Farm Aspirations

Surprise Alien Flowers

2009-02-25T01:20:00.003-06:00

Just a little update on our garden...

We moved into a house in Long Beach that has a lot of gardens for a suburban house, and new things are popping up all the time- especially with all of the rain lately!

I noticed this oddity this morning that came up while we were visiting in-laws:

It's some sort of israeli black lily. And it smells like dog pee. Kind of odd- and HUGE! About a foot tall!

Anyway- that's what we discovered today!

Wow, so it's been a YEAR!

2009-02-08T02:11:00.003-06:00

Here's an update on Edie Jean...

We Now live in Long Beach.... though for how long who knows!! We may be out pretty soon due to some unforeseen circumstances..

Everyone's doing well... we have chickens again! 4 dozen eggs in the fridge right now! Much better layers than our Piggy and Camilla!

Generations

2008-01-18T00:57:00.000-06:00

I just wanted to share a really special picture I took over the holidays...

This is Edie and Grandma, my mom's mom... and yes, this nearly 88 year old woman is curled up on the floor with my daughter -- on purpose. She's pretty amazing! Her other great-grandma was there also, but she's not quite limber enough to roll around on the floor...
.

Donkeys and Snakes!

2008-01-14T15:59:00.000-06:00

So Saturday we took a little family field trip to the Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue. A true original...
It just so happens to be the largest donkey rescue operation in the nation, and along with Donkeys they have chickens, pigs, cows, llamas, and a lone bison. At the visitors' center they also house a melange of reptiles and small animals, my favorite of which was this giant snake... don't remember what kind it was... just that it was 10 feet long!

And yes, they even let my friend's daughter (almost 2) pet the snake!

Has it REALLY been FIVE months!

2008-01-07T16:35:00.000-06:00

So over Christmas vacation (driven to Dallas), I had more than one comment... well accusation, really... that I hadn't updated my blog since the darling Edie was born! Yes, in the back of my mind I knew this, but things get so hectic around here, and when I start blogging and reading the other blogs I love, the hours melt away and the nap is over, and my precious few free moments are over and all I have to show for it is the knowledge of what a few people I don't really know are doing. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE reading about relative strangers and their lives... but I have so much that needs to get done... anyway, here's the past 5 mos in fast forward, and here's to hoping I'll be better in 2008!

September:
Edie grows up quickly... by her 1 month appointment she's already up to 11 1/2 lbs and seems like she's growing at breakneck speed... we pretty much stick around the house and have many houseguests...

October:
First, Edie takes her first flight- to Dallas for my dad's 60th birthday bash. Then she takes her first RV roadtrip. Four days around Texas with 11 of my nearest and dearest... she fared exceptionally well! Later in the month she started taking some regular longer naps, and actually slept through the night a few times!!! She ended the month in style as a pink dinosaur at Halloween.

November:
I don't remember much from before Thanksgiving... she started rolling over from tummy to back early in the month, then over our Turkey Day trip to Carson City, she learned the back to belly roll. She also started giggling sometime this month (a great addition to her huge open mouth grin) and it is my favorite development thusfar... Then the 7 hour roadtrip to Carson City to visit K-Ma and B-Pa.. and the many other family members that showed up for the Turkey day feast/Edie show-off party.

December:

Ah, December... Edie is becoming a real true baby!! She responds to funny faces, grabs at her toys, and can scoot around in a circle like nobody's business! About December 13th she started getting up on all fours and rocking, scaring us into thinking she might be walking at 7 months like daddy... It's like living in warp speed now. She's becoming more independant by the day, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. She loves to stand and jump and do anything really except sit still. I have a feeling that in a few days or weeks or however long it takes her to crawl, my life is going to be spent chasing around this tornado of trouble. But we'll see... we're at 5 months and counting and no crawling yet.... am I allowed to strap her down? No, that would probably just make the muscles stronger from her struggling and she'd just jump up walking in a week.... scratch that!
Anyway, things are going great. I'm knitting a lot and sewing more and more by the day. I made a couple of Mai Tai carriers for myself and my midwife, and word got around, so now I'll be making some for my friend's store. So things are going, I'm getting more and more settled into our little town... finding friends and groups and places and my place in this little corner in the Mountains. It's snowed twice and turned beautiful. Sort of feeling like home.

Sorry about the glut of photos... I guess this is why you should update your blog more than once every 5 months...

If you still haven't had enough of the Edie, here's her progress captured in crappy video (soon to be better--- got a real video cam for christmas...)

48 hours:
6 weeks:
10 weeks:
15 weeks:
4 months:

Sorry for my silly commentary and cackling...

Happy Birthday Edie!

2007-08-08T23:02:00.001-05:00

Please welcome Edie Jean to the world!

She arrived Monday, August 6th at 4.15pm in a wonderful birth tub in our dining room!

8 lbs 12 oz
22" long

Sorry I've been so delinquent in posting, but we've been busy up in here! Edie was 11 days late, but worth every minute of wait and labor... I hope to post more on the birth story later!

Thanks!

Baseball

2007-04-27T11:03:00.000-05:00

Watching minor league baseball live with a hot dog in hand ($9 for the best seat in the house, no less) is MUCH better than sitting through a 4 hour major league game on TV...

Gardening

2007-04-26T15:20:00.000-05:00

Well, the temperatures are finally supposed to stay above freezing, so I've bravely started trying to put some things in the ground. Yesterday I planted a BUNCH of potatoes and repotted all the tomatoes and peppers again. It's not quite warm enough for them outside yet, so now they're in the "garden suite" in even larger pots, awaiting Mother's Day when local lore is that it is officially okay to transplant outdoors. Hopefully everything will survive this multiple disturbing of the roots. The carrot seeds I sowed three weeks ago seem to be showing SOME signs of life (I had just about given up on them and was getting ready to reseed when I saw a few little sprouts popping up!). However, the few tomatoes and squash that I DID plant outside due to lack of space in the garden suite don't seem to be doing too well. I made the mistake of covering the container tomatoes with clear plastic the first night (for lack of appropriate material) and it appears to have burned the leaves pretty drastically. And the squash, well I KNOW that it doesn't like being transplanted OR cold nights, but it was starting to blossom in the little six pack, and it was definitely time to try and save two or three. But apparently it didn't agree, because despite the row cover and straw mulch, it's wilting and turning yellow as I write, while the plants left in the six pack and out in the open in our 40 degree nights seem totally happy... who knows! Well, that's about it for now-- everyone keep good thoughts for my little transplants!

Will it ever STOP!!!

2007-04-17T11:58:00.000-05:00

And I thought a couple of inches on the 12th of April was bad!!!

How about 6-8 inches on the 15th!!! And possibly more to come on Friday!

As bad as this looks, it's all melted now and our backyard is once again a mushy, muddy mess...

California Dreamin'

2007-04-12T10:46:00.000-05:00

Snow on April 12!!

Well, this is DEFINITELY different from when we lived in Los Angeles...

Quail attempting to find cover under Maddie the Volvo.

Let's hope the cabbage and mescalun makes it! (That's the garden over there under the blankets...)

Growing, growing, gone!!!

2007-04-11T12:05:00.000-05:00

Belly growing growing.....

and gone from Texas.

Our new back yard in the mountains

We got to California about 2 months ago and things are going just swimmingly. We have a house about 3X bigger than our old one... not a farm yet, but we're just renting, so it's okay. We've started a little garden (soon to grow) in our back yard, and as anyone who has visited knows, turned the guest room into the "Garden Suite". We live in the mountains, a much COLDER climate than I'm used to gardening in, so all of my little tomato and pepper seedlings (now relatively large plants) are waiting out the cold and snow in the window seat under a grow lamp.

