Month: February 2021

I have been to my place, the French Broad River Greenway, multiple times since I moved to Asheville back in the summer. My first time going with this blog in mind was a few weeks ago on a very cold day with snow beginning to blow in. I walked the stretch of greenway, assessing the river and how high it was. I noticed the bare trees and brown ground. I shivered with the trees in the wind.

This greenway follows a pavement path for most of the way, but switches to dirt/mud towards the end right before it goes under the bridge. That section has a wildness to it. The switch from pavement to dirt has an almost immediate change between human and animal. In previous walks there, I have seen groundhogs nibbling the grass at this junction. On this particular walk, I witnessed a sudden change in the amount of birds. There were quite a few small birds twittering in the bushes. There was a group of cold doves up on the power lines above the path. Crows were circling and bothering them. And, there was a hawk in a tree not but twenty feet from me. I watched it for probably twenty to thirty minutes. It was hunting. It was also cold like me. It would fluff up its feathers like I fluffed my coat in the wind. It looked at me some, but did not seem worried by my presence.

I later tried to identify the hawk. I narrowed it down to either a Cooper’s hawk or a Red-Shouldered hawk. Which one, I am not certain because the shoulders and tail were not very visible. It did not appear to be particularly red in color, so I think it to be a Cooper’s hawk, however it could have been young and immature.

I greatly enjoyed watching this hawk because it was wild but in a mostly human altered area. It sat on a tree right next to the road and above the river. I stood between it and the river, watching it as it watched for small creatures to eat for lunch. It was awe inspiring to watch it, but also worrisome because it was cold and hungry. I felt that I wanted to help it, but there was nothing I could do. This is the life of a hawk. They must perch and hunt, whether it be cold or hot.

At one point it flew to try to catch something near the road. It flew out of my sight, behind the bushes that sat along the road. I worried that it would be hit by a car; that road is well travelled and travelled quickly. I was concerned I might hear a thud. I waited for it to return for a few nervous seconds. It did, but without lunch. It continued its perching and watching. At that point, I decided to leave it because I had been standing around watching it for quite some time and it was very cold. But, it was a very enjoyable sight and I hope to see the hawk again the next time I go to the greenway.

Links to hawk identification:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Coopers_Hawk/id

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-shouldered_Hawk/

“Natives went elsewhere in search of a livelihood while outlanders came here in search of refuge from the urban blight. It is one of the ironies, and perhaps one of the hopes, of much of Appalachia that many of its people have found the secret of making a way of life where they often could not find means of making a living.” – Wilma Dykeman, The French Broad.

Dykeman captures a paradox of life along the French Broad river. Through the past few hundred years, the people who have grown up along it have had to leave to find work. At the same time, outside people have moved here to get away from larger, messier cities. These people have money and cause the price of land and homes to increase. This is causing more native people to have to leave because they cannot afford the higher prices. Outsiders are floating in while natives are getting washed down. Tourists flow in and out with the current.

I can attest to this fact here in Asheville. There is a housing crisis. Young people who try to make a living end up having to leave because they cannot afford to live here. Money is only good when the tourists are here, so many people rely on crafts, events, food, music, and outdoor adventuring to make their livings. But, that all slacks up in the fall and winter. With the pandemic, it is all worse. My older sister, who has been living in Asheville longer, has watched many of her friends, favorite restaurants and bars, and bands, dissolve or leave. They have been rushed away by the rapids of economic collapse.

A river is made up of what washes into it and down it. People have been fluctuating around it and so has the industry. The French Broad River’s cleanliness has been problematic for years. Forty years ago, it was not remotely clean. Along it, industry and production was booming and its trash was flushed into the French Broad. Car parts, appliances, and dead animals were often found in it. It required river clean ups and was not safe to play, fish, or float on (Clarke). It has improved with the diminishing of manufacturing along its banks and with the help of river cleaning companies, but it is not perfect. It is a resilient river and one of the oldest, but can it live forever?

