WE HAVE BARBADOS CHERRIES

Well what do we have here?  Apples?  Cherry tomatoes?  Cherries?  No, they are a fruit called the "Barbados Cherry" or also "Acerola Cherry". Not actual cherries though, they are just called that because they look like them.  It's a perennial fruit tree/bush native to Barbados and the Caribbean, that grows dozens of these little bright red (and dare I say, beautiful) fruits.

They start off as these pink blossoms that, as a side note, smell wonderful. They fruit and ripen at different times so the tree has blossoms, unripe and ripe fruit on it at the same time. They go from blossom to fruit in about 25 days.  It can be grown as a tree up to 15' high, or an easily managed shrub.  Ours is currently a shrub, ha.

They look kind of like beautiful, perfect red apples in this picture don't they?  Of course with no frame of reference you can't really determine the size.  See the picture below, they are about the size of an actual cherry.  Being very high in Vitamin C (supposedly the highest concentration of ANY fruit), they are pretty healthy too!

As for taste, they are a bit sour and a bit sweet.  I would describe the flavor as something like a cross between a cherry, a peach or apricot, with a little lemon sourness.  They have 3 small seeds inside and there is no easy way to to cut them up and de-seed them.  Supposedly they make an awesome jelly and hopefully next year, when we have way more coming off the tree, we can try that out.  Right now it's about a dozen for a harvest.  It's definitely an unusual fruit but since it (apparently) grows so well in our zone, I might just have to put another one or two in the ground.  When I find something that works with our weather down here, I want to have more than just one.  If you can grow them in your zone, I would heartily recommend this great little fruit.

ZEN MACHINE MOMENTS THE X FILES EDITION

Here are some random moments, influenced by The X Files, that I captured while mowing on the big green zen machine.  By the way, for those new to the blog, that's what I call my John Deere riding mower.

CROP CIRCLE!
Above is a patch of space that I wish you could see in person.  It's this sort of circular area of tall random growth with a center that is filled with the softest, airiest plant of some sort.  It's strange because nothing else grows in the center, just this airy plant.  I sort of just discovered it this weekend so I'm not sure what is under there, some sort of damp area?  Maybe something that's more rocky underneath than the surrounding area like an ancient Stonehenge?  More Easter Island statues?  The mothership landing site perhaps?

INTELLIGENT ALIEN PLANT LIFE!
I think it's fascinating watching things grow.  This vine has been putting out runners, starting with the top wire of the barbed wire fence.  Then it put out a second runner on the second wire.  Then it started a third branch to follow the third wire.  It's almost as if it has a mission, going a certain direction for some sort of ultimate goal.  Not sure what that ultimate goal is though.  Inter species communication?  Farm domination?  World domination? 

MYSTERY WHITE SKULL!

Then as I was mowing at the back of the property, I saw something bright white in with the green that caught my eye.  Instead of mowing over it, I pulled up alongside it, moved some grass out of the way and was startled to see this bleached skull.  I'm not sure what type of animal it is/was, perhaps I don't want to know.  Chupacabra?  Werewolf?  Gremlin?

Dang, where are Mulder and Scully when you need them most?
The Truth is Out There?


Nah, I'm thinking it was just too much sun yesterday!

VINTAGE POSTER SUNDAY, FOOD IS AMMUNITION

"Food is Ammunition" poster photo Courtesy of: U.S. National Archives

This is a neat poster (aren't they all? ha).  It dates from WWI and was printed by the United State Food Administration.  It was obvious in its meaning, the food we were growing WAS ammunition for the war and don't waste it.  I believe there was an active campaign at that time to keep people from wasting food.  It was meant to keep people healthy, and feeding people at home and overseas, the troops included.

I dare say that's a problem today that is probably 100 times worse than it was back then.  I'm not sure we could adapt this for today.

"Food is money, don't waste it" perhaps?

Or "Food is ammunition for your body's health, don't waste it"?

Hope you enjoy this trip into our past.  As always, you can click on the history label/button to see all the poster images I've posted over the last year.

GREAT WILDFLOWERS BOOK FOR OUR PROPERTY

Wildflowers of Houston and SE Texas by: John and Gloria Tveten

Many of our regular readers know that I've often posted pictures of random flowers I find around the property.  More often than not, I don't have a clue what they are.  Well I'm clueless no more because I found this book! It's called Wildflowers of Houston and Southeast Texas.  It's a visual guide to over 200 wildflowers found in this part of the state.