It all started with an argument over a baby prison (a.k.a. crib) when Wes bought us the car seat to make up for hating cribs. Now I'm a little over 6 months along in baby time, and baby paraphernalia is slowly but surely taking over. My mom came out the weekend before last and we did a little shopping, then my mother-in-law came out last weekend and we did a little MORE shopping. However, the baby's room is still serving as the office, so ACTUAL set-up will have to wait until we have time to set up and move the office to a more suitable location.

Oh, and as for baby birthin', for those of you who aren't yet in on the craziness, we've decided to have a homebirth!! We just feel it's the best option for us, and we're really excited. According to most of our friends and family we've crossed the line from starry-eyed wanna-be farmers into full fledged semi-crazy hippies, but I'm growing to accept that... that might actually be kind of a fun label to have!

The transition from hard working career woman to semi-retired 50's housewife has been relatively smooth. Besides a few days (okay, weeks) of laying on the sofa in complete and utter slothdom, I have found it pretty easy to keep myself busy. There's all these projects that I have been planning to do for, oh, YEARS, that I now magically have the time for (at least for the next 3 months. Then I'm sure things will change once again). So I'm knitting up a storm, refinishing furniture that's been languishing in disrepair for much too long, cooking all the time, gardening like it's going out of style... it's actually great. I have to work a little harder to keep my nose to this new found grindstone, but it's nice to not have a boss...

And for those of you who couldn't see the chicken video from the last post-- try again! It's public now, so it should work for everyone!

The Last Day of the Chickens...

2007-02-12T08:40:00.000-06:00

Saturday was Camilla and Piggy's last day Chez Lacy. It was a sad day, but one of fun. I let the chickens out for one last run of the yard with the dogs, and they got to show off their chicken-y selves for the camera. Their new home is pretty fantastic. Landscape architect Michael has a virtual bird sanctuary in his suburban backyard. He has a variety of fancy banties, pairs of beautiful phesants, doves, parrots, macaws, and bird friendly doggies. I feel very good about where they are, and it makes me feel good that he's probably giving them a better home than I ever could.

**In retrospect, this video might be annoying and long to some... just a warning. And my voice-over is for sure annoying, so feel free to watch without sound!!!!

Camilla and Piggy's new home

New neighbors, the Golden Phesants

The Aviary and some of the girls co-habitators (they are by far the BIGGEST birds!)

Another Year Gone By--

2007-01-31T14:43:00.002-06:00

Year # 27 is going to be a great one!!

Happy Birthday.... me

Finally Sunny!

2007-01-22T13:16:00.000-06:00

Feels like years since we've seen a day of sun! Last week was rainy, snowy or icy all week. Cloudy, and the temperature rarely ventured above 35. The dogs were going stir crazy, but loathed to step foot outside in the mucky mess. Yours truly was also going stir crazy with my work schedule and lack of partner around. I'm telling you, this living single thing is no piece of cake! And the hormones! Ooooh, the hormones! Saturday night found me bawling for 20 minutes at the end of a not-so-great movie, laughing at myself, and eating a hot dog... all at the same time. Maybe it's good that my loving partner isn't here to see this....Anyhoo, Sunday was fantastic! The sun came out, the temperature rose comfortably, and the parents came out to help clean and organize and prepare for the move! And as an added bonus, Pops fixed the scooter! I took a couple of loops around the block, but am still too afraid to take it any further than my neighborhood. Hope everyone else had a great weekend!

Snowy!!!!

2007-01-17T07:55:00.000-06:00

Winter has finally hit Dallas! We had a big (small) ice storm come through Monday, and today it's surprise snow! I knew something was up at about 4am this morning when the Nova-dog freaked out and tried to jump into bed with me. She is terrified of anything "falling" outside, and since her chair is by the window, she scrambles for a new place to sleep about 30 minutes before any kind of real "weather" starts up. Then, when I let the dogs out for their morning run, the deck was covered in snow! The TV stations and all are going CRAZY, since they predicted no snow for Dallas today, and half of the freeway overpasses are closed. ALL of the school systems are closed, but here I am, like an idiot, at work. Unfortunately I live about 2 miles from work, all on surface streets, so there's not much of a reason for me to not come. However, the only other people that are here right now are two others that walk to work from their downtown apartments, and I swear, if we're the only ones here at 10am, I'm going home!

Hope everyone's having a lovely wintery day!

*No photos due to the fact that I'm working overtime for the forseeable future, and I leave the house and come home in the dark.... :(

First Homemade Egg Sandwich

2007-01-10T08:26:00.000-06:00

Yay! My first mostly homemade egg sandwich. Made with egg from my backyard (and one other organic one from the grocery) and spinich from my little roadside garden. And it was delicious!!

And for my mom and all of her teacher friends (for whom my one homemade egg sparked a multitude of questions), I took a photo of my backyard egg side by side with a week or so old organic egg from the grocery store.

(Grocery store on left, Backyard on right)

The only difference I can see is that the white of the egg is clear in my fresh egg, and cloudy in the other (though this is probably due to age), and though by backyard egg is smaller, the yolk is bigger. I'd like to compare it to a non-organic, non-freerange egg to check the difference in yolk color, but that would require buying gross eggs, so it probably won't happen...

On another note, these photos suck, even though I got a super fancy pants new camera for Christmas, but have unfortunately misplaced the charging cord..... so I was relegated to the crappiness of my camera phone.

2007

2007-01-04T09:25:00.000-06:00

Well, looks like 2007 is shaping up to be a banner year in our household...

First, my illustrious hens decided to ring in the new year in the RIGHT way, by finally laying their first egg!!!! We're hoping it's the first of many, and I'm looking forward to finally enjoying some fresh omlettes.

Undoubtedly, the reason they have finally started laying is the fact that we're looking for new homes for them. Surprisingly this is not due to their egg-less-ness (we would love them if they NEVER laid eggs!) but due to the fact that we're moving-- again-- back to California. Not to the city, however. This time we're moving out to the sticks to a beautiful little town in the southern Sierras. It's farming land, there's apple orchards and people riding horses on the side of the road, goats, sheep, chickens and turkeys in people's yards; it's the next step in our journey towards a simpler life. The hubby got a job designing spaceships out in the desert, and the dogs and I are tagging along for the ride. I will be going into temporary retirement for a couple of reasons. One, the distinct lack of architecture firms in a town of 5,000, and two, the most exciting news of 2007 (besides the egg, of course), we're having a baby.....

So, not unlike 2006, (in which we moved 1,300 miles, got married, aquired our first farm animals, and created a garden out of a wasteland) 2007 is looking like it's gonna be a wild ride (in which we move 1,500 miles, add a member of the family, aquire MORE farm animals, and go on further adventures).

So there ya go! Might be late in posting, but chock full of information!

Forever and not a Post in sight...

2006-12-14T11:49:00.000-06:00

Well folks, for anyone who is actually still checking this place since my month-and-a-half hiatus, thanks for the perseverence. Life has thrown me quite a few curves lately, and soon I'll be blogging like a mad woman, but for now it may be radio silence for a little bit. Sorry, but stay tuned! I'll expect to be blogging heartily again by the beginning of '07!

Office Insanity

2006-11-01T15:30:00.000-06:00

So my office had a costume contest...

Recipe for disaster.

Here's some of the highlights...

Marty McFly (in an actual DeLorian)

The 8 foot Easter Bunny (who passed out eggs all day, including to some school kids on the train at lunch)80's runner...

Me and Colonel Sanders at the contest. (For the record, I did win, with easter bunny and 80's runner coming in second with Most Entertaining and Most Creative respectively.)

