VALENTINES DAY AT THE FARM

2nd Man has had to work the last couple of days while I was off and at the farm so he missed out on all the excitement...

Isn't it funny how the colors of red and white are so closely associated with Valentine's Day?  We have some red and white at the farm now too...

I know everyone is curious to see what's been going on, I've just been getting back to the computer late in the evening so haven't had much time to get online.  Updates are coming, we promise (and I'll catch up on comments).  Tomorrow will be a good day to stay in and rest up for the upcoming back to work week.  Hope you all have a wonderful Valentines Day!

BOOK GIVEAWAY WINNER IS...

Thanks to everyone for entering... 

The winner of the book giveaway is:

CONGRATULATIONS!

Leigh -  From her awesome blog 5 Acres and a Dream

We just need you to email us (use the "email me" button on the sidebar) and let us know the address to send it to.

We love doing these but we hate when not everyone can win.  Thanks for always leaving such kind comments.  There will be another one coming soon!

COMING SOON PART TWO

TGIF!

Off again today at the farm...

...dealing with whatever this will end up being?

Have a great day!

COMING SOON, INSPIRATION THURSDAY

Hmm...what is this?

(other than a good use of some of our random bricks, LOL)

Because of whatever this is, I will be away from the computer all day today and possibly Friday.  Taking a couple days off work to be at the farm.

Red Barn, image courtesy of Southernliving.com

 Until I return, and since today is Inspiration Thursday after all, here are a couple of pictures for your viewing pleasure.  

Red Barn, image courtesy of Southernliving.com

Aren't red barns and out buildings so cool looking?  
Just so traditionally American farm looking.  

P.S.  We'll post the book giveaway winner tomorrow!

Be inspired!

CREAMY CRUSTENE

A very dear friend of mine found this while helping clean out a home for an estate sale.  He snapped a picture, sent it to me and said "here, use this on your blog and ask people about it, make it a conversation starter".

Creamy Crustene Shortening Can

So I did and I am!  I'm looking at it and seeing that it was an 8 lb can of all-vegetable shortening from the Wesson company.  Anyone ever heard of this brand?  If it was used perhaps only in baking or maybe for something else?  It's a great can and makes us wonder about products that were around once upon a time but have been forgotten over time. 

 Ironically, 2nd Man and I were talking about decorating the kitchen at the farm with old cans just like this.  They are usually so vibrant and colorful and make great places to store new things.  In a small house, something decorative AND storage related is always welcome.  I always keep an eye out at thrift stores but sadly, I think a lot of things like this end up getting thrown away as trash.

I wish we could make the estate sale and pick it up, ha.

CRESTED CARACARA AKA MEXICAN EAGLE

Saw this beauty on a tree far away.  

Couldn't really tell what it was at first...

So I pulled out the telephoto lens for my camera and captured the closeup below.  It's funny, with its legs on the branch, it almost looked fake at first, like it was propped up there.

Closeup of Crested Caracara or Mexican Eagle

I would not want to mess with those talons though.  Yikes! 
It is the Southern Crested Caracara, also called the Mexican Eagle.  You can CLICK HERE to learn more about it.  After a few photos, it flew away...

Crested Caracara in flight

...but wow, what a majestic bird it was in flight.  It spent the better part of the afternoon gliding and soaring overhead.  We enjoy sharing our property with all the wonderful wildlife we have around this part of the state, except maybe for a few of the creepy crawlies, LOL!

NO LITTERING

Some people are just pigs slobs (being nice to pigs)...

This is a small section of the front of our property off the main road...

I saw this as we drove by and thought WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?  

I got on the mower and rode back up there to see it, this is what I found.  

Bags of trash, an old TV (!), a broken chair...

...a fertilizer spreader of some sort, bags of aluminum cans, a round wooden table, and of course a trash can...with that last item, I suppose the irony was lost on them, but not on us.

In honor of last night's premiere of The Walking Dead, what about this?  

Do you suppose this kind of sign would deter them?  Nah, it would probably just make them dump the stuff and run faster, ha.

So we got on Amazon and ordered several "No Littering / No Dumping" signs, and even one stating that the area is "Under Surveillance".  They are metal and reflective so hopefully that will work.  They haven't arrived yet, but should be here by next weekend   Of course, we do need to get the front cleared out a bit and then put a nice new fence all along the the property edge, but that's going to be quite expensive and thus, a year or two away on our 'to do' list.  

