INSPIRATION THURSDAY, RUSTIC FARM CHICKEN COOP

This picture was one of the first I saved when I started looking at stuff for a "future farm" a couple of years ago.  I have no idea where it came from but I just remember looking at chicken coop pictures and when I saw this one I remember going "oh, yeah, that's awesome!"

Is it a fancy new one?  No.  But still I'm drawn to it.  It's probably the rustic older nature of it, the trees, the green grass and of course watching all those hens happily grazing on that green grass and imagining the dozens of eggs per weeks that they produce.  This is sort of what I imagine in my head when I think of what we can do on the side of the property by a large tree

(where I posted the planning stuff a couple of weeks ago).

OK, blog day off today so I'll be right back here tomorrow morning.  In the meantime, enjoy your day!

SOME BRIGHT FLOWERS TO FIGHT THE GLOOM

Rain, rain and more rain.  It has rained every day now for almost two weeks. 

At the farm the other day, I spotted these "rays of sunshine" that popped up in the field near the front of the property and so I braved the squishy, saturated  ground to snap a picture.  It's amazing what pops up just in the middle of nothing.  One week just dirt and a few sprigs of green, and the next week, this.


Enjoy!

CHRISTINE HA THE BLIND COOK HOUSTON MASTERCHEF CONTESTANT

I'm not sure how many of you are watching, but this season of the FOX TV show MasterChef has been great.  One of the standout reasons to watch is a local favorite of ours, fellow Houstonian Christine Ha.

MasterChef, courtesy of FOX TV

She is very talented, genuine and kind and she is an awesome inspiration to everyone.  Why is she such an inspiration?  She is legally blind!  Yes, blind.  She suffers from a degenerative condition that is called  Neuromyelitis Optica and has gradually lost her vision over a period of years.  But that diagnosis didn't and hasn't stopped her from living her life to the fullest.  That means she's not just a nice "feel good story" for the show's backstory, she really is a valid contender and potential winner that we hope goes all the way. 

We are continually amazed as week after week she competes with the other home cooks to win the coveted title of MasterChef, which also includes a cookbook deal.  She certainly doesn't let her limitation hold her back and quite the contrary, she fights even harder to overcome it, winning several challenges, and being team leader as well.  She does things with food I couldn't hope to do, and I'm sighted.  It's really nice to see that the judges don't give her any special treatment (and something tells me she wouldn't let them anyway).  She's expected to do the same thing that everyone else in the competition is doing and she does it with grace and determination.  We will even admit to shedding a tear or two as she pushes herself to the limit in every episode.  Does she win every time?  No.  In fact, she has ended up in the bottom group a number of times (last night to be one of them) but she always takes her criticism from the judges, learns from it and comes back better the next week.

To me, it's just fascinating to see her in action while cooking in the kitchen.  It doesn't matter what, chopping, slicing, frying, baking, she does it all.  In recent interviews, she has explained that her other senses have come to help her in cooking in ways you wouldn't expect.  For example, she listens for the sound of water sizzling in a hot pan to know when it's ready. The smell of garlic in time to catch it before it becomes bitter.  The feel of meat to know what temperature and doneness level it's at.

Christine Ha, courtesy of The Blind Cook

I think that is one of the things that appeals to us about her; she's a breath of fresh air in the world of "reality television".  She is humble and genuine and truly an inspiration to everyone, sighted or not.

Her 'about me' quote on her homepage says it all...

"feeling my way through food, tasting my way through life".

You go Christine, we're with you all the way!

1st Man and 2nd Man are firmly TEAM CHRISTINE!

Please click here to visit her blog The Blind Cook

LET SLEEPING CATS LIE

Brisbane the sleeping cat

It's hard to make the bed when there is a cat sleeping in the middle of it.
Just like he owns the place!

This is Brisbane, our second oldest cat (he's 11).  I got up early, did some things around the house before work, then went back to make the bed and there he was, just as happy and content as could be.

I mean who could wake up that sleeping baby?  And, really, do I need a better reason NOT to make the bed?  Nope!


Sweet dreams Brisbane!

WATER WATER EVERYWHERE

Drove to the farm to check things out after our record rains over the last week...

Nope, can't go this way, the road was closed...

Or this way, a tree had fallen across this road and they were cutting it up...

Or this way, another flooded back road...

