Rooster Apron

Affectionately known as the "Cock Apron". Sorry, couldn't help it. I have an obsession with aprons. I don't know why. Perhaps because it reminds me of a simpler time when women spent all day at home barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen. Ahhh...the good 'ole days. Before I get any letters from the Betty Friedan Fan Club, I AM ONLY KIDDING!!!

But I am not kidding about my obsession. Which is why I had to buy this apron when I saw it at JoAnne Fabrics. All of the pieces are printed on one solid piece of fabric, along with the instructions. Just cut out the pieces (by the way...it would be a good idea to label on the reverse side them as you cut them out) and follow the instructions. Easy Peasy... except I have to be honest with you...I have had this apron cut out for about two months now and just got around to making it because I thought it was going to be harder than it looked. Of course...it wasn't.

And a random picture of a sunflower from the farmer's market. I promise you that it is one of those accidentally great pictures. Please don't think I am starting to get the hang of this picture taking stuff.

Sexing Bob White Quail

Since the quail are coming into laying age, I thought I would share how to tell the boys from the girls. Basically, the only really way to tell (besides watching them all day to see which one squirts out an egg) is to look at their faces:
The males have white accent feathers along the side of their faces around to the front and along their throat:
Whereas the females have brown accent feathers:
I apologize for the quality of these pictures, as the wire from the cage kept getting in the way.

At any rate, you have been learned. Go out into the world and share your knowledge...or not.

Evidence...

I ran a Photoshop Action on this photo called "Define and Sharpen".

Dear God,
Help me for thinking that is hilarious.

Yours truly,

Melissa

He Wore a Size 9...

While out at the property this weekend pulling the rest of the root balls that were connected to bonsai trees in China. My mother came across this:
We were all very excited. In these parts (to coin a phrase) finding a horseshoe is good luck. But this horseshoe looks to be pretty old. It is very brittle and we believe that it was handmade based on the asymmetrical shape. So we took it to Hobby Lobby and had it framed:
I couldn’t help but think about what kind of adventure caused this horseshoe to end up in a field that was, until recently, covered in mesquite. Probably everyday life…but I'm sure I could come up with some wild story. What I do know is that I can’t wait to put it in the house once we have it built…open end up, of course, based on our mythology.

Push The Little Root Balls...And Make 'Em Come Up

As previously mentioned, we were pulling root balls this weekend at the property. These were no ordinary roots. These were the ones that we had walked by several times before and attempted self inflicted hernias on trying to pull out by hand. These things called for machinery…like a Jeep. We love ourselves some overkill!! Seriously though…in some cases I was afraid we were going to pull up molten lava and journey our way to the center of the earth. In case you were wondering what this process looks like (and even if you didn’t) I’m going to show you.

First you have to locate a root. Not a problem:
Then you must find a creative way to wrap a chain around the root, so as to actually pull the root out…as opposed to skinning it:Then you attached the other end of the chain to the Jeep:Slap that puppy into reverse and away you go… That’s how it goes in a perfect world, or if you are Wolf… Hi Wolf…
In my world, (because, yes, I actually got to drive the big Jeep!!) I skinned more than I pulled. Eh…you win some, you loose some. But I was so proud when I pulled my first one:
It weighed 10lbs 5ozs and looked to be about 3 feet long. I thought about knitting up a little hat for it.

Moving on… This was how our day progressed. Search for roots, attach chain…hope for the best and pull. Now that we have the bigger stuff out…we can FINALLY have them come in with the disc plow and get this party started.

Watch out…I may be getting the hang of this…

Locavore

Wikipedia defines this as: “A locavore is someone who eats food grown or produced locally or within a certain radius such as 50, 100, or 150 miles. The locavore movement encourages consumers to buy from farmers’ markets or even to produce their own food, with the argument that fresh, local products are more nutritious and taste better. Locally grown food is an environmentally friendly means of obtaining food, since supermarkets that import their food use more fossil fuels and non-renewable resources. "
What amazes me the most about this is that this was the word of the year for 2007 for the New Oxford American Dictionary. Perhaps it’s just me, but does anyone see the absurdity of this? A few months ago, when I first discovered the Austin Farmer’s Market, I cooked an entirely local meal (with the exception of oil and spices) consisting of a roasted chicken, roasted veggies, a salad and cheese. As I thought about this meal and what a “locavore” is a few days ago, I wondered…at what point, did eating locally become a novelty? At what point did it become a marketing scheme?
What I do know for certain is that for myself, growing up, eating locally was never discussed. I never grew up around a garden and I am certain that the majority of my generation didn’t either. Which is why we are where we are today.
Allan Savoy (Holistic Management) would say that we started down this slope when man discovered fire. I think that is probable, but I think that there are events that occurred within the last century that might offer an explanation, to include the industrial revolution, the end of World War II and the conversion of chemical warfare into fertilizers which needed to be pushed off on to farmers who then began to specialize in one or two crops. Then into the 50’s when nothing that came from nature was to be trusted. The 60’s attempted a whole-hearted return to the land, but it didn’t quite stick. Industrialism had taken over and population increases forced us to view food sourcing differently.
Of course these are not the only reasons,in fact, there are hundreds of other possibilities. These are just the ones that I think that had the biggest effect. Nonetheless, it still amazes me that we have gone from an agrarian society to one that makes local eating a catch phrase and one of the hottest blog and best selling topics of recent years.

Prairie Chickens

Remember these guys?


Sadly, only seven survived...which I think may actually be pretty good...or at least that is what I am telling myself so that I can sleep at night.

Here they are...grown up, singing like it's the thing to do and about three weeks from laying eggs.


God help me...I don't think I am ready for that. We're gonna have birds all over the damn place. Oh wait...with me they only have about a 25% chance of survival.

How 'bout them odds.

Good thing "Slim" is not a bettin' man.

City Girl Lessons Learned V2.0 - Gate Duty

In the country, there is a little thing called "gate duty". Apparently, whenever you approach a gate, the passenger has to get out and open and close the gate. Since I was too busy operating the camera...mom had gate duty. (I love camera duty).She is sooo happy to have gate duty...
I think she just stuck her tongue out at me...
Okay...Bye Mom!

P.S. We did not leave her there...for long.

Blasphemy?

Is that what this picture is? There has to be something wrong with straddling a big brass pig...hhhmmm.

I was just going through my pictures and found these from Seattle.
I really didn't take very many pictures. That's too bad. It really is a pretty place.

With the exception of the trash along the highway...go figure.

Potato Storage

It is a little known fact that it is not a good idea to store potatoes next to onions. There is a chemical reaction that occurs causing the potatoes to go bad with a quickness. I knew about this and tried to keep them separated, but it wasn't enough. So I decided I could not possibly go another day of existence without some form of potato storage.

We had some wood in the garage that would have worked, but we would have to cut it. Then we decided to go to Home Depot to get the price on wood to build it. All you need is a length of 1x4. We decided to make the box 2'x3'.

It was then that I remembered that I would never cut a piece of wood again as long as Home Depot was near and I found an employee to cut the 10' piece of wood in to two 2' pieces and two 3' pieces.

Interestingly, it was the same employee that cut the wood for the compost bin and raised bed. I'm surprised he didn't hide in the back when he saw me...I hope they don't start charging to cut wood.

Using our brad nailer and stapler...we put the sides of the box together and nailed some spare pieces of 1"x1" to the sides as handles. Then we took hardware wire and stapled it to the bottom of the box. Here is the completed box...

Then I took two paper bags and cut them to rest in the bottom.
And fill with potatoes...

You may even be lucky enough to have a potato that looks like a heart...

Or a butt...depending on how you look at things.