Visiting Shadow Nursery in Tennessee

April 5, 2010

Last Sunday, March 28th, a group of us flew to Winchester, Tennessee to visit the venerable Don Shadow, at his Shadow Nursery. Don, a fourth-generation nurseryman, is one of America's leading growers of trees and shrubs and he is a very astute and knowledgeable horticulturist. Don also raises rare species of exotic animals. Upon his land are approximately 600 animals in 60 different species, including deer, ostrich, emu, and camels, just to name a few. He actively participates in breeding programs that are aimed at maintaining biodiversity. Don has a very good way with these animals and he has great luck breeding them. Please enjoy these photos with more to come tomorrow.

: The mill was kept closed until we had our private tour. It was a very interesting lesson in stone ground products.

: This is an inside view of the mill which exhibits a lot of old machinery and tools.

: Don took us to a local grist mill – Falls Mill – where white and yellow corn are ground into wonderful grits and flour using a huge water wheel. http://www.fallsmill.com/

: Here are some examples of earlier grinding wheels and tools.

: The corn is ground coarse, medium, fine, and very fine.

: This is flour being ground.

: Part of the mill machinery

: More of the mill

: The water wheel is gigantic and made from steel – the original had been made of wood.

: The water to turn the wheel comes from the Factory River.

: Simple construction, but very effective results

: The mill building, constructed in 1873, is made of local, handmade bricks.

: The river was exceedingly muddy from several days of rainfall.

: Here is the the history of the overshot water wheel.

: Here is one of the old log buildings at Falls Mill.

: Back at the nursery, the wild clouds and bright blue skies were fascinating.

: An abandoned farmhouse and garden were overrun with Sicilian miniature donkeys.

: The donkeys were very friendly, just like the three I own.

: The young donkeys are quite hairy from the cold winter.

: This old house is a great place to restore. I hope that happens someday.

: This is Don Shadow – he so kindly met us at the airport.

: Arriving at Don Shadow’s place – These are a rare type of South American guanaco, a relative of the llama and alpaca.

: They normally live in Tierra del Fuego, very far south on the South American continent.

: Wooly highland cattle are also bred here and they live quite peacefully with Don’s collection of deer.

: I wanted to get out my grooming tools!

: We had a three hour tour of the 1900 acres Don calls his nursery. On these acres he grows many, many types of trees, shrubs, and perennials.

: These are a fascinating type of gum tree that only Don grows – they are named ‘Slender Silhouette.’

: These are about to be dug and sold.

: The farm land is fertile, rich, deep, and a bit clayey in these parts. These are the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee.

: Gambrel roof barns are common here in the countryside. in some places the topsoil is 60-feet deep!

: Angus crossed with Herefords are raised for meat in these parts.

: The land is flat in the valleys and rises on four sides into high mountains. The Tennessee River flows through this area, as do numerous smaller tributaries.

: At the container portion of Don’s operation, we were shown all the types of plants that he regularly ships around the world.

: My group was very, very interested in all aspects of Don’s work and we stood closely by him as he talked nonstop about what he was growing and where he had found many of the plants.

: Here’s a different type of pachysandra – stylosa – rather rare from China.

: Just one of the many different types of pines that Don grows

: Some of the many kinds of maples – Acer palmatum – that don proudly propagates. I want at least one of each for my maple woods, which borders Maple Avenue, at my farm in Katonah.