Hikes Continue

 Each day here at the Swag we continue to lead hikes.  There are very civilized places to walk on the Swag property and other places that are deep in the woods.

Yesterday our hike took us to a splashing waterfall near the bottom of Swag property.  This was a hike of some difficulty as we climbed down by ropes to the base of the waterfall itself.

On our way back we saw one of the more than thirty species of salamander to be found in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  It was a small Eastern Red Spotted Newt. 

There is an adventure around every corner when we go out on the trail here.

Back at The Swag

 This week Trish and I are back at The Swag, the beautiful country inn outside my home town of Waynesville where I tell stories and we lead hikes two or three weeks each year.

The Swag property abuts the Great Smoky National Park boundary along the Cataloochee Divide and the Cataloochee Divide trail just inside the Park is a trail that I started hiking about sixty-five years ago.  The trail goes through a wonderland of trees and wildflowers and each day’s hike is filled with beautiful natural discoveries.

Most of the trilliums have finished blooming by now, but we discovered a whole hillside filled with the late-blooming Vesey’s Trillium on our first hike.

Later on we came across this lovely and rare pink lady slipper wild orchid.  Some of our hikers sometimes ask me whether I took all of this beauty for granted growing up here.  No...in all of my childhood and growing years I was never anything but amazed at the beauty and wonder of these mountains.  This is perhaps because my parents so loved, appreciated, and taught me about so many of the things that surrounded my childhood.

I learned early on that individual people may own the land, but we all own the landscape forever!

Cemetery Project

 The cemetery for Davis Chapel Methodist Church is on land donated by my great grandfather at the same time when he donated land for the church.  This was in about 1865.  The church is now gone, but the cemetery continues to be cared for by the community and is the final resting place for many of my ancestors.

On a recent trip Trish and I discovered how very much the Davis tombstones needed to be cleaned.  There is a lot of lichen growth and other biological signs of aging. So, on this trip, we began that process.

A lot of time was spend working on the stone marking the grave of my Daddy’s baby sister, Ruth.  Ruth was a student at Berea College when she died of a brain tumor in 1932.  Daddy remembered her as a magical girl who could collect the honey from the bees without using smoke or ever being stung.  She was said to be one with nature itself.

We also worked on the marker for my great-great-grandfather, Philip Davis.  

This is a project that will continue for quite a while.  We discovered both how much work is involved and how we need some different materials to use. We need to find a way to take water to the cemetery to do this work effectively and seriously.  It is a dear privilege of love to be able to do this and remember those who gave us our lives.

Loquat Time

 A number of years ago I went into the old Ocracoke Trading Company and saw a small plant for sale in a number ten can.  Foy Shaw was working there and he told me that it was called a loquat tree and that’s all he knew about it.  

I bought it and set it out in the side yard.  Now the tree is at least thirty feet tall and each year bears an abundance of yellow fruit after it after it blooms in the winter.  I had never done anything with these fruit, but, Trish decided this year it was time to explore the possibilities of the loquat.

Native to Southeast Asia, the loquat is cultivated there for both its fruit and its leaves which are used for making a kind of tea.  It also grows in Gulf Coast states and up the East Coast to South Carolina.  Ours just happens to like Ocracoke and thrives here.

After finding recipes for loquat jam, we headed outside to pick the loquats.  Trish did the picking and I was the ladder holder.  She got pretty high up into the tree and for a nice bucket full of the yellow fruits.

Then it was to the kitchen to take out the large triple seeds and then cook them down on the way to making the preserve.

She added cardamom as well as sugar and finally filled the jars and processed the jam.

The taste is described as a cross between peach and mango.  I would agree with that with a tiny edge of citrus.  The cardamom is the perfect spice addition.

I think that  next year we will be looking for harvest time and do this again.

Daily Ride

 Things are pretty quiet on the island right now.  We are watching spring arrive, caring for our plants, and looking forward to the gradual resumption of storytelling events as the coming months approach.

When we are at home, though, we have several little rituals that are important to us each day.  Here is one of them.

We check to see what time sunset is to be. Then, whether eating supper or watching a movie, we stop what we are doing about twenty minutes ahead of that time, back the convertible out of the garage, and take a ride exactly one mile down to the National Park parking lot on the Pamlico Sound.  That is the best place to watch the sunset over the water of the Sound.

