Starting up the Garden

First, we bring in the big guns! We had sold our tractor in Colorado when we left and only NOW find out it was a collector tractor…our new one is as well and we paid close to the same price…soo it’s all good! Here's what a tractor can do in short order!

 With the ranch, we inherited an old swing set that was beyond repair and actually dangerous. We thought maybe we’d just scrap it but that inventive spirit hit and we decided it would be a great backdrop for a garden! Since we didn’t have a tractor, Daniel did his best to tiller it up for us and we made due with a small garden…the first year we just experimented but soon found out this ground just, like Colorado ground, needed a lot of amending to the soil. Oh, it was rich and black enough but would dry up hard as a rock and crack in the heat of summer and become a sponge when it rained. We didn’t have time to build up a compost, soo, we went down to Habitat and got LOTS of bags of garden soil at a cheaper price to get us started.

Once the ground was broken up and cleared, Daniel brought his tiller in to dig deeper. He then filled it up further with compost...so it is "Double Dug" to about 24 inches which helps retain the soil when it rains and gives new plants or seedlings room to easily stretch out and build their root systems. Because we now have compost, we were able to double our garden space.

Jessie is standing in the middle of where the old garden stopped and where the added garden starts.

We had such a problem with squash vine borers last year that I am going to start out my heirloom seeds inside and get the plants fairly large to get them in the ground by the first of Sept. The vine borers come out the last week of June and last well into July or a little beyond. Since we have a long growing season, thought I might give this a try! Last year I lost my gorgeous squash to the borer and in reading up about them, they're nearly impossible to get rid of if they've gotten into your soil but they will die out the next year without a host. So, say a pray and wish me luck!  ;) This year I wasn't even going to plant at all and just give the soil a rest. But, a dear friend of our offered some extras that she had started from seed and had no more room to plant! That got us going! So, have scoured stores around and found some heirloom plants! We'll mainly be planting hot crops for the summer which will be a lot of varieties of peppers and tomatoes, and the plants that our friend gave us.

I planted a vining rose last year and these Tea Roses. The Tea Roses I transplanted as they were at the edge of my  old garden so am hoping they take.

 

Re Enactments/Pat Cleburne Days

Our whole family has been involved in Re-enactments! Here is my eldest, Jessie and my youngest, Daniel, enjoying Pat Cleburne Days here in Cleburne, Texas! It was a beautiful day!

As ranch folks, we have a tender part in our hearts for the old west of course and that has led us to also participate in Re-enactments and fun with those we’ve met who enjoy history. When in “Character” we become people from that time period and we thoroughly enjoy it…partly because it is who we are in real life, or who we would have been if born in that time period as far as the clothes we might have worn and the places we might have sought out to be. Our characters model real ranch life many times.

Daniel has a fascination with guns…has since he was a little tyke! He is now certified in shooting Canons and is a part of Terry's Texas Rangers! This is Daniel loading and preparing to fire.

This next one was a little blurry but that's what happens when one of them fires...it is actually very dangerous, earth shakingly loud and that is why a person has to be trained and certified to do this.

Here's Daniel playing for us at camp. His uniform is what the Confederate Artillery Units wore. He just learned "When Johnny Comes Marching Home."

Another activity of the day, learning to make Rag Dolls.

Here is a dress that Jessie is working on for Re-enactments...she will be adding more lace to the top and to the bottom and using her hoop skirt once she is done.

This is Robert our Corpsman "Army Medic".

 

 

Cowboy Mud Room

Cowboy Mudroom! Here is something pretty inventive! This was a curb pick up…someone had old fencing sitting at the curb to take. So we took it and have done all sorts of things with it. This is one of the many uses you can find for an old fence. Kelly put hooks on it and hung it on the wall. It’s really stable and holds, cowboy hats, chaps, even some horse tack! It’s right handy by the door. We also bought some cheap rugs we got at Big Lots and threw them down by the door…hay and mud cling to them instead of tracking through the rest of the house. A quick once over with the vacuum cleaner makes a quick job of it! That’s not easy when there’s so much work goin’ on outside and mud everywhere, tracking in with all the galoots we have trampin’ across the floor! If you do this, just make sure the wood is free from any wood eating varmints. Then, put up a sign like we’ve got that reads, “Life is full of choices…Remove yer boots or scrub the floors.”

 

Happy Trails Y’all!

