One year and counting

It was one year ago today that we physically moved from Peakland Place to Hanshill. Hard to believe! The last two weeks I've been trying to keep up with the produce that is maturing in the garden. Then, in the last couple of days, all of a sudden some of the plants seem to be totally spent --- specifically the squash and the roma beans. I think the snap beans are about to breathe their last also --- I might get one more picking.  However the okra, butterbeans, black-eyed peas, kale and cherry tomatoes are still producing. Also we planted beets this year, as an experiment, and we are soon going to dig them up and see if they are any good.

Butterbeans drive me crazy! They are delicious but they sure are a lot of work!  The worst part is the picking ---- it really is a strain on the back and hips.

This weekend I picked enough to freeze 8 meals, plus we ate them last night super-fresh.  Brad helped me shell them. But let me tell you, Brad does so many other things. Yesterday, he mowed the entire property, a 3-hour job. These photos show just less than half of what we picked this weekend.

The photo below shows the "harvest" from my picking on Saturday (Sept. 8). Two hours of picking yield tons of butterbeans, some okra, some squash, kale, cherry tomatoes, and a few roma beans. With a few flowers mixed in, picked in the front yard, it all looks very pretty.

On another front, a couple of years ago, Brad dug up many, many spider lilies from the woods. We knew they were originally planted by Murnie. Because they now existed in a shady place, I was thinking they prefer shade. But I was probably wrong (it pains me to say it, but the older I get, the more often I find that I am wrong!!).  Anyway we divided and re-planted many of these bulbs, in shady wooded areas. And none of them came up and bloomed!!!  Well, the most recent issue of Southern Living has an article about spider lilies. It says that they like sun, and also that you should plant them very shallow in the soil. Well, we planted ours in the shade, and probably too deep!  So now we realize the problem. Of the many we re-planted, ONE has come up this year!  It's pretty, but I wish more of its siblings would appear!

On Friday night this week, Brad invited me to have supper at the pond. It was a cheap date night, but very enjoyable. We didn't pull out a pretty tablecloth like the times when we have Mama to supper, but neverthless we had a good meal. Faith and Freckles seemed to relax!

It's been a wonderful year. Age has a way of creeping up on each one of us. I sincerely hope and pray that Brad and I will live in this home longer than we did in any other place in our marriage. We love Hanshill, and we love being the current temporary stewards of this special place. We particularly love it when family is here to continue the legacy ------ to share our inherited appreciation for the blessings of this place. Over Labor Day weekend, there was a wonderful family gathering here ---- 31 people!  I've not seen any photos of those of my generation from that evening, except of Brad. On Facebook there were pictures of Anne and David's 9 grandchildren, and Nannie (Mama) also was captured. I realized that I was the second oldest person in attendance. I will include a couple of photos from that evening that I pulled from Facebook.  This post sends love to ALL of our family, to ALL of those who love Hanshill. Please visit ANY TIME!!!!
Here's a somewhat classic shot, with the man of the house feeding the cows. Love my Brad!!

Joseph found a snake!! Good times for adventuresome boys!

 Eddie and Nannie are talking politics!! So funny.

Here's one of Nannie with the absolutely newest member of the family, Eleanor Claire Smith (Ella). So precious! Ella was 30 days old!

All of the Simms little people were here with us for supper. Anne and David have 9 beautiful grandchildren!!

When I talk about Hanshill, and stewardship, and tradition, this final picture helps to convey some of what I am saying. Timeless!

Calf presented for viewing

A calf was born last Monday, the 20th. For the next few days, Brad would see it when he takes the dogs for a walk in the evenings. The mama would have the baby in tall grass under some trees near the dam, sometimes sleeping. Well, yesterday for the first time since the birth all 7 adult cows were in the pasture out front during the day and also when Brad delivered the sweet feed. Guess the mother left the baby in its little protected area. But tonight the mama came AND the baby came too. It is smaller than some calves and really cute. Here are a few photos.

Brad took some close-up shots down by the fence. I tried to take some from the porch but that didn't work very well. However, I was standing near a hummingbird feeder and the birds ignored me. Look to the right of the feeder in both of these photos.

