Cob Cottage on the Farm Tour

Folks,

We visited the 14th Annual Piedmont Farm Tour last year and it was a huge hit. So we went again this year. The Farm Tour is a fund raiser for the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association  

Anyway this is the first posting about one of the farms. The Pickards Mountain Eco-Institute I was taken in by the Cob Cottage. Cob is something I read all about months back when I was thinking about building a huge bottle wall in our garden. I had met this guy named Greg in Durham who just happened to be working on his sisters garden across the street from where were were working.

Anyway Greg and many others built this Cob Cottage and here is a tour.

The front entrance, ok the only entrance.

The view from these windows is very breath taking, what a place to wake up to in the morning. That pole you see behind the cottage is a small wind turbine.

For those of you who do not know what cob is it is mud and straw that is made into a clay like consistency and piled and shaped to build walls and other items.


The roof has a herb garden growing on it, is case you were wondering.

A view of the inside the cottage, lovely and so cozy.

It took 10 months to build this cottage with1-10 people helping when they could. Sure wish we had one of these, I've read they can last for a very long time, some cob built buildings in Europe are said to be 600 years old if I remembered that correctly.

 Above is a look at the entrance to the garden. Note the girl on the horse, they were giving rides to the kids, one of the girls was in Meg's class a few years ago. Right under the sign you can see the back of the solar panels. The Cob Cottage is slightly down the hill on the left out of sight.


Now time for our first peony in our garden.
 We have two plants that were planted last year and this is the only bloom.

This bloom is about 6 inches across!
This Swallowtail Columbine is from Helga's Garden at Four Leaf  Farm which is with in walking distance from here. She delivered us some tomato plants tonight!

Hellebores Galore and other shade loving plants

Hope everyone had a great Halloween! We watched rapid moving clouds past by the nearly full moon fo a little while hoping to see a witch fly by.

Yesterday we visited Hillsborough, NC and a friend of ours allowed us to thin some of the garden where she stays. This is a very established garden loaded with all kind of shade loving plants. We filled the back of our little Scion EB.

As you can see we dug up 12 hellebores of which she says they are whites, pinks and red mostly. I replaced the scented Ginger Lilly I lost in our huge renovation. We also got several columbines, two big chunks of Solomon's Seal that the fall had turned orange. There is also this very cool stripy arrowroot. There was also a pink turtlehead and a peony. My favorite is the Cyclamen, managed to get 2 plants of it.


It gets even better they came over and helped us plant the new plants on a very gray day and all found places in our garden.

I also borrowed a book about a local Hillsborough garden called "Montrose Life in a Garden" by Nancy Goodwin. Goodwin ran a local nursery in the mid 70s up to the mid 80s and she was very much into hellebores and cyclamens. I'd be willing to bet a lot of these plants came from Montrose. The book is a good read that takes you into the garden starting in January and ends in December, I'm into April already!


While gathering compost Meg found this Brown Snake, Storeria dekayi curled up on a hickory leaf next to the compost bin. These tiny harmless snakes eat slugs you have to love them! Brown Snakes rarely get bigger than 15 inches all the ones we have found here have been less than a foot long. While planting the new columbines Meg also found a Worm Snake another tiny slug eater yeah!

Garden growing update end of March

Yellow Pear Tomatoes I planted on March 17th. Meg thinks I put too many seeds in each container, maybe I did..


The main veggy garden. Notice the Eastern Redbud in full bloom after three days of rain ...The green under those poles is the Super Sugar Snap Peas. All the veggy photos below are growing in the above garden.

The new flower bed to be between the house and the pond with a new creek stone path.

A primrose I've had for a very long time is about to bloom.

Fingerling potatoes the first sprouts!

Arugula we have three patches of these.

Mesclun Mix salad greens looks so yummy!

Curly Kale my first try at kale, three small patches of it as well.

Super Sugar Snap Peas

Clematis Henrii starting to bud, this plant is over 12 years old it is spread out everywhere.

Carolina Columbine, just moved to a new location after coming up in the topsoil pile. We picked up a new red columbine yesterday and should be planting it soon.

Hostas found in the topsoil pile, I have some huge leaved hostas, these are not them.

The front butterfly garden! Looks pretty bad right now. The tall broken off plants are Bronze Fennel behind this is Mountain Mint given to me by some gardening friends that live in the NC mountains. The green is the far back is double day lilies and invasive blackberries. This garden needs a lot of work, there are some nice Phlox from Big Bloomers in there!


Dot the Wonder Dog bored to heck after three days of rain.

NC Local Wildflowers

Here are some local wild flowers. I hope you enjoy them and have them where you live.

Pinkster azalea, Rhododendron periclymenoides : One of my favorites these get to 6-8 foot tall, this was found at the Eno River State Park along the Eno River. Out in the NC coastal plain these grow along the roadside in amazing displays.
Eastern Redbud, Cercis canadensis : this is a small tree that lines our driveway and edges along our woods. They attract butterflies in big numbers.
Smooth Coneflower, Echinacea laevigata : In these parts this is a rare listed plant, it grows only in basic soil. I was told about a power line filled with these about 30 minites from here. Stunning to see so many in one place.
Eastern Red Columbine, Aquilegia canadensis :( I call it Carolina Columbine). This photo was taken in my garden, it pops up where it wants to grow. In the NC mountains it grows in large masses.
Wild Easter Lily, Zephyranthes atamasca : This grows wild in wet places nearby here. It always gets my full attention.
Catsby Trillium, Trillium catesbaei : Our only native trillium. This was fould about 20 minites from here in a area with about 100 of them in bloom. I've been there several time and each time I don't want to leave.