Guess the Greens

I have these trees around the backside of the barn and bordering what will be the mini's pasture.


They have these white, 'cascading' type of flowers on them that smell AWE.SOME!
Anyone know what kind of tree this is?

Then we have this 'tree'? Bush? Ornamental something or another?

And it has these beautiful, pink 'kinda cascading' flowers on it.

Anyone know what this one is?

Lime 'Soda'

I realize I am not reinventing the wheel here. Heck, I don't even want to google this because it is probably some kind of drink, known by a common name, like a manhattan, or a margarita.

But I created this just for me and my taste buds. Without googling or doing a recipe search.

I don't like to do real 'soda's', or 'pop' if you will. Too sweet for me and the sugar spreads like wildfire through my teeth leaving all kinds of goodies....like cavaties.

But I miss the carbonation from soda....pop.

So here is my new drink.

When water just won't cut it.

A few slices of lime. Two ice cubes. And good ol' Club Soda!

Ahhhhhhhhh!

Harvest Monday - Memorial Day!!

10.55 ounces of Portabella's!!

YAHOO!

One .... Just ONE Strawberry!

Hubby & I shared it ;)

Actually, last night my niece and I picked 2 more ripe ones!

This photo was taken Thursday evening....my KY Pole Beans are sprouting! I am so excited! I was worried that the seeds may have washed away or rotted out with this INSANE amount of rainfall we have had. Thus far it looks like 7 out of the 8 I planted around this pole have come up!

We'd enjoyed more lettuce from our lettuce patch for dinner during the week, but I already forgot to weigh it!

In other gardening news, we were hoping to get our main gardens in today and it looks like it STILL won't happen :( Hubby gave them another till last night and they are so muddy from all this dang rain that the tiller actually got stuck. Allen had to hook tow chains up to it and lift it out of the mud/garden with our tractor front end loader!!!! Keep your fingers crossed that we have NO rain this week so the beds dry up and the veggies can go in!

I am linking up to Harvest Monday over at Daphne's Dandelions. Check out other gardener's harvests over there.

Growing Portabella's

For hubby's birthday, back on Valentine's Day, I got him a mushroom growing kit! He'd been talking about how he thought it would be cool to grow our own mushrooms - especially since we'd eat them with every meal if we could - so I ordered a kit online for Portabella's!

Yesterday, we finally got to try some out!

Hubby is checking on how it want's to harvest them and was snapping his own pics on his cell phone.

Look at this sucker. Pretty impressive for home grown I say!

Hello Ladies....or Gent's! Whatever. Hello You Look Delicious!!

Harvesting Portabella's...

I washed them all down ... well, I wiped them with a damp cloth. Did you know that is how you are supposed to clean mushrooms?

Look at this Lady!

Here is a cap all prepared to be grilled :) Sorry, I can't get over how lovely they look!!

And here are all the stems. I wiped 'em down too and I am going to use them for soup -- or a sauce. Any suggestions?

Here are the caps marinated and ready to grill - and I must say, they were quite delicious :)

Do you grow any of your own mushrooms? Or are you lucky enough to harvest some morels from somewhere near you? Share you mushroom growing experiences with me - which do you grown? How do you use them? Share Share Share :)

Nutella Granola Bars!

So I recently posted about how I made homemade Granola. YUM!

I took it a step further and attempted to make Homemade Granola Bars with it. I'd say it turned out fairly well. The recipe could use a little tweaking I suppose - if anything, just to make the 'moistness' of the bars better....did that make sense? Ok, what I am trying to say is that when I cut them up, they didn't quite resemble bars....but maybe I should have cut them straight out of the oven. After a few days of storing in a plastic container with a lid, they were still a tad chewy, a tad hard. Perfect for me. If I had dentures, I maybe shouldn't eat these, but for now, I still have my real teeth :) I wish I had a picture to show you, but I ate them all!

Nutella Granola Bars!!

•4 Tablespoons Butter
•½ cups Brown Sugar
•¼ cups Honey
•3 Tbsp Nutella
•2 cups Homemade Granola
•1 cup Rice Krispies Cereal
• ¼ - ½ cups Peanut Butter Chips



Instructions
In a large saucepan, heat butter, sugar, Nutella and honey over medium heat. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and continue to cook about 2-3 minutes until it is dissolved to a syrupy mixture. Be Careful, it will be H.O.T.!

Remove from heat. Add in your homemade granola, Rice Krispies and Peanut Butter chips. MIx it all together until nicely combined. If you have ever made Rice Krispie treats, this part of the process if very similar. Then press the mixture into a greased 13×9 pan. I used a cooking spray to grease but use whatever you like. Also, the size of the pan could vary depending on how wide or thick you would like your bars. Go ahead and cut your sqaures now to make the bars. I waited until after they cooled in the fridge and I probably should have done it now! Then, refrigerate for about 15-20 minutes. Pull out, enjoy half the pan ;) And save the other half for later!

