Down on the bayou

A huge red metal crawfish adorns the kitchen counter of Debbie and Rick's open kitchen.  A promise of the hospitality to come!

Over the Easter weekend, I took a road trip to South Louisiana.  It is one of my favorite places to go because I get to spend time with my friends, Debbie and Richard, who I have known since BK (Before Kids).  That, folks, is a very long time!  The mid-70's as a matter of fact. They are the epitome of welcoming, generous Southern folks. I pull into their driveway in Pontchatoula, Louisiana, and I think:  Laissez les bons temps rouler!  And .... they do!

This time I brought with me two gallon bags of frozen figs from last year's harvest with the idea that Debbie and I would make fig preserves. It was also time for strawberries from Ponchatoula's area farms to be for sale on the roadsides and street corners.  So, Friday and Saturday, she and I spent our time together "jamming", while Richard ran to the store for more sugar, more pectin, more jars, and once for a new blender so that we could chop the strawberries more efficiently.  He also kept the Diet Cokes (Debbie) and beer (me) coming.  He had a vested interest in all of our activity.

We got 7 pints and one quart out of the 2 gallons of figs I brought.

You see, Rick is a Certified Fig Fanatic.  He loves them.  I mean, REALLY loves them, and he was keeping track of where each filled jar was at all times. Upon opening and tasting from the first jar, Richard declared that our fig jam tasted just like his grandmother's and that he claimed every jar as his.  " They can have strawberry!" were his exact words, as I recall.  Richard is one reason I am trying my darnedest to root some fig twigs.

We bought a flat and a half of freshly picked strawberries, still warm from the fields!

They smelled like strawberry cotton candy, full of sunshine and natural sweetness!

We made 5 batches of strawberry jam, and they have been declared "scrumptious" by those who have tasted them.  To one batch we added cracked black pepper, and another, vanilla extract per some recipes we came across.  Not bad, but  not especially interesting either!

Friday night it was time for boiled crawfish and shrimp, potatoes, corn and "real" French bread ... the kind they only make in South Louisiana..... wonderfully soft in just the right places and perfectly crusty everywhere else!

I had another good reason to visit the bayou country that weekend. In mid February, Debbie had asked me if I would be able to knit an afghan for her that would go in a very special friend's living room in a very special home in the Garden District of New Orleans.  I would have a deadline, that being May 15.  Could I do it?!  I said yes.  

She told me that it needed to be very particular colors:  a very grayed blue (no lavender, no green), ivory, buttery yellow, and a peach that was not too pinkish, but was more orange and brownish.  She wanted a variety of yarns for textures and no squares (too "quilt-y"), but stripes would be okay.  I was excited!  No problem!

Well, yep, problem!  Hard to find yarns in these colors.  Hard to make these colors work in one piece.  Hard to find a variety of textures in yarns in these colors.  Before long, I began to hyperventilate and lose sleep.  Fortunately, I had already planned that road trip to Pontchatoula because I was going to need her input on this.  I couldn't do it alone!

In the meantime, I gathered up yarns I thought would work from my own stash, Hobby Lobby and from some of my online sources.  There was also a budget, mind you!  I knitted at night after work, and most of the days on the weekends.  I planned and knitted, and "frogged" what I had knitted and started over again.  I did not like what was coming off my needles!  Panic!  Hyperventilation!  Oh, NO!

The blues and peaches were just not right.  I needed to dye some yarns to get what I needed in those specific shades.  I thought we should add some greens after looking at a photo of the room itself.  I gathered up several shades of Rit dyes,both powdered and liquid, that I could mix in my dye pot and, hopefully, come up with what I needed.  I absolutely love to dye, and prefer to use Kool-Aid, Rit and sources from Nature itself, so this was exciting.

I gathered my dyeing pot, my dyes, my salt and my vinegar, and skeined off yarns for dying.

And I got to work in my kitchen!

A break in the rain that weekend allowed me the pleasure of hanging my new yarns out to dry on the clothesline.  A colorful sight!

And now, back to Easter weekend in Pontchatoula.  After the wonderful jars of jams were made, I brought out my yarns and swatches for Debbie to look over and tell me what she thought.  We culled some colors and yarns immediately.  Debbie said "no!" to any green and praised the shades of peach I had produced.  As expected, the blues were the hardest to decide on as to which would work and which would not.  She loved the textures, both in the knitting and in the yarns themselves, that I had produced.   And the stripes she wanted, were what I would call "bands" of color.  In the end, we had a plan and there was Excitement on both our parts.  For me, there was also Relief!