But finally I took the back way and got there, no problems at all on those roads.  Once I got to the farm, it was all OK, no roof leaks, no flooding, just lots of water in the usual low lying spots.  This is near Barnabas the party tree, about 4 inches deep.  It will drain pretty quickly, but for now, no mowing and not much walking around either.


At least I was able to get out there and everything was fine.  So many other homes in the Houston area have had some flooding, we must be grateful for everything being OK for us.

A SPECIAL GIFT

This is a new addition to the farm, a wonderful little blue and white ceramic trinket box.  It's so pretty, it's a white background with a blue floral design on it that even matches the colors of the dresser knobs we recently purchased.

When you take it apart, you have a nice little place to put something.  We put it on the new 'blue' dresser, so it will have a special place.  The reason?  This was sent to us by a "friend of the blog"!  Such a thoughtful gesture.

A big thank you to our new friend!

THRIFT STORE FINDS

Here are some thrift store finds.  Recently, I was meeting some friends for dinner and on the way over there, I hit a few thrift stores in the area.

First up, a pair of cast iron wall sconces.  It's hard to tell in the picture but they are in a distressed white finish, kind of shabby chic.  They will be perfect in the guest room, as is.  No painting necessary.  $2.00 each.

Next up was another one of those terracotta clay wine coolers.  I figured we might want to have more than one bottle cooling at a time, and it almost matches the other one so it's ours now.  99 cents.

Then I found a cool little glass dish, not sure what I'll put in it or use it for, but I liked the style and now we own it.  79 cents.

Lastly, the "big" purchase of the day, this ceramic luminary, in the design of a basket with flowers.  You put a candle in the back (tealight) and then it glows through the holes that are all over it.  It's really beautiful when it is lit up.  It will be perfect in the guest room since flowers are the theme in there.  $3.50


Less than $10.00, can't beat that!  I love a bargain!

VINTAGE POSTER SUNDAY, HELP SCOTLAND'S HARVEST

Help Scotland's Harvest poster, courtesy of: www.west-dunbarton.gov.uk

Here is a neat poster I found online at an archive.  It was related to Britain's "Dig For Victory' campaign during WWII.  Of course it was urging citizens to help with Scotland's wheat harvest.

Naturally this helped to feed the troops that were away, but with so many men off serving in the war, help was also needed at home to harvest it all.

It would be nice to offer a way for citizen's today to help, but I'm sure the legal/corporate/privacy/whatever laws today would prevent that, ha.

As per usual, feel free to click on the 'history' label below and you can see all previous posters.  Hope you are a having a good weekend!

WET WEATHER UPDATE

What a week we've had down here!  Rain, rain, and more rain.

A few crazy weather stats for our neck of the woods:

11"+ at the farm over the last 6 days.

5 1/2" in one day.

18" total in parts of the Houston area.

We haven't had this kind of rain event in over 2 years.

We've had more rainfall in the last week than in all of last year.

We've had a week of temps in the 80's and in 2011, only one time did we get into the 80's during all of June, July, August AND September combined.


Look at this below.  It's an image from the NWS showing the rainfall totals.  The bar on the side shows rainfall in inches by colors.  The farm is in one of the dark red colors.  Notice the pink/purple areas?  That's 16"-18" of rain in 4 days!

4 Day rainfall totals for SE Texas: Courtesy of National Weather Service

Thankfully, there is no flooding at the farm (other than standing water in some low spots in the yard), but there is some major flooding around Houston and sadly, homes have been flooded.  It's good that the farm property sits high up and is not near any stream or river or bayou so never really a worry about it flooding.  There have been times in the past when 2nd Family said the farm was cut off from the major roads for a few days with high water on surrounding roads, all the more reason to be as self sufficient as possible in the future.  Our thoughts though are with those who've had flooded homes in our area.

On top of all this crazy, wet weather, this has been my first full week at my new job.  I'm loving it, it's the same industry, just a new office.  It's always hard fitting into a new dynamic of people who've been together for years, but I've been told that I'm "loved" by everyone so that makes me feel good.  

More rain in the forecast tomorrow, so I'm not sure I'll make it out to the farm to mow, but I will go to check on things, make sure there are no leaks, etc.  I'm also going to try to catch up on all of the comments you've been kind enough to leave.  Hope you're having a great weekend doing what you enjoy!

SEEDS OF THE MONTH

It's that time again, my Seeds of the Month package arrived in the mail today!