The stretch of the French Broad in my location, the greenway, seems to be in danger. Further down it, another more recently improved section, sits below old, crumbling, factory buildings and railroads. That section, with its recent improvement and construction runoff, is more beautiful. However, the land holds many imperfections because of past pitiful and shoddy construction. Asheville sits on old pipes with no schematics to tell where they are. They cave in and cause sinkholes all over. I know of at least three that have occurred since I moved here last summer, and one just recently caved in along the banks of the French Broad in that newly improved section and mere feet outside my stretch of greenway for this blog. This shows some of the weird old problems of the past that are still popping up for us in the present. It’s crappy design. It’s cheap design.

This all connects to my place, the French Broad River Greenway, because of the water cycle. What is falling, sloshing through pipes, leaking through the ground, and spilling down hillsides ends up in the valley. It ends up in the deepest part that is the river. It swirls around in the river and travels further down it. It may seem that it flows away, but it does not. It seeps into the ground and is licked up by animals. It gets in their bodies and our bodies. It makes life gross for us and the animals. It makes life gross for the earth. We are spitting on our own mother.

My location is one of many along the French Broad that has construction, roads, railroads, homes, and pastures just above its banks. What is up there ends up down in the flow of the river because of the height changes, substantial rain, and consistent flooding this area of North Carolina must tread and stay afloat in.

Works Cited:

Clarke, Jess. Back from the Brink: The French Broad River. 1 Mar. 2010, www.ourstate.com/french-broad-river/. 

Dykeman, Wilma. The French Broad. Wakestone Books, 1955. 

Don’t Go Too Far

When I was young, my family and I would often visit Kalkaska to see my grandparents, my aunt, and my uncles. Often these visits were during the summer, so my dad would ride Harleys with my grandpa, my uncle Les would take us dirt biking, and we’d spend lots of days boating or playing around on the beach. Driving out to Blue or Bear Lake was a day long adventure, all of us heading out in the morning in my grandpa’s big surfer van. I loved to boat and jet ski, but swimming was always my favorite activity when it came to the water. It felt so free, to glide through the water and feel encompassed in the warmth and the silence of being underwater, sun shining down to the floor of the lake and alighting all the fish and plants swaying in the tide.

One specific memory I have is being very little and just starting to swim, and this big floaty tube my grandpa gave me to hold onto. I remember how he kept calling out to me for swimming out too far, so I only got to swim around in the shallows with the sand all around my feet. It was warm, I could feel the sun on my back and heating up my hair, which was still the towhead blonde color from my early childhood. His frequent calls for me to stay near were frustrating to me as a child, but reminiscing shows it was nothing but love. Worry and love tied together in a deep embrace, which seems to be the core pair of emotions at the heart of the parent or grandparent and child relationship. That wasn’t my concern at the time, I simply wanted to swim out as far as my little legs could take me, but now the thought colors the memory in nice rosy shades.

The water was comfortable and warm, the sweet freshwater lake rocking me up and down as the tide came in and went out like a rhythm of breathing. My family was spread out between standing behind me on the beach, or swimming ahead of me out in the water. I still have never swam in or even touched the ocean; my lake-loving childhood has made me skittish about even the brackish waters of Lake Erie. “Bull sharks in Lake Michigan,” was a headline that broke when I was in middle school, and it put me off of the ocean and ocean bound rivers for a long time. Maybe I’ll get over it someday – that remains to be seen, in the murky veil of the future. For now, I prefer the lakes I spent so long baptizing myself in as a child, or the nice chlorinated water of pools and jacuzzies. Even if they turn me as red as a lobster, at least there’s no sharks in the hot tub. (At least not in the comfort of the real world. Let’s not talk about that ghost shark movie.)

With over a century of history, Pinehurst and its community has changed through the decades. One of the ever changing spaces is Pinehurst Arboretum.

What once started as a landfill from Pinehurst’s early days in the early 1900s to as recently as the 1970s, has changed, developed and transformed into a natural space for the entire community’s pleasure.

And while I do not have family history tied to this space as so many other spaces do, I feel a personal connection to this land.  From an early age I was exposed to this developing space and helped with the many projects that made the Arboretum what it is today. All because my mother was on the Village Heritage Foundation Board of Directors, which developed the  Pinehurst Arboretum.

