CAN YOU HELP ME IDENTIFY THIS TREE?

I wasn't sure that I had a picture of this and last night I was looking through some pictures and found it.
This is a tree that is on the property and it's not like any of the 

other trees around the acreage.

Anyone know what this tree might be?  Click on the above picture and you can make it larger, but I will get a better, close up picture next time I'm out there, and a picture of the leaves.

I just know that it's different than any of the others and I'm just curious as to what it might be.  Again, in this far away pic, it might be hard to ID, but just in case, I thought I'd throw it out there.

DINING ROOM LIGHT FIXTURE CANDLE CHANDELIER

We found the perfect lamp for the dining room on a recent shopping trip and I just had to blog about it.

This is the spot we have, there is just one overhead light fixture outlet in the dining room
(see red lines on above photo).  As you can see, the dining room is small but there is PLENTY of natural light during the day.  That's not an issue at all.  But at night, for dinner, we'll of course need an alternative light source.  In our city house, we have recessed halogen lighting in the dining room, but about 10 years ago, we found a really nice metal chandelier that is candles only. It's really nice to light them during a dinner party and have the candle light ambiance in addition to the overhead lighting.

Originally, we thought we'd love to either move that one out there, or find something similar, but when we realized there are no other overhead lights in that room and we'd need to have actual electric lighting, we scrapped those plans.

Flash forward to this bad boy!  It's a halogen chandelier type light fixture WITH holders for real candles in between each halogen bulb.

How cool is that?  It's the best of both worlds. 

We can have it wired up to work with the switch in the room, and if we wanted candlelight only, we can do that.  Maybe at a dinner party for a beautiful accent, or it's even practical during a power failure!

Guess where we found this?  Ikea! And best of all, it's only $49. It's called "Lerdal" and you should be able to get to it from the Ikea link I posted above.  It's just too good of a deal to pass up.

For now it's in the "farm storage room", also known as the former guest room at the house in the city.

Once we get it put up, we'll make sure to post pictures.


UPDATE 9/2011: We've returned our beloved chandelier, after realizing it's just not going to work in our space.  I posted about the decision HERE if you'd like to read why.

WELCOME SPAIN

Welcome to our farm here in Texas, visitors

from Spain!

Please keep visiting!

Thanks!

COUNTRY LIVING MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTION

A very sweet friend of mine surprised me with a gift subscription to
Country Living Magazine!

Ironically I had just recently picked up an issue (the one above) because of the black and white floor which caught my eye and then the headline article for being "the bargain issue" (can't go wrong with a bargain!). 

After perusing through the issue, filled with decorating ideas, gardening ideas, even recipes, I told 2nd Man that we should subscribe to this, it seemed a natural fit with our plans,

since we will, afterall be "Country Living".  I just never got around to doing it!

Just a reminder that magazine subscriptions are a great idea to give someone as a gift.  There are so many magazines out there related to virtually any topic, if you give someone a subscription to a magazine, they'll think of you every month when it comes in the mail.  It truly is the gift that keeps on giving.

So a big "THANK YOU" to my wonderful friend,

and I'm sure in the months to come, I'll be referring to things I saw in my latest issue of Country Living (link to their website).

UTILITY SINK IN THE MUDROOM

One of the things we are certain that we want to do is put a utility sink in the mudroom/pantry.  It just seems fitting that a mudroom have some sort of utility sink in it. 

There is currently a washing machine in there, we will be doing away with that.  If there had been room in the 1-800-GOT-JUNK truck, we would have gotten rid of it then.  As you can see in this picture, it's a great spot.  It literally is to the right of the door as you come in from the porch.  What a perfect spot to have a large sink.  We figure that since there is already plumbing there for hot and cold water, as well as a drain for the washer, it will be pretty easy to have a utility sink installed. 

This is the kind of sink we want.  They are commonly found in industrial/commercial locations, like restaurant kitchens for example.  They sell plastic versions at the big box stores like Home Depot or Lowe's, but you can often find these stainless beauties at a restaurant supply store.  We are lucky to have one chain here in Houston, Ace Mart and they sell these in all sorts of configurations.  Single bowl, double bowl, etc.  They are suprisingly affordable as well. The one we found fits perfectly in the spot where the washer is now, and sells for $200.  Not bad for a free standing, stainless steel sink that will last for years.

You might wonder why we wouldn't want a washer out there.  Well, for the foreseeable future, since this is a weekend home for a few years anyway, we can bring dirty clothes home to wash and then return them out there.  This will allow us to use have a place for rinsing off dirty boots, rinsing out large pots, washing hands before coming into the house if I'm outside gardening, even craft projects that might require a bigger sink (and keep me from dirtying up 2nd Man's kitchen!).  It is, after all, what a mudroom was originally intended for, cleaning up before entering the house.  We also love the contrast of the stainless up against that old wood.  I'm thinking some stainless steel metal shelves above it would be a great place for storing cleaning supplies as well.

