Thank You, Garden, Seeds, Brrr......

I want to take a moment to say thank you to two dear friends for the lovely Valentine's Day gifts. I'm not going to mention their names, they know who they are.  

 

Bulldog Man and I measured an area out back on the property, for setting up our first vegetable/fruit garden at our new place.  We decided to measure out 35 feet in width by 110 feet in length and clear out the grass with the tractor by skimming the ground.  Next we'll bring in several truck loads of potting soil and compost mixture, and add wood chips.  We will need to till the soil all together before planting seeds.  We’ve decided to start small, and gradually add more to the garden over the next couple of years.

 
In order to get the garden moving, we’ll also need to purchase additional feed lot panels,  more chicken wire, bird netting, t-posts, clips, PVC pipe, staples, and 2x4's, to use for securing our garden against the wildlife hanging around on the property.

I've already received the vegetable seeds ordered from Baker Creek and can’t wait to get them in the ground.  I also picked up from the local farm store, several organic onion slips, asparagus slips, and potato seeds for planting.

The weather hasn’t been very conducive; once again it’s taken a nose dive.  We're back to freezing temperatures with rain, sleet, and ice.  This has basically slowed the garden preparation process down to a very slow crawl......in a mud pit.  It's just too muddy to get any of the equipment in the garden area to work.   We’re expecting the same type of weather tomorrow as well.  I won't complain too much about the moisture, we really need it to help prevent the wild fires.

How are things in your neck of the woods?

A Gift, Check It Out!!!

A big welcome to those Blogger friends who’ve decided to follow me, please sit back and enjoy the ride :)

Because my friends have been patient with me being away to work on my parents’ estate, I’m gifting one lucky Blogger friend a LIFELINE Weather Resistant Survival Kit.

This weather resistant ABS case has a carabiner attached to it.  Inside the case are a first aid 5 ¾” X 3” bandage, aluminum flashlight, 1 battery, mini multi tool, 1 emergency whistle, 1 emergency candle and 1 quick-fire starter.

In order to win, you must leave your name or username (how to contact you) below in the comment section.

This will automatically qualify, and enter you in the drawing.  Please don’t expect an individual acknowledgement of your entries in this drawing.


My gift opportunity will only be offered to those who are 18 years of age or older.

The deadline to enter for this gift offer is Monday, January 25, 2016, at 1:00PM (CST). All entries will be placed in a bowl and one name will be randomly drawn from the bowl.

If your name is picked as the winner, I will post your name on my blog in the morning of Tuesday, January 26, 2016 along with my e-mail address. 

The person selected will have 4 business days to respond to me, by e-mail, with their physical mailing address. The gift will be mailed to the address provided at no cost to them.

If I receive no response from the selected party, their entry will be null (void), and I will be required to pick another person.  

Only 1 entry per blog site please, multiple entries will be deleted.  

Because I care about my Blogger friends, I’ve purchased this LIFELINE Weather Resistant Survival Kit. FYI, I am not getting paid to promote this product or advertise for their company.  This Survival Kit makes a great kit to add to your car, backpack, or purse.

Good Luck!

Coincidence or Not?

Before going into my post, I wanted to first welcome a new Blogger friend, you know who you are.  Thank you for attaching your name to my blog.  Sit back and enjoy the ride, I promise it will be interesting!

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Butterflies have always been special to me, even as a little girl.  I remember right after my grandmother passed away many, many years ago a butterfly, a Monarch butterfly, circled around our house, I thought it was an Angel relaying a message.

Years later, my boss, a dear friend, lost her life while leaving work one day (a long story on what happened).  She passed out in the middle of the walkway at work, and then stopped breathing; several employees’ tried to revive her while waiting for EMS to arrive, she lost her life. 

When I returned to work the next day, I had to walk on the same walkway where my dear friend passed away, in order to get into my office.  While walking toward the door, a Monarch butterfly flew around my head as if to say, “It’s going to be alright”. 

Fast forward eleven years, my Dad was diagnosed with cancer. He was able to beat cancer, but ultimately, the cancer treatment took his life.  Immediately after his passing, and cremation, I returned home to Oklahoma.  The next day, I went out to work in my flower garden, and to be alone; when a Monarch butterfly buzzed my head, and then flew onto a flower next to me in the garden.  What were the chances this butterfly was relaying a message?

Fast forward again, present day 2015, while working out in my vegetable garden. I was thinking about my Dad; when out of the blue, a Monarch butterfly flies toward me and tries to land on my head. The butterfly buzzed my head, and I put my hand out over the top to prevent it from landing on my head.   The Monarch butterfly landed on top of a sunflower.

I was getting ready to clip the stem of the sunflower with clippers, because the birds keep eating the seeds from the flower. I’m trying to save the seeds for next season’s plantings.   What are the chances this Monarch butterfly was here relaying a message to me from my Dad?  Your thoughts……………………..

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Here’s a picture of my very first Pink Brandy Wine Tomato harvested this season from my garden, along with a couple of cucumbers, and a handful of Sunrise Bumblebee tomatoes.

I’ll have you know that Pink Brandy Wine tomato had my name on it.  I love to make tomato sandwiches for lunch, and two days in a row I made myself a tomato sandwich for lunch,  and I didn’t share any piece of that tomato……………….YUM!!!!!!!!!!