The flowers in the book are divided by color, which is a pretty cool way to find them.  Next Spring, it will be an invaluable tool as I try to identify all the wonderful colors that magically appear.  Actually, I'm still seeing flowers coming up now, so I'll be trying it out soon.  Maybe now I won't have to post about some random yellow/pink/white flowers that I find in the yard, LOL.

It's really neat that there is a book that is so specific to our area and our part of the state and I have a feeling that it will prove to be a great resource.  It even has medicinal and/or culinary uses of flowers that might be attached to something wild and edible.


I dare say this book is going to be farmhouse coffee table worthy!


Off to the farm today to get some mowing time in.  Heat indexes over 100, ugh, but it is what it is I suppose.  Updates over the weekend!

WHY ARE AMERICAN BARNS RED

Red American Barn

There may not be anything more iconic to farm life than an American barn .

Yesterday, commenter MARIA asked why are so many American barns red?  That got me to thinking, yes, why ARE they red?  Great question.  So I did a little online research and found that there is a fairly simple explanation for it.  

When farms first started springing up across this country in the 1700's, they were rarely painted.  Even homes were not painted and the wood was just left natural.  Seeing as how paint was rare at the time, not to mention expensive, it would be considered decadent and even obscene to "waste" money on painting.   However, wood left to it's own devices would, eventually, require replacement.  Finding a means of painting them with something that would coat and protect became the goal.  Ever resourceful farmers began mixing their own concoction, using skim milk and lime.  Then they added linseed oil, which is a red/orange color, as a sealant for the wood.  Lastly, they added "ferrous oxide", or "rust" to the mixture.  Seems there was always plenty of rust laying around on a farm in the form of old tools, implements, etc.  Ferrous oxide was good at keeping away the mold and fungus that would often grow on the buildings.  It's most likely that this "home brew" paint recipe was brought over by settlers from overseas.  So apparently, instead of shooting for red color on purpose, it's just what became the norm, coming out of necessity and the fact that this combination is what actually worked rather than aesthetics and decor.

As mass produced paints became more commonplace in the late 1800's, red was still the cheapest pigment to add to paint so once again, red was popular for a reason other than just looks.  It was also believed that this color was easiest to use when painting over or touching up barns that were already red from the previous homemade paint.

From there, red barns, in varying shades of red of course, became more of a tradition and a link to our past rather than serving any real practical purpose.  Original "barn red" was probably closer to a reddish orange or reddish rust as opposed to the fire engine red you often see in more recent use.  Still, it's neat to see that even today, people are using red on their farms and buildings and perhaps don't even realize how much of a link it has to our past.

Hope you enjoyed this random bit of trivia, especially our foreign visitors who may not have known about this little part of American history.

Another Red American Barn

INSPIRATION THURSDAY, RED BARN AND GARDEN

Photo courtesy of: Bluebird Farm

I love a red barn (and that is a must have on our farm list) and this is what I like along with it, big plants and flowers and gardens.

This kind of design makes me want to wander around and explore the yard and that's what I want for our farm.  It's a multi year plan for us of course and we're only just now beginning, but in the end, if we could come up with something close to this, I'd be very happy.

Today is my blog day off, so enjoy your day and I'll see you back here tomorrow morning with something funny to start your Friday.

IRIS

"Thou art the Iris, fair among the fairest,
who, armed with golden rod
and winged with the celestial azure, bearest
the message of some God."
                                   ...Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

RUSTOLEUM PAINTERS TOUCH VS VALSPAR

Valspar Perfect Finish VS Rustoleum Ultra Cover 2x

I've been doing some painting recently, some mirrors, a stand, and most recently, the dresser.  I had my choice of spray paints at the store.  I wasn't so much looking for a specific brand as I was looking for the right colors, so at the time, the brand didn't matter to me very much.

Valspar has a paint called the "Perfect Finish" and Rust-oleum has one that is called "Painters Touch Ultra Cover 2x".  The green that I liked best was the Valspar and the navy blue that I liked best was the Rustoleum.  Luck of the draw I suppose.  So I bought them both.  I have to say that there was a vast difference in the ease of use between the two.

The Valspar is supposed to have this revolutionary new top that turns and expose the spray nozzle.  It was not, as it turns out, very revolutionary.  I had drips, over spray and my fingers were covered in paint!  It was not a great experience.  The only upside I could find is that it was fast drying.

The Rustoleum on the other had was amazing.  It went on smoothly, covered nicely and completely, and never dripped once.  My finger got a bit tired on the spray button, but that's the only real negative I've found.  I might add that the only edge Valspar had over the Rustoleum was the drying time as it seemed quicker.  But in the end, I could wait a little longer for drying time in exchange for the other advantages that the Rustoleum gave.

