We’ve Got Fruit

The Matthews back yard garden is starting to produce fruit in the way of tomatoes, cucumbers and squash. Below are some pictures of the progress. We are still waiting on the zucchini and green beans to start fruiting. Not pictured below are the bell peppers which are starting to change from green to red, and now have a purple tone to them.

First Cucumber in the garden

The flowers should stay above the grate with the fruit hanging down below

Cucumber bud

Cucumber flower

Squash

Green Tomato

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Spring 2016 Back Yard Garden Update

At Matthews Farm, 2016 will be the year that I defeat the squirrels and chipmunks. Each year my garden has grown bigger and bigger, and each year more critters come out to enjoy the harvests the night before I come out to pick the fruits of my labor.

This offseason I decided to build real cages around each raised bed, and my strawberry & carrot bed has a hinged top as well. The other bed cages will be organic, as in they will grow with the crops as needed. I plan to build trellis’s for the tomatoes, cucumbers & squash, and keeping those caged in will be an ongoing process.

Below are lots of pictures of the evolution of the garden, the planted crops, and some early seed bloomers (pole beans) that will grow in a bamboo teepee. I am also quite proud of the set of sawhorses that I built thanks to direction from familyhandyman.com.

I’m looking forward to a summer full of fruits and veggies from the back yard!

 

Garden coming out of the Fall

the first cage going in

First Raised Garden Cage

Right of Passage Sawhorses doing their thing

Strawberry Patch Cage with Top

Faithful Sidekick Cody

Nifty hinged top

tools of the trade

Finished Cage Top

Broccoli

Blueberries

Strawberries

Green Beans

Green Beans

Strawberry Patch

DIY Soaker Hose

Strawberry Ready to Eat

Vegetables and diy soaker hose

Blueberry Patch

Matthews Farm

Thanks,

Carson Matthews

Pictures of the Chastain Park Playground

Yesterday we took the kids to check out the newly renovated Chastain Park Playground. You can read all about it at ChastainParkBlog.com. Here are a few of the pictures I got of the new playground, it’s truly one of a kind. More pictures are on my website www.CarsonMatthewsPhotography.com/ChastainPark

 

Thanks,
Carson Matthews

 

Bite of My Tomato

  

Dear Mr or Mrs Squirrel, if you are going to take a bite of my tomato, at least do me the favor of eating the whole thing like you do with the blueberries. This was my first tomato of the year, ready to be harvested… The square off continues.

July Update on Raised Summer Garden

Here are some pictures to give you an update on how the summer raised garden is coming along.  We have 30-40 tomatoes growing, one bell pepper which appears to be turning red, and some baby squash (I picked the first one too early and it was not ready).  We had lots of blueberries but those were eaten soon after harvest.  We can’t wait for those to mature so we can have gallons of blueberries in the summer!  Until then we have veggies…

Bell Pepper

Tomatoes

Yellow Squash

Top of the Tomato Cage

More Tomatoes Coming

Pictures from Altama Plantation, Southeast Georgia

This past week I had the opportunity to visit the Altama Plantation, formerly called Hopeton, near St Simons Island, Georgia.  It is such a beautiful property with a rich history with records dating back as far as 1763.  It was most recently owned by the Jones family that also owned Sea Island.  One of the original owners studied water control in Holland and put that knowledge to work in a diking and drainage system that supported the rice fields of Hopeton. It was also home to sugar mills, and ruins still remain, two of the chimneys pictured below with the year 1899 engraved with cut bricks.  The ancient oak and pine trees are just stunning with drooping Spanish moss, and Gardenia’s like you have never seen before left over from prior owners gardens.  Wildlife is abundant, while only there for 24 hours we saw an alligator, wild hog, tons of deer, a water moccasin, a turkey, several hawks and a massive owl.  Coming from Atlanta it was simply amazing to be in a place like that.

