Seasons at Twin Oaks– some mashup photos

Hey everyone!

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything to running in ZK, but I’m hoping that will change in the new year.  For all of 2013, I’ve been busy with a nature blog I was creating called ObserVA (http://yearinthewoods.wordpress.com/),  a daily observation of nature and the change of seasons at Twin Oaks and around Central Virginia.

Anyhoo, that’s all done now, so I’ll have more time and energy to write stuff here.  As I was wrapping up my ObserVA blog, I thought I would finish it off by taking photos of various locations around Twin Oaks, and compare them to photos taken from the same locations at previous times in 2013.  It took some time, and when it was done, I was pretty happy with how they turned out.  So I posted them on the blog, and also on Facebook, but before I was totally done, I figured I’d re-post some of my favorites here on Running in ZK.  So, my apologies if you’ve seen all of these before, and if you haven’t, then enjoy!

First one shows the permaculture orchard in the Kaweah backyard, all kiwis and figs and butterfly bushes back in May, and a whole lot of nothing in January.Image

In September, these goldenrod flowers along the edge of the cow pasture were quite pretty.  In January I was able to find the dried up flowerheads.Image

Here’s one of my favorite spots along our creek, upstream from the tofu hut.  In July, the cool water was inviting and the trees were green.  The same spot in January, with the creek lined with ice, was a bit less inviting.Image

This was the most dramatic of the “I can’t believe it’s the same spot” photos.  If it weren’t for the distinctive pattern of root and moss, I wouldn’t believe these photos were from the same place.

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This photo is one of the best in showing the dramatic visual contrast here between winter and summer.

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And this one might be my favorite pair of all.  I love how the top photo shows such an abundance of greenery, and in the bottom one, all the green is inside of the hoophouse.  It’s like a bit of June in the middle of January!Image

Last March, we had a single massive snowstorm, our only significant snow of the year.  I took a bunch of photos at that time.  This triple photo shows the Kaweah backyard at the height of the snowfall, a month later as the leaves were just starting to bust out in April, and the final one was from just last week.

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Another triple view of the Kaweah backyard– this one is the view out of my window (you can see the blurry lines of the screen).  From left to right, March, June, and January.  This is another set that shows the amazing variation of the landscape around here through the seasons.

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And, of course, it wouldn’t be complete without at least one set of photos of the pond, my very favorite spot at Twin Oaks (actually, maybe a tie with the Tupelo music room).  The top photo is also from last March, the middle one is from sometime in the middle of the summer, and the bottom one is from last week’s freeze-up which featured the first ice-skating on the pond in a few years.

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More pond– I like the voyeuristic aspect of the May photo, peeking out from the trees.  In January, of course, there’s no vegetation to hide in. Image

This pair, also from the Kaweah yard, contrasts late October with mid-January.  In the top photo, we had just had our first hard frost of the year, which killed the leaves on the fig trees, and brought out the dramatic fall colors in the trees.  The photo on the bottom followed several days of single-digit temperatures that may have killed the rest of the above-ground part of the figs.  We’ll see how they bounce back this spring.Image

One final photo, from the “Triangle Garden” at the end of Twin Oaks Road.  The first was from September, when I was impressed at how many flowers were still in bloom despite the lateness of the month.  Not much blooming in January.Image

Hope you enjoyed the pics.  I’ve been thinking about publishing a semi-irregular “nature of Twin Oaks” thread in this blog, now that ObserVA is all finished.  Posting a few pics of the community every month or so.  Let me know if you would enjoy reading that sort of thing, and if folks are interested, I’ll make it happen.