Dandelion fields forever...

 It's the first day of dandelion fields in full-burst bloom!  One thing I have noticed on this day throughout the years here is that certain birds appear when the dandelions bloom.  The first feathered friend I saw this morning at the feeder was the male American Goldfinch.  The fellas have changed their drab tweeds for yellow tuxedos.  How handsome they are, and isn't it coincidental that they match the sunshiney dandelions just perfectly?  Sorry, I didn't get a goldfinch photo today, but....

 I did mange to snap a picture of this cutie-pie.  He (or she) is a Swainson's Thrush.  There have been a bunch of them scratching and digging around in the lawn and the dry leaves in the gardens.  This one crashed into the window and was a wee bit stunned, so I went out and took a picture before the headache wore off and he flew away.

 This friendly little blue-gray bird is a Nuthatch.  He stays with us all year round, but he seems to be extra busy finding more bugs and things on the tree bark.  Nuthatches don't seem to be bothered by people walking around snapping pictures close by.

This handsome gentleman showed up this afternoon along with his wife who doesn't wear such bright apparel.  This is an Blackheaded Grosbeak and he dominates the feeder when he shows up.  I can't wait to see who else shows up these next few days.

Statistics:  2.5" of rain over the weekend through Monday morning.  Stock ponds and reservoirs are filling up.  It's a good beginning.  I mowed the grass today too.

What is a weed?

A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Singin' in the rain....

The apple tree out behind the shop.  

Planted by Hubs when he was a boy throwing apple cores over the shop roof.

On Mother's Day, we left for a week of NJCAA Golf Finals in Texas.  We had never been to Texas before.  I thought we were dry and dusty, but those folks in the panhandle of Texas are drier than we were by a long shot.  There was nary a cow to be seen all along the drive south, except for dairy cows in feed lots.  The folks there were nice.  We found a great little mom & pop restaurant that served up plenty of Texas charm and delicious diner food.  On the Special of the Day chalkboard it read:  Jesus, Jesus, and more Jesus.  

While we were gone, it started raining at home.  What a gift!  We've been right on the edge of making some critical decisions about our cattle and the water situation.  Now we're singing in the rain! and smiling again!  It won't solve all of our problems, but it's a good beginning. 

 A bucketful of rain water under the down spout is a beautiful sight.

And walking in the rain is a joy.  Never mind that I have to change out of my wet jeans and dry out my sweatshirt and put up with wet frizzy hair.  It's all good!

The grass is green and growing, the cows are happy grazing greengrass and drinking fresh water, and by now the yearling ewes are lambing on the gumbo pasture in Chuck's.  I'll bet they are happy too.  We haven't been out there yet.  It's WAY too muddy to drive out there.

 The newly-painted pink swing is looking fresh and clean and ready for some children to come out and play.

 The chickens don't mind the rain at all.  In fact, the spilled corn by the granary swells and makes for delicious eating. Every now and then a worm comes up for air.  Yum!  Tastes like spaghetti.

There were lots of good things to eat from the chicken bucket today.

In other news....another homeschool kid graduates from college!  Our son, NumberFour, graduated from the university the week before we left with a BS in graphic design/communications.  He is "For Hire."

This coming weekend, another son, NumberThreeChild, will marry J.  They are planning an outdoor wedding with Plan B being -- BYOU -- Bring Your Own Umbrella.  If the rain persists -- and we will be glad if it does -- I'll have to buy some cute pink rubber boots and matching umbrella to wear to the wedding. 

How about these?

 And this?

NumberFive arrives tomorrow at the airport.  I'll go fetch him, and we'll get a proper shirt for the wedding along with dress shoes (or maybe wellies).  We'll have fun doing a little shopping together, just the two of us.

In the meantime, the grass keeps growing and the puddles keep puddling up.  I might get to mow grass this week.  I hope you're having a good weekend, and I hope that you have good things to look forward to this week.

Happy Mother's Day...

Garden Flowers for You!

For happiness brings happiness,
And loving ways bring love,
and giving is the treasure
That contentment is made of.
~Amanda Bradley  

An ounce of mother

is worth a pound of clergy.

~Spanish Proverb

The latest dirt...

 Well.....the latest dirt is that the square foot gardening has begun!  (The daffodils are up too!)  After we branded the first-calf heifers' calves, I took part of my afternoon and mixed the dirt for one of my square foot raised beds.  I had raised beds before, but this will be the first year I've used "Mel's Mix" and true square foot gardening methods.  I'm excited.

 Here's the dirt..... one part compost, one part vermiculite, one part peat moss.  The measurements are  by volume, not by weight.  Mix it well and we'll be on our way to growing beautiful gardens full of veggies and flowers. 

