Papillion Gardens Homestead

Thank you Lord!

2011-09-18T00:07:00.000-05:00

Thank you Lord for bringing some much needed rain and with the possibility of more during the next few days.

Another hot Farm Sunday

2011-09-11T14:52:00.003-05:00

Texas has experienced a drought of historical proportions. The heat has been extremely difficult to manage. We officially have lost our turf grass in our yard and we hold our breath hoping someone doesn't flick a cigarette butt on the side of the road and catch our pasture on fire.

It is so dry that everyone is afraid to shred for fear of the shredder hitting a piece of metal and the sparks catching their property on fire or having some sort of mishap with overheating and doing the same. We're all in limbo.

I refused to water my grass like my neighbors and was the number one reason I didn't have a spring/summer garden. We are on a water well and while it is pretty deep, that water is precious to me. We can re-sod if we choose. I would rather keep that water for myself.

All in all we have fared quite well so far although this is the first time in several years that it was impossible to grow a garden without constant irrigation. We only have New Zealand spinach in a container and are keeping the native peach trees alive that are still potted and cannot be planted in the gardens.

Surprisingly the hens kept on producing and we never had a bad day with egg production. They never went broody.

Soon I will be starting container gardens for some fall vegetables using donated and purchased empty lick tubs. Lick tubs are large tubs made of a plastic/rubber material and are very durable. They originally held a molasses supplement for cattle. If you ask the right people they'll give them to you but occasionally you have to purchase them. I have never had to pay over $5 for one.

During this long, hot summer we have been able to push forward by collecting free items that will be used later on the farm. We have been able to stock pile pallets, plastic 55 gallon drums for rainwater harvesting, lick tubs, toilet paper cores, and all sorts of recyclable materials. We have them on-hand to push forward with projects.....when it cools down.

John has put the hummingbird feeders up around the patio and we have a huge flock of hummers who are a delight to watch. He mixes his own nectar and they go through it at an astonishing rate!

Lord I pray we get some rain.....

Building Blocks to becoming self sustaining - creating a compost

2011-08-20T17:32:00.000-05:00

Composting is easy for anyone to start and maintain. You don’t need a big space, special equipment or a green thumb. It’s very easy to start and if maintained correctly it is odorless. It is also a great way to recycle things you wouldn’t even consider recycling and makes great fertilizer for your houseplants and garden soil.

Start by selecting your compost area. This could be an area in your back yard without a barrier or you can build a container using pallets, cinder blocks, chicken wire and many other materials to contain the organic matter. Size is never an issue. I use three pallets nailed together for a three sided bin with a piece of plywood in the front about 18 inches high, or whatever scrap lumber is available. Pallets are free at many places and scrap lumber should be easy to find for free. This makes a tidy, eye-appealing compost bin. It’s not recommended to use plastic buckets or containers as compost can heat up if maintained correctly.

Once your compost area is complete you are ready to add materials that will, over time, break down. These materials do not need to be added all at once but instead, added gradually. Compost piles are great recycling bins for organic matter you usually throw away. I usually start with a combination of leaves, grass cuttings or household scrap and soil such as old potting soil in containers. Many of us, including some Master Gardeners have containers that once had a plant in it. The plant died and we haven’t removed the soil. This old, hard potting soil is great to add to a compost pile and can be recycled! I also add in shredded newspaper occasionally. This carbon rich fibrous material will break down over time as well and is an important element in the carbon / nitrogen balance of a compost pile.
What is a carbon / nitrogen balance? Well technically, perfect compost, also known as gourmet compost will have a delicate balance of carbon materials (brown) and nitrogen materials (green) with proper moisture content. While there are many articles on how to make the perfect gourmet compost and even calculators to determine how many cubic feet of each is best for the desired effect….let’s be honest with ourselves. Mother Nature will STILL break down your compost even if you do not have the perfect balance! It may take a little longer and it may not be ultra perfect but you will still have a pretty good end product.

Knowing what you can and cannot put into compost makes a huge difference. Nitrogen items (Green) are the fuel that starts the compost and attracts microbes that start the process like grass clippings, fruit peels, vegetable scraps, egg shells, coffee grounds, Aquarium water, dead houseplants, green garden debris and weeds. Yes, even weeds can be used in your compost pile but make sure they have not gone to seed or you can reintroduce those seeds when you amend your soil with your compost when it is ready. Carbon items (brown) are things like dried leaves, grass , old hay, and old mulch from your flowerbeds, and limbs that have been chipped up. Of course the best is old hay from a barn with manures! Shredded newspaper and shredded junk mail that is printed on plain paper in black and white is also a carbon source for your compost pile!

Avoid using paper with colored inks as they can contain chemicals that may not be healthy and never use cooked food scraps in your compost pile especially meat scraps or dairy scraps. This will attract unwanted rodents and varmints and can smell quite bad. Never use domestic animal waste either. It’s just not the same kind of manure that a compost pile needs.

To start your compost pile, simply layer your green items and your brown items. I start with the green items in the bottom, top with a little old potting soil and fresh manure if it is available, layer the brown items on top then spray it down until it is damp, not wet, with the garden hose. That’s it! Five minutes work starts the process. Most compost articles say that the moisture content needs to be as wet as a wrung out sponge but in South Texas, damp is good enough for me. Then, over time, you repeat the process and watch your compost pile grow.

In our house, we may have a couple of days of coffee grounds, several pieces of fresh vegetable scraps, some egg shells and other green ingredients that I have gathered in an old coffee container with a lid. I simply walk out to the compost and dump it in. I may also have a few pieces of junk mail I shredded or a newspaper I shredded and I add that in too. Occasionally I add in some more manure and sometimes a little more soil. Wet manure mixed in the compost pile will heat it up and speed up the compost process. I also keep a hoe handy to fluff up the compost when I add new ingredients to mix them in and if it is getting a little dry, I spray it with the water hose. You continue adding both brown and green items until the pile starts to grow, keeping it damp. If it dries out don’t worry about it, just wet it down again when you think about it. Again, Mother Nature has your back.

My compost piles start small with a little green and brown material in the bottom plus some manure. Then over time it grows and in no time I have a pretty good sized compost pile, about two feet high by the width of my compost bin. It’s then that I let it sit and cure for several weeks, fluffing it occasionally and spraying it with the water hose until it is all a wonderful brown, earthy material. While it is curing I start another bin next to it using several scoops of the compost material to start the new bin.

Composting is easy and a great way to recycle! It doesn’t take a lot of time and is very forgiving. It can be prepared all year around and the end result is a wonderful rich addition to your potted plants and your soil.

HOT

2010-08-22T18:47:00.002-05:00

It's hot and that isn't anything unusual in South Texas in August. It's dangerously hot and that too isn't anything unusual. And, it's too hot to do much on the farm except to monitor the animals, make sure they have plenty of water and occasionally turn a fan on the back patio and wet down the cement so that they can have a break from this heat.

Prep work on the first CSA farm in Jackson County has come to a standstill. We don't need make ourselves ill from working in this heat.

It won't last forever and we know that we are blessed to have very moderate winters. I expect it to start cooling down a bit in 4-5 weeks. Until then we just plan our fall garden.

And we plan for the goats.....We have a place picked out that we'll fence in for them that gives them plenty of pasture and plenty of shade. However I don't want to even think of starting that project until October when the fall breezes start blowing in and we can get out there and build a fence and a goat house in comfort. I also don't want to bring new livestock in as its tough enough on them to move them from one place to another.

I have given away several jars of pickles and everyone loves them. They were really easy to make and we'll use that recipe going forward for everything that we pickle.

Take care and until next time....

Peace

When life and time gets in your way....

2010-08-01T10:09:00.003-05:00

Progress has slowed on the little farm. We've had a massive amount of rain over the summer and I am not really complaining as it is increasing the moisture content in the soil and as such we should have a fantastic fall garden. However, the rain destroyed most of the garden. Most of it.

I still have some zucchini's trying to make and those Keystone bell peppers barely missed a beat. I swear I will not grown another type of bell pepper and my husband snatched the last of the seed from a seed store a few weeks ago which should keep us supplied for a season or two.

Now we are fighting the heat and unless you get up and out very early and then take an extended break until late in the evening you won't get much done.

We need to burn a couple of huge piles of limbs from trees the kids took down that had grown on the border and into the pasture but we cannot do that until Mr. Corn Farmer harvests his corn that surrounds the property. It would be just our luck that as we are burning a stray ember would land smack dab in the middle of the corn and burn it all up. Mr. Corn Farmer cannot get into his fields because it is too wet and we cannot move forward until then.

Making pickles, pasta and olive oil soap today....

Have a wonderful week!

Another Farm Sunday comes to an end....

2010-06-06T19:34:00.003-05:00

It's amazing what younger folks can do. Our son and his wife have been visiting the farm removing trees and getting the acreage ready to turn and plant this fall. They must be heat tolerant. I think it's also their age and the older we get the less heat tolerant we become. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel just getting the property ready for planting.

The hens are not laying as much as they were. I suppose they are hot and that the summer may be less production. That's ok and we are experimenting with ways to keep them cooler other than air conditioning their coop.

The chicks are getting really big and you can almost tell the difference between the pullets and the roosters. If what I am seeing proves to be correct we'll have only 4 roosters. Keep up with this blog to see if I am right.

We are starting to talk up the benefits of CSA farming and have about 20 families who are wanting to sign up now but we explain we are still in the test phase. My husband thinks we should offer workdays to subscribers and we are researching other farms to see how they do that.

That's about it this week. Hope to post pictures soon on our progress.

Peace.

We're moving faster than we anticipated

2010-05-29T19:15:00.003-05:00

Last week John brought home a commercial incubator. He drove to a little city a couple of hours south of here to pick it up and we got a great deal on it after finding it on Craigslist. Now we are getting set up to build a breed pen and harvest the fertilized eggs.

We also sold our first couple of dozen eggs. It wasn't much money but it will help to defray the growing feed bill.

We also purchased a dehydrator and tonight I am going to start dehydrating potatos. Simple and cheap, dehydrating them stops the growth of eyes and makes the fresh potato's last a very long time.

We are also looking at the beginning of Hurricane season and Papillion Gardens is not immune to those. In fact we are only about 20 miles from a major bay system, Matagorda Bay and about 50 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. Matagorda bay is so large that if the eye of a Hurricane were do follow up the middle of Matagorda bay we'd be in trouble. Dehydrating food is a perfect way to store food for hurricane season.

We are also looking at used tractors and the kids have been doing miracles on the property although our son has picked up 2 contracts back to back and is off working for a while and may not can come quite as often. Good for him and his wife as he has been without work for quite a while.

That's all for now. Have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!

Progress on CSA farm!

2010-05-20T21:39:00.003-05:00

It's been a busy month! We have had our share of meetings to stop the possible dam. We have worked long hours on the farm. And we are accomplishing a lot.

Our middle son who lives in the next larger town was laid off several months ago. On a whim I ask him and his wife when they were moving back home. They didn't respond at first.

The next weekend they came back, chainsaws and farm tools in hand they asked if they could just pick a spot to part their trailer. It was a great weekend. Since then they have traveled several times a week to help remove trees, take down pasture and help with tasks that take us much closer to CSA farming....in which my son is ecstatic to help with.

The coop we finished has started paying off. We gather on average about 7 eggs a day. In return the hens give us great compost when we clean it out about once a week. It's better when it rains and it is slop but we won't discuss that....

In addition we had snatched all the eggs that were laid for the first week when the hens were first in the coop and placed those in the incubator. We hatched 9 our of 11. We only lost 1 baby and are looking forward to new chickens and hope most of them are pullets.

We also got some rain....all in one day. 5 full inches. Most of our tomato plants are producing tomato's but all are green. We are getting squash and everything looks like it will be producing well very soon.

The kids also brought more tomato plants and I have a line on 6 blueberry plants I will be picking up this weekend just in time for the kids to be here on Sunday.

It's a wonderful life...and I pray that we can hang on to it for generations to come.

Cautiously progressing and making the most of it!

