Beauty Farming Life

Image courtesy of www.icanhascheezburger.com Too funny....and maybe very relavent to my blogger friends who fight the battle of the bunnies all the time (bluestem?). There are some out there at the farm, but I have yet to see them.  2nd Family's daughter tells me she has seen quite a few out there, so I suppose time will tell. I just hope I'm not being too prophetic with our own gardens when we get them done, ha.  We don't see them now, but if I build it, will they come??? Enjoy!

Photo courtesy of:  Pottery Barn This is one of those pics that I saved when I saw it because it just looked so neat.  I figured a stencil and some paint, it can't be too hard to accomplish. Now the big question, how to use it? In the picture, I think it's just sort of random, but I was thinking they could be really nice as table markers if you had a large gathering?  Or maybe individual place settings at the table?  Perhaps you could use letters and organize your pantry with some sort of code system?  We'd love to  do this as soon as we get settled into a routine.  Now I just need to come up with a great use for them. What do you think?   Any ideas?

I don't often put current events on my blog, because that's not what it's supposed to be about, but when I heard this tonight after I got back from the farm, I felt I needed to. Whitney Houston was the soundtrack of my youth, from high school and into college and thereafter, her music was always there in the background.  I fondly remember the very first CD player I ever owned, I asked for it for Christmas from my parents because I wanted to have her album on CD so badly (remember, it was a new fangled gadget at the time, ha). Another fun memory I had was when she came to Houston for a concert.  I saved up for weeks to buy an 'almost' front row seat.  She was singing "Greatest Love of All" and was just finishing the song.  As soon as there was a lull in the music, I stood up and shouted "I love you Whitney!" and she replied back "I love you too baby...." I know she had a troubled life in later years, and I truly hope she finds the...

Vintage Poster - Join The Women's Land Army Last week, I posted an image from the US Crop Corps.  The other day, while researching online, I found this one that is related to the same department/organization during the "Victory Garden" campaign of WWII. Apparently they targeted women as well, to get them to join and "pitch in and help", presumably while so many men were off to war.  There weren't as many people to help harvest the country's important food crops so they needed everyone they could get. The graphics on this poster are really nice, and I'd love to see it in person.  This image comes courtesy of the National Archives...you just know that they have some awesome posters stored away! Enjoy and as always, click on the history button to see other posters I shared.

MONDAY: National Tortellini Day AND National "Eat Italian Food" Day TUESDAY: National Cream Filled Chocolates WEDNESDAY: National Gumdrop Day AND National Chewing Gum Day THURSDAY: National Almond Day FRIDAY: National Indian Pudding Day AND National Cafe' Au Lait Day SATURDAY: National "Drink Wine" Day SUNDAY: National Chocolate Mint Day ENJOY YOUR WEEK OF EATING!!

One problem we are running into is trying to determine the type of fence we should put around the garden.  It's going to be a more or less do it yourself kind of project, as long as having some expert friends help doesn't disqualify that description.  If it will ever stop raining on the weekends only rain during the week, I could get the garden spot cleared of brush and grass.  My thinking is that regardless of getting it cleared, we need a fence around the garden space sooner rather than later.  No point in having raised beds put in (have the wood for those all ready to go) and not be able to keep critters out. So then I got online and started looking at fences for ideas (and inspiration!) and my mind is so confused right now.  There are just SO many ways to go. Below are just a few pics I found, randomly sourced online: As you can see, the more I find the more confused I get.  I like all of these, obviously each for a different reason....

Part of this weekend was spent getting our books organized.  We're not the type that alphabetizes the books, but we try to keep subjects together when possible.  When you become book hoarders, you need some sort of organization, LOL. So here they are, with bookends in place (used those old school, metal ones that are almost invisible).  We decided that we wanted to take our collection of milk glass and use that as an accent.  This is just a small portion (all found at thrift stores and tag sales) of what we have.  So we chose 15 of the biggest, and used them as accents on each shelf.  We think it looks pretty good.  We also re purposed a floor lamp out there that we weren't using.  That space at the end of the bookcase was made for it.  It's a good solution and let's us use it.

