Around The House And Gardens

Yeah....It's Spring....and there is sssoooo much to do....Here's Delta napping with her favorite pink raccoon.

Lettuce, carrots, and radishes for today's salad.

Black Knight Sweet Peas

Butter Nut squash coming up.....

...a small artichoke bud barely peeking out....

....cucumbers sprouting....

...today's harvest....

...bachelor buttons...

....a bento style picnic lunch for the girls....

....light fluffy yummy sub rolls fresh from the oven...I'll share this recipe soon....

...the beautiful days are to blame for dishes being in the sink at noon....I'd rather be outside...so house work will just have to wait until tonight...

Property In Mississippi

Byron and I have been looking to purchase property for a while now...finally we found it....the piece we had been looking for...a wild overgrown 21 acre place in Mississippi...that had been basically  clear cut about eight years ago.

It was really an eye opener when we started looking for land.  The majority of the land we looked at had been clear cut or abused in some way.  It seemed as if most owners didn't appreciate the land for what it was...or could be...it appeared to be about how much money they could get from the land through cutting the trees down...or selling its mineral resources...most of the land was ugly...abused...or raped seems like a fitting word.  Even when selling the land they all wanted to hang on to the mineral rights in case there was some big find (like they hadn't already tried)....I wanted the mineral rights so I could prevent huge industrial tracks on our land once I began laying out the permaculture food forest.

I wanted to buy an ugly clear cut piece of property and "heal" it.  Byron wanted to find a cultivated cared for piece of land and add our own plans to it....This is our compromise!  I'm glad he partially got his way....Guess I'm too optimistic at times...Anyway...

I really love the piece we bought and I can't wait to cut through the brambles and discover all of it's surprises...good....or bad!  We plan to leave part of it wild with gentle changes for improvement.  A few acres will be planted with a food forest.  Eventually we would like to have a small cabin.  

There is a sixteen foot flood wall going up north of my current home which totally excludes myself and many neighborhoods from the Federal flood protection projects that are going on.  The government assures us that they will take care of us and we shouldn't care so much about their insane plans...snort...(that's me laughing in a cynical way). 

I really hope their plans work...but nature doesn't work very well with those who try to thwart it and not work with it.  Instead of stopping the practices that are destroying the wet lands they are going to try to contain the Gulf with a sixteen foot concrete wall.  So this piece of property will also be an above sea level stopping off point if Katrina happens again....and beyond all that....I was born in Mississippi and always wanted a piece of property there....So....look for future posts on our Mississippi Permaculture food forest progress!!!

There is an old logging road that runs through the length of the property....and the trees are really getting quite tall....some areas need thinning...

...there are some tall pines on the property and a few oaks...

...the logging road is like a animal super highway....I guess they like to walk without being scratched by brush as well...this is a deer track...

...Byron explained to me that this is a buck track, you can tell by the two "toenail" type marks in the front...

...there are many cat tracks...every time we go there are fresh cat tracks....and this is a big cat.  These marks are at least 3 1/2 to 4 inches wide.  I am going to measure them next time I go.  Bobcat?  Panther?  They say Panthers are extinct in Mississippi, but the locals say, "Not So".  Maybe a game camera along the trail will tell the tale.

We must have startled this deer when we pulled up.  See how sharp the crumbs are around the track, and it's still wet in the track even though the sun was hot that day.

...OK help....what kind of track is this?

...Another view along the logging road...

...this is a grassy clearing at the top of the hill on the property...it makes me wonder if maybe someone lived here before...or was there once an oil rig here?

...we stumbled across this stream of water.  The brush was too thick to follow it far.  I'm anxious to find out what it's source is...is it a seasonal stream...is it always there?  The ditch it flows through is pretty deep and it meanders over an old road and continues flowing on the neighbor's property...

I can't wait to find out what types of trees, foliage and flowers are growing on the property and identify them.  Here are a few of them.  Let me know if you know what these are...

...I think this is a dogwood....

....I think this is Carolina Jasmine, there is quite a bit of it scattered around.  I also saw some rose canes with a few tiny pink roses on them.

...this is pink buds about to bloom on a tree...what kinda tree?  Don't know.

While walking a trail along the fence line we encountered some young cows. They looked at us, seemed to confer, then deemed us dangerous, and hurriedly trotted off while looking over their shoulders...we laughed...it reminded us of our girls when some strange person comes down the drive...they all run straight home...smart girls.

...these horses however trotted right over and wanted their heads scratched and their necks rubbed...I think they thought we might have good candy...

