Blog Postings on Hold...

I know you don't want to hear that but there is going to be a temporary delay in my postings while I'm having a computer delivered to the cabin and, finally, internet service arranged too! Until all that comes about, please be patient as there will be much to tell when I'm able to get back to the blog. it's looking like I should be on line at home within about 3 weeks.

Our trip to FL was a difficult one and one filled with sadness and sorrow. We lost our dear friend (more like family), Shane, in a motorcycle accident just days before we were scheduled to head down. Shane loved to ride his motorcycle and he loved popping wheelies everywhere he went. He was a daredevil by most people's standards, certainly by mine! Shane had a sense of humor second to none - he could have been on stage. I don't think I ever saw his sister Britney laugh so hard as when Shane said something funny. Sometimes she was the only one who saw the humor but always she laughed.

Shane was friendly to everyone he met. At his service, the entire cemetery was packed full of vehicles. I don't think another one could get in unless someone left first. Shane would have found humor even in that. There are no words to describe the feeling of loss or the feeling of helplessness when it comes to trying to console Ernie.

Shane was the star of the show as soon as he entered a room. When he left this world, as when he left a room, you immediately felt like you were missing something...May Shane rest in peace with his father William where they are, no doubt, laughing at all the rest of us here.

The trip home was bittersweet. We had in tow my BFF from high school, Kris, who planned to spend a couple weeks with us. She's been excited to visit since I moved here almost two years ago and finally had the opportunity. As it turns out, Big Red had some problems with the drive shaft along the way and we ended up spending a few days in Georgia. This wasn't such a bad thing as we have friends in Tifton who gladly came and got us and our stuff from the truck so we could leave it with the mechanic.

Since we were delayed in getting back to TN, we were offered the opportunity to visit a place called the Georgia "Agri-rama." This place is really cool. It is in a way an historical look at Tifton, GA with replicas of old houses, actual houses from the era, a Doctor's office, a Feed and Seed, a Blacksmith and a Print shop, amongst others.

Kris and I explored the homes and buildings and visited the museum and as many of the stops along the way as we could fit into a day visit. At each stop there is a host who tells you about life back in the day. It was one of the most enjoyable history lessons I've ever had. If only they could tell it this way in school! We learned why the kitchens were sometimes built as separate buildings, we learned about the man who made Tifton what it is today and we learned a lot about farming, gardening and how people took care of themselves. It was a wonderful day in the midst of the car trouble goings on. If you ever go through Tifton and have an extra day to spend, I'd say spend it at the Agri-rama. Well, that's if you're into that sort of thing, which, of course, I am!

We did finally make it home and Kris fell in love with all of it. Colt and Ruger were bigger than she expected, the cabin was much bigger than she expected, and my cooking (fortunately) didn't disappoint her :) woo hoo! She got to see how things look in the winter and she got to see snow. Wally took her on a ride while I was at work and she loved the little one lane dirt roads where the buttercups grow wildly up along the side.

After a day or so she got into the "bed at 7:00" routine. We still can't say why this happens but no one so far has been able to withstand it. You're just simply ready for bed shortly after sundown. Even in summer months. Kris slept through the rooster crowing at 3:30am but she did get to hear him when she woke up at 4:00 while I was getting ready for work. She let her mom and Lance hear him over the phone and both got a kick out of it. Many who visit with us aren't so impressed with his vocal ability but he knows he has a job to do and he does it just fine. Thank you very much!

For those of you who think roosters only crow in the morning, well, think again! LOL This one crows at about 3:30 every morning. He keeps it up until I get downstairs and into the shower at which time, he settles in for a little nap. He gets going again shortly after sunrise and keeps it up for about a half hour or so as he travels around the cabin and out to the feeding pen. He's determined to make sure no one is left sleeping in or out of the house! LOL it cracks me up every time I hear it :) :) :) Kris liked it too even though she did give him a colorful name after a few days of hearing him hahahahaha!

We took her to the meat man's place and she was hooked. She wished she had Lance with her although she did say it would be close to impossible to get him out of there once he saw it. His time will come :) We bought a roast, some stew meat and some ribs. They gave us a bag of bones for the dogs and we had our sausage biscuits in hand while our order was being collected and bagged. It's always a good day when you start out at the meat man's place :)

As we always do on Wednesdays, we went to Pee Wee's Place and we took Kris with us. Even though racing season hasn't started up yet, everyone still goes on Wednesday nights. She met all the nice people we hang out with and she made friends easily with everyone. We didn't stay late, we get tired too early for that. It was fun and we'll be back but the farm is where we wanted to spend our time after being away for so long.

I cooked lots of different stuff and I'll list here those things that Kris didn't like until she came on this trip with us. She didn't like: honey, pickled okra, butter beans or sweet potatoes. Guess what? Now she likes them. She never had mashed turnips that taste like mashed potatoes, she never had squash dressing, she never had barley stuffing. She tried and loved them all. She made her very own batch of turnip greens which we put in the freezer for our next cook-out! She took home lots of recipes to make them herself.

I even gave her my secret refrigerator pickle recipe which she's excited to try when she gets home.

Planting season is just around the corner and my garden will grow considerably larger this year. I hope to put out lettuce, okra, cucumbers, bush beans, peas and tomatoes. I'll need the okra and cucumbers for pickling seeing as how they were such a hit last year. I already have orders for more pickles and the cucumbers aren't even in the ground yet! Keep you fingers crossed for a bumper crop so everyone will have all they need to get through the winter months. I'm on my last jar of pickled okra and my last jar of pickles. Good thing spring isn't too far away...