Now we just need to get working on the infrastructure of the house so we can start going forward with all these great ideas!  I'll document every step of the way, so check back often!

UPDATE: 09/2011 - Here is a picture I added of the area with the washer gone.  As you can see, we still have a drain pipe, and hot water and cold water pipes, just ready to be hooked up to the utility sink.  We won't put that in until the floor is done.  Black and white checkerboard.  More details as it happens!

KNOCKOUT ROSES

All over Houston, I've been seeing more and more of these rose bushes, they are smallish, but covered in bright red flowers.  They are planted most often in esplanades, entrances to neighborhoods, and planting areas in shopping center parking lots. 

Knockout Rose hedge

At first I didn't pay much attention to them.  I mean, they were pretty, but just sort of in the background as I went about my errands.

Then I started noticing a few things:  They were always in bloom.  They never had black spot or any other sort of fungus/virus.  And they looked great even in the hottest or driest of seasons.

SO, I started doing some research and found that they are called "Knockout Roses". They have been around for a few years, but are the number one selling rose in the country. 

Here is the official website.

Double Knockout Rose up close

They are the most disease resistant roses available, they have a long (April to November) and prolific bloom cycle, they are freeze hardy and drought tolerant and they are even self cleaning, i.e. they don't need to be deadheaded. Sounds like the perfect choice to add some color to the farm without dealing with all the inherent problems of roses.

They originally were developed in a brilliant deep red color.  Now they have added new varieties in other shades of pinks and even a new yellow and white variety.

Knockout Rose Yellow White

Flash forward about two or three weeks ago.  I was on my lunch break and my local grocery store, Kroger, had a ton of knockout roses in front of the store, for  $14.99 each.  A little pricey, and since I am not at the planting stage out there at the farm just yet, I figured, I'd wait until the time came.  Then last week, I just happened to go out the door of the store on the other side and they were on clearance!
For $3.99 each.

FOUR BUCKS!


 How could I pass that up??

They had 10 left, and 2 were a little scraggly, looked like they had been run over by a cart on more than one occasion, so I left those two and bought the other eight. 

$32 for eight plants, that would have originally cost $120 was a great deal. 

So, now I have them, as seen above, keeping them in the back yard, and keeping them watered until such time that they can be planted in their new home around the farmhouse, where hopefully they will last for years to come.

So if you ever wanted roses, but didn't want to fuss with the care they often require,

try some Knockout Roses, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

KNOBS AND PULLS AT HOBBY LOBBY

Have y'all been to Hobby Lobby lately?  I was in there at lunch and stumbled across a whole aisle of really cool cabinet knobs and drawer pulls.  Our kitchen at the farm may be small, but when we repaint the cabinets and drawers, we'll need to replace the hardware.  Since we're going for all white cabinets, with a black and white checkboard floor, I was thinking black would be nice. 

We definitely want the vintage look and they have some really nice, old style, hammered metal knobs. 

We know exactly how many we need, there are 4 drawers so we'll need the pulls for those, and then there are 6 cabinet doors that we'll need knobs for. 

Now I just have to wait for one of Hobby Lobby's famous

"50% off all knobs and pulls" sale!

RAIN RAIN GLORIOUS RAIN

For those who don't know, Texas, and most of the Southwest, has been in the midst of a pretty severe drought for the last few months.

In Houston and the surrounding area, it's been over a month since our last measurable rainfall.

Yards and plants are starting to wither and vegetables are requiring constant watering just to keep them growing.  Well yesterday,
we finally got rain. 

Almost an inch at the house, not sure yet how much at the farm, but the radar images seemed to show pretty heavy rain
out there for most of the day.

Houston has a tendency to flood, often, when we get heavy rains, but at this point, I'll take whatever we can get, including a heavy downpour.  Rain is good for everything, the plants, the animals, general cleansing of the land, and lest we forget, it helps replenish the water table, something we don't see,
far below the ground we walk on.

Today is back to sunny and hot, but hopefully we'll get some more rain soon.

We need it!

WHERE OH WHERE HAVE WE BEEN?



This is where, Google's Blogger service has been down for 2 days.  It's back up and running, for now anyway, so I'll repost the things I had up the last couple of days that disappeared.

Technology is a great thing when it works, and a pain when it doesn't.



INSPIRATION THURSDAY

I'm changing up "Inspiration Thursday". 

I decided I will start putting a small comment at the bottom of each photo.

I thought it might be nice to post a reason why I love a picture so much and why it inspired us.

It will still be my day off from blogging, so it will be the only posting on Thursdays.  Enjoy!

We love the idea of the fenced off area with a bench for just sitting and watching the world go by.  Makes you want to sit on the bench with a good book and relax in the morning sun.