Savannah, Farm Manager

The Babe goes to the Nursery....

Saturday was the Babe's first trip to a Nursery. No, not his nursery, a 'garden' nursery!

When we first got there, I snapped this picture and didn't even realize I got some 'dog butts' in the background :) Or pigs? I am not sure which they are supposed to be!

Here he guards our cart of veggie plants...

Still 'guarding' the veggie plants...

Chilling while Daddy scopes out the peppers in the background...

Headed to the check out with Daddy in front ...

Waiting in line to pay for our plants....it's been a long trip to the nursery. This kid is POOPED!

Harvest Monday, May 23, 2011

Well, I can officially post on to Harvest Monday over at Daphne's Dandelions! It isn't much, but we have had our first harvest for the 2011 season this past week! It was...are you ready for this?...a whopping 2.65 oz of mixed greens, which we used for our dinner salads!

In all fairness, we could have picked more, but just picked enough for dinner. And it was tasty!

As for the rest of our weekend, we took as much advantage as we could in preparing the gardens. It FINALLY stopped raining, for one day, on Saturday.

Due to other pressing issues back during the time when we should have started our seeds, oh just like having a baby, we didn't get as many seeds started as we would have liked. So, we stopped out at a local green house Saturday during their veggie plant sale and picked up what we needed. In the mix, we got some cool heirloom tomato's, which I was happy to see they offered! We also purchased some 'Peaches and Cream' sweet corn so I am excited to try that out!

I sowed my KY Wonder Pole Bean seeds on Saturday. I decided, rather than make room for them in one of the gardens, I would plant them around this lightpost in our backyard and they can grow up it! It will be nice to see it when it is full of beans :)

Hubby got his Strawberries transplanted and also sowed some soy bean seeds for me as well.

Yum....Edamame right out of our backyard!

And, hubby used the opportunity to bring up some more 'black gold' (aka, aged & turned horse manure) to till into the gardens before we plant there. It was still a little wet so hopefully between the week and over the weekend, we'll have everything in!

Hop on over to Daphne's Dandelions to check out what other gardener's harvested this past week!

Barn Charm #3

This is the barn of our hay guy! And that is hubby & his truck loading up some hay.

And this little guy in the forefront is the hay guys Donkey, Lewis!

This barn houses hay in it's loft, Lewis, a draft horse, chickens and guinea's. In the past, our hay guy has done pigs and beef cattle. And, cool piece of info, our hay guy was my 5th grade teacher way back when!

This post is linked to this week's Barn Charm, over at Bluff Area Daily. If you love barns, check out more pics there!

Barnyard Visitor

FINALLY! We had a nice day without any rain! Yesterday was beautiful and we worked in the yard getting it cleaned up. Allen worked on getting the gardens tilled again and I planted some things! But more on that later.

Today as I was walking past the horse barn, I noticed this little guy in the grass.

He is only about the size of a silver dollar.

And I have no clue how he got there; it is a rather dangerous place for him to be between the horses and the tractor.

And I haven't the slightest clue where he came from. Both our neighbors have ponds, but for a baby turtle of this size, I'd almost say it would be impossible to walk all the one from one of them to where I found him.

I called hubby over and of course, he promptly made him a home :)

Complete with a rock, some old hay and a piece of wood...and a worm and some grubs. I hate to break the news to him, but he can't keep him! Tomorrow he has to go to one of the neighbors ponds. Can you spot where he is in the picture above?

Preparing the Ark

I honestly don't think it is ever going to stop raining here :( The orchard is looking more like an amazon, the gardens could grow rice....needless to say nothing is planted yet, and the dogs are tired of wearing their rain jackets for their walks!

Well, who knows if they are really tired of wearing them, but I am tired of hanging them to dry!
Hubby sent me these pics, via his cell, from their walk the other night.



Sure, we don't really have to put these on them, but you know what wet dog smells like, right? *Gag* If you don't know, I don't suggest you find out any time soon :)

And since this beast of 80# tromps on wet grass like bigfoot, I practically need to bath him every time he comes in. Unless I want my house to stink like wet dog, of course ;)

And this little princess, aka The Farm Manager, is tired of the rain too. However, instead of hunting varmint, she makes herself a cozy bed in the wheelbarrow filled with shavings. Nice!

Chickens Pre-101

Ok, many of you know I have a 'fear' of things with feathers. I don't care if it is a teeny, tiny barn sparrow or a honking wild turkey...or one of those nasty looking buzzard vulture things - ick! - if it has feathers, I am not fond. Remember this incident?<

Anywho, hubby, on the other hand, wants chickens. I have come around to the idea that I am okay with this, because, afterall, wouldn't it be so nice to have fresh eggs from the backyard? I have been buying farm fresh eggs ever since my friend Dawn gave me a dozen from her flock. Seriously, the difference between a fresh one and one from the store is unreal. So, back to what I was saying...I am ok with hubby getting chickens, but I have stipulations - of course!

