Tag: Asheville

I love browsing for antiques, andBiltmore Village is the place to go for that and more. They have it decorated for Christmas so it looks like an old English Village. It was the craftsman’s village for living while working on the Biltmore Estate in the 1890s. The best place to eat is The Corner Kitchen because they have local foods cooked in such gourmet [ MORE » ]

I rarely get to see my own cows having their calf because usually it occurs so early in the morning or night. But Pepper, my favorite cow, because she is such a good mother to her calves and has plenty of milk, gave me the first oppotunity at 4 in the after noon. These pics were taken with a zoom so they are a [ MORE » ]

There’s always something to do with chickens here on Cloud 9 Farm. I keep a flock of about 30 with a rooster, (presently “Goldie”) which gives me enough farm fresh, large, brown eggs to share with renters, to sell locally and to make quiches, custards and cakes anytime I want. Here’s the latest hatch…sort of sad, though. I have 5 mother hens that have [ MORE » ]

Here’s renter, Alex, at Looking Glass Falls who sent me this picture. You take a 45 minute delightful tour south on the Blue Ridge Parkway (entrance just 8 miles from Cloud 9 through the Pisgah National Forest to this exit to U.S. 276 near Brevard. Looking Glass Falls is one of the most popular falls in Western North Carolina. The name “Looking Glass” comes [ MORE » ]

Walk the mountain trails on Cloud 9 properties and hunt for the rare Lady’s Slippers. This is my favorite time of year to find these gems in the shaded woods!

Dear Dad, I haven’t seen you in a while so I thought I’d take a photo of how great the blueberry patch looks…all weeded, newly mulched plants in their prime loaded with green berries this May, newly planted 2 year old plants on the upper rows, everything mowed…just the way you’d like it. I love working outside just as you did for something to [ MORE » ]

Plan ahead and save these dates for next year;April 4–May 17, 2009 Biltmore’s gardens, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, are alive with color as spring arrives. Enjoy special events and the beauty of tulips, azaleas, and countless other flowers during Festival of Flowers. Every vacation renter that stayed at Cloud 9 and Heavenly Hideaway Cabin spent the day at the Biltmore Estate to see [ MORE » ]

An internet group of well-behaved Maximum Suzuki motorcyclers meet here every year. The outside workshop, known as the garage, becomes a smorgasboard of colorful helmets, gear and motorcycles in all colors. This year they gifted a waterproof map of their favorite trails which include the Deal’s Gap Tail of the Dragon (318 turns in 11 miles of scenic and twisty US 129 over the [ MORE » ]

It’s pretty exciting to be a bee keeper in WNC this time of year. The beautiful yellow, orange and green bloom of the tulip (yellow) poplar tree drips with nectar (don’t park your car under one in May) and is the major nectar source for honey here along with the locust (tree not cicada insects) and the blackberry blooms. The honey bees zoom industriously [ MORE » ]

Dirt roads, almost as rare as hen’s teeth in Fairview, NC as developers demand ameneties for prospective buyers. My favorite winding backroad to town got paved a few years ago. Sure, less dust and easier on the car but it was the road I always took out-of-town guests on the way back from the airport. “We live way back in the hills,” I would [ MORE » ]