COLORFUL BEEHIVES, INSPIRATION THURSDAY

For today's inspiration post, we're going across the pond to Europe...

Colorful European beehives, image courtesy of Europeantravel.net

With the cold and snowy Winter weather settling in over much of our country, I wanted to find a Winter-ish picture.  OK, we will never EVER have this kind of weather in these parts (light snow, once in a blue moon, but heavy snow, never).  Still, I just couldn't resist this picture.  These are BEEHIVES in Europe.  They are so pretty, lined up and painted such vibrant colors.  I'm sure they are neat looking in the Spring but in this Winter setting, they are just so beautiful.  If anything, maybe it can inspire color in landscaping by painting outdoor accessories and furniture in colors.  

For us, it kind of inspires me to want to paint our beehives (coming soon by the way), a fun color (with safe paint of course).  We probably won't end up painting them, they'll most likely stay white, but it's still fun to see.

Be inspired! (or is that BEE inspired?)

HOW TO ROAST SUGAR PUMPKINS

A few weeks back, I saw these little pumpkins that are called "Pie Pumpkins" or "Sugar Pumpkins".  I did some research and found that they are grown to be used for pumpkin pies and they are supposed to have more flavor.  The first thing we had to learn was how to roast and process them.  

Below is how we did it:

First, slice them in half.  Be VERY VERY careful, they are hard and you need a sharp knife and a careful and steady hand.  As you can see, they are filled with seeds and the stringy pulp.

Using a spoon (we used a large metal scoop type spoon) scrape out the pulp and seeds.  You may have to scrape a little to get it all out but it comes out pretty easily.

You'll get a lot of seeds and pulp.  If you like roasted pumpkin seeds, don't throw this out.  We'll have a pumpkin seed roasting 101 coming soon.  If you don't care for them, toss them in the compost pile.

Rub the inside and outside with canola oil and place them, cut side down, on a sheet pan/cookie sheet.

Roast at 350 degrees on the middle rack of your oven for about an hour.  The skin will start to wrinkle and darken and the kitchen will smell like, well, pumpkins!

Let them cool a bit, they will be very hot so be careful.  If they are cooked through, the skin should just peel off.  You might have to pull off smaller pieces by hand, but it will more or less come off using a spoon and some patience.

Pull the chunky pumpkin flesh away from the skin and put it into a bowl.  Don't worry about cutting it up or worry about it if it breaks up because it's all going to be pureed in the next step.

The best and easiest thing to use is a stick blender (or immersion blender as they are also called).  A food processor works great as well.  You could also put it, a little bit at a time, into a regular blender.  Whatever you use, just blend it until smooth and creamy.

As you can see, there is a lot of moisture that will need to be removed.  This liquid is what will ruin your pies or baked goods, so the best thing to do is to let it drain.

We put it into a mesh strainer set over a larger bowl and just let nature take its course.  It took about an hour or so, with occasional stirring (to make sure it all gets out) for it to drain.

Don't mash it too hard as you stir it in the mesh strainer or you might lose some pulp as we did here.  As you can see, the liquid will just pour out for awhile and then slow to a drip.

Sugar Pie Pumpkin puree

We ended up with about six cups of puree and we vacuum sealed them in our Foodsaver bags and popped them in the freezer.  We will be making a pie with some of it soon and we also just picked up four more sugar pumpkins so we should end up with six more cups soon.  We figured better to get them now while they are readily available.

Thanks and good luck!

REMEMBER OUR VETERANS

My father was in the Air Force, my grandfather was in the Army (WWII), "S", whom I consider like a brother, is retired Air Force and "J", a young man I often think of as the son I never had, is currently active duty Army in Afghanistan.  

It's easy to take for granted the work that men and women do for the rest of us but on this day especially, we need to remember that and thank them.

So 2nd Man and I would like to take this moment, on this special day, to thank all of those who've served, past and present.  And to all of those that read our blog and who themselves are serving, or have family and loved ones who served or are serving, we would like to thank you all.

OUR FIRST REAL BURN PILE

At the farm, we had our first burn pile.  There had been a burn ban in the county for quite awhile.  So we piled up timber and tree trimmings and scrap wood that we couldn't use.  You can see the tall weeds that grew up around it during the last year or so.  Some of the 'older' trimmings on the bottom of the pile had been there long enough to start breaking down.

