North Carolina Mountain Birds: Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Lovely little hummer at the Inn on Mill Creek

The speedy little Ruby-throated Hummingbird is our July pick for this year’s 12 Months of Birding at the Inn series on the Inn on Mill Creek blog. The Ruby-throated Hummingbird has the distinct honor of being the eastern United States’ only breeding hummingbird, so if you see your hummers disappear for a few weeks in the summer, no worries, they’re just starting their little families and will be back soon.

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2013 Sourwood Festival is August 9-11

The 36th annual Sourwood Festival is right around the corner! This fun street festival, presented by the Black Mountain-Swannanoa Chamber of Commerce, is the quintessential awesome small town event, featuring hundreds of arts and crafts vendors, food that ranges from vegetarian to BBQ, as well as ice cream and festival fare, kids’ activities and rides, live music, and the part we like best — honey and bee demonstrations.

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The Arrowhead Artists & Artisans League (A3L) in Old Fort

The Arrowhead Artists & Artisans League (A3L) is a group of local artists who are dedicated to promoting the arts in Old Fort, NC. If you like art, you’ll appreciate their efforts to preserve the art culture of the mountains in our fabulous little town. This year, A3L opened an art gallery and studio space — Arrowhead Gallery & Studios — on Catawba Avenue in Old Fort, complete with a gorgeous painted quilt block.

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Recipe: Soda Bread [Muffins]

“Can Dave make his Soda Bread Muffins for us?” That’s a question we hear a lot from return guests at the Inn on Mill Creek Bed & Breakfast. Soda Bread (or its equally delish counterpart, the Soda Bread Muffin) is like the food version of the color white — it goes with everything. And it can be served at any meal, although we’re partial to breakfast for obvious reasons. The best part about this beautiful baked good is that Soda Bread is really easy to make. You probably already have most, if not all, of the ingredients in your kitchen.

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Our Wise Old Snapping Turtle

In the seven summers that we’ve been here at the Inn on Mill Creek Bed & Breakfast, we’ve noticed from time to time in the pond a dark object just below the surface of the water, a submarine-like being, which occasionally sends up its periscope to check around, only to quickly sink back beneath the depths when spotted. OK, maybe Innkeeper Brigette has been reading too much about the Hunley Submarine in anticipation of a little innkeeper R&R (roadtrip and relax) vacay to Charleston later this year… But our resident snapping turtle had yet to make a real appearance, other than sticking its long neck out of the water. Until this week.

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