And lastly, Easter Bunny and I on the train to lunch at On The Border. There were over 20 of us in various degrees of costume. It was QUITE a scene.

Thanks guys, for making Halloween fun again!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

2006-10-31T09:08:00.000-06:00

Now if you're wondering "is that a cubicle and work stuff in the background???"

the answer is yes, I wore this get up to work.

Happy Halloween! Let that inner child run wild!

Wallpaper Extravaganza

2006-10-27T09:03:00.000-05:00

This is a call for ideas!

I'm working on an historical renovation of a building in Downtown Dallas with my architecture firm, and the other day on a "field verification" outing I found some treasures that were getting ready to be thrown out...

The big pieces were a mid-century credenza and double-chair-loveseat type thing, but the more interesting thing that I need help with is an overabundance of kitchy 50's-60's wallpaper that I took off the walls. It is great-- ridiculous bright design, flocked gold, etc. The only problem is that NOW I have rolls and rolls of reclaimed wallpaper and nothing to do with it. I've thought of framing some as art, making placemats, and that's pretty much it. Any ideas~?!?!

Above is a little snippit of my favorite. I'll post the rest later on this weekend.

Creative Juices

2006-10-23T10:40:00.000-05:00

Well the pipes are warming... (for my creative juices...)

This weekend I sat down with some fabric I got at a resale shop and made my Grandma's birthday present. Then I sat down with some fabric I bought elsewhere and started my Dad's birthday present. Then I sat down with some feathers and a couple of leotards and started my halloween costume (there's a $100 prize for the best costume at work, and I'm a sucker for any excuse to dress up...). Above is the apron I made for my Grandma... I kind of love it and want to keep it, but I won't (mainly because I love my Grandma, and there's probably enough fabric left to make a complementary one for me.... haha)

Lack of Mojo

2006-10-18T08:47:00.000-05:00

Hey, bloggers and family--

I've been very lax on this blog thing lately... and on pretty much everything. Ever have one of those times in your life when you just lose motivation to do ANYTHING? It's been about 3 weeks and counting for me. I'm trying to force it, but I'm not too good at that. I've stopped the running that I started about 3 months ago, I've stopped eating healthy, I've slacked off on my art, crafts, and most things creative, I took off work Friday to try and rest up and recharge my innards, and it worked a little, but I'm still struggling.

In the meantime, here's a little update on the garden:

The greens are growing like crazy, and I think i'll have to thin them out a bit soon and try a little homemade harvest. The broccoli is coming slowly, the spinich even more so, and the mache was a no-show (pretty sure it was just too hot. We got a heat wave that left us in the 90's for about a week).

And a gorgeous Texas sunset (with gorgeous Texas hubby).

Our friends' father has a big ranch out in Northeast Texas, and we went out there for a couple of weekends to fish, make a bonfire, and just chat and four-wheel and such.... great fun, and the perfect time of year to do it.

Guerrilla Gardening, Part IV

2006-10-02T09:18:00.000-05:00

Well, finally it is done-- or finished being started. Or something. Is a garden ever done?

Anyhoo-- putting the philosophical questions aside, this Saturday my neighbor and I dug up the remaining bermuda grass, tilled the stony soil by hand, and planted a 12' x 12' garden with a few transplanted perennials, some annual color (to satisfy the code controllers) and, of course, my little winter garden in the back. Off to the left is the xeriscape garden my neighbor started 10 years ago that is thriving. Let's hope the new addition takes off!

Weekend (farm) Warrior

2006-09-24T20:41:00.000-05:00

We had a fantastic weekend...

Friday night we did our usual dinner and the bookstore-- where I aquired the new Cottage Living and Country Home magazines- two of my favorites. I was actually inspired to clean up and reorganize our little house, and start making it look festive for the coming Fall!

Saturday we had a harrowing morning of spending way too much money on fixing our old cars, but to make it all better, my 3 1/2 month old nephew, Hudson, was christened. He handled it like a man, and all was lovely. We were supposed to babysit for my other two nephews (7 and 2) but at the last minute the older one backed out and needed to go home, so it'll have to wait for another day. Gotta get them ready for "Farm Week with Aunt and Uncle" in the *hopefully* not so distant future.

Today, though, may have been the best. We woke up a little late to a delightfully brisk morning! The first one we've really had, it was in the 50's, and we actually got to put on SWEATERS for our morning walk to get coffee down the street!! My parents and grandmothers came out for lunch, and it was the first time for them to see the house, so we did a little yard work. I trimmed up all of my severely overgrown and seen-better-days summer crops, and Wes put together our new grill. I went down to our fabulous farmer's market for some fresh purple hull peas (yum!) and some pumpkins for the front porch (looks cute-- I'll post later!), my dad brought steaks, and we fried up some potatoes on the grill for lunch.

Then this evening, the cooking continued while I made our lunches for the week, and got to deal with the fruits of my cleaning up the crops, an abundance of basil. I hopped on over to Farmgirl's website for her Pesto recipe, and whipped up a big batch for later consumption. I subsitiuted tomatillos for tomatoes (hubby doesn't like tomatoes-- don't ask me!) and it's pretty spicy and wonderful! I may have to freeze some... there is a LOT. (And we got a fancy pants new immersion blender. Works wonders since we don't have a blender or a food processer!)

Anyhoo-- it was a great weekend-I hope y'all's were just as great- and Happy Fall To All!!

Guerrilla Gardening, Part III

2006-09-19T12:44:00.000-05:00

Well Sunday morning i FINALLY planted a little fall garden in our Guerrilla Garden-- (see Guerrilla Gardening, Part I and Guerrilla Gardening, Part II). Yes, it has been sitting idle since the end of June, and to testify to our lack of rain and of good soil, there were only about five weeds to pull in the whole plot.

I planted some broccoli, red kale, mustard greens, turnip greens, radishes, spinich (which will be nice to have nowadays!) and I'm pretty sure some other stuff I can't remember right now... I'd post a photo, but for now it pretty much looks like what it did in the last photo-- bare dirt.

I amended the soil with four big bags of compost, but that soil was pretty bleak looking, so for now I'm just hoping that SOME of the seeds sprout! The radishes I planted in a pot on the back porch, though, and they're already peeking through! They look good, until the point at which Camilla finds them. They're not only in her favorite bathing pot, they are also green and on my back porch, and she unfortunately believes that anything that falls into these two categories also falls into the "chicken food" category. Hence the reason for my back porch/yard looking like a desolate wasteland, and my front porch and walk leaning toward jungle.

On a positive note, the plants I recently labeled as "mostly unproductive" have all of a sudden become profusely productive!!! I don't know if they heard me or what, but all of a sudden I have numerous poblano and habanero peppers growing away, and the plants are covered in blossoms. Weird... maybe the pavement under them was warming the soil too much? Maybe they needed the natural rain instead of my "artificial" rain? For whatever reason, they and the strawberries are going NUTS (strawberries just with foliage, though).

The weather is fabulous-- staying in the 60-85 range most days, and hopefully these mild days will stick around a little longer... or at least until i get ONE poblano pepper... then I'm sooo ready for WINTER!

That Crazy Camilla

2006-09-11T09:47:00.000-05:00

Camilla in her new favorite dirt bath location...

Pseudo-Farming Updates

2006-08-31T08:40:00.000-05:00

Well, now for an update on my lame attempts at farm "stuff"

Exhibit A:

My wildly overgrown and mostly unproductive front porch garden... I vow that by spring next year i WILL have an in-the-ground garden! Which means we have to move.... whatever.

