2014 Rolls In

Boo!

 No it isn't Halloween, it is actually January 2014. 

Jim volunteers or an organization called Wild for Life. Someone thought it would be fun to have a Zombie theme fund raiser. No, it wasn't my idea but as you can see - I participated fully.

Jim didn't dress up because he was going to be showing Rufus - this sweet Screech Owl - and he didn't want to frighten him. 

Wild For Life rehabilitates raptors. They are raising funds so they can expand the number and variety of birds that they can take in at their center in Asheville. Jim has worked hard to advance himself from carpenter / cage cleaner to handler.

FEBRUARY 2014

More snow...

We love going for a walk after the snow because you never know what you will find. These are turkey tracks. In the past we've seen bobcat tracks with a set of rabbit tracks - looked like both were running at the time.

There is a special kind of peace and quiet that settles all around us when it snows. We just love it.

It was in February that we started thinking about putting in the deck that we had planned all along but decided to do ourselves. The ledger boards were installed when the house was built in anticipation of adding the deck. We just didn't know when it would happen. The ledger boards are just below the Hardy Plank siding (green) and were bolted to the Superior Walls (concrete basement walls). The ledger boards are used to attach the deck to the house.

The peaches I canned in the summer tasted great in the middle of winter - with ice cream!

 March 2014 - Spring!

More snow in March - Jim looks cold!

A beautiful deer visited in March.

Mom made me this beautiful - warm - sweater. Even though it was March I still wore it a lot.

Coming up in the next post is my compost bin and Jim's fire pit projects.

Playing Catch Up

If not now, when?

Ever have a task to do that seems too big or difficult to accomplish – so you put it off?  I’ve had a few of those recently: taking a test for re-certification, cleaning my office, rebuilding a rock wall, finding new medical insurance (because I was dumped), and posting an update on this blog. As you all probably know, if you don’t at least start then you will never accomplish the task. Also, you feel so good when you get it done. So just do it, or at least start.

So here we go…

Since last year Jim and I have been very busy having all kinds of fun. 

OCTOBER 2013

In early October we were in West Virginia at The Mountain Institute near Spruce Knob for another weekend with Hero's Journey Foundation. I think the more time you spend in nature the more time you think about taking care of the environment and living as green as possible.

Making a camp fire, which we refer to as a spirit fire, is a big part of the Hero's Journey experience. It is a source of warmth in the evenings, heats stones for the sweat lodge, creates the coals for fire walks, is a great place to gather around for good conversation and inner reflection, and most importantly reminds us all of the fire that burns within each of us.

So you might be asking yourself... Isn't "Living Green" and the promotion of camp fires a contradiction? Well, maybe. I will admit that. And also consider that a large group of people gathering around a small fire for a short period of time may benefit the environment. The experience brings each person into a deeper relationship with the environment and may possibly encourage each person to think about their place in nature and be a bit more responsible. Jim and I are certainly not the most "green" people in the world; but we are trying to do our best at creating the smallest impact on mother nature. It is our hope that what we share on this blog will encourage others to make greener decisions.

In mid October of 2013 Chris Royer and Ragan Sheridan visited again. Chris scheduled a nature class on our property which he offered to the public. Of course Jim and I participated - we wouldn't have missed it. The first thing we did was collect some stones from our property and find a space where we could make a medicine wheel.

We had a small counsel then began to explore.

Chris talked a bit about being in and with nature.

One of the ways to do that is blindfolded - because it opens your senses. Ragan set up a path through our woods using a string. We blindfolded ourselves, grabbed the string and set off on an adventure. A few of us did it barefoot! The experience was amazing.

 

Jim making his way through the woods.

Near the end of our time together we did some care taking of our property. We chose our creek.

Jim and I have been back to the creek a few times since Chris and Ragan's visit. We are working on creating a path next to the creek and trying to keep up with the branches that fall between visits. Chris recommended taking the sticks and small branches we find across paths and break them into smaller bits so they will break down more quickly. When branches are lying directly on the ground they absorb more moisture and break down faster. Ragan often carries a small cloth bag and collects small and medium size twigs that are not in direct contact with the ground to make twig bundles. She uses them to make camp fires by placing them in the form of a Teepee. It works great every time. 

 NOVEMBER 2013

 I learned from SCUBA diving that heat loss is greatest from your head. It is chilly in the winter so I started making wool hats. Patons carries 100% Pure New Wool, which simply means it comes straight from living sheep. One ball easily makes a cap. These are "slouchy." I like their shape better than the typical designs.

It is rare, but every now and then we see a deer.

