Country Roads - Mountain Streams

Country road to my oldest son's house.

Do you ever get that feeling of peace, that moment of total muscle relaxation, of deja vu when you go on a trip and you know that this place is in your genes. Some primeval place that generations have passed on to you? Well, for me the mountains are that place.

North Carolina is blessed with the Atlantic Ocean, the coastal plains, the river basins, the foothills and the oldest Mountains of North America - the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Great Smoky Mountains. When I go to visit my friends and family in the mountains there is this one point where you have left the coastal plain behind and you enter the foothills - here my stomach and my psyche just sort of have this overwhelming feeling of relaxation.

I thought I might share a few of my photos from my most recent trip with you. They are just a few, so bare with me.

progress has taken it's toil

One of those beautiful scenes. The farmers and ranchers in North Carolina are using at least two donkeys in each field with their herds now. It is to combat the coyotes that are making their presence known here. They are filling a predator spot that the wolves left open. Apparently the donkeys are quite aggressive and will stomp anything that tries to come into their pasture. This group of cattle have their two donkeys watching over them.

Hay cut and rolled, waiting to be stored. The field smelled so good and was steamy from being cut.

The swimming hole in my son's neighborhood. I take his pups here to swim. It is so much fun.

On weekends the locals like to hangout on his rock. It is quite deep here and very quiet. My youngest son and I found a bunch of snake eggs here after a good rain.

Much of the creek is lined with these gorgeous rock formations. I am always amazed to see trees growing out of the rock.

Country Roads - or How I Spent My Weekend

This weekend I was invited to go stay on a friends farm and take pictures and relax. I have been thinking about where I want to move and the type of life style I would like to have. I have been talking a lot about it with friends and family. This particular friend is fifth generation farmer. I have known their family for some time and have always appreciated all the time and energy it takes to live this life. They are quite fortunate as their great or grand parents started a bank after the depression for farmers so this helps in the "bad" years.

I got to stay in one of the "older" restored farmhouses on the property. It was such a treat. The smell of grass and animals was something I had forgotten. Here I smell the salt of the ocean. Everywhere was motion. The corn was swaying, the chickens were pecking in the ground, the insects were pollinating. It was so full of life.

One of the things I enjoyed was how good the food was - so fresh. I went into the garden picked and then cooked. Something I haven't done in a long time. I will say that it is a lot of work to run these farms. Always something that needs to be done. I was amazed at how so many of the small farms were being bought up or rented by large corporations. People we need these farms.

Not the time to get up on a soap box... I really enjoyed being out in the country. The long drives - seeing no one for miles, the old barns and houses, the friendliness of everyone. The crickets at night...I hope you will enjoy some of my pictures.

Sunday Morning was spent at the family church. I love this old place. The church has these high ceilings and aqua blue stained glass windows. When you drive up you see all this fine white sand and the whole front of the church yard has these immense Willow Oaks. Some are twisted by the wind, but all give off this wonderful cool shade. These trees have been here for a long time. They hold great secrets I am sure. After the service when you walk out it is so refreshing. We came early so I could walk around the cemetery and take pictures. Southerners really like their cemeteries.

Everywhere you go you see fields of crops. The Tobacco is just starting to turn. We have had bumper crops of everything with all the rain we have had. I love how as you drive down the roads with all the windows down and the air conditioning on full blast you can smell everything growing. The barns are just roofs above everything. Here is a picture of a field of Tobacco and am old drying barn.

Here in North Carolina we grow all sorts of things - cotton, tobacco, corn, soy beans and wheat to just name a few. This is another Tobacco drying barn on the edge of a hay field. We believe in the rotation system here. Grow one thing one season, then re enrich the soil with something else another. Your crops also might depend on the livestock you maintain. In a month or so this field will be cut and rolled for the cows this farmer supports.

These mail boxes just caught my eye. For miles all I could see were soybean fields - then these two mailboxes. I asked my friend about them and was told that they were there to hold the lunches of the men who worked these fields. At a certain time their lunch was delivered. The rest of the weekend I noticed many of the fields had mailboxes or newspaper holders at the entrance to the fields. I am supposing these were drop off points.