2010-04-18T11:47:00.002-05:00

As we mentioned in our last post, there is a chance in the next few years we could loose our home to eminent domain to satisfy a money hungry water resource that is a taxing entity, LNRA. And while this dark cloud is over our head we are cautiously moving ahead with partial self-sustaining plans, at least those that are portable.

With the chicken coop finished and all hens kidnapped and safely in the pen we are on the road to all things chicken. At first John snatched all the eggs that the hens laid and placed them in the incubator with target date of May 1st being the first hatch. Since the first few "egg snatching" days, some of the smaller bantum hens have been laying a clutch and it seems there is another hen or two who is also laying a clutch. We will give these until the end of May to hatch then we'll clean it all out and just take eggs for eating.

We certainly hope we'll have some hatched chicks to add to our ever-growing assortment.

Next plan is to build another coop. Smaller in size, with 2-3 laying hatches so that we can add a rooster to fertilize the hens then remove him so that the hens can sit their eggs. Not sure when we'll start that but its on the agenda.

At last count we have 40 tomato plants in beds re-purposed for vegetables, 20 bell peppers, 20 squash, and about 10 jalapenos. I gave all the rest of the seeds to John's best friend who just moved to the county and who has a massive place for a garden. We'll be sharing our bounties.

The tomato plants I started in January have blooms and look fantastic! The rest I started February 3rd and they are really growing after several cooling off snaps we had. Even the squash are trying to start babies and I hope there are enough bees and breeze to keep the pollen moving between the male flower and the female flower.

As for the pasture that we had hoped one day to start turning and create the first CSA garden in the county, it's full of dewberries. That will be a chore removing if or when we get that chance but the good news is that they were full of blooms a few weeks ago. 3 acres of thick dewberries that only the bravest will tromp through (snakes!). There is enough room around it though to pick safely and some ol' timers said they'll put on chaps and come pick. At least all isn't lost!

Today is the last day of my vacation from the bank. I didn't have any days to just chill as real estate keep me running. I really don't like this lifestyle and would prefer to slow it down to a snails pace.

I dream of tending to gardens and animals, making braided rugs out of scraps material and tossed aside clothing, making our own bread and even milking a goat for milk and cheese. I envy those who take a step back in time and live the life that built this great country. Things have changed though that force most us to move away from even considering a homestead lifestyle and to continue to be a part of current society. And while we've become frugal seniors we still need medical insurance and to pay bills. If alternative energy companies would create affordable methods of energy so that we could get off the grid we'd buy into it. That's another post someday....

John's got a big slab of pork ribs in the smoker. I've got a ton of catch up to do...

If you are interested in seeing how this land grab will effect us and are are on Facebook, please join "Save the Lavaca" fan page. There are many pictures, studies, comments, etc. going on. Also, join our blog to get up to date info on our quest to save our land..

We'd appreciate your support.

A chance our gardens will not happen.....

2010-04-12T21:37:00.002-05:00

We live in a little community that has a lake. The lake was built as a way to conserve future drinking water. Most of this water is sold downstream to industrial plants and pipped to other cities in Texas. It's a money making machine.

When we first bought our house we knew we might be looking at Phase II of the lake project.... the entity that built the first lake had plans to dam up the river behind us.

At first we knew that some of our neighbors would loose valuable bottom lands, prime grazing land and we knew that it would effect some. We figured that the little river wouldn't do too much damage and everyone would go on as usual.

Then reality hit. We listened to stories from former land owners who lost hundreds of acres of land for Lake Texana....and that there were lots of promises of jobs and tourism......30 years later, we see none of that. In addition, the entity has also acquired and since kept the land that surrounds the lake. LOTS of it. Hundreds of acres taken off the tax roles.

Yes, we have a lake. A shallow, muddy lake. Full of crocks and water snakes. Not good for much. And no lake front property to add to the tax base of our poor little community.

Now phase II is raring it's ugly head after the proposal was voted down not once but twice.... it's on the agenda again. It won't be for future water for our little community. It's for the entity who contributes nothing to the community who plans to sell it to the highest bidder.

This weekend out hearts dropped to the floor when we saw the proposed map of the land they plan to take ...by emanate domain. And it includes our property.

Mind you we are about 3/4 to a mile from that pretty little river....but they want not only the land that will flood but once again the land around it. They'll build a levy and that levy will go over our house.

Their next meeting is April 21'st at a convenient 7am. We'll be there, coffee in hand and hair combed.

Oh, they tell us it's only a feasibility study and that they are 85% sure it won't come back favorable. But it still leaves us scared....especially because they engineering firm they are using is the same one they've always used.....

There are a lot of questions.....and a lot of angry folks....for us, we are just plain scared. Scared we'll loose our land that we scrimped to pay for over 20 yrs. Scared that what they'll pay us for our land won't even put a down payment on a similar property. Scared we'll have to move and we'll never see our sweet neighbors again.

More as it progresses....but until this ugly serpent is finally put to rest, the Gardens are on hold.

Chickin' Kondo completed, a kidnapping plot in action....

2010-04-07T19:41:00.002-05:00

Hooray! The Chickin' Kondo is complete and perfect timing. The cuckoo moran's are just a few weeks from being laying age and the other chickens are laying eggs in clutches all over the place but being displaced by amorous roosters. The condo should be a perfect haven for all the hens.

Moving the Cuckoo Morans was a breeze. It was just a matter of catching them in the small holding pen and moving them. However, the other hens we knew....were going to be a challenge.

All the other hens were free range and I mean free range. Daily they hung out with roosters and generally that meant 3-4 roosters per hen. Yes, we are a "no-kill" farm but those roosters are getting so big they could be Sunday dinner for a family of four.

Each night however the hens roost in the garage and most are quite accessible. SO, the plan was to sneak into the garage late at night when the hens were asleep and kidnap them one-by-one.

So at 10:30 pm last night we did just that, even though my body was begging for sleep, I accompanied my "skilled at chicken kidnapping" husband to do the deed.

The first few hens were a breeze to capture and haul to their new condo. John snuck into the garage and snuck up behind them grabbing them from behind running his hand under their bottoms to catch their feet. SCREEM SQUAK! Calming them down in a few minutes to go back for another. Quite a funny thing I thought until he got it into his head that he needed to get them ALL before he went to bed.

Once again let me remind you that my body was needing sleep...... and all but 2 were quite easy to get. Finally he agreed to give up letting them settle down before he tried it again.

This afternoon our son came over and tried his hand at getting the hen that had just gone into the garage to roost. She was accompanied by two roosters and were bedding down on the shop light above the work bench as they had many times before. In position with a huge fishing net, our son goosed the first rooster to make him move or fly out. Mission accomplished he goosed the second rooster to do the same....and mission accomplished, the hen attempted to fly across the garage to the other side. With one swipe of the fishing net he "caught" her in mid flight. Once freed they took her to the Chickin' Kondo to live for a while.

This morning I did notice that the recently kidnapped hens were not really happy that they could freely roam with their rooster companions but they quickly calmed down to their new surroundings. The roosters were quite confused too that they couldn't get to the hens and that their "women" were not as accessible as before.

Tonight we have all but 2 hens in their new home. 1 is a tiny bantum and the other has chicks far behind some boxes in the garage....not a place you or I could get to nor is brave enough to get to with a mama hen on chick kidnap watch....

So all is good. Hens should be laying and sitting eggs soon, Cuckoo Moran hens should be laying (did I mention they are virgins?) and we should start producing baby chicks and fresh eggs....

Life is good....

Now, to finish the greenhouse and build a breed pen....

OH and we got a little bit of rain! Maybe an hour....but the garden plants should LOVE IT....

Farm Sunday...

2010-04-04T19:49:00.003-05:00

What a beautiful day this blessed Sunday was! Easter is such a humbling time and as I spent my hours outside completing tasks on the farm it was a special time. I don't know your spiritual beliefs readers but I do believe that there is a God and today is our traditional, symbolic day to remember that he died on the Cross for us. What love that is.....

As I work in the gardens and on the property I had to take some time to take in the wonder in his miracle. The spring flowers are really starting to bloom, the garden plants are starting to take off and grow and I have the first buds on some of the tomato plants.

We worked hard on the chicken coop these last few weeks...it has been our priority because all the roosters have had an extra dose of testosterone and the poor hens have no feathers on their back. John got the b-b- gun out after a few. The coop is almost complete....we have about 30 minutes of last minute tasks to do before we move the Cuckoo Moran hens in an entice the other hens to go in.

Funny but yesterday after we had it almost enclosed the hens would come up from the property, enter it and look around. However once the roosters figured out where they were they scooted out of it quickly!

Our plan it to try to lure them in with scratch at first..but if that doesn't work, then kidnap them once they are roosting in the garage. The latter may take several attempts but once kidnapped they'll be all good.

Knowing that they are probably more than fertile, for the first few weeks we'll let them sit their eggs. After a couple of weeks they should be laying just fresh eggs. OR at least that is the plan.

Back to work tomorrow for me. Both jobs are really picking up and I have less and less time to spend here. I think my husband is catching on that if I have some free time I am not leaving the farm. There is way too much to do! He is also catching on that I would rather homestead than be at work all day....and mentioned to a friend that this weekend that I am only there for the insurance and benefits....

And a good thing has come out of not starting to cultivate the back acreage...I have 2 full acres of dewberries with more blooms on them than I've ever seen! Now, for those who have ever picked wild berries, they are delicious! However sometimes you find snakes galore! And...these berry vines are quite thick. We'll report in a month or so when we can start picking how that crop is doing and if we can get into it.

It might be a record year for snakes too....a friend of ours just 2-3 miles from here killed several this weekend including a coral snake. Yikes!

Hope everyone has a wonderful week ahead.

BTW: My vacation starts at 6PM on April 9th. You can bet where I'll be...

On warmer weather and making time!

2010-03-28T18:44:00.003-05:00

Sometimes in our life it's just a matter of making time. Priorities.

A long time ago, when visiting some good friends of ours and after several years lag of not spending any time together, one of us commented how we missed spending time together. While lamenting that we work long hours and have other tasks to attend to the husband of our friends said something I'll never forget. He said life happens, it's the priorities that you set that mold your day to day activities. What's more important?

While we still don't spend a lot of time with them the comment made me look at my entire life. What is important and how can I learn how to set aside time to do those important things?

This weekend was the perfect example. I am the only person left at work to work the 6th day and while it is only 3 hours usually rotated between bankers, everyone else quit which leaves only myself to cover the 6th day, Saturday. I only have to work hours and am usually back on Papillion Farms by noon 'thirty.

My sister in law is in the county visiting our friend who recently purchased property just a couple of miles away. She wanted me to hang out over there Saturday afternoon but I have set priorities to spend the weekends I can have free on the farm. I don't know if she understands this as my time is short working 2 jobs but if I don't set those priorities, then I'll never get anything done here. And she'll be the first to comment....

I did get almost all of the alternative spot for the spring/summer garden planted. I also got all the bird feeders filled. And I was able to do household tasks that otherwise I could not have done.

This farm and it's futures IS MY ONLY priority. Yes, I have to make a living right now outside the farm, but when I have time I have set a priority to stay put and accomplish tasks than must be done.

She'll be here all week and if she really loves me, she'll come over here to help with the necessary tasks to keep us moving forward.

One other task is that we made huge progress on the chicken coop we've been working on for months! It's not always a one person job and with available time short, we worked all afternoon setting in nesting boxes. If the a air stapler would work right we'd almost be finished. So much for purchasing a cheap one.

Good news too, I have a real estate contract that will go to the title company first of the week. This will provide more cash to purchase gravel for the greenhouse and pay down some more bills getting us a step closer to being fully self sustaining.

Priorities. Without them I'd never be home and never be able to complete tasks that are important to me. As for our friends, when the husband made the comment we lived 250 miles apart. Now we only live 30 miles apart. Maybe we should re-prioritize again....

---------
PM:

Just for clarification....I received a note from a reader that asked about "alternative spot" for the spring garden and wanted me to explain.

Simply the pasture is still a pasture. It was way to wet to do anything and quite frankly I think my husband is becoming skeptical about the entire project. While planting a ton of tomato plants in the "alternative" spot, a visitor asked "Wow that's a lot of tomato's!". He said "No, they'll be gone in a day or two, the guinea's will eat the plants and all that work will be wasted."