This is what Debbie and I ended up with as our Afghan Plan.  This shows 4 of the 5 color bands

that we decided on.  The fifth was a beautiful blue chosen from a small sample I brought with me.

Back home, I began ripping out squares and re-knitting them into the chosen bands, but the blue chosen from the small sample did not coordinate well once it was knitted into a larger amount of color.  Dang!  It happened to be my favorite of all the yarns, but I just could not make it work!  My friend, Judy, and I took a road trip to Tyler on the following Saturday to check out the brand new JoAnn's Fabric store, and there I found a blue yarn to use for that final band.  It was a much thicker yarn, but I felt it would work.  The color was just perfect.  I breathed a sigh of relief!

As the deadline quickly approached, I finished the five bands of color, joined them with a mattress stitch, and knit several rows of edging on all four sides, with smaller size needles, to give it stability.  The various textures and thicknesses of the yarns needed to be controlled, you see.

I steam blocked it, pinned in place, on my bed.  This helped it maintain its shape.  Very important,

as the different yarns had different weights, as well as a mind of their own!

Under the ceiling fan in my bedroom, the afghan dried quickly, and while it dried, I gathered and cut the ribbons and yarns I  planned on using for the long fringes that Debbie wanted.  At this point, I was still not yet confident in the design of  this piece.  Something was missing.

As you can see from my photos, these colors can look so differently in
different lighting.

The fringes are 8" long and made of narrow ribbons and textured yarns.

Once the fringes were on, it looked beautiful and all the colors and textures came together, and I sighed a HUGE sigh of Relief.  And smiled!

I got the afghan in the mail to Pontchatoula in plenty of time for the events at the New Orleans home, and Debbie said she loved it and was pleased with how soft it was.  I want to see a photo of it in the room on the back of that sofa before I can know for sure!

With this project I learned a few things. One is that "simple is usually better", especially with things that are complicated.  Also, when you are doing a project for someone, find out as soon as you can, EXACTLY what they have in mind .....  BEFORE you start working on it!  It turns out, Debbie said "knit" when she really meant "weave"!  When she said "stripes," I thought no more than an inch wide, possibly thinner.  She was thinking wider, more like what I would call "bands."  Ask them to show you what they mean, because once they do and you are both on the same sheet of music, you can have your Ah-Ha moment without pushing the Panic Button  .....  hopefully!  


Now, for those of you who didn't see my post on Facebook of the photo of my first little leopard frog:

Leopard froglet.  Is it not just the cutest thing you have seen in awhile?!

Here you can clearly see his "leopard spots".

I named it "Prince," but I did not kiss it.  I thought about it, but I didn't.  Within the week, Prince had left the tadpole habitat and gone off on his Life's Adventure.  I hope he is able to live a long and happy life, eating as many mosquitoes and flies as he can around here. It will be a good year for those mosquitoes what with all this rain!  Meanwhile, another tadpole is growing hind legs, and soon there will be another little froglet here on HeartSong Farm's back porch.

And crawfish has made another appearance in my life!  

Last night, Tammy and Chris brought me some boiled crawfish because they had too much! Now wasn't that nice of them to think of me?  I sure thought so!  There was enough to enjoy right out of the bucket, and some reserved for making etouffee later.  Almost as good as being back down on the bayou!

And Richard ......  it looks like we may have another bumper crop of figs this July and August!  YAY!

Figs developing on my fig tree, loving all the rainwater this spring.

It is still very very muddy here on the farm, but we have not been involved in any of the tragic flooding of this past week, and for that we are grateful.  Prayers to all those affected by those recent storms.  More evidence of Global Warming, I wonder?  Hmmm....

Today, we are enjoying a day of mostly sunshine here on HeartSong Farm!

It's a jungle out there!

The front yard at HeartSong Farm was a jungle, recently.  You can barely see the metal roof of the house from this angle!

I started writing this post a month ago and am just now having the time to finish.  When I began, we were still being deluged with rain, rain and more rain, with cloudy, rainy days in the forecast.  In fact,  27.25 inches of rain officially fell in my town center between 1/1/2015 and  4/16/2015, and by now it is close to 40".  I think that probably even more fell on HeartSong Farm.  I bought myself a cute brass and glass rain gauge several years ago, but a week after Ben installed it on the backyard fence, a windstorm toppled the big maple tree over on top of it, and I have not replaced it.  For the time being, I must rely on a co-worker to relay the rain amounts that her husband keeps excellent track of in town.  Good enough.

