Bird lovers everywhere will join in the 2013
Great Backyard Bird Count on February 15 – 18th

(Photo by Guy Livesay)

We love the annual Great Backyard Bird Count. It’s easy to participate and it helps the birds. You sign up on the website and agree to count birds for at least 15 minutes on at least one of the 4 days of the bird count, more if you want. Everyone is welcome. You don’t need to be an expert.  Sign up is easy and free.

We have always had birds here at Big Mill. When I was growing up, my father would tell me the name of each bird by the song it sang. Oh, how I wish I had that gift.

(This photo by Guy Livesay really shows how gorgeous Mrs. Cardinal is.
When I saw she was hopping & trying to reach the feeder, I put food on the ground for her)

A birding group of young people in Michigan — they call themselves the Michigan Bird Brains — will be counting birds entirely by ear. These students and their teacher are blind.

(Photo by Guy Livesay)

One spring morning a guest said to me, “This is not a complaint, but I have never before been awakened by the birds. I like it.”

For 4 days, starting February 15th, I will grab my North Carolina bird book, my camera and stare out my window – hoping I can recognize the wonderful birds here at Big Mill Bird & Breakfast. Yes, I feed them breakfast. And we are a Certified Bird Friendly Business.

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In another life, I had sheep in my yard. Remember the sixties?
Chloe, Maggie Belle & Yorick (photo by Peter Galuszka)

I didn’t have a lawn mower and I really did believe that the sheep would groom my yard. I needed the fleeces – I was working on my master’s degree in fibers – spinning and natural dyeing. 

I lived on the south side of the Pamlico River and keeping my sheep in the yard was difficult. Neighbors said they didn’t mind Maggie Belle and Yorick, but my guinea hens had to stay home. I had bees too.

I learned to spin wool, dye the yard with nuts and berries that I found and then I would weave my yarns into cloth.

The Martin County Arts Council is hosting a Fiber Arts Show at the Flatiron Building in Williamston; I will be spinnng for the opening on January 10. It has been a while since I did any spinning and this will be fun! I am happy to be spinning again and now I want to resurrect my bee hive.

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I love our new hand-drawn B&B farm map – made just for Big Mill

Lydia at Hand-Drawn Maps is a very talented English artist and she has drawn a map just for Big Mill B&B and the farm.

I love the outbuildings here on the farm – they are almost 100 years old. We have the Smoke House where my folks cured sausage and hams and stored the lard and fatback to feed five families; the Wash House where my mother heated the water with wood to wash the clothes; the Pack House where the mules lived; the Sweet Potato House where they cured the sweet potatoes; the Chicken Coop where we had chickens – my job was to gather the eggs.

We had tobacco barns for curing the tobacco, some were wood-fired and there were sheds for storing tools and equipment. It is all still here on the farm.

We used to raise cows, mules, pigs, chickens…Lydia even added a sheep. My sheep, Maggie Belle and Yorick, came here to live when I moved to a sailboat. They loved the pastures. If you look closely, you can see Sophia, my calf, and my favorite mule, Mary.

Now when our guests stroll around the farm they can better understand the heritage of all these wonderful old farm buildings.

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High Cotton in the antebellum South meant that the cotton was high,
prices were good and all was well on the plantation.

Yep, we’re in High Cotton on the farm here at Big Mill Bed and Breakfast this year. Right outside my kitchen window the cotton is as high as I can remember. My brother John does say that isn’t necessarily a grand thing, but I like it. And this is the best looking cotton in the county.

Just last winter, my kitchen view was a gorgeous field of winter wheat. This spring they planted the cotton seeds right into the wheat field, leaving the tall wheat standing. It is called “no till.” Growing cotton from seed to harvested cotton takes about 25 weeks.

Then as the summer came, the cotton crowded out the wheat and voila, a cotton plant emerged.

In summer, cotton has gorgeous pink blossoms that turn to white. Then it turns to a green ball and that pops open to become a cotton boll. It is magic.

In October the leaves fall off the plant – don’t ask me why. All I know for sure is that I don’t go outside on that day or hang my clothes on the clothesline.

Then the huge machines come into the field and pick the cotton.

They don’t dare run over me while I am taking my photos – benefits of being the “farmer’s daughter.”

This harvested cotton is compacted into really large bales that are wrapped in colorful plastic; these bales will sit in the fields until there is room at the gin. Our cotton has “room at the inn” until it has “room at the gin.” Oh, how corny.

One day these bales disappear and off they go to the cotton gin in Everetts. The by-product of this is dumped near the gin and locals can go and gather this composted cotton detritus for mulch. 

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Late summer evenings in Big Mill B&B’s garden are filled with sweet scents

Photo by Chloe Tuttle

The show begins in the afternoon at 5 o’clock, when the Four O’clocks start blooming. They are an old flower that my mother and grandmother raised and shared with their friends. It is a wonderful plant and each flower can have several colors. They are not edible, but they have been used in food coloring.