So, without further ado, here are my four seed packets for this month:

Winter Squash, "Spaghetti"

Lettuce, "Black Seeded Simpson"

Beets, "Ruby Queen"

and

Salsify, "Mammoth Sandwich Island"

I know about spaghetti squash, and of course lettuce and beets, but I will confess to not knowing a THING about salsify??  What is it?  When does it get planted?  What does it taste like?

I know, I know, I could just google it, but that's what I love about this blog and all my great readers, you all have firsthand experience with some of these things and I like the personal stories.  They mean more to me than some random website I can find info on.

So please do share your knowledge and experience, on the salsify, or any of those other varieties of seeds that I received.  I've never grown spaghetti squash, does winter squash mean it's grown in Fall/Winter?  I know the lettuce and beets will have to wait until next Spring, so for now I need to start thinking about my next gardening "season".

A PLAY ON WORDS, FRIDAY FUNNY

Photo courtesy of a random Facebook find

I just couldn't resist this one.  Do you know what this is a picture of?

Why, it's a Shrimp on the Barbie!

LOL!!!!!!!   I thought this was hilarious when a friend sent it to me and it made me laugh so much, I HAD to share.  Even if it makes you groan, you have to admit, it's pretty clever. 

INSPIRATION THURSDAY, FENCE WITH FLOWERS

Photo courtesy of: www.gardenguides.com

OK, this week has been a washout.  Rain EVERY single day.  Sat, Sun, Mon, Tue, and yesterday...and guess what?  It's raining again today!  Don't get me wrong, we love the rain for everything it does for the yards, the aquifers, the gardens, even the temperature, but dang if it's not downright gloomy at times.  If we were at the farm full time, I might think differently, but work, rain, work, rain?

I needed something that makes me smile and this does.  You know I love flowers and fences and this is the best of both of those.  It is a perennial flower bed, against an awesome split rail fence.  It makes me want that fence, really bad, but that can come later.  That's why I save these pictures, to remind me later of the things/features/plants/ideas I want to do out there.  As 2nd Man always reminds me, when my eyes get bigger than our backs and/or wallets, it's a marathon, not a race.

Have a great day and see you back here tomorrow and I'll catch up on all the comments you've all been so kind to leave the last few days.

CURTAIN RODS ARE FINALLY UP

Curtain rod is up in the kitchen

Spent the rainy days this past weekend putting up all of the curtain rods.  We opted for these simple "cafe style" rods that are expandable to a range of sizes.  They are simple, retro looking, inexpensive and easy to put up.

I should back up, yes they are easy to install, in the end, after you've made all the right measurements.  First you have to make sure that they are level.  Then  when you have several next to each other on a row of windows, as in the dining room below for example, they must all be at the same height so that it looks uniform.  It's a lot of time on a ladder with a tape measure and arms above your head so needless to say, my shoulders were sore the last couple of days.

We chose a brown metal color, I believe it's called "oil rubbed bronze", and used them on all of the windows.  This keeps a uniform look throughout the house.  We have 15 windows that I put them on. There are two more smaller windows, above the kitchen sink and in the bathroom, we'll do something different on those.  Next step, find the right curtains!

Curtain rods in the dining room

JAPANESE EGGPLANT HARVEST TUESDAY

Japanese eggplants growing

OK, I know yesterday was "Harvest Monday" around the blogosphere, but it wasn't until I came home and realized there were things to harvest!  Must be all the rain that they are loving.  It's just one veggie type but since they were grown from seedlings, it's a great payback.


These are our Japanese (or Asian) Eggplants.  We currently have two plants growing and they have been VERY productive.  As you can see above, they are covered in eggplants of various stages, from blooms to small, medium and large.  Below is the harvest that I gathered.  We usually use them diced up with some other veggies like onions and peppers and mixed into scrambled eggs or maybe into a pasta sauce.  But that's when we have one or two.  With this many, we are thinking fried eggplant will be on the menu one night this week.  Do any of you have lots of eggplants and maybe a favorite way to use them?


I'm thinking we'll be having a lot more before the season is over and we'll need some more ideas!

Japanese eggplants

JOHN DEERE PAINT, WHO KNEW?

John Deere Rustoleum spray paint

It's funny how you can see something a hundred times, but not really "SEE" it, if that makes sense.  Case in point, this paint.  I've been in the paint section dozens of times over the years, buying spray paint of all different types.  Until I ended up owning a John Deere product, I never saw these paint colors on the shelf.  So recently, when I was choosing paint for the mirrors/dresser, I saw these.