I have never really used spray paint to paint furniture and I have to say, it was a fun and enjoyable experience.  Even the Valspar, while not my favorite, was still fun to use.  A reminder, if you have a big project, such as a large piece of furniture, be sure to buy several cans of the same color when you are at the store.  They ran out of the navy blue I needed at one store (only had 1 can) and so I had to drive to two other stores just to find two more cans.

Any other paint that I should try out?
Happy painting!

FUTURE BURN PILE TAKING SHAPE

Here is the start of our future burn pile.  Don't worry about those tree limbs that appear to be over the pile, it's a trick of perspective by the camera angle.  The pile is actually in a large open space.  It's some of the tree debris from the trimming that was done last weekend.


We had a small one HERE a few months ago (way back when it was cold, ha), but it was pretty small.


We do not, however, want something like this:

Not OUR burn pile

If it can be seen from space, I think that's just a bit too big, LOL!
It will most likely be Fall, when the weather is cooler and the days are shorter, when we burn it.  I just have to make sure I don't add so much to it that it doesn't become something akin to a bonfire that's two stories tall.  If it looks like it might be getting too big to burn, I have no problem with burning it early, even if it's not truly "cold" outside. 

Anyone else in the country do a "burn pile"?  Any tips or suggestions, other than a water hose nearby?

MONDAY THRIFT STORE FINDS

Thrift store finds

I love sharing my thrift store finds, hopefully to inspire you to check out that thrift store you've been driving by all this time.  You might just find something you've been looking for, or maybe even didn't know you needed.


At my new job, I found that there are about 5 thrift stores and resale shops within driving distance at lunch. That could be dangerous, LOL.


On recent trips (last week), I found these random items:


A new silver tray, it's going on the blue dresser.  This is silver plated, not solid silver, but it has a similar design to the other tray I blogged about before and after a bit of cleaning, I think it will look just perfect.  $3.


Then the two cobalt blue glass pieces.  I wanted a vase for the bedroom, and found this one.  The other piece is a drinking glass, I'm thinking it might make a nice glass for the bedside table, or perhaps another small vase.  $4 for both.


And lastly, the metal easel, it's tall and would be perfect as is, but I actually have another use in mind for it, other than the obvious, and I'll keep you posted on that progress, check back next week.  It was the best bargain of the day. $2.


A $9.00 shopping day is always a good day!

IT'S BAAAACK

Remember when I blogged about THIS VINE and how it was threatening to take over the farmhouse, just like on "Life After People"?

Well here it is this week!  It's back and more aggressive than ever!  Just a week ago, I cut it down to the ground.  Now granted, I didn't pull it up at the time because it's wrapped up into the flower bed but still, look how fast it's growing!  

Oh sure, there are nice flowers on it, and if it were growing anywhere else on the property, I'd think it was pretty and I'd let it grow.  But this thing is taking over the porch so it has to go.  I still find it amazing how fast these things grow.

Overall, it was a good weekend.  On Saturday, we had the car window replaced, I'll spare you the gory details but suffice to say it was a several hundred dollar lesson learned in parking away from where I am mowing.  Then we ran some other errands related to the farm, shopping for little things here and there, found some cool things, and took them out there today.  I didn't get any yard work done though as mowing wasn't really necessary this week.  I probably could have if I had chosen to, but it wasn't that tall and another week won't be too bad...but that Jack and Beanstalk vine is another story!

Hope you all had a great weekend.  

VINTAGE POSTER SUNDAY, GET YOUR FARM IN THE FIGHT

WW1 Gardening poster courtesy of U.S. National Archive

I really like this poster (John?).

It was from here in the United States during WW1, circa 1917-1919.  The government was urging people to grow their food, and use conservation methods to get more food coming out of their farm.  In a sense, as the poster implies, that puts the family farms in the fight.  Patriotic and informative.

This could be so true today as well.  The fight for better food starts at home when we grow our own.  And we all know we should conserve where we can, and not just food.

Hope you're having a good weekend.

Off to the farm today.  Updates later!

A PEACEFUL VIEW

Our neighbor's property, a favorite view

Here is a view that I enjoy.  We can't see it from the house but it is the view from the future garden site area.  Not a bad thing to be looking at when I'm someday pulling weeds and working in the garden.


This is one reason I can decompress when out there.  It's just acres and acres of nothing, no traffic, no other houses right up against the property line, just nature at its quietest and most peaceful.