Tera's 15 & Garden Stuff

I cannot write this blog post without saying I am thinking about Japan...Praying for the people in Japan....We went through Hurricane Katrina and St. Bernard and part of Plaquemines looked just like the tsunami hit areas of Japan.....

...but.....we had warning.....days ahead we knew it was coming.....authorities begged begged begged people to leave....and they still wouldn't.....Japan had no warning.  There are warnings going out now about other things.   You know there are ways and things that you need to change in your life....Don't make people beg you...if they have to beg you probably will not listen to good sense anyway........

My daughter turned 15 this month, and it's scary what a little woman she is turning into.  Quite capable and confident would be two words to describe Tera.  Attributes that make me proud.  They'll take her far in life.....

Louisiana strawberries are in season....Yeah!  So a Happy Birthday Strawberry Shortcake was in order....Yum.

Talia and I anticipating the local strawberries and fresh made whip cream ....mmmmmm

This picture is for my sister Monique.  See how wonderful Dad is doing.  My Father had a severe stroke almost a year ago.  Physically he is fine, but he now has aphasia.  Aphasia is very hard for the family and more so for the victim.  My Father doesn't have the spirit of a victim....He is an over comer...he tackles his speech therapy with the same spirit of fight that he tackled the many problems that came his way in every season of his life.  I like to think I got my spunk from him....but my good looks from my Mom! -Smile- Everyday he is communicating with more and more words.  I love you Daddy.

Spring cleaning in the garden is underway.  I'm cutting back all the dead tropical plants.  I didn't want to do it too soon because the leaves protect the roots from any way ward frosts.....

A big ship making a lot of noise all night anchored behind the house.  Crew boats are noisy...arghh

This morning the greens are in the solar oven and the fish will be soon....the temp is already almost 300 in the oven...I love my solar oven...it keeps the heat out of the house durning the summer.

This chickens are laying terrific numbers of eggs again....To me eggs are beautiful...

...inside of one of the red cabbages I grew...look how tightly packed it is...

...these two beds are just full of goodness....beet greens, turnip greens, (The roots have been in the ground and are too tough to eat at this point.  I am leaving them there for the leaves and seeds.) Four types of garlic, romaine lettuce, radishes, and the plant I am so excited about....chamomile...this is my first year growing it....and....

.....it's making buds!!!!!! YEAAAAAA!!!!  I love chamomile tea!

Around The House And Gardens

I woke up and it was Spring!  It seemed like overnight everything started budding and turning green...70 degree weather and warm breezes, swamp flies or mosquito hawks or whatever they are that people call them...hundreds...thousands...maybe millions of them started bumbling around the lawn and into the house...scaring Talia...and announcing...HEY!!!  It's getting warmer!!!........AND YOU BETTER GET BUSY!!!!......


I harvested the last of my cabbage.  There are still plenty of carrots.  This is my first try at purple cabbage.  They got off to a slow start at first.  My chickens attacked them.  I've come to the conclusion that chickens prefer purple cabbage.  They left my green cabbage alone and only attacked the purple ornamental and edible cabbages.  The cabbages over all were truly beautiful this year and very very very Sweet.

....Close up....see the tiny Thumbelina carrots....

....This is my very most favorite hand tool....luv luv luv...I bought it on vacation last year when I visited Baker's Creek Heirloom seed...it is a piece from a cultivator plow that has been welded to a handle..chops up anything....I use it to dig out grass clumps.  It's the best for our stubborn deep grasses.  Also it makes short work of chopping through the thick cabbage stems to harvest them....but be careful...I've cut myself pretty bad with it...

...Josie checking out all the flowering winter veggies....

....peach tree blossom....

....pear tree blossoms.....

....Mulberry tree blossoms...so Yum!...The berries, not sure about the blossoms...but anticipating those berries....

...The still mostly bare trees reveal all the multitude of bird and squirrel nests in the trees....

....New fig leaves....

...new citrus leaves....

....another view of the flowering winter veggies....gonna save some seed......

....rusty Fleur Di Lis tucked in the clouds of flowers....

....first bachelor button blossom of the year.....

.....onions.....Kale in the back....oh yes it's flowering too....

....the artichokes re-emerging...collards in the back...purple Japanese mustard in the front....

....this is so delightful....my windmill palm is putting out flower stalks...Tropicals are so vibrant...the pink is a lorapetalum blooming in the back, it makes a fringe shaped flower and turns the purple bush to glowing pink in the spring...it's also called plum delight...very easy to find in garden centers....

....traditionally planted potatoes....beautiful.....

....enjoy the warm breezes...and run from the  mosquitoes!