Starting the burn pile

"R" from 2nd Family came down and said they had burned theirs when the burn ban was lifted and since it was cool and not windy, it would be a good time to do it.  So I found some dry timber and lit it on fire.  We took the water hose and soaked the grass and ground in a ring around the fire and watched it go.

Burn pile

Is it a guy thing or does everyone enjoy it?  Watching the fire, poking it with a stick on occasion, sitting around with a cold 'libation', was so much fun and definitely relaxing.  It was only wood burning, nothing that might be toxic, so at least we didn't have to stay upwind.  I kept the ground watered around it and after about 3 hours, this had burned down to almost nothing.  

Burn pile in the distance 

We noticed that someone else down the road was also burning their pile.  'Tis the season as the saying goes.  It was also a cool day so the warmth was nice.

Now comes the quandary.  While we do enjoy the burn pile when it's burning, the rest of the year it's just a pile of yard trash.  I guess we have 11 acres and it would be easy to haul off and dump it somewhere else but someday, we'll be clearing those other areas and could come to regret dumping limbs and branches elsewhere.  We thought about a burn barrel but we think that during a burn ban you can't use those either.

Anyone else have burn piles?  
Burn barrels?

WEEKEND UPDATE

It was a beautiful weekend....the weather was perfect and the birds were out in all their glory.  Captured a picture of this one (not sure what bird it is/was) as it flew off from another tree.  They were out in full force, gliding around the sky over the farm.  It was funny how I'd be working and get the big shadow pass across the ground where I was working.  The first few times it was distracting and made me look up, but then it became kind of peaceful.  I was doing my thing, they were doing theirs.

Disinterested cow

This lady was not the least bit interested in what I was doing in the yard.  I think she stayed there the entire time and just looked over occasionally, usually when I made a mooing noise (I know, I know, who can't resist mooing when there is a cow around...or is that just me?).  

Clearing a bit more land

This is one of the awesome parts..."R" from 2nd Family borrowed his friend's brush hog (bush hog? I never know which it is) to clear their front pasture.  He then asked me if we minded if he cleared some places on our property.  Free land clearing?  Go for it!  So he followed some of my trails and made them wider, but then he cleared some entirely NEW areas.  He cleared around the pond site, circled it completely, and gavels access to parts of the property we've never been able to get too.  Some of that was filled with an exciting (hopefully anyway) new discovery, but more on that later.  

We left the windows open and the breeze aired out the house and freshened things up.  No a/c and it was so cool and nice...these kinds of days are rare in these parts so we enjoyed it while we could.  We vacuumed the floors, and vacuumed up all the dead bugs from the windowsills.  (where DO they come from?).  The good news is that we are also still "creature free" and the live trap that we borrowed was returned to 2nd Family.  There didn't seem to be any activity either, so next weekend, the plan is to seal up that hole in the attic/roof line so that we can cross out fingers for the best for this Winter.

Arroz con Pollo

We had some great food, 2nd Man made a big pot of Arroz con Pollo (chicken and rice, think paella but without the seafood) and we had a bottle of wine.  It was very good (of course) and the perfect end to a weekend. 

We hope you all had a good weekend doing what makes you happy!

SAVE FUEL FOR BATTLE, VINTAGE POSTER SUNDAY

Save Fuel, vintage poster image courtesy of Wikicommons

Here is a WWII poster that urged citizens to save fuel...but in this case, it was to save fuel to make ammunition for the war effort.  This one is from the UK.  Not sure what punishment the man is about to get for 'wasting hot water', but his wife certainly doesn't look happy.

Funny though, when we see this poster today, we don't think of wasting the fuel it took to heat the water, we think more of wasting the water.

Hope your weekend is going well, we are getting some things done in what may be our last nice weekend at the farm.  The next weekend forecast shows cold and possibly rainy.  More later today/tonight!

COWS AND HORSES COHABITATING

It's the end of the world as we know it!  LOL!

Cows and Horses grazing together

This past weekend, I looked over the garden fence to the neighboring pasture and there was a horse...and a cow...and another horse...and another cow.  They just all casually crazed and occasionally looked up to see what I was doing.  They definitely keep me company when I'm out there doing stuff.  

