Beauty Farming Life

The last few weekends, I've been shopping...CAR shopping. My car is older and it was time.  It's not that I relish going out and having to deal with that, but I currently drive a Saturn, which was a GM car.  Unfortunately, Saturn didn't make it out of the GM bailout and the company no longer exists.  It's also a couple of years out of warranty and parts are no longer being made so I run the risk of a break down with who knows what problem in getting it repaired.  With my new job being close to the house in town, us driving back and forth to the farm more often, and gas prices on the rise, I also wanted something with good gas mileage.  So I've been shopping at various dealers the last few weekends, trying to narrow it down and decide and now I can officially say that I ordered a car!  It's being built exactly the way I want it and should arrive in about four weeks.  I'll unveil it here on the blog when it comes in but there are a couple of...

2nd Family had given us  recently, and said, "wait, hold on!"   She went out to her car, where she had some stuff she was taking to be packed up, and brought back this basket.  She said we should use it to gather eggs when we go down to visit 2nd Family.   I thought that was a very sweet and thoughtful thing to do.  I'm going to have to fill it up with eggs and take a picture to show her.  Just wanted to share her kind gesture with all of you...and publicly say "thank you"!

Recently, I received a couple of book recommendations in the comments of other posts and it got me to thinking; we have a lot of gardening books and cook books and decorating books.  Without a TV at the farm, when we go out there and relax a bit, it's nice to just sit and read.  But these are all pretty much "how to" books.  We love them of course but... ...one of you suggested Charlotte's Web (great suggestion to read a classic that I might look at differently now) and another suggested a book on WWII that featured someone working on a chicken farm (sounds fun).  So now I'm wondering, what fiction and/or historical books would you all recommend for the farm "library"?   I'd like to keep them farm related, maybe about someone building a garden, or raising livestock or maybe a book about a beekeeper?  Heck, maybe life on a farm now (Amish?) or even a hundred years ago (Little House on the Prairie-ish perhaps?) Speaking of fiction,...

Vintage Victory Garden Poster A cute poster this week, this was was a not so subtle reminder to "Protect Your Victory Garden" with a gardener "Shooting to Kill" a grasshopper on her tomato. I'm pretty sure we can all say "been there, done that", these days, ha. Enjoy!

Got the October batch of seeds from the  SEEDS OF THE MONTH  club.  As I always do since I've been getting these, here they are for this month: Amaranth, "Red Garnett" Parsley, "Forest Green" Rutabaga, "American Purple Top" Cress, "Wrinkled Crinkled" And also as always, I ask you for gardening tips, harvesting advice and just general information on growing them from those that may have first hand experience with any of these.  Any cooking and/or eating tips on the veggies if anyone has any?  I'm not sure I know what Amaranth is or how it's used and I'm almost certain I've never eaten a Rutabaga. Thanks as always!!

We have no idea how this happened, but sometime over the weekend, we surpassed 200,000 page views!  We really have no words we can say we haven't said before at other milestones, except thank you, thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.  Someway, somehow, whatever I write and post here is interesting to you and for that, we are eternally grateful. Keep coming along for the ride, the best is yet to come!

Photo courtesy of: davesgarden.com Last week , I posted an image of a random flower bed.  I loved the random nature of it, and then I saw this one.  Formal and obviously planned, but SO pretty.  I love the contrast of the green grass and the bright colors of the flowers.  It's always nice to have varying heights of flowers, from low to tall. A lot, if not all, of these flowers are annuals, so I'm guessing at this time of year, it's more than likely just an empty and weed covered spot of dirt in the middle of the yard, ha.  Still, t his picture makes me long for Spring, which is a long Winter away. Today is blog day off, I'll get back to your comments and have new posts tomorrow.  Have a great day!

Here in Texas, we love March and April...it's when the wildflowers go crazy in bloom.   Last Spring however was very dry, and so there were very few wildflowers.  This year, we've been blessed with a very wet Winter and looks like Spring will be wet as well.  That's making for what appears to be a bumper crop of wildflowers this Spring.   What we wouldn't give to have them year round, sadly they last about a month and then it returns to just green and weedy.  So while we have them,  I thought I'd share what we saw this weekend at the farm:   Above is the view of the pasture across the street from us.  We can't see it from the house as we are a few acres down the driveway, but we see it every time we drive in or out and that's just fine with us.  It's about 20 acres of these white flowers, it almost looks like water and is so pretty. And above is just one small portion of the roadside ditch down at the end of the road we turn onto.  It...