Exhibit B:
Another of the surprise garden flowers that happens to pop up where I'm least expecting it. Aaah, the joys of rental...

Exhibit C:

Camilla is the more fearless of the two... just walking up to tough Nova while her nose is to the bowl? Not unheard of chez Lacy!!!!

Exhibit D:

All of the cute things I took from my parents garage about.... let's say...... 2 months ago, that are still sitting on my front porch looking for a home. Me? A procrastinator??? You must be joking!

So my camera is up and running again for the time being, so posts should be slightly more frequent. I'm going back to Canton on Saturday (where this post is from) ...

As for the girls, they've yet to lay, but I'm hoping the chilly 80-90 degree weather we've been having lately will remedy that.

CANstruction 2006

2006-08-28T14:24:00.001-05:00

Well, part of the reason I've been terrible about writing is a charity event that's been taking up most of my free time, CANstruction.

In this event, architectural and engineering firms from all over the city compete in building objects out of cans. After all is said and done, awards are handed out for things such as "Best Use of Labels" and "Best Meal", and then the food is donated to the North Texas Food Bank to make over 60,000 meals!

I was nominated to head up my firm's team this year, and our entry was a Volkswagen bus composed of over 5,500 cans of sweet peas, evaporated milk, fish, and ranch style beans, 3,000 packages of ramen noodles, 500 bottles of water, and 600 cups of applesauce. It was so much fun (and so stressful!) and we ended up getting "Honorable Mention" in the competition. Not too bad, kind of like third or fourth out of about 15 entries. And we were second in line for most cans!!

Anyway, let this serve as a reminder to us all about how there are still hungry people in every city in this country, and these food banks (part of the national Second Harvest ring of food banks) do AMAZING things with the food and $$ that is donated.

Our entry, The Van of PEAS(Peace): On the Road to Hunger ApPEASment

A few other entries:

Dog-Chickens

2006-08-17T17:08:00.000-05:00

Well the chickens are doing well....

They get along well with the dogs, except for the rare occasion... when they attempt to species-jump and go after poor Frisco's food.

He's just a mini-poodle! But regardless of size or number of teeth, every day when I get home from work, let out the girls, and feed the dogs, there Camilla and Piggy are--- taking advantage of their poor co-habitators. The dogs have gotten lazy in this heat, and don't always go after their food with the gusto they used to. This is rapidly changing as two feathered lovelies make a bee-line as soon as they hear the food hit the aluminum bowl.

Frisco will occasionally bark and growl, but since I have severely disciplined the dogs in the past for messing with the chickens, I think the girls have no innate fear. They glance over their shoulders at the annoyance, and continue to chow down on his dinner. Sad? yes. Funny to watch chickens steal food from a poodle? Oooooh, yes.

Also, I'm sorry about the lack of posting, but my camera is KAPUT, and I really don't like posting without a photo-- hence the appearance of the terrible photos from my phone. Soon I will get a new camera and be excited about posting, but until then........

Rain and 105 degrees

2006-08-14T10:17:00.000-05:00

Where else besides North Texas can you be sitting in your blissfully air conditioned bedroom at three o'clock on a Saturday afternoon, enjoying the perfect sunny light coming through your beautiful 7 foot windows, and be suddenly distrubed by a loud "rat-a-tat-tat" sound?

Is it the hubby watching something weird on TV? Are the dogs running over the wood floors?

No, it's ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE degrees outside, sunny as all get out, and POURING RAIN.

Run out, gather up the chickens, lock them in the coop, and sit in said bedroom in complete disbelief as we get a much needed downpour concurrently with lovely bright Texas sunshine. Have I just been gone too long to remember freakish Texas weather? Apparently so...

More Honeymoon

2006-07-21T13:11:00.000-05:00

In the midst of another crazy workday, I have a need to revisit the roadtrip, so here are a couple more of those photos I promised! Okay, way more... I may have a problem with "overdoing it" with the photo posting...

The fabulous shower (see the shower bag hung off the canopy?)...

The Great Salt Lake...

MaryJane's Farm Fair!

Me and MaryJane

Judy (the Beetle) went to Yellowstone!

Buffalo and Calf at Yellowstone!

My new haircut looked FABULOUS the entire time, as you can see:

Jackson Hole Rodeo at Sunset (and the hubby)

White Water Rafting on the Snake...

And lastly, one more gorgeous photo of the Grand Tetons.

Roadtrip America Honeymoon

2006-07-10T10:21:00.000-05:00

We're back from our WONDERFUL honeymoon, and, sadly, back at the deskjob and dreaming (so vividly it's almost tangible) of our future farm life...

We made 5000 miles and to 8 states in 10 days, including Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. All were beautiful, but if I HAD to rank, it would be Idaho for Overall Beauty,

Utah for Surrealistic Beauty,

and Wyoming for Dramatic Beauty.

We also went to MaryJane's Farm Fair in Moscow, Idaho, and it was wonderful! I got to meet and chat with the inspiring MaryJane, AND pass around all the photos of the wedding (which were adored-- so exciting!). I met many lovely farmgirls, and got to sit and chat for at least one evening (while I left the hubby at the campsite) with them.

I bought a couple of great things, including some homemade soap and a baby bella for a friend with a newborn, and just generally enjoyed just being at the farmgirl mecca...

We went whitewater rafting on the Snake River and to the rodeo in Jackson Hole, saw all sorts of wildlife.... and camped a lot. I must say, I have only camped (in a tent) about... um... twice in my entire life, and luckily, I now LOVE camping! Besides Montana, where it was 47 and windy in the morning, it was great! It even rained at many of our campsites and I had a GREAT time!

On another note, our quest for farming has become significantly more of a reality because of a very special book that Wes found, called YOU CAN FARM!

It's by Joel Salatin, one of the forerunners in pastured livestock, and it's just what I've been looking for in a how-to book. A step-by-step book on exactly HOW to leave your lucrative city job and start working towards a lucrative farming job. I'm so excited! It really seems like a viable lifestyle now!

Okay, well there's more photos, but blogger's being uncooperative, so perhaps there will be another post tomorrow...

Guerrilla Gardening, Part II

2006-06-26T07:58:00.000-05:00

Well, the WORK has started on our aforementioned "Guerrilla Garden". We've decided on Halloween pumpkins and some annual and perennial flowers to avoid the pollution issues, and to keep it relatively drought tolerant and low maintenance.

And let me tell you, Texas clay (especially when situated in the middle of a median) is not a very hospitable medium. It's hard as a rock, totally void of ANY insect or worm population (we saw ONE burrowing June Bug and a grub), and full of rocks, old pieces of asphalt, and pieces of old houses... But it's coming! We worked on it for about 3 1/2 hours yesterday, and got about half of it dug, sifted, and raked. Tonight we will have to finish digging, mix in a BUNCH of compost and plant tomorrow, because we leave for our Honeymoon Thursday!

And yesterday we chicken wired the top of the chicken run (no more squirrels in the coop!) and cleaned it, planted some lantana and lavendar near the container garden to attract some pollenators, and made some homemade biscuits with MaryJane's Budget Mix, my new favorite ridiculously easy, baking mix.

Stolen!

2006-06-21T07:53:00.000-05:00

This is my first gardening experience. My first time to lovingly tend a plant, and watch fruit grow from my ministrations. I'm sure everyone else knows the satisfaction of watching a tomato start to blush on the vine, waiting for the perfect shade of red, the perfect day to pick and eat your prize, but this is my first time. It is also my first time to go out to harvest my very first tomato off of my very first tomato plant, only to find it dinner for SOME OTHER ANIMAL.

