Beauty Farming Life

Seeds of the month for November Got this month's batch of seeds from the Seeds of the Month .  Always a fun day when I go to the mailbox.  I usually always ask via a blog post about them each time I receive them, but this month, at least I know what they all are, LOL. For this month, they are: Pepper, "Jalapeno Early" Onion, "Evergreen Bunching" Tomato, "Marglobe" Basil, "Large Italian Leaf" Anyone used these particular varieties of each of these veggies (and herb)?  I'm curious about the tomato for sure as I haven't ever heard of this "Marglobe" variety that they shipped? Thanks as always for any tips and suggestions! Seeds rule!!!

This is something I did a couple years ago and I had to recreate it for the farm.  Now that I have the blog, I can share it all with you!  What is this you ask?  It's a ceramic drink holder from Benihana turned into a kitchen/utility twine holder. It couldn't be any easier.  Here's how I did it: First of all, you need a Benihana of Tokyo drink cup.  I got this one (and a few other styles) at a thrift store a few years ago for about a dollar.  You can also find them all the time on eBay for not much more.  Then, get a package of twine/jute/string, whatever you'd like to use.  By the way, that hole in the front was for the straw when they served it at the restaurant. Here it is from the back and you can see the Benihana of Tokyo mark.  It's open, which I assume, is where the drink was poured.  This opening makes it perfect for... ...inserting the twine!  Just feed the free end through the straw hole in the front and t...

Here is a recipe 2nd Man has been making, it seems, forever.  Funny thing though, we always called this "Farmhouse" even though we didn't have a farmhouse.  It just seemed like something you'd eat for dinner on a farm.  There are probably a hundred variations on this theme out there, this is ours. The ingredients are simple: 1 lb sausage (your favorite), diced 3 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces 4 sprigs fresh thyme 1 red pepper, diced 1 green pepper, diced 1 small onion, diced 1 TBSP minced parsley 1/4 cup olive oil salt and pepper to taste In a large dutch oven or roasting pan, combine sausage, potatoes, thyme and olive oil until well coated. Add peppers, onions, parsley, salt and pepper and stir one more time to coat. Place in oven, at 450 degrees and roast, uncovered, for about 45 minutes, stirring periodically, until you have a nice color on the potatoes and sausage.    Remove from oven...

Outdoor dining table area, photo courtesy of: gardenweb.com OK, those who have followed the blog for awhile, know that we have an area under a great old Mesquite tree, and our plan is to create an awesome outdoor dining area.  Ironically, I just mowed under there the other day in preparation for clearing the area and starting to work on it.  So I started researching ideas and stumbled across this photo. It's very inspiring and, other than the length of the table (no room for something this big under our tree), it looks almost exactly like what I've wanted to do out there. I like the gravel, the table, the chairs, the rustic nature of the decor, all of it.  In fact, this is such an inspiration, I've printed out a copy and taken it to the farm to put on a bulletin board as a reminder. Today is blog day off, see you back here tomorrow morning!

Pink roses along fence, photo courtesy of: davesgarden.com forum Sigh.  This picture just makes me sigh every time I see it.  What a beautiful combination of flowers.  For those who have followed the blog know that I love white picket fences and this is one reason.  I just think this is so beautiful. I think if I had something like this, I'd just sit there and stare at it all day...after working to make it look like that, LOL!  It definitely inspires me. Enjoy your day, today is my blog day off, I'll be back here tomorrow morning!

Yes, I practice free range gardening...sometimes against my will, ha.  But yeah, I think we often do this huh?  A little here, a little there, I think it makes for a more eclectic landscape. Just never thought to call myself a free range gardener, ha.

I found this the other day at lunch.  It's a heavy, cast iron candelabra and I think I may have actually snagged an antique.  There are no "made in wherever" tags or marks...it seems like a very old heavy cast iron and has an old world look and feel.  It didn't really even need to be painted and you know me and my love of a spray can!  It looks great on the contrast of this doily. Best of all?  It was $3.00. I love a deal!

View out the bedroom window I snapped this random picture when I was waiting on the tractor delivery the other day.  This is the view out of the bedroom window.  I think it's a pretty great view to wake up to. On the other side of that fence (behind the glare) there are about 200 acres of grazing land (alas not ours, LOL!).  That means the only neighbors behind us are cattle.   I can guarantee that it will beat the heck out of the current view in the city of the neighbors driveway and wall of their house (however our city neighbors ARE awesome people)! So, this got me to thinking...Do you have a favorite view out a window in your house?  Maybe it's the kitchen window you stand in front of when cooking?  Or a bedroom window like this that you wake up to?  Or perhaps the back door looking into the yard?  Do share your favorite view!