What I don't think he took into account was that I had set out a dozen or so big tomato plants and bell pepper plants about three weeks ago that should be producing in a week or two in another spot and the guineas have only looked at them but have not eaten a thing.

I'll enjoy the last laugh about June.

The alternative spot is a huge bed in the front of the house we worked many hours on last year. It gets full sun until about 4pm in the evening and has landscape fabric and about 3-4 inches of wood mulch on top. Last year it was teeming with floral but the freeze took down everything except for a couple of spots of elephant ears and the Texas trumpet vine which is still very small. I took that large spot and re-purposed it to veggies.

Lets call this a test year. I have also given away literally hundreds of plants to novice gardeners with the stipulation that they share with a family who is making it paycheck to paycheck. They are to report on the progress of the plants and how the variety did for them. It will be great for us in the long run. We'll get to see how the tests went and if we want to wholesale order that variety next year.

Take care, enjoy the spring that is slowly approaching. Let me know what's going on in your neck of the woods.

In our neck of the woods....

2010-03-16T17:36:00.003-05:00

Tonight is our once a month shindig. Well, not quite a shindig but a music review that is perfect for our little community. Sorta like Grand Ol' Opry on a much, much smaller scale.

It's Flag City Opry night, where you can get a meal and some of the best old country, toe-tapping music around from Texas regional artists who are down right good for a bout $20 a couple. Can't beat it.

We'll visit with 300 or so of our neighbors, many who are well beyond retirement age and you can bet there will be as many walkers and scoot-a-rounds as there are people who can still walk without aids. Frankly my husband and I are the 'youngen's who regularly attend and he is recently retired.

We go for several reasons and the best is that you can visit with some of the best old farmers in the world.

The other reason is buttermilk pie. Some ladies group will have them for sale and if you get their early enough you'll get some.

Have a great week readers....we'll report on the weather and csa farm in a little while. In the meantime, check out their website...I'm sure they'll appreciate the visitors....

Spring!!!!! Wow what a difference a week can make

2010-03-14T21:05:00.002-05:00

It's almost like by magic the trees have leaves on their branches, the birds have returned and I am making a mad dash to find shorts and sleeveless shirts. Deodorant is a must.

This weekend we might not have made big strides on the homestead farm but several good things did happen.

First, John's best friend has relocated to our county. While he still has things in San Antonio, he say's he's moved more things here than are left in San Antonio. And best of all, he's within a mile of us. He also is trying desperately to get ground turned for about 1/4 acre garden. The area he is gardening is big for typical garden size. Funny but he has not dealt with our gumbo clay soil before. When he lived in San Antonio he had sand....which caused him much grief when trying to grow a garden. Seems he couldn't ever keep moisture in it. We have the opposite problem.

We are running behind on turning soil for our first big garden or test CSA garden. He is ahead of us. So we might co-op his plot for our test bed....and I'll leave a lot of work to him. He offered 1/3 of it to me. As soon as he works out the details I'll get back with him. More than likely he'll get the bulk of the new plant starts I have in the mini greenhouse plus some seeds. However, I would like a couple of row's to prove to him the importance of mulch, mulch, mulch and drip irrigation.

We also worked all day on the chicken coop and made great strides in that project and time willing should finish soon. Also, let the roosters chicks out of the chick pens. They are twice the size of the bantums. We kept back the hens hoping to segregate them from the entire flock to harvest eggs.

John got really upset at the rooster population overall today. Poor hens. We have about a 4 rooster to 1 hen ratio here. He swears he will get rid of roosters this week thinning down the population.....I asked him if he was into gutting and plucking as I couldn't do it this week....he didn't answer.

I want to be a no-kill farm for the poultry but he is indeed right. We do have too many roosters and as he gently put it "Didn't raise them to look at."

We'll see. So long as he doesn't kill big boy and black beard I am good. Almost.

Spring weather, feathered friends, time off

2010-03-09T19:51:00.002-06:00

Today as I was walking out to the car to go to my "real" job I heard a familiar "peep peep" in the garage, again. Knowing that I am almost always running short of time I simply text messaged my husband that we had a new chick, again, in the garage. I didn't think there was much of a chance to catch the booger.

This afternoon when I arrived home once again I heard that familiar "peep peep" and thought it was fantastic that the little "peep peep" had survived the entire day without being caught as farm cat food. I rushed in, told my husband (who had not heard the little "peep peep" all day) and told him I was going back out to the garage to catch it.

He simply said "Good luck!"

I started slowing moving boxes to the side, creating an open area and would stop for a moment or two to hear it "peep peep" more, to make sure I was looking in the right spot. Then I remembered we had 50 lbs of starter scratch and hoped to lure it out enough to snatch it.

It's when I started distributing the starter scratch towards and behind the boxes that I figured out the little "peep peep's" mama hen was there with herr.

She was not happy I was there but I had created a starter scratch barrier between us. She quickly became much more interested in scratch than me.

My husband had wandered out about then and I told him what I had discovered. He suggested we not only continue to catch the chick but grab the eggs to incubate.

After moving a few more boxes....lets just say Hen won.

Giving up and praying she'll do a better job that most hens who want to show off their first chicks abandoning the others we headed to the local Chinese food place for some fresh vegetable stir fry.

Sun is shinning and spring is here. Hope you are doing well....

On blogs that are hacked and comments that are left

2010-03-07T09:27:00.004-06:00

Sometimes I think I am talking to a wall. In real life and on this blog, although I know that I have many visitors and many of you come back from time to time!

I certainly hope that when you return that it is because you are seeking information on CSA farming or to read our next "episode." For some though, it is merely to find a way to take over the blog or an ap to fill your own agenda!

This is what happened.

On Friday, I noticed that when I tried to load my blog it would auto-forward to a spam site. I wondered if it was from a recent comment (sorry Dave!) or if an ap had been hacked.

I didn't find time to chase the problem down until Saturday night. My choice was either take the site down or work through the problem and I was in much need of sleep. I choose to take some time to work through the problem...

Sure enough, someone hacked an ap which has now been removed...only to wake up this morning for a comment that had an embedded link. Until this blog site will let me edit comments they will remain on moderated status and to the person who repeats visiting from China...if you truly want to leave a comment please do so but, leave off your ........... that you append to the end of your lovely comment that redirect to another site that has NOTHING to do with CSA farming, homesteading, self sustaining or support of these topics. While "sex" can be a wonderful form of stress reliever, what you are referring to/redirecting to is vulgar.

Off my soapbox, drinking coffee to find enough energy to go outside an accomplish some tasks.

--------------

PM:

Really wished this afternoon that DST was here already. The sun setting ran me inside and I was not ready to stop!

The site for the greenhouse is now excavated....we need loads of gravel tho. Not sure when we'll get the load but John is working on it. Hopefully by mid-week so I can work on it later in the week when I have scheduled much needed time off.

Also, re-purposed gardens to grow veggies. These gardens last year were teaming with floral plant material, much I fear has frozen and died. If not, we'll have both veggies and wonderful color. It certainly will not hurt anything. I also took this opportunity to see which plants the guineas will eat and which they won't. If anything these will be test beds to make sure our feathered friends will steer clear of them except to pick an occasional bug.

Also trying to use the huge amount of soil that was removed from the greenhouse site to build raised beds with unused cinder blocks. Since we are behind on turning ground on the acreage, this will allow for a partial spring planting.

Progress!

He's been moving dirt!!

2010-03-03T20:36:00.002-06:00

So, we've been at a standstill building a chicken coop and with more chickens coming out of the chick pens we need to get a move on! Then...there is the greenhouse project...read my last post to understand where we were with that......

My husband did indeed head to Victoria to rebuild seals in the on the "termite". When he got home he ran into another obstacle trying to get it together but he finally accomplished that task. Great! Not!

One of the hoses had become misaligned and was stretched when he tried to use the bucket busting a fitting. Seemed like everything was throwing a wrench into out projects.

GOOD NEWS tho! It's all fixed and when I arrived home he had moved almost half of the dirt from the area we are to "excavate!" He said it had some much power it was cutting through everything like butter. Even roots!

I managed to find some time to re-pot about 75 babies yesterday...and with the drier ground it looks like we are on our way to partially producing some of our own food.

Even some of the local farmers are looking forward to our project and volunteered to help us turn ground.

The rest of the week looks pretty croweded with tasks, appointments and events though except our Farm Sunday. And then there was the banker who quit...leaving only ME until they can find a replacement. There goes my vacation later in the month.

Enjoy the spring weather...

Time flies! Throw me another wrench

2010-02-28T16:42:00.005-06:00

Around here, time flies quickly! It's been a couple of weeks since my last post but it seems like I just posted the other day. Too much happens around here and there is never enough time.

Then life throws another wrench in our way. You know the feeling I am sure. You start a project and run into 1000 obstacles that prevent you from completing that task until you resolve the issues. Then other issues come up, other tasks present themselves that seem to be more timely and on and on...not to mention that you didn't have a lot of time to complete the first task!

The chicken coop has been sitting for a while until we can get someone over with more strength than me to help hoist plyboard up to fasten to the back. We did however acquire an nail gun that should help speed projects up. We also bought a larger air compressor. Think our son and his wife are coming over this evening for grilled rib-eyes and some muscle to move the coop along.

Then we bought a greenhouse. Thinking this too would be a Farm Sunday project we discovered shortly after retrieving the instructions that they want the entire site excavated 5-7 inches deep before assembling the base. So, my husband moved the back hoe/front end loader out and soon found out the seals were bad and because of that the project is at a standstill for a while. That was ok though as it's blowing like crazy outside and would have been a near impossible task anyway. And he promises to go to Victoria tomorrow and buy new seals and hydraulic oil to fix the "termite" this week...a project that he has delayed doing for several months.

Nice greenhouse too, it's 10x12 and 10 foot tall at a remarkable price! Just about $500 at Harbor Freight. That is more than half the price of many others I have been looking at.

My little seed starter greenhouse it packed so tight that there isn't any room to re-pot anything much less start anymore plants. And, I am out of potting soil...so even if I had room in the cold frames or the mini-greenhouse that would require a trip to our local Wal-mart to buy another bag. Another delay.

To top it all off, it's suppose to rain tomorrow. While we were out trying to excavate the area for the greenhouse, I noticed that the soil is still pretty soft after all the rain and after about a 10 day no rain stretch. It's only suppose to rain for 1 day. The boxes that the greenhouse are in will get wet but that shouldn't deter the project much.

Time will tho. I'm sure of it.

------------
P.M.

The kids came over and had ribeyes with us and our son did help move the coop along. As I was explaining to my daughter in law what our goal was, our self-sustaining lifestyle, which BTW was their goal at one time too.....She told me something very profound...

She simply said "You'd be so much happier, and at peace."

I think they are on-board too. At least they went home with two bars of homemade soap, several jars of homemade jelly and a drink flat full of vegetable plants.

time will tell....

Satisfying my Barnheart obsession....

2010-02-14T22:11:00.003-06:00

Today my phone was quite. While that sounds good, if my phone doesn't ring, I don't make money. Sort of. I do however, try to hold Sunday's as Farm Day, the one day during the week that I can catch up on laundry and other tasks necessary for a busy week ahead. Sometimes I am not lucky enough to have a whole day for Farm Day but today I did.

I am happy that I had the opportunity to test out my new canner! I made 12 jars of black cherry jelly and 10 bars of orange clove olive oil soap. That's enough soap to last me almost an entire year, and I have another 2 lbs of melt and pour to do another 10 bars. The way I figure it, if I sold the other 10 bars then I'd pay for the entire batch and make some profit! Not too bad and the reason homesteading and CSA farming is very intriguing to me. It's a way to self sustain and pay for it and maybe make a little more at the same time.

One day I'll be brave enough to concoct soap from scratch.

This week I plan to make an additional batch of cherry jelly and also make some cherry preserves. Yes I am cheating. The fruit and juice is canned and bottled. My husband has terrible bouts of gout and bought a ton of cherry products early last year with the hopes of easing his pain. I don't want them to go bad and would rather experiment with the things I have on-hand than mess up on fresh that was given to me or that I grew. It's a great way to get started.

