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!  

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

Wishes

Sometimes the things you wish for don't come true. "It just wasn't meant to be," you say, philosophically. You feel sad and disappointed.  But .... maybe you didn't wish for it correctly.  Have you ever thought about it that way?  It is said that our prayers are answered in God's own time.  What are prayers but wishes? Surely they are the same thing?  Think about it.  So maybe, just maybe our wishes are answered in God's own time, also.  In that light, I think that many times when we wish for something to happen that we really desire, we simply do not wait long enough for the wish to be granted or we don't recognize the way in which it was granted.

Young female llamas at HeartSong Farm

I believe that not only do we not wait long enough, we don't always see the answer because it is right there in front of us.  Like not being able to see the forest for the trees.  The Universe, God, Great Spirit, The Source, The Mother (or whoever or whatever you believe is "in charge") knows what is best for us and sometimes what is best for us is to not have our wish granted...or at least not in our own time.  Later, we will probably realize that it was a good thing that our wish was not granted for one reason or another.  It simply was not a good idea in the first place, or it was a good idea but the timing was not the best it could or should have been.

Maybe, just maybe, we have silently wished for that wish to not come true without even knowing it, and that wish is the one that is granted.  Remember the song by Garth Brooks thanking God for unanswered prayers?


So here I am this weekend rethinking my wish that Texanna, my last llama mama, would have a cria, the final one born here on HeartSong Farm.  I really don't need another cria, especially if it turns out to be a female. My goal here now is to have only male llamas in my pastures for simplicity's sake.  Three years ago I changed my whole premise for my farm.  I would no longer be breeding llamas, no longer be trying to sell llamas, no longer be actively promoting llamas or participating in the llama community.  It was a very difficult but necessary change to make.  Llamas have brought me such joy, peace and sense of pride in being able to feed, doctor, train and selectively breed them, not to mention some really nice fiber for spinning.

But with the economy such as it was and continues to be, I was struggling with being able to feed my herd of 20 and I wasn't selling as many as I had dreamed of being able to sell nor was I able to get the fleeces processed in enough quantity by my own hands while working a full time job that just barely paid the bills. My marketing attempts were costly and produced few, if any, sales and I was beginning to realize that I needed to move on....to the next stage of my life, to dream a new dream for my upcoming retirement.

Texanna, wild and wooly

And so I gave away all my females except Texanna.  She remained with me simply because she is wild and extremely wary....simply put, she is literally uncatchable.  She is 15 years old now, and hers was the first birth I was privileged to witness. She will live here with me until her life ends, and I will enjoy seeing her wildness in my back pasture until then.  She is a beautiful sight to see standing on the highest point of her pasture, and there is something about her wildness that touches a chord in me.  At one time I wished that I could find a home for her with the other females. Now I am glad that wish did not come true!

Jagger at one hour old

One wish that did come true for me was for Texanna and Smokin' Jaguar to produce a spotted male cria together.  Texanna had previously birthed females with Smokin', all gorgeously covered in spots. Smokin' had sired a dozen or so spotted females, but there had been no spots as of yet on any of his many sons.  He was getting up in age and I knew that time was running out on my hope, so I wished and I prayed.  And in March of 2012 that wish came true with the birth of Jaguar Moon (Jagger).

Jagger at 18 months

I was so thrilled, and then I thought .... just one more cria, ... maybe another spotted male, just one more! Sort of like just one more bite, one more cookie, one more of  "whatever", that more times than not is something you neither need nor should have if truth be told.And so here I am, a year later driving myself a bit crazy wondering if that wish will come true or not. This weekend there continues to be a lot of tail swishing, rolling, salt block licking, and kushing, but it may just all be my wishful thinking .... for just one more cria, one more new life in the pasture to marvel at one more time.  To feel once more that sense of joy and magic of new life.


But it may not be what I need for me to move on with the farm and my new goals.  Goals that also include new life, but new life in different forms, not llamas.

Playing the Waiting Game

I have been anxiously waiting to see if my only remaining female llama, Texanna, is going to have a baby this fall.  There have been signs for several weeks that it might happen: her vigorous rolling in the dust bowl, shifting her weight trying to get comfortable while kushed, and her licking the mineral salt block with great relish the last four weeks.  I remember that last year about this time was when I last saw Smokin' breeding with her before I put him into his own pasture....so the timing is right for a birthing......it could happen!  If there is a cria born, it will be bittersweet as Smokin' Jaguar passed away of old age at the beginning of October this year, just two weeks shy of his 19th birthday. He was a very special fellow, my PR llama, and his presence is missed in my pastures.