A pair of them was buzzing me constantly while I stood there. Wish I could have captured a shot with both of them!

Railing

I normally pick vegetables from the garden in the morning when it is cool. But this morning, being a Sunday, we went to church, and also it rained almost all night last night so I figured it would be pretty wet and muddy. Instead I went this afternoon and spent nearly an hour picking 3 rows of romas.

When I returned a surprise awaited me ---- see the photos!

Now we are trying to decide whether to paint the log, or to leave it in its natural state. It is covered by the overhang so it won't get rained on. What do you think??
We hope this will be useful to older folks, and especially to Mama.

Supper at the Pond

One night this past week we invited Mama (also known as Nannie) to supper at the pond. We went down a day early to spray for bugs, and to scrub the dock to get rid of bird poop from the phoebe nests. (The babies have all departed.)  I had a good time getting ready, digging out the pretty tablecloth that is just the right size for a card table --- it used to reside in the bottom of the ceramic water crock on the fish-cleaning/drink-fixing porch. I was able to pick a few flowers from the sun garden that Brad planted in the front yard earlier this year. And we had things from the garden: okra as an appetizer, snap salad with garden snaps and cucs, and a squash casserole. The meat was lamb cooked on the grill. Dessert was sliced peaches and strawberries. It was such a nice evening! The pictures are in reverse order --- it was later when Brad was in the photo, so we are nearly through the main course, and the sun has gone down.

August is 2/3 gone

I'm appalled that it has basically been a month since I last published. The reason is that my camera is broken and I am not able to include clear, crisp photos. I enjoy documenting happenings with pictures. Now I am thinking of buying a fancy smartphone that will take great pictures, to replace my camera.

Last night Brad was in the yard calling the cows to come for some sweet feed. He noticed one of the cows on the edge of the woods halfway between the house and the old pool. She was ingesting the afterbirth and had just delivered a calf, which was standing nearby. So this is our first baby of the season. Today the mom and baby have been resting in the pasture down near the creek. We hope she'll bring the baby up this way soon.

Here is a picture I took of bounty from the garden a couple of weeks ago.  Nice colors! Funny but the crops that have done well this year are kale, squash, zucchini, and okra, not all of which are pictured here. I've given away lots of these items. I have hoarded the small amounts of butterbeans, romas, and snaps that we have picked. The drought had a big effect on the garden.

Renovation list item

One thing that was not included in the renovation last year was a screen door for the kitchen entrance. We really wanted to have a screen door so we can get good air flow through the house with various doors open. A couple of weeks ago we bought a nice door at Taylor Bros. and Brad trimmed it to size and painted it. We chose the same style as is used in the rest of the house ---- no use changing a good thing! We can all remember as children being coached repeatedly not to slam the screen doors ---- or in more recent years doing that coaching ourselves! The "new" door seems quite familiar, and it seems very inviting if you are coming from the honeymoon cabin to have the storm door open and just come through the screen door. Check another item off the list ---- very few left in terms of the original scope of our changes.

Harvest has begun

Brad planted the garden late this year, due to issues with getting the garden plowed/tilled. So our crops have just recently begun to ripen, roughly 3 weeks later than normal. Today I got my first big haul, and it was of black-eyed peas. I spent two hours (early morning) picking these, and weeding ------ weeding beets & tomatoes as well as the peas.

I've picked smaller amounts of several items: okra came in first. In fact, the okra got ahead of me so that the first ones I picked were huge, too big to eat (in my opinion) so I just made them into a flower arrangement. We've had a few yellow squash and zucchini, 2 cucumbers, a scant picking of roma beans, and lots of kale. Tomatoes are coming along very slowly --- they seem to be most affected by the drought. We have three lush rows of butterbeans; they sould be ready in a few more days. Sadly, the crows got all the corn seeds so none of it even sprouted --- even with two plantings! and running string about 4-6 inches above ground over top of where the corn was planted. It did no good!
Later today I will process and freeze some of today's bounty. This will be the first day of freezing this year.