Working on a big canvas: 40 acres on Lookout Mountain, Alabama.


Purchase and Location

I bought this property in 2005 and named it Richmond Woods for my father who taught me about nature and respect for the wild. It's located in Alabama near the Alabama/Georgia state line. The small nearby village of Mentone, AL has been a mountain retreat for 150 years for people escaping the summer heat of Birmingham and Atlanta. My companion, Carolyn, has helped me every step of the way.

A Cottage in the Woods
When you were little, did someone read fairy tales to you? Invariably, there was mention of a cottage in the woods. Our plan is to build such a place: handmade, no architect plans, buying local materials or using salvaged materials. The purpose of this blog is to document our progress.

Thursday, May 28, 2020

... May Flowers

Well, here it is May already. Memorial day weekend has come and gone. Next stop - the blistering heat of Summer. Maybe. So far, it has been a pretty cool wet Spring. One of my neighbors mused, "You don't suppose all this sheltering in place is reversing the warming effects of pollution, do you?"  Hmmm - food for thought. We actually had to cover our garden beds two nights in a row due to frost warnings.


Regardless, the flowers are indeed here...



I didn't mention this last month but in early April, the Ozonator overheated and warped causing a loss of my water treatment capability.  I rebuilt it using a large canning jar and some pieces machined from a thick plastic cutting board. The violet glow is coronal discharge which is how the ozone is generated. Water treatment is back online.



We braved a week in the big city this month to take care of things around Carolyn's house, mainly trimming bushes, cleaning gutters and gardening. We only ventured out once to go to Trader Joe's, Costco and Kroger to stock up on stuff that is sometimes hard to find up here in the country.

Just before we left for ATL, a huge tree fell near one of our tent pads. We were both outside at the time down in the garden on the opposite side of the house but neither of us heard anything. We spent a couple of days after returning to the country cutting, splitting, and stacking firewood from the branches. Plus I ended up with three 9-foot sections of trunk that I will turn into more paneling for the shop.



The wildlife abounds here as it does everywhere. We had a pair of Carolina Wrens build a nest in an empty flower pot on the back porch. There were three hungry babies when we left for ATL and when we returned they had flown the coop.
We've seen red and gold salamanders as well as this camouflaged little amphibian.
One morning, a hen turkey ventured right up close to the house. Can you see it between the uprights? Good thing for it that we are vegan.
And last but not least, we were glad to see this rat-hunter patrolling the yard. No, it's not a copperhead, it's a corn snake. Completely harmless to humans but lethal to rodents.

And now that I have learned how, bread baking is a regular happening. Here are some loaves I've baked using my sourdough starter (which Carolyn has named Brian).  Left-to-right are whole wheat-rye, banana bread, and all-white.



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