This morning, I harvested 3 more cukes, a handful of Yellow Pear tomatoes, and 4 strawberries.  The strawberry plants have started to provide more strawberries like back in the beginning of spring. 

  

Even though I’m just starting to really harvest cucumbers, I’ll need to get my jars prepared and ready to start making pickles.   

Happy 4th & A Lovely Surprise

The 4^th of July is about celebrating the birth of our nation, and our independence. 

American families celebrate this day typically by going to see parades, have picnics, barbecue, play outdoor games, and watch firework displays.

To all my Blogger friends, I wanted to wish you a Happy 4^th of July, remind you to be safe when dealing with fireworks, and to pay attention to your surroundings; because this country isn’t as safe as it used to be.

Bulldog Man and I went to town to pick up the mail at the post office; Bulldog Man came out with a package addressed to me.  I know I hadn’t ordered anything, and we weren’t expecting medications, Bulldog Man and I were curious what was inside.  As I opened the package, there was a nicely wrapped item.  I removed the tissue paper, and to my surprise, there was a beautiful quilted flag with a note attached.

Mama Pea, thank you so very much for this beautiful quilted flag you made.  Receiving this flag means the world to me, especially right now….you’ve placed a smile on my face, and happy tears in my eyes.  Girl, I wish I was as talented and patient as you when it comes to sewing!!!!  Maybe one day I’ll pickup quilting through the internet like I did crocheting.J  Or……. maybe one day in the distant future, we could get together, and you could teach me how to quilt. 

As for our 4^th of July celebration, we will remain home, maybe do a little barbecue out back, piddle around the house, and if we can, watch a little bit of fireworks off in a distance from our porch.  Our weatherman is expecting rain, and severe storms………….and we will be the crazy people under the porch overhang grilling in the rain. 

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I also would like to take this opportunity to welcome a new friend to my blog.  Thank you for following me, please sit back and enjoy the ride!!!  If there’s any questions you may have about my blog, please feel free to drop me a comment, or an e-mail, and I’ll be more than happy to return a response. 

*****

Garden Updates

Here are a few pictures of the blooming flowers around the good old homestead.

And here we go again, another harvest of beans, and my first 3 jalapenos!!!

Animated source: Animationslibrary.com

Green Beans & Burns (If faint of heart don't look at the 6th picture)

First I would like to start out by saying hello and welcome to those new followers to my blog.  

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We recently added a new garden box for green beans (Cantare, and Blue Lake Bush) in the garden.  Before laying down all the soil, Bulldog Man and I laid out about an inch of fresh soil, put the feedlot trellis back in the box, secured this trellis with a couple of cheap tent stakes, then finished adding soil, and topped the soil with peat moss. 

Staking down the trellis.

Trellis attached to the ground, added soil, and peat.

Planting seeds.

Green beans are a vegetable our family really enjoys as a side dish to a meal or as a complete meal.  We will have plenty of beans to put away in the pantry; a very nice stash for winter. 

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While the sprinkler was going in the garden, a little American Robin decided to take a shower.  Every time the sprinkler would rotate around some of my potatoes in tires, the bird would run toward the water.  This picture isn’t the greatest because I didn’t have my real camera with me; just a cell phone.   

You can see the Robin in the right corner of picture.

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A couple of nights ago, I made some chamomile orange tea for Bulldog Man.  I placed the hot tea cup on the wood arm (as we always do) of his recliner chair. 

Bulldog Man reached over and adjusted the hot cup; without realizing it, the cup was not sitting on the coaster properly. It was balancing on the edge for a second, and then it was off onto his leg, as he was sitting in the recliner chair.  Needless to say, the hot cup ended up falling onto his leg…..in and around his left knee.  Before he could get up out of his chair, and remove his pajama pants, the hot tea had already burnt his leg.  He now has 1^st and 2^nd degree burns on his leg.

I immediately had Bulldog Man rinse his leg in the bathtub with cool water.  To help stop the burning sensation and reduce the inflammation, I immediately placed Manuka Honey, an antibacterial medical grade honey, on my husband’s burns and wrapped the burns with sterilized gauze.  We again repeated this process the next day.

After 48 hours of Manuka Honey on the burn, it was time to thoroughly wash the burn with a gentle soap (we used a goats milk soap), cut off the dead skin from the second degree burns once the blisters popped open (only cut with sterile surgical scissors and only when the skin of the blister breaks open on its own….never break the blisters yourself), and then we placed antibiotics on his burns, and again bandaged it up with sterile gauze.

While Bulldog Man is home from work over the weekend, we removed the gauze to expose the burn to the air.  When he returns to work, I will place another bandage on his burn to prevent his pants from rubbing on the burn and irritating it further. 

  

Bulldog Man’s leg looks a lot better since using the Manuka Honey.  I keep a bottle of this medicinal honey in my large first aid bag for emergencies.  

Manuka honey is derived from nectar collected by honey bees from the Manuka bush, known as Leptospermum scoparium from New Zealand, and can be found in your local health food stores. 

Recently, CVS stocks sterile Adhesive Pads with Manuka Honey.  They’re great for abrasions and burns. 

I’m not a physician; please consult with your physician before using any product you’re not familiar with.