Beauty Farming Life

Mesquite sap amber, closeup Two random farm photos that I just thought were pretty. Above is some sap from the mesquite tree that had hardened and turned to amber.  I wish the camera would have picked it up, but when the sun hit it just right, they sparkled like little golden jewels all over the tree. So pretty. 2nd Family's daughter has been collecting it, and has a little box full of the amber. Below is from 2nd Family's house, right by their front porch, and it gives me hope for color at our farmhouse.  This is called "Texas Sage".  I found out it is drought tolerant, grows in any soil, and best of all, blooms into this beautiful bush covered in light purple flowers!  I'm definitely getting some of these (maybe quite a few actually) this weekend at 70% off at the local garden center.  I wouldn't mind these all around the perimeter of the house. Texas Sage in bloom

Spider webs in a field "J" from 2nd Family snapped this picture for us one day and emailed it.  I wanted to share it with you.  She was on a morning walk and and saw this field on our property that was just covered in spider webs.  Even though it's hard to tell in the picture, she said that the dew on them glistened like tiny jewels in the  sunlight.  I'm glad she captured the image for us. Nature can be so beautiful! Tomorrow will be more prepping in the garden.  Hope to build a few more raised beds and of course for sure get the rest of the weed fabric down.

Crape Myrtle and Garden Implement, image courtesy of SouthernLiving.com Here is a picture I found online once that appealed to me.  But as much as I love the Crape Myrtle tree and how pretty it is, I think I love the old, rusted farm implement just as much.  I've always liked the look of something that is old and abandoned.  Some people might see it as junk but I think, done correctly, it can be a neat focal point in a yard.   I suppose that someday, I could ask around the area and see if anyone has anything like this that they want to get rid of.  I consider it a kind of garden art of sorts.  It somehow seems appropriate? Be inspired!

Nosey cows They're baaaack... I forgot to post this when it happened, hence the green grass even though we are now in the middle of Winter.  But I figured better late than never.  The cows had been grazing on another part of their property so I hadn't seen them in awhile.  But they came back and as usual, they spent their day grazing and 'observing' my every move in the garden area. Fast forward to this weekend.  I was at the farm most of Saturday working in the garden area and doing other little projects and guess who came over to the fence to visit? Friendly black cow This one was curious about what I was doing and came right up to the fence to say hello...literally.  I heard some mooing and turned around and took the pic. Pretty Texas sky It was a beautiful day Saturday and supposed to be even prettier for Sunday.  It was partly cloudy, there was a nice breeze and it was cool.  I almost forgot we're still in the middle of January!  

Sorry for the fuzzy picture, this bird landed in the yard while I was edging last weekend and I had to quickly whip out the camera and snap the picture before it flew away.   I'm assuming a Heron of some sort?    It is called a "Cattle Egret". He/she hung around for a little bit, picking around in the grass and then, as quickly as it arrived, it flew off. It was definitely fun to see something different at the farm for a change. I hope we get a return visit sometime.

Vintage poster image, Don't Waste Food, image courtesy of NY Public Library This is a fun one.  Urging conservation as well as growing it, it reminds civilians during the war that they should not waste food.  Not a crumb or drop! I love the "Play Square" line. Food was so important at the time, and remember, these were the days before packaged and processed food.  They were talking about not wasting food that was freshly grown, freshly prepared, etc.  It's hard to imagine a time when food was in short supply.  Makes us wonder what people would do today if all that food in the grocery store just stopped coming? Change in plans for us today, 2nd Man is going to be traveling for work and so we had to run some last minute errands and then he's flying out of town tonight and will be gone all week, heading to Arizona.  I'll be spending this week with just me and the kitties...a good time to finalize plans for the garden at the farm. Hope you are h