Today was quite nice although friends north of us had snow again. We shouldn't have anymore rain for a while although another cold snap has hit and the wind is blowing really hard. It will make for a great night to shimmy under the quilts and sleep soundly. It seems to be cold, dry air and perhaps will dry it up a little bit around here.

I have several days of vacation in March and all total will be almost 1/2 of the month I have scheduled off. You can bet I'll try to make most of those days Farm Days. I am praying the ground will be dry enough to turn soil then. As it is now if we ran equipment into the field it would get stuck in the mud. The plants in the cold frames look very good..a great head start!!

Stay warm my northern friends. Spring really is just around the corner...

Blow wind blow!!

2010-02-11T21:27:00.003-06:00

For weeks I have been talking about our rain, mud and cold weather. God bless those who live north of here. That cannot be pleasant and I apologize to all my readers! This has been a tough winter for everyone.

For those in South Texas, we endured many weeks of dry, over 100 degree weather during the summer followed closely by a harsh winter for the south. We have not had a break from extremes in about a year. I expect those who are north of us have experienced much the same.

So to give you something to look forward to I am giving you a list of dates that once reached means we are closer to spring and away from the snow, sleet, blowing wind, rain and all that makes us miserable...

Daylight savings time is March 14th. Rain, sleet or snow we should begin to feel like spring is around the corner if the days are getting a little longer. On better days this will give us much needed daylight to spend in the yard or on the acreage getting ready for planting or just to do outside tasks that were neglected during the inclement weather. This is the 4th weekend after this one.... you can see thatin your mind...and the light at the end of the tunnel is starting to shine...

1st official day of Spring is March 20th. That is the very next weekend....

Good Friday is April 2nd with Easter April 4th. This is only 3 weeks after daylight savings time starts. By then, we should be getting a little warmer. Some long term forecasts say most if not all the precipitation will be gone. You should start to see wild flowers on the side of the road.

So you see, spring really is around the corner...just keep these dates in focus and you can get through these very cold days....

As the wind blows.......

2010-02-08T19:23:00.000-06:00

Today as I drove home I noticed heavy thunderstorms to the north of us. I knew there was another cold spell coming and figured it was going to be a rock and roll evening. As I write this the wind is blowing and we have had several claps of thunder and more rain.

Before I came in I checked the cold frames, watered the ones that were getting a little dry and covered them knowing it might be a few days before I could get to them again or that the temperature would be warm enough to lift the glass.
I talked to a couple of farmers in the area today and asked them if they had been able to get into their fields. Sadly they haven’t been able to even turn their soil much less fertilize or start to plant. I would think any seed in the ground would rot in this mud. They commended me for starting plants for our spring garden in cold frames. Each said getting this kind of head start will be valuable later.

Readers, don’t think this is a complaint…it isn’t! In fact I am so sure this will be a wonderful spring/summer that I am starting another 100 or so seeds tonight in my mini-greenhouses.

My mini-greenhouses are simply clear plastic shoebox sized containers you buy almost anywhere. Luckily my local Wal-Mart had 6 for $3.00 in a bundle on the clearance rack the other day. I grabbed 2 bundles.

I fill them with a couple of inches of good soil, broadcast seeds in them and cover them with the lids that come with them. These lids do not have to be clear, the white lids or colored lids work just fine. Then I stack them and wait for the seedlings to appear.

When I have a 4 leaf seedling I transplant them into some sort of recycled container. Most of the time that is homemade seed containers made from toilet paper cores, a trick I learned from a friend.

To make those, simply cut the core 1/3 way up to make 4 flaps. Fold in 2 of them from opposite sides to create a bottom. Fold in the other two opposite sides overlapping them and secure them. I use a little TOT stapler. After you get 4-6, staple those together. Once the plant is transplanted into these containers and big enough to go into the garden, the core has been wet for a while and can be torn easily or if you are a true recycler, cut the sides and plant the entire thing. Those cores degrade quickly into the garden.

So, as the wind blows and the temperatures fall outside we gather around and look forward to the spring and what beauty the Lord will give us with a bounty of spring flowers and moisture in the soil to last well into the summer…. It will be here soon enough…

Our desire to create a CSA Homestead farm defined

2010-02-03T18:48:00.005-06:00

When there is little to do on the farm but read and work on tasks that don't require rubber boots and slicker suits you find yourself passing the time searching online for new seed companies, chicken breeders or small farm supply companies as well as reading others blogs on homesteading and catch up on must read articles on homesteading e-zines.

One website I really like to visit is Mother Earth News. I have subscribed to this magazine on and off since I was a young adult. Back then, it was my post 60's earth girl mentality....not that I have lost that persona but now it's because the website is also loaded with great articles.

Last night I read an article that gave me a "That's it!" feeling.... describing what I have blogged about on here for a while. That is the longing to be able to spend my every waking hour on this hobby farm.

This feeling now has a definition: BarnHeart.

Jenna Woginrich describes Barnheat as

"that sudden overcast feeling that hits you while at work or in the middle of the grocery store checkout line. It’s unequivocally knowing you want to be a farmer — and for whatever personal circumstances — cannot be one just yet."

When I read that description I had tears in my eyes knowing I wasn't alone. I know now that while others think I have lost my mind when I talk about giving up both jobs to homestead when I am in a great place in my life, in reality I am in good company with others who think and feel the same way that I do.

She goes on to describe the day-dreaming, heart-tugging feeling we get shortly after we arrive from work that lasts nearly the entire day making it next to impossible to focus on the tasks at hand.

"Specifically targeted at those of us who wish to god we were outside with our flocks, feed bags, or harnesses and instead are sitting in front of a computer screens. When a severe attack hits, it’s all you can do to sit still. The room gets smaller, your mind wanders, and you are overcome with the desire to be tagging cattle ears or feeding pigs instead of taking conference calls."

Jenna offers some sound advice to those of us who admit to be suffering from Barnheart and remedies for the hardest of days.

"Usually, simple, small actions in direction of your own farm can be the remedy. In worst-case scenarios you might find yourself resorting to extreme measures. These situations call for things like a day called in sick to do nothing but garden, muck out chicken coops, collect fresh eggs and bake fresh bread. While that may seem drastic, understand this is a disease of inaction, darling. It hits us the hardest when we are farthest from our dreams. So to fight it we must simply have faith that some day 3:47 p.m. will mean grabbing a saddle instead of a spreadsheet. Believing this is even possible is halfway to healthy."

I am definitively not alone. Not only did I connect with Jenna but many others who also suffer from Barnheart from comments left from many others who too, suffer from Barnheart.

One reader Marcia confessed,

"I have found myself at a desk job feeling trapped and suffocated by 2PM. I would actually have to step outside the office and take a stroll around the building, telling myself I can make it through the day. That's when you know you were meant to work outdoors! The fresh air and the sun on your face - ahhh! I have a 1-acre garden and am currently pouring over seed catalogs and plotting the 2010 garden plan on my computer. I have been researching plans for chicken coops and subscribing to homesteader blogs as I find them. And I've often wondered if there is another farmer soul like me out there to share my dreams without the "you are crazy" looks shooting back at me."

Another comment left by reader Appalachian tried to persuade us that our desire to homestead full time wasn't all it we fantasized saying,

Barnheart sufferer! If you want a quick cure, head over to your nearest farmer who has a three acres of green beans, onions, corn, pumpkins, whatever! Volunteer to spend a day - heck, even a couple hours - picking veggies. Do this on a day when it's 110 degrees in the shade as the sun starts to set. Come back the next day to milk the cows before the sun comes up and then watch the feller as he tries to fix the tractor! This is a great cure for the infliction that takes you away from a comfy life to the mercies of mother nature.

I think if Appalachian walked in my shoes for a while he would one day suffer from Barnheart.

A service available to you I bet you didn't know about.....

2010-01-24T13:08:00.004-06:00

It's hard to believe that a week passed by so quickly and I didn't even know it. I guess being busy is a good thing. If only I got paid for all of it! I am really looking forward to my vacation in a week!

While reading some articles on one of my favorite websites www.hobbyfarms.com I ran across a list of tasks that are suggested to do in the spring. One of the tasks is very familiar to me but it is also something that few people know about, even in this small, rural county.

Soil Sampling!

There are folks in your county who are there for a specific reason and who's services sometimes are under utilized. They are your local county Extension Agents and in our county, our Ag. Extension Agent is all but under utilized! For more urban areas though, the local gardener or small hobby farm owner doesn't think about this county office. Yes, even urban areas have an Ag. Extension Agent! Maybe a couple of them!

Your county Ag. Extension Agent can do a whole host of things for you but I have our local agent on speed dial (and in my email address book) primarily for 1 reason and that is to answers to my questions! He is full of answers and has a lot of resources at his disposal. Both my husband and I went through Master Gardener training and our Extension Agent lead those classes and is there for us if we need him.

One service however that they offer is soil sampling. Simply put, extension will provide you with a bag (or bags) to place randomly selected soil samples to be sent to a local university for evaluation. Once completed, you'll get the good and bad of your particular soil, if you need nutrients, how much to amend your soils, etc.

Generally you want to take soil samples for specific reasons, that is, for your lawn, for your garden, for your flower beds, etc. Take a garden scoop of soil from the areas you want to test and put them in a clean bucket, then mix it all up. That is, if you want soil samples for lawn, take a scoop from one side of your yard, then the other and perhaps the back or several areas around the section that isn't doing what you think it should..you get the idea. From that mix, fill your bag and seal it. Then take it back to extension. If you want to soil sample your garden, take scoops from several places in your garden, mix those up, fill the bag with the mix...

Sometimes your Extension Agent will suggest that you mail it or sometimes they mail several at a time when they get enough to fill a box. I have even given bags to people as a gift telling them if they take the samples and call me, I'll pick them up and have them processed. Generally there is a charge but this is a very low-cost way to make sure your plants have exactly what they need to produce self-sustaining food and lots of it.

When you get your results, find the Extension Agent for a 5 min tutorial on reading the results. They'll explain it and get you on the right path to amend your soils.

I am amazed that even in our rural community many do not know that our local Extension office can provide resources to their problems in their gardens. That's why they are there folks....and for the over-extended Extension Agent, they'll outsource some of their questions to their Master Gardeners.

Along with making sure tools are in good shape, starting spring veggies from seeds, building additional cold frames, and all the other little tasks we do before we get started, this year add to that pre-spring list soil sampling.

It will make a lot of difference.

----------------------

PM

Sunday is "farm day." It's the day we get ready for the work week ahead and most of the time is the day I can tend to garden and farm tasks that I might not be able to do any other time.

Today, farm day took us to the little community of Yorktown 40 miles to the west of us to pick up burn barrels. Living rural we don't have the luxury of trash pick-up and for some, a local dumpster is the trick. For us, we recycle a ton of stuff and only have a little left over, or about 1 30 gal bag not quite full a week.

Sometimes, when it is dry, the county has a burn ban where you can't light off your garbage or limbs, etc. And, in order to burn safely any time of the year, you use metal 55 gallon drums with the tops cut off and then laying either doubled up chicken wire or any wire mesh over the top as it is burning. We never burn if there is any wind.

We needed new ones and put the word out. One gentleman in our county provided us with 2 and another friend in this little community in Yorktown provided us with 2 more. These will last for a long time.

We recycle all tin cans (for seedlings), almost all the plastic bottles for a variety of uses, all plastic containers (also a variety of uses), glass, aluminum cans, and some Styrofoam meat trays for other uses. ALL paper products from junk mail to cereal boxes are shredded for compost or animal bedding except for toilet paper and paper towel cores that we use to create seed holders.

The local recycle center will take most glass and some plastic so if we are overloaded we can haul it there. Glass bottles can be used for flower garden edging by flipping over and burying 80% of it.

While we were in Yorktown we stopped by the chicken breeder and bought 12 little Cuckoo Maran chicks at $3 bucks a piece. We had hoped he had more Americanas but these are even cooler as they produce a dark, chocolate brown egg and he said they do produce an abundance of eggs.

How sweet chicks are! So, we increase our chickens. Will provide pictures later.

