danrouth

Location Scouting

Out-take from a location scouting trip.

I walked out into the newly planted part of our garden and ran into a plover, a small wading-type bird. The poor thing was obviously hurt, for it flapped it’s damaged wing and called out in pain. All of this was a hoax of course, as the bird did everything in it’s power to lure me away from four small eggs camouflaged in the recently planted soil. I marked the spot and we’ll work around the nest till the eggs hatch and the young scurry away.

James Tristan Routh, JD

Family, Personal

Occasionally I get the opportunity to make a purely personal blog post. Yesterday my wife and I had the pleasure of watching our older son Tristan receive his law degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law. It’s been a long journey and we are both very proud.

Corn Ground

Agriculture

It’s that time of year when farmers and gardeners are getting things into the soil, and my neighbors are busy. Michael Williams works ground near my home in Grays Chapel, North Carolina. Michael and his family run a dairy farm nearby, and will plant corn on land where they have just cut small grains for silage. The corn too will be used for cattle feed.

Saturday Afternoon

Farm, Garden

My son Tristan’s potatoes bloom in our garden in Grays Chapel, North Carolina.

B&W Plow

Farm

B&W still life of an old International plow.

Iris

Flowers

An old fashioned iris blooms at Goat Lady Dairy in Grays Chapel, North Carolina.

Plowing with Teams

Farm, Horses

Scenes from the annual Plow Day in Caldwell County, North Carolina. Folks bring their teams of horses, mules, and draft ponies to plow bottom ground along the Yadkin River.

Montagnard Backstrap Weavers

Montagnards

Sunday afternoon, the Goat Lady Dairy near my home in Grays Chapel, North Carolina, hosted their annual Spring open farm day. Folks came to see the goat dairy and gardens, to taste the cheese and meats, and were even able to try their hand at pottery making. This year there was a special opportunity to watch a group of Montagnard ladies demonstrate traditional spinning and weaving on backstrap looms. H-Tep Adrong (above) and Ju Nie (below) worked on weaving while Broih Fnu spun cotton into thread. It was absolutely fascinating to watch them work on these totally manual machines and produce their brightly colored woven fabrics.

Check out this blog at http://backstrapweavers.blogspot.com/.