I love how the can only says "specialty farm equipment", with a generic picture of a tractor that looks vaguely familiar.  We all know what they mean!  Then I noticed that the price tag on the shelf has the colors listed as

"John Deere Green/Yellow".

At least if I ever need some, I'll know where to get it.

Who knows, maybe I'll paint a mirror in "John Deere Green"! LOL!

John Deere Mower Big Green Zen Machine

LONG TERM SEED STORAGE VAULT SOLUTION, DIY

Recently, I received a gift of seeds.  In preparation for our garden, I need to store them for the time being (as I'll be getting more each month). With the help of your comments and some online research, I found that the 3 most important things are dry, cool, and dark.  I was roaming around in the store the other day and came up with this idea. A one gallon paint bucket (inexpensive at any hardware store), a bag of "Silica Gel" (already had that) and a small flow thru bag of some kind.

Pour some of the silica gel (they are granules) into a bag of some sort.  You could use an old sock, pantyhose, mesh, whatever will hold it in but still allow air to flow through it so that it will do its "moisture absorbing magic".  I used a small muslin bag leftover from a craft project and just tied the bag at the top with some string.

Drop the silica gel filled bag inside the can and that's it. Believe it or not, you are done with the hardest part, LOL.  As you can see, it's very dark inside, so light won't be a problem and with the silica gel, moisture won't be an issue either.  As long as you keep the can in a cool place, you'll have all three things taken care of.

Then just put your seeds inside around the bag, pop the top on and you're good to go.  You'd be surprised how many seed packets you can fit inside a one gallon can.  I would guess it will hold dozens of packets, as neat or as disorganized as you desire.

VOILA!

Seed storage container ready for placement in a cool place.  I haven't labeled this yet but I will.  I was thinking that there could be multiple cans, maybe "vegetable seeds" or "flower seeds"...just divide them up as you see fit and depending on how many packets you have. Heck, you could even sort them by year or maybe store bought vs hand collected or even heirloom.  Another upside?  Pretty storage in your pantry!
Best part of all?
Cool.
Dark.
Dry.

Why save seeds?  Having a farm, or at least a plot of land you can grow on, means that you know you will always be able to provide food for you and your family, even friends and neighbors if necessary.  Part of that is planting the seeds of vegetables and fruits and whatever else you might need to grow and having those seeds in storage could be like having money in the bank...a seed bank!

The one thing we've always wanted to be out there, ultimately of course, is to be self sufficient.  There are many reasons to do this;

It's cheaper to grow your own...

It's healthier and of course better for you...

It's fun to share your bounty with other people...

It tastes AMAZING when compared to store bought...

In these occasionally/often uncertain times, it's a nice way to make sure you are protected against things that could happen.  There could be natural disasters, food shortages, economic problems, disasters that are man made, you just never know.  There is even the ever present potential zombie apocalypse, LOL.


Seriously though, it can't hurt to buy some seeds (non hybrid/non GMO) and store them away. I'm not sure how long these will stay viable, but I've given them the best shot and I'll keep adding to them as I harvest next year's crop, saving some seeds from what we grow for the following year and repeating it every year thereafter.  We never know when we might need them!

THIS WEEKEND WAS A WASH OUT

Dark skies coming again

Well, it wasn't a total loss for everyone here...we need the rain of course and we have had a nice "cool" respite from the oppressive heat.

As far as working outside though, nope, zilch, nada.  We were stuck inside ALL weekend.  We went to the farm on Saturday and got some stuff done inside, cleaning, rearranging, hanging some pictures and curtain rods, etc, but when the rain just got too heavy, we decided to head back into Houston in case the roads got crazy.  We were going to go back out today, but woke up to more dark skies and sure enough, steady rain again all day long.  So we decided to stay in town and get some stuff done around the house that we've neglected the last few weekends.  All in all it was a relaxing weekend.  Of course, now I'm just imagining how tall the grass will be next weekend!  I think I'll take pictures before I start mowing, so you can see how crazy it is.

Hope your weekend was productive, or relaxing, or fun, or cool, or whatever makes you happy!

VINTAGE POSTER SUNDAY, FARMING HOLIDAY CAMP

Farming Holiday Camp poster, courtesy of: Imperial War Museum

Here is poster from WWII courtesy of our British friends.  They were big on getting children involved in gardening and food production during the war effort.  I don't have any details on the actual farming camp they asked kids to attend but I love the slogan they used.  "Lend a hand on the land".  Very nice.  The design of the image is pretty neat too.