We have about 180 degrees of water view from this site and one of the things we watch is how the positioning of the sun migrates through the seasons of the year.

It is also very notable that every sunset is different from every other one.

Sometimes the layers of clouds are in charge; other times the sun is the owner of the sky.  The water below always adds texture to our view.

Trish and I love our little sunset rides and marvel each day at our joy in living where we are privileged to live with one another.

Powerwash Season

 Everyone has some version of spring cleaning. But, if you live with all the humidity and dampness of the island, there is a winter accumulation of mildew and mold that does not happen everywhere.

So, spring cleaning time is not just an indoor activity, but involves major outdoor power washing.

Our house and garage apartment combined have: the ramp up to the garage, two garage and apartment decks, walkway from the garage to the house, three house decks, wooden driveway, two wooden walkways, and the hot tub. All of these areas are major mold factories during the winter and preservation of the wood plus removal of slippery surfaces is only accomplished by power washing.

When we started this spring we discovered that our old power washer had died since last year.  So, a new purchase was in order.  We learned long ago that the more power the better, especially where cleaning time is concerned.  So, we now have 3,200 psi at work.

The best thing is that it is fun!  Nothing as fulfilling as doing a job where you really see the results.

Happy springtime!

Mushroom Farm

 It is so much fun to watch things grow.  Trish and I love planting flowers and vegetables all around the inside and outside of our house.

Right now we have an active little mushroom farm where we are growing pink oyster mushrooms to eat.

We have then in our main bathroom where they can take advantage of the humidity not get direct sunlight.

The photos shown here follow a seven day growth period.  At the end, we picked the mushrooms and had a delicious dinner of eggs scrambled with onions, mushrooms, and cheese!  

Things that you grow yourself taste better!

All picked and ready to eat!

Pelican Breeding Ground

 On our way back from Portsmouth to Ocracoke we made an offshore visit to Beacon Island, a major breeding ground for brown pelicans.  In the 1950’s and before this island was totally covered with nests of breeding birds.  When DDT became generally available for agricultural use following WW II, the pelican population began to drop.  The insecticide made their eggs soft and sterile and new hatchlings were few.  

By the early 60’s there were only three breeding pairs of brown pelicans here and the entire species was endangered.

The Endangered Species Act of 1973 outlawed the use of DDT totally and the pelicans began to return.  Today their numbers are difficult to count they are so wonderfully numerous and they are no longer in danger.

We circled the island and watched the parents and their babies crowded around their nests.  The parents go out and catch fish, then bring them back and feed the babies until the babies are big enough to fish on their own.  There were also ibises and oyster skimmers to be seen nesting among them.

It is a beautiful sight!

Portsmouth Adventure

 In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries Portsmouth was the largest town on the coast of North Carolina.  Nearly eight hundred permanent residents lived on this island, just south of our island of Ocracoke.  Each year as many as twelve-hundred sailing ships unloaded at Portsmouth so that their cargoes could be transported across Pamlico Sound, a trip the large ships could not make due to the shallowness and uncertain channels of the Sound.  The village even had a hospital and a Lifesaving Station.

With the advent of steam and the gradual disappearance of the tall-masted sailing ships, the economy of the village faltered.  The Civil War brought evacuation following which many residents did not return.  With no jobs, children growing up sought better life on the mainland. 

In 1966 Cape Lookout National Seashore was established and the village was part of that acquisition.  The few remaining residents where allowed to live out their lives there if they so chose.  

The combination store and Post Office.

By 1971 only three people remained, two women and one man, Henry Piggot.  When Henry died, the women left the island and Portsmouth has been a ghost town ever since.  

The Methodist Church and the Babb house.  A descendants reunion is held here every other year.

With Jonathan and Kahran with us for the week, we went over to Portsmouth for the day on Friday.  

In the lookout tower of the Lifesaving Station.  It was functional until 1937.

It was a perfect day.  Moderate temperature and enough wind to blow the insects away.  We took a Picnic and had it at the old Lifesaving Station.  It was a great day.

Inside the kitchen of Henry Piggot’s house. He was a small man and built the house just to fit himself.