CONSIDERING A SPINNING CLOTHESLINE

We spent the long weekend tossing future ideas around, so I guess you can say that we were daydreaming and planning!

We don't have a washer at the farm.  Don't really need one at this time.  There is a space for one (where our utility sink is in the mudroom) so someday, we can definitely have one.  Or of course, I could buy a washboard tub and a wringer but 2nd Man proooobably won't go for that.  

But even without one, we are considering one of these:

Hills Rotary 7 Clothesline

Why you might ask?  Well the obvious of course, that sun dried laundry is amazing!  We're considering this part of the infrastructure for the future and we can store it in the barn when not in use.

We were talking this long weekend and what we'd like to do is occasionally take a freshly washed and still wet load of items to the farm when we go out one morning and let it dry while we are there.  I guess we'll have to time it juuuust right, ha.  

We thought about just a standard clothesline with poles at each end, but this, while more expensive, solves many issues we've have, namely being easy to take down and remove.  It also takes up less space in the yard.  That might seem odd with so many acres, but of course, we have to keep the clothesline close to the house.  We don't want it in the front yard, one side yard is shaded, the backyard we have other plans for, and so the other side is probably the best location.  It's gets full sun and a breeze (on breezy days).

Anyone have one of these types?  
Do you like line dried laundry?

MEMORIAL DAY 2016 AND MORE RAIN

Off to the farm today, mainly just to check on things, the house, the bees, the garden, the property in general.  It would be nice if I were able to mow but I'm thinking that even though it hasn't rained for two days, there was just so much Friday, I'll have to wait until NEXT weekend.

Welp, that didn't last long.  I had this post go up, with grand plans to head to the farm.  Checked the radar and guess what?  MORE $*%@ rain coming!

All of this is moving due East, heading this way.  In fact, it's already getting dark at the farm according to 2nd Family.  So, a wonderful three day weekend but plans foiled by rain and flooding.

Happy Memorial Day (the real reason for the long weekend) and a big thank you to all who serve and to those who have had family and friends who have made the ultimate sacrifice.  

You are all appreciated!

HERB SAVER FOR FRESH HERBS

Did some shopping yesterday, still can't get out to the farm today, roads around there flooded and the property is way too wet to do anything.  Going to head out tomorrow, if it doesn't rain again today (oh and for those asking, 2nd Family checked the bees and they are fine, so that's good!)

While we were out shopping, we found these:

Herb Saver

It's a clearance item...called the HERB SAVER.  You put water in the bottom portion, and then you pop open the clear portion and the cut herbs go inside.  Then you just put it in the fridge.  It's really nothing more than putting them in a glass of water but they do stay nice and neat inside and take up less room in the fridge.  Plus they look kind of cool, ha.

They actually rang up at $2.50 so we got both for $5.00.  It was a pretty good deal.  We would have bought a few more but they only had two left.

I found them on Amazon, click here herb saver, but of course they go for a bit more than our clearance price, ha.  

With the herbs growing at the farm, it will be a good way to make sure we keep our bounty fresh as we use it for cooking.

Today is "RACE DAY" in our household, we love NASCAR but like to watch the others from time to time and...

...first up, is the Indianapolis 500...the 100th.  Someday we want to go watch in person.  It's probably amazing to watch.

Then after that, the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600...however, that race is currently under delay threat as rain comes into the area from Tropical Storm Bonnie.

Hope you are having a great (and dry) weekend!

FLOODING IN PHOTOS

Here is how the flooding unfolded yesterday.  

Pretty incredible pictures, provided to us by 2nd Family...

Yesterday morning, "J" took this picture.  This is standing in our shared driveway (the end by their house) looking back at the road where we pull in...the rain from early Friday morning was heavy but it stopped...long enough to let her get out and take this photo.  

But it didn't stop for long...

It came back...with a vengeance.  About 1pm, this was their front yard (looking back toward where the first picture was taken).  