 The truth is that the initial investment in the soil stuffs is pretty spendy.  Vermiculite is about $16 per 2 cubic foot bag and the peat moss was $17 for a 2.2 cubic foot bag.  I had the compost --- sheep manure -- so that was free for me, but if you had to buy compost, there's another expenditure.    The thing is, this is all you ever have to do except to add in a shovelful of new compost to each square foot every year.  And as I understand, the bounty of this mix is well worth the investment in the long run.

Here's the dirt....all mixed together.  It's light, loamy, soft, and nutrient dense.  The vermiculite and peat moss will keep the soil light and allow it to retain moisture too.  That's another bonus to the soil mixture -- less watering, more moisture.  At this point in time, our water situation is not very good so I may only plant one box unless it rains and runs water between now and the first week of June.  Otherwise, I may be pouring my dishwater on the plants through the summer.  I've sure done that before.  I put a plastic tub in the kitchen sink and after I'm done washing dishes, I carry my tub outside and water the potted flowers and any other plants that need a drink. 

Now for some INSPIRatiON....

Reasons to Grow Healthy Food

I love the plantings in this particular square foot garden box.  It looks like tomatoes on each end and a cucumber vining up in the middle with lots of herbs filling out the front.  Artistic and beautiful!

 

Check out this table top herb garden.  This would look great on a patio, deck or rooftop.  Here are 10 Square Foot Gardening Ideas for you.  

 Grow Fruit & Veg in the UK forum

Aren't these red onions gorgeous?  I never thought of growing them in pots, but why not?  Do you use the square foot gardening method?  I'd love to hear about your garden ideas and successes.

Birding on the reservoir...

 

American White Pelican

I counted 48 pelicans near the reservoir today.

I wonder if they'll stay all summer?  

Doubtful, but maybe.

 

 

 

These beach walkers are American Avocets. 

They have a very loud voice.

It's sure fun watching the birds coming home for the summer.

This & that...

 Every morning you'll find me out and about feeding cows and sheep.  Today we moved cow-calf pairs around away from the drop bunch (who haven't calved yet) and so I snapped a few photos.  Nothing earth shattering, but fun anyway.  I thought this cow looked so pretty staring straight at me.  Isn't she?

 I can just hear 946 saying, "I tried to give Jody my best profile and look at the show-off in the background!  (I know, but I couldn't help it!)

The lambs are getting so big.  Some of them are right up to their mother's shoulders.  When the green grass really starts coming, they'll bloom like daffodils overnight. 

I've been putzing around with a few projects here and there.  OnlyDaughter threw a lovely bridal shower for our DIL-to-be.  I helped her do the decorating.  We put up cute tissue paper puffs above the dessert table like this, and made pennant banners that said "I do!" and "Bride." 

I spent several evenings embroidering kitchen tea towels for my new DIL-to-be, but I didn't take a single photo of any of them, and they were cute too.  Ah well.

I made one of the best homemade skin moisturizers ever.  I wish I could tell you where I found this recipe, but I can't seem to find it anywhere online.  It is in my own handwriting so I copied it from somewhere.  Anyway, if you're interested, it goes like this.

Hip Rosehip Balm (my name for it)

2 oz. grapeseed oil

1 T. coconut oil
1 T. mango butter
1/2 oz plus a sprinkle of beeswax pastilles
20 drops rosehip seed oil
1/2 t. glycerin

Melt beeswax and first three oils together in a double boiler. 
Allow oils to cool and add rosehip seed oil and glycerin last. Stir.
Whisk until creamy but pourable.  Pour into a tin or jar with lid.
.............................................................

I use this as a facial moisturizer every night and I also use it on just-shaved legs, on my feet, lips or  anywhere you want a good greasing-up.  Smear it on and rub it in.  I love it.  Rosehip seed essential oil is supposed to be good for scarring and wrinkles.  I still have wrinkles, but my skin look a little more dewy, I think.

My next project is going to be homemade sunscreen bars or cream like these from Wellness Mama.

I've been working on a baby quilt for Ladybug.  I hope it turns out like I envisioned it.  No matter what, she'll like it because it will be just right for snuggling in, for pinning around the neck to play super-hero, or for wrapping up Dolly.  She won't judge me if it's not perfect.

I learned something this week about hemming knit T-shirts. My step-mama gave me three T-shirts to hem for her and I said it shouldn't be a problem, but when I realized how much I needed to cut off -- she's petite -- I knew I couldn't just hem them up zippity-zip like I thought.  I did some research and found the very best article on hemming knits over at Made By Rae.  The twin-needle was just what I used and it worked terrific.  With a little practice on an old T-shirt, I found it pretty easy to use the twin-needle.  The new hems looks factory made.  Yay!

