We Are Deep In the Heart of Texas

Nomadic seasons of farming adventures with nature thrown in to include; a pinch of family, snippets of friends, counting our blessings, paying IT forward, home school, and the spicy things I decide to rant about.















Saturday, April 27, 2013

Family In the Yard




 
Target practice for Saenz.
Grand daughters Jayline and Sarah digging asparagus bed.
Zephyr clowning.
Chicks are growing fast and look almost too big for nest.
 
Grandpa has a pot of beans on with leg quarters on the grill.  I just put on the hybrid squash (no seeds just look at photo in last post.)  I have been weeding our Brussels sprouts row.
 
 Earlier we put in three concord grape vines and two Queen Anne raspberry canes.  Junior is just chilling out with his girls.  Sid took off to spend some time in Poth with his Uncle Danny.  Not much else going on around the coop.
 
Enjoy your weekend and plant something!

Friday, April 26, 2013

Bye Bye Thieving Gopher

     This little monster took down 3 grown tomato plants.  Hubby just dispatched him with a 12 gauge.  Sarah our brave little gardener is happy to inspect her grandpa's work.  Hopefully, this will be the last one daring enough to invade our yard.  We don't take lightly to poachers especially, when they are stealing from our plates.

Zu-neck or Crook-chini? You Decide

    Aren't these squash crazy looking?  We did not plant any squash in our corner bed this year.  This squash just showed up and has these shiny, ridged, and covered in small hair.  It's all good with us, since we will put them on the grill tonight along with our beef fajita.  It is nice to start harvesting this early in the year.  I have to go into town tomorrow to get pickling supplies for our first batch of radishes. What do ya'll have planted in your gardens?

Thursday, April 25, 2013

New Dove Chicks, Radishes and Strange Squash Hybrid

   Can you see their little beaks?  Momma has found some type of netting to build with; which looks like deer netting to me.  To me these babies look prickly -- can't believe she has two chicks this size.  Tomorrow I will have to take pics of our first vegetables of the season.  So far we got radishes (for pickling) and a weird mix of zucchini and crooked neck squash we did not plant but, the seed must have been in the ground over the short winter.  The squash are super shiny and have bumps to boot.  Any whosits, I will get some snap shots of the strange offerings tomorrow.  Enjoy your evening; we are all tucked in for the night at the coop.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Spring Has Sprung

    Isn't she lovely, this little dove is sitting two lovely little eggs next to one of our garden beds.  I found her nest while trimming a small tree along our fence line.  I really thought this nest would not survive the high winds so, I wove some branches to fortify the limbs she chose for nesting.  What a lucky find to help this momma.
     We have been busy this spring laying in three medium garden beds.  This year we are trying something different by just tilling long rows and leaving our grass alone in between the rows.  We chose to do this because of South Texas's drought, high winds, and soil erosion. 

     So far, we have corn as you can see Sarah holding the seedlings as well as: cucumbers, carrots, beets, radishes, cilantro, parsley, peppers, watermelon, pumpkins, zucchini, crooked neck squash, tomatoes, oregano, chives with plans to add more as we get the soil worked.  Also this spring we have added more fruit trees to our property: figs, two types of green grapes, muscadine (cowart grape), black berry, chili petins, five apple trees, peaches, blue berry, lemon, limes, and soon Queen Anne raspberries.  This morning hubby and I were surprised to find two fruit on one of our pomegranate trees; after two years of babying seems we may have gotten lucky this year.

     Next month will start our next academic school year.  We home school during the absolute horror of Texas's Fire Ball summers and take it easy during the fall and spring for gardening, fishing, and just to chill.  I haven't picked the curriculum for this year both Sarah and Zephyr will be 4th graders and Saenz will be doing a combo of 9th/10th grade.  How time flies around here.

     Hubby and I have been talking about building up our flock again plus adding some farm critters.  How I miss having goats, guineas, and pigs, to care for and watch.  It will be tough though because our neighbors allow their dogs to run free and this year we have lost 3 chickens to them in the passed month.  Yes, I am seriously considering using fire power to off them; I don't like killing someone's pet but, what other choice do we have?

     Our thoughts and prayers are with the families in Boston and West, Texas.   May you all find happiness in your slices of heaven this week.

     Well, I am off to change the water hose.......