FLOWER ISLAND 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 someday, hopefully anyway, recreate it...enjoy!

Recently, as some of our other outside projects wind down (posts coming soon on that), we turn our eyes to our ginormous front yard (see photo below).  Something like this, maybe even several, is what we are considering. I know there will be edging but I mow it now, if I have less to mow, then I have time to edge.  My only worry is how to deal with our clay soil.  Maybe a bed of native grasses with smaller flowers like we have done in the flowerbeds? 
  

When we bought the property, there were a couple of trees in the front yard. One was a mesquite and then a cluster of tall hackberry trees. The hackberry trees were in danger of falling toward the house if they were ever blown over and the mesquite tree, well it was low growing and covered in thorns.  Planting more trees (at least tall ones) is not practical (there is also a water pipe that runs from the well to the house and it cuts across the yard.  So now we just need to figure out "where" to place something like this in the yard.

Until we do something, I just have more to mow!

Be inspired!

DEWBERRY CAKE RECIPE

Whoa, wait what?  Here is something that is SO wonderfully delicious. Dewberry cake.   

Oh, and guess who made it?

ME!  1st Man made it!

Ingredients for Dewberry Ricotta cake

I always like to get the ingredients all out and ready to go.  This includes a cup of our frozen dewberries, our homemade vanilla and some of the farm eggs from 2nd Family's chickens.  I also lined a 9" cake pan with parchment paper and lightly sprayed the bottom and sides with cooking spray.

This recipe requires two bowls, one for the dry ingredients and one for the wet.  The best part is that it is all done by hand, no mixer required.

Dry bowl and wet bowl

The dry ingredients are put in one bowl; flour, sugar, baking powder, salt.  Stir to combine (whisk or fork, whichever you have). 

The other bowl has the wet ingredients, the ricotta, eggs, and vanilla.  Stir until smooth.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and combine.  Then add the melted butter and fold again until just combined. 

Dewberry cake batter

Add 3/4 cup of the dewberries (you could use any berry at this point, raspberry, blackberry, etc) and set aside the remaining 1/4 cup. GENTLY fold them in.  

Cake batter

No heavy stirring here, you just want them dispersed throughout the batter without breaking them up.  

Dewberries on top

Scrape batter into the prepared cake pan.  Take the remaining 1/4 cup of berries and scatter them around the top.  No stirring this time, you just let them sit on top while it bakes.  

Dewberry Cake

Bake for approximately 50-60 minutes at 350 degrees or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  I set the timer for 50 minutes, checked it and it was a bit damp on the toothpick so I put it back in for 5 more minutes and it was perfect!

Slice of Dewberry Cake

Let it cool for about 20 minutes then turn the cake out of the pan, it should just come right out (be careful and be sure to peel off the parchment if it's still on the bottom of the cake).  Turn it back upright and slice into it when you are ready.  WOW...

Dewberry Cake

I served it to 2nd Man as a surprise (he was out when I made it).  I put the slices on plates, sprinkled with powdered sugar and we dug in.  It was AMAZING.  We both describe this as a cross between a cheesecake and a pound cake.  He talked about it for a couple of days (which was about as long as it lasted).  I guess I did well!  

It was nice paying him back for all of his good meals. 

ENJOY!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp kosher salt

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese

3/4 tsp vanilla extract

1 stick (half cup) unsalted butter - melted

1 cup berries - frozen is best

DEWBERRY SEASON 2017

It was an OK year for our dewberry patches but not as good as prior years have been.  We think it's the lack of the "rainy season" this Spring but really, we can't complain too much because the last couple of years were monsoon rains week after week and NOT MUCH got done on the farm.  This year however, we've gotten quite a few outdoor projects done... 

Dewberry vines

This is an example of how dewberries grow. They are in various stages of ripening all at once so it's a progressive gathering method.  You have to check every few days, or in our case, once a week.  Usually though they are much bigger, these are smaller...

Farm fresh dewberries

Every weekend, we were able to gather one or two of these containers full of berries...

It's just a hunting game, keeping your eye open for the black ones and of course, avoiding the thorns...

Here was one weekend haul, we had a few of these...

Washing dewberries

I would wash them to get any grass or leaves off that we might have missed while gathering (or a stray bug I suppose, ha) and then I put them on paper towels to drain...

Freezing dewberries

Next it's on to a freezer paper lined baking sheet in a single layer and popped into the freezer for an hour or two.  This freezes them individually so they aren't in one frozen clump...