I'm not sure how many kids today might like a "farming camp" but hey, it would be worth a try wouldn't it?  Perhaps calling it a "gardening camp" would be more appealing?  Heck, if they had them for adults, I'd sign up tomorrow! 

As always, you can click on "history" and see all the vintage posters I've found online and posted info about.  I don't own these posters but I enjoy the search in "finding" more online and sharing them with you!

RAIN RAIN AGAIN BUT I WON'T COMPLAIN

Image courtesy of khou.com

...because we need it!


Big storms moved through today, this was a line this evening that came through after we got back to the house in town.  There had already been storms during the day before this line came through.  This particular round of storms had lots of lightning, wind and heavy rain.  The bad part is that I didn't get to mow today after missing last weekend for the same reason (and on a side note, it's getting tall!).  The good part is we had almost 1" of rain just today with more expected later tonight and tomorrow.

I took a few pictures at the farm when we were there, and we did a few things inside, so it wasn't a total bust.  I'll share those soon.  

Tonight I'm going to catch up on all of the comments that y'all have been nice enough to leave.  I cannot access the blog at work at all.  Not that I would during the work day, and at a new job especially, but it would be nice to be able to catch up at lunch.  Instead, I'll catch up on this rainy evening.

Hope your weekend plans are going better than mine!

PLANNING STAGES FOR PART OF FARM

In these lazy days of our hot Summer, I've been looking at photos, walking around on the property, and planning for the future.  

This is one of the areas I've cleared and mowed (and kept mowed) so that it sort of turns into just flat, weed/bush free lawn space.  Since this is in the front and to the side of the house, I want to use this for some more "farm like" plans.  So, I've used some of my recent time off to look at pictures and plans online and in books, and have decided this would be the perfect spot to have a small barn, to use as a workshop, a smaller garden shed for the mower and outdoor tools, and then, in the future of course, space for a chicken coop.

I figure all of this could even be fenced in by one of my favorite fences.  Regular readers know I keep finding more and more fence styles that I like so which one I would decide on is another story, ha.


I also measured, taking into account future growth size, the space from where the front of the barn/fence line would be, to the edge of the driveway and I could fit about 4 trees there.  Fruit trees of course, so that it helps lead toward the self sufficiency we long for.  Upon doing inventory of those fruit trees that we already have, I realized we don't have any lemon or lime tree, and only one orange.  So why not make those four trees be four varieties of citrus?


I'd like to go ahead and get the fruit trees when I see them on sale.  Does anyone have firsthand experience of putting lemon/lime/orange and maybe grapefruit side by side like that?  Not touching of course, they'll have space for future growth and air circulation, but I wondered if there were any issues with cross pollination?  I'd like to keep a lime a lime, a lemon and lemon, etc, and not end up with with some sort of lemorange?  LOL!


We're also currently researching small sheds that will hold the big green zen machine and other garden related tools.  This weekend, weather permitting of course, I hope to measure off the future space.

INSPIRATION THURSDAY, FISHING PIER

Today, for my inspiration photo, I'm using one that I just took yesterday!

This was out at the friends parents' ranch outside of Houston.  This is a fishing pier that he built himself, out over the lake that he dug himself!  It shows me that a little lot of hard work now, can pay off in future dividends like this.  Who couldn't just sit here on this pier and get lost in thought for the entire day?

We have a pond site on the farm property and one day, we want to do something like this, albeit on a smaller scale.

Today, in addition to my blog day off, is my first day at my new job.  So I'll see you back here tomorrow with more farm happenings and an update on the job. Fingers crossed it's all a great new beginning!

HAVE A HAPPY HOLIDAY

Not our yard, alas, but definitely something I would like to have someday.

I really enjoy this casual look and the old rocker is nice.  I guess this is sort of a Wednesday posting of "Inspiration Thursday" huh?

We will be out most of the day today.  Our dear friend "R", whose parents own a ranch about an hour and a half outside of Houston, has invited us out to their annual anniversary party (yes they were married on the 4th of July).  We always love going out there to visit because their whole property has been, and continues to be, an inspiration to us.

For those new readers of the blog, click HERE to read about their property and how it inspired me years ago to want to go on this journey toward country living.

I'll get some new pictures today and share them soon.  I think there may actually be some new baby animals out there, or so I've heard.