I will be taking a vacation from the blog this long weekend. We're actually both taking off work Tuesday and Wednesday in addition to our Monday holiday so it will be a whole five days off, yay! Rockers on the farmhouse porch We have lots of plans.  Let's see how many get accomplished, ha.  It's going to be hot, hot, hot this weekend, again, so that might alter some outdoor plans but we'll see.  I've got some decorating projects, some organizing things, more shelves to put up, lots of plants to buy a the garden center, hoping to have the Zen Machine back up and running so I can mow, might go ahead and start building the next set of raised beds for the garden so I can work on the drip irritation when the weather cools down and be ready for early Spring, and I'm wanting to try a few cooking crafts (homemade cheese is one). I have scheduled the regular posting for Vintage Poster Sunday, but for the rest of the time, I am going to re-post some old

Update later on the weekend and weed-fabric progress, but until then, look away if creepy crawlies bug (ha, no pun intended) you! Red ants OK, I know this might seem like a strange post and an even stranger thing to say, but I was happy to find these large red ants.  Now mind you, these aren't fire ants.  These do sting (or bite) of course, but they aren't really aggressive to you like fire ants are.  I remember them from my Summers as a child staying with my Grandparent's in Oklahoma.  I used to spend hours watching them go to and from their nest.  I have rarely seen them in Houston, and at the farm, I had never seen them. So during this weekend's unusually good weather, it was nice outside and I just stopped to watch them do their thing and take a few photos. Yet more red ants  It's fascinating because they are so large and easy to see, you can watch them pick things up and carry them around, follow the same trails, stop to 'communic

Vintage Serve and Conserve poster, image from US National Archive Here is one that has a great meaning today just as it did 60+ years ago (except maybe the long distance calls and war traffic, ha). Conservation was the main focus of resources during WWII and so these posters were put around towns and cities to remind citizens to save and conserve;  Electricity, Communications, Water and Transportation, so that those  services and resources were saved for the war effort. Hope you are having a great weekend!

Raised bed garden area So when I got to the farm, this was what I had remaining.  It looks harder than it really was.  I was thinking about what to do first, build the rest of the raised beds (eight more 4'x4' squares) and then put the weed cloth down or do it the other way, put the cloth down first and then put the beds on top of it.  Putting down the weed block fabric  It really made more sense (and was WAY easier) to just put the fabric down on  all the rest of the empty space.  I put down the newspaper and cardboard that I had left (ran out but oh well) and then rolled out the weed block fabric.  Thankfully it wasn't as windy as the weekend before so it was not too bad.  I would roll it out a few feet at a time and then use the lawn staples to hold it down and then go a few feet more.  It took about three hours but I got it done. Update:  Some of you have asked about the lawn staples. Here is a LINK TO AMAZON that might help guide you to finding the

While I'm on vacation, this is a repost of a popular, earlier entry in the blog that I thought I'd share with new readers. It was originally published 01/11/2012.  Enjoy! The other day, I read THIS  great post about garlic over at Bee Girl's awesome blog,  Sky Minded and Ever Growing , and it inspired me to post something about what we do with our extra garlic...making roasted garlic cloves. Of course, hers was home grown, and ours, for NOW anyway, is store bought, but this works with any garlic you have.  And it is  oh so good ! This is a very simple method: Preparing for roasted garlic All you need are some heads of garlic, a muffin pan, and some foil. Oh and some olive oil.  I came up with the idea of using a muffin tin after a few trial runs using a baking sheet.  It worked so well, I bought a dedicated muffin tin just for this purpose.  In fact, 2nd Man calls it "the garlic pan".   The six holes work great for the amount we usually roa

Wall mounted oil lamps off When we spent the night at the farm a couple of nights last month, we used the wall mounted oil lamps that we bought last year and this time, I finally remembered to take some pictures so we could share what they look like.  They put out a surprisingly large amount of light when all of them were lit.  There is one more to the left of the photo, just out of camera range, five total. (pay no mind to the missing roller shade, it will soon be replaced, ha).  There is no overhead lighting in the dining room and while we do have a couple of wall outlets that we could plug lamps into, for now anyway, we're going to try it with oil lamps and candles as the lighting source in the dining room. Wall mounted oil lamps lit It's soft light, inviting and warm, and it harkens back to an older time.   It's obviously still a work in progress but we think it's coming along nicely! We have to remind ourselves we don't have to be in a hurry,