Yes, I've been waiting to pick this particular tomato for two weeks. There are plenty more where it came from (this is my one container plant that is thriving), but this was the first! And some stupid bird came along and ruined it. So what to do with semi-ruined food? Why, the ladies of course. And so, my disappointment becomes their feast...

**note to self: I simply MUST get a better camera... close-ups just do not work with my current one!

Mmmmmmm... Scones!

2006-06-20T07:29:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I was doing my daily blog run, and while at my favorite of all blogs, Farmgirl Fare, I happened upon one of the recipes she posted loooong ago. Somehow I mustered up the urge to bake, and so on my grocery trip to Whole Foods, I picked up the few needed ingredients and set about to make some delicious Savory Cheese & Scallion Scones! I subbed fresh from the garden chives and yummy cheddar, and it was quite a treat! Paired with a fresh and mostly local organic salad, it made for a lovely dinner (on the sofa in front of the TV because The Closer was on...)

Mmmmmm... farmgirl baking... I'll have to do this more often!

(and ps... add an egg, a slice of cheddar and a generous helping of organic cream cheese, and you've got yourself a killer breakfast sandwich!)

19 days and counting...

2006-06-19T07:45:00.000-05:00

19 days since my last post-- that's my new personal record!!

Well, things have definitely been busy-- working 55 hours or more at the "day job" and still working on the little urban farmstead. I had a bout with squash vine borers and so am now down to two plants out of 6. It was very sad to finally realize why my plants were wilting and dying, but pretty darned gratifying to watch Camilla gobble up the villian!

(not my photo-- brought my camera and proceeded to take NO photos...)

This weekend was Wes' big birthday #28... we had a family dinner at our local greasy spoon, Barbec's (tradition dictates breakfast for dinner on Wes' birthday). And since he steadfastly REFUSES to "celebrate" his birthday, we went on a "totally un-celebratory" camping trip to New Braunfels, Texas. We mainly went to see Jerry Jeff Walker (Texas country legend) at Gruene Hall, but river tubing and camping on the Guadalupe with friends was a great bonus. We were also testing out our camping equipment, because our 10 day camping/roadtripping/going to MaryJane's Farm Fair trip is rapidly approaching, and I know next to nothing about camping.

Well, it was reasonably successful. It was beautiful Saturday and Sunday, but rained CATS and DOGS on Saturday night, and our tent only leaked a little! And we stayed mostly dry thanks to our little sleeping pads. Anyway, so we tubed on Sunday morning, got out and hauled butt to my parents' house for Father's day.

Overall things are going well, just bone tired and TOTALLY ready for our vacation in less than 2 weeks! (Although I have a feeling I'll be bone tired after that as well. Oh, well... I guess this is just life! I'll get used to it~)

Early Harvest!

2006-06-01T07:43:00.000-05:00

So we've started! I had to clean up the basil so the tomato gets a little more light, and our most (and only) productive pepper, the Cayenne, is going NUTS! I only got two yesterday, but there's a bunch on the plant that will be ready soon!

And the crookneck squash and roma tomatoes are almost ready to go (sorry about the terrible tomato pic!)

Then, of course, there's Camilla and Piggy... I ask you, what is cuter than dirt-bathing chickens!!!! It's their favorite new pastime (and my favorite to watch). Here they are in one of their many dust bowls... under the deck.

More and MORE wedding photos!!!!

2006-05-25T07:38:00.000-05:00

the getaway car

So for those of you who don't know, I got married recently. And for the fewer of you who actually are interested in seeing photos of the blessed event please continue scrolling.

Okay, so I am very aware of the fact that I have gone a liiiiiiiiitle overboard with this post, and that it will take some of you hours to just load, but we had SO MUCH FUN, and it was so beautiful, and I just must share. So bear with me, or just ignore and come back later!

The "Chapel"

No groomsmen or bridesmaids, so this was our "wedding party"

Post-Nuptuals

My Beautiful Grandma

Flower Girl!

Relaxin'

My Clan

One of the illustrious ring bearers and the flower girl taking a drive....

Grandpa's boots (since he couldn't be there)

The happy couple...

Sister-in-law and a would-be ringbearer (instead he sat with his parents and used a parasol to shoot at some passing goats during the ceremony)

We broke into the sparklers a little before the party was over... there were "incidents" haha

I started to have, perhaps, a little too much fun...

So things were tossed, caught, and put onto heads...

And my dear new hubby and I drove off in a 1960 "Cattle-lac" with horns and cow print upholstry (that my dad ACTUALLY OWNS)

The New Man in My Life

2006-05-25T07:19:00.000-05:00

Farm Aspirations readers, please meet the newest member of my clan, my nephew Hudson Walter...

Destined to give his mommy, Mary, plenty of trouble, he was in a hurry to get out yesterday morning, and was born at about 11 am. He's 6lbs 11oz, and doing well, despite his appearance 2 1/2 weeks early! His nickname in the womb was already "The Hoss" and the nurses in the NICU have apparently now nicknamed him "Big Boy". Now the origins for this name are up for debate, but these are not the things we discuss on my farm blog!

So, to Jeff, Mary, Harrison and Hunter... congratulations on your new son/baby brother!!!

And WELCOME HOME, HUD!!

Learning Curves

2006-05-17T07:25:00.000-05:00

Piggy and Camilla have finally found their way to the roost (that first night with Piggy was a fluke, let me tell you). When they first came to me, they started sleeping cozied up under the ramp to the roost (where I would definitely bed down, were I a chicken). Then the third night they discovered the ramp and the oh-so-cozy nest boxes just above their first sleeping spot, which apparently were even MORE comfy. At this point, not wanting them to get used to sleeping and mucking up the nests, I took action. Every night they would tuck themselves into the nestbox, and mean-mommy would come in just before dark and move them up to the roost. Then in the morning I'd get the frantic cheeps of "how did I get here???!!!!" and "it's SOOOO high!!!!!" and "HELP!!!". Eventually they'd find their way down the ramp and out the door for a little breakfast (I'm finding that Piggy IS, in fact, aptly named).

Anyway, last night I was doing my usual chicken-watch, and when they were going to bed I watched intently (perhaps I could give them a little guidance?). It was great! Piggy just hustled up that ramp, and while Camilla had a little more difficulty (a few more steps needed on the ramp?) she eventually made it up there too! YAY! Mission Accomplished.

*On a side note, these are probably the cutest chickens ever. They are TOTALLY inseprable, running around as a pair at all times. See how close they are? It's like that all the time. It was actually kind of hard for me to break up their little cuddle-fest in the nestbox. It was so cute!!!

*Also, my worries about the neighbors vs. the chickens were apparently unfounded. I finally actually met my neighbor on Monday. How, you ask? Why, he wanted to tell me how much he loves my chickens!!!

GO CHICKENS!

Introducing....

2006-05-11T08:43:00.000-05:00

So, after much consternation and vacillation and other thoughtful type activities, we have finally named the chicks. And about the next 15 animals we get. For a day or two they were named after my great grandma's (Jewel and Lula), but instead we decided to name our first two milk cows that....

And of course, the first gut feeling was right. Muppets.

I have loved the Muppets since I was little, and what on earth would be better than eventually being surrounded by a flock of chicken muppets??!!! (with perhaps one Thanksgiving turkey named Big Bird.... and a rooster named Gonzo)

So, without further adue, meet.......

Miss Piggy

and Camilla!!!!

Now perhaps you don't see why I chose these names.... allow me to demonstrate:

Right!!! Get it!!! They look EXACTLY like their namesakes! Okay, maybe not, but I've always loved Miss Piggy (I wanted to be her from about 2 yrs of age till 8 (or maybe 20)). And Camilla? Well she's a CHICKEN!! And she's Gonzo's girlfriend, which will be perfect when we get Gonzo the rooster...