And speaking of doing stuff, we had a nice gentle rain Wednesday and Thursday and ended up with about 3/4" of rain.  That's nice and definitely good for the stuff I planted last weekend.  It also softens up the ground so I can dig a few more holes this weekend.  With this forecast, it will indeed be a great weekend.

We may not have many of these left this season so we have to strike while the iron is hot, or in this case, cool, LOL!  Hope you have good plans and a good weekend to get them all done!

Updates as we can!

CAMO CAT, FELINE FRIDAY

Neo the Cat, trying to hide in grass

This is one of 2nd Family's cats.  His name is Neo (The Matrix was popular when they got him as a kitten).  He's so funny when he's stalking around the yard.  He tries to hide and we all laugh because he stands out like a sore thumb...not so camouflaged after all, ha.  We can see him an acre away when he's sitting in the middle of the field, although one time I remember he was curled up sleeping by a tree and I asked "is that a soccer ball in the back pasture?"

He's the sweetest cat, he's getting older now and all he wants is a comfortable lap to sit in.  Whenever we see him, we're always glad to provide that.  

Friday, here finally.  Phew, long week.  

More later this afternoon/evening.

FIREPIT AND CHAIRS, INSPIRATION THURSDAY

Photo image sunsetliving.com

One thing on our short range farm list is an in ground fire pit.  We are even prepping an area now to get it ready, but more on that in a future post.  Until then, we are collecting ideas.  We like both of these and especially the style of having them in ground/semi in ground with Adirondack chairs around that.  

Above is one with different colored chairs...and below is one with the same color chairs around it.

Photo image: bhg.com

We do like the them both, but I have to admit to liking the whimsy of the multicolored chairs.  it's fun and of course adds color.  2nd Man likes the natural wood color, he said it's more cohesive (that might be a good look into our psyches huh? LOL).    

Maybe a good compromise would be all the same but all red?  All yellow?  All blue?  Then he gets his cohesive and I get my pop of color!

Be Inspired!

SECOND COMING OF THE GARDEN

Part of what i did this weekend was start to clean up the garden.  Some of the beds have grass growing in them, as does the front half of the garden.  But more on that later.  When I walked in to tackle it, this is what greeted me:

Pop up tomatoes

This is the tomato raised bed.  

I pulled them up in August when the heat was at it's peak and they were fizzling out.  I PULLED THEM UP.  Roots and all.  I even turned off the watering system.  We had a few good soaking rains in September and can only assume that a few tomato seeds were laying on the ground and along with the weeds and grass, they started springing up and have been happily growing.

Tomato pop up

Here is one in a raised bed in the midst of some grass that popped up.  They are all covered in blooms too.  Not sure if we'll get a second wave of tomatoes, but we feel like we should leave them alone and see what happens.  Tomatoes 2.0?

Eggplant pop ups

And what have we here?  

Why this is one of the eggplants...I pulled them up as well and put the cages up.  Now there were two growing about 2 feet tall and have blooms all over them as well!  They were starting to lean over so I put cages back around them to help support them.  Eggplants 2.0?

Basil pop ups

And look at these weeds popping up on the ground in the mulch!  

Oh wait, those aren't weeds, those are basil plants!  And they are about, oh, eight FEET away from the raised herb bed where their mother plant originated.  I'm guessing seeds blew across the mulch, landed in just the right spot with just the right moisture and boom, pop up basil!  We just don't have the heart to pull them up.  I did pull up the weeds around them but hey, if we need basil this Fall, I'll just pop over to the garden and pull some up.  Basil 2.0?

Side note, I will catch up comments tonight.  Just hadn't been on the computer long enough to go back through them.  We always read ALL of them of course, and now I need to go back and reply to as many as possible.  Keep 'em coming!

What about you?  Have you ever had a garden plant just randomly pop up and provide you with a second crop?

IT WAS A GOOD WEEKEND

This post will have to be quick, got in from the farm late in the day yesterday and had dinner and crashed.  Didn't get a longer post up so I thought I'd hit some of the highlights.

