Tobacco and Horse Farms

Thursday, 7/3, I met with Holly Reese Tomlinson owner of "Healing Horse Farm" in Berryville, VA. In between trips to her farm in Berryville and getting ready for a 2 week trip to Houston Holly met with me at her home in Herndon, VA ; we talked about the beginning of her new business venture, Healing Horse Farm. Recently she rediscovered her passion for horses and has decided to focus it on developing equine therapy programs on the 700 acre farm. She recently acquired 7 horses that were rescued and are currently being fostered in other stables. This will be the beginning of her "team"; she hopes to beginning offering programs in the Fall of '08.

As I traveled along Rte 81 I saw acres of tobacco fields - I noticed, too, that there appeared to be many more smokers in this part of the country than on the East Coast. I guess it's hard to relinquish a habit that has been the backbone of economic prosperity for years..... It reminds me of Civil War history classes and hearing about the laborers working in the fields picking tobacco and the huge drying barns dotted all over the South - haven't seen a cotton field yet but expect I will as I travel further south into Alabama and Mississippi.

Last evening I arrived in Townsend, TN, home of the Great Smokey National Park and saw the blue hazed mountains in view as I climbed the mountains to reach the home of Janice Sullivan in Cutter Gap. Tomorrow we plan to go to Dollywood - Dolly Parton's theme park in Pigeon Forge, TN - what a hoot!