So there ya go. Properly named chickens.

Picture This:

2006-05-10T08:37:00.000-05:00

Me, clad in my work clothes (which I must say, TODAY at least, are quite sophisticated), 3" heels, slick hair, skirt, etc, chasing two mangy chicks around the chicken run trying to round them up to put them back in the coop...

My heels have a little mud and straw on them, but my chickies are safe from the coming thunderstorm!!! I was reading GirlOnAGlide's blog the other day, and now I'm paranoid to leave them out if there's a threat of rain!!!

Tomorrow (or Friday, or sometime soon) I will be unveiling the new girls' names!! WOO HOO!!

Poultry Sunday

2006-05-08T08:21:00.000-05:00

Well, this weekend chock-full of Pre-Poultry Prep. We had the coop from last weekend, so early Saturday morning we headed off to Home depot to buy the last few things we needed to outfit the chicken run and coop. Needless to say, we changed the design once or twice, and finally, while I took a mid-afternoon nap, the Husband put his engineering skills to work and built a 3-D model in the computer of what our run should look like!!!!

Well armed with ideas, we headed BACK to Home Depot, and came back tuckered and ready to start building our enclosure the next day...

Early Sunday morning, well fed with waffles, the Husband started digging the post holes, and I took off to Sachse to pick up our chickens from Hank, the other chicken-hobbyist that was giving us his overflow. Well, what can I say. They are BEAUTIFUL! Hank is a suburban farmer in his own right, and his little backyard is overflowing with native gardening, chickens, rabbits, toads, parakeets, and all of the other things that go along with a well established wildscape.

Sooo--- We set up the chickens temporary home and go to work!

It took ALL DAY (we finished at around 10pm) but isn't she beautiful!!!! It's all made with MOSTLY reclaimed materials, with a few exceptions, notably the posts for the corners.

And last but not least, our two new Americaunas (that's what he said they are, though I've never seen a white Americauna... but what am I, an expert?)

White Chicken (I'm thinking she's the pretty, dumb one)

and Red Chicken (I've decided she's a little smarter... she DID find the roost on the first night!)

I will come up with real names someday... I'm leaning towards Muppet characters...

COOP-erative Process!

2006-05-01T19:17:00.000-05:00

This weekend, The Husband and I went to a coop building workshop put on by our new favorite feathered friend league, The CLUCK. What better way to build a coop than in a chicken-lover's yard, with recycled and found materials, surrounded and being helped by other industrious urban chickeners? I'll tell you-- there IS no better way! A few weeks ago, Tim, one of the founders of The CLUCK, found two tiny "treehouses" sitting out by the dumpster at a local bar. After inquiring, he learned that they used to belong to the sign for the bar when it used to be called "Mike's Treehouse". He saw the potential, as I think many of us chicken keepers do, for a beautiful coop out of what was once trash...

Before...

After a little bit of tweaking, adding some nestboxes, a roost, and lifting it up off the ground, we had two FABULOUS new coops! One is an adorable little adobe house, "Mi Casa de Pollos" and living with Chickenlady Lynn, and one is my (as of yet) unnamed farmhouse.

After!!!

Front View

Side View with egg collection door!

The other bonus of being involved in the Cooperative League of Urban Chicken Knowledge? Networking. Not only did we get a lovely coop out of our day, we also got a great day of discussion with other chickeners AND a line on a couple of pullets that need a new home!!! At the workshop, we met Hank, who happens to have eyes bigger than his yard and went a little overboard at the feedstore! He's been raising two americauna chicks who are now about 4 weeks old, and is going to give them to us!!! We're getting them next weekend, so I just have one thing to say.... The Husband better get to work on that run!!!!!

The ladies are coming, friends, the ladies are coming...............

Honeymooning

2006-04-27T13:17:00.000-05:00

For our little mini-honeymoon we flew to Corpus Christi and stayed in the little island town of Port Aransas. We hung our hats at a little inn named the Tarpon Inn, and had a lovely, undisturbed (no phones, t.v. or clocks) three days of wedded bliss.

Mustang Island and Padre Island are also major bird habitats/refuges, so we aslo went down to the National Seashore on Padre Island. Apparently it's the longest undisturbed barrier island habitat in the world, and also a critical mid-point for migrating birds-- also the only habitat for the Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle. Unluckily for us, the turtles had yet to come to shore and lay eggs, but we did see a TON of birds!!! I've never seen a beach so full of birds... pretty amazing. Of course, all we had was the crappy little disposable we bought at the bait shop, so following is the only pics we got:

One of the many flocks of brown pelicans that cruised the air pockets above the dunes.

A Great Blue Heron! It's supposed to be pretty rare to see them on the ocean side of the island, but from what we could tell, that's what it is! (We were actually MUCH closer than this photo looks like)

The Mrs.

2006-04-26T12:57:00.000-05:00

Well we did it!!! We're married!

The only photo I've been able to round up yet is on our band (who was INCREDIBLE!! Midnight Thunder was their name, and they rocked the ranch down with Country, Classic Rock, and a few well placed Elvis songs). I'll post more later, but let this be a FIRST of MANY thanks to all of our friends and family that pitched in and helped us throw one HELL of a party!!

Guerrilla Gardening?

2006-04-12T08:33:00.000-05:00

Wes was out talking to our neighbors yesterday evening, when he ran into the house calling, "Lacy, come here! Come on!! We're talking about a community garden!"

This is the giant median next door to my house where the road splits off. It is currently almost empty (save for a few small gardening attempts by my one lone neighbor-- she's trying!), and though she has planted a few trees and some small gardens at the corners, for the most part it's wide open bermuda grass. My neighbor and her husband have tried in the past to have it made into a community garden, but with that comes intense responsibility (mowing, paperwork, etc) that she, as a working new mother of two, doesn't really have time to undertake. So, she "fenced" off little pieces and started a couple of mini "guerrilla gardens" of her own. The city guys that do the mowing will leave it alone if it's easy to avoid and fenced off, and you can basically do what you want! It's more than a little bit of work (pulling up bermuda grass, hauling compost, hauling water) but I think more than worth it! I told her to DEFINATELY count me in this spring/summer to really expand our community garden into something that will really make our little median sing! Flowers, veggies, new trees-- there's no telling what could come!

CONTAIN-O-RAMA and other stories

2006-04-11T10:13:00.000-05:00

Wow. Sometimes life throws you curve balls, and sometimes it eeks by like one of those old waterwheels in an old dried up river. Then there are the times where it flies at you 100 mph from every direction and hurls your forward regardless of your feelings on it. That is where I am now.... there is SO much going on, new projects starting every day, new ideas, things falling by the wayside, etc.

SO, first-- we got really lucky at a garage sale on Sunday and tripled the size of my "garden"

I met a cool lady and had a look at what a REAL urban farm could look like.
http://www.happyhenfarm.org/

Gas hit $3 a gallon, so we decided to buy a scooter for neighborhood errands (being delivered in a few weeks!) and met another cool guy that told us ALL about motorcycles and scooters.

I became the crazy lady who drives around high-end neighborhoods gathering their trashed grass clippings for mulch (I got a HUGE bag! Luckily I was in the Man's car, so I didn't get little Judy the bug all grassy)

The CLUCK put a coop building workshop on the calendar for the weekend after the wedding, so my little chick-a-dees will have a place to grow up (still haven't talked to the landlord... thinking about just putting them in and then saying, "Oh, THIS??? This is my chicken coop. Oh, yea, those are it's inhabitants.... that's not a problem... RIGHT?")