Galvanized metal magazine rack I've have had this stored away for awhile, but was never sure where to put it.  It's a galvanized metal storage rack, maybe for files originally, perhaps magazines?  I've been trying to figure out where to put it and I just realized the width was about the same as one of the set of shelves in the mudroom. So last week, I mounted it on the side/end of that smaller shelving unit and will use it as a place for all the owners manuals for appliances and tools at the farm. There are four compartments, and for now I've just put some random stuff in there but I'll have to divide them up into four categories.   Maybe "appliances", "outdoor tools", and two more, just not sure what those will be. Any suggestions? I do know that it's great to be able to now have them all in one spot.  No more running around going "where is that instruction manual?"

Recently, I was visiting one of my favorite blogs, THIS  posting about creating a message center by the door.  That post intrigued me very much, so I set about making something similar.  I'm not quite finished, but it's almost there.  Instead of waiting, I figured I'd show what I've done so far.  I found a green chalkboard and frame on clearance for $5 at my local craft store.  I decided to use it and so I painted it white.  Sorry I missed those photos, my camera was left at the farm and not in the city so I only got the finished pictures after I took it out there and got it hung up, d'oh! Use your imagination to see how I simply taped off the blackboard portion, used some gloss white Krylon spray paint to cover the green and ended up with this.  Then, I added a rail/shelf at the bottom using a scrap piece of wood I had and painted it the same color.  It sort of all looks like it's one piece and was supposed to be that way.  Best of all...

OK, I laughed at this and then I thought, "I should put that on the blog!"  (I'm still learning about these great blogger epiphanies that come up on occasion). What do you notice about this scale?  I was in a store and when I saw it, the retro design caught my eye first.  I thought "hmm, this might be cool to have at the farm".  Then I stood there and started laughing.  Do you see what I saw? American Kitchen Scale ...with metric measurements only! Now I'm sure our visitors from other countries will laugh at the fact that America is still on the Imperial system, and yes I was taught metric back in the 19... *cough* sometime in the last century, and I tried, I really, really did, but it just didn't register in my head.  Now in all fairness, maybe it's a reference to the design, but still without even any reference to "pounds and ounces", it wouldn't work very well in most American kitchens.  I'm just sayin'! So, alas, thi...

Fishing Fleet WWII Poster, image courtesy of US National Archives Here's a fun poster image.  This one dates from WWII, circa 1941-1945, and was put out to remind people how important fishing was to the war effort.  With food reserves going to the troops overseas, fish became a more popular staple in homes. Of course, it has a double meaning, as many did, that not only was the fishing fleet important for victory, so were men.  Men who were fighting and the men who couldn't should be working on the fleet.  Assets to victory!! Hope you are having a good weekend and I hope those in the path of Sandy and the "frankenstorm" are prepared and ready and stay safe!

Huisache Tree on our Property Thought you might like to see this.  This is a Huisache tree, it's pronounced "wee-satch" or sometimes "we-sach".  It's an odd little native tree that is from the "Legume" family.  Yes, it's related to peas!  I've never seen these trees before, but since the property has lost some vegetation due to last year's drought, we spotted this one over the weekend!  It was hidden in previous years by heavier growth and possibly had no flowers in years past, as late freezes can prevent blooming.  This is a first for us.  There are also two more that we haven't walked over to yet.  We spotted them on the way out Sunday.  I said "what is that yellow tree over there?" and jumped out of the car to take a picture.  I had already taken off my boots and left them back at the farmhouse and since the ground was muddy and the sun was setting, I couldn't get near it.  My pla...

306,000,000+ That's how many trees were lost in Texas during the 2011 drought. With a population of 25 million, it means that for every single person in Texas, more than a dozen trees died in just one year. Astonishing (click above for article) We lost a few trees on the property ourselves.  One was an integral part of two trees in a future landscaping project that I had in mind but alas, now I only have the one. With all the acreage we have, most of it grown up with trees and plants, it's hard to tell how many were lost.  The Mesquite trees which are so prevalent on the farm are extremely drought tolerant and I don't believe we lost any of them.  But with so few other tree varieties on the property, the loss of just a few was significant and noticeable as you walk around. So, by the Spring of next year, we have set a personal goal of planting two dozen new trees on our property (a dozen for each of us),  not counting the fruit and pecan trees that we a...

