Beauty Farming Life

Beautiful blue skies...and HOT...not much got done outside at the farm today.   Hope your weekend is cooler wherever you are.

Join a Pig Club, vintage poster image, courtesy of Imperialwarmuseum.com A couple of months ago, I posted ANOTHER IMAGE of a Pig Club poster.  This one dates from the same time, WW1, but the last poster image was from the United States and this one is from the UK. Kind of neat to see the coordinating programs in both countries.  Again, these were to help with the food support effort for the war, for soldiers on the battlefield and of course for those at home.  We love the idea of countries coordinating the same program aimed at getting children involved.  How nice it would be to have an international effort now to get children involved in something similar, if not livestock, then perhaps gardening.  Hope you are having a great weekend.  It's HOT here so not much is getting done outside.  But there are always inside projects, right?

It's that time of year...we love to watch Discovery Channel's annual tradition, "Shark Week" .  I know, we don't live near the ocean, we aren't even particularly "beachy" type people, but we are just fascinated with sharks and always enjoy this week of special shark programming.   I guess a shark logo for the farm just wouldn't quite work out, LOL! This weekend was SO hot at the farm...103 yesterday, 102 today until... The rain hit!  We were back in town by the time it came but since the farm hasn't had any rain in more than three weeks now, we'll take it!  Here in town, we've had almost an inch.  Hoping for that much at the farm. Speaking of water, now it's time for sharks!

THIS IS THE WEATHER WARNING FOR OUR AREA: "...Increasing heat index values expected each afternoon over the next several days and through the upcoming week across Southeast Texas...the combination of warm temperatures and high dew points will produce afternoon heat index values of 100 to 105 degrees over the weekend across much of the area. The hottest conditions are expected mainly between 1 PM and 6 PM CDT. The highest heat index temperatures could exceed 110 degrees by midweek. Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside.  If possible...slow down...reduce...or reschedule strenuous outdoor activities until the coolest part of the day.  Wear light weight...loose fitting...and light colored clothing to reflect heat and sunlight. Drink plenty of water and avoid any alcoholic and caffeinated beverages." ---------------------------------------- The eggplants, after struggling due to the ant infestation bounced back and we harvest

Robin Williams Robin Williams is no longer with us.  Such an odd thing to type.  He was one of our favorite comedians and we have enjoyed him from when we were children watching Mork and Mindy,  through every movie and comedy routine through the years, all the way up to now.  I know he struggled with so many internal issues...I heard someone say just moments ago that often, the funniest comedians are the ones with the deepest pain. His humor will be missed...we hope he finds the peace that seemed to elude him.  Sending comfort to his family.   Thank you for making us laugh over and over and over, now and forever. "Legacies of lightness are sometimes left by people with the heaviest hearts" -  author unknown Instead of responding to each of your comments, I want to let them stand on their own as a caring testament to someone who touched us all...

Stopped at a thrift store the other day at lunch and found this nice crocheted afghan.  I often see afghans and throws but as you know, they can be made in any number of color combinations.  It's just one of those things where you want to find the one that appeals to you most.  This one did. Multi color crocheted afghan We liked the bright colors of this one because we were hoping they would add a pop of color to the living room at the farm.  Afghan on couch  So the last time we were out there, we put it over the back of the couch and sure enough, it's a nice and colorful addition.  I'm thinking of maybe replacing the flower pillows that came with the couch with something as colorful as the afghan.  We love the farm themed pillows  we found so those will stay, but I think it's needs a bit more color, don't you?

White table and chairs, image courtesy of Sunsetliving.com Regular readers know that we have an affinity for outdoor dining spaces.  With just over 10 acres, we have many potential outdoor dining areas, but that's not on our immediate planning list of things to do.  Still, it doesn't hurt to dream and keep a record of things we see and like.  This is no different.  Just a small white table in a little patch of clearing, some pretty tulips springing up, the nice greenery around it all...just a comfy, nice little set up.  Who wouldn't want a breakfast or lunch here? I'm actually clearing a spot behind a large tree near the house and the clearing it not too dissimilar from this...minus the tulips of course.  Still, it's something I keep in the back of my head as I'm mowing and cutting back brush.   Someday! (soon!) Be inspired!