And the seedlings are growin' like CRAZY! We'll see how they turn out... the Tigerella Tomatos seem to be filling out well, and as you can see, the sugar snap peas are having quite a time of it (*reminder to self: MUST get raised bed against fence built to house these little beauties!)

Oh, and all the wedding stuff. Going good, will soon be married. We finally bought rings this weekend, so even if all else fails, we WILL be married in approximately 11 days.

Sprouts

2006-03-29T09:04:00.000-06:00

Woo-Hoo!! I'm not a failure yet!

So I'm a little obsessed with the new gardening thing... I check on my little seedlings just about every half-hour when I'm home. and weirdly enough, they rarely disappoint! The cosmos started coming up the second day (and are now hittin the top of the little greenhouse), the Texas Hummingbird Sage and the tomatillos started coming up the third, and yesterday a giant Edamame seedling reared it's beautiful head. And this morning, when I thought all hope was lost for the sunflowers (I know I could direct-seed them, but what the hell) a sprout was peeking through! This is so ridiculously exciting... haha

I ALSO found this morning a LOCAL urban chickens forum! This guy was profiled in the paper this morning, and he lives right near me and keeps black aulstrops (sp?) and americunas! And I think a bunch of others. Anyway, he started a messageboard to help other urban chicken-ers, and I'm once again SOOO EXCITED!

It's all coming together....

Birddoggin' It

2006-03-28T15:22:00.000-06:00

One of my clients just actually used the phrase "Birddog It". I was unaware that people actually USED that term in the business world (let alone architecture world). Of course, this is also the same guy that's constantly "shooting" me e-mails and hoping that I'll "shoot him over" drawings. Lord help clients my age trying to act like haughty business men... It's like I live in a world about halfway between Office Space and Raising Arizona (except MUCH less funny).

I much prefer the real thing as far as Birddogs go... :-)

Container Gardening

2006-03-27T07:32:00.000-06:00

Aaaaah, the joys of city farm living.

Interspersed with a funeral, listening to our wedding band, getting cars repaired, meeting with florists and caterers and taking a last look at the ranch before the wedding, I started my first kitchen garden! My back yard is tree-covered, so I started everything in pots so that after all of the trees leaf out to their fullest, I can find the area that is the MOST sunny (which may in fact be plopped in the middle of my front yard) and move the garden there. I started some seeds in "the lab", our second bathroom/greenhouse.

But just to make sure I didn't feel like a total failure if everything failed to germinate, I bought some sets to start right away in pots. There's an organic nursery/gardening center near my house, so I went there for the first of the plants, but then we went out to East Texas for a funeral on Sunday (my great-uncle Gaston, a lovely man) and on the way home took "the long way" and picked up some other sets and a few local favorites that I remember my Mamaw and Grandma having fresh every year. Purple Hull Peas and Noonday Onions to be exact. I think I'm going to have to find a place in my yard to do the onions (and maybe the peas and edamame), but I also have a many more things to start out in pots. My whole family works in restaurants, so my new "pot plan" is to get them to collect some old pickle buckets and such from the restaurants for me and use them for my bigger veggies.

And last but not least, the "raised" strawberry patch!
One question for those gardeners of you out there-- I got some Crookneck Squash and Cantaloupe sets, but I'm not sure how this will work (or even IF it will work) in pots... Should I get the long window boxes and put them on the ground? Suggestions are Appriciated!!!

HAPPY GARDENING!

OMG!!! CHICKENS ARE LEGAL!!!!

2006-03-17T12:40:00.000-06:00

I'm so excited I can barely sit still!!!! I just talked to Dallas Animal Services, and IT'S LEGAL TO KEEP PET CHICKENS IN THE CITY OF DALLAS!!!! chickens are legal!!! Now we HAVE to figure out the best way to talk our landlady into letting us have them... the backyard's already chickenwired thanks to Frisco-- so all we need is some chicks and a coop! OOooooooooh, it just MUST work!

Low-Tech Weed Wacking

2006-03-16T07:54:00.000-06:00

We got a push mower!

We were going to buy one of these little beauties, but turns out my brother had one we could borrow in the garage of his new house. We have a tiny little backyard that is (or was) overgrown with the rye grass my best friend, Louise, planted out there in October. Soon we'll have to plant something else (I think this dies out in summer??) but until then, we have a beautifully and sustainably maintained postage stamp yard!

Things people don't know about push mowers:

1. They're very healthy for your lawn-- they cut the grass high so that it shadows the soil and helps it retain water, as well as creating a natural mulch (if you leave the grass cuttings out)

2. They're very healthy for you! -- you're out there enjoying the outdoors AND pushing a pretty light piece of equipment around... a little cardio never hurt anyone.

3. They're healthy for the environment-- okay, so that's obvious.

4. A little known fact: they make a lovely soothing whirring noise... and they don't scare dogs as much as traditional mowers!

Now, obviously when we get the farm we'll be getting one of those giant pasture-mowers, but for any city dweller like us with a tiny little haven of green, a push mower is just the ticket!

Time IS NOT on my side

2006-03-15T08:43:00.000-06:00

I have been terrible about updating my blog. There, I said it. Things have been crazy with this wedding stuff, and every time I have a minute to snap a cute pic of us doing something even remotely "farmy", I forget about it for days, and then remember.... and then forget again. Perhaps when every free moment I can eek out of my busy life is not consumed with the wedding that was supposed to be tiny and easy to plan, I will get back to doing much better in the blogging department. I have seeds that are sitting un-germinated in little packets in a wooden bowl in my house. I have millions of farming books sitting undisturbed in cardboard boxes in my living room. My mind is filled with potential future posts and still consumed with dreams of our farm (when those thoughts are not being pushed around by the worries about the wedding), but just no time to verbalize them. Sorry guys, I lose. Will post something interesting SOON... I promise. And in that vein, everyone should go take a look at what Farmgirl has to say about soon . Turns out it's not just a country thing... maybe it's a state of mind...

Adventures in Flower Arranging

2006-03-07T13:07:00.000-06:00

My bridal portrait was this weekend, and since I'm attempting to do most of my own flowers, this was my first shot at the bridal bouquet. Mom showed up at my new house at 7.30am to start the whole dang ordeal. First was a stop at the wholesale florist only to find that, surprise!! Wholesale florists don't sell retail!!! Then it was on to the farmers' market, which though it was a great find and I WILL be going back (Dallas has the most amazing giant daily farmer's market!) sadly, they had no good cut flowers. Soooooo, back out there.

We then went to Central Market (a local specialty grocery store) and two other reasonably high end florists... the findings? Florists are a little overrated, and Central Market has AWESOME flowers! Most of the flowers came from there, and a few of the more "odd" flowers came from a florist here in Dallas. Then it was on to my hair appointment (big bucket of flowers in hand) and then home to do the super-rushed arranging. I think it turned out just great! The white flowers are the ones that I photographed earlier in my back yard...

And about my dress (which is knee length)... these are the photographer's words, "Well I've never seen a dress quite like THAT before!" Good or bad? I'm going with good! I'm unique! Mission accomplished. (I'll post pics of the dress after the wedding. Wouldn't want the groom to see me in it before the wedding!)

Home Sweet Home!

2006-02-27T08:16:00.000-06:00

From here...

To here!

Finally-- our newest (oldest) home. It's a house built in 1913 that has been cut into a duplex... Though if you see the front, it looks like it's all ours :-). We officially have all the furniture in, but there's still a LOT of work to do! And on top of the TONS of boxes we lugged out of the storage containers, my first bridal shower was this weekend, so we had EVEN MORE boxes to unpack.... OH, the burdens I have to bear ;-). In fact, one of my favorite things about the new house is our adorable little display shelf in the kitchen, where I'm showing off all of our beautiful new things!