Canning/Pastry Table

 

Here’s something my Grandma had and nearly every home used to. A Canning or Pastry Table was very useful as it was lower than the typical counter top, it had a little drawer in the middle for utensils and a metal porcelain enamel top to handle hot things and be a cool surface for dough.  It was good for rolling out dough for pies and my grandmother kneaded her bread on it and rolled out pastas that she would hang and dry.  They are also the right height to work on if you are canning because you can place hot jars and pots on it. They also hold very nicely many appliances of the day…here I have my grandmothers cheese grinder towards the wall with the wooden top with which you push the cheese through and a meat grinder. I also have an industrial can opener somewhere…still looking for it since the move! Probably still in a box in storage somewhere. One of the downfalls in moving from a 3,000 sq. ft. house to a 2,000 sq. ft. house…we’ll change that eventually!

There is room underneath for a chair, or to keep many things that you may need in your kitchen. Because I typically make meals in bulk, grow or raise our own food, cold pack, can or dry storage the food, I really enjoy using the old way of doing things. People talk and talk about energy conservation, going green and then use every electric appliance mankind can dream up, spend lots of money on all those new appliances and on top of that, spend money to go to the gym to work out...if you want to energy conserve and get a work out...this is the way to do it! We used to use "hand power" rather than electric power. Women were well fit, the environment was much cleaner and the food tasted much better! Women were valued in the home! And although since moving to Texas, I understand we have our own power grid...we still have outages, so it's always nice to be able to do the work without being interrupted!

Here is a closer view of those grinders to the right and yes, those are eggs from my chickens!  

New Finds! I was at an estate sale and got the "pick" of butter churns! They had about 5 of them, different sizes and many that were cracked and only for ornamental use. I found this one, it's a 3lb. churn and is in perfect condition except for the lack of the churn handle but my husband knows how to make one, so that will be a future project for y'all to learn about! I'm really excited to get this as I've never been able to afford one, they are very pricy...I happened to go to the sale again on 50% off day and lo and behold, there were still a few of these there! It was originally $40 which isn't a bad price, but I got it for $20...well within my budget! I hope to someday get a milk cow but we'll see, the family still would rather have beef, but at least I've got the churn and can always go buy cream from a dairy until I get a cow!

Also, found these canning jars, it's a 100 yr. celebration that brought them back in a "Heritage Collection" and can be found at any store with canning supplies. I had my Mom over and she said she believed the green jars came before the blue ones...this is from her memory growing up on a farm in Upstate New York where her Mom canned all the time. Although, they have a blue that has come out, it really doesn't look as close to the originals which were kind of an aqua color, which seems to have more green than blue in it. The blue they have brought back is just not as close to the originals. For those who want to know, jar canning was invented by Mason in 1858 and he died a poor man, having let his patent expire! It's all debatable as to which is best, the color helps retain the color and flavor of the food, while the clear helps you see what you have and if it's retained its color! I guess it's a toss up on this one!

As you can see, I LOVE my jars! Especially the huge glass ones. I've found that boxed items just don't keep their flavor and living in the country...we are always susceptible to bugs and mice! Because I've typically lived out on land (especially in Colorado where one may have to endure blizzards and road closures so you can't even get into town to stores very often) plus, the distance of the travel alone 30-60 min., I keep a HUGE stock of dry goods. Here at our new place in Texas, I'm the closest to town that I've been in years! But still think this is an advantage as if there were ever a shortage for any reason...I'm stocked up without paying those high priced Survivalist items!

Here you see another part of my "work station"...we make & sell these if you want one! I buy the "restaurant size" foil and saran wrap from Sam's Club...another way in which I keep from going to the store every other minute and keep costs down!

Another part of my work station holds the flour sifter I grew up with, it was my Mom's. Just above it is my Grandma's Hand Crank pasta maker! It has many different "rollers" that will cut different styles of pasta! Above that is a scale and yes, it does still work! So, if you are interested in antiques and how to actually USE them...keep checking my blog or better yet...follow it so you'll get regular updates!

Also, I'm more interested in dry storage for many reasons...one of them being that on a ranch, there are lots of hungry men to feed and canning jars (even the large ones) get used too quickly for the amount of work that is put into canning.

Typically, I'll can specialty items like my hubby's Mama's (from her Mama's recipe) for Watermelon Preserves. I'll give a class in it at some point and also dry storage when I get the chance. This a pic from a few years ago, in Colorado. My Mom lived on a farm but her Mom was the only one who canned because she was worried about safety of canning. Kelly's Mama had always told me that if I'm worried about it, I'll never can...so just do it and do it right, watch for problems but if you're scared of it, you'll never do it! She taught me to can years ago, when Kelly & I first married. His Daddy had a tractor and used to plant acreage so always had things to can. His Daddy especially liked beets (we are not fond of them but we canned them for him!)

