Laurel Falls

We all decided to have a fun day yesterday and headed over to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park to hike the Laurel Falls Trail up to Laurel Falls.  The Laurel Falls trailhead is located about 4 miles from the Sugarlands Visitor Center and is the most traveled trail in the entire park.  The trail ascends Cove Mountain (elev. 4077 ft).  The trail is referred to as the most trampled, beaten and worn down path in the park.  Due to that the trail has been paved by the park with black concrete to help prevent any further erosion to the trailside.  The trail to Laurel Falls is 1.3 miles and climbs about 374 ft in elevation along the trail.  It can be a crowded trail and is only about three feet wide.  It does offer an easy hike to the falls and has wooden post markers, 13 of them, that are posted every 0.1 mile to guide the hikers to the falls.  Since it is such an easy climb the trail stays busy.  The trail winds through a second growth dense forest that has never been logged.  It is one of the few forests in the park that has not been logged.  There is thick Laurel through the forest and along the trail which is how the falls got its name.  After climbing the 1.3 miles you reach Laurel Falls which is an 80 ft multi-level waterfall and one of the must magnificent in the National Park.  At the falls there is a small foot bridge that crosses the falls and leads to a small rocky ledge to stand and enjoy the view.  It is a very crowded area so most people visiting the falls do not stay very long.  You can dip your toes into the falls and get close to the falls for pictures.  Once you reach Laurel Falls most visitors stop the hike there and then descend the trail back to the parking lot.  The trail does continue another 3 miles up to the summit of Cove mountain.  It is a dirt path through the woods where just before you get to the summit you reach an old fire road and a fire tower.  The Cove tower is one of three original fire towers left in the National Park.  At one time visitors could climb up the tower to get spectacular views of the mountains but it not deemed safe anymore to do so. 
We enjoyed our hike to the falls and although crowded it was still worth the hike.  We brought a picnic lunch with us so we ate our subs sitting on rocks while enjoying the view of the falls.  It was a nice way to celebrate our 32nd anniversary.

It's Our 32nd Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary Tim!  Wow, 32 years and we are still going strong.  It sure does not seem like 32 years and it has been a great 32 years.  Tim and I have celebrated our Anniversary in 5 different places in 5 years due to our traveling.  Here is a break down:  2011 we were in New Mexico, 2012 we were in Waterloo, IA, 2013 we were in Carlsbad, CA and in 2014 we were in Lake Geneva, WI.  This year we are celebrating our anniversary by going to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park then out to dinner later on.  In our 32 years together we have two beautiful daughters, one lovely granddaughter, lived in 5 different cities, owned four different homes and have traveled all over this country.  We are fortunate to have a wonderful family and great friends.  So, Happy Anniversary Tim; I love you!

The Secret Project Is Revealed!

The only secret about this project is that I have not shared it with you while we were working on it.  Instead, I wanted to be able to show the project after it was finished.  When we got back from our trip in mid June one of the first things George had requested was to design some kind of "MASH" sign. Do you remember in the TV series "MASH"?  There was a sign post with cities listed on it and that was the inspiration for this sign.   Anyway he wanted a sign so that whenever someone would pull up to the top of the our hill they would know who lived where.  There are three families here at the top of the hill; the Smiths, Franciscos and us.  On occasion there have been visitors that did not know where to go when they got to the top of the road.  I designed a sign that would give that information in a glance.  While Tim and George were tearing down the garden boxes in the orchard they saved all the wood and that is where I got the wood for the signs.  Tim and George cut the wood to my specifications and then planed the wood so I had a smooth surface to work with.  It took three days for me to work and finish the signs and I think they turned out really well.  While I was working on the signs Tim and George, after deciding where the sign was going, worked in getting the post up for the sign and then decided to put some fences up to define the whole corner.  Tim put poly on the signs yesterday morning and yesterday afternoon the signs were put up.  It looks great and in George's words, "It turned out better than I thought it would!"  I will take that as a complement!  I have posted some pictures of the whole process of the "MASH" sign.  It was a fun project and now it is a helpful tool too!  So now the secret project has been revealed!  What do you think?

The Dog Days Of Summer

It is definitely warm here in eastern Tennessee.  Florida warm with Florida humidity.  Tim and I have been pretty lucky the past four years not having to deal with humidity even when we were in New Mexico and Indiana dealing with temperatures over 100 degrees.  The past few weeks we have felt we were back in Florida.  The good thing it won't last long and the humidity will go back down to what we are use too.  Unfortunately every thing we have been doing for the "secret project" is outside so the humidity has been a factor.  The dogs are even feeling the heat and go outside for a short time and then are ready to go back inside and enjoy the air conditioning.  Around dinner time we even had a "Florida storm" that did not last long but brought a ton of rain in a short amount of time.  It also brought a nice view of the mountains after the rain quit.  Check back tomorrow for more progress of the secret project.  One or two days it will all be revealed.

The Secret Project Has Begun

The secret project is not a secret from anyone here at the farm but am I am keeping it a secret from you until it is complete which should be in a couple of days.  We are all busy working on it and yes, there are pictures but I will only post one as a tease until we have completed the project.  So, check back in a day or two and see what the secret project is! 

A Garden Dinner

It started with grilling burgers and ended up with Tim, George, Lisa and I enjoying a garden dinner.  Tim ate the potatoes and green beans (green beans from the garden) with his burger and Lisa, George and I enjoyed cucumbers, butternut squash and beets.  Lisa fixed the butternut squash using a new recipe she found and it was delicious and the beets she fixed two different ways.  The first way was boiled sliced beets and the second was mashed beets.  Both were equally delicious and I loved them both.  Freshly made beets are the best!  Thanks Lisa for making the beets and squash.  Of course on the hamburgers we also had the bread and butter pickles that Lisa and I made.  It truly was dinner from the garden and we all enjoyed it.  YUM!

Gardening 101

I know very little about gardening so this summer has been a big learning experience for me. My Grandpa Berg always had a garden and when I was a little girl and we would go up to Superior, WI to visit I would walk through his garden with him but that was pretty much the extent of it.  My Grandma Colley had a small garden in her backyard in Chicago but all I remember from that is picking her rhubarb with her.  My mom always had flowers and a couple of years we had a small garden where we grew leaf lettuce and cucumbers.  So, as you can, I have a vast knowledge of nothing when it comes to gardening. 
George and Lisa have planted a fantastic garden and planted all sorts of different crops to see how they grew.  From my previous posts you know that zucchini did very well along with cucumbers and tomatoes.  Grapes did and are still doing well and the okra is mass producing now. The green beans are doing great and I believe there will be one or two more batches to be picked. 
Yesterday we had some ups and downs in the orchard.  Some kind of mite got the vines of the pumpkins, watermelon and cantaloupe so we are hoping that there will be some more but it does not look good.  That same mite got the cucumbers so we are done with those but thank goodness we had such a good crop that we were able to can so many dill and bread and butter pickles for the future.  The corn was taken out by raccoons and deer but at least we got a taste of it.  The peas never really did much and jury is still out on the potatoes.  The successes yesterday were we harvested beets, carrots, onions, green peppers and sweet potatoes.  The carrots still have some growing time but the ones we did pick were delicious.  The beets look great and hopefully we will be eating some tonight. Lisa cut up the onion and added it to the grilled asparagus last night.  The sweet potato I will have to let you know since I do not care for them. 
All in all, the garden has been a success and a huge learning experience for me knowing when to pick, how to pick, etc.  I look forward to being more hands on next year and help with the preparation of the beds, plantings, etc.  Thank you George and Lisa for creating the garden and sharing all that has been harvested from it.  It has been yummy!