1.) They have to stay in their coop or their fenced area. I cannot have loose chickens taking run of the farm. If I allowed that, they might show up in the barn while I am cleaning stalls and corner me. That would not be cool. I won't even tell you what I would do (pee myself and scream for hubby to save me).

2.) Hubby cannot, I repeat cannot, rely on me to help with any kind of feeding or cleaning or gathering of the eggs. Nope. No siree. Sorry, I feel terrible saying that, but if I have to put myself in any position that allows these feather friends at me, nope, sorry, can't do it.

3.) Once he brings them home, they are home to stay. I understand after a few years, they really don't lay many, if any, eggs anymore, but I am sorry. After they have lived 'with us' for any period of time, and I maybe start calling one Belina, and another Henrietta, I cannot have them on my stove, in my freezer or on my dinner plate. Nope. Sorry. Can't do it.

4.) And so help me if he accidently gets a Rooster in the bunch - god help me now. I know sometimes you might get a nice Rooster, but I just read a story about a NASTY Rooster on another blog and I about had a heart attack just reading it. (I wish I could remember the blog so I could link to it - they weren't even safe from their Rooster with a pitchfork! AGH!)

5.) And no chickens with those frilly foo-foo feathered fopa's going on at the top of their head --- or around their ankles. I can't explain it, but they freak me out even more! See Exhibt A for an example.

Exhibt A

So, with all this being said (and there is more, but these are the main stipulations), I do really want to like chickens. I want to like having them on our farm, really I do - but I am terrified. And yes, I realize how crazy that sounds!! I know not to set my goals too high -- I will never swoop down and pick one up....nor will I ever be doing this.

But I DO want to be able to be around them without sweating and shaking :) And I don't want my child to have this fear like me! So, it is probably best that any feathered encounters he has are with his father. Not like how it went down with my poor niece ;) So, when we go to the county fair, I will always have to go to the bathroom and get a lemonade refill when it is time to walk through the poultry barn - just sayin'!

Sooooo, anyways, the whole point of this post to begin with was to ask you, my readers who have or have had or have experience with egg laying chickens -- which breed(s) might you recommend we get -- you know, for someone chicken shit like me :) I don't want no nasty "I'm gonna poke your eyes out with my nails and beak" looking chicken like this. She's scary! She can have her eggs! I don't need them that bad!!

Mowing Obsession continued....

Remember last week when I posted about my husband's mowing obsession?

Well, I suppose part of the obsession is due in part to all these mower's he keeps inheriting. Or maybe he keeps inheriting them because of his obsession?

I don't know...either way, please give a warm welcome to the *ahem* 'newest' *ahem* mower of the family.

Allen's Grandfather's Mower.

Sorry I cannot give you exact specs on this bad boy. I think it was manufactuered in 1875 and since then, the name of the beast has worn off. Reasonably so.

*This post is taking place of a post I could have written about a '2 dog and a cat fight' that broke out early this morning only to end in a flat of my seedlings destroyed, with soil and broken containers all over my carpet!Seedlings that perished in the fight were Onions & Cabbage :( I think I was able to revive the Cuc's...time will tell. And some flower seeds that hadn't sprouted yet, so we'll see what happens to those too. 2 dogs and the cat are grounded until further notice.

Mommy Mishap: Sour Cream

I was making dinner the other night - cleary sleep deprivation is present during all hours of the day. I grabbed a container of sour cream out of the fridge and it promptly fell right out of my hands.

Can you spot my Sour Cream mishaps :) Lucky for the babe it all but missed him...since the dogs had a field day ;)

...14 Years Later

Allen & Allison

Circa, Fall 1997

Our First Homecoming together!

For those who don't know, my husband and I were high school sweethearts. Yes, that is correct - oh the things he has had to endear with me! Like my crazy antics that embarrass his more quiet self. My college years - I could make a whole seperate blog for those stories....like the time I came home to find my roommate butt naked in my bed....or when my chinese exchange student roommate brought home her 'boyfriend'...or when my mouth got us in a pickel at a frat party [opps!], but, I digress. Those are other stories I should reserve for my memoir ;)

In any event, while later this year hubby and I will celebrate 3 years of marriage, I use that term loosely as we have technically been each others ball and chain for 14 years now. Yep, that's right. 14 years ago today I was sitting in an old, white Buick, next to the man I was to marry ... impatient with him because it was taking him 20 gazillion years to ask me to be his girlfriend!

So, in honor of an official 14 years, here is a quick trip down memory lane. Forgive me - I am too lazy to hook up the scanner I have from 1996 so I am posting pictures of pictures :)

Allen's 18th Birthday

Circa, 1999-ish....right? Did I do my math right?

My Senior Prom

Circa, Spring 2000

The Summer Before I Started College

Circa, Summer 2000

College Bar Hopping!

Circa -- Some.of.the.BEST.TIMES.EVER!

And eventually, we got married.

And had a child.