Purple Iris

(photograph copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

I live in my great-grandfather’s house on the family farm in Grays Chapel, North Carolina, just south of Greensboro. My immediate family has lived on that farm for almost one hundred years. A lot of the plants and flowers around our house date back to or are part of the original root stock from those planted by my grandparents and great-grandparents. For instance, we have a huge English boxwood and a magnolia that have to be at least a hundred years old each. Outside of our bay window is a flower bed full of iris transplanted from my grandmother’s garden. They are an old fashioned variety and are now at their annual full bloom.

Still Life Product Photography

(photograph copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

For those of you who have followed this blog, you have probably noticed that I spend a lot of time hanging around the Goat Lady Dairy in Grays Chapel. There are a couple of reasons. I live about a half mile from their operation, so they are neighbors and friends. I also really like the product they make. Recently, I have been working on shooting photography around the dairy for a website redesign they are working on. The image above shows one of the many types of goat cheese they produce weekly. The dairy is located about 18 miles south of Greensboro.

Thistles


It’s the time of year when wild plants start to grow on our farm in Randolph County. We have an abundance of thistle. They are weeds, but the birds love them, so we let them grow for the most part. Here are a couple of images from behind my barn.

(photographs copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

Tony Williamson



I was down in Chapel Hill on Friday to move my son out of his dorm at UNC and took the time to stop by the Carolina Inn to see old classmate and mandolin virtuoso Tony Williamson play with his son Rad Andy and the Tony Williamson Band. They play a sort of blluegrass-jazz-blues-fusion that is pretty cool, especially on a warm Spring Carolina afternoon. For info about Tony and his music, check out http://www.mandolincentral.com/.



(photographs copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)