WAGON WHEEL HERB GARDEN

Wagon Wheel

I found these pictures online once upon a time and it's something I've always wanted to do, hoped to do it in the city, but with no grass, I don't think it would quite work out, ha.  

You simply start with an old wagon wheel.  I know, I know, where DO you find one of THOSE?  Craigslist maybe?  Some small town thrift store?

Once you have one, lay it down on the ground where you want your herb garden to be.  If necessary, you can remove spokes to create bigger spaces. 

Wagon Wheel Herb Garden up close, photo origin unknown

Then you dig out the grass, if you are laying it on grass of course.  Or dig out the dirt or whatever is under the soon to be planting area.

Lay the wheel down, and you're done!  Simple as that. 

Wagon Wheel Herb Garden, photo origin unknown

Just plant your favorite herbs in each "section" and you've got not only a perfectly laid out herb garden, but a great conversation piece as well.  It's hard to tell in this picture, but it really does look pretty cool when you're done.  It's a bit more "formal" than just a free form garden, but for a courtyard or small space, it's a great solution to keep your herbs in one spot, contained, and organized.  I can't wait until we can do one ourselves.

Thanks and good luck!

MY FUN NEW PURCHASE, THE BULB HOUND

A very dear friend of mine gave me a gift card to Home Depot as a present and I've been trying to decide what to get. Sure I could just use it to get paint or tile or pay for part of a light fixture or something like that, but I always like to get an item that I wouldn't have otherwise purchased and then every time I use it, I will think of it as the gift that that person gave me. 

So........I had seen these online and in some tool catalogs over the last couple of years, and since part of my plan for the property is to start naturalizing bulbs (more on that in a future post), I figured whatever can make my life easier in that regard is worth it.  Now granted, I haven't used this yet, and won't until my back has returned to 100%, but in the long run, this should SAVE me some back breaking labor.  It's called various things, a Bulb Hound, Hound Dog, Garden Planter, Bulb Neutralizer, and others.

You simply step on it like a shovel, and push it into the ground, twist it and pull straight up.  You should have dirt in the bottom of it that came from the hole.  Then you toss in your bulb, pull the release handle at the top and the dirt falls out back into the hole.  Tamp it down with your foot....

...water, forget about it, and in about 6 months, you should have something that looks like this.

This is called "naturalizing" but I'll post more on that later when I start my actual process of putting down bulbs to naturalize with.

Always keep an eye out for tools that can make your life easier.  They are out there, you just don't realize it!



CREATIVE GARDENING IN THE CITY

I've had some people ask me if I've done some gardening here in the city.  With 6000 square feet of urban concrete, it's a little difficult.  The whole lot isn't garden capable, it's partly house, partly driveway, partly garage, and partly water (i.e. pool).  That doesn't leave much room for green space!


With no real "ground" I can plant in, I had to get creative.  I found these two folding stands at a thrift store. Originally, the large one was hunter green, the small one was pink.  Talk about mismatched!  But for $10 for both, it was too good a deal to pass up.  So I decided on black.  I thought it would be a nice contrast with the clay color and the green of the plants. I bought some Rustoleum, matte finish, black spray paint and started spraying, turning them into a nice area for herbs.  I bought twelve 8" clay pots and saucers.  Then I put some gravel in the bottom of each for drainage, some potting soil, and 12 different herbs, that was the best part, and the most fun.

I've got bay, rosemary, three different kinds of basil, garlic chives, onion chives, oregano, flat leaf parsley, marjoram, thyme, and cilantro.  They supply most of our herb needs for cooking, but because they are in smaller pots, they don't last as long.  Still, for most of the Spring and Summer, we have enough herbs to cook with, as long as 2nd Man doesn't go too crazy cooking with them.

What are these you might ask?  Again, using six 8" clay pots (no saucers needed here), I used these great fence pot hangers I found on clearance and created a space for more herbs on an unused section of fence.  I have sage, lemon balm, dill, chamomile, even some catnip (up out of the way of cats, ha).  The way these hangers work is so neat.  They fit into the space between the fence boards, sideways, then you rotate them around and it's just a "ring" hovering in the air that you put the 8" clay pot in.  Works great! 

This is a hanging basket (one of two) that holds our mint.  For those who have ever planted mint in the ground, you know it can be very invasive, i.e. it will spread all over a flower bed and take over.  Keeping them this way keeps them contained.  I have a peppermint basket and a spearmint basket.  It's so nice to snip some fresh mint whenever you need it.

I've always used clay pots as my planting containers.  I like the unified look in the back yard, where there is no color from the container itself, instead the color comes from what's planted in it.  They are so nice to plant in because they let the roots breathe, and you'll end up with healthier plants in the end.  They do, however, require more frequent watering as they dry out much faster.  There is never a chance of "overwatering" in a clay pot (unless your drain hold on the bottom is clogged).  Just remember that when you plant in containers, your plant will be limited in size because of the size of the container it is planted it.  Our herbs never get huge and, as a result, get used up faster, because of this.