Preserve Produce, WWI poster, image courtesy of UK Archives Here is a neat poster from WWI.  It's from the UK and has a neat image on it. A lady busy at work on a table full of fresh produce, canning it all.  Of course the message behind this was, as they always are, preserving food and not wasting it.    In this case, it's canning and preserving. I like the three P's on this, "Preserve Perishable Produce". As always, as true today as it ever was. Enjoy!

Huisache tree before Remember when I blogged about the Huisache trees a couple of weeks ago?  They were filled with yellow flowers.  Above is how one tree in particular looked just about three weeks ago... Huisache tree after ...and here is that same tree a couple of days ago, back to just green leaves!  The funny thing is, those yellow flowers are gone, they aren't laying all over the ground, they are just gone...scattered into the wind I presume. Beauty in nature is indeed often fleeting...

Nostalgia Electrics Red Microwave Here is our microwave story; we haven't had one in years! It's probably been 10 or more years without one.  We cook most food fresh so we just never needed one.  Coworkers and other friends would often ask "but how do you cook popcorn?" or "how do you melt butter?"  or "how do you thaw stuff from the freezer?" or "how do you cook potatoes?"  Well let's see, we cook popcorn on the stove top in a pot, takes a few minutes, we melt butter in a small saucepan, it takes a few minutes as well, we put stuff from the freezer in the fridge and let it thaw the night before, and we roast potatoes in the oven when we need to.  You'd be surprised how you can  make do without one. That being said however, as 2nd Man gets more and more into baking, there are times when a microwave could speed up the process.  We're fans of the Cooks Illustrated show "America's Test Kitchen" and a lot...

Off to the farm today (and tomorrow) for a LOT of yard work.  More time on the big green machine too, which might be a nice respite in between the other stuff.   This weekend's agenda: Till up and dig flower beds around front and one side of house Mow Weed eat areas mower can't get to Mow a little more Do something with pile of dirt on side of house Start clearing debris in tall grass along fence line (old bricks, limbs, rocks, etc) See if I can now mow the debris free areas Get fruit tree holes dug Do something with large urn / planter on corner of porch Start clearing under and around the party/picnic tree (long term project) Put grass seed in barren spots & water before leaving (Mon/Tues rain forecast) If I can get the majority of this done this weekend, next weekend I can start planting the fruit trees and bushes, and start planting stuff in the flower beds around the house. Ripples on a pond! SATURDAY NIGHT UPDATE IN RED SUND...

Cedar hanger rings Has anyone ever used these?   I found them on sale at a store and I thought we should try them out.  They are fresh cedar rings that you simply put over your clothes hanger.  They don't interfere with putting your clothes on the hangers and I guess they keep clothes fresh and of course repel moths.  It's definitely an interesting item and cedar has long been used as a repellent in homes around the world. There were 20 rings in each package (I bought two packages) and so I put a few on some hangers.   I must say, from the time I put them on until we left, they made the whole closet smell of cedar.  It was nice.  If nothing else, I guess we'll just leave them on and enjoy that fresh smell when we open the door.  It reminds me of an old cedar closet or cedar chest. So this got me to thinking, are there any other suggestions for things like this to keep in closets and/or drawers?  Maybe more cedar?  Any esse...

I like the image on this poster.  Very simple and basic (and SO 1940's).  The message is perfect for then and for now; "Eat what you can, and can what you can't eat"...makes sense to me! In other words, don't be wasteful! Now, the smiling Mom and Dad, sure I could get with that, but not sure little "Bobby" and "Jane" would be so excited to be out there working in the garden, LOL!  But actually, if more kids today were exposed to gardening, and canning for that matter, it might just BE more fun for them.  We have to not think of it as work but as doing something productive for ourselves and our families. Enjoy!

Stormy weather coming I love stormy weather.  I don't want the damage of course, floods and hail and all that bad stuff, but I do love a good thunderstorm.  When I was at the farm trying to get some yard work done (of course!), there was a big storm brewing, so I snapped some pictures to share.  I love taking pictures of a storm as it's approaching and getting darker and darker.  I think what I've always liked about them is the contrast of the clouds as the lighter ones resist as long as they can, ultimately giving way to the darker ones.  This particular storm system gave us a good 1/2" of rain (and nothing bad) so that was nice. Storm clouds over the house Even though it's approaching Winter, we've had a pretty dry Autumn so far.  We definitely needed the rain for the plants and trees and most importantly, the aquifer that is a 150 feet below us.  Water is a gift whenever it arrives.