Just before dark the moon flowers open and smell as sweet as honeysuckle.

Photo by Chloe Tuttle

And as it is turning dark, the Devil’s Trumpet slowly opens with its fragrant perfume. Georgia O’Keefe painted this beauty – it is also called Jimson Weed. Now I want an Angel’s trumpet. I hear it is sweet smelling.

Photo by Chloe Tuttle

 Lingering from night into day, the ginger lilies perfume the air.

Photo by Chloe Tuttle

So at five, six and seven in the evening, there is a sweet-smelling show every night in late summer and early fall in the Big Mill garden. Do you have any “blooming perfumes” in your garden this year?  Share in the comments below.

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Our Evening Primrose, wildflower and beautiful
King’s cure-all, is often considered a weed

Evening Primrose photo by Chloe Tuttle

But here at Big Mill Bed & Breakfast, Evening Primrose is glorified, photographed, written about and touted as entertainer – watching it bloom is a great way to spend an evening in the garden. Take a look and you’ll see why folks who gather around to watch can’t help but “oooh” and “ahhhhh.”

The night pollinators are fascinating too – we have that funky-looking Sphinx Moth that joins us if the evening primroses are opening. Oil from the evening primrose has been used for centuries as a remedy for many ailments, including laziness. And the roots and shoots are edible – another edible odd ball plant here at Big Mill B&B!

It takes about a minute for each flower to open. Early in June, there will be 3 or 4 flowers that open right there in front of you. By mid-June, a hundred will open each night. It is magic.

We have other night blooming flowers here on the farm – in mid-summer our Moon Flowers perfume the whole area around the patios and garden.

Moon Flower photo by Chloe Tuttle

And just before dark, our Devil’s Trumpet (Datura) will bloom. They smell heavenly but, watch out!  There is a dark side. They are hallucinogenic and poisonous. DON’T eat it!

My father called it Jimson weed and some folks call it Loco weed. It is one of my favorites because of its jasmine-like fragrance, but I don’t plan to eat it. Devil’s Trumpet also has some medicinal properties, but Beware!

Devil’s Trumpet photo by Chloe Tuttle

All of our evening blooming flowers are show stoppers.  You must come and see this show.

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Spiderwort – Big Mill’s “Canary in the coal mine”

This wonderful blue flower that grows in my eastern North Carolina garden is Spiderwort (Tradescantia). Each day in spring and early summer I am greeted with the vibrant blue of these odd beauties. Then about noon, they close. My mother loved these flowers – hence, so do I.

Years ago I read that spiderwort was used at nuclear power plants like the canary in the mine. If there is a leak, the blue flowers turn pink!  Well, my flowers turned pink. I immediately called my scientist friend John Umstead and proclaimed that I had a pink spiderwort.

John calmly asked me how many nuclear power plants were in Williamston. To which I had to respond, “None.” He then asked, “How many diesel tractors?” Hmmm, lots. So I think puffing tractors can also affect my blue flowers. I am still laughing. It is called “ionizing radiation” and who could imagine this was happening in my little garden?

Some  consider it a wildflower and some folks consider it a weed.

I consider Spiderwort a joy and folks visiting Big Mill B&B will probably be served at least one spiderwort flower if they are here in the spring!

An added bonus: Spiderwort is edible – the flower, the stalks and the leaves. Check the video on “Eat the Weeds” about cooking with Tradescantia.

Don’t forget – there are no nuclear power leaks at Big Mill.

(Edible flower photos by Chloe Tuttle. Email for permission to use photos)

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Just settle into the hammock or in a swing on the farm at Big Mill and wait …. but not for very long. Yes, you’ll have to wind down and be still and quiet – but you will be well-rewarded. Soon, right before your eyes, the birds start singing and hop out of their hiding places, finding bugs and seeds for dinner.

It is magic.

Big Mill B&B is a bird lover’s paradise and a photographer’s dream. A few days ago I set up my video camera, nodded to the hummingbirds and then sat back and watched as they performed just for me. Thanks to the internet, you have a birds-eye view too. Be sure to turn up your speakers — you can actually hear the hummers’ wings flapping!

At one point, there are so many birds flying in and out of the frame, it’s hard to keep count!  Here’s a fun challenge – in the comments below — tell me the highest number of birds you can spot in a single frame?  <Hint: Not just hummers!>

Want hummers in your yard? Get a feeder. I really like these Best 1 Hummingbird Feeders - I’ve used mine for years. Then make up a sugar syrup Hummingbird Nectar Recipe and have fun.

Here’s the edited version of the hummingbirds (about 3 /2 minutes long)

And here’s the Extended Play version, perfect for a 10-minute retreat

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