A Winter Wonderland

                HeartSong Farm barn and pastures covered in snow.

On Friday, Deep East Texas woke up to a brief Winter Wonderland and temps in the 20's again!  We were expecting it and it was a glorious sight, if only for a few hours.  The 1" deep carpet of white covered everything on HeartSong Farm, and although it began to melt by noon, remnants in the shady areas lasted through Saturday afternoon.  

The hoop greenhouses under a blanket of snow.

My winter garden stayed protected from the white stuff and chilly temperatures under the portable hoop houses quite nicely.  Those baby turnips are growing and will soon be ready to pull.  I know they appreciated the protection of the plastic that kept the snow off of their heads.

Texanna in Wonderland with snow on her back

The llamas with their thick coats did not mind the freezing cold temperatures and slept out in the pastures in the open as the snow fell overnight.  Texanna still wore a light "robe" of snow across her backside when I went out to take some photos.  Her only concern at the time was whether or not I had brought the feed bucket with me. Jagger had never seen snow before and I am sure he was mystified by the sight of the white cold stuff covering the ground around him.  He, too, wondered where I was hiding the feed bucket.

Jagger 's first snowfall, January 2014

The bird feeder was bustling with activity from the moment the sun rose.  I counted at least 10 different varieties there all at the same time, and the seed supply was dwindling at a rapid pace.  I must say that they all behaved themselves quite well under the circumstances. Food means warmth to our feathered friends, of course, and I made sure to replenish the seeds at mid morning and again late afternoon.

Male cardinal in tree near the feeder on a snowy day, January 2014.

Besides the cardinals, there were pine siskins, purple finches, gold finches, chipping sparrows, starlings, blackbirds, cowbirds, chickadees, titmice, house wrens, mourning doves, and Inca doves in the mix. There was also a larger sparrow type that I haven't yet identified.

A pair of blue birds landed on the fence mid-morning near the barn when my camera was not handy. The bluebirds came back to HeartSong Farm on January 14th. They will decide on a house by February 15th, and begin nest-building and egg-laying soon thereafter. It is always a welcome sight to see them. Over the years, several pair have built nests in the gourds or houses I have on my back porch. I could sit in my porch swing and watch them come and go only slightly cautious of my being there. I hope they choose a home on or close to the porch again this year. My daddy built several houses for me and they are scattered on fence posts around the farm.

Bluebirds nested in this gourd on the back porch last year and had a bit of fun with decorating!

There were robins flocking in my front yard on January 2 this year, which is about two weeks early for them. I am not sure where they winter, but apparently they had had enough of the weather there and decided to come early to East Texas this year. They never stay long here; only a week or two and then they are off again. Personally, I wish they would take these cowbirds, starlings and blackbirds with them when they go! I'm just saying..... 

The weather has certainly made the headlines this winter, hasn't it? It has been bad in the southern hemisphere, also, where it is summer to our winter. I wonder if it has been enough to change the minds of some of the non-believers when it comes to Global Warming, or at least make them consider the possibility of a climate change? I would like to think so, but I am not holding my breath on that one.

The climate has certainly been interesting this week here on HeartSong Farm!

A winter garden

Oh, the sun is just beautiful again this weekend and I have been outside enjoying it as much as possible.  My first morning cuppa joe was sipped on the back porch in my swing.  It is on the southeast side of my home and so as I warmed up on the inside, I also warmed up on the outside as the sun rose to greet me.  Jagger, who is spending the winter in the backyard, was curious as usual.  He finds humans interesting.  Llamas are naturally curious, much like cats, and he is no exception to that rule.  He looked at me, looked at the swing from different angles, looked at the coffee cup in my hands with the steam rising, and then looked at me and tilted his head!  All at a distance of perhaps three feet.  I held out my hand, down-turned, to him and he took a step closer, but not onto the concrete porch.  He sniffed the top of my empty hand and I turned it palm up. He sniffed my palm, then looked back up at me as if to say:  "Why is it empty?  Where is my treat?!  I really would like a treat!" 