Grover Farms Butter Crock I scored this awesome find at a local thrift store over the weekend, for, are you sitting down?  $1.25! It's a vintage, covered butter crock, printed with a great image of a cow and the words "Fresh Butter".  It looks like it came from a dairy farm called "Grover Farms".  It will be a great place to keep our homemade butter.  Will save that for another post later on...

Cake for Breakfast? We read this article about researchers who did a study saying that it might not be such a bad idea to have a slice of cake for breakfast...in order to help with weight loss! I almost stopped reading after that, because, quite frankly, do we really NEED to know anything else when someone tells us it's OK?  But I did read it and it's actually very interesting.   Instead of repeating the entire article, click below to read about it. CLICK HERE FOR THE ARTICLE OK, off to find a slice of cake...apparently the breakfast of champions! LOL!

Finally got the bathroom mirror hung up.  Yet another things to scratch of our weekend "list".  The thing weighs a ton.  OK, not literally but it is heavy and was not easy to hang up (and get level at the same time).  We had hoped for a built in, but the "hole" that was already in the wall before was too shallow for the new ones they make now.  Until I can maybe someday find an old one, the hole will be covered by this one.  We think it fits the overall style of the room.  Simple, clean lines.  Now I'm on the lookout for a small shelf that we can mount, under the mirror and above that electrical outlet, for additional storage space of smaller items. In the mirror reflection, you can see a few (more!) of the milk glass bud vases we have.  Once we are there on a regular basis, and have fresh flowers growing outside (or I just buy some at the grocery store on the way out), I want to put a flower in each one for a pop of color against the whit...

Cottage Garden, courtesy of:   Garden Web Now, please don't think this is our cottage garden, ha.  It's a picture I found online while looking for fence ideas recently.  If ever there was a picture that inspired us to create something of beauty, this would be it. If I could come up with something half as nice as this, I'd be happy.  I just love the colors, the variety, the random nature of the design...just very pretty!! OK, blog day off today, so I'll see you back here tomorrow! Have a great day!

Got weeds?  Here's a sign for you! I think I might need one of these signs. Well, ok, I'd like to say I wouldn't actually  need it, but who am I kidding, weeds are a part of life in the garden I suppose. Enjoy!

Vegetable Cloth / Towel I found this at the thrift store (75 cents!) and just had to have it.  What is it?  I'm guessing it's a towel, or some sort of cloth?  It's made of a semi heavy cotton and measures 16" x 30". So my question is; what could I do/make with it?  Anyone out there in a crafty frame of mind and want to offer up a suggestion or two or three?    I'm sure an obvious choice might be a curtain but there aren't any windows it would fit and it would look odd from the back anyway.  So comment away with suggestions! Who knows, you might see your suggestion created (eventually).   Thanks!

Okay, I was tagged twice!  Double the love, ha... Once by Bee Girl over at Sky Minded and Ever Growing  and again by Angela over at High Desert Chronicles .  They both have such inspiring blogs.  If ever you want to read something online that makes you want to GO there where they are and live that life, they do it.  So the rules of this are that you get asked 11 questions and answer them, and then you come up with 11 questions and send it out to 11 other bloggers.  Here are my eleven answers asked by them: 1. Where is your favorite place in the world? Tell us why? Other than our farm (even though it's not finished!), I would have to say it was to a vacation spot we went a few years ago, San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. If you've never heard of it, google it.  It's most amazing place. It's in the mountains, it's an old town with cobblestone streets and hills and awesome old world European style buildings and gorgeous flowers...

Photo Courtesy of:   Sunset Recently, I blogged HERE  about our tree and how we hoped to put a table under it to make it into an outdoor dining area.  NO, this isn't what we did, ha, but we did find this picture online.  We love the more informal and casual look of this kind of setup.  We could totally see something like this underneath the tree.  It even has a pea gravel "floor", which several of you suggested.  Add some overhead lanterns and some white Christmas tree type lights wrapped around the branches (as was also suggested by several of you) and we would be good to go.  I'd even like to add some billowy fabric for a canopy to make it desert chic (another awesome suggestion!)  Now, I just have to keep my eye out for a table that is similar to the one in this picture.  So what do you think?   Is this a good inspiration for our picnic tree area?  We want something not quite so formal, something that fits a more rustic f...