By mid-April,  the scissor-tail flycatchers had arrived, the first batch of Eastern phoebes had fledged from the clay nest on the front porch, and the grass was as high as an elephant's eye.  When I was much younger, I wanted to live in the jungle for a few weeks, and now, it seems I have gotten my wish.  But, I also wished for a baby elephant and a pet monkey.  I haven't seen those yet! I actually do have algae growing on parts of my car.

All the mud has been appreciated by the barn swallows and phoebes for refurbishing their nests from last year, and for supplying materials for those that need to start brand new.  One afternoon, Ben showed me how some small orange-brown butterflies were landing in the mud in the driveway, taking on moisture before taking off again.  And, for sure, Gloria is loving all the excessive rain. 

Gloria, the bald cypress, flourishing in her modified bog. 

In mid-March, the front yard was coming to life with the warmer temperatures
and all the rain.

Just a few weeks later and we had a jungle of high grass and weeds growing with no 

way to control it without getting stuck in the muddy ground.  Yep, we could actually see 

and hear it growing!

The back yard was the same.  The pastures were lush and the llamas were 
enjoying all the high green stuff.  Quite a salad bar, I suppose.

The vegetable garden area quickly became overgrown with weeds from all the rain.

Looks lush, doesn't it?!  Sadly, the only thing actually planted in the garden on purpose is the garlic.

It appears that I have a big job ahead of  me in the next few weeks.  Luckily, this was not to be a 

year for serious gardening, anyway.  (This is the year of finishing projects already started!)

The old rose garden in the front yard was overgrown like everything else.

The old rose garden is made up of rogusa roses now. The tea roses that were here when I bought
the farm became neglected those first years, and all but Mr. Lincoln have returned to their root 
base, rogusa.  I rather love them, though! 

Taking a walk down the driveway towards the mailbox and highway, I stroll under the shady

canopy of several huge hackberry trees.  Not my favorite specie of tree, but they sure do provide

some nice shade in the heat and humidity of the East Texas summers.

Along the way, I pass the English dogwood that has also enjoyed all the

 extra rains early this year.

The lovely blossoms of the English dogwood, which also goes by the name
"mock orange."

One of the old hackberry trees along the driveway. There are lots of iris
growing around its base, but they need to be dug up and replanted where

there is more sun as they have not bloomed for several years.  Will put 
that on my "To  Do List".

Out front by the highway stands the largest of my two fig trees.  Last year, it produced 

the best crop ever after getting lots of rain in the Spring.  Hopefully, the rain of this Spring 

will give me an even more abundance of figs.  Yum!

Of course, with all the rain, fire ant hills have popped up all over the place

and you really have to watch your step.  I appreciate how these little varmints 

aerate the soil when building their mounds, but it really isn't enough to forgive 

those stinging bites they are so quick to deliver!

Hidden in the tall grasses, some purple bearded irises do have enough sunshine 
to bloom.  I want to dig them up, though, and place them in a garden where
they will be able to get more sun and much more attention in the future.

This perky little flower is a Japanese iris that I brought with me from my 
home in Connecticut.  

The water continues to stand and accumulate in the front and back yards, making it difficult to get

the grass cut with our lawn tractor for way too long.  

At the driveway entrance to the house, the two Lady Banks roses that we
had to severely prune in February are coming back with lots of vigor!  Way
to grow, Kate and Bess!

The climbing rose at the entrance to the back yard across from the veggie
garden has bloomed more profusely than it ever has with the abundant rain.

In fact, there were blooms way up into the crepe myrtle tree and lots of new growth for future blooms!

On the back porch, the question was when will the tadpoles become frogs?!  It's a Big Mystery!

There is one little fella who has gotten his hind legs!

The rains stopped, eventually, and we were finally able to fix the lawn tractor and get the majority of the front and back yards mowed.  All it took was a bit of duct tape! Well, duh!  Isn't that usually the case?!

After so many weeks of rain, things were finally beginning to dry up here.  And then, right this very moment, it is raining once again for the next several days.  With all the storm damage and tornadoes just north of us, we really must be grateful here on HeartSong Farm!