Southern Documentary Journal

A blog by Houck Medford
Journal

Running into 2014 at Tanglewood’s “Running of the Lights”

Abby Verchick of Pinehurst finishes 19th out of over 1,100 entrants  in Forsyth County's  (NC) Tanglewood Park's Festival of Lights,  one of the largest and most spectacular light shows in the entire southeastern United States.  This running event which begins  at midnite on New Year's Eve takes contestants through three of almost four miles of continuous whimsical displays containing more than 1 million individual lights.  The event has been described as "one of the most scenic…

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January 1, 2014
Journal

Birding Bonner Bridge @ OBX

The almost annual trip to the Outer Banks by the High Country Audubon Society concluded this past week with the primary objective of sighting the aberrant Snowy Owl out of his range at Cape Hatteras National Seashore.   National Park Service personnel reported seeing the owl near ramp 45 through December 6.  Another sighting was confirmed almost three miles south of the previous location, the change most likely thought due to the dramatic change of…

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December 11, 2013
Cotton Tale (In Progress) / Journal

Cotton friends … Messrs. Bates Houck, John Deere, and Kitty Lucky

Three fine friends, uniquely dependent upon on each other ... Bates Houck, patriarch for Houck Farms; the John Deere 7660 cotton harvester; and the assuredly "fixed" farm kitty "Lucky" who was not seen in the photograph until after the fact.  His sneek-in presence is so true to his behavior and personality.  This image is part of a portfolio for the in-progress documentary, "Cotton Tale" which will be released in May of 2014.

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December 3, 2013
Journal

Rubber for Cotton

Josh Riley of Cameron, S.C. manages a repair service for farm equipment.  Now is the height of the cotton picking season in the Four Hole Swamp area of Low Country S.C.  Image from the Cotton Tale: A Century Family, Farm, and Industry.  

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November 19, 2013
Journal

A bowl of cotton soup …

  It is cotton-picking season in the Low-Country of South Carolina and what picks cotton today are not people but spindles ... 3,360 of them to be exact on a six-row John Deere Model 7660 cotton harvester

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October 27, 2013
Journal

Peanuts …

  40,000 pounds from 10 acres ... These peanuts were grown as seed stock for their high oleic and omega-3 fatty acid content which pragmatically doubles the peanuts' shelf-life.  Next comes weighing and grading in Cameron, S.C., shipping to  a processor in Virginia where they will be treated with a fungicide and insecticide, loading into 50 lb bags,  returning to Cameron, S.C., and sold to the farmers for planting in the spring time. @ Houck…

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October 20, 2013
Linda Baker

Linda Baker paints with a full palette of ability and compassion

  This is a "personal advocacy documentary" featuring Linda Baker, a faculty participating artist / instructor at the Kanuga Watermedia Workshops in Hendersonville, NC. It was produced in a format to instill "timelessness" and of a duration that most viewers would wish to experience from beginning to end. As a professional watercolor artist, Linda is intrigued by the gentle translucence of nature. She considers her work to be a contemporary approach to traditional subject matter.…

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October 15, 2013
Journal

A child of Jesus and Clemson University … and on Cameron, S.C.

In the low country of South Carolina, the rivalry between Clemson University and the University of South Carolina is played out daily in people's lives, which may also include the church with it's blessing.  In the small town of Cameron, S.C. there is a very strong sense of family and Christian values. My mother was born in Cameron in 1927 and lived there until 1949 when she married and moved away with my dad to…

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October 14, 2013