Pinehurst Arboretum was started in 2003 after concerns that human growth in the village would take over natural spaces. However, Pinehurst Arboretum wasn’t always a perfect natural space. Once an overgrown unusable landfill with remnants of a burned longleaf pine forest, has been designed into a space where humans and nature can interact with each other and where humans can grow an appreciation for nature. Melding human-made spaces, revitalized forests and natural woods into one. Featuring native grasses, flowers and trees, Pinehurst Arboretum is a unique space with different sections that each boast different parts of the Sandhills.

Joyce’s Meadow, the Pergola Garden, the Magnolia Garden, the Flowering Tree Garden, the Longleaf Pine Savanna, the Woodland Garden, the Native Pollinator Garden, and the Pavilion are all part of the Pinehurst Arboretum. Put together, they are a large natural space, apart they feel like their own worlds, yet are a part of something greater, something that would be a mix of natural and human, that the community has come to love.

While I will be covering the individual sections, I want to highlight one section in particular in my first entry. One of my personal favorites is Joyce’s Meadow, a wide grass space, surrounded by trees and bushes. Joyce’s Meadow, named after the founder Joyce Franke, hosts many events throughout the years, including concerts and weddings, but it is mostly the space of picnics and family gatherings. Wide and open to the sky above, I have spent countless hours here flying kites with my family and playing pickup games of lacrosse with my sister. It is a joy to come here and see the community bond over the use of this particular space.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic activities such as art exhibitions, concerts, weddings and festivals have been held at Pinehurst Arboretum. Attending such events not only brought the community together but also allowed and invited guests to explore the natural world they are in. Weddings became a mix of human and natural. Art exhibitions were enhanced by a natural setting to display art. Concerts were held under the stars as music filled the natural space. 

Everything about Pinehurst Arboretum has astounded me… its past, its present, its future. Now the natural world is a part of my village.

February 13 2021

Yesterday, on the farm, we suffered the loss of a friend. Friendships are hard to come by, take time to mature and grow, and add meaning to our lives, so I do not take this loss lightly. On the farm there are a variety of animals and over the last fifty years or so, when it was a dairy, there have been hundreds of animals. But since the mid 1990’s we have had a dwindling number of farmers as well as animals, the latter reduced to mostly pets.  Yesterday we lost one of our pets, a sheep, our oldest Horned Dorset ram. He died peacefully in the barn where my nephews nursed him after a terrible night of being unable to get to his feet, hidden by the dark and alone. He was ten years old, a ripe age for a sheep by any measure. We had been watching him closely, knowing death seemed close to our old friend.

Wait…a sheep you say. Don’t be so dramatic you think. And you would be right in some ways, because death on the farm is not personal and it can be very common.

But hear me out, for all these last ten years this sheep was the alpha of our little flock of mismatched barnyard pets. A few sheep, a few goats, a few cows, and a spattering of teenagers. All of them watched his every move when around the barnyard. He would prance and pose when on alert, and always get to the grain first or there was hell to pay. He came to the farm at just the right time, this alpha. He filled a void after the death of my cousin, just a little bit of that void. You see this sheep was the first addition of livestock after my cousin’s death at the tender age of 54, suffering a quirky farming accident in that very barn yard. Gone leaving fences to mend, sheep to shear, cows to get up, and boys to raise. And those boys, those teenagers, have spent nearly half their lives with that sheep and notably…not their dad.

The Horned Dorset is an ancient English breed known for being a good wool producer and good to eat. The lambs fatten quickly. The breed’s most notable feature however is that they are aseasonal, meaning they conceive year round. Most breeds conceive in the fall and lamb in the spring. Any sheep herder can see the value of this attribute right away. You can have lambs year round. Because of these attributes you might be surprised to learn they are threatened. Ever since scientists at NC State University developed the Poled Dorset, poled have no horns, the world wide number of Horned Dorset has collapsed. Farmers prefer not to battle a 250 pound ram with horns come spring shearing! We shear our sheep each spring more for their comfort in our hot weather than the 7-9 pounds of wool we get in return, though for the last few years our sheep-shearer has been processing the wool into socks and hats. Our summer heat would threaten the sheep’s health without a close shave, this isn’t cool southern England.