I swear, a couple of hours out there feels like a whole day vacation from the hustle and bustle of the city.  I know that the days of even more hard work are yet to come but even the hard work out there feels more rewarding than the hard work in town.  Maybe it's because we are building a future.

INSPIRATION THURSDAY, RANDOM FLOWERS

I love order in a garden or yard as much as anyone, and it has its place
(rows of veggies perhaps? edged flowerbeds?), but I think I love randomness in a property even more.  As you know from following our blog, we have a large piece of property that is oddly shaped and has lots of "au natural" areas.

One of you asked about what we'd do with that green lawn and I mentioned some random planting areas.  This is the kind of look that I'd like to have.

This is the inspiration type of photo for that.  I just love the random colors, the random plants and the look that it's just always been growing like that.

Blog day off, so I'll see you back here tomorrow morning, bright and early!

A MYSTERY PLANT THAT WAS GROWING WILD

When I was mowing the other day, I apparently snagged this somewhere along my journey.  I didn't see it until I got off and began to clean the mower. It was stuck in the brush guard on the front.  I was immediately intrigued as I pulled it off and looked at it.

It's got these small, green (perhaps unripe) fruits that are about the size of large marbles.  They are clustered in groups, but grow individually on stems. They were not squishy at all and were very hard, again possibly because they weren't ripe yet.

They have these dark green stripes that remind me of heirloom tomatoes. I cut one open and it has seeds inside that are similar to tomatoes and/or peppers.  I wish I knew where I got them so I could go back and see if there were more nearby.  If it's something cool, I might try to save some of the seeds.

Anyone have a clue?


UPDATE:  Thanks to all of you who commented.  After much research and some further asking of 2nd Family that lives out there giving us more details about its life cycle, this is indeed CAROLINA HORSENETTLE.  It is a very dangerous plant that is NOT edible.  Darn.  I was excited when I first saw it, but because it is in the nightshade family it only bears a striking resemblance to tomatoes but is not remotely edible.  If I do run across them, I'll have to carefully pull them up. 

MORE CANDLE WALL SCONCES UP

Here are the recent wall sconce finds up and in place:

Foyer wall candle sconce

 Above is the small, ornate brown one I found a few weeks ago.  I found a perfect home for it in the foyer above this little vintage picture right next to the front door.  Of course, I still need to find the right size pillar candle for it.  At the other end of the foyer on the desk, I have some hurricane glass lamps for tall pillar candles, I'll get a picture of those later.

Below is the pair of white cast iron sconces I bought at the thrift store. I put them in the guest room, mounting one on each side of the mirror I recently painted and put up.  They fit the space nicely and add a little bit of detail.  If I can find some pale yellow candles, I might switch them out with these white ones.  I really like to use the smokeless/dripless candles, but it's not always easy to find them in a wide variety of colors.

Pair of white candle sconces

The goal is to have some form of candlelight in every room, be it candles on tables and shelves or sconces mounted on the walls.  Of course I also want to supplement these with oil lamps., at least one for each room, but that will come later.  For now though, I'm happy with these finds.

BABY MINIATURE DONKEY

When we were at our friends' ranch for the 4th earlier this month, they had to introduce us to the newest member of their neighbor's family...can you see him there?  That's Mama posing for the camera (side note isn't she beautiful?)  But wait, what is that little white fluffy tail standing behind her? 

Why THERE he is!  Isn't he cute?  His name is Hopi and he's the offspring of two miniature donkeys.  He's only about 3 weeks old and very sweet.  As you can see, Mama was always right behind, she never let him out of her sight.

At first, he was a little tentative, turning away as you reached out for him, but after getting down on all fours, yes, I was on the ground on all fours trying to make him more comfortable by not towering over him, he came around.  I can tell you that he LOVED the behind the ear scratching and chin rubbing.   

After a few minutes of that, he was on the verge of falling asleep while standing up!  He even started following me around the pasture wanting more attention.  He's just an adorable little thing and we can't wait to see him grow up.  It will be a bit of a drive to get out there, so we can't see him every weekend, but we'll try to get out more often.

AN EXPENSIVE MOWING ADVENTURE

So this weekend was mowing weekend.  After almost 3 weeks of rain, the yard was out of control.  Here it is as a work in progress, you can see the difference in before and after.  We also did some tree trimming.

After about an hour and a half, I had the area around the house done and it was time to tackle the trails and fence line.  Here is an example of the fence line before I mowed. It doesn't look too bad but that's about a foot tall.  Side note, frogs EVERYWHERE.  Must be all the rain and tall grass.  I tried to stop where I could and let the move away.