Cat toys and a tired cat One thing we've learned over the years, if it's not nailed down, it's a cat toy.  So we got a basket and just dump their toys and their "toys" in there so it's all in one spot...temporarily of course.  So Hobart loves it when we get it out and he digs around in it, plays and then sleeps next to it.   We're guessing he's having happy dreams... More later today!

Forgive me, just being artsy today.  Took this picture a couple of months ago and recently doctored it up in a photo editing program.  I actually have one of these blown up into a larger size in a picture frame in town.   I'm off to the farm to mow.  2nd Man has to stay in town and work on some stuff he's been putting off the last few weekends.  It's actually been three weeks since I've been on the zen machine (I MISS it!) and while it might not "need" to be mowed, it will still need to be cleaned up and made to look better.  Last weekend there were scattered weeds popping up and so just mowing it down will keep it all looking neat for a while longer. Hoping for cooler weather but alas, hoping won't help much...it's supposed to be near 100 degrees today.  I will just stay hydrated and take lots of breaks! More updates later!

Interesting poster image today.  This is from just after WWI and it's fascinating how they took the 'bad guy of the war' and connected him with home canning.  "Can Vegetables, Fruit AND the Kaiser too".  The images are interesting, canned tomatoes and peas and then the Kaiser who is 'unsweetened', ha.   It makes one wonder how this might go over today if directed at a 'common threat'.  "Can Veggies, fruit and Al Qaeda too"? Hope your weekend is going well!

Got the mowing done... It always looks so clean and tidy, even though the growing has slowed down. But as with most things at the farm this time of year, the yard is less green.  The trees look great of course, they are the natives to the property.  They are used to these conditions, ha.  Even the driveway, that is usually lush and green, is starting the gradual fade to beige that happens by the end of August. Still, it was just SO hot.  I should have taken this with the time on here...it was at 10:40am!  I think it got up to a little over 100.  No rain and so I had to water all the trees by hand.  I use two, 2.5 gallon watering containers and fill them, watering each fruit tree with 5 gallons.  That, so far, has been keeping them doing well in this hot Summer. Hope your weekend is going well!

Pop up basil As I walked into the garden area at the gate, I glanced down and saw this basil that just popped up randomly along the fence line.  The basil is in a raised bed about 4 feet from here.  I guess a seed made it's way over to the fence and the conditions were just perfect.  We love when nature finds a way, ha. Lonely eggplant Got one eggplant (not enough to have a "Harvest Monday" post, ha) but there are about seven more on the plant, all in various stages of development, so it's bounced back nicely.  I think eggplants are definitely something to put on the list for next season. Jalapeño's I thought I got some pictures of the jalapeño's but I guess I didn't, so please feel free to use your imagination.  They are doing great, though this may be the last harvest week or so for them.  They have definitely done well for us and obviously like the hot weather conditions. Squash in raised bed The surprise of the day was

Everywhere a wasp wasp...went to the farm and was in the shed where we keep the mower.  I looked up and saw wasp nests... A small nest was just starting here... Then there was another nest behind this piece of wood leaning up against the wall... Another nest on one of the posts of the shed... And finally, a nest behind a sheet of glass that was leaning against the wall! Raid Wasp & Hornet spray What the heck? I didn't even see any a couple of weeks ago, now all of a sudden it was like wasp central!   Well, after a few squirts of "Raid", they no longer exist.  Some of you suggested that we leave the nests up in order to deter other wasps from building in the same spot so we did that too.  Hopefully they'll stay away.  I also roamed around the perimeter of the house and found a few more nests in the eaves up near the roof and so I took care of those as well. Wasps are on the list of allowable kills.  We

Recently, we had a quick but satisfying snack using the last tomatoes from the garden.  We sliced up a tomato (one for each of us) and put it on a plate with some oyster crackers we had on hand.  Of course we had to sprinkle it with some kosher salt, and ate a slice or two just to 'test it out' of course. Then we added some cracked black pepper, drizzled some olive oil over the top and sprinkled it all with some fresh shredded mozzarella.   Tomato and cracker snack It was delicious and hit the spot! That got us to wondering...what is your favorite simple snack?  Something you just throw together in a few minutes and enjoy it like it was the best meal you've ever had?