Jagger's sweet face, asking for a treat

I assured him I would get him a treat after I finished my coffee and he blinked his lovely eyes, looked once more at my hand and wandered off to watch the birds at the feeder.  He got his treat in a little bit and then I came back into the house for another cup of coffee and to check email and to read a chapter in my current Jack Whyte book in the Camulod Chronicles series.  I have made it almost through the 5th book, The Fort At River's Bend.  I finished my third cup and got to a stopping place and it was time to make a trip to my winter garden and see what might need picking.

I have been able to take the plastic sheeting off of the portable greenhouse hoops in the beds the last two weeks as the temps have been mostly between 34 and 60 degrees F.  Folding the plastic sheeting has been difficult and I have not done a very good job of it....in fact, I would say that I just wadded it all up until I can get it all dry and have another pair of hands to help me.  I am talking about you, Ben!

Portable Hoop Greenhouse in position

Framework of the PVC for the Portable Hoop Greenhouse

These hoop houses were so easy and inexpensive to build quickly using 1/2" PVC pipe and 6 ml plastic sheeting.  My son, Ben, and I put two of them together one Saturday in December in about two hours as the wind picked up, the temperature dropped, and the rain/sleet began to fall in the first of many strong and frigid cold fronts that have passed through here this winter. Nothing like what other parts of the country have experienced, of course, but pretty darned miserable for those of us here in East Texas.  And for me, with this being my first winter garden, I thought I had another week to get these built, but it was not to be!  We were able to get everything under cover, though, in a short time and before we were totally frozen to the bone.

We used 1/2" PVC pipe (and 3/4" would have been better, I think, because the wind gusts did knock these over a few times) that come in 10 ft lengths.  We cut 10 of the pipes in half and drilled holes in the PVC at the top ends of the 5 ft. long side pieces, and used cable ties to fasten these side pieces to the top 10 ft long piece at approximately 2 ft intervals.  This was NOT easy in the cold and wind, but we did it!  I came back days later when I could and tightened the cable ties even more, which helped with the sturdiness of the framework.  We also attached the bottom ends of the side pieces in a similar fashion to another 10 ft long PVC pipe that would lay on the ground. This meant that the frames could be folded up and easily stored when not needed.  But that plastic sheeting is still going to be a real booger to fold!  

The e-book we used

The directions that we got from the e-book by Taylor Birch used special PVC pipe clamps to hold the plastic sheeting to the pipes, but we could not find these clamps at our local Lowe's.  So we just held the plastic down at the ground with some rusty T-posts.  I found out later that I can order the PVC clamps online from one of several greenhouse supply companies and they are very inexpensive (about 65 cents or so apiece.).  The e-book is available for purchase and download to your computer or device from Amazon.com, and it also has good directions for building raised frame beds.  Check it out!

Inside the hoop frames my winter crops have flourished even though the outside temps have been quite extreme at times, as you can see from the photos below.

Inside the portable hoop greenhouse all is nice and warm!

And since my raised beds are 4 ft wide and I made three rows of plants in each, I am able to sit on my weeding stool inside the greenhouse and weed and harvest quite comfortably!  This was not consciously planned.  It was a lagniappe, a serendipity, for sure!  Gosh, I need a new weeding stool, don't I?!

Weeding and harvesting is easy inside the hoop frame!

You can see in this last photo that I ended up having to anchor the bottom pipes down with some stones and pavers to keep the 60 mph winds from folding the whole shebang over onto its side again.  The book says to anchor the bottom pipes either to the raised beds with a different type of clamp (available at Lowe's) or with stakes into the ground.  I will do this later.  I need to re-do my raised bed construction this year anyway before I plant in the Spring.  For now this is working for me very well.

It was so lovely out and I walked around my place for a bit, checking to see how the llamas, pastures and fencelines were fairing for the winter.  Everything was looking good!

But soon I came inside for it was time for NFL football playoff games at HeartSong Farm!  