Over the last ten years this ram grew big and strong. He matured into a robust healthy dominate male, the alpha, siring many lambs. He learned from the other animals, and the fence, the extent of his domain. He learned to tolerate the veterinarian, and the sheep-shearer, and other tasks we asked of him. And we asked a lot. He became none other than the mascot of UNC athletics; Rameses XXI, the 21st mascot over 97 years on the farm. Both my nephews grew right along beside him, learning to walk the fence line after storms, to do the chores along with school work, and to bottle feed babies born in the bitter cold. Ohh, and take him to the sidelines of UNC football games. This ram arrived on the farm just at the right time for those of us that were feeling a void. His passing sounds the echo of the loss we suffered ten years ago with the death of my cousin. Both went down in that barn yard, both unable to get up. So yes, this common sheep’s death was different, and personal.  

Trails Through the Trees

Asheville’s Town Mountain Preserve is home to plenty of beautiful houses that are surrounded by a large and colorful wooded area that’s parted by long paved out trails that help residents through the large woods and allow them to admire the beauty of the landscape.

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Even in the colder seasons the beauty of Asheville’s hilly mountain landscape is a gorgeous view to behold. Winding paths that weave together and flow down the rounded landscape certainly gives the feeling that you’re on top of the world and reaching the heights of the landscape. The view from the top is breathtaking and gives the residents and visitors and eagles eye view of Asheville below, helping them understand the scale but also the culminating beauty of the sum of Asheville’s parts.

The trails are clean as this is a gated community which helps the beauty of the mountains to be preserved and on display in full glory for visitors and residents alike. These convenient paths connect not only the wooded areas to the public, but also connect down to the cozy wood-built cabins and houses that are scattered about the preserve.

The trails are convenient, well-cleaned, and also good source of exercise for those looking for a brisk jog through the woods, as well as an incentive for adventure. The Mountain Town has plenty of large creeks and wide open spaces in which nature resides. The wild and the natural lures us because its in our nature as humans to explore and be in tune with our more natural and wild side. These trails are paths to this adventure and they make traversing

The trails allow for easy access to some of the Town’s most beautiful landscapes and outlooks that overlook the gorgeous area. Locations such as Longspur Dr. and the Lewis Gap lead into the deeper woods of the mountain town. The trails of course also act as roads for cars, but the sense of excitement here comes from the thrill of hiking and trudging up the long stretching hills until the satisfaction of reaching the peak rewards your eyes and body both with a level ground view from the very top.

The trails and roads of the Asheville Town Mountain Preserve are quite literally the veins that course through the town and help connect all the locations and houses, as well as offering a transport and passage way for people to explore the beauty of Asheville’s great mountains. They wrap around the winding landscape and trail through many creeks, divides, and cliffs that are open for the entire population of the town, as well as visitors, to fully explore.

The reviews on the Preserve are mostly raving, one of the highlights of course being the beautiful trails that connect this town above the skies and atop the mountains.

Bog Garden – Greensboro, NC

The habitat I chose this semester is the Bog Garden in Greensboro, NC. The Bog Garden is 7 acres wide and was once previously inhabited by the Keyauwee, Sappony, and Shakori tribes.

Wherever I find myself in the world, I like to find spots in nature that give me a peace of mind. Even in the busiest cities, you can find a place that brings you peace, quiet, and relaxation. It is not the same as being back in the country where you’re surrounded by mountains, fields, and rivers. Instead, you must adventure to find local places of greenery.

I found myself walking across a long wooden bridge that runs along a creek. The bog garden gives you a hidden sense of magic in the city. A quiet get away. It it is a little hidden jewel.

I stopped by a part in the stream and started writing in my journal I had brought with me. The mini bamboo forest reminded me of back home where my childhood best friend and I enjoyed finding and being in bamboo forests. I think bamboo is eye-catching and something about it brings me nostalgia of being very young and free.