Then I just measure them into two cup amounts for each batch.  Most recipes call for two cups of berries so we try to divide them up that way.  If a few extra over the two cups found their way in, well it's not the end of the world.  I mean, "too many berries" in a cobbler?  Yeah, we didn't think so either...

Frozen packaged dewberries

Lastly we use our vacuum sealer to seal them up in relatively flat(ish) layers (for easier storage in the freezer).  We had these four, plus three more.  So I guess that's about 14 cups total.  We've already used a couple (details coming in a future post).

Dewberries

We try our best to use them sparingly so that we can enjoy a dewberry cobbler in the middle of Winter. 

It will be another year before we see these beauties again...

HARVEST MONDAY AND RED BUGS ON NAKED GARDENING DAY

OK, so I took this selfie in the garden Saturday and figured for all those new to the blog here I am!  Pardon the ragged appearance, I was working in the garden (after mowing) on an absolutely beautiful World Naked Gardening Day, but more on that later...

We actually have our first harvest of the season!  

I gathered a bunch of herbs, here I cut oregano, chives and flat leaf parsley.  

Of course there were veggies now. We have our first jalapeños of the season and look, cucumbers!  Those were so fun to harvest, it was like looking for Easter eggs, they are hidden really well!

There were also a few eggplants coming in, they should be ready for harvest this coming weekend.  

But all was not great...these were on the cucumber vines.  Boo!  I picked them all off by hand (a tedious job but I got them all) and dispatched them.  I checked the rest of the garden and didn't see them anywhere else but I'm sure they'll be back.  

What are they and of course any good solutions for taking care of them?

Ah, but I know the question everyone is still wondering after Saturday's post...was I naked on World Naked Gardening Day?

Well it WAS a beautiful day in the middle of country with only cows around...

WORLD NAKED GARDENING DAY 2017

OK, who knew there was a day like this?  Today (and every year on the first Saturday of May) is 

"WORLD NAKED GARDENING DAY".

*you can google it, there is a website for it and there are some NSFW pics there Your own risk of what you want to see or not see, ha!

(not 1st or 2nd Man in a red hat)

Apparently there is a worldwide movement to encourage people to get out, get naked and do some gardening.   

And on top of that, HOUSTON was just voted the best city in the United States for naked gardening at this time of year.  Apparently, it's because of our amazing early May weather, just the right combination of conditions.  I do have to say, this weekend IS amazing, cool, clear, breeze, low humidity, absolutely perfect for being nude outside.

Local news outlets said that if you see your neighbor in the buff, don't be surprised, they are just taking advantage of the best place in the country to do it!

So today it's off to the farm to do some mowing, planting of some things and yes, gardening...

I know, I know, the burning question is will there be nudity during this gardening adventure?

(crickets)

THE FARMHOUSE

Here are a couple of shots of the house, for those new to the blog and old friends as well.  We figured they'd make a good "end of the week" post.  

Farmhouse front

This is the front of the house, taken from where the driveway sort of opens up into the front yard.  The stairs go up onto the porch, the front door is there.  Another set of stairs on the end is in front of the car (you'll see that in the next picture).  

The left end of the porch (the add-on at the end) is where the other door is that goes into the mudroom/utility room.  You can also make out the new flowerbeds along the front. Not much is planted in them yet but hey, at least the hard part is done!  

Farmhouse back

This is from one corner of the backyard, the back of the house. You can see the stairs that come down on the other corner of the porch.  We'll have flowerbeds along the side for sure that go from the stairs down the side, but probably not across the back.  Of course we say that now but next Fall I might get a wild hair and go all the way around the house.  We'll see!

FYI, the fruit trees are off to the right of this photo.

We have some interesting future plans for this end (side) of the house.  The branch you can see on the left side of the photo is part of "Barnabas", the party/dinner tree.  Those porch steps go down and toward the tree, hence the reason it will be perfect for a party (someday).

We'll get some more pics soon to give you a layout of other parts of the property and how they relate to each other...

FLAGPOLE 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 someday, hopefully anyway, recreate it...enjoy!

This is something we want, most likely sooner rather than later.  That's because we already have a pole that "Ma" (the previous owner) had with a birdhouse (purple martin's).  The birdhouse broke apart a couple of years ago in a storm.  It was up there for years prior to that and we think the plastic just wore out.  There hadn't been birds in it for a long time.  