On a winter Sunday morning

I am at my computer at the dining room table, with a second cup of my delicious Dark Roast Community Coffee that I save for weekends and holidays....sun is shining brightly through the dining room window and birds busy eating at the feeders....Godfrey, the kitten, is stretched out between the computer screen and the keyboard....I have had to move the screen further back to allow him enough space and so that I can type....he started out draped completely over the keyboard!

Godfrey at the computer

Yesterday I worked in my garden...I can see baby turnips!  Exciting...to me, at least.  Can't wait to see baby beets.  I picked a huge container of greens to enjoy this week with pinto beans and scrambled eggs.

A harvest of  homegrown greens

I hand-washed a whole bunch of dishes and washed a load of heavy miscellaneous items, not clothes which are always done on Sunday afternoons.  Then I came in and watched football and sorted through some things that were piling up.

I have decided that instead of making "to do" lists that it would probably be better for me to make a list of what I accomplished for the day or weekend.  That would be less overwhelming and disappointing in the long run.  I find that sometimes I make a list of things to do for a weekend or vacation and it has so many things on it that I end up doing only some of them and doing other things instead.  Yes, the "other things" needed to be done, but not necessarily at that time.  And then what I didn't do, but should have done, ends up on The List again!  It is a very vicious circle sometimes.  Maybe it is my way of being Rebellious?!  I never was as a teenager.  Or maybe it is just that I am easily distracted.

I have also decided I want to either knit or spin something during the Olympics.  Now I have to decide which and what!  I am not really good at making decisions.  I am getting better, but still have a long way to go.  Having a mother who insists on making all your decisions with no input from you as a child or teenager does not teach you how to make decisions easily.   It is good to give children some choices to make.

I spent some time last night looking at some fiber to spin and writing down all my ideas about spinning it, as in what colors to blend together and ply together and also what I wanted to knit with it when it was done.  I really agonized over it!  I was determined I would not go to bed without making a decision.  I think that I must have a bit of Perfectionist in me which is another part of my problem.  I am so afraid of making the wrong choice sometimes.

This is the fiber combination I decided to work with during the Olympics!

I did make a decision and I did get to bed at a decent hour and now it is another beautiful day to do a bit of playing outside in the garden and about the farm.  It is still pretty muddy here from all the recent rains so I will need to wear my rubber clogs.  Football again this afternoon and some more sorting through "stuff" and possibly the baking of some bran muffins and gingerbread!  Oh, and I think that there is one more Guinness in the fridge left over from New Years!  WooHoo!  Hey, I might even have a chance to knit or spin or, if Godfrey or Jessy will stay out of my lap, process some of my llama fiber or card some of my homegrown cotton into rolags.

Jessy, my sweet pea

I have decided that I want to know what it feels like to be proud of myself.  That is what I want for 2014.

The sun is shining on HeartSong Farm!

What’s in a name?

There is a reason why my farm is named HeartSong.  It came to it honestly.  My patch of ground literally  makes my heart sing!  My Celtic roots have subconsciously instilled a sense of belonging to the land and the importance of having my own piece of it.  As I walk about my place, all 5.61 acres of it, I feel a sense of peace.  As I mow, seed, disc, fertilize I feel a sense of purpose.  These acres are mine!

At the backyard gate of HeartSong Farm

This is not the first HeartSong Farm.  The very first, though it was never officially named, was 30 years ago in central Illinois.  It, too, was around 5 acres, and was a first attempt, a trial run if you will, by me and my husband to live outside of town away from the hustle and bustle of subdivisions and strip malls.  He wanted to be able to hunt on his own land, and I wanted to plant and raise things.  We did a little of both, even built a barn and a pair of pastures.  He hunted squirrels, rabbits and pheasant.  I raised ducks and geese and 2 lambs along with my two young sons and a tri-colored collie named Fancy.  We were located between corn and soybean fields to the south and a hog farm to the north, on a small rise of land that caught the fierce winter wind and snow.  We were there for only 3 years before being transferred again, back to the suburbs and city life, but we began to look for “our dream farm” in the Ozarks during that time period.  I do not know how truly serious he was about that dream farm, but I know I was!  I dreamed of homegrown vegetables, chickens, guineas, ducks and geese…of horses, sheep and goats and ….. llamas! 