This day happened to be extraordinary because my roommate and I had spotted a pair of cardinals together nearby trees. As they were chirping away a photographer happened to walk past and capture the moment.

My roommate leaned over to me and said that seeing two cardinals are symbols that your guardian angels are near. It was interesting she said that because growing up I always have had cardinals come to my moms bird feeder in our backyard. I have a couple guardian angels who I know will always watch out for me.

After we spent time some time writing in our journals. we walked around through some nature paths. We passed a small stream with a mini waterfall and squirrels running around. The bog garden is known for the 150 ft recirculating waterfall, the first waterfall in Greensboro. The paths also have incorporated manmade bridges, stairways, and benches you can sit on and stop to enjoy the scenery.

We stopped at a circle of big rocks in a circle where people could sit. My roommate and I laid down and looked up at the tree branches. As I laid back I took in the sun for a couple of minutes and let the warmth fill me up.

Recently I read an article on how trees talk to each-other. I have now tried to pay more attention to the trees because there is a lot of energy I feel that comes from them. I like how in the winter the trees lose their leaves, the branches create different linear paths almost like designs in the sky.

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I think it’s important to find time out in nature every so often to be able to get fresh air and sunshine. It keeps me somewhat sane in this unruly world.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆　K8 ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆　

Town Mountain Preserve Trees and Forest

This is a map of the Preserve

Town Mountain Preserve is a gated community near the heart of downtown Asheville, and is home to some of Ashville’s most glorious mountain forest nature. It’s also a seasonal destination for mountain retreats that offers plenty of houses for sale surrounded by the majestic woods and high standing mountain ranges.

One of the main attractions to the area is the towering trees that surround the winding trails around the mountain preserve. The majesty of these beautiful trees is what truly creates the sprawling flood of greenery that paints the town. IT’s also one of the area’s biggest attractions as its quite the eye catcher and certainly a prime location for some walks/hikes. According to their official website, the Town Mountain Preserve sits atop 182 acres of land with Quaint little houses spread throughout the forest area. .

Standing thin and tall, most of the basic oak trees are peppered throughout the large town mountain, as small paved paths cut through to allow visitors and residents alike to roam the beautiful green forest. Between these paved paths lie long, caved in creeks with flowing fresh water glistening off the sharp rocks and moss clumps congregating near the creek’s edges.

The trees are often bare at their bottoms and lower center, but their green tops drape over the trails below like a large fluffy green umbrella. Look up and you’ll be able to see the radiant sunshine, ever brighter in the mountains, peaking through the leaves, leaving thin rays of sunshine scattered through the paved trails. There are also several more natural dirt trails around the preserve that lead into these wooded areas as well.

This particular area of Asheville is much higher up in the mountains, which makes for a gorgeous view of the forest scraping the beautiful orange and purple blended skyline that illuminates the forest right before dark. The “Private Mountain Communities” website speaks about the area and states that the area is sometimes referred to as the place where “Asheville Touches the Sky!”

The area itself offers a wide selection of houses near some of the most awe inspiring areas in the the woods. The woods are filled with different specimen trees and properties up to four acres with breath-taking views of the large mountain ranges that Asheville is so famous for. The wooded area is complete with the streams and meadows woven throughout and the seasonal colors that are so vibrantly highlighted by the sunshine above.

Th fall seasons are when the true magnificence of the Town Mountain is in full display, as the the woods and trees are flushed in bright greens, deep reds, and vibrant oranges as the radiant barrage of colors falls down on the paths and streams below covering the town in colorful leaves.

If you’re going to Asheville, you’re most likely visiting for either the city, or the large forest mountains. Town Mountain Preserve is one of the best places one can visit to scratch that adventurous itch. There are plenty places within the forest for long hikes, walks, and plenty of beautiful natural sights such as creeks, streams and wide open meadows to truly get the full experience.

