Our Latest News
Check back regularly for the latest news from our farm.
New Fainting Goat Arrivals!
January 27, 2012 - In the past 24 hours, we've had five(!) new arrivals join our farm critter collection. Our fainting goat herd increased when our two nannys (Sassy and Belty) each delivered TWINS. And today one of our Devon cows delivered a large bull calf. All (including the moms) are healthy and happily feeding.
2013 Spring Wedding Season - Sold Out!
January 22, 2013 - We opened the reservation calendar for Spring (only) 2013 Weddings on January 3, 2012. Today booked our third (and last) last weekend wedding opening.
NOTE: We'll begin accepting October of 2013 weekend wedding reservations on July 1.
2012 Wedding Season - Sold Out!
December 30, 2011 - We booked our last two remaining 2012 wedding weekends today.
New 4.9 Acre Longleaf Pine Seedling Field Planted
December 20 - Today we planted another field with longleaf pine seedlings, giving us a total of 8.6 acres of these trees in cultivation (and 9.5 acres remaining in soybeans).
Controlled Burn Clears Young Longleaf Pine Field
December 19 - Two years ago we planted 1,200 longleaf pine seedlings in a 3.8 acre field in the southern part of our land that had previously produced soybeans. By now, the seedlings were established and competing for light with an abundance of weeds. So it was time for a "controlled burn."
We contracted directly with the N.C. Forestry Service and today three rangers came to do the job. It took only 90 minutes. Overall, there was a great deal more smoke than fire. But the field was cleared of weeds; our trees will have a clear sky view when growing season returns next Spring.
Longleaf pines actually require periodic burning to flourish. We expect to burn this field again in 2014. And by then we hope to have TWO fields of longleaf pines growing here. The planting crew for the second field arrives tomorrow.
Google Discovers This (New) Website - Wow!
On November 15, the Google's search engine "crawler" discovered our new updated site and suddenly people looking for "farm weddings" began contacting us directly. By November 25th, we had met our "no more than three weddings" goal for the Spring of 2012 with bookings for April 20th, 27th and May 5th!
Wildlife Photography Resumed
On November 8 we installed our repaired Moultrie game camera at one of the recently installed duck boxes in the still-dry swamp area. Using its infrared flash, it began capturing the foraging activity of racoons, foxes, and deer. Within a few days, the waters of Thornton Creek began refilling the swamp area so we moved the camera to a nearby game trail where it continued to capture more of the same activity. After a week, we moved the camera again - this time to the base of a large spanish oak at the edge of the soybean field.
Some of these photos are published HERE.
Duck Boxes
November 1, 2011 - Last month we built twelve cypress duck boxes and placed them in favorable locations near our several ponds and along the edge of Thornton's Creek. We're hoping some colorful wood ducks select these boxes for their nests next spring.
Drought of 2011 - and More Trail-building!
October 1, 2011 - After a summer of terrible heat and drought, we discovered the Thornton's Creek swamp had essentially dried up. The desire to explore this area for the first time was irresistable - and so Clayton Davis again joined us for another of our famous trail-building efforts.
The 2,000+ feet of new paths wander along the now-dried Thornton's Creek bed and lead to several points of contact along the powerline easement that runs along our western boundary.
This area is interlaced with game trails. During construction, we flushed several deer, small "critters" and even surprised a gray fox.
Blue Bird Nest Boxes
April 30, 2011 - Earlier this month we placed twelve new blue bird boxes along the fencelines of our pastures and in other favorable places around the property. Today over one half are occupied with baby blue birds! We should have a beautiful summer!
New Trails
Over the Winter of 2010-2011, we added over a mile of new trails to our existing trail system. Most are along the margin of our Thornton's Creek wetlands.
Construction was often heavy-going and required penetrating these deep, vine-infested woods "by hand" aided only by chainsaw. Instead of burning it, we accumulated the cut brush in several piles suitable for wildlife refuge.
During construction, we found much evidence of beaver habitation - but none of it recent. So where are the beavers now? We'll keep looking....
Given the number of game trails, we decided early on that this project's principal goal was to find suitable sites for future wildlife viewing areas. A second objective was to see whether we could develop access to the powerline easement that runs along our western line. We'd met each of these goals by the end of this long arduous project.
Many many thanks for his constant encouragement and help go to our friend, Clayton Davis.
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