Guess we'll be vamping up our coop during my vacation.....and finally finishing it!

On our local grocery and fresh......

2010-01-17T17:44:00.003-06:00

Visited our local grocery this afternoon...seeking only smoked ham hocks for bean soup tomorrow and they had a huge display of very large avocados. I have a weakness for them and have never had success in growing them. I do know a gentleman who does quite well south of us and gives away hundreds of small avocado trees each year. I'll blog on that another day...

So, these huge avocados were a dollar each and I'm thinking that is a good price given the size, although I still believe at those prices they will, one day, be a monetary measure like gold.

However, they came from Chile.

And that got me thinking..... if they were a dollar a piece once they arrived in the US.... what price were they sold at in Chile? That is a lot of fuel and middlemen to go through... So lets think about this. Several thousand miles, either by freight ship or air....someone to handle the transaction in Chile, someone to handle the transaction in the US and sell it to the chain I shop at. All that cost is of course passed on to us.

Not to mention the amount of fuel it took ...thinking green here...

So the price of the avocados in Chile had to be small, even if the shipment was large. Which made me think about the poor workers in the avocado orchards...

Now....at least they have a job, and I don't know a thing about Chile or it's employment practices. Or like my husband said "I wonder how many little kids it took..."...

None the less, my blog today has to do once again, with the food that we eat and where it comes from.... Those avocados were a far cry from local food to table.

And for the record, I opted out of buying those choosing a couple of tiny one's grown in California for our hamburgers tonight. Those were $.50 a pound and 2 didn't come close to those from Chile. However, it was the principal of it....

Chile?

What the wet weather has created...

2010-01-15T23:13:00.002-06:00

It's raining again but it should be stopping tomorrow afternoon. My yard is a swamp again. The ditches all the way into town (5 miles) are full and running to the river. This to should add a lot more moisture to the soil and will be dried up again by mid-week.

One problem that I have noticed that the rains have created is massive fire ant hills in the pastures. I can only imagine what the animals are going through. These are some of the largest fire ant hills I have ever seen and there are many more than usual.

I know that there was a pilot program for a while from Texas A&M that was releasing some kind of fly that lays and parasitic larve in the fire ant head and, over time, kills the fire ant. Not sure how productive that has been in the counties they tested this in, but it's obvious that our county wasn't one of them. We have plenty of fire ant killer on-hand and I am sure we'll be using it.

Had a long week at my primary job but Monday is a federal holiday.

I really look forward to being in the yard this weekend and just a couple of weeks away from a much needed vacation.

Will blog more as the weekend progresses and post new pictures.

On Composting and recycling...an on-going project

2010-01-10T17:03:00.004-06:00

We made it through the frost although there is still a 1/4 inch layer of ice on our pool and in the water trough. Just such an odd site in South Texas.

However, if you live in the northern states or the south, this "down time" gives us much needed time to read and learn about our farms. Today, I took time to read more on composting so that I could build better compost piles.

For a couple of months I have become very aware of what we have been wasting all these years. Much of what we have been throwing away can be recycled. And a lot of that recycled material can go into composting....which will help us sustain our lifestyle and continue to give back to us for years to come.

I started my first compost pile a month or so ago intending to add to it over the months until it was full and then starting the next bin. I have carefully been disposing into a stainless steel bowl on the counter-top all the fresh veggie scraps, egg shells and coffee grounds that I use to throw away, then burying them in the compost heap when we went to feed the chickens.

Most of the information I have been reading about is based on having all the necessary materials to layer into a compost all at one time. These same info-sites give carbon:nitrogen calculations based on materials you have on-hand and not necessarily when building an "as you go" compost pile.

The more that I read, the more that I was convinced that I am on the right track but I wanted more information and more explanation on what this c:n ratio means.

Then I ran across a fantastic calculator that I think can be used for building compost piles all at once or for those "build as you go" piles that I think most of us are or will be doing.

Compost Calculator

It asks for cubic feet of material you are adding so I just guessed and I bet I came close. Remember, 1 cubic foot= a box that is 1footx1footx1foot square. Thinking that way I imagined a plastic bin and about how much I have added over the month in that imaginary box of both food scraps and then coffee grounds. I had added some wood chip mulch that was quite aged and have added about five 5 gallon buckets full. Then there were the banana tree leaves, other misc. items that were "green" and came up with a c:n ratio that was very low. I added in to the calculator a "what if" statement....that is "what if" I added some paper shreds? And after a few adjustments I came up with something that according to the calculator will work and now I have added to the compost pile paper shreds. I also mixed it up well to allow more air to circulate as it had become quite compacted. I didn't add any water although I considered spraying it down as the decaying material felt quite damp but not real wet and we have a chance for rain later this week.

Once that was complete, I came back in to play with the calculator again.....what if I added cow manure? What if I added hay? What a cool tool!

So, what is a c:n ration? Carbon:Nitrogen. Carbon materials are those brown things we find, like newspaper, wood chips, leaves, etc. Nitrogen are green things like fresh veggie waste, grass clippings, manure. There is a delicate balance between these two along with air (why you turn it to keep it loose) and water content. And...if done correctly it will attract those wanted microorganisms that will break down the compost materials.

I guess I also depends also how quickly you want your compost to decompose! For me, I think I will have enough essential microorganisms once it warms up again to start the first compost pile "cooking." And my first good compost pile might be a cool one and not heat up as much as it should, however with the microorganisms at work that are present in our soils, it should decompose over time. I am betting that once it warms up this compost pile will start decaying quite well.

It's a learning process, and since I am not starting it all at one time, I will certainly learn overtime what I need to do to keep these compost piles going.

One thing I am sure of, if I have questions there are many answers online...

Composting101.com

Epa Composting Info

Compost Tea

The weather service calls this a weather event

2010-01-07T19:40:00.002-06:00

The National Weather Service is calling this arctic freeze a weather event and what an event it is. For those of us who live in the south being under a freeze warning for more than an hour is an event in itself

And for those readers who live in the northern states, God bless you!

My seeds from Johnny's seeds arrived and in good order. They do a good job packaging and shipping! I was very impressed and will use them again.

I also have friends who are saving and contributing toilet paper and paper towel rolls that we recycle to create containers to start seeds. Perfect containers for little plants and break down quickly in the compost once the plants are removed. I am getting bags full now and with the hundreds of seeds we just received they'll come in handy.

We took a bag of recycled paper today and made pouches out of bubble wrap and stuffed it with paper shred to wrap outside faucets. We piled shredded paper in the cold frames then covered them with a blanket. Since we've been recycling paper in the shredder we have tons of it. I plan to make some recycled paper sheets later, pile some in another compost....there is a ton of uses.

Also received the essentials oils to make olive oil soap and will order the rest of the supplies in a few weeks to make that happen.

My vacation in February is going to be busy!

On Monday as I was leaving for work one of the hens hatched chicks in the garage. She hid them quite well as they were behind some boxes. I couldn't stop to find her or them and prayed the farm cats wouldn't hear them and try to get to them. Told my husband about them but he was getting ready for this weather "event" and had other things to do. It would be an event in itself to move all those boxes to get to her.....and since then I have not heard them again but that could be that the hen is right by them. John said he only saw her one time briefly all week. We'll look for them this weekend after it warms up.

Again, bless all of you who live in the Northern states during this arctic Weather Event...we are blessed on the Gulf Coast of Texas that we only have to endure for 36 hours.

On theTexas Gulf Coast, the weather is very different

2010-01-03T12:09:00.004-06:00

Where are our 70 degree days? Looking at the extended forecast on several weather websites indicates that this is the first January in years that we won't have any. And it may not get better for the next few months.

Usually about this time of year we can count on 3-5 days of 30-50 degree days followed by 2-3 or more 70 degree sunny days. It's a roller coaster of temperature changes you can easily get used to. However this year the temperature has been for the most part a steady 50 degrees.

And that's chilly for us!

I had counted on some 70 degree days! I had saved some outside chores for those days and it looks like we won't be getting them anytime soon. I can remember many years ago about this time going fishing for speckled trout in shorts....and loading up. That however is before the State put drastic limits. Now it's not worth going to for a meat trip.

February is another story! You can usually count on it being the coldest, with nasty sleet and sometimes snow. Not a lot of snow, but any is more than we want.

So, I sit and wait and use the time I cannot be outside to take care of tasks inside and to plan and blog.

This week is a long one for me working both jobs. It's a 6 day work week for me at the Bank and I have several buyers in the wings in my Real Estate job. Maybe it is good that it's cooler outside.

Hoping the seeds that I ordered from Johnny's are in this week. I usually start those plants inside and now that we are building cold frames, will move them to the cold frame as soon as they sprout.

---------

PM: HAWKS!!

What a scare we had and thanks to the Guineas we would never have known what was going on!

I was in the laundry room taking care of our weekly laundry when my husband came in and asked if I would come out to the porch. He said there were a couple of small hawks cruising over the pasture in the back and within 100 feet of the house.

Our house lies fairly close to the Farm to Market road. We have surveyed off a full acre for the house with the rest of the property being ag. Behind the house, bordering our backyard area is a belt of trees that surrounds the homesteaded property on 3 sides. We have a lot of trees. On the other side of that is our pasture and our property line butts up to 400+ acres of farmland.

Cruising over the back pasture were a pair of smaller hawks and they were making a lot of noise! It sounded similar to when you step on a kitten's paw (by accident). They were flying low and even made passes over head. They were after something....

Knowing we had kittens from our farm cat mama's and the flock of BB Red Bantams we went into action! The Hawks were landing on tree's on the greenbelt and also tree's in our back yard. I am sure they were looking for a meal.

After gathering the chickens onto our covered patio (scratch entices them well), we watched for quite a while. They were quite pretty, their flight effortless and very aerodynamic. However, they wouldn't go away. They kept looking for their next meal and for a while, concentrated on something that was next to the 3 sided barn. Then they kept flying over the back yard, over the house to the front and back.

You could hear them squawking to each other for the longest, which enabled us to hear when they were coming.

And apparently the chickens and guineas knew that sound was danger as they took cover under low brush and tree's, huddling together.

After a while they became silent. One landed in the tree on the far side of the property by the three sided barn. I told my husband "We have a choice. We can either let nature take it's course as it's part of the food chain pecking order or you can go get your 22 rifle". He went inside and got his rifle.

He didn't have a clear shot to the one on that had landed in the tree so he walked slowly towards it but didn't get far before it flew away.

That was the last that we saw them and we stayed outside for 20 minutes or so, quiet on the patio to see if they would return.

The chickens and guineas calmly walked out from the porch and returned to the yard, heading for the greenbelt. I figured they knew more than we did and if they were calm, we should be too.

So, one more "atta boy" for our guineas! They certainly do a great job on bugs and snakes but even more important they alerted us once again to something on the property that wasn't suppose to be here.

We will be watching for those hawks......I guess this unusually cooler weather has made food scarce and that's why they were around the property....

Leaving behind the old, going forward with the new

2010-01-01T18:02:00.002-06:00

Happy New Year readers! I encourage all of you to write down those things you would like to leave behind and proclaim those that you will take with you as you move forward in 2010!

For Papillion Gardens Homestead, I will leave behind falling prey to consumerism..that is impulse buying, "up-sizing", those advertisements that tempt us and going forward with frugality and helping / sharing with community.

It is my last 3 day weekend and we spent the first one outside working on the coop. I will certainly be glad when it is done so that those snags will quit getting in the way.

My husband's imaginary friend "Murphy" seems to follow him sometimes. He talks to him and tells him to move on but it doesn't always seem to help. Once "Murphy" gets in his way too much, my husband will call it a day! I am sick of "Murphy" too! I get mad when my husband gets frustrated because most of the time those frustrations are self-induced! I am the organized one, he's not. Enough said.

Tomorrow is also suppose to be a fairly good day but I am suppose to show a property. Hopefully that won't take all day, and that we have a firm bid from a qualified buyer! The extra money would help to buy a greenhouse.

I have scheduled a vacation the first week of February in hopes of getting some tasks accomplished. In Texas I have seen the weather the first week of February be so warm you can wear shorts or I have seen it sleeting and snowing! It will probably rain.