Flower Garden photo courtesy of:  Burpee I found this picture on line and I thought it was so pretty.  There is something so simply beautiful and inspirational about flowers and a white picket fence.  Not to mention, we just love yellow and orange in a garden.  They are "happy" colors. Today is my blog day off, so I will see you back here tomorrow, have a great day!  Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy!

Keeping those of you in the path  of the storm in our thoughts... ...and sending good wishes your direction for safety and recovery.

Shiny. Pretty.  Not new. Would you believe, these were purchased by 2nd Man back in the early 90's?  Yep, almost 20 years old! He takes care of his stuff! Over the years, we gradually replaced all of this with newer and different types, so this was put in storage to sell later. Never got around to that, thankfully , so we got it out, used some  "Barkeepers Friend" and it's good as new! For 2nd Man's birthday, I took him to  AceMart Restaurant Supply  and said to buy whatever he needed to complete some of the stuff in the kitchen at the farm. By the way, if you have a restaurant supply in your town, it is an AWESOME place to buy this type of stuff.  Very inexpensive and made of a quality that will hold up to restaurant use so it will for sure hold up under home use. He bought some baking things and christened his 'baking drawer'.   Luckily we have some extra tools already at home now that we can move out there. I'm...

Here are some of my latest thrift store finds. First the broom looking thing.  It's actually a "cobweb broom".  It's got a long handle and the broom end is angled and jagged to help with getting cobwebs that are up in the corners and edges of ceilings.  $3.00 The clear, pressed glass item is one of those old style candle holders that holds a candlestick.  You carry it with your finger and thumb in the holder. $1.50  Finally, two of my two favorite finds of the week, stoneware bread warmers.  You put them in the oven, heat them up and then put them in the bottom of a basket with your bread, usually under a towel, and then they radiate the heat to keep your bread warm while on the table.  $3.00 each $10.50!  Not a bad deal for some fun things for the farmhouse.  I'll hang the cobweb broom in the mudroom with the other cleaning supplies, the candle holder will find a home on the desk in the foyer, and the bread warmers will d...

...when you don't mow! This may look soft and luxurious, but it's actually the yard getting way out of control.  The reason is that we have had nonstop rain for three weekends in a row, so there has been no outside yard work done in that time. Even though the green is beautiful, the height i s not as noticeable in this picture of the party/picnic tree...   ...as it is here in this photo.  We've had a lot of rain, which is, of course, AWESOME as compared to last Summer's drought, but it's really making things a bit more wild  out there. The plan is to borrow 2nd Family's riding mower this weekend and knocking this all out.  If not this weekend, it will be next weekend for sure. We need our own mower...soon.

Beautiful flower garden Here is a flower garden that I really like.  It's obviously more organized and formal than ones that I have shown before, but it's still just so pretty.  Maybe it's the Autumn/impending Winter doldrums setting in. I can't WAIT until next Spring.  I want color! It's not a bad idea, to carve out a little square patch of land and just experiment with flowers.  I do love the hedge behind it but I know I do not have that in me to pull off.  But it would make a nice cutting garden of sorts. Today is blog day off, so I'll be back tomorrow and respond to all of your comments and have some new posts as usual. Enjoy your Thursday, it's almost Friday!

Vintage British "Grow More Food, Dig for Victory" Poster During WWII, while we here stateside had our Victory Garden campaign, our friends across the pond in Britain had their own similar campaign called "Dig for Victory".  This poster depicts a strong guy, presumably digging for that victory. John?  You there?  LOL! Enjoy!

B.C. Comic Strip  I thought this was funny.  I guess if someone did steal seeds and planted them, the evidence would be planted and gone huh? Speaking of, it's that time, seed catalogs starting to trickle in. Hope you had a laugh today, after the events of Hurricane Sandy, we could all use a bit of a laugh.