So I get to the farm today. Forgot my gloves for the berries, so I have stained fingers which by itself isn't the end of the world except we were meeting friends for dinner...strike one. Then the weather started getting dark and it began thundering...strike two. Then I almost stepped on this 5 foot long snake that was slithering into the underbrush...strike three. I  decided it was best to call it a day...I did however get a lot of things done this weekend and I'll share those in posts later in the week.  Check out yesterday's post of the weekend plans for the update on what I was able to check off my list. OH, and if anyone can identify the snake, it would be appreciated. Update: It's apparently a "Rat Snake" as they call them in these parts.  Also known as "Gopher Snake" (thanks Granny!) and "Chicken Snake", probably based on what they ea...

Garden shed with pond, photo courtesy of: davesgarden.com OK, this is one of those off the wall photos that just inspires me for a variety of reasons.  The greenery, the small pond, the ramshackle overcrowded shed, a comfy place to sit and relax...I just like the mix. I've always wanted a small pond and that coupled with the disorganization of the shed, is pretty neat.  It seems more like how a shed might  really be.  It makes it kind of fun and not quite so intimidating, you know?  I'm not even sure what it is supposed to function as.  A potting shed?  A storage shed?  A covered lean-to of some sort that has just accumulated stuff over the years?  Who knows.  I do know (well, I imagine ), that sitting in that rocker in the shade, looking back toward the pond toward who knows what on the other side of the camera lens, would be five kinds of relaxing, don't you think? See you back here tomorrow!

Empty planter on the porch One of my weekend projects, albeit a small one, was to do something with this empty urn/planter we had.  I had just put it on the corner of the porch a couple of months ago so it was safely out of the way as we came and went.  I also had a big pile of soil on the side of the house that "Ma" had used for some old planters she had.  We saved it because it was still dark, rich, and useful. I figured that I could get rid of most of the soil by filling this up and planting flowers or a perennial of some sort.  Then my thoughts turned to herbs and I finally decided on a rosemary bush.  Rosemary is a great perennial herb and best of all, it's very drought tolerant which is a nice plus. Rosemary and Portulaca in a planter  So I put some broken up bricks in the bottom of the planter, filled the rest up with the extra soil we had, and put a rosemary plant in the top, surrounded by s...

Apologies for posts that show up but aren't there and comments that have been deleted, or show that I replied and the replies are missing. Blogger assures me they are working on the issue. UPDATE:  Seems to be working now, but I lost all the comments I had replied to last night from the last few days, so bear with me as I re-reply (I don't think that's a real word, ha).  I also lost some comments on a post I had today, and the post wasn't being indexed (whatever THAT means) so I had to re-post.  Those comments were lost but I can cut and paste them from a copy I made before I deleted and re-posted.  It's always something.

Is THIS what Horton was hearing? How cool is this?  I saw this at the farm this weekend.  Not sure what type of flower it is but as soon as I saw it, with its pink color, fluffy texture and tiny yellow speckles, all I could think of is the pink flower from the classic Dr. Seuss story "Horton Hears a Who".  Isn't nature awesome? Horton Hears a Who Hmmm, should I listen closely to one the next time I'm out there? 1st Man Hears a Who? LOL!

Yesterday, I had an interesting and humbling experience.  I was in line at Trader Joe's while on my lunch break.  There was one person in front of me at the register and she had just finished checking out.  She paid for her groceries with a gift card.  The remaining balance of the bill was $2.93. She swiped her debit card and it was declined.  It actually showed up on the screen as insufficient funds.  She apologized and asked if they could take something out that would make it less than $3.00.  The cashier called the manager over and, in all fairness, they were very nice in trying to figure out how to do it.  Apparently though, they couldn't because of the fact that the transaction had already been completed.  Since the main part had been paid with a gift card, they could void the entire transaction but because it  was  a gift card, the money couldn't be put back on the card or refunded to her there.  She could get ...

Thought you might enjoy this story of my Sunday afternoon the farm, in a little more detail.  I sent this as an email to a friend out of state and she said "you should post that to your blog" and I thought, why not and I'll add some fun photos for your viewing pleasure.  Enjoy! ------------------------------------------- So, part of my weekend yard working plan was to check out some tree branches that might need to be trimmed next weekend, so I went in here... Somehow I missed the sign and wandered "in".  As I glanced up t o see what branches I could prune, and moved a couple out of the way, I reached for another one and saw a snake curled around it.  It was probably about a foot long, but really, it might as well have been 10 feet long.  It scared me, I scared it, it moved higher up the tree by corkscrewing around the branches, and I corkscrewed back  out of the area and exited the way I came as quickly as possible.   ...