and its mission of providing locals with locally grown produce and other products. 

Small town "farm" boutique businesses may not be that unique (though the Farm on Central is special 💚); there is another feature to the town of Carlisle that makes it unique. It has a home that's shaped like a UFO!!

This house is on the route to our church so we see it every time we go to church. The first time I saw it, I didn't want to distract Donnie while he was driving (since it was the first time we'd been on that road) so I didn't mention it until we were past it. I told him we'd just passed a house shaped like a UFO and to look out for it the next time we came to church. Sure enough, he was as, "what the heck" as I was when I first saw it...

Turns out that this house has a name and is considered an attraction (though it's private property so you can't view it except from the road). Here is a picture from a website:

 

According to information about it, the Finnish architect Matti Suuronen drafted the plans in 1965 based on the number pi- the design was mathematical rather than prompted by spaceships. The pi based homes are referred to as Futuros and only about twenty of these are in the US today.  

The home stands out starkly in the rural area where it is nestled among traditional looking homes, many of which look to be built in the 1800's. Different!!

Speaking of homes being built in the 1800's- I don't know for sure, but the home on the Farm on Central acreage appears to have been been built in the 1800's. It's one of those neat brick farm houses. Here are a few pictures of the Farm on Central from when Abby and I went:

The prices for plants were really good- I need to remember this for next year's garden plantings...

Strawbs were looking good!

The one complaint about the strawberries is that they were quite expensive- this container of them (that we picked) was $18. And we had to pay an additional $3 fee just to pick. I know the costs of running a business are high... Though Donnie's business is service oriented and not one where he's selling a physical product, he still has many expenses associated with the business. Many expenses are for items or services that most people would never consider or think about. So when you see a high dollar amount per hour, for a professional service, it may sound outrageous. I guess the same concept applies to when you see a high dollar amount per basket of strawberries. All right. I've talked myself out of complaining... The fresh strawberries did taste amazing 😋

Linking up with Joanne for Talking About it Tuesday.