We hope in the meantime, the signs will show people that this IS someone's property, but it still saddens us that some people are just lazy pigs.  

RANDOM WEEKEND UPDATE

When we got to the farm on Saturday morning, it was 54 degrees inside the house.  Considering the overnight low was in the 30's, that was relatively warm.  Of course, with the daytime high heading into the 70's, it was still a good day to open all the windows.

I explored some of the property on Saturday, finding this old mesquite that I hadn't ever gotten close to.  When the Winter freezes push vegetation back to dormancy, it's always a good time to go exploring. Mesquites are usually spindly and not very large...this one has to be decades old. 

Remember the photo that startled me a few weeks ago HERE?  Several of you asked what it ended up being and this is it...just an old branch that had fallen out of the tree.  Boring!

The garden cart had been leaning up against the house but I guess it somehow had fallen back down into regular position.  It was on the edge of the house, where there is no gutter and so all of this water came off one corner of the roof in the middle of the rain we had.  This has reminded us that we want to have some sort of rain harvesting system in place this year. We hope to do something similar to what Leigh did over at 

5 Acres and a Dream.

Today I got to spend time on the Zen Machine.  Yep, had to mow!  In February!

Here is the driveway after...a lot of the green is some sort of clover, but hey, it's green, we'll take it this time of year.  As you can see, the trees are still mostly bare...but we have a feeling Spring is just around the corner.

Hope you had a great weekend!  Don't forget, giveaway ends tonight and midnight (Central Standard Time).

MAKE IT DO, VINTAGE POSTER SUNDAY

Use it up and Make it Do, vintage poster image courtesy of NY Public Library

I'm glad there is a description of what's going on, because honestly, I would wonder what was going on in this vintage poster image, LOL.  

It's from WWII and asked people to make it do, by repairing worn out clothing instead of,buying new...all because 'our labor and our goods are fighting'.  I'm guessing though, it might be easier to take it off your body first, ha!

Good weekend here, nice weather and getting some things done.  More later.  And don't forget, the book giveaway ends tonight!

OFF TO THE FARM THIS WEEKEND

Off to the farm today...it was another week of cold and rain, but thankfully the entire weekend is supposed to be nice...for a change.

Not much to look at in the Winter

It was cold in the morning (upper 30's when we woke up) but it will be in the mid 70's by the afternoon!

Let's see what we can get knocked off the list this weekend.  

Hope you all have a great weekend!  Oh and don't forget to enter the book giveaway that ends tomorrow (Sunday) night.  Link is over on the sidebar.

WHAT TO DO WITH EXTRA BRICKS

Pile of bricks

We asked this question early on in the blog and now that we have more readers and followers, I thought I'd ask again.  When "Ma" owned the property prior to us, she had several piles of bricks around.  The one above was a brick fire pit of some sort that she started to make but it never really made it to fruition.  Below is a stack of bricks I found under a tree and gathered them all together.  

Bricks in a wheelbarrow

There aren't really enough to make something like a brick patio or a brick pathway and lets face it, with eleven acres, a path wouldn't go very far, LOL.  We've gotten them all into a pile (more or less), but just can't bear to dispose of them.  While most are intact, there are some broken ones too.  It sure seems like we could do something neat with them but we're not sure what.

So, does anyone have any suggested uses for old bricks?

COOL CAT, FELINE FRIDAY

Big Lou, the Sexy Cat

This is Louis...he is an occasional visitor to our back yard in town.  We feed him when he does show up.  Fortunately, we were able to capture him and had him neutered (to do the right thing), but he's still pretty feral and won't let us pet him.  It's sad because he's so pretty and kinda sexy (as cats go).  

He always has this 'cool vibe' look about him and he's a beautiful color too.  He even looks like his fur would be so soft but alas, we may never know. 

He's not an Australia name because the neighbor across the street named him.  She liked the name Louis and he gets called Big Lou most of the time. 

More later today!

HEXAGONAL GREENHOUSE, INSPIRATION THURSDAY

Hexagonal Greenhouse, image courtesy of Sunsetliving.com

A greenhouse is definitely on our list for 'someday'.  Of course, a large, standard shaped greenhouse would be the best (and most practical) choice but there is just an attractive nature about this design.  As compact and small greenhouses go, this one is definitely different.  I guess you could say there is something utterly charming about the design.  