...and here it is after.  Much nicer and easy to walk.  It's always nice to keep the fence line cleared so we can make sure nothing is wrong with it, lest we end up with the neighbor's cattle in our yard.

Here is the front yard, looking nice once again.  I still need to do some edging around the trees and along the back pasture fence line, but it looks ten times better than it did before.  If we don't get rain again, I'll have to start watering a bit just to keep it looking halfway nice.

This view is looking down the driveway toward the house, from the gate at 2nd Family's end of the property.  All mowed and neat.  The tree debris there on the left side is from that tree trimming that and was on its way to the future burn pile.

And here is why it was an expensive mowing adventure.  Apparently, a tiny rock, shooting out from the mower at some point, hit the car window and cracked it!  To make matters worse, it is 2nd Man's new car.  Oops!  He was nice about it but I'm sure I'll hear about it again, ha.  We checked and it will be under the deductible but still cost a couple of hundred dollars.  Sigh.

I guess I need to be more careful on the big green zen machine.  With great power comes great responsibility, LOL!

LIFE AFTER PEOPLE HOW IT BEGINS

Life After People, courtesy of the History Channel

Did any of you ever watch the show "Life After People"?  It aired on the History Channel and was a fascinating look at how nature takes over and what would happen to iconic cities and sites and structures around the world if mankind just suddenly disappeared.  They found out that it would not take long for nature to quickly find a way...

Our porch with encroaching ivy

At the farm this weekend, I found out that it indeed doesn't take long.  A week ago, this ivy/vine was nowhere to be found, not even a blip on my radar.  Yesterday, it was crawling up the stairs, and coming up in between the porch floor boards and beginning to climb up the railing.

I have no doubt that this is how it begins, slowly and subtly at first, and then it goes aggressive and before you know it, it ends up just like this one...

NOT our house

So I immediately got out my clippers and took care of things.

No "Life After People" episodes will be filmed at our farm!

VINTAGE POSTER SUNDAY, TURN OVER A NEW LEAF

Photo courtesy of Dallas Historical Society

This was apparently a poster during/just after WWII but the image has cut off the details of the date and who put it out.  I'm guessing it was of course tied into trying to get people to eat more vegetables during the war effort.  It's also possible this was post war and was jut part of the healthy eating movement that experienced a resurgence in the 1950's.

Nothing wrong with that and the message today is just as clear as it was then, more veggies = good health.

UPDATE:  Thanks to Sunnybrook Farm for finding this information:

Poster by Fitton showing a selection of vegetables, produced for the Ministry of Food. The poster was designed to encourage people to eat vegetables which contain Vitamins A, C and K, as well as iron, protein and zinc, all necessary in a healthy balanced diet.

http://www.iwmshop.org.uk/product/19920/Turn_Over_A_New_Leaf_Poster

Enjoy your day!

GIVEAWAY CONTEST COMING SOON

I'm thinking it's time for a blog giveaway!

Everyone has been so kind to us that it's time to pay it forward.

I've got some ideas, but today while I'm on the big green zen machine mowing the weed forest, weed jungle, yard around the farm, I'm going to let it rattle around in my head for a few hours and morph into something.

Check back periodically over the next week or so and see what I come up with.

OK, off to Seda Bolsa, see you back here later today/tonight with an update on the progress I hopefully made in the yard after two weeks of nonstop rain.

SOME BIG GREEN ZEN MACHINE TIME COMING SOON

Look what all the rain has done...

A month ago, this was turning brown in spots and getting sparse.  Here is the view from the porch looking toward the front mesquite tree.  Grass is rebounding everywhere and while the green is indeed beautiful, it's definitely out of control.  That bench under the tree is even starting to get covered up.

Here is another view and you can see how tall part of the yard is.  Yes the grass there is about a foot tall.  If it sounds like complaining, it really isn't.  Regular readers of the blog know that I love my time on my John Deere riding lawn mower, or as I call it, my big green zen machine so mowing is OK by me.

This close-up shows that it's not just grass, it's grass and weeds and who knows what else.  Whatever mix of greens it is, it all needs to be mowed.  So this weekend, with a couple days now of drying out and no rain in the forecast for a change, I'm hoping that I can spend some quality time doing that mowing.  It's definitely going to need it.  And as compared to last Summer, when we went almost a year with no measurable rain at all, we'll take the green wherever we can get it.  I'll be sure and take pictures if I'm able to get it done.