So we have the telescoping pole already set in concrete, now we just need to figure out how to replace a section or two with an actual flag pole and then landscape around the base.  Red white and blue flowers perhaps?  I already have a great idea for the base.  We would love to have a US flag and/or a Texas flag flying high...it just seems like one of those things you need to have in the country.  

Be inspired!

FRUIT INFUSED WATER RECIPES

 2nd Man and I are on a new kick: fruit infused water.  For far too long we've consumed soft drinks and flavored drinks and all that bad (but delicious) stuff.  I personally gave up my Diet Dr Pepper addiction a few months ago...haven't had a soft drink now in almost six months.  2nd Man has given up his Coke Zero addiction for about a month now.  

Recently, we bought a couple of these great fruit infusion water bottles.

This is lemon/lime.  

Of course, remember this isn't sweetened or carbonated and the lemon/lime is sour but we love it.  It's very refreshing and good for you in many ways.

And this is orange/strawberry/blueberry.  

Now this one has a naturally sweet taste. In fact, when we drink it, you can actually pick out all three flavors, they are very distinctive and tasty.

Fruit infused water

The bottles are nice because you put the fruit in, as much or as little as you want, fill up with water and then the top that locks on (where the white line is) has a built in filter (to keep the fruit in) so you just pour out the water and refill.  The fruit lasts a couple of weeks for us.  Yummy and oh so fresh.

We know there are lots of combinations of fruits and herbs, but does anyone have a specific combination they love that they'd like to share?

NATURE FINDS A WAY

So after the "great freeze" earlier this year, we lost several plants...or so we thought! 

This was the wonderful Aloe Vera we had (my fault entirely, I forgot to put it inside before we left before the freeze).  I saw a bit of green but wasn't sure. 

So we just left it to sit...

This past weekend I cleaned it up, pulled out the red and found GREEN!  So we have aloe growing once again.  Hopefully it will fill up over the next few months.  This is about the size we originally started with when 2nd Family gave us some.

These are some hanging baskets, ferns and underneath all that, a hanging planter with some Texas lantana.  The ferns were definitely DOA, and so was all the lantana...or was it?

There was still one piece alive and actually blooming now!  So I carefully dug it out, and put it in the ground in the flowerbed.  YAY!

And lastly, here were the avocado trees.  Dead and even the trunk and branches were dead and snapped when you broke them. I put them at the end of the porch and left them. Occasionally I watered them, "just in case" but only when I remembered.  

I was about ready to toss them when...

BOOM!  

They erupted in leaves and are growing!  I'm not sure if they will become trees again because they are sprouting up from all around the dead center "trunk", but hey, we'll take "avocado bushes" if we can get them.  As long as they someday produce avocados, we'd be more than happy, bushes or trees!

NATURE FINDS A WAY!

GARDEN AT THE FIRST OF MAY

We've decided to keep a picture record of the garden progress this season so at the first of every month, I'll take a picture from the same angle.  

Raised bed garden before

Here is how it started in early March.  

Cleaned out and ready to go...

Raised bed garden after

Here is is today, growing beautifully!

Herb bed

We have herbs and were able to harvest a few for use this week.

Okra raised bed

Okra is starting to pick up now that it's a bit warmer but it still has a ways to go.  Once the hot temps get here, it will explode like last Summer.  

Jalapeños

Covered in blooms, should be a bumper crop again this year, times two this time around!

Zucchini

Zucchini is getting HUGE!  And of course squash blossoms all over.  We guess this is why gardeners are sick of zucchini by the end of the season? ha! 

We hope we have that trouble.  2nd Man is excited to do some cooking (zucchini bread here we come!)

First tomatoes

And we have our first tomatoes of the season!  The other plant in the bed (a different variety) has blossoms on it as well.  

Eggplants

There are eggplants coming in!  Three or four little fruits on each plant.

Cucumber trellis

And speaking of prolific, the cukes on the trellis are COVERED in blooms and tiny cucumbers...

Cucumber raised bed

Did we say big?  Yep, it's flowing out of the raised bed like a river of cucumber vine!  Not sure what to do, I was thinking of maybe getting something to elevate this part off the ground so maybe we'll end up with the most possible.  

We are 100% satisfied with the garden this year.  After some seasons of hits and misses, we may have just found the method that works for us.  We'll see!!