While I'm on vacation, this is a repost of a popular, earlier entry in the blog that I thought I'd share with new readers.  It's such a pretty tree, it deserved a second mention.  Be sure and click on the link in the first sentence where I posted about all it's uses.  Pretty neat. It was originally published 04/01/2012.  Enjoy! Huisache Tree up close As promised, I went over to see the Huisache tree I blogged about HERE .  While walking toward the one I saw, I found that we have more than just one or two.  I counted six of the trees while on my walk.  So here are a couple of them up close.   The flowers, as you can see, are very unusual, little puffballs of yellow.  As I pulled some off, I noticed they are also somewhat delicate. Another Huisache tree Here is another one of the trees, different from the one I photographed last time.  It's a nice size and there is this great little meadow in a clearing right around it.  I think I see a future picnic, di

Picnic table dinner, image courtesy of owllist.com.br OK...this picture pushed us over the edge to a picnic table for the tree area.  We've been on the fence, but after the image I posted a few Thursdays back, which I thought made us sure, I found this one and now we're DEFINITELY sure.  Now granted, this is a different style of picnic table, but it's less about the design and more about knowing that a picnic table  can  be decorated nicely for dinner.  Plus they don't need chairs!  I did have a random thought that we could put a chair at each end for us, 'the hosts', when we do finally have that big dinner.  Until then it can just be us and we can practice decorating the table, ha.  Be inspired!

Cannas in a garden, image from southernliving.com Love this grouping of Cannas (along with some other flowers).  I've always liked Cannas for their striking color, and the fact that they are hard to kill.  They are very drought tolerant and they do come back year after year. I would love to just have a grouping (or two or three) like this scattered around the property.  If I'm not mistaken, they also multiply underground and come back with more the next year?  Can't beat self propagating landscaping, ha. Enjoy your day! Be inspired!

OK, at the risk of those in the North and East laughing at us, this is the forecast for Houston.  Of course the local media is covering it like it's the end of the world, LOL, hence the blog post title. I guess what you must remember is that we hardly ever get this kind of weather.  Cold sure, but ice/sleet/snow is rather uncommon in these parts.  Houston is a city of millions of people, most of whom have rarely, if ever, driven in icy road conditions.  With one of the most extensive freeway systems in the country, there is potential for absolute traffic chaos in the morning. Houston Freeway System Lovely.   The trip to work should be most interesting ...   UPDATE: Made it to work, took the back roads and stayed off of bridges/overpasses and made it safely.  Saw a car spin and hit a wall (not major, it was a very slow spin).  Most of Houston is shut down and they have told people to stay home.  Lucky me, our house in town is about 5 miles from the office. 

With cartoons anyway....I got an email from a cartoonist that informed me I had used his cartoon without his permission and he asked that I take it down.  I had posted it because it was sent to me and it didn't have a name on it so I didn't know who to credit.  I told him that I have a disclaimer that I will take down or credit the owner in any photo but he reminded me that no one can put up anything that they didn't create without permission. Of course I took his down immediately as I said I would.   I also told him that about 97% of what I post is my own stuff and that almost all the rest I credit to whom they belong and get permission (for example, Southern Living, they allow use of their photos as long as you credit them as the source).  There are just a few items I don't know the source of.  But alas, apparently on images like those cartoons, it's not legal to post it. So I went back through and removed all the Friday Funnies that I posted that had ca