We had this small, empty spot right next to the front door.  It's kind of tiny for any big piece of furniture but we wanted to have some sort of entry/exit stopping off point by the door.  Originally, I thought about a coat rack but I got a wall mounted one a few weeks ago (mounted just across the open doorway on the other side of the foyer) and so we decided we needed some sort of table as a focal point for the spot. The first thing we did was look for a table that would fit. A couple of weeks ago, we found this great little table at  Nadeau , and it fit the narrow spot perfectly.  It was the same color as the desk we recently got which is at the other end of the foyer.  It also had a small drawer, and a lower shelf so that was perfect. Of course, we can't just have a table with nothing else around it. So, in comes this mirror that I salvaged off the street a few years ago.  I think it was part of a dresser once upon a time. It's got some gre...

I always enjoy sharing plants I find because I'm sure they aren't always everywhere so it might be something new for many of you. I found this one recently and looked it up in my wildflowers book . It's a perennial that reaches up to three feet high, called the Silver-Leaf Nightshade and blooms from March through October. As pretty as it is though, it does produce a poisonous fruit later on in it's life cycle. Why do pretty things have to be so bad too?

Today is the day, for better or worse LOL, that I came into this world.  A year ago, I was in the midst of the closing process, with all the drama that was inherent in that.  Wasn't even sure it would end up happening.  And now here I am a year later, we own it and are gradually turning it into what we had always dreamed of.  I can't think of a better gift than that! I will be taking the day off from work and from blogging while we go visit King Tut!  Yeah, what can I say, I'm a nut for history.  We've been fortunate to have the major touring King Tut exhibit here in Houston, at the Museum of Fine Arts, since last October.  It ends in two weeks and we want to make sure we don't miss this perhaps once in a lifetime experience to see the grandeur of the "boy king". King Tut - photo courtesy of National Geographic It's funny, there was a time in my life that I was leaning toward pursuing a degree in archeology, but I didn't.  Now I ...

Here is the latest update on Seda, the FFA pig we sponsored for our friend's son.  Above is Seda going for one of his daily walks with T hot on his hooves.  He's an obedient little guy, and never strays from the path. He's progressing right on track and while I don't have his measurements this week, we do know his weight.  The little piggy now weighs 87 lbs!  I love the picture below, because he's so pink.  I never realized that they really were pink little things, just like you imagine, except for his blue butt of course, LOL. Must. Not. Get. Attached.

Yesterday was a great day! We started by going to the Museum of Fine Arts Houston to see the King Tut exhibit.  It was amazing (crowded though, as it was apparently a school field trip day!) but it was still great.  The artifacts are just astounding.  It's hard to wrap your head around the fact that they are thousands of years old.  Sadly, but understandably, they don't allow photography of any kind. So, it's all just images committed to memory.  But they were beautiful images I won't soon forget.  This was about the only picture I could take and it's not even real, LOL!  But it still looks cool!   Would one of these be overkill at the entrance to the farm? After the museum, we had lunch and then we wandered down to a part of town called "The Village".  That's where our favorite furniture  STORE  is and we roamed around in there for a bit.  Luckily, didn't buy anything, THIS time! After Nadeau, we went ...

Vintage WWII Food poster, image courtesy of US National Archives Here's a fun poster, circa 1940's.  It was a reminder that was most often used on military bases, ships, etc, for those doing the cooking.  I've read though that they were posted around towns for restaurants, etc, to remind chefs and presumably home cooks too, that "over cooking destroys vitamins". And of course, everyone needed to stay healthy and strong.  Words as true then as they are now.  Have you ever been somewhere that overcooked the vegetables?  They end up mushy and not very tasty?  They are also totally devoid of any nutritional value, ha.   So, from the 1940's to now, don't overcook! Check back later, I'll be drawing the winner of October's book giveaway!

Dewberry blossoms For those of you not familiar with "dewberries", they are a wild berry that we have growing all over the South.  They are closely related to the blackberry but are trailing instead of upright...they just sort of put out runners across the ground.  The berries are dark in color and as you can see above, they start as these white flowers.  Then, in a few weeks, they turn from flower to green fruit, then red, and then when they are dark purple, almost black, if you can brave the thorns, they are ready to be harvested. Dewberries are prevalent all over this part of the country and in the Houston area, it's not uncommon to see people harvesting them from roadside ditches or empty lots while you're driving home from work!  I've been known to be right there with them in years past.  It seems everyone has their own secret patch they know about as the berries usually come back strong in the same spot every other year, especially after a wet spr...