Lately on the weekends I have been driving myself a bit crazy during the magical hours of between 10 and 2 (or 11 and 3 during daylight savings time) with my attention being pulled in Texanna's direction, constantly looking out windows and doors to see if anything interesting is happening. Llama mamas almost always will birth during those particular hours, when the sun is at its highest, due to the fact that they cannot lick their babies dry and must rely on the warmth of the sun to do that for them.  They rarely need assistance and I have only witnessed a handful of births in the 16 years of owning llamas. The magic of new life arriving in my world is always cause for excitement for me, and being a witness to the event even more so, especially since this would be the last chance for a llama baby to be born here on HeartSong Farm.

Texanna kushed and trying to ignore my spying.

The weather has been quite nice the last two weekends and I have welcomed outdoor chores that allow me to keep an eye on Texanna and still get some work done.  The towels and iodine have been ready and waiting, along with the camera, on the kitchen counter the last few weeks.  My constant spying does not please her and she watches me watching her.  However, this afternoon at 2 o'clock, I finally said to myself, "Well, not today, but ...... maybe tomorrow!" During the work week, it is my son Ben who plays the watching game for me, although I doubt he lets it drive him crazy like I do!

There really are other things to do around here besides watching for a baby, and one of the things I did this weekend was some much needed trimming of branches and bushes with one of my favorite tools...my Fiskars brand loppers,  These things can cut through most anything up to about 2 inches in diameter and they do it quickly, smoothly and effortlessly.  I have never had to sharpen them and the bright orange markings make it easy to find them if you find it necessary to let go of them at any time.  I have also enjoyed using Fiskars brand shears, the kind you can find at Hobby Lobby in the sewing department, for shearing my

llamas since 1999.  The Fiskars company make really good cutting tools!

I spent some relaxing time in my fall vegetable garden weeding this afternoon.  The sun was warming in the cooler weather we have had since the heavy rain we got on Wednesday.  This is my first experience with a fall garden, and something I find am really enjoying.  Three of  my crops are new to me:  kohlrabi, fava beans, and Swiss chard.  I have never grown nor eaten any of these vegetables and am looking forward to taste-testing them this winter.  The seeds were ordered from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (SouthernExposure.com) where the service is fast, prices reasonable, and the variety of heirloom offerings is immense! I will be keeping close tabs on the garden's progress in the upcoming months with photos and then recipes, so stay tuned!

Butterfly pit stop.

While outside I noticed several butterflies passing

through on their way to their winter home.  They seemed excited to see the yellow lantana and the marigolds blooming in my flowerbeds, where they spent some time before continuing along on their journey south.  I cannot imagine how they make that tremendously long distance trip, nor how they know just where they are going, can you?! Mother Nature is so Awesome!  She is constantly making me stop and wonder about all matter of things.

Well, that is all for now from me to you.  Take care, and see you next time when I share more news from HeartSong Farm.

Today is the First Day....

Today is the first day of my blog!  I am finally writing it all down...my thoughts and observations, joys and sorrows of living here on my small farm in East Texas.  It is the kind of place where a person can hang their heart and strive for simple abundance.

It is the place where I have raised and buried llamas, dogs, cats and a bunny.  I have planted flowers, trees, shrubs and vegetables here, and built fences, corrals and a barn with a llama weather vane on top.  I have observed families of red foxes, Rocky the raccoon, a resident red-shouldered hawk, numerous armadillos, and a hog nosed snake named Larry, all in a part of the country that is not even close to where I would choose to be if I could choose.  But it is the place that I am, and I have lived here longer by far than any other place in my entire life. I have made friends and connections here and found my way back to Me. There is a reason I am here and I decided years ago that I would bloom wherever I was planted.

So....why a blog?  Well I love to write and I love to reach out and share.  I love to ponder, observe, create, learn, document, and I love to read other people's blogs.  Blogging seems to be a perfect match!  Hopefully something I write will resonate with you, the reader, at some level.  If so, let me know and both our lives will be enriched.  You may not agree with everything here, nor should you have to, but hopefully what you find here will make you think, help you learn to observe and to appreciate your world from where you stand, and that you, too, are able to bloom where you are planted.

So hang around, sit a spell, visit often, pass the word....  Life is Good at HeartSong Farm!

Next post.....is there a baby llama on the way?!