Hidden Gems at Crickhollow Farm

My neighbor, friend, and landlord, Dan, is a practical man. He grows food on his organic farm, whether it's obvious (tomatoes, okra, berry bushes, fruit trees, etc.) or whether it's obscure (taro/elephant ears). He has tea camellias and knows how to use yaupon to make a coffee substitute. If it's not grown for food, it's medicinal, can be used as fertilizer, or provides wood for his heater. Even so, there are small finds on his 40 acres that pop out and add beauty, rather than practicality to the place. Some of these things, like the azaleas and the camellias, are hidden in the brush that has grown up alongside them. Others, like the boxwood, are tucked away in their own private nooks, waiting to be discovered.

Every so often, you'll see a pink azalea peeking out from other foliage. People around here take their azaleas seriously--there's even a festival dedicated to them in a town about 20 miles from me. These azaleas were once pampered, trimmed, and showcased, but that was many years ago. This year, I'm going to spend a lot of time trimming goat brush up here at Crickhollow, so that these beautiful bushes can flourish next spring.

If there's anything that seems out of place on Crickhollow Farm, it's the restrained and proper boxwood. Back when Dan was growing up in Covington, LA, his mother had a long boxwood hedge in front of their house. Long after they had moved away, Dan found out that the new owners of the house were planning to tear out the hedge. He was able to save three of the bushes, only one of which survives today. I never knew Dan's mother, but I've heard a lot about her through the stories he tells. I like the idea that she has a presence on his farm, even now.

Three camellia bushes grow in the trees on the left side of the dirt path that passes as Dan's driveway. Unless you happen to glimpse their shiny leaves from the corner of your eye during the summer and fall, it's easy to forget that they're there. Then, suddenly, somewhere around the end of February, there they are! Unpruned for at least a decade, these bushes stand about ten feet high and are covered with the most amazing of blooms. I go between the red and the white as my favorite, but the pink is also breathtaking when you see in in real life. Fortunately, camellias are non-toxic to goats, so I think I'm going to see about getting cuttings from all of them and planting them on my end of the farm.

At the top of Dan's driveway, the Cherokee Rose forms a neat, white-flowered hedge. The hedge is nearly impenetrable, save for by small birds and animals that feed on the ground underneath the bushes. Some of the bushes have sent out runners that pop up in the woods and in side gardens surrounding Dan's house. Last year, when I was out foraging for mushrooms, I found several small bushes almost an acre away from the driveway. These roses are surprisingly cold hardy for Southern plants. Even the tallest-growing ones survived the extreme cold--three days of around 19 degrees Fahrenheit--we had last winter.

It started with a handful of daffodils planted along the edge of the driveway, from a package of free bulbs in a seed order. There are now about a dozen varieties of daffodils and jonquils planted along the driveway, in various hidden areas in the property, and even in their own large patch as you approach the house! There are also some frilly double-blossomed daffodils, but my pictures of them didn't come out. Maybe next year!

A half dozen or so Japanese Magnolias are spread around Dan's forty acres. This one is tucked away in a corner near the path that used to lead to his rabbitry. (Before Hurricane Katrina hit, Dan supplied rabbits, pork, and a variety of vegetables to New Orleans restaurants.) When I first met Dan, all of these bushes were about four feet tall. This one is about three times that height now, and it's not the largest of them!

These are only a few of the things that hide from the public eye, even on the rare occasions that visitors come to the farm these days. Someday, down the line, I'll show you a few more of the wonderful things that we get to enjoy every day!

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