Several of you asked about the wall mounted oil lamps we had in the dining room POST the other day.  I purchased them here at Lehman's . Other than a seed catalog, it's one of my favorite catalogs to dream with.  I think at one time or another, we've wanted to buy most of everything in there, ha.  They call themselves the non electric catalog because everything they have is, well, non electric.  It's got a whole range of items, from lighting (of course) in the form of oil lamps and candles and related accessories, home goods, garden, outdoors, tools, to emergency essentials, books, and even food. Lehman's Storefront, image courtesy of touringohio.com They actually started in 1955 to serve the Amish community in Ohio in which they are located.  Today, they are the worlds largest seller of historical tech.  I'm sure there are those you who are actually lucky enough to live near it and have visited it.   Anyone been?   That's on our bucket l

John Deere X320 with Utility Cart So, over the long weekend, I fixed the mower!  It was a dead battery.  I took a chance that it might be that.  The John Deere dealer was closed Sat/Sun/Mon for the holiday and I needed my Big Green Zen Machine!  I did some reading and found that while John Deere makes an amazing, quality machine from a mechanical standpoint, they throw in a cheap battery at the end.  The Zen Machine stays stored in an outside three sided shed (for now anyway) and so it's in the heat and the cold all year long.  I got to thinking that maybe it was just a bad battery? So I went to our local  Batteries Plus , they were awesome by the way, and I bought a new one.  They had two to choose from, about $8 difference in price.  The higher priced one was much better suited to our harsh Summers and best of all, I had a coupon that made the price of the better one less than the other. Next, I had to get the old one out.  It was a pain because the bolts

Vintage mice can eat bread poster, image courtesy of Imperial War Museum Here is an interesting poster. It dates from WWII as well, via Great Britain.  The purpose of this one was to remind people to be conscious of conservation.  In this case, by reminding them to protect their valuable bread, because "two mice can eat half a loaf in a month".  I think at the farm, one mouse could eat an entire loaf, ha.  I think this one is unusual because it's so minimalist. Speaking of mice, ha, today is when we're at the farm and I'm building some more of the raised beds.  There are eight more going in and yesterday I bought the wood for four of them.  Next weekend, I'll get the wood for the last four. More later this afternoon/evening when we get back. 

Get Hot, Vintage poster, image courtesy of US National Archive Here is a WWII poster with a message to those reading it.  During the war, the Government wanted to inspire people to work harder for the war effort, and that included the workers in factories and similar places. "Get Hot and Keep Moving, Don't Waste a Precious Moment" The first part of that wouldn't be so hard this time of year in these parts, but because of the first part, the second part of that phrase doesn't really happen as much, LOL. Hope you are enjoying your weekend. More later today from our neck of the woods!

Farm sky Today was absolutely gorgeous, 72 degrees, a cool breeze, not a cloud in the sky...and below is the forecast for Monday night through Tuesday night... Houston Winter forecast It looks like this go round of a Winter Storm might even be worse (for us) than Friday.   We're also going to have temperatures in the low 20's Tuesday night (pipe protecting time again). And get this, by Friday, it will be back up in the 70's!  The weather this year is certainly screwed up in our neck of the woods!   Stay warm wherever you are in the US.  I know others of you in the world need me to say stay cool, huh?

Bet that got your attention, ha. John Deere out of gas You know, last weekend I got the mower back up and running and used it to clear a trail or two and of course to pull the cart while watering and moving stuff around.  Well, what WAS a full tank of gas when I started that, was about half used up.  I parked it, covered it and waited for the next use.  So this weekend, I was out on the Zen Machine, have a great time as usual and finishing up the mowing. While mowing along one of the fence lines, it sputtered to a stop. CRAP!!!! I checked the gas level.  Empty.  Sigh. I forgot when I hopped on it that I had filled it up the last time BUT had used up about half of it.  So, begrudgingly, I made the 3 acre walk from where it died to the shed with the gas can.  Then I made the return 3 acre walk carrying the nearly full five gallon gas can. Now I have gas!  Rest assured I won't be making that mistake again! On the upside, it was good exercise.