Our next stop was the Nashville, TN, area in another subdivision and there I practiced growing flowers and shrubs and playing with landscaping.  Then in another 3 or 4 years we were in Connecticut where almost everyone is a gardener and the weather and soil are amazing.  The short growing season caused everything to bloom with gusto and I practiced growing all kinds of wonderful English garden flowers and plants among the rock ledges and stone walls on our 2 acre lot in a small town along the shoreline.  From May to October there were numerous u-pick farms where I experienced the joy of picking my own blueberries, apples, plums, peaches and pears.  The fresh just-picked flavor was wonderful and I wanted my own fruit trees on my dream farm.  We went to a local farm and picked out our Thanksgiving turkey each year and I decided that the taste and texture of a fresh, never-frozen bird for our holiday table would be a must from then on.

The time came to leave Connecticut and we had found that dream farm in the central Missouri Ozarks.  The big move was made in April of 1997 to 344 acres of wonderful rolling fenced and cross-fenced countryside, half wooded and half open, with 11 ponds, a house with full length front and back porches for sunrise and sunset viewing, and a substantial barn….out in the middle of nowhere!  For me it was heaven on earth, truly!

This place called out to be named and, for me, HeartSong was more than perfect.  My heart sang loud and joyously of the fresh air, the possibilities, the freedom, and the wide open spaces.  I ordered my chickens, guineas, ducks and geese and they arrived before I even had a place for them.  Big mistake, but they survived and thrived.  I planted a small vegetable garden and some flowers and dreamed of where I would put what, and when I would acquire the livestock and life was good, it seemed, on HeartSong Farm.

But apparently not so for my husband who was entering his mid-life crisis (I suppose), and by August of that same year, after almost 26 years of marriage, he decided he would be leaving, and HeartSong Farm came crashing down around me.  Hopes, dreams, joys ……swept away from me like dust before a broom.  I tried to hold on.  I pretended I could survive all by myself on my “dream farm.”  I went ahead and bought my foundation herd of six female llamas, and my herd sire, Smokin’ Jaguar.  I watched the seasons change, I grieved for what was lost, and by the summer of 1998, with the divorce final, I gave in to the appeals of my parents to come back to East Texas to take care of them in their old age.  But I was determined that I would  be bringing my llamas!

Lulu & Razzle in back pasture of HeartSong Farm

And I did bring my llamas with me to a new farm, a much smaller and less picturesque farm but one that I could afford and handle on my own.  And I named it HeartSong!  It has taken quite a number of years for that name to feel right for this patch of land.  It certainly is not my “dream farm” by any stretch of the imagination, but it has grown on me and I have grown to love and embrace it.  

Barn swallow nest on back porch ceiling
 of HeartSong Farm

I sit in the back porch swing and look out over the back pasture and watch llamas graze and interact.  I see the foxes come out of the dense woods at the back fence line, I hear the coyotes yipping at night.  I watch vultures circle on the air currents in the sky above me while dragonflies cruise over the pasture grasses during the day and fireflies dance in the summer twilight.  And each fall for the past five years, a red-shouldered hawk I have named “Token” returns to spend its winter and grace my world. 

Life is good here at HeartSong Farm. 

Red Shouldered Hawk hunting in front pasture of
HeartSong Farm

Red fox in pasture on HeartSong Farm

Let's Hear It For A New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!

I HOPE YOU HAVE AS MUCH FUN IN 2014 AS A KITTEN WITH A ROLL OF TOILET PAPER!

I am ready for a new start and I am always glad that every twelve months we get a fresh slate to try to make a better go of it.  Some years are definitely better than others, but New Year's Day tends to give us all a bit of hope and I am reminded of a favorite Merle Haggard tune from the 60's, "If We Make It Through December," with its poignant grip on such optimism. 