On January 29th, the day it was cold partly sunny, and cloudy, the place I pick was the Bog Garden nearby Hobbs Road and it was my first-time experience going out particularly at the garden place. As I walk in I see family members or friends coming in doing walking, jogging, biking, talking, and others taking pictures which I’m was going to do that too. Anyways once I walk in I see a long stream that you can literally see the ground dirt and with that, I see rocks particularly shine rocks size of small, big, or medium rocks. On the stream hiding under some kind of above-ground trees where roots and specks of dirt, I see a lot of ducks mostly see ones brown ducks which are females, and the other ducks that have a glossy green head, white ring on neck, and body of chest brown and yellow nose are breeding male, I think they called Mallard. It’s impressive that females and males are in groups and try to find food to survive the cold weather on the stream or at the lake cool. As I keep walking on trails I realized there so many trails to walk not to mention see bridges but a medium one and tall trees blowing against the air surround me. I also realized it’s quiet and peaceful where you a certain area. The ground was hard and a sound of crunch like a candy bar but it’s a piece of ice that makes a sound. As furthermore, I see an amazing waterfall actually two that connects to the lake and along the stream as well. But the point is seeing that is graceful, bright, and scenic it’s not big, but I wish, hey it’s beautiful, and I can literally hear the sound like thunderous human-made waterfall seeing fairy and smoothly, but really cold. Besides that, I see rocks that are big and to describe that one is heavy, concrete solid lunar, molten, shine sparkled line and so on that I can stand on rocks, I think that area it was called Serenity Falls Bridge In Honor of Dorothy Lomax 2006 and the other one called Dr. Joe Christian “Serenity Falls” 2007, a very interesting and historical time to me personally. As I keep further long very walking is I still see a lot of tall trees one on water and others on the ground, but I notice there some trees that look like a bamboo tree across the stream when I was at the bridge taking pictures I don’t know what it calls. Speaking of the lake it was large and lovely to see Mallard ducks land to water in action cool. In my mind, when I look closely and standing at the side bridge touching the water is cold, limited fresh, and it feeds water to animals. Oh, I almost forgot is I saw fewer animals like birds, squirrels, ducks again and a chipmunk I think I mean it was quick and I have to glance hard was a tail color dark and light stripes that’s it. Overall it was beautiful and got a chance to see good scenes of nature, but I a curious question in my mind why the founder of Gob Garden is here near Friendly Stores? Was there a significant history behind Gob Garden? What’s the purpose of building the Gob Garden at Benjamin Park?

February 4th 2021

Hogan International Airport is a tongue in cheek loving nickname for a part of our family farm that is now known as the Hogan’s Magnolia View Farm. The farm is named for the huge majestic Southern Magnolia trees that tower over the old home place. The farm has several sections and one holds a grass landing strip active with airplanes from the 1920’s to the 1990’s It has been mowed, not plowed, for most the last one hundred years creating a diversity of plants and insects most often associated with prairie. We call it the Hogan International and if you come along with me and visit you will see how funny the nickname is. There is nothing international about the grass strip that served as an airport all those years ago, the “airport” is very much tied to place, this one particular Piedmont North Carolina place.

There are a few old buildings around the grass strip including a hanger built in the 1930’s to hold a canvas covered airplane. There is a modern hay barn designed for protecting square baled hay , and a walk-in refrigerator (um-hum) that, for a time, served the purpose of a smoke house. When family members killed deer they would process then hang the animals in the walk-in refrigerator to cure.

Since the early 1990’s, after the planes were silenced, the hanger became my cousins wood shed for his firewood business. He took trees destined for the landfill by road builders and development activities in the area and spend hours cutting, splitting, and stacking wood in the hanger where for a year of covered seasoning the green wood was transformed to prized seasoned firewood. Year after year in the early fall he would deliver to excited customers.

For most of my life the hanger has been a place to meet, have coffee, and maybe watch the sun come up in the East. There is a nice long open view to the East. The long grassy runway runs north to south and is book-ended by yellow pines to the south and open fields to the north. It is a welcoming space with a big sky. And when I close my eyes, I can hear the refrain echo through generations “Let’s meet at the hanger in the morning.”