This was in the middle of the heavy rain...

By late afternoon, about 7" had fallen!  Back there (near the top of the photo) is the driveway we share with them...  

And here it is this morning after the rains ended about 10pm last night.  We told them it was beautiful...in a post apocalyptic "Waterworld" kind of way.

Even in the Jeep, we're not going to venture out there today.  The house is safe, it sits up high, and our end of the property is the high end, all of this water runs from our end down to their end and then on to the road and down the hill.  

Not any yard work getting done this long weekend.

UNBELIEVABLE

As I type this, in downtown of course, this is our view...we are seeing some of the most unbelievable lightning out the windows and the streets around the building are starting to flood...this long weekend is not shaping up to be what we had hoped.

Parts of the area have had 19" of rain...hail...lightning...and tornadoes.  

This is the radar image at 3pm, it's been like this almost all day long.  Still waiting to get in touch with 2nd Family, they are OK, got a message out, but have been without power and will send us pics as soon as they can.  Not sure when we'll make it to the farm.

BUTTERFLY FREEDOM, A POEM

Butterfly Freedom  © 2016

"Butterflies are free...

Free to be beautiful, as they fly on wings of stained glass art...shapes, colors and patterns that deny their caterpillar start.

Free to be lighter than air, as they fly to nature's every blooming flower...seeking only the sustenance to exist for yet another hour.

Free to just be, as they fly silently, fluttering and ever so gentle...moving through the sunlight like something transcendental.

 Yes indeed, butterflies are free."

                                                    - 1st Man

DIRECTIONAL SIGN POST, INSPIRATION THURSDAY

Every Thursday, we like to post a picture of something we've found online that inspires us to do something similar at the farm.  

Sort of our own blog bulletin board so that we can eventually look back and, hopefully anyway, recreate it...enjoy!

Today, it's a THREE picture post of inspiration.  Growing up, we were fans of the TV show MASH and they always had the iconic "sign post" showing how many miles it was to their hometowns.  Apparently it's a popular thing now, and we'd LOVE to do something like this on the farm.

So above is one done with actual cities and vacation destinations...and of course a liquor store, ha!!!

...this one is done with areas around a property with games, etc.  It would be fun to do with places around the farm, "garden", "barns", "chickens", "pond", "dewberry patch", "bees", etc.  (someday!)

Or, we could throw caution to the wind and do something like this awesome signpost, and put arrows pointing toward fantastical places from favorite books and movies. 

Be inspired!

GREEN CHILI CHICKEN ENCHILADAS RECIPE

Here is one of MY recipes and things I cook.  See, 2nd Man doesn't ALWAYS cook (though he loves it so much, why would I deny him his pleasure? ha!).  These are green chili chicken enchiladas and they really couldn't be easier...most of this is just play it by ear, personal preference amounts.

Shredded chicken (I use rotisserie to make it easier), cilantro, cream cheese and 1/2 cup of the green chili sauce (enough to make it mixable) and some diced onions (optional) and salt and pepper to taste. Mix all together in a bowl.

Take flour tortillas (leave out to come to room temperature so that they are soft and pliable).  Put a few TBSP of the mixture down the center and top with shredded cheese.  Continue until you have enough to fill up your baking pan.

Speaking of, in the bottom of your pan, spread about 1 cup of your green chili around, much as you would sauce in the bottom of a lasagna pan. 

Begin placing your filled enchiladas, seam side down, in the pan.

Our pan holds two rows of enchiladas, or ten total.  Your pan may vary.

Pour remaining green chili over the top of the enchiladas.  

On top of that, spread shredded cheese, I like to use Oaxacan cheese or Mexican melting cheese but you can use whatever is your favorite.

And for the crowning glory, pour some cream over the top of it all.  Hey, why not go out in a blaze of glory!

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven  for 30 minutes or until top is brown and bubbly.