There were many blessings in the past year for me, including but not limited to and in no particular order (isn't that the proper disclaimer?!):

• Having a job that pays the bills in a companionable workplace.
• Periodic bonus checks from that same job.
• My continued good health.
• My son Ben's continued employment, and his consistent paying of his bills without complaint.
• Ben's growth in his sense of responsibility and dependability.
• My being able to replace my truck with the car I had wanted for three years.
• Attending Wildflower Fiber Retreat once again, as well as Knit Camp.
• A good harvest and learning experience from my summer vegetable garden.
• Being gifted in July with two wonderful cats, Godfrey and Axl.
• Renewing old friendships and making some new ones.
• Making old friendships stronger.
• Taking a cross country train trip to visit my son, Matt, for his graduation.
• Matt's finding a job in his field soon after graduation.
• Getting to know Matt's girlfriend, Melissa, better.
• My successful transition into crone status awareness.
• My being able to be in the presence of my ex-husband for the first time in 15 years and not feel those feelings I was afraid I might feel.  Whoo Hoo!

In previous years on the first day of a new year, I would take out my new and specially selected calendar and joyfully fill it in with birthdays, paydays, appointments and special notations, while enjoying several cups of my usual hot, strong, black morning coffee.  My favorite is Community Dark Roast right now, but I also enjoy their Cafe Special and Coffee & Chicory blends.  With the Coffee & Chicory, I prefer to add some foaming hot milk to each cup, making it into a delicious, comforting cafe au lait.  Spending part of my life in New Orleans taught me the goodness of such a treat.  Sometimes, but rarely, I will add some sugar and a touch of cinnamon.  

But I digress....  

So, after filling in my new calendar, I would then write down three or four New Year's Resolutions that I would honestly intend to accomplish at the time. Then it was on to preparing the day's well-planned menu while listening to the Rose Bowl Parade on TV.  A menu which, of course, would always include some form of black-eyed peas (for luck), eggs (for new beginnings) and cabbage (for money), a lemon pie, and which would be eaten in front of the TV watching my favorite sport, football.

As a matter of fact, it was because of a football game on New Year's Day in 1963 that my Daddy finally decided it was time to buy the family our first television.  That game was the Sugar Bowl down in New Orleans with the Ol' Miss Rebels playing the Arkansas Razor Backs. The Rebels won the game that year, which pleased Daddy, and the rest of us were pleased because we finally owned a television!

But this year I broke with some of those traditions, mainly the calendar (which in the last couple of years has been misplaced or forgotten) and the resolutions ( which, as is common for most of us, will have fallen by the wayside long before the first day of that year's June) and the menu that requires too much time for me in the kitchen.  This year we were going to have easy!  

So, I dumped some canned black-eyed peas, chopped green onions and celery, parsley, what was left in the bottle of balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, garlic, and a couple of "bloops" of bottled lime juice in a medium sized bowl, stirred it up and put it in the refrigerator to chill.  I boiled eggs last night and made deviled eggs.  I found some rolls in the freezer left over from Thanksgiving.  And I sauteed bagged coleslaw with some onion, garlic, caraway seeds, salt and pepper in olive oil.  Ben offered some of his Christmas chocolate covered cherries for dessert (he got 3 boxes!).  Along with store-made guacamole and chips on the kitchen counter, we can snack and munch and eat whenever we want....on paper plates.  

Around noon I grabbed a Guinness from the fridge and plopped down in front of my computer, with football on TV in the background, to write this blog post, which is exactly how I had envisioned my New Year starting off.  I am really liking this!

Instead of resolutions, this year I have decided to make "life changes."  I will keep these changes in the forefront of my heart and mind until they become a part of Me, rather than writing anything down on paper to be misplaced or tossed aside.  

As for the calendar, my Kindle Fire has an app for my notes and appointments when I am on the go, and my new computer with Window's 8 has a very workable calendar that shows up on my desktop right under the weather report and my email inbox.  I am really thinking that Simple is Better.

There is a great and exciting year ahead at HeartSong Farm!