A Journey to Old Hemlock

Janet and I traveled to Old Hemlock the home of the late George and Kay Evans near Bruceton Mills WV on Saturday for an open house tour. The house has been maintained exactly as it was when George and Kay were alive. I have most of George's bird hunting books and also have a large collection of his magazine articles on grouse and woodcock hunting so I had some idea as to what to expect, but to see it all first hand was a delightful experience. From the old Remington typewriter he used to type his stories on to the cut glass bowls that held wishbones from every grouse he ever shot over his Old Hemlock setters it was pure nirvana for a bird hunter.

 

 

George was a very talented musician and had this piano custom made for Old Hemlock and played classical music most evenings before dinner.

 

 

This old percussion rifle hanging in the long room has an interesting story. Kay's father was a doctor for a large lumber company in WV.  The wife of one of the lumberjacks took deathly ill and after several weeks of constant care Kay's father nursed her back to good health.  The lumberjack had no money to pay for the time Kay's father spent with his wife so offered this gun as payment which her father excepted.

 

 

The fireplace in their bedroom with the 1st edition of all of George's hunting books and George and Kay's mystery novels.

 

 

This is an old letter from Melvin Heath an old lumberjack from Davis WV that guided George and Kay when they first started to hunt the Canaan Valley.  It says "if you want to hunt woodcock you had better come up this week, they are on the move".  George wrote several interesting stories about Melvin and his life in the Canaan Valley.

 

 

A sculpture of Old Hemlock Ruff's head George made from a sandstone from the old barn's foundation.

 

I didn't take near enough pictures for I was in awe of the history this old house held. If your a bird hunter and especially if you hunt behind Ryman-type setters you need to make the trip to Old Hemlock to "drink in" the history of one of the greatest bird hunting authors that ever lived.

Back 40 Apple Pictures

Took some pics of my apples as I worked in the orchard this morning.

 

Linda Sweet Crab

 

 

 

Enterprise

 

 

 

Shafer Crab

 

 

 

Galarina

 

 

King David

 

 

Brushy Mountain Limbertwig

 

 I have a couple more months of waiting to taste any of these fall ripening apples.  Hopefully the bear, deer, squirrels, and raccoon will leave me some to try.

 

New Toy

I'll be parking the old Ford 861 built in 1959 and mowing the orchards with this.

 

New Holland 40 horsepower Boomer.

Pictures from the Orchards

Just some random pictures I've taken over the past few days while working in the orchards.

Found this little fella sleeping away the day waiting for Mom to return.

 

 

 

With all the wet weather we've had over the past several years the vernal pond has been carrying water year round. Whether or not it can still be call a vernal pond I don't know, but it is a place of serenity.

 

 

 

Williams Pride and Chestnut Crab are a few of the apples I'll get to try this fall if the deer, bear, and raccoon let me.

 

 

 

Fireblight can be very destructive in an orchard. Pruning 8-12 inches past the infected branch is required and then burning or bagging the infected branch is needed to stop the spread. This is the first year I've had to deal with this disease and it has only infected a few trees but I'll have to remain vigilant in the years to come.

 

 

 

This box of Chickadees are only about 100 yards from the house. My feeders should be full of Chickadees this fall.

 

 

One box of Bluebirds just born and another box ready to fledge.

 

 

I have just 2 boxes of Tree Swallows this year. One can only guess as to the difficulties birds encounter on their migration each year.

 

 

 

Hope you enjoyed sharing my walk through the orchards, and Bliss says Hi to everyone.



Bliss's New Hunting Partner

My hunting buddy Russell just got a Ryman-type pup from Flanagan Springs Kennels.  Mollie was born the same week as Bliss so they will be growing up and learning together in the coverts this fall. They met for the first time last week and here are some of the pictures.

That first sniff.

 

The beginning of a long friendship.

 

And the fun begins.

Sharing a drink after a long play session.

 

I can see a lot of enjoyable days spent in the coverts in the years to come.

A Few Bliss Pics

I'm really enjoying this pup.

The Nursery

It looks like my grafting was pretty successful this year.  Some very rare Limbertwig varieties and some local unknown varieties will be planted here on the homestead, but many of these will be (hopefully) sold this fall. I seem to be stirring up some interest in heirloom apple varieties as I sold all the trees that I advertised last fall and have several people on a waiting list.