The bulbs I planted in the fall have popped up out of the ground. You know how worried I was about them getting dug up by the dogs, and yes a few have gone missing, but overall it looks like the garden will be blooming with flowers come spring! Already all around us there are yards with daffodils blooming down the driveways and around the trees. Mine are out of the ground but I don't see any flower stalks as of yet. Rest assured, I check them every day for signs LOL!

I don't know if you remember or not but I dug up some of the irises down at the trailer and moved them to the yard beside Dizzy Debbie's apartment. Over the summer they stayed nice and green but then in the fall they began to deteriorate. I thought maybe they weren't in a good spot and debated whether or not to move them. We got so busy that I forgot all about them until one day when Kris and I were walking around the yard. I could see where the once green leaves had turned brown so I got down there and started clearing out the brown leaves. It was then that I discovered the brand new green shoots coming up from every tuber in the ground! woo hoo!! I might actually have irises blooming this year - wouldn't that be something?

I don't even know what color they'll be since I've never seen them bloom! Ahhhh now we all have something to look forward to :) :) lol

We had Darryl over as he so enjoys cooking at the outdoor kitchen. He and Wally put ribs in the smoker and some pork chops too. The day dawned a bitter 19 degrees and yet Darryl arrived at 6:30 am ready to go. He brought some cardboard to get the fire started and while that burned, he gathered up some cedar wood for smoking the ribs and chops.

While the guys worked outside I got breakfast started inside. We had tenderized tenderloin strips from the meat man, fresh farm eggs fried over medium, mayonnaise biscuits and real butter. Breakfast was big but we needed it to be that way if we were going to be outside in that cold air for any length of time. Darryl and Wally came in and ate breakfast and then they were quickly back outside tending the fire in the smoker. It has to come up to a certain temperature before the meat can go in.

I had soaked a pot of beans overnight so I rinsed them and added new water and some seasonings. The pot was covered with foil and the guys set it on the wood stove to cook while the meat was smoking in the smoker. mmmm sounds good to me all over again!

Now, since Kris arrived, she has refused to let me do the dishes. She felt it was her obligation since I was doing the cooking. Well, on this particular Sunday, I pulled a sneaky one on her. While she was outside hanging around the wood stove and talking to Lance on the phone, I went ahead and cleaned up the kitchen. By the time she came in, I was out in the laundry room so I didn't hear what name she called me... hee hee hee

The day turned out to be a really nice one even though it did stay pretty cold. The sun was shining and the wood stove kept us warm. We let the dogs run free for so many hours they actually took naps! We checked the temperature of the smoker and the guys continually added more wood to keep it up where it needed to be. However many hours later, the food was brought in and we were ready to eat. Well, some of us were. Turns out the breakfast so was big that I was still full from it and so was Darryl. Wally and Kris somehow found a way to eat while it was hot and said how great all of it tasted. For me and Darryl, we had plates made but ended up eating them later on in the day. He actually took his with him when he went back to work. Either way, the ribs and chops they cooked on that smoker were amazing!!

I made a pan of jalapeno-cheddar cornbread to have with the rest of the dinner and by the time it came out of the oven, the whole house smelled like it. There's just something about a hot, steaming pan of cornbread! Especially when you have a bowl of beans to dunk it in... :)

We were pretty much done for after all that... Kris went to lay down for a little while, Wally sat in the recliner while I lounged on the couch reading my preserving and pickling books. The tv was on but I couldn't tell you what we watched. The view of the hills out the front door kept my attention even from my books. Finally I gave in and changed into my sweat pants and slippers... ahhhhhh what a great way to spend a day, huh?

It's that time of year when I get anxious to be outside digging, weeding and planting. Mother Nature clearly has other plans for me because our weather has decidedly turned cold. Indeed it was 37 degrees when I left for work this morning. I had to scrape the ice from the windshield!

There was a bit of fog as I dove in to work but I can't complain when it looked so pretty hanging over the Harpeth River bridge as I crossed it. My planting efforts will just have to wait. They say it's going to snow on Sunday - we shall see. I'm ready if it does because, believe it or not, I'm down to just one freezer bag of chicken stock...aaaccckkk!!! I know you're in shock, take it easy. This Sunday I'll be cooking up more :)

I guess I'll have to occupy myself with getting my seed order together and taking my daily stroll around the yard to check on the progress of my flowering bulbs. I'll be starting herbs from seed this year so that will keep me busy for about a half hour...lol I have Thyme, Rosemary, Dill and Cilantro and I even have a big galvanized bucket (oval shaped - I'll post a picture when the herbs start growing) to transplant them into.

So it goes here on the farm. Winter months are spent inside doing what feels like spring cleaning to me. I organize and re-organize until there's nothing left to organize. My pantry is all good, my closet and drawers are all good, even the cleaning supplies under the sink have been organized :) You can get a lot done when you can't go outside and play hahahahaha!

I still love the winter with the trees bare and the sky a cool grayish blue. The moon and stars seem brighter somehow and the little birds have once again cleaned out my feeders. Just before the sun comes up there's a purple hue across the sky - the center is quickly replaced with a ball of orange that, while trying to do its best, only just barely warms the air. It's deceiving out there for it looks to be as warm as any summer day but you don't want to mistake it and go outside without your coat. How quickly I've learned :)

Don't despair, I'll blog again soon! Until then, get your tomatoes in the ground now so the summer heat won't destroy them. Get your garden ready for eggplant, radishes, scallions and peppers - that time of year in FL is just around the corner!

And finally, one last quote to hold you over...

"If you stand up and be counted, from time to time you may get yourself knocked
down. But remember this: A man flattened by an opponent can get up again. A man
flattened by conformity stays down for good."
- Thomas J. Watson, 1874 - 1956