Got to the farm and the house was cold inside.  But that's fine, it was gorgeous and perfect weather.  The plus side is there was no evidence of 'creature activity' in the house.  None.  Zilch.  Nada.  Zero.  No droppings, no chewed things, etc.  The traps were all clear, the beds were good and the couches were clear (we take the pillows and cushions off every time to check for mouse activity).  We've removed the large trap and we've got our fingers crossed.  So with that off the list this weekend, it was time for other things.

There were sugar pumpkins (pie pumpkins) that were dealt with...

While mowing on the Zen Machine, snake skin was discovered (OUTside, thankfully) but no actual snake was spotted (not sure if that's good or bad).  This skin was almost as big around as my wrist.  Not sure I care to SEE the actual snake that shed it, that would not be a very 'zen' moment, but hey, every day on the mower is a good day...

Speaking of the zen machine, it got a good washing after mowing.  Now it's sparkly clean like a new car.  It was put up and covered for what will probably be its last mission until the Spring grass returns again...

There was more...the garden got worked on, plants got planted, trees came down (on purpose) new trails were made, things were cleaned, cows visited, a horse came to visit as well as dogs, cats, 2nd Family, cardinals and other birds...everyone and everything stopped by.  It was just a good weekend. 

When I started working on a post last night, I realized that the time change here in the US had thrown me off.  We set our clocks back an hour.  I'm glad we gained back the hour but now I'm all screwed up on my internal clock.

More in upcoming posts...

What did you do exciting this weekend?

JOIN US ON THE FARM FRONT, VINTAGE POSTER SUNDAY

Join Us on the Farm Front, vintage poster image courtesy of US National Library

This poster image comes from WWII and pushed the US Crop Corps...an organization that promoted having citizens help harvest crops while men were serving overseas.  This one was aimed at teens and getting them interested in being part of the Victory Farm Volunteers.  

We have to wonder, how many young people today would willingly do something like this?  

Hope you are having a great weekend.  It's been wonderful here...the weather is amazing and I'm getting a lot done.  More later with some updates.

FIRST FALL WEEKEND

Oh....the plans I have!  

Here is the forecast for this weekend:

Lows in the 40's...highs in the 60's on Saturday?  It truly is our first REAL weekend of Fall.  This is working outside weather if I've ever seen it!  The list is getting long and I only have two days to work on it.  Of course, we'll have more weekends but I want to do it all now.  Sometimes I'm one of those instant gratification types of people and that can be a hindrance to getting it all done.  I'm better off to focus on a few projects.

The most important project is getting the garden cleaned up and readied for Winter.  The other big project is to plant some more trees and bushes.  So it's off to the garden center tonight to pick up soil and all the other things we need to get the plants in the ground.

Needless to say, posting will be sporadic this weekend while we enjoy it.  

Now if I can just keep the napping with the windows open and a cool breeze blowing to a minimum...

THE HAND OF BARNABAS, HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Barnabas the tree

I took this picture of Barnabas, our party tree, not too long ago because it reminded me of the creepy hand of a vampire or other scary creature.  I found the picture below and it reminded me of what I saw in the tree, even though it's a female hand and he's a male tree, ha.

He's pretty and shaded in the Summer, providing a respite from the oppressive heat, but he's also kind of scary in the Winter.  We're in the 'between seasons' time now so scary Barnabas is coming soon!

Hope you are having a good day.  More this afternoon/evening.  

Get lots of candy and have a great and safe Halloween!

HALLOWEEN PORCHES, INSPIRATION THURSDAY

Pumpkins on porch, image courtesy of BHG.com

One thing we've always wanted to have a large porch for is for Halloween.  How fun it would be to decorate for the holiday?  Of course, being in the middle of the country at the back of 11 acres, um, probably a pretty good chance that we won't have trick or treaters, LOL.  Still, we could do a dinner party instead.  We think it would be so cool to have a table set up on the porch with pumpkin decorations all around.  Even the pumpkins above look really neat just grouped together and lit up.  Maybe a dinner party/pumpkin carving contest?    

These two pictures kind of inspire us toward that time.  Obviously we wouldn't be having anyone out this year so we don't need to think about doing it now but it doesn't hurt to dream, right?  And then we can just make it happen someday down the road when all the other projects are done and we can enjoy...  

Be inspired!

Dinner on Halloween porch, image courtesy of sunsetliving.com