North Carolina has a lot of great places to hike. We can see Mount Pisgah from our home and have always wanted to hike the trail. We offered the opportunity to Jim's family when they came for a visit.

From left to right: Tom, Sandy, Cindy and Jim. (Pete and his wife Norma weren't able to make it)

Ernie and Cindy

Stan and Sandy

Tom and Kathy

Relaxing at our home after our hike...what Cindy referred to as the "Death March."  Jim and I leaned a good lesson: Try out hikes before you invite someone to do it.

Driveway project

 We were having problems with drainage in our drive and parking area. Jim put in a concrete gutter and that solved the problem. It was a pretty big job that he was happy with after he finished.

It snowed in November - and in October. This little squirrel and chipmunk were happy to find some seeds on the ground.

In late November I was hiking through our property and came upon this thing someone had erected. Corn was scattered all over the ground. It is a PVC pipe with a old coffee can on top (to prevent rain from getting into the pipe. The pipe had a little corn left in it. I figured out it was for attracting deer - to hunt them. I’m actually not against hunting but I don’t want someone hunting on our property – especially without permission. After I figured out what it was I got a little nervous. I began wondering if a hunter was sitting nearby in a blind, perched in a tree, or under a bush. I called Jim on my cell phone then called a friend and my brother to ask them about hunting laws in NC. I disassembled the contraption and hauled it back to our house. We eventually found out that the person who owns the land next to us has given a friend permission to hunt on her property. Unfortunately, she didn't explain to him the boundaries of her property. We were glad that the mystery was solved.

By the end of November one of my orchids was blooming. It is really awesome to have these sitting in on my windowsill when there is snow on the ground.

DECEMBER 2013

Chris and Ragan visited again.

 

I experimented with making scones. I was trying to do gluten free and use almond flour. They were really good but still need some more experimenting. 

2014 will be in the next blog - stay posted.

FALL

It is Autumn. The leaves are changing fast. Just as I was having the thought that the leaves were peeking in our area - they did. Within a few days the brilliant yellows, golds and reds are fading. There is quite a chill in the air and winter is knocking on the door.

 Just a few days ago I still had Marigolds and these beautiful purple flowers in the walkway to our front door.

Now they look like this.

I only got 2 tomatoes from the plants I put in. The summer seemed to be hard on them. As soon as it got cool the plants perked up and I got two more tomatoes. 

So glad I wasn't depending on my tomato crop for canning. Thank goodness for the local farmers markets and farms. 

We recently ate these after they ripened - yum!

 I got one more butternut squash from the garden before all the plants gave out and I'm still getting carrots.

Butternut carrot soup - was very delicious. 

The green in the front on the left are the carrots I have remaining. The green behind that is arugula. It went to seed but still tastes pretty good. On the right are kale and more arugula. The cooler weather has been much better for the greens. The bugs seem to have disappeared. Now I only have to contend with falling leaves.

 Speaking of falling leaves... this is our driveway.

 I can't pick out a favorite autumn leave color. They are all so amazing.

We hike a lot now so we can take in as much of the beauty before it is gone. 

 A view from our living room.

This is a view from the west side of our property looking back at our house. You can just about make out the green roof just to the left of the big pine tree. We wanted our "green" home to blend in as much as possible. From this angle we were successful. 

 On one of our early am walks we were greeted by a rainbow.

No words needed!

We have had some fall visitors. Some unexpected and some expected. 

Momma bear returned...

 with 3 cubs.

All four were looking pretty hungry but didn't find anything to eat at our place.

Since the humming birds have departed for winter, the feeders have been removed and the bird seed is not reachable (they have tried and just can't get to it). 

We thought the cubs were pretty cute until they began mimicking mom by standing and putting their paws on the front door glass. No longer cute! Jim opened the side window and introduced himself. They are not habituated so they got spooked and moved along. Probably to the neighbors' garbage cans. A few day latter one was turned over in the street. Another thing we do to discourage bears is keep our garbage cans inside. They are only mildly curious about the compost bin and haven't done any damage to it. Small blessings!

Other guests this fall were my cousin Peggy and her husband Bill. 

Peggy mentioned they have been following our blog and were curious about our house. Since they were in the area they stopped in to say Hi and take a look. 

Thanks so much for visiting! 

As you can tell we love sharing our home.

The bluegrass group we play with, the Berry Pickers, have been pretty busy. We played a barn dance last night and the photo above was taken at a wedding a week ago. 

It looks warm and sunny. It was until the sun went down. I discovered some overalls at Tractor Supply that are one of the best cold weather investments I've ever made. They are sort of quilted with a padding to make them warm. And boy are they. It was 40 in the barn last night and I was nice and toasty!