The seeds for the spring test CSA garden are in route from Johnny's seeds. I have hundreds of bell pepper and jalapeno seedlings popping their heads up in my seed starter containers and need to get those transplanted and into the next cold frame I built today. I need to build a few more to hold all these seedlings. Neighbors have been saving recyclable materials for me to re-pot these little plants. I will be busy the next few weeks with that task.

If "Murphy" doesn't try to help....

Contemplating New Years Eve, New Years Resolutions

2009-12-30T18:18:00.003-06:00

I have been contemplating what my New Year's resolution would be. It's something most of us do this time of the year. It's a time to start over, set goals although most of the time they are non-attainable ones.

A friend stopped by my desk today and when asked about any New Years resolutions replied simply "to adjust my attitude". That is attainable and a good New Years resolution to have. And while it might take all of 2010 to work on it, she can get there. Oddly enough I never took this woman as one to have an attitude, but then, I don't know here very well. I do know her dad who is a sweetheart!

For me, I just want to stop falling prey to consumerism. I have been pretty good this last year to not impulse buy, partly because I just went through the toughest financial year of my life - despite 2 good jobs! However I'd rather my new attitude reflect also in my life.

Doesn't it make sense that whatever you choose as your New Years resolution be effective not only to yourself but others?

Please feel free to let me know what your plans for your life are in 2010.

-----------------

PM

This morning when I got up I waded several inches of water out to my vehicle. However, I am rejoicing! This will definitely help this spring!!

When I got home tonight, I peeked into the one cold frame I built last Sunday and WOW the difference in the plants I put in there is awesome! So, knowing I have 3 days off and that they are going to be pretty you can bet what I'll be doing!! I will posts pictures of the progress.

Shortest Post ever, longest day!

2009-12-29T20:57:00.002-06:00

Nothing much to add except that it's 9pm and I just got home from a long day at work and a "mandatory" conference in another city. I hope my long long days at the bank are over for a while and that the rest of the week is truly bankers hours. They wanted me to fit in an hour conference call between bank hours and traveling to the conference. I didn't. Sorry Charlie!

Now, I don't mean to sound like I'm whining, and I really do appreciate I have a great job or jobs, but I don't like it when I have to rush home to get daily home tasks done without any downtime. Oh yeah, I have to be back at 7:30 for a conference call.

So this evening I am rushing.....rushing to get clothes together for tomorrow, rushing to get dishes done, rushing to pay for bids from eBay (essential oils for homemade olive oil soap, more on that another day) and rushing to post to this blog....

At least my husband drove me to the bank conference and I could catch up on emails via my I-phone. I was also able to check the weather and Praise the Lord it looks like we'll have some decent weather this weekend!

This will allow us to work on Coops ....and yes I am sure you are as ready for me to stop blogging about them as I am to finish them. I can also build more cold frames and re-pot several good seedlings that are in need of their own home.

Hoping everyone will have a great New Year...please feel free to leave me a message on your thoughts on a good New Years resolution. I will be sharing mine...

Trying to stay positive!

2009-12-28T19:40:00.003-06:00

Nothing much to contribute to my blog today except that it was a long day at work and I am just now getting home....after dark, almost 8pm. I knew that I would have a couple of long days this week and I am not to happy about it. I want to be here, on the Papillion Gardens Homestead farm.

In addition, the climate control in the bank building .... sucks. When it's hot out, the a/c will break and break and break....The local HVAC repair center stays in business because of our building, I am sure of it. And...like today when it is humid cold, the heater won't kick in so we freeze.

So...I wore my ranchers coat all day, over a business suit... with a heater under my desk firmly planted somewhere between my feet. I've got it beat tho...tonight at Wal-Mart I bought a red fleece blanket. I'll prove my point with it tomorrow if they didn't fix the pneumonia hole, I'll wrap it around me like a snuggie and run around the bank building with it.

If I am home, on the farm property, I can dress accordingly....blue jeans with warm tights underneath. T-shirt or fleece under flannel and my wonderful Ranchers Coat with my high top boots or boots with fleece and if needed a knit cap to keep my head warm. I stay quite snug....but at the bank, it's dress slacks, panty hose and some "dress code certified, business casual" blouse, and heels or pumps. While comfortable, it's not always warm!

It's suppose to rain again tomorrow and the next day and also be pretty brisk outside. That blanket might come in handy. The ground has dried up to a point where more rain is welcomed!

I did not see my order from Johnny's seed company post today on my bank account nor did I get a confirmation email. Maybe tomorrow. It's a bit early but I'd like to have them in and in sealed jars to be ready to start the little plants the first sunny day we have.

John told me he has to partially disassemble the back hoe to get to the part he needs for it. I was hoping that he could pick that part up while I am at the short but mandatory bank conference tomorrow evening in Victoria. Hopefully we can get that done by the 15th or so.

However, we do have a back up plan. We can coerce the local farmer who farms 400 acres that surround 2 sides of our property. Besides, he owes us. He tore down all of our barbed wire fence several years ago so he could turn his machinery on our property and last spring cut down several large tree's as they were in his way. No, we didn't get mad. You see, one of our son's lived here on the farm for a while before John retired and he told them to "do whatever you want.." However, that was several years ago and we know this farmer knows the owners of the property are back. We just kept this in our back pockets for another time. This spring may be...that other time.

I still didn't get an email from the guy who mentioned the Greenhouse materials. I'm giving up on him. Either it was a hoax or he's just not with it. There will be others in time.

Thinking about my New Years resolution....are you thinking about yours? We'll talk about that later in the week...

It's like giving candy to a baby and then taking it away!

2009-12-27T11:56:00.003-06:00

Perhaps I should be more grateful however, I'm not. I'm angry and irritated.

Several weeks ago I placed an ad in Craigslist under their "wanted" section for greenhouse materials. We would be more than happy to take them off someones hands who are no longer using or wanting them. The Craigslist I placed the ad in was in a city just 20 miles away.

Last night about midnight I received this email:

Hey,

Do you still want this? free cycle has it for free still. Let me know if you want to pick it up.

-Jon

And I responded within a minute or two:

Yes we still want materials! What do you have and where are you located? Which Freecycle?

And waited, and waited and waited with no replies. It is now noon on Sunday and I still have not heard anything. So I replied again, with a similar message.

Now, for those of you who think that I am being ungrateful and that this could be greenhouse materials for free, you are probably right. However, with limited time to dedicate to this project, had I heard from this person last night, and if the items he is talking about are within a reasonable distance, then we could have already been over there and back. As it is now, we won't be able to go get them until Saturday....if this was a legitimate email.

I guess I am the type of person who likes to respond fast, stating my business, then completing the task quickly to close it out. Even on the farm.

It's like receiving a call on your cell phone. You miss the call, but within seconds of missing the call you try to return the call and the party doesn't answer. How far could they have traveled from their phone in a second or two? Do they have a time machine or travel at warp speed?

It's sunny outside today and I hope that it is warming up so that I can get some things done while waiting on the author of this Craigslist email to respond. If they ever do.

-------------

PM

John was able to start and run the front end loader and not get stuck! He moved a ton of cinder blocks for me to make cold frames.

A couple of years ago we were given many old wood frame windows. My original intention was to do some glass paintings on them with the promise one day to give one to the gentleman who let us have them. Shortly after that he died in a horrible wreck in Houston. I was crushed as he was an awesome neighbor in our little county. After that I never found the motivation to paint on them.

Those framed windows have sat leaning up against each other for all this time and some of the wood frames are in bad shape, but the glass is perfect!

I am using them for cold frames and will credit Joe for them as we move along. Today I built one and sat a few established 4-6 leaf tomato's in them as a test. Knowing this is a short but long day week, if they look good or look like they are thriving then I'll build the others next weekend during my next long weekend.

It looks like the property is drying up! One of my long days requires me to drive to the next big city for a Bank conference one evening. I will get John to drive me and send him to the parts house for the replacement hydrolic pieces he needs for the back hoe.

With any luck and the weather cooperating maybe next weekend we can start turning soil!

And...as an addition to the post note: I still have not heard from the guy with the greenhouse material.

Have a super week!

What a beautiful day!

2009-12-25T16:09:00.002-06:00

Christmas day has been pretty uneventful for us as expected. Besides the occasional phone calls and text messages from well wishers, we have had a relatively relaxing day. We have been indoors all day working on storing things in the attic and shredding more paper and junk mail we have laying around. All these bags of shred will either go in the new coops or in the compost bin.

The skies are sunny and the humidity is low so the ground continues to dry up. I pray it only dries to the point where we can work the soil and get other things done that are impossible with the wet ground.

I ordered lots of seeds from Johnny's and we should be set for the spring. My bell peppers and jalapeno's have now spouted and there will be more than we'll use.

Told my husband that at some point in the next few weeks we should move cinder blocks closer to the house and use old wood frame windows I acquired a couple of years ago to create cold frames. By then I will have everything re-potted and will fill them up quickly with garden plants.

This is a long weekend for me as is the next. The forecast calls for delightful weather so I should be able to catch up on many tasks outdoors without freezing my ears off...!

Hope you are having a delightful weekend!

W I N D Y!!!!

2009-12-24T14:55:00.003-06:00

It is WINDY!

This wind is suppose to lie down late this afternoon. The weekend and the rest of the week should be moderate temperatures in the mid to high 50's with low humidity. The next 15 days we have a little chance of rain and, for the most part, lower humidity. This should dry up the ground a bit if not enough to start turning the ground on the acreage behind the house.

It's much too windy to be out trying to do anything in the yard. This morning I woke up to a limb on my husband's Suburban. Not big enough to do much harm but much too close to the windshield. Would have been just our luck as he just had a back glass replaced and was finally back in business with his own vehicle. My fear is that others might want to come out of the trees and this wind could create falling debris or blowing debris hazards!

We are not doing much for the holidays except to work on projects and rejoice in our Saviors birth. One of our children mentioned that he might stop by and I warned him not to come in dress clothes but instead to wear jeans and boots and be prepared to pitch in.

John said he thought we were missing some of the Americana Chickens. I hope it is just some hens who are sitting eggs somewhere. It will be nice to get the coops finished so we can count them each day.

Had a lady from the newspaper who was interested in the CSA story. Told her I'd fill her in after the holidays.

For now, I am going to start the paper shredder again and warm up a smoked turkey in a while.

Have a great Christmas and don't forget, it's not about the presents under the tree....

--------------

PM:

Went out just before the sun went down and the temperature is falling rapidly. The wind and cooler temperature stung my face.

So back in I went to finish a paper shredding project and contemplate baking some potato rolls.

It's going to be a snuggle weather night, possibly snuggle weather week.

Rain and Sun then Rain and Sun

2009-12-23T17:50:00.004-06:00

It rained on an off again today. John was able to at least finish the frame on the chicken coop and it looks awesome! I only work 1/2 day tomorrow and then have 3 days off so we should be able to finish if it doesn't get too cold.

For those readers who live in the northern states, our cold might be your short sleeve weather. However, for this southern girl, after it rains and if the humidity is high, a good northern will chill me to the bone!

The best news I got today was when a friend overheard me describing to another friend the CSA farming concept. She stopped her bank business at the Teller window to come over and ask me if I was talking about CSA farming! I was elated to hear another good friend knew about this! She too had been reading about it and we promised to have lunch to perhaps start a co-op after the first of the year.

Like we have in the past, she had grown smaller gardens in the spring but had thought of growing a much bigger one and mentioned she owned land on the highway that we could possibly use as a place for a farmers market. We were thinking the same things....

She also mentioned that there was another woman in the county who had been providing organically grown vegetables for restaurants in Houston for several years with success and had other companies on a waiting list. This was very exciting news!

This friend also introduced me to a great film, Food, Inc. This film is a real eye opener for why it is important to operate and support local small farm to table programs. I have now included segments of this film on this blog to the right --> .I encourage each of you to take some time to watch each segment.

John and I also tossed around the idea of restoring an old Ford 9n tractor my husband inherited from his father. When it dries up, we'll move it to the work area by the house to see if it would be worth working on.

