waiting for the hay shredder

We have scheduled the pastures to be shredded but our "shredder" is delayed waiting for parts to his tractor. Our pasture is almost waist-high now and very pretty, full of natural wheat, lots of native grasses and flowers galore! I will take pictures this weekend to log all the different varieties. On the small pasture up by the gate, the clover is prolific and the scent in the air is heavenly - like perfume - We have to walk up there to get the mail every day and it's always a joy to make that walk!


Took a trip to Ft. Worth on Tuesday and met with the Ft. Worth Brick and Tile folks. We are selecting an authentic Mexican tile called Saltillo - imported through this company from Mexico - and what will be the prevalent floor covering throughout the house. It is the same kind of tile used at Pueblo Bonito - the resort in Mazatlan we try to visit every year. We came home with samples to show the builder and a great feeling about the quality of the product.

Meanwhile back at the ranch . . .
Our little garden tractor has finally given up the ghost. Looks like we travel into town tomorrow to see what we can purchase for our little jobs around the ranch. We use the little tractor to haul small items around, mow the areas around the trailer, the garden, along the road and in the vineyard. It will be interesting to weigh the future of what a large tractor will do and what a small one will - and decide if we need both. Most ranchers around here find plenty of jobs for both.

This week I traveled to Bonham to purchase compost - actually horse manure - to add to the compost heap for the garden. Met some great folks at Hannah's Horseshoes for Hope - a non-profit therapeutic horse ranch for the disabled. They load the manure in old feed bags and you contribute what you want. Great folks, good cause - a definite feel-good moment.

And yesterday was a real red-letter day! We received our first draft of the house plan - now it's Skip and I hovered over the plan with pencils and tracing paper trying to fine tune our dream. We could not be more excited. I say that thinking that when they pour the pad - I will say the same thing - and when the house gets framed - another high note.

More later - vaya con Dios!

Little birds abide

My little cement bird bath is making the cement blocks look a little classier in the garden - it's fun to "plug in" items that will eventually go in our yard - to the places where we are spending a lot of time right now. I dream of the day when this little bird bath will sit somewhere in the courtyard between the house and the guesthouse. :)
More later. . .

The new potting shed

Here's the shed all done and full of equipment - some of Skip's tools until he has his own shop as part of the house and garage, and all of our garden tools and supplies. It's so nice to have all these important things under proper protection and out from under the blue tarps up by the trailer. We are sure our neighbors are breathing a sigh of relief as we begin to look a little more organized.

We bought a metal pergola which is like a very artistic four cornered structure that I will design some canvas covering for to protect us from the sun outside the trailer during the summer. I'm thinking some bright colors in stripes that float in the wind. We'll see . . .

Vaya con Dios!

The blossoms of the acorn squash

new garden growing fast!

We have been so blessed with the many inches of rainfall in the last few weeks. Last year was not like this at all. Our native wheat is knee-high and so healthy! We have scheduled a "shredding" or mowing for next week and we expect to get 450 square bales of native grass. There are two ladies down the road with goats that love organic hay so we will try to make a sale - our first one and very necessary to declare our agricultural exemption for taxes.

Above is a picture of the garden as of this morning. It was so foggy out it felt like a brisk morning in England! But about 10 o'clock the sun burned it off and we are having an 80 degree day. The vegetables are thriving with all the rain and then the warm sun. I added three sweet potato plants, three broccoli plants and some summer squash to the garden yesterday. They were the last of the garden plants drastically reduced at the farm store. I had to hurry by the remainder of the baby chicks for sale - maybe next year!

This morning in the fog, I walked out to the far acres up against the road to check the purple hyacinth vine I planted on the fence line. It's one of my favorite vines I used to plant on our mailbox. It climbs about five feet and then produces these hyacinth-like blossoms, deep purple and beautiful. Can't wait to see them along this country road fence and up by our gate.

Vaya con Dios!

Trip to Fredericksburg and Kerrville

5/3

Lots to report since our last post! Not only is the garden in and growing well with lots of recent rain, but we have successfully erected the 11 x 26 foot garden shed - or what we will call my potting shed in the future :) pictured here.

We traveled to Kerrville last week to meet with the architectural folks that are helping us design the house. We really liked the designs they had on their website - a mixture of the Texas hill country look which is timbering and stone and a Tuscan or more european "old world" look.

We drove down last Thursday and stayed at a most unusual bed and breakfast in Fredericksburg, TX. Built by a former rock band player from the sixties, and his wife, a trained chef, they have designed a small adobe village in the hill country, including a small opera house, the biggest collection of children's cap guns (!) numbering in the thousands, a small catholic chapel, an underground grotto pool for swimming and an outstanding gourmet restaurant. They book a lot of weddings there and are in the process of adding at least 6 more individual suites to accommodate guests. It was a very interesting place to stay. But a little too much adobe for me - our room was almost damp with moisture from the walls.


