Ashley English just released her new book, A Year of Pies. There’s hardly a homesteading topic this lady hasn’t covered — everything from Home Dairy and Keeping Chickens to our own Small Measures column where she’s written about Homemade Sunburn Soothers and Edible Wildflowers. So we thought we’d end the week by paying her a little visit in Candler, North Carolina (about 10 miles west of Asheville) where Ashley lives on 11 forested acres a mile down a dirt road with her husband, Glenn, their 21-month-old son, Huxley Wild, two dogs (Fly and Dexter), two cats (Jonah and Kali), two beehives, nine hens and one rooster. Ashley says that her favorite thing about her house is that people slow down and lose track of time when they’re here. Something about living remotely in a secluded setting causes visitors to relax, settle in and tune into the natural world. Thanks, Ashley! And thanks to Rene Treece Roberts of Luxe House Photographic for the lovely photos. — Amy Azzarito
Image above: Here’s our chicken coop. We jokingly refer to it as “Chicken Fort Knox,” as it has primary (fencing/mesh netting/barbed wire), secondary (a wire enclosure), and tertiary (a secured hen house built off the ground and fully enclosed at night) levels of protection from predators (we learned this the hard way, over time, after several losses to the host of predators that call this cove home alongside us). Glenn painted the “egg mandala” on the entry gate. The colored ropes hanging above the coop serve as a deterrent to aerial predators.
Image above: We built these raised-bed lettuce planters for two reasons. First, to keep Huxley out of reach, and second, to take them out of the direct accessibility of slugs. They work like a dream. They were made from repurposed soil-mixing bins left by the previous owners and mounted onto wooden risers. You can see two of a number of native pollinator habitats that Glenn built on the fence posts in the background. They surround the garden. (I wrote a Small Measures post on this very topic a few years back!)
Image above: Glenn built this pergola and deck (located in the garden) in a mere week. He blows my mind sometimes, since he’s not trained in wood-working! I love it. It’s the perfect place to chill out in the morning with a hot cup of coffee while Huxley plays in his sandbox (located directly to the right of the pergola) or sip a cold beer in the evening and watch the chickens do their thing.
See more of Ashley’s North Carolina home after the jump . . .
(more…)
 |  |
DIGITAL JUICE
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank's!