Dish out and enjoy!  We add a dollop of sour cream and cilantro.  It's OH SO YUMMY!  These ingredients kind of vary in amount depending on how many you are making.  This would be for about 10 but again, you can make as few as you need just depending on the amount of chicken. I don't follow a recipe, I do it by what looks right as I'm mixing it.

INGREDIENTS:

The meat of one rotisserie chicken, removed from bones, shredded

8 oz of cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup chopped cilantro (plus a bit for garnishing)

1/2 cup diced onion

2 cups shredded cheese (we use Mexican blend of melting cheese)

4 cups green chili (we use an all natural in a jar called "Cookwell & Company")

1/2 cup cream

About a dozen flour tortillas

salt and pepper to taste

ENJOY!

THE GOATS ARE BACK

So when I was at the farm, I noticed the goats again.  

Here is a picture from farther away.

I wasn't sure if they were on our side or their side, but once I walked over...

...they were on their side.  Here they are as I got closer, and put my camera over the fence.  They were a bit camera shy and walked away to watch me from a distance.

Then this one came over to look a bit closer...

...and then these two just stared at me...

Four Goats

...until they were joined by the other two.  So now we know, I see four goats on the other side of the fence.  I couldn't tell if they were just curious to see me or were plotting their next incursion onto our side of the property...

Goats seem to be kind of crafty and devious...

GARDEN PROGRESS

So I went to the farm Saturday before the graduation ceremony to check on things after the storms of last week.  Here is a picture of the garden.  

The first thing I wanted to check was the weed block fabric, did it stay down in the windy storms?  Yep!  Perfect!  We love the stuff!  No weeds and it's still down and tight.  Secondly, I wanted to check the straw that was put down last weekend in the raised beds.  Didn't lose any of it (nothing noticeable anyway).  It has a special all natural "tack" to keep it from blowing or washing away any and it worked exactly like it was supposed to!  I'll be picking up some more "bales in a bag".

Tomatoes in raised bed

The tomatoes are growing like crazy.  Look at this, they are almost double in size since last week!  Regular rain kept them growing well. 

Raised bed with herbs

The herb bed is doing great and I decided to add two more.  I added Thai Basil and Lemon Thyme.  It was easy to just pull the straw out of the way, dig a hole, put the plants in, and cover them back up.  

Not sure if I had mentioned it, but we lost our Rosemary plant last year.  Not sure why, but it died and it was so big and wiry, I figured it was time to just start fresh.  So I planted one in this large clay pot on the porch.  It's called "Barbecue Rosemary", supposed to be very hardy and easy to grow.  

We'll soon see!

And best of all, all the Texas Lilac Vitex along the driveway are in full bloom.  Slow growing, but hey, they are still growing and blooming out, we'll take it!  

As I was leaving though, the clouds got darker and darker and sure enough, we had another downpour...about an inch of rain. 

ANOTHER GRADUATION

We're off to another graduation.  

2nd Man's nephew Jake has graduated from high school! YAY!

We're so proud of him, he has worked hard and earned it.  

For those curious, the image above is a rugby ball, Jake is a great player (he played several seasons on his school's rugby team) and loves the game.

Hope you are having a great weekend!  

More tonight when we get back!

BACON SEEDS

Thank you Colleen...  :-)

Oh how we love bacon...

WET WEEK BUSY WEEKEND

But won't be there long, have family commitments later this afternoon and tomorrow.  But I do need to go to check on things, check the garden, and see how things fared this week as there was a lot of rain... 

This was Thursday at noon...the red dot is the farm.  In town, most of the heavy stuff went to the South of us so no flooding, thankfully.

"J" from 2nd Family texted this picture to us.  This is their front yard which, all the way in the rear of the picture, is also part or our driveway.  LOTS of rain.  She said about 4" this week.  

No mowing this weekend!  BOO!

But after all the rain this week, when we got home from work, saw this rainbow over the city.  I love seeing rainbows in the sky, they just always seem so magical don't they?

Hope your weekend is off to a great start!