A Photographic Tour from the Nature Studies class at the John C. Campbell Folk School, led by Joel Zachry

1. Another Walk in the Woods
this time at
The John C. Campbell Folk School
One Folk School Road
Brasstown, North Carolina, US
28902-9603
www.folkschool.org
by
Robert Connolly
rcnnolly@memphis.edu
rcnnolly.wordpress.com

2. The Plan . . .
. . . Our trip to the Folk School served our need to get out of town. Friends had gone to the school
before and spoke highly of the place. Five-day classes are offered on a diversity of activities
including blacksmithing, woodturning, painting, writing, and my choice – nature studies. My intent
was to go for a walk in the woods with someone who knew a good bit more than me about trees and
plants. As I often note, to me there are magnolia trees, pine trees, and everything else. My
knowledge of plants is equally as extensive. I wanted to broaden my limited floral horizons.
Our very knowledgeable instructor, Joel Zachry (www.gowithgoat.com) did not disappoint our small
group of five students.

3. Ed, Erik, Joel Zachry, and Eileen, commisserating on what something is.

4. Photoshopped view from Brasstown Bald, highest spot in Georgia at nearly 5000 fasl.

5. Squaw Root – favored
by bear as a laxative
of sorts after a winter
of torpor or semi-
hibernation.

7. My favorite visuals in forests are the patterns of entangled branches

8. .
.
.
Or
those
that
imitate
nature
as
with
this
amphibious
design

10. . . . Or feathered serpents . . .

11. . . . Or dragonflies . . .

12. . . . or this luminous web of interconnectivity, as in the circuitry of the brain.

16. I enjoy the patterns in tree bark that remind me of the
False Face Masks carved by the Iroquois

17. Or the detail etchings.

21. I also learned the technique of shooting up the hollow of trees to see what there is to see.

22. A few great days spent walking in the woods.