On Friday, after an unbelievably good breakfast there, we traveled to the architects office for almost a whole day of pouring over plans at a large table. We had previously taken one of their books of plans home, but could not decide on a specific plan. So on this day, we tried to narrow down our choices, and at around 2 p.m. we took a short trip to a home they were building in a neighborhood about 6 miles away. Turned out to be a great decision. We think we found very close to what we will need - so now the honing down process begins, as they take our changes and come up with our hacienda! They said it would take around 2 months to complete. We are hoping for a quicker turnaround. We traveled home that day, exhausted but happy!

Vaya con Dios!

The garden is planted

4/17

We spent the better part of Thursday putting down the cement blocks for our "raised" garden. What a job! Then used the last of our packing boxes from the move to line the gardens with cardboard - this will decompose well and in the meantime prevent weeds. :)

Then Skip loaded the top soil we had ordered into the beds. And we mixed in lava sand, organic compost, molasses, humate, blood meal and greensand. This all makes a healthy, happy environment for organic matter to thrive. Soon, we will turn the earth and there will be earthworms, the expert composters! Can't wait! Since my many of my little seedlings didn't survive the move, we had to buy some bedding plants and more seeds.

Here is a list of what has been planted so far:

Tomatoes, Green Peppers, Lemon Balm, Fennel, Basil, Scallions, Spinach, Chives, Marigolds, Acorn Squash, Sweet Corn, English Cucumbers, Dill, Cucumbers, Cantelope, Watermelon, Pumpkins, Sunflowers, Pole Beans, Bush Beans, Oregano, Italian Flat Leaf Parsley and Strawberries.

I still want to plant some black-eyed peas, Skip's favorite! And I still need to plant an herb garden up by the travel trailer. I'll probably just use the leftover large pots we moved here that are just sittin' around.

We also got a 25 gallon water carrier that we can pull behind the lawn tractor so I can hand-water the garden until we get a well dug or pull in water with a pump from the pond.
Thankfully, we are watching a gentle rain this afternoon - the good Lord's gift from above

Vaya con Dios!

The new road being built

4/10

This is the dump truck that made six trips yesterday to start the driveway. It will take them three days and 18 loads to complete the job. It is starting to look like someone has a plan here! I'm sure our neighbors are curious - no one has come over but they are quiet, country people and we know we will meet soon. Our nearest neighbors we have already met, both school teachers in Honey Grove and nice, nice folks.

We also had "Bear" Lane over yesterday with his associate, John Martin to put down the organic fertilizers we are using to improve the pasture. Lots of garlic tea, liquid molasses, and what they call a "power booster". All natural ingredients , and with a light rain yesterday, the soil should soak it up and all the beneficial processes should start. Earthworms is a goal! This approach doesn't happen overnight, but in a year's time, we should see a marked improvement. We made the decision several years ago to go organic. Our small cocker spaniel was having seizures and we thought stopping the use of artificial fertilizers on the lawn might help. It did. Since we have gone organic, all seizures have stopped. That was enough for us to change.

Tomorrow the cinderblock will be delivered and we can start constructing the raised bed vegetable garden. I will be late in planting, so might have to use more established plants and fewer seeds. I can't wait to start!! Bad news about the grapes: The late freeze we had over the weekend might have killed them. We will see in the next few days how they fare.

Today we make a trip into the city - More later.

Vaya con Dios!

Waking up on this Texas hill!

4/10

It's so good to wake up every morning on this Texas hill! We finally got all our belongings either stored or moved up here to Honey Grove - what a job! I think it's the most tired we've been yet - but a week later we are feeling more settled. Still sorting out where every little thing belongs in the trailer - a really small space after a house. And we are hoping our "patch" job will hold on the roof - especially over our bed.

We met with the builder, Bill, last week and spent the day walking the property and choosing a site for the house. He's a great guy, twinkling blue eyes with weathered smile lines and a Texas cowboy tan from being outside. He's very easy to talk to and has a mild, pleasant and easy-going personality. We've seen about six of the houses he has built in the area and he has great attention to detail, especially on the interiors. He's started out as a mason, just like his dad, and does beautiful stone work, which is one reason we sought him out. And I know some of what we are designing for the house will be a challenge for him. But he hasn't seemed concerned about our design questions so far. And speaking of the design, we are still flipping through the book we got from the folks in Austin to finalize our choice.

Yesterday was the busiest day yet on the ranch! Billy Clements showed up early to scrape the 40' by 80' area for my garden so we can start building the raised beds. He also prepared the spot for the potting shed beside the garden. Skip and I had already mowed where the road should go. Above is a picture of the mowed road ready for gravel.

