Growing Lettuce in the Winter

Lettuce.  Crisp, healthy, beautiful lettuce.  I plant 6 different varieties of lettuce in our garden:

• lollo rossa
• black seeded simpson
• oak leaf
• red romaine
• rocky top mix
• red wing lettuce mix

While there is nothing wrong with iceberg lettuce, I've never tried to grow it.  I've always had good success with growing 'leaf' type lettuce.  We always enjoy a nice salad, especially with homemade salad dressing.  We like to experiment with pureeing different herbs and olive oil and vinegar - adding lemon juice, satsuma juice to give the dressing a little 'zing.'  I generally plant lettuce in the fall as I found that lettuce just doesn't hold up well in the heat that is so prevalent in our southern climate. 

This year I mixed things up a little bit and planted a patch of lettuce alongside the radish patch in our raised bed that is in the side yard.  I planted the rocky top mix and the red wing lettuce mix in the raised bed and the other varieties in the big garden.  I wanted to experiment with the looser soils that are in the raised bed.  I have found that I don't always get good germination in the heavier soils in the big garden.  As it turns out, the experiment played out well and I almost achieved 100% germination in the raised bed.  I probably got about 25% germination in the big garden.

We have eaten a bunch of salad already and we'll have plenty of salad to give away to family and friends.  If you just pick the leaves, the plant will keep producing and you'll have an almost infinite amount to eat and give away.

There is only one problem.  Planting in the fall protects you from heat-related stress on the plants, but puts you at severe risk of losing the plants to freeze.  Lettuce does best when temps are between 45 and 65.  Romaine and butter lettuce is the most frost resistant, and I have lots of that planted.  You can see the red romaine below.  However, as I look at the extended forecast, I see that beginning this Sunday, temps will dip to 31, followed by 24 on Monday, 22 on Tuesday and 19 on Wednesday!

I will do my best to cover the lettuce with a tarp and I may even try to run a heat lamp out there to protect it, but I fear our beautiful lettuce crop may come to an end.  While they can survive a light frost, extended freezing conditions are not friendly to lettuce.  For insurance, on Saturday, I may try to pick a bunch of it and put it in our fridge, wrapped in wet paper towels so that we can enjoy salads during the abnormal (for us) frigid conditions.  Bundle up everyone!

If The World Had a Front Porch...

In keeping in mind the "Peace on Earth - Good will to Men" quote that the angel told the shepherds in the field in the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke, I was reminded (strangely) of a country song from 1994 by Tracy Lawrence called, "If the World Had a Front Porch."  The songwriter tells a nostalgic story of memories that he had sitting on the front porch of his home while growing up.  I think we can all identify with some of his experiences on his front porch.  The activities that he experienced on that front porch helped shaped his life and he submits that there is a simple solution to the chaos, hatred, disagreements, and strife in our world and that would be returning to simpler times and sitting on a front porch.  Here is the chorus to emphasize that theory:

If the world had a front porch, like we did back then

We'd still have our problems, but we'd all be friends

Treatin' your neighbor like he's your next of kin

Wouldn't be gone like the wind

If the world had a front porch, like we did back then

Here is the youtube video that you can hit the arrow and watch Tracy Lawrence sing it and below it, I've placed the lyrics to the song below the video:

It was where my mama sat on that

Old swing with her crochet

It was where Grand Daddy taught me

How to curse and how to pray

It was where we made our own ice cream

Those sultry summer nights

Where the bulldog had her puppies

And us brothers had our fights

There were many nights I'd sit right there

And look out at the stars

To the sound of a distant whippoorwill

Or the hum of a passin' car

It was where I first got up the nerve

To steal me my first kiss

And it was where I learned to play guitar

And pray I had the gift

If the world had a front porch, like we did back then

We'd still have our problems, but we'd all be friends

Treatin' your neighbor like he's your next of kin

Wouldn't be gone like the wind

If the world had a front porch, like we did back then

Purple hulls and pintos

I've shelled more than my share

As lightnin' bugs and crickets

Danced in the evenin' air

And like a beacon that old yellow bulb

It always led me home

Somehow Mama always knew

Just when to leave it on

If the world had a front porch, like we did back then

We'd still have our problems, but we'd all be friends

Treatin' your neighbor like he's your next of kin

Wouldn't be gone like the wind

If the world had a front porch, like we did back then

Treating your neighbor like he's your next of kin

Wouldn't be gone with the wind

If the world had a front porch, like we did back then

I really like Tracy Lawrence and his songs.  I like simple things and I like nostalgia and can relate to the things he's singing about, so this song is right down my alley.  All except for one part: my grandpaw didn't teach me to cuss on the front porch!

Switching gears back to the Christmas season we're in, and circling back to the "Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men" theme that we are talking about, I wanted to delve a little deeper in the song.  I certainly don't want to seem all "preachy" and I do have a sense of humor.  Although I enjoy the song and the memories it brings back, I don't get my theology from Country songs.  I get mine from the Bible.

The Peace on Earth and Good will toward Men will not be achieved by sitting on a front porch, I'm sad to say.  The Fall of Man, which occurred in the Book of Genesis caused a deep chasm in the relationship between God and Man.  But our benevolent God sent Good will, in the form of His Only Son, Jesus, the Messiah, to reconcile us and restore that lost relationship that sin tore away.  Praise God!