It would be nice to have a few scattered around the property wouldn't it?  One for flowers, maybe one for a few veggies or herbs, ha.  I'm sure that would be cost prohibitive but we can dream right?  We will get a regular greenhouse at some point, we even know where we want to put it.  But that will be on 2016's list, there are several big expenses we're dealing with for this season.

Be inspired!

SIX POINT STAR AFGHAN

OK, I know a lot of you out there like to crochet, knit, quilt, etc and so I just had to share this latest thrift store find.

It's one of those thrift stores where items have one price through one date, then if it's still there on another date, the price drops.  Then it drops again a couple weeks after that.  You can see what the date is on the price tag.  I saw this one day, on a Friday, and it was $24.00.  But after Sunday it would drop to $12.00.  I decided to take my chances and go on Monday at lunch.  It was still there!

SCORE!

Six point star crocheted afghan

This looks like a six pointed star quilt (I believe that's what this design is called?).  In fact, when I saw it on the rack from a distance, that's what I though it was.  Instead, I realized it was a crocheted afghan.  It was folded up and hanging on four hangers side by side to support the weight.  It's HUGE.  

This is on the queen size bed at the farm, and it hangs off the sides. 

Large afghan

...and it's folded in half!  

We're guessing it's actually king sized.

Afghan closeup

Here is a closeup of the crochet detail.  It is made up of so many different colors too, we can only imagine that it was a tremendous amount of work for the person doing it.  It had been hanging there on the rack for almost three weeks before I first saw it and no one wanted it.  There was just no way when I saw it that I could have taken the chance that it didn't make it to a good home...and that home is ours at the farm!

  We zipped it up into a bag that a comforter once came in (we save those bags) and put it up on the shelf in the closet.  That will keep it safe until we use it.

Anyone have any info on this style of afghan?

And don't forget to enter the book giveaway, click HERE.

THE NEIGHBORS HAVE SHEEP

When we were at the farm this weekend, I was roaming around, like I often do, and heard some noise on the property next to us.  I looked over and saw these beauties!  The neighbors had these newest additions to their farm.  

You know me, I just had to rush over and snap a picture or two.  

Nubian Goats Barbados Sheep

They were curious but cautious and so I couldn't get them to come to the fence line for a closer picture.  They sure were pretty though.  We love that we can see livestock from our porch and yard.  It's nice to look over and see them grazing in the pasture.  

We get to have the view without all the hard work that I'm sure is involved.  

These are called Nubian goats Barbados Sheep...

(hat tip to commenters below for correcting me!)

Click HERE to learn a little more about them. (thanks Colleen)

And don't forget to enter the book giveaway, click HERE.

CLEANING THE PORCH

With supposedly just one day of nice weather this weekend, (Sunday ended up staying dry and warm after all) we decided that Saturday would be porch cleaning day at the farm.  

Another thing checked off THE LIST for 2015 projects.

We took everything off the porch and put it in the yard.  I hosed it all off and then swept the porch.  Then we stood back to figure out what goes where.  

So we had this blank space...

Porch blank space

...and a while back, we found this small stand/table on clearance at the local big box hardware store.  It's made for outside use and has tiles that fit in the top.  It actually looks like a sideboard.  There is a rack for wine glasses on the left side and wine bottles on the right and then a large middle shelf.  On the bottom is a bin of some sort, but we're not sure what to use it for.  

Hampton Bay outdoor table

So I cleaned it all up and we put it in the empty spot...

It fit perfectly and it looks great!  

I put a cast iron candle holder and a couple other things on top and then put the clay pots on either side.  I need to figure out what to plant in them that won't have to watered on a daily basis (or maybe use one of those things that stick in a pot and provide dripping water for a few days).  It will also have to be shade tolerant.  Either way, we are happy that's it's looking less cluttered and more clean and organized. 

Porch with rockers

We even washed and cleaned up the rockers, though since they came with the house, they might need to be replaced at some point.  They are old and very used and while they may look good in a photo, the paint is starting to peel and they have some loose wood in places.  For now though, they'll work fine.  

And the porch looks better.