The grapes are in!

3/24

Sorry no pictures with this post! Lost the digital camera on our trip to Mexico and just haven't had the time to get a new one - but I will soon. I hate recording these events without pictures!

I've had the six grapevines we bought in the laundry room, sticking out of a cardboard box for a week - everyday checking to make sure they were okay, giving them water in their plastic bag if needed and hoping we would get them in the ground before they died.

Well, yesterday we decided to suspend packing for one day and scoot up to Honey Grove to take all our yard stuff and get the grapes in - SUCCESS! It was a mild, beautiful day. Just a soft wind and kind of overcast, about 70 degrees. Gorgeous! So we packed the trailer with the grill, our Adirondack chairs, our birdbaths, the lion fountain and even the metal trout fish - all the yard art we love, and of course, the grapevines and headed north. The dogs were especially happy to romp around the property while we unloaded. We put most of the yard art up by the home site and we placed our two chairs where the house will be. We even put the chimenea there to lite when we are sitting there at sunset musing about the construction. :)

Then, we got busy on the grapevines. Skip put in the cedar support posts and we dug the holes for the vines. I soaked them in a bucket of water first to saturate the roots. Then in they went! I still haven't gotten the "grow tubes" to protect them from deer. So I'm hoping they won't discover the grapes until I can get them in on Monday. We will put in the large support posts on each end of the rows when we can sink them in cement on Monday. Then string wire at two levels across each row to support the growing vines. We have three varieties of grapes to try out, all seedless. More on that later.

We were tired when we finally left about 4 p.m. and always a little sad to leave. Soon we will be living there everyday! Can't wait. Now back to packing up - today we will be packing the rest of the furniture. Hope it all fits in the storage unit!

Vaya con Dios!

The conestoga!

Our transition and "cozy conestoga"

3/15/07

We are up to our waists in boxes now, deciding what can be stored for up to six months while we build the house. I know I will miss my kitchen things the most! The travel trailer, which we call our "cozy conestoga", is a 35 footer and very comfy for weekends so far. We have a kitchen, bedroom (a 6' by 6' raised level that just fits a queen size mattress), a small shower, small bathroom and living room (6' by 6'). We had some leaks in the bedroom ceiling over the winter but are in the process of sealing them - and the warmer days help because the sealing material expands to seal the small cracks. We're going up this weekend to see if the recent rains got in or not. And Skip is replacing the two ceiling exhaust fans in the bathroom and shower. They were broken and water came through them as well. We are anxious to repair all situations before we move in but some will be ongoing. We are still wondering why the water heater suddenly decided to stop making hot water. We've taken it apart once and now think it might need a new heating element. Thank goodness for the internet! We are able to research repair advice for everything from the riding lawn mower to the trailer leak issues.

So as we are packing up all our things and only saving the bare necessities to live in the trailer, I know both of us are wondering how we will handle this new adventure. It's so exciting - like a really long camping trip. And both of us love the outdoors. I have started four trays of seedlings for the future garden. Skip thought I was crazy but I told him it makes me happy to see the little sprouts come up among all this chaos. As I am packing boxes I go check on their progress. I bought 55 packs of seeds in all - only could plant 10 packs early. The rest go right in the ground once we have the garden ready.

And this weekend we will run up to Honey Grove and put in our six first grapevines. We bought 3 different varieties to see which will do the best. I am trying to find "grow tubes" before we go up - they will help keep the deer from eating the brand new shoots.

We will also be putting up our mailbox! We have to stop by the local office of the Texas Department of Transportation to pick up our support pole - (who knew all this!) because we are located on a principal highway. And then we sink that in some cement and attach our mailbox to it with some reflectors on the support pole.

All in all, a very busy week! I will be getting a new camera shortly (left the old one in Mexico in the taxi cab over vacation!) Need to document with pictures!!

Have a blessed week! Vaya con Dios!

Looking for the land

2/27/07

We looked for just the right piece of land for over two years and finally found our "hill of dreams" in Honey Grove, Texas in July of 2005. Just over 27 acres, it's just enough to keep us very busy in our retirement years and not big enough to exhaust us!

In the beginning, we would come up for the weekend and camp just to start familiarizing ourselves with the lay of the land, where the prevailing winds were coming from, rainfall affects to the property and the all around atmosphere. There is a different smell to open land, especially land that is on the high ground. I love that fresh smell. . .and at night, you have never seen so many stars. They go on forever. We often see up to 5 sattelites pass by in the night sky.

Our dog, Ginger, is probably the single-most excited member of the family when we visit the land. She is out of the car and in an open run to the 3 acre pond as fast as she can. A golden retriever never had it so good!