And in the backyard (which my best friend who lived here before me recently seeded with grass) a little bit of surprise spring peeking through!

Now, there's a LOT of work to do, and even MORE gardening and fun stuff to do to fill up my new front porch and back patio.... and a wedding to plan, and a job to go to... and, and, and... aahhh!!! I'm a busy gurl!

On the Road Again...

2006-02-23T07:42:00.000-06:00

Well, here we go again-- our third move in 4 months. At least this one is into someplace we want to stay... at least for a little while. The first move: from our tiny apartment in Los Angeles to my parents' house. The second move: OUT of my parents house, into what I like to call "the halfway house", a crappy even tinier apartment in suburban Plano. This move: from Plano to our reasonably large 1915 house/duplex in the heart of a historic area of Dallas. Not quite a farm, but if this house had land around it, it would be perfect!!! Huge high ceilings, BIG windows everywhere, a big farmgirl porch, and a little yard for the doodles. Who could ask for more? Well, me... but we'll discuss that later!

Will post photos as soon as I'm there before midnight and not unloading furniture! hahaha...

Changing...

2006-02-15T08:56:00.000-06:00

Me about a year ago......................me today

I tried to write a mission statement about changing and metamorphosis, but really this is just a change of outer appearance that's mirroring a change in internal structure. I still dress as "city girl" when I'm at work. But when I get home, things are changing...

Aprons...

2006-02-13T09:01:00.000-06:00

They're multipurpose! They keep my clothes clean! They have giant pockets for me to put all my crap in! They're aprons!

For my first sewing project since I was 10 and made a pair of polka-dot kullottes with my grandma, an apron. This shamefully took me two days and completely demolished our tiny apartment ( I'm a little bit messy during "craft time"), but I did it!! Next on the list: Rugby equipment bag for my honey-dear...

Friendship Quilt

2006-02-07T09:32:00.000-06:00

This is one of my Mamaw's quilts that my mom gave to me when I moved back to Dallas. It’s a “friendship quilt”, with 25 different squares, each embroidered with a woman’s name(or in some cases a mother and daughter or family’s name). Though I know almost none of the many women’s names that adorn the squares, I have a ball imagining the camaraderie and conversation that took place while it was being made. The only name I do know, Cora Lee, was my Mamaw’s sister, and I can only assume that this quilt was given to my Mamaw when Cora Lee passed on. It is dated 1934, and for those of you out there that continue on in this art, let me encourage you to sign and date your items. My mom has many quilts that have been given to her by both of my grandmothers, but as far as I know, this is the only one with names and dates. This really provides a living history, and for me, 70+ years later, after the real history has been lost with age, the makers long gone, a clue to its origins.

There is another quilt in my mom’s cupboard that is smaller and made up of thousands of tiny 1”x1” squares. This is my next favorite, for the history that it suggests. All of the different fabrics make me wonder what each of them was for. Was this plaid a shirt for my great grandfather, Dad? Was this floral a new dress for my great grandmother? Is my grandma’s baby blanket memorialized with this tiny chenille patch? I just find it fascinating.

Frisco also enjoys quilts...

and lastly, the sugar molds I promised yesterday... These will be filled with flowers and candles and used as centerpieces on the long tables.

Vintage Linens

2006-02-06T08:57:00.000-06:00

I posted a photo earlier of my wedding site, and part of my wedding "decor" is going to be haybales for people to sit on at the ceremony with vintage linens on them... so we went vintage linen shopping. 4 hours later and laden down with about 30 pounds of hand embroidered vintage and reproduction 40's and 50's tablecloths, dresser napkins, and dish cloths, we were ending a VERY successful day of wedding planning. Along the way we also picked up a couple of sugar molds (I'll post pics tomorrow) for the flowers on the tables, and a couple of AWESOME "honeymoon cowboy hats" for my man and me in Jackson Hole this summer!

Doggies

2006-02-02T15:47:00.000-06:00

The rest of the family (and me)...
These are our loveable, soon to be totally inappropriate farmdogs, Nova and Frisco. We're "dog people". We coddle them, recognize their faults, and promptly ignore them. We're partly looking for a farm to appease them. Take that as you will...

I got Frisco a little over two years ago from the Pound in Plano, Texas. He was a bundle of matted brown (yes brown!) fur, and the best out of the bunch at the shelter. I flew him home to Los Angeles two days later, and he did wonderfully! Since then he has been second in command chez Lacy. The other man of the house keeps trying to boot him to third, but has yet to succeed.

Nova, the rougher and tougher (only on the outside) of the two, my fiance found roaming the streets of L.A. He was driving along and saw her almost get hit by a Chevy Nova (hence....). He parked, ran after her, and after twenty minutes of chasing and cornering, she gave up and just came to him. I met her three days later at the airport, and she was already hopelessly in love with him. This love affair has continued and grown, as has her annoyingness, and she leads the pack in whining and howling.

They're scruffy, they don't play well with others, they're our little bundles of joy!

Comanche Farm

2006-02-01T07:56:00.000-06:00

Gotta love Texas skies...

Well FINALLY I remembered to bring my camera to work and download pics of the farm we saw this weekend! It was so great just to be out there running around in the country, let me tell you! I don't know if we're going to try and bid on the farm, it might just be a little too risky for us right now. But what the experience did show us is that we LOVE this area of Texas, we DO want to try and really do this, we can buy land without a house and build, and I am a much nicer person when taken out of the city... haha.

That's the pole barn on the left and the "ruins" of a house left to rot for a couple of years on the right... There was also a dairy barn, but since I know close to nothing about dairy barns, I can tell you approximately nothing. There was some big vat thing. My guess? It was for milk. haha... and lastly, my attempt at "artistic photography"...

My Birthday!

2006-01-31T07:19:00.000-06:00

Well, another year gone by.... here comes #26, last year of my mid-twenties! Just TRY and tell me I'm getting old!!!! Bring it OOOON!!!!

Well, Just the Cutest!

2006-01-27T17:15:00.000-06:00

My nephew, Hunter, showing the family dogs his new light up rubber ducky... just needed to share!

Wedding Site

2006-01-26T08:51:00.000-06:00

This is the place where we'll be getting married... magical no? Will everyone that reads this blog PRAY on bended knee that we DON'T get rain and moreover, that the clouds look exactly like this on our wedding day? Thanks...

Sunrise

2006-01-25T08:09:00.000-06:00

This is a photo of the scene that prompts me to think about our future farm life every morning. It's from the commuter train I take into downtown every day (is that obvious? haha) but it's right at a park with millions of bare branches that seem to be embracing the sunrise. Every day I pass this spot and think about how one day I'll just be able to walk out on my front porch and sit and enjoy watching the sun rise over the craggy branches of a winter forest...

Back and Better'n ever!

2006-01-24T14:48:00.000-06:00

After a brief stint of non-blogging and a change of name, we're back...

This weekend, in our lame attempt at country living, we attended the Fort Worth Stock Show. It was my first time in a LONG time (maybe ever?)to be around real live sheepsies, and let me tell you, I'm convinced. Let's do it! They only had Ramboulliet, Hampshires, Colombians, and a couple of other common breeds (I was hoping to see some Navajo Churros or the like) but they were great. I've never really seen the "flocking instinct" up close, but they would just lead one out of the arena after the show, and there they would all go! Rushing to see who could be the closest to the first one out the gate! So much fun... I can't wait to have some... and chickens! There were some beautiful chickens. I wonder... could I have a couple of banty hens in my Dallas backyard? Hmmm....