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Category Archives: The land

It’s not winter

A tiny peach I don’t often think of so-called scripture. I identify as a creature of the Enlightenment, not as a “person of faith.” Nevertheless, I know an embarrassing amount of scripture, because it was beaten into me as a child and because Old and New Testament were required courses when I was a student. […]

Some light and color for Black Monday

Just as the self-quarantine began two days ago, a car rolled in with the abbey’s best friend, who promptly got to work on the overgrowth. If such a bleak and scary time had to occur, what good fortune it is that spring (rather than a winter) is bursting out all over. The neighbors are out […]

Running cedar

Running cedar, as far as I know, has no legal protection, and that’s a shame. It’s not nearly as common as it used to be. I see it often while walking in the woods, but never in the large patches that I often saw as a child in the Carolina woodlands. Its ideal habitat is […]

Now I miss Mrs. Squirrel

Click here for high resolution version. I’ve posted a couple of times about Mrs. Squirrel, who gnawed her way into the attic through a ventilation grill, built a nest, and gave birth to four baby squirrels thirty feet up in the abbey’s attic. I quarreled with her often for not staying in the woods where […]

Mrs. Squirrel

Mrs. Squirrel looks down at me from her lofty perch high up the back of the house. The four little ones have not yet left the nest in my attic, as far as I know. As soon as the little ones are up and away, I’ll nail in enough metal fabric to make sure that […]

They’ll move right in if you let them

Mrs. Squirrel’s nest in my attic For a year or two, I have been chasing a pesky squirrel off the deck. My argument with it (she turned out to be a she) was that she had plenty of space in the woods, so go home. She also loved climbing on the house. She would often […]

The chainsaw fights back

The severity of the overgrowth from the woods and old blackberry stalks is directly proportional to how long Ken has been away from the abbey. He had been away for quite some time, so the overgrowth was serious. Even the weed-whacker on wheels is defeated by blackberry stalks, so Ken took the chainsaw to them.

They’re doing well

The white deer is now well known in this area and is frequently seen on game cameras. I had not had a chance to photograph her in a while, though. She came through this morning with this year’s fawn. This would be at least the second year that she has raised a little one, and […]

A training ground for Highland hiking

Looking south from the crest of Hanging Rock, with mist, just before rain Though North Carolina’s Hanging Rock State Park is only a 15-minute drive from Acorn Abbey (through the picturesque little colonial town of Danbury), I don’t think I’ve ever written about the park here. These are iPhone photos that I took this morning. […]

Two kinds of light

On a rainy day this time of year, it’s hard to stay away from the windows. Above, rain is falling, and the windows are wet and a bit foggy. Below, it’s the morning after the rain, and the sun has come out. The woods are rapidly turning green, but the leaves are only about half […]