That's all for now.  I've got to go spray another coat of paint on the wooden baby swing.  I decided to brush on a bonding primer and then spray paint it so I could get into all the little crooks and crevices.  I had a mostly-full can of pink spray paint, so the swing will be pink.  If we ever get a grandboy, I'll paint it another color, but for today, it's pink.

The funny for today....a Luvs diaper commercial.  I can't help it, my daughter and DIL breastfeed.

Spring arrivals...

 

The chickies are here!

 

We have:

Barred Rock, Buff Orpington, Pearl White Leghorn, 

American Araucana, and Red Star.

Four of the 28 are Red Star Roosters. 

I'm thinking about raising chicks next spring, but we'll see how well I can tolerate the roosters.

Little ones love to play with chicks, and

Little hands love to gently hold a fluffy peep.

For now, the peeps are living in a large box in the mud room.  

It's still really cold out in the coop at night.

Dumped...

 A good, wet dumping of snow!

Round about 10" of new snow overnight.

I think it's gonna run some water.

Yay!

Around Home...cold spring days, hot beefy soup...

I was gazing out the office window this morning and saw a bunch of yellow tips in the backyard garden.  I really wasn't sure what they were, but upon closer inspection, I found they were the daffodils --  sun-deprived, pale yellow tips were pushing up through the ground.  Since the first part of the month, we've had colder-than-normal temps, and it seems every day there's a new inch or two of snow that has fallen.  It melts right away, which is good, but the constant cold makes for a slow-to-come spring here.  We aren't going to complain though.  Right now it's about the moisture.  It's what we've been asking God for, after all.  Squish-squashing through the mud and snow is a blessing.

 The tulip bunches are poking up too. 

 

 Hello!  Look at our red tips!

 Papa strung up a new wooden swing for the Littles to ride on.  I'm thinking of painting it.  What color do you think?  White would match the bird poo that tends to land here underneath the willow tree.

Since it is another cold, gray, breezey day, I thought a bowl of hot soup would be just the thing for our Sunday Dinner.  I put a browned beef bone from this week's pot roast in a pot to boil along with some veggies, pepper, salt, garlic and a splash of vinegar and let it slowly simmer itself into a good beef stock.  I'll admit that I had to add in a little bit of my secret ingredient, Better Than Bouillon Beef Base, to the broth after I strained it and set it back to simmer.  At first I thought I'd make a veggie-beef soup, but then I had the idea of French Onion Soup, my favorite.  So it was.

 

 I thinly sliced three yellow onions and tossed them in a skillet with butter and olive oil and let them get all brown and caramelized.  You can't rush this.  Oh, I love the smell!

 

The crusty bread was poked into the oven to dry.  After a little while it was buttered and garlicked-up and set back in the oven for a little more flavor.

 

The onions went into the beef broth and the soup was poured into bowls.  The crusty bread went over top along with a heap of grated cheese -- Parmesan and Colby-Jack. 
In went the spoon!  

Slurp, said the mouth.

American Kestrel (and ducks)...

 We've been in and out of the barns lately with the snow and cold here.  The baby calves keep coming at a steady pace so the corrals and barns have become a busy work hub.  As the guys were going through the barn, they mentioned a "peculiar bird" that they had seen.  Later on, Hubs said he found the bird dead in the feed bunk.  He left it there in case I wanted to go look at it.  This is an American Kestrel.  It's a beautiful, small falcon that summers up north.  I rarely see one, but here he is!  I imagine this fella was swooping around the barn rafters after small birds and literally knocked himself out.

 

Doesn't it have a pretty speckled breast?

 

The color of the wings is a blue-gray and the body is a rusty-red.  I like the white dots on the black feathers.  Bright orange color is found on the eye and the nose, and his legs are the same color.

I have read that the sexes of this bird look just alike so there is no distinction between them.  His neat, little, hooked beak is good for tearing and eating insects and small reptiles.

Back at the pond, we find the ducks walking on water.  The pond has gone from ice to slush to liquid as the temperatures change from nighttime lows in the teens to daytime highs in the 30s.  The Northern Shovelers work hard to keep their little spot open, but sometimes it freezes up on them despite all their paddling feet can do.

This picture is not very clear, but I wanted to show you the slushy duck trail in the water.  They are a determined bunch.  I love their sweet swimming call, "Sup, sup, sup, sup."  It makes me think they are talking about supper, which in a way, they are.  They shovel up their food as they swim along.

Are you seeing any migrating birds?  Do tell.