This Farmer's Market... Part I

This is my first herb. I planted this beside the new steps to the pool. Ali and I love to much the onion chives in the evening while sitting on the steps looking into the woods. Yum. I plan on adding garlic chives to the other side of the steps. This is where we 'buy' our fresh eggs. It will take eating the eggs for 200 years to really break even on the deal.

Here's a sample of the eggs. Notice the twins in the background?



This is our vegetable garden. Well, I should say, this is Hubby's and his dad's garden. You remember the old saying, two's company, three's a crowd?
These first rows are FIL's white half-runners. Yuck! Strings!

Aw, aren't the baby zucchini cute!

From left to right: FIL's beans, whole row of tomatoes (I don't know how many varieties this year), Hubby's beans (Kentucky bush beans - no strings!), sweet potatoes, and corn. Across the back, climbing the fence, are cucumbers.

The zucchini would be in the bottom of the picture if I hadn't cut them off! I see a stray plant next to the corn. The gardener's bench marks the spot where Hubby left off picking beans.

This raised bed is away from the garden so the melons don't mix. These are Tennessee Muskmelon. My FIL told Hubby about them a few years ago. I went online and found some heirloom seeds. They get long like a watermelon. The best I've ever eaten!

I tried to find some babies, but they hide... So here are some blossoms, and if you look closely... Do you see it? I'm soooo excited! It's a honey bee! While I was holding the blossoms, it came and visited them. (Stupid camera won't let me capture 'the' moment.) I saw another one this morning on the clover! These are the first honey bees I've spotted this year. Our area is one of those you hear about where the bees are disappearing. Seeing them made my day!

Back in the garden... Here are some of the bush beans yet to be picked. I like them young and tender. FIL likes them to get big beans inside. So we pick some early, some late.

Well, I must have reached the maximum for photo uploads on this post.

Check out Part II for the actual market...






To see more farmer's markets, check out Squirrel Queen's challenge.

Hitchcock's Birds

I was looking through some old photo folders and stumbled on these videos I shot last November. For serveral days, these migrating birds entertained us. If you are my age, you might remember the old Hitchcock film 'Birds'. For the young folk out there, it was a horror film where birds invaded in masses and attacked people. It scared the bejeebies out of me! Thank God the birds in these videos aren't as aggressive.

A Night for Stars

I have season tickets for LaComedia Dinner Theatre. This month's production was Annie, so I took Grand #1 Dani & #3 Grace with us. My best friend took five of her grandchildren. (She's braver than me... or crazier!) I reserved the front center table right off the stage. The kids love being right next to the actors. We changed seats before the play started. I sat behind some of the kids with Grace on my lap. She sat straight up through most of the show. Every time they finished a number, she would applaud with everything in her!


Dani had every actor sign her playbill. Here she is getting autographs from Annie and Daddy Warbucks.

All the children did a spectacular job! The actor that played Annie is the same age as Ali. She was very poised and professional.

I couldn't help but think of another Annie... If you follow Jeff D'Antonio on My Life... lived my way, you'll remember his post on Katie playing the role of Annie. (If you don't follow his blog, you're really missing out.) Anyway, every time Annie sang 'Maybe', I thought of Kate. I don't know how Jeff held up through the emotional performance. If you don't know what I'm talking about, grab a box of tissues and read up on his story.

A great time was had by all! By the time I took the kids home and picked up Ali (she went to a swim party today) it was almost 11pm. Ali curled up in the car with a pillow and left me alone on the forty-five minute country drive home to contemplate how truly blessed I am.

Award Time!

Anne, at Sassy Sasha the Lovable Shih Tzu, has honored me by listing my blahwg! blog in her Top 10 Favorite Award post! Here's the really cool part; There is only 1 rule! I just need to name my top ten favorite blogs. That's harder than it sounds, but I'll give it a try. Here's my list in no particular order:

1. ...This Time Tomorrow...
2. Weather Vane
3. The Road to Here
4. The Business of Being a Mom
5. My Life...lived my way
6. Sassy Sasha the Lovable Shih Tzu
7. Roz Savage, Ocean Rower
8. my favorites
9. Here and There and Everywhere
10. Grandma Nina

Well, that's 10. I left out family and professional blogs, trying to shorten the list. I've still got a few more that I consider my favorites. I hope I haven't forgotten to list any of my special friends. If I have, for give me please. It's late and I'm tired. Check out my side bar for more delightful blogs.

...and they're off !