Here is a picture of Kelly's Mama from years ago. She is originally from Texas!

 





  
 

Texas House Remodel

We bought this house the first of May, 2012. As always, we buy houses that most everyone else wouldn’t want. Why? Because we get an excellent price and then we remodel them! It has made us money over the years and even in the worst economy when many had to short sale (lose money), we were able to sell and get some money out. This is a blessing that God has taught us, “Take less and I will give you more.”

So…on to our first Texas Remodel! The house needed a lot of help. It was stuck in the mid 1950’s…paneling throughout the house, old carpets that had seen better days (actually, they were quite nasty as well as smoke and ash filled). With all our allergies…first things first. We ripped out the carpet and pulled the paneling off the walls! Yes…this is my favorite part and one in which my hubby typically comes home and

he knows he has his work cut out for him as things are ripped out (I have been known to do this all by myself) and ready for him to go in with new material! Ha!

Although, in this house, he had a little time before he needed to get the flooring done, as  I was busy with the walls and they come first, before flooring can be laid. Once the paneling was off, I textured the walls to look like the stucco Missions I grew up around in So. Cal. Then, I painted it white.

Here along this edge at the right of the picture, you can see both texture going on and paint over the texture at the edge in the forefront. You will also notice the "strip" of drywall compound in the hallway? That is where two drywall pieces come together, so you must fill it in. On the left wall in the forefront is the control to the brand new heating (Heat Pump)/air conditioning unit we put in. The heater was not working when we bought the home and there was no air conditioning in it.  

You can see in this pic, there is an outdated mantel piece that really shows the age of the house. We wanted a more western ranch look so we removed the outdated bric-a-brac piece, then added an oak wood piece that we stained. You will see in the finished room pic as to how nice that turned out. This is a really simple, quick and easy upgrade.  Here is a pic of me putting the texture on. In the future,

when I am doing another wall, I will put a step by step process as I've had many people want to know how to do it! It IS possible, to put it over paneling but it's mostly not advised, especially on and outer wall or one with any possible water and I'll show you why in the next picture.

Sorry this pic is a bit fuzzy...had problems with my camera. But you

can still see that this outer wall has some surface mold on it...this was hidden by the paneling...so if you are having a lot of allergies or headaches and have old paneling...you may just want to remove it and see what is under it! The main reason this wall had issues is BECAUSE of the paneling being over it for many years and directly below a large, older style window.  The condensation alone will do this. Not to worry, this is not black mold, black mold looks totally different than your common mold...you would definitely know it if you saw it! To find more info on mold and black mold click here.We removed the paneling, then the drywall, took out one section of 2x4's that had some on it, sprayed bleach on the rest of it, let it air out for a few days and then went back in with new drywall material.

Here is  a pic of that section re-wall completed. So, we have done this in many homes and because some of us have allergies, we are highly sensitive so we are a mold detector to begin with. We found with air, bleach and closing off the room we are working on, we are able to get the job done. We have had that wall done for almost 2yrs. now and there is no mold forming on the baseboard or anywhere else...it's a plain white wall so it can be easily detected, so we know that it was the paneling holding in the moisture.

We then put in River Rock porcelain tile. I got a great deal on it, it was on sale for less than 2/3 the price…normally over $3 a sq. ft. I got it for 77 Cents a sq. ft.!! DEAL! I really love the color and texture and it works for this house. Kelly finished the rustic look with cedar boards that he ripped to size with his table saw.

Here is the completed sitting room area. You can see the change out of the mantel. I'm very happy with the upgrades we've done so far on this house.  In the next picture, you can see the same angle looking towards the hallway as in the first picture, which showed the paneling.

Taking out the old paneling has made the house feel much cleaner and with white walls, has made a very small house look and feel much bigger. There is an old real estate trick in here (since we've bought and sold a lot). Realtors will tell you that colors are nice, but not everyone will like YOUR particular color scheme. This is why the brand new model homes are done in neutral tones. They will tell you that if you want to sell quickly, paint all the walls white, off white, or beige...then put in beige carpets or tile. This has come to be known as "Realtor Beige".

 Keep an eye on future posts about the remodel as we'll invite y'all to come out to learn and perhaps even get a little hands on experience so you can go home and do your own improvements! This can be a "project" for your family, a great learning experience for your kids (especially you homeschoolers who are always looking for something to use as a teaching tool) and get the bonus of having a more comfortable and valuable house!