Hope you all have a great holiday and for those of you around the world that don't share in our Independence Day celebrations, we hope you have a wonderful day as well, doing whatever makes you happy!

BLUE DRESSER COMPLETE

Blue dresser closeup

You know I recently painted this little cabinet using spray paint.  Then I found the right perfect knobs for it and it's all set up now.  Here it is pretty much complete.  I found a nice scarf/runner we had in storage to put on the top.  I think it adds a bit of contrast to the dark blue.  Then I put a bowl on top for loose change, throwing wallets in, etc.  It's not the final bowl I want, but it will do for now.  Then I put some purple flowers on there for a different color but still in the same color family.  Not sure if I'll keep the container brown.  I might paint it white or add some detail on the outside to make it more interesting

Blue dresser mirror combo

Here you can see it from another angle, from down at the foot of the bed.  The door on the left is the closet, the door on the right is the bathroom.  Above the dresser you can see the mirror I painted the same color a couple of weeks ago. It actually makes it look like both pieces were supposed to be together.

For those of you wondering what those are above the mirror, below is a bit more of a closeup.  I mounted these vintage wooden propellers that belonged to my Dad.  He loved flying and all things airplane related.  Somewhere over the years, he found these two and always had them hanging on the wall in his workshop no matter where we moved to.  I'm thinking we might use that as a theme of sorts in the master bedroom.  I figured I'd continue the tradition.  After all, blue and white does sort of equate to sky and clouds, correct?

Vintage propellers as wall art

RANDOM COW

No particular reason for this other than it's always cool for my "during the week city living side" to go out to the farm and see this.

This cow was heading home the last time I was out there, walking the fence line behind the house.  I can honestly say that I would take this type of "rush hour" view anytime over the one I have to sit in 5 days per week.

HARVEST TIME BUT NOT MINE

Well, these are our veggies but not from our garden.  2nd Family, that lives at the front of the property, has a pretty nice garden going and needless to say, they have an overabundance of fresh produce.  Because of that, they are more than happy to share it all with us (along with lots of fresh eggs) and so every time we're out there, we are told to help ourselves if they aren't there or they will bring us a big bag full of goodies.

This weekend they gave us a huge bag full of juicy ripe tomatoes, a few cherry tomatoes, some cucumbers, a zucchini or two in the bottom, some green bell peppers, banana peppers and a few jalapenos.  At our raised beds in town, we have a few tomatoes close to ripening and are getting several asian eggplants per week.  We're not canning, but we are eating well.

We've had a few good meals using them already.  2nd Man just goes in, starts dicing up veggies, making rice, or pasta, or whatever, throws some more ingredients in with it and out comes something delicious.  For example, one night he diced up tomatoes, peppers (banana, jalapeno, and bell), along with an onion we already had, cooked some white rice, mixed it all together with some shredded cheese, and baked it in the oven like a casserole.  Delicious!

SCARY ARTICLE ABOUT DANGERS OF HYBRID AND/OR GM PLANTS

This article is frightening.

You really need to read it.

CLICK HERE TO READ

In a nutshell, a herd of cattle, here in Texas, died after grazing on grass.

While that in itself is scary enough, they were eating a hybrid of grass that was planted 15 YEARS AGO.  Why did they die now if they've been eating it all this time?  Well, apparently, after all these years, the grass suddenly mutated and began producing cyanide gas!

They aren't sure the cause of the mutation, but seem to think it might be related to the drought.  They are doing an investigation.  I'm not sure what's more scary though.  The fact that this just suddenly happened out out of the blue?

Or the fact that a few generations of cattle over the last 15 years have been eating this type of grass?  How many other ranchers have been using this?
How much of that meat/milk has gone into our food supply?

This was originally thought to be GMO grass, which is bad just as a rule anyway, but they now say it wasn't GMO, but was a "hybrid" variety of bermuda grass.  Still, a hybrid that just suddenly starts making cyanide gas?  Who knows what will come of that a few years down the road?  Yeah maybe it's "safe" now, but what about 15 years from now?  Go Organic / Heirloom when you can!

VINTAGE POSTER SUNDAY, GROW YOUR OWN FOODGG

Grow Your Own Food vintage poster

Love this old poster image.  Of course the message is great, but I really like the graphic style of the image on it.  It's from WWII but I'm not sure if it's Victory Garden related or one of the other campaigns.

This poster is right at home today, that's for sure.  Nothing more rewarding than growing your own food, then OR now!

Enjoy your weekend!