| Black-throated Blue Warbler [Photo Credit: Joe Kegley] |
Heading through our “neighborhood” of Pisgah National Forest in the North Carolina mountains on its way to its winter abode in the Caribbean, the Black-throated Blue Warbler is a fairly common visitor to the Inn on Mill Creek B&B in the early fall. Thus, this beautiful songbird earns the September spot in our 2013 Birding at the Inn series on the blog.
| Locally-made flatbread crackers at the Black Mountain Tailgate Market |
From spring through fall (and even sometimes in the winter), a trip to the western North Carolina mountains is not complete without a stop at a local tailgate or farmers market, or a roadside produce stand. If you’ll be in our neck of the woods this fall season, here is a list of tailgate and farmers markets in western NC that are not far from the Inn on Mill Creek B&B:
| People enjoying the rocking chairs in front of Black Mountain shops [Photo Credit: Ray Mata of Blue Ridge Pictures] |
Black Mountain, a ridiculously adorable small town just east of Asheville that’s chock full of locally-owned shops and restaurants, is currently raising funds for renovations to its Town Square. The Black Mountain Town Square is located right in the heart of downtown Black Mountain and plans are to transform it into a gathering place for the community and visitors, with an open lawn for outdoor concerts and other outdoor events, extra parking (always nice in a small town that welcomes a lot of visitors each year), and space for farmers’ markets and special events.
We’re happy to share that we reached a mini-milestone in our lending relationship with Kiva: our 50th loan. Since our last blog post, several of the small business owners whose microloans we helped to fund paid back their loans, and since we choose to re-loan the money rather than withdraw it, that allowed us to lend to two more entrepreneurs. We now have eight loans currently in process, including #49 to Fibrije’s shoe sales business in Albania and #50 to Alou’s bakery in Mali.
Chimney Rock State Park not only offers visitors “gorge”ous views of Hickory Nut Gorge and Lake Lure during fall, but you can also catch live performances by local musicians on weekend evenings in October as part of Chimney Rock’s Beats, Brews & Burgers music series.
| Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Asheville |
One of the special features of Appalachian North Carolina is the
treasured tradition of handmade craftwork that carries on today through individual crafters as well as groups
such as the Southern Highland Craft Guild. The Craft Guild will be sponsoring the 33rd Annual Heritage Weekend, celebrating the traditional music, dance and crafts of the
area, on September 21-22, 2013.
In July of this year, a large crack formed on a stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway north of Asheville, NC. This is a popular portion of the 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway, especially for guests of the Inn on Mill Creek B&B since the closure was near the Parkway entrance closest to the Inn (just 20 minutes west of us).
| Eastern Phoebe at the Inn on Mill Creek says, “get my good side” |
Csaba the Innpug isn’t the only cute creature at the Inn on Mill Creek with a tail that wags. With its constantly wagging tail, good looks, and social butterfly attitude, the Eastern Phoebe is one of our favorite birds at the Inn. The Phoebe is also a longtime resident of the nest above the back porch door at the Inn on Mill Creek Bed & Breakfast, having constructed the nest in 2008. The Phoebe (we’re not sure it’s the same one, but we like to think so!) has made several upgrades to the mud and grass nest over the years, and we have helped a little as well…you might remember our blog post about the Extreme Makeover Eastern Phoebe Edition.
Apple season has begun in the mountains of Western North Carolina! We have our own little private orchard here at the Inn on Mill Creek Bed & Breakfast and we knew when the awesome-smelling apple blossoms came out at the end of April and looked this beautiful, that we were going to get a decent crop:
Exciting news to share: Inn on Mill Creek Bed & Breakfast is one of BnBFinder’s 2013 Glorious Garden Award winners!
