North Carolina Mountain Birds: Dark-eyed Junco
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Chocolate Gingerbread Cookie Recipe
| Scene from the 2012 Cookie Tour at Inn on Mill Creek |
Without further ado, here is the cookie recipe we tailored for the 2012 Visions of Sugar Plums B&B Cookie Tour, in which Black Mountain area B&Bs opened their doors for cookie tourgoers to sample different cookies and view all the Christmas and holiday decorations, all to benefit a great charity, the Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry.
Our theme may need to be “chocolate” for future cookie tours…our concoction last year, Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies, was pretty popular, too!
New Glass for the Dining Solarium
| Our dining solarium getting a facelift |
One of the many great things about running a B&B is the diversity
and awesomeness of the people we meet and have as our guests at the Inn on Mill Creek. One of our guests this past summer was
having breakfast with his wife in the Inn’s dining solarium, which at the time was starting to show its
age in some regards, particularly the curved plexiglass panels. Over the past few years, we have been looking at options and pricing for replacing the panels…no easy task.
2012 Visions of Sugar Plums B&B Cookie Tour
Christmas Cookie season has arrived! This weekend, December 15 and December 16, is the second annual Black Mountain Visions of Sugar Plums Cookie Tour, where you can visit the Black Mountain area B&Bs and Inns and view all their holiday decorations, taste a different cookie at each one, and take home the recipes! Tickets are $10 and benefit the Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry, a team of churches and volunteers who work to provide basic services and emergency relief for those facing hardship.
Geocaching Celebration on 12/12/12
Kiva Loan #42
Even though it looks like we will not make our goal of helping to fund 45 small business entrepreneurs in developing countries through Kiva, we are proud to say that we made it to 42! One of our first loans of 2012, to help Julio grow his family bakery business in Peru, has been paid in full, so we have relended the money to Merlinda, who sells fruit in the Philippines:
Black Mountain Holly Jolly and other Christmas Festivities
2012 National Gingerbread Competition
| Photo Credit: RomanticAsheville.com |
Grove Park Inn in Asheville is hosting the 2012 National Gingerbread House Competition display from now through January 2, 2013. This is the 20th year that Grove Park Inn has held the competition and the entries seem to have gotten grander and grander over the years.
Santa at Chimney Rock Park in December
| Photo Credit: Chimney Rock Park |
For 20 years now, Santa Claus has been practicing for his big night of heading down everyone’s chimneys by going down the 315-foot “Chimney” at Chimney Rock Park, 30 minutes south of the Inn on Mill Creek.
North Carolina Mountain Birds: Wild Turkey
| Wild Turkey checks out the orchard at the Inn on Mill Creek |
We’ve picked the Wild Turkey as the November bird for our 12 Months of Birding series. We see Wild Turkeys at the Inn on Mill Creek quite frequently…they seem to be big fans of our apple orchard. As year-round residents, Wild Turkeys enjoy scattered open spaces in Pisgah National Forest (like our orchard) and feast on acorns, fruit, insects and fern fronds, all of which are in good supply here.