A couple weeks ago we were in Williamsburg for a family reunion. Some of us toured Colonial Williamsburg.

These first nine photos are of the Governor’s Palace garden.

The back side of the Governor’s Palace.

Purple Coneflower and Bee Balm

Love the arbor

Ahhh, shade. It was a very hot day.

The next four photos are of the Wythe House garden.

I recently read on Michael Weishan’s blog, Old House New Garden, that the gardens in Colonial Williamsburg are among his favorites in the U.S. because the gardens are well suited to the homes. He said the reason the garden is there is because of the house and it should be designed with that in mind.

The next ten photos are of the Colonial Garden.

Like the crushed oyster shell walkway.

Notice the wattle fence center right.

Bruton Parish Church in the background.

Frustration with my computer and lots going on has kept me from posting as often as I want to. I’m determined to post my photos. Hence, the two month delay!

The Hahn Horticultural Center at Virginia Tech. We were at VT for Colin’s graduation on May 13th. Grandma came with us and Damian stayed home to take care of the animals. We stayed in Floyd – about 30 minutes southeast of Blacksburg.

On the Blue Ridge Parkway.

We visited the Spikenard Honeybee Sanctuary.

A fascinating place.

We could see Riverstone Organic Farm in the distance.

Over the holiday Damian is taking care of some animals in Raphine. Helen lives in this cute little cottage.

On Christmas day, Samantha, Duke, Len and I visited during evening chores.

Just adorable.

We want a couple of these goats! Too cute!

While we had lots to do at our own place today we decided to go ahead and drive an hour west of us to the Highland County Maple Festival. I’m so glad we did. We picked up a map at The Highland Inn in downtown Monterey Virginia. A gal there told us about some of the sugar camps. We wanted to go to the small operations that used old methods. Our first stop was Laurel Fork Sap Suckers.

This was our view as we walked from the parking area to the sugar house. The sugar house was down this hill. It didn’t seem very steep until we had to climb back up it! What a work out!

Here Ronnie Moyer gives us a tour of his sugar house.

The sugar water is cooked down to make the maple syrup in these old trays. I believe he said the tray on the left is 100 years old and the one on the right is 80 years old. It takes 44 gallons of sugar water to make one gallon of syrup.

Even though the house is vented there was condensation dripping from the rafters and the house was cozy warm and smelled wonderful.

A more modern set up in the next room. I think he said this was 1950’s technology.

They were very generous with their samples. We each had a couple spoonfuls.

Next, we visited Duff’s Sugar House. Here Sheriff Duff (yes, he is the real sheriff) explains his operation.

Beautiful views at Duff’s.

I can’t resist the sheep!

Dave had a barbecue sandwich at each of the sugar camps. Sam and I shared this maple chicken and cinnamon sugar sweet potato at Duff’s. Delish!

It was interesting that Laurel Fork said it was a great year for them and Duff’s said it had been horrible and both attributed it to the cold winter. Only Laurel Fork Sapsuckers maple syrup came home with us. Duff’s wasn’t selling any. This stuff is so good. I’ll have to try basting my roasted chickens with it sometime.

We went on a field trip today to Brightwood Farm. Susan and Dean were so inspiring. They, too, were suburbanites before starting their farm 13 years ago. First, Susan showed us the veggies growing in their greenhouses. They have a winter CSA which I think is super smart. I don’t even know of anyone around my area who does a CSA in the winter. They are all in the summer. They also sell their farm bounty at the Charlottesville Farmers Market.

Then we took a look at the Tunis ewes who were born last year. They didn’t let us get close to them – all together keeping their distance in a mass of reddish wool. We also saw the chickens and goats. The buck was getting amorous with one of the does. She wanted nothing to do with him. I could see why. She and the other does had just given birth two weeks ago. The paddock was full of little goats. They were adorable. Next, we headed over to the other paddock to see the older ewes and the ram. The ram was on loan from another farm. They keep him for about six weeks and I think they said their lambs would be born in May. They don’t breed their ewes in the first year because they say it compromises their health. That is why the young ewes were in a separate paddock while Joe, the Tunis ram, was in residence. Susan and Dean showed us how to trim the hooves of on one of the ewes and with their coaching I gave it a go. A new skill learned!

Susan conducted a wine tasting for us with their elderberry, elderberry flower, grape, blackberry and peach wines. They were delicious and we took home three bottles to serve next month when we host the (h)OUR Economy potluck.

By this time it was feeding time for the bottle goats. While Susan held the little goats, Dave helped them drink from the bottle. They were still learning. Hope they all thrive. They really were just too cute. I believe Susan said they were Spanish goats.

No pictures in this post. I thought about taking my camera but didn’t want the distraction.

Here are some links Susan and Dean gave us-

Virginia Associate of Biological Farming – vabf.org

Fencing supplies from Premier 1 – premier1supplies.com

ATTRA sustainable agriculture – attra.ncat.org