I spent some time looking for information on Altama, and this is one of the best records I could find: Georgia’s Land of the Golden Isles

Below are pictures I captured while there.  All of these images are available on www.CarsonMatthewsPhotography.com/Travel/GoldenIsles

Thanks for reading,

Carson Matthews
www.CarsonMatthewsPhotography.com

Hanging Mason Jar Impatiens

In February I made some DIY hanging mason jar candles for the backyard of our house.  With daylight savings I knew we wouldn’t be putting them to good use over the summer so today I bought some impatiens at Lowes and set out to make some hanging plants for the backyard.

Off the bat I know that drainage will be an issue since I’m not drilling a hole in the jars, but the impatiens cost less than a bottle of Gatorade so it’s worth a try.  In an effort to prevent a soggy jar I broke up some old concrete that I had laying around and put about two inches of rock in the bottom of the jars.  On top of that I put planting soil in and created a space in the center for the impatiens to fit inside.  After placing the impatiens inside I filled any remaining spaces with potting soil.

With that I converted diy lanterns into diy hanging plants.

  

Thanks,

Carson Matthews

1st Annual Georgia Craft Beer Fest

On Saturday March 22, 2014 Red Brick Brewing Company will host the 1st Annual Georgia Craft Beer Fest benefiting the Georgia Craft Brewers Guild.  Over 25 Georgia breweries have been confirmed for the event including many of my favorites like Monday Night Brewing, Sweetwater Brewing Company, Jailhouse Brewing Company, Jekyll Brewing, & Terrapin Beer Company.

Date: Saturday March 22
Time: 1-6pm
Location: 2323 Defoor Hills Road, Atlanta, GA 30318
Ticket Price: $40 or $75 for VIP
Buy Tickets: https://www.xorbia.com/e/redbrick/georgia-craft-beer-fest

 

Additional details are available at GaCraftBeerFest.com

Thanks,

Carson Matthews

 

Twisted Tree – Chattahoochee Nature Trail

I love this tree along the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area trail.  I’m usually running when back there so never have my camera and certainly not my tripod.  I took both out for a hike on Friday afternoon and got a picture of this twisted tree.

How I did it:

ISO 100
17mm
f/9.0
5 exposures 1/30 sec – 1/500 sec
Shot on Tripod
Processed in Photomatix Pro 5 & Lightroom

View or purchase a high resolution image at http://www.carsonmatthewsphotography.com/Photography/OntheStreets/i-LzQ3Ncz/A

Thanks,

Carson Matthews
www.CarsonMatthewsPhotography.com

The Bellwood Quarry – Atlanta Georgia

A couple of weeks ago I was given the opportunity through the Trust for Public Land to go and photograph the Bellwood Quarry on the west side of Atlanta. The Bellwood Quarry is part of Westside Park, a new City of Atlanta park that will be 351 acres along with a 45 acre lake once the Quarry is filled up.  This will be the biggest park in the city of Atlanta.  The Quarry will also serve a drinking water reservoir for the city of Atlanta.  Westside Park is part of the Atlanta Beltline Project.

The image below is available for purchase at www.CarsonMatthewsPhotography.com.  50% of the profits from sales of this photograph will be donated to the Trust for Public Land.

Swimming at Chastain Pool

Last weekend we took our new GoPro out for a spin at Chastain Pool. We had a lot of fun trying it out and getting some underwater footage.

 

Carson Matthews

Thanksgiving Turkey Preparation Timelapse Video

Here is a iPhone 6 timelapse video of our Thanksgiving turkey preparation on Thanksgiving morning. After this it went into the Big Green Egg for several hours and came out perfect!

Timelapse Compilation of Sunrise and Weather

Here is a video compilation of time-lapse videos out of our front window. Our house faces East so we get great sunrises and a consistent look at clouds and storms moving through.

Sunset over the Chattahoochee River

Here is a picture of the sun tonight as it began setting over the Chattahoochee River in Atlanta. This shot was taken from the East Palisades Trail of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area looking west to Cobb Parkway as it crossed the Hooch.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8

70mm f/8.0 5 frames processed in Photomatix and Lightroom

Saturday Down South

Saturday Down South