I forgot to get a photo of the other end, but it's more or less empty and ready for some more furniture.  Our porch is 36' long and 10' deep with all of it fully covered.  There is another blank space between two kitchen windows where we are thinking of some sort of armoire that could store outside stuff.  

For those with porches, any "must have" suggestions?

PRODUCE FOOD, VINTAGE POSTER SUNDAY

This poster is from WWII.  The Victory Garden campaign aimed to get people growing gardens at home.  There was also a Victory Farm programs which recruited teens to work on larger farms that generated more food for more people. This poster was placed in schools, asking young people to ask their Scout Master about being a volunteer on a Victory Farm.  

Love the tag line "Do Work That Counts!"

That makes me wonder, do the Boy Scouts today do any sort of gardening badge?  I would hope so.  It would be so neat if more schools taught gardening to young kids.

Rain is coming today, staying in town and getting some things done here and of course tonight is the Superbowl.  

Yesterday was a good day at the farm, updates later!

Superbowl Sunday!

GARDENERS WEATHER BIBLE BOOK GIVEAWAY (ENDED)

It's time for a giveaway!
Enter once in comments below, giveaway ends ended Sunday, February 8, at 11:59pm.

Gardener's Weather Bible by Sally Roth

Found this book at a used book store recently and picked up two copies, one for our library at the farm and a copy to give away.  

Here is the Amazon link if you'd like to more information on the book:

The Gardener's Weather Bible: How to Predict and Prepare for Garden Success in Any Kind of Weather

The book is by author Sally Roth.  It includes great tips on how to use the weather to your advantage in the garden year round and learn how weather affects everything.  For example, when to protect from frost and when not to worry about it...learn how to listen to bird songs for upcoming weather...even how plants can help predict the weather.

As always (and for those new to the blog) the rules are as follows:

We'd like you to be a friend of the farm" (we love having followers) but that's not required.  Please leave a comment here on this thread letting us know that you want to be entered.  Remember, be sure your name or your user name is on your comment so that we can have something to write down on the slips of paper when we have the drawing.

The contest will run for one week, until 11:59pm, next Sunday night, the end of the weekend.  At that time, we'll randomly pick one winner, post the results  and the winner will need to email us with their shipping address at that time.  

We'll ship your book directly to you within a few days.

Sorry, due to overseas shipping cost of such a heavy book, giveaway is only open to US and Canada residents.

One entry per person.

Thanks and good luck!

(leave your request below, we don't reply to the comments here so we can just have a list of the names entered)

CONTEST HAS NOW ENDED, WINNER ANNOUNCED THIS WEEK

RANDOM FRIDAY MUSINGS

Astrodome in Houston, TX

Recently, we went to an event that was near the Astrodome.  I always love seeing this old stadium, often dubbed the Eighth Wonder of the World.  There is a lot of controversy here in Houston about whether to tear it down or turn it into something else (they built a larger, new stadium next to it about 10 years ago).  Call us nostalgic, but we vote for turning it into something else.  One option discussed is a gigantic indoor park with gardens.  That would be really cool.

Tonka Truck for real

 No, we didn't buy a truck but how neat is this Ford F150 special conversion?  It's a real life Tonka Truck!  While it would be awesome as a farm truck, alas the price tag limits THAT idea!

I always like seeing plant arrangements in displays and parking lot planting areas.  These were colorful and pretty in the middle of January.

For those who remember dear, sweet Granny, over at Annie's Kitchen Garden, her daughter Amy has posted an update on the family and how they've been doing since Granny's passing.  Click HERE to read the update on her beautiful family.  Granny is still missed in the garden blogging world.  

While we've enjoyed unseasonably warm weather of late (almost 80 the other day!), cold weather is coming back...and along with that, rain.  Saturday is supposed to be nice(ish) but then Sunday is 80% chance of rain.

COUCH SLEEPING, FELINE FRIDAY

Back of couch sleeping 

Sometimes we wonder, do cats just roam around until they can't hold their eyes open any longer and then just go to sleep wherever they happen to be?  

Sometimes they can find the most interesting places.  This is Hobart sleeping on the back of a small couch we used to have.  It was a pretty steep incline...and not very comfortable, which is why we got rid of it, but I digress.  Somehow though, he made it work.  I think he might be cheating though, the other front leg is hooked in with claws on the back side, ha.  

More later this afternoon!