Have a super holiday and Praise the birth of our Lord this weekend. Thank you Lord for this rain for I know you are providing much needed moisture for the earth in advance for the plants that will produce the food for us and others this spring.

What I think about during the day....

2009-12-22T16:48:00.004-06:00

I have a real job. Two real jobs actually. I am a Senior Lead Banker for a major National Bank at a branch in our small town. I am also a Realtor but tend to do that part time, as properties and qualified buyers come my way.

Having a real job takes away from the farm, and I think about it all the time. Although I know I cannot leave either job for a farm income I still think about it. I also try to justify leaving a well paying job, trading pantyhose for garden hose but the numbers and the benefits always outweigh my preferred option.

So, I think about it all day. I arrange schedules for tasks I need to get done once I get home. I even told my boss to quit bringing me work late in the day as I had to leave on-time to build compost piles, check on the greenhouse and do other farm tasks.

Today, I solicited "poop" from local farmers while printing out statements for them. One said they'd hook me up with the owners of the local auction barn after the holidays. That made me happier than the prospect of interest rates going up on time accounts.

While some people may show digital pictures of children and grandchildren on their cell phones, I show pictures of my Bantams! I draw out planting diagrams for retired farm customers while we are tending to their bank business, soliciting their ideas while they solicit mine.

Yes, I will admit, I have this homestead farm bug and am infected terribly! Yet doing it as a hobby farm makes more sense than not doing it all.

Tomorrow I think I'll wear my boots to work...so I'll be prepared once I can get away...

----------------

PM:

I thought I'd be slick and go by the local chicken place after work today to grab dinner so that we could get back to building the coop. My husband had beat me by pre-cutting 2x4's for the rest of it saying we can now just assemble it as tho it were a pre-fab kit. He even neatly labeled each board. At least we were able to work on it for a half hour or so before it got dark and made some more progress.

This time however, it wasn't without incident... I am sure John was tired but willing to put in a little more time.....but it all went down hill once the hens started gossiping about the rooster who got one last hen before roosting for the night.

Chickens, when all together get excited and the sounds is like a group of old women gossiping around the table during coffee or who witnessed something outside their morals and point and discuss the disgusting aberration.

Then there are the guineas, who run to see what every one is cackling about and have to throw their 2 cents in to the discussion. The other day 2 young roosters were starting to bow and dance like they do before they start a fight. When that happened all the guineas stopped what they were doing and ran over to see, making their "buck-wheat" noise. I liken it to a High School fight when everyone comes to watch chanting "FIGHT!"

Along with all this noise, the hens gossiping, the roosters crowing and the guineas hollering "buck-wheat" my husband tried to tell me where to hold a board and I couldn't hear his direction over all the noise which in turn frustrated him more.

Then, as he started to hit the nail he hit his fingers and let out another loud noise, all of which cannot be repeated on this blog.

That signaled the end of the chicken coop project tonight....

And as I was gathering tools to bring inside I looked up at what appeared to be rain clouds rolling in.

I think I'll pour me a glass of Texas Sweet Red, find my MP3 player and read about CSA, Agritourism or small scale farms....

Late night post: What I want for Christmas

2009-12-21T22:00:00.002-06:00

If I could sit on Santa's lap and he could truly bring it to me I would ask for

Buckets of poop for the compost.
A burn barrel for what I can't recycle.

Sun and More Sun and day's off....

2009-12-21T10:57:00.003-06:00

The sun it looks like will be here for several more days and with warmer weather you can bet that I'll be out on the property. The ground appears to be drying up a little bit, not a quickly as I would like, but if this weather continues we'll be able to at least move mulch piles later in the week.

I noticed that my cistern house is leaning a little bit. Towards the windmill. Hope it doesn't lean anymore and I think that it is leaning because there is several inches of water around it. However, you would think it would sink rather than lean.

Our windmill isn't working at the moment but is great to watch when the wind blows. Fixing the windmill is on our list of things to get done.

John had to go to Victoria this morning to get a glass replaced in the Suburban and is headed home. He said his arm is still sore but wanted to work on the coops today.

For now, I am praying this week is productive.

----------

The day has faded and the sun has gone down. It was a beautiful day and we made great progress on the chicken coops. If we can keep the pace we'll have them finished by next Sunday.

We also had a great time watching the chickens and guineas! What characters they are! Poor hens, with many roosters on the property, they are the target of the rooster's affection. The little bantam rooster really doesn't know he is little and tries to chase the bigger brown hens! I am hoping this is a good thing and will produce chicks in the spring if not sooner. The younger roosters tussel in the yard, bowing up to each other and chest butting. This new brood tend to be kinder to each other than the older ones who came from game stock.

Will be posting pictures soon of the little bantam chickens. Such sweet birds.

Cooler Weather, Wet Ground.....

2009-12-20T11:38:00.007-06:00

The weather has been much cooler lately. I am not sure if it is the high humidity or my age that makes it feel much colder than in previous years. I am hoping that this cooler weather will make a difference this spring.

And....it's wet. Very soggy wet. Some of the farmers in the area are praying that it dries up before it's time to plant and are starting to have doubts. At this point, no one can turn fields. I know we can't begin to turn our new gardens. It would be an impossible effort to say the least. However, sunny skies are predicted for the next few days and we are all praying that this will dry up the soil some...or at least start to dry it up. There is rain predicted for next week.

I still have many seedlings started but they are not holding up as I had hoped. This only means I'll have to work harder to get some good starts. It also means we will have a staggered production. That might be a good thing!

I have started mentioning my dream CSA project to neighbors and friends and the idea is catching on fast. So far I have 6 people who will buy produce this spring/summer during our first test season. I also have 2 restaurants who will take what we cannot can or sell. This is very exciting! I can hardly wait to start planting but there is a lot of work to do before hand.

Will post more at another time. For now, I'm going to go out to enjoy the sun, something we haven't seen in many weeks.

Maybe we can finish the chicken coops today.

Fall/Winter 2009 brings moisture, time to plan for the spring

2009-12-13T15:08:00.006-06:00

Our rain prayers have been answered! We also got several inches of snow a week or so ago. Local Extension Agent said that was wonderful as snow adds nitrogen to the soil. I have standing water in places and a soggy ground but I am not complaining!

My husband and I are working on chicken coops. These coops will be closer to the house as the last one we had that was a good bit behind the house and was broken into by a 4 legged thief! Something ate a hole in the chicken wire, large enough for a medium sized dog. We figure it was either a rogue dog, small coyote or a racoon and whatever got into that coop ate our old rooster! It was indeed a massacre as there was blood and feathers all over the place. We never found the rooter.

These coops will be easier to gather eggs, give the hens a good place to sit eggs and provide heat and safety to our feathered friends.

The babies we bought in the spring are grown and fully feathers. Just beautiful! Along with the older hens and roosters these guys are a good compliment to those we had before. We also have several BB Red Bantum chickens and they are quite tame and adorable. They are a very small chicken,fully grown are about the size of a pigeon if not a little bit smaller. We were given those the same time we got the Americana chicks in the spring as a friend heard we were going to the hatchery and asked if we wanted the hen and all her chicks. We were quite blessed with almost 20 chicks last spring.

Today I also build the first of many compartments of compost bins and layered decaying mulch, house scraps of mostly coffee grounds, labels from canned products and fresh veggie scraps. Also lost leaves from the banana trees when it snowed so I cut them up and layered them in there too. They were already decaying on the banana tree. I cleaned out the bottom of the chick pen and added in chicken poop to the compost. This should be a good first batch. Have arranged cube mesh so that I can make another compartment when this one gets full. Will be a great way to do smaller piles of compost and keep track which one was started first.

I have also started hundreds of tomato, pepper and jalapeno plants for the garden. I won't use them all and will donate the left over plants in the early spring to the local food pantry. Based on "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day but teach him to fish and he'll eat a lifetime" this will be another way to contribute to the community and will be a standard at our CSA Farm.

CSA or Community Supported Agriculture is also known as Subscription farming....and is a great way to be able to grow enough food to can/freeze/dehydrate for yourself and to pay for the expense of doing so. Farm to table where it's the freshest, you sell "shares" of your crop at the beginning of the growing season then evenly portion out your bounty each week as vegetables mature. Some CSA Farms allow for their own share then sell shares of what's left.

This method of farming has been popular in Europe for a long time but is relatively new to the US. There are many CSA farms in the North East and very few in Texas, but it is catching on.

I plan to grow 5 seasons before I sell shares. This will allow me to work out the kinks in my large garden and to determine costs. That's not to say if I have a good spring crop in 2010 I won't be sharing. I have neighbors who have requested to be on a "sell" list if I produce anything this year. Seems they are tired or unable to garden any longer. It's good to know there is a market!

Watch to blog to see how I progress through the summer season. I plan to can, freeze, and dehydrate veggies but have not done any of it in 30+ years. It will be quite a challenge but I'm up to it. Partial self - sustaining by this time next year is my goal. In one year I only want to have to visit the local grocery store for meat and dairy, hygiene products and an occasional bottle of wine...

Time out-- keeping my babies alive

2009-07-05T19:11:00.002-05:00

Papillion gardens are on hold .... at least until we are out of this drought period.

It's hard enough on my established plants...I can't see trying to establish new one's with "hose" water and Miracle Grow. That is, if I can even find quality plants.

I go out every other day to soak my plants and so far I have only lost 1 small hibiscus that we put in April 09. Once soaked, I pick a plant that needs a bit more soaking and I lay my leaky hose over it to catch the drip.

Sad as we drive through a fairly new neighborhood that has homes built on 2 acre homesites. Each homeowner built their home towards the back of the acreage to give them large front yards. They are watering the front 50 feet or so and the rest, towards the road is brown and burned up. Looks funny, bright green lawn against a larger burned-up yard.

I never water my lawn. It's heavy diffused sun and always stays alive. However, if we don't get our promised "good chance" of rain this week, I will be force to for the first time in years.

Going out to do my naked rain dance.....wait! We REALLY NEED rain. I guess I'll do that dance with my clothes on.

Way too long to update!

2009-06-21T16:04:00.002-05:00

This hot, Sunday afternoon is keeping me inside until a little bit later in the afternoon. I had a multitude of tasks that I needed to attend to anyway. Updating this blog was one of them and I was amazed that several months have past since my last blog!

How time flies! If plants would grow at the rate time can pass you by.....

Our birding garden is complete! It's full of immature plants and looks quite sparse but once they are mature it will be beautiful. We added in some Mexican Firecracker Plants, an Ixora (sp), a Hawaiian Sunset vine (only because I needed to stick it in the ground somewhere before I lost it) a Texas native red trumpet vine and several other "odd and unusual" things friends dug up for me. We also have 2 birdfeeders and a birdbath that I know the birds have used as they left droppings on it...but it prob. used more by the cats.

Speaking of cats, I know they met a bird out there already... there were tell tale signs of feathers from a mockingbird. ... such is nature even in the best of surroundings. The birds will continue to visit this garden and as smart as they can be, will retailate and teach the cats a lesson or make it clear that this particular space is "for the birds".

We have done lots of work in the Tropical Garden! We've added some purple banana trees, were given some regular banana tree's by Lon at Devoroux Gardens, added in more Hibiscus including a drop dead beautiful double red, then added a huge trellis that will act as a natural screen to the backyard once the passion vine covers it , accented a corner with a blue duranta and are currently working on a glass border using recycled wine bottles with solar lights between a few of them here and there.

Once complete this garden will really get a WoW from visitors.

When we have completed the tropical garden we will start on the last garden spot behind the house and then we will start on the walking gardens.

The last "by the house" garden will be a victory garden with a red/white/blue theme. There is much work to be done as some volunteer trees have taken up home there, with plenty of weeds. We'll leave that to the fall then in early winter will create the first few walking garden areas.

It sounds like a lot of maintenance but the way I put gardens in, it's not. Landscape fabric and mulch with a watering system then spot maintenance with roundup using only plants that come back each year.... Even super busy people can have extensive, beautiful gardens.

Stay cool....

More Rose cuttings and I snitched some stuff....

2009-03-08T16:12:00.004-05:00

I wish I could have time to work in my garden every single day of spring. I also wish I could have time to plant or propagate in my kitchen every single day. But I don't.