I found this picture online once and while it's not something we can do just now, it's definitely something that would be really nice.  It's a cutting garden, laid out in rows like a vegetable garden might be done.  Very neat way to do it.  You can have rows of veggies, why not rows of flowers? We have plenty of space to do this of course, but the watering, until we are out there regularly, wouldn't be easy for something like this.  Until then, we can keep it here on the blog to remind us what we want to do. Be inspired!

Brisbane, sleeping and/or possibly ignoring us Brisbane...sleeping happily, dreaming kitty dreams.  When we call his name, his ears move around but he usually never budges.  We think we are most likely being ignored, LOL...u ntil "hungry time" comes around and then it's time for love and happy dances. Still, is it possible to resist a sleeping kitty? So sweet and innocent looking. More this afternoon!

When we were at the farm recently, we were sitting on the porch and I noticed something moving in the driveway.  The way it was moving, and with my glasses kind of dusty from mowing, I thought it might be a snake.  So I moved closer... ...it was a turtle, the first one we've seen at the farm.   When I got close to it, he (she?) stopped moving and pulled in all the extremities. Texas Box Turtle I did some googling and it appears to be a "Texas Box Turtle".  It had very pretty markings and looked very healthy and large.  I moved away and let him/her be on its way.  It was definitely a turtle on a mission.   There is a pond site on the property, about 2 acres away, so we're guessing it was on its way to there.  Still, we will definitely be on the lookout in the future.   I love when we find new wildlife on the property. Speaking of, off to the farm today, there most likely won't be much to do, it's hot again (perhaps our hottest day 

Make conservation a habit, vintage poster image courtesy of US National Library Fascinating take on getting people to conserve.  This poster image dates from WWII and the conservation effort.  Just like soldiers had to have the habit of digging a foxhole for their own protection, the government wanted to remind people back home to make conservation a habit...for their own protection as well.  It would be nice to see an organized and well backed national effort at getting people to conserve. Hope you are having a good weekend, it's been HOT here, yesterday 100+ and today is no exception.  More of an update later today!

This is the front yard, which hasn't been mowed now in almost two weeks.  It looks the same.  Good for me in this heat, bad for the aesthetics of the yard. This is the area behind the garden, it was lush and green a few weeks ago, now it's brown and dry! The driveway...no mowing necessary! Less green in the yard and more 'gold'! 2nd Family calls this the "dry and crunchy season".  And sure enough, as you walk around the yard, it does sort of crunch underneath your feet.  It's an odd sensation to say the least. This was the outside temp yesterday when we left the farm.  Now granted, this is a bit higher because the car was sitting in the hot sun but I'm sure that while I was working outside in the yard, my temperature gauge was over 100 as well! In this part of the country, the month of August is sort of no man's land...people just stop working outside if they can, and the plants even sort of seem

Every Monday,  Daphne's Dandelions  hosts "Harvest Monday" where bloggers can post their harvests.  Click her link above to see what others are harvesting and see below for what we harvested recently: These are the last of what we harvested before I pulled up the garden plants for peak Summer heat.  I thought I had posted this but I realize I didn't.  Since it still counts toward our year to date totals, I'll post it now* (*and I decided to do it with a different kind of photo, ha) Jalapeños are now done, they did really well considering we just had one plant.  Next Spring, a couple of plants at least.  There were ten six (garden snacking, don't judge, ha) cherry tomatoes and they were so good.  Still, they didn't do as well as we had hoped.  Might be too late of a start and the heat got them before they really started.  Same for the tomatoes, these are Homestead 24's, they did the best in our heat.  Will try them again next year.

I was at the farm recently, planting flowers in some freshly 'augured' holes and I was wearing my normal garden hat.  It's just a regular, wide brimmed straw version that I got in Mexico a few years back and it does a great job of keeping the sun off my face and neck.  So here I am, kneeling down, putting a flower in the ground and as I was patting the dirt down around it, I noticed my shadow.  Thinking it would make for a fun picture, I pulled out my iPhone and snapped a quick photo. I turned around to get the watering can and when I turned back, my shadow looked like this: This caught me off guard because it totally looks like my Grandmother (on my Mom's side) as I remember her from my childhood!  She wore this big floppy hat when she was outside working on her garden.  She was also smaller in stature than I am now and had these rounded, slightly slumped shoulders.  Other than some familial facial features, we did not have any other physical resemblan