i recently visited middleton plantation near charleston, sc. there, under ancient live oaks, was a simple sharecroppers cabin, furnished as it was when lived in after the civil war. once again, i am intrigued by the simplicity of living with less. do we really need all the stuff we have? what do you really need to live? a bed, a table, a dresser, a chair,some beautiful light and a bowl for apples. well, if only life could be so simple….
i am always amazed…and inspired by how much food can be grown on a small plot of land. recently i visited my friends maggie an lacy out at their farm that they appropriately call tiny farm. they have 2 garden sized plots of land where they grow food for their 11 person CSA and local restaurants. every tuesday volunteers come out to help and be involved with the growing of their food. take a peek at what i saw!
visit thier blog here for farm news and recipes and be sure to check out the weekly comic by member eleanor davis.
i recently made my third visit to drayton hall plantation near charleston, sc. you really can’t visit enough, because it blows your mind every time. besides the fact of its’ natural beauty, there’s the fact that the last descendant to own it decreed in her will that drayton hall should never be modernized with plumbing or electricity. thus, the beauty of the natural light there. drayton hall is preserved, not restored, so it wears its’ age gracefully, through 250 years of hurricanes, wars, earthquakes, and tornadoes, for all to admire.
this past weekend we headed over to hickory hill in thomson, georgia. they were having a watermelon festival and i thought it would be a fun thing to do.
the festival was at the estate of the late thomas watson which will be another inspiring story sometime soon.
here are some details of our fun day at the festival.
there were a bunch of fun games for the kids!
they have a watermelon growing contest. each year people save the seeds from their melon and plant them the next year. the biggest melon wins!
each family got to take an heirloom watermelon home
this one didn’t make it to the car
every year, rebecca goes with her mom and sisters to edisto island, south carolina. for two weeks, she basks in the back porch view over the salt marsh, with spanish moss blowing in the breeze, listening to the song of the indigo bunting, and taking in the incredible colors of blue sky and chartreuse expanse of marsh grass. one of her favorite places to visit there is botony bay, a 4600 acre state park with untouched beaches and skeletons of sun washed live oaks that have fallen prey to encroaching salt water. there is of wild beauty at edisto to relax and restore the soul.
over the past couple of weeks we have spent some time home sitting in the country. our daily duties were to care for the horses, sheep, chickens, dogs, cats, count the cows, and water the gardens and greenhouse. i always day dream about living in the country, it was fun to spend some mornings, evenings, and days away from the city. i love so many things about small city living, but the county always seems to call my name. i love the idea of waking up to an open field, fresh eggs, letting my dogs roam, listening to the crickets, watch a field of glowing fireflies, and making friends with neighboring farmers. i enjoyed going on walks with my camera and documenting the details, enjoy!
a morning view from the kitchen window. i guess the chickens like cat food!
breakfast
some evening fishing enjoying the country quiet.
and then we headed home.
our local roastery is a gem to athens. not only do they roast coffee for the entire city but they have a little coffee shop a block from downtown.
its rustic charm mixed with the smells from roasting beans make it a great place to sit around with a cup of coffee. you can sit on the front porch or at the handmade tables inside, and in the winter there is a wood burning stove that makes it nice and cozy.
enjoy a few of the details..
i love to admire the old time signage throughout
the coffee bags from all of the different countries are so lovely!
here’s vernon, a local celebrity around town. on friday you can find him delivering coffee bags to all of the downtown restaurants….on an old school bicycle of course.
(sorry for the light spot on his face)
the great signage on the side of the building.
i visited my friend maureen the other day and took some pics of her little shotgun, which sits between two other shotgun-style houses in normaltown. the house, built in the 1920s, is part of only two native shotgun clusters in athens, and has gone through several different incarnations over the decades. maureen rented it for a couple of years before taking ownership in 2005, when she added on a big bedroom/sitting room and a cozy screened back porch. in 2007 she painted the house to match the beautyberries, and i can’t imagine it any other color.
maureen’s home has a little bit of everything tucked away in its own special place. everywhere you turn there’s a new vignette, featuring a different local artist and another treasure. every square inch of her home is filled with beautiful objects and patterns, all reflected in the many vintage mirrors placed around the house to catch the light.
there are some homes that i visit that are so expressive of Athens and the south. this one in particular does just that: it feels like it belongs here. in creating this place, in provided delight for all who pass and all who enter, maureen has joined the ranks of the local artists whose work she so values. the little shotgun that houses all those creations is itself a work of art, an athens treasure. enjoy!
this is a painting of maureen’s front porch by mary porter. she has done 2 paintings of maureen’s back porch and 3 of her front.
a vintage r.wood piece is home to some lily pads
the beautyberry shotgun is reflected in the mirrors that hang from the trees.
i love to go on spontaneous country adventures. it is so fun to grab my camera, co-pilots, gazetteer, and choose a direction. the south has not let me down yet- i always run into something beautiful. this past weekend we headed towards braselton and hoschton. i love the moments when you see something and hit the breaks. when we saw this old wheat mill in braselton, we hit the breaks, turned around, and enjoyed its beauty.
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