Now you know the the reason we want a "real garden" at the farm.  Actual ground to plant in.  And let the plants grow to their full potential.  I want to have specific areas for herbs; a culinary garden, a tea garden, a medicinal garden, etc.  If I can do this in the city, the sky's the limit  out there on 10 acres!  Should be fun.  But more on that in a future post. 

Until then, enjoy!  Plant some herbs, and enjoy using them.  It's easier than you think.

ROAD TO RECOVERY

So, after a weekend of bed rest, and most of today as well 

(stayed home from work), I'm feeling much better.

I can now walk around without much pain.

Just as mysterious as it comes on, it goes away, albeit slower than

I would like, but bottom line, I'm feeling better.

Hope to get back to blogging tomorrow,

so thanks for hanging in there with me.

More tomorrow!

1st Man

OH BACK PAIN, HOW I LOATHE THEE

Today will be a day off from blogging.  I know I normally use Thursday's "inspiration photo" day as my day off, but all this farm work has caught up with me and I'm experiencing some major sciatic type back pain.

It's better if I move around or lay down instead of sitting, and of course that's not conducive to blogging.

So I'm taking some Advil, doing some stretches, and working through the pain.

I'll post as soon as I'm feeling back up for it, hopefully tomorrow!
Might not make it to the farm though this weekend, darn it.

In the mean time, we have over 100 posts now, take a few moments and scroll down to the bottom

of the page and click on "older posts".  You can do that all the way back to the beginning, over 6 months ago, and maybe you'll see something you missed.

Thanks again and any tips for relieving that "radiating down one leg" type pain would

be appreciated.

WELCOME MEXICO

Bienvenidos Mexico!

Look forward to sharing in the journey with you!

See you back here soon!

INSPIRATION THURSDAY

FARMHOUSE INTERIOR PAINT COLORS

I know it might be a bit premature to start thinking colors, but of course we have been thinking of them long before we got the house.  Lately, we realized that once some minor issues are dealt with, it will be time to paint and we better come up with some colors. 

We've tossed around the idea of making the guest room a pale, soft, pink (my late mother's favorite color and she would have SO loved this house), the master a sunny yellow, the kitchen a pale blue, etc. 

But then the other night we were watching a TV show, can't remember which one, but the rooms in this particular house were all white.  The walls, the trim around doors and windows, and the ceilings.  And then each room was decorated with different color themes.  We realized how genius this idea actually was. You use the pillows, the accessories, the bedspreads, the curtains, etc, for the color in a room.  Even the fabric on the couch can be used as the color palette.

Then I started my favorite activity, googling, and found that this is quite popular with cottages and small homes.  Of course the first thing, it makes the room feel bigger.  Secondly, it lets in more light.  Since we live in the city and don't often open our curtains, for security/privacy reasons mainly, it will be nice to have open curtains and tons of light flowing in.  The white will definitely add to that feeling as well. 

Here are some random pictures I found on the Internet of various rooms done in a white background with the furniture/decor as the "color" in the room...





These two are white with blue and black as the colors.  Actually love the blue in the bedroom....





When we were thinking of painting the rooms a color, we were going to go with Martha Stewart Living line of paint that's sold at Home Depot.  We been on a quite a few home tours in Houston and that paint is very popular.  Not only is the variety of unusual colors nice, but it's also low odor and low VOC's, and that drew us to it initially.

Of course, without diffferent colors, we figured we'll still need to find a white.  So I checked Martha's paint line and she has white............19 different shades of white!  Of course, looking at some of them, they are called white but I can see pink or gray or blue or other colors in them.

It looks like we've narrowed it down to "Pure White" as the interior color.  It looks the same as the "Picket Fence" color we chose for the exterior, but I suppose it's different in some aspect.  Here's a neat room with all white and then yellows and greens for accents.

This one is kind of cool because it combines some usnusual colors, the pinks and rose colors from the curtains and then the yellow/green of the striped chair.





The blue and white is nice, and again, the decorations, the fabric, the furniture, is where all the color comes from and the walls stay simply white.  I think this will be a fun way to decorate.


Now in some of these rooms, I realize they painted the floor, we are not going to do that, our floors will look great left as they are, the original chocolate brown wood.  But that doesn't mean we can't put down a bunch of rugs for splashes of color, but more on that in a future post.

WELCOME THAILAND

A big Texas Howdy to those coming to us today

all the way from Thailand!
One of the dearest friends I have in the world lives in Thailand and
I hope that someday we get to visit.

In the meantime, we hope you will please come back and enjoy our blog!



THESE BOOTS

I love this picture of the screen door and my boots...

It just reminds me of all things country...