A friend of mine trimmed her roses last week and my husband picked up 4 full bags of clippings which included peace roses and some knockouts so today I had to make time to start another 20-30 plants. I have a ton left over and put them in a container of water then sent out a global email to our local Master Gardeners if they want what I didn't propagate.

My fingers are sore and I learned quickly I don't like the knockouts! Pretty as they may be they are loaded with way too many thorns and they go into the list of things to plant where they can just go wild. The other thing on that list is a Bougainvillea. Those are beautiful too but I had one once in a house we leased. The landlord had planted it under a front window and when it got huge the limbs hung over the walkway. I lost many a pair of pantyhose to it and it tore up the front window screen! It was wicked to trim too....

We went to an event yesterday in Rosenburg for Ham Radio operators, my husband passion....and then trecked over to Katy to visit our oldest son and his girlfriend at her house. It's beautiful! She has roses too and some other plants that I will one day snitch but she had a Wisteria vine that was huge over this arbor and has to be spectacular when in full bloom. I can only imagine the fragrance! She was gracious to let me snitch several cuttings from it and they are now in a pot zipped up in a huge ziplock. I have heard they were hard to propagate but I will try anyway.

She also had this massive, very invasive Passion Vine! It is the same color and type of flower that I lost in the horrible heat we had last year. I snipped a ton of it (and you can't even tell!) and I am certain that thing will take off. It's also in a ziplock. It had a ton of buds and will be beautiful in a week or so.

As soon as I get the passion vine started well that will be nudge to start on the gardens under the little Arizona Oaks that wrap the back of the property. They have been trimmed to allow good diffused lighting.

Ahh spring is here...but the rain isn't. Let's see what next week brings.....

I have buds!

2009-02-22T14:50:00.003-06:00

I had a fellow master gardener drop me off a ton of cuttings from her roses. Last weekend I finally got to propagate them...well at least snip snip.

I used some small terra cotta pots, filled them with some starter soil, dipped the cut ends into enzyme and "planted them" into the pots. I had placed the pots each into their own gallon ziplock to act as a mini greenhouse. Before I slipped the ziplock up and over the tiny plant I watered the starter soil just enough to dampen but not to soak. Then I zipped the bag closed.

Once I had all these little plants in their ziplock, I opened them just enough to slip a straw into it and blew them full of CO2...that's what we exhale... I think. Then I zipped them closed.

I sat the buldging bags aside on my kitchen counters and just waited.

One week later (last night) I looked at each of them and about 75% of them either have leaf buds or on a few, a couple of leaves have sprung to life!!

I am excited and may use this method for other things in the garden....except I am out of those little terra cotta pots. I do have some peat pots and if need be, can just make some rudimentary pots out of something.

As for the gallon ziplocks....I won a case of 250 of them at a banquet here so my cost is really low. They can be pricey but can be reused and have to be less expensive than purchasing plants.

The Weekend

2009-02-14T14:04:00.002-06:00

It RAINED! Although briefly, it was a start! It also looks like it could rain a little more before the day has ended.

The week back to work was busy! Besides the normal catching up, there were meetings to attend both at work and afterwards, and John's ankles are causing him great pain.

He started the week out great and worked to get the tiller going then, on Wednesday his ankles started swelling and now he can hardly walk.

I had also wanted to go to Nelson's in Katy to pick out a water features pot or urn or something for our Valentines gift to use in the new garden spot but if John cannot walk, we cannot go. That's OK, we really are not ready to add that feature so we can splurge later.

This weekend I plan to propagate some more stuff and since I started the "Sunday is my garden day" thing a long time ago I will do that tomorrow.

More pictures as soon as my photographer is ambulatory again...

Tiny plants

2009-02-11T21:08:00.000-06:00

I HAVE ESPERANZA SPROUTING!!

Such cute little sprouts too....

Looking at the world a whole different way.....

2009-02-08T18:22:00.003-06:00

It's my last day of vacation....Ah yes, in the morning I will once again slap the alarm silly, stumble into the shower, blow dry my hair into a semblance of a sane 50 something professional, put on pantyhose and a suit and head once again to the 9-5 I have learned to tolerate. Hey, it's a paycheck.

I have accomplished much during this week, some tasks that were intended and others that were not. But the one thing I have learned this week is to look at life in a whole different perspective.

Here are just a few:

Peer out the window as you drive through town, scouting for someones rose or vine overgrowth. If it has grown over into the right of way, it's fair game.

Look deep into old cemetery's for old rose's in hopes to get a snip. Don't go at night.

Find forgotten plants old at abandoned houses or where there once stood a home. There might be a story behind them.

Deplete the ginger from the produce department. It grows and reproduces quickly.

Always maintain a path to your coffeepot and kitchen sink after propagating in the kitchen all the new things you can acquire in a very short time.

And share...extra clippings, your own overgrowth, your knowledge and your friendship with other's who share your passion. It will make your work week go a little smoother.

My kitchen transformed

2009-02-07T12:28:00.004-06:00

My kitchen is slowly being transformed into a greenhouse. It is the perfect place to start cuttings, nurse plants, stash new stuff.

Good thing I have lots of cabinate and floor space.

My fear is that the kitty's will discover some of the new dirt! If that happens I'll move them to the dining room. There isn't a lot of light in there but if I have to stash stuff in there I will and then I will figure out a way to create some diffused lighting. Or I'll buy grow lights.

I need a greenhouse, but then I won't be able to wake up in the morning, pour myself a cup of coffee and get a brief look at my little "starting to be" plants. That is a great way to start the day!

My friend and fellow Master Gardener is very giving and shares ton's of plants and seeds with everyone. She recently visited with her husband to pick up some things (men projects) and she shared some great stuff with me. I was delighted when she brought some rose cuttings to me this morning and they are good long cuttings so I'll have enough to really play with!!

So, I will certainly be busy this week starting new plants, and each morning before I go to work I'll have more plants to greet me when I pour my first cup of coffee.

The greenhouse can wait for now. I don't want to give up my kitchen friends just yet.

A wonderful website!!

2009-02-04T10:30:00.005-06:00

I had visited http://davesgarden.com many times before usually to identify plants or search for others but I never knew they had this plant trader section. I am in heaven!

People post seeds/plants/bulbs etc. that they have for trade with a list of things they want. You can create your own list and then search for trades. Wowzer!!

This is a wonderful way to get additional stuff for your gardens and some are quite interesting. It shows location as well which can be very beneficial to you. Even if you are not interested in trading with someone, just looking at the lists from someone close to you gives you a good idea if certain plants will indeed work for you!!

This tops the craigslist free section and our county recycle center (the dump)!!

In my opinion, free is great. It's about time to visit our county recycle center again. It's amazing what you can find that you can use in your gardens. At our's, they stack like items together. You can find tossed out bricks, landscape timbers and often they are good, other items to use in your gardens. It's a hit or miss but if you visit often enough you'll come home with some good things.

It's Propagation day...

2009-02-03T09:40:00.004-06:00

Sunday while I was tootering around in the garden and trimming plants I saved a lot of the trimmings to try my hand at propagation!

As I said before a fellow master gardener has a pretty good method of doing this and I have gathered several of the plastic containers she talks about.

And...I just can't wait until she teaches the class next month to try this...To see how she does it, look at the blogs I follow....it's under Obsessive/compulsive plant collector....

Next month I may need the class to see what I did wrong.

One thing I know I did wrong was to gather all these cuttings into a bundle and many have lost their leaves...so I don't exactly know what I am propagating but I am propagating a lot of somethings!

I do know that I have some Glorybower and a little Fairy Duster but besides that, no clue.

Which is actually kind of cool because as they develop roots and leaves it will be like Christmas to see what new plants I have!!

-----

Afternoon update:

I think I just tried to root a whole bunch of sticks. They looked green. I guess we'll see, right?

I also had some ivy trimmings from work that I put in one box. I know those will do ok. And, I had an assortment of seeds people had given me from dried pods off their plants. Also, I didn't know my Yellow Bells (Esperanza?) made seed pods too, so I plucked some of the dried one and used another box for those. I can really see the usefulness of those little storage boxes...they make great mini-greenhouses. Off to Walmart later this week for more storage boxes.

At this point a lot of sighs and prayer.

John wants to go outside and work on the newest bed somemore. Glad he is enthusiastic! I am worn out after being under the weather yesterday...not to mention my legs are sore from spreading mulch.... weather is warm again so I guess we should u in a couple of hours!

Vacation!

2009-02-01T20:02:00.003-06:00

I am on vacation and hope to get lot's of things accomplished, including tending to my gardens.

Today we were blessed with warm weather. It is probibly going to be the only pretty day this week so I decided to head outside.

It is also my birthday but that was not the reason I decided to take pleasure in being in my gardens. The weather forecast for the week made my decision for me. I usually spend Sundays outside tending to my gardens anway, and doing laundry so it worked out just fine.

My husband started his "termite" and helped me. His "termite" is not the wood eating bug we pray doesn't get into our home but a small front end loader and back hoe. He hauled several bucket loads of mulch that I have had for a couple of months and dropped them precisely where I needed them in my front garden. He's become pretty precise with that little machine!

We also laid out another bed in front of the house just like I have dreamed of for 20 years. He also took the sod out and we relocated it to a part of the yard that the grass burned up last year. If it rains that will root in great. If not, I will water it in tomorrow or the next day.

The new bed it going to be at least 100 sq feet and we hope to have a rain gathering area. There is a faucet on that side of the house as well so if I have to cheat and add water I will.

I also pruned some of the plants out front enough to propagate! I have not done that before but another local master gardener is a pro at it and has a blog. I'll add her information later.

After we spread the mulch (8 -10 inches) and pruned and restaked the taller plants it looked much better. Even cooler is that my salmon colored geraniums are blooming. If I watered them they would probibly be even better, but I don't like to water much in a drought. Maybe it is just me but I think you need to toughen them up so they get use to not having so much water. Our local Extension Agent said that makes them establish a better root system. I say it's not babying them.

Hope later in the week is just as pretty as today. I needed the boost more than my plants did.

You pick up the coolest tips!

2009-01-27T22:20:00.002-06:00

What I learned in master gardeners tonight was priceless...well, almost.

I love gingerbread. I love to use fresh ginger in beef recipes. It's a sinful taste...

Tonight we had a speaker on Gingers in your garden and the lady said you can take the Ginger "root" you buy at the grocery store and plant it. She suggested you lay in flat and cover it with about 1" of soil. I wouldn't plant it much deeper.

Apparently it grows and grows and grows and the "roots" (actually called ryzones) multiply pretty quickly!

We joked that there wouldn't be any ginger in any of the grocery stores around for quite some time as we are all going to try it.

Also, I love hosta's. I have seen them at the nursery's and are really pretty. This same speaker said they don't do real well in our semi-tropical climate but that there are varieties of gingers that are very similar and do.

Anyway I have a lot of shaded area to work this spring....and want to try some hosta's but know there is a substitute for them if they don't do well.

And now....I know I'll have a "ginger" theme in the Papillion Gardens.

Master Gardener in Training

2009-01-25T12:44:00.003-06:00

I love to mess around in my gardens...

And for several years I have wanted to go through a Texas Master Gardener program however, each time they held a class life got in the way. My daddy grew such beautiful gardens and he was an Aggie so I thought this would be the closest thing to being an Aggie that I could get...

In August 2008 there was a tenative class date and I worked to clear out all those little tasks that would get in the way and then.....they cancelled the class. So, I enrolled in Real Estate Classes and got my license instead.

Later in the fall there was another tenative class date set for January '09 and I paid my "tuition" telling the County Ag. Extension Agent that when I wrote the check he couldn't cancel the class. I guess it worked. We had our first class last Tuesday.

My husband also volunteered to video the classes..so I hope now he will be out there with me more than just moving heavy stuff or bringing front in loader piles of mulch for me....

Actually I appreciate his help moving stuff, turning ground for me, clearing out spots with his back hoe or front end loader, setting up watering systems....and we enjoy doing it together....

And I enjoy being out there, sun on my back, ipod playing good tunes, alone.

It's a great stress reliever.....