This weekend, while Ali is at home doing things with her soccer team, her sister Dani is visiting us. Yesterdays storms prevented much outdoor activity, but today is bright and sunny. After church Dani wanted to ride Maggie. Her is a rare photo of her slacker face. (Comedian Tim Hawkins says it takes more muscle to frown than smile, so smiley people are slackers.) Usually Dani is wearing what she calls her default face... This photo is proof that Maggie does know what the word whoa means...

Since it had rained over two inches yesterday, we had to stay in the back pasture that is already destroyed. Good thing! If it hadn't been for the rain, they would have probably been in an open area outside the fence.

I led Maggie out of the paddock to the grassy part to let Dani mount up. I envy how easily these young girls can pull themselves up onto this tall thoroughbred. Dani has a smashed toe and can only wear flip-flops right now, so she had to ride barefoot. Not my top choice, but barefoot is safer than flip-flops. Unless they're just walking in the round pen or being led by me, I usually have them wear a helmet... But it's Maggie, right? She's so gentle and sweet, and at 28 isn't really in a hurry to go anywhere.

After I watched her circle and stop several times, I was confident that Dani could easily handle Maggie. I went in the house to get my camera. I didn't want to be gone too long, so I went out the bedroom door near where Dani was riding and walked over to the fence. It was wonderful watching her trot and circle. It was a little hard for her to post with the sore toe, but I think she did great. I love watching Maggie trot; Her long, slender legs are so graceful. As you can see, I shot these pics and video from outside the electric fence.

My camera shut off at this point The batteries were too low to take any more video, so you'll have to take my word for what happened next... Well, I'm not really sure what happened next... Either a wild spirit horse possessed Maggie or a horse fly bit her on the behind. Whatever it was, it scared the bejeebies out of me! Papaw had just come back outside and got to witness it too.

All of a sudden Maggie took off like the racehorse she used to be! I screamed instructions to Dani, but she was doing the best she could to hold on for dear life! I screamed at Maggie to whoa... Remember, she knows what it means. I could see the devil in her eyes as she stole my firstborn grandchild from my sight. She barrelled down the straight track and headed for the gravelly paddock. It was a nightmare! My heart raced as I ran toward the barn, screaming Dani's name. Maggie and Dani disappeared behind the run-in shelter, still going full-steam ahead! There's only a few feet on the other side before the fence closes off the paddock. My best hope was that Maggie would spin and toss Dani off into the manuer pile. Not a happy thought, but at least it's softer than landing on hard packed clay and gravel. I was in a panic!

Then I heard her voice... that tiny, soft, delicate voice I love saying, "I'm OK." Then she appeared... still on Maggie... walking back toward me with a huge smile on her face! It was one of those smiles you see on people as they exit the latest thrill ride at the amusement park. Her legs were trembling as she led Maggie back to the barn door. I laughed and asked her if she was done riding for the day. She laughed and said, "Yeah, I'm pretty tired now."

Chickens Can Learn

Well, it took them a while, but the chicks are finally using both their brains and the door. Now, instead of standing in the opening looking at the great beyond, they actually go through the door and down to the grass. Yea! And they've learned to go back inside before dark. It's a milestone. It's the equivalent of your toddler finally going number two in the potty! Daddy is proud. I'm sure if they hadn't been evicted, they would still be standing there, gazing out at the strange green stuff.



Do you suppose they are agoraphobiacs? If they were raised outside, would they be afraid to go in? I wonder if there are other animal species that fear the big world.



I remember the first time our goats saw snow... We had five that we raised from babies. They stood packed together in the back door of their shed staring at the white stuff. One of them finally stretched a foot over the threshold. Woah! What the heck is that stuff? You sink in it! It was fun watching them test it over and over until they finally summoned up the courage to brave it. I don't remember now how long it took them to venture out, but chickens, if you're reading this, it was the SAME DAY!



The four laying hens we have were several months old when we got them, so they were already accustomed to the outdoors. They are over a year old now. Hubby says they have to be kept separate from the young ones until the babies get bigger. In an earlier post I mentioned how the house was divided. When the chicks got too big for their small corner, Hubby moved the grown hens to a separate house so the babies could have the whole big house to themselves.



Hubby's first wife's father (now deceased) built bird houses. That's what I'd always been told. Bird houses. Those cute little things you hang from tree branches, right? Nope. We're talking big bird houses! When Hubby got ready to have chickens, they gave him one of the bird houses. That's where the hens live now. It's big enough for probably a dozen hens. He was quite the craftsman. Hubby added the little chick door on the side, the ladder, handles and wheels. It's a mobile home for chickens!

It's hard to believe that, in another three months or so, the fifty new hens will be laying eggs. I guess they can all live together peacefully by then - the young and the old. That will be fifty-four hens laying eggs every day! Does anyone out there have any egg recipes they'd like to share?