Paxson Hill Farm Part 2

 

 

 

 

 

When we left off last time, we were
just rounding the curve of the pathway,
and—what IS that ahead? (click photo to enlarge)

Well, it’s this!  There’s sort of a hut, and a large, large cauldron thing out in
front of it—for . . .um, not sure what . . .I know if I were still reading “She”
by Henry Rider Haggard (see old posts)  I’d be thinking it’s for
“hot-potting”  (!)  But surely this pot here is for a better
purpose.  What’s inside the door?  hm, locked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We peek inside–crossed iron bars over a window opposite,
floor of stone (river stones?) with a drain?  Hm, not sure what this
building is supposed to represent—kind of a Bacchalian mask
over the doorway.   Look at the rock foundation around the hut–
and the circular paving around the pot.  Unbelievable hardscaping
work here–so nice.

There’s an interesting boardwalk over a swampy area—kind of like
Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Florida:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then we come to another “garden room”.  I think this is my
favorite—I love the twig “walls” –let’s call this the twig room
with raised flagstone dais and have our garden meeting in here.

 

 

And the steps leading to it are wonderful–
in my mind’s eye, I flip that step up into
the same circular space above it . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our last garden room—with a Buddha statuary resting quietly
among the azaleas.  There may be still others, but

 

 

 

 

 

someone has told us that there
are baby emus that can be seen
near the nursery section.  So we
skirt along the watery streams, with water plants snugly placed in strategic
places—-so much work!  —to see the baby emus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have you ever seen baby emus?  Have you ever
seen an emu?  They are taller than you are, yes, they are, and ugly as sin.  The clerk at
the nursery counter showed us some emu eggs from the past, and they are about the
size of a softball–squished into an oval shape, and black.  Quite an egg.  But not as
remarkable as the four baby emus.   They were pretty far away, with papa shielding
them—papa does the child-rearing in the emu world—-but I think you’ll be able to
pick them out—–they are striped!!  Did you know that?  I didn’t.  (It never came up.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before we leave Paxson Hill Farm, please go back a second and look
at those stone steps and wall by the “twig” room.  It looks like the
work is done in the drystones method.  There is quite an interesting
youtube tutorial about building a wall in that method.  Just Google
“Walls of Stone: How to Build Drystone Walls”.  It’s 38 minutes long
and I thought it was good—bring popcorn.

Well, that’s it for the tour.  The story has it that the Paxson family does
all of this as a labor of love–to bring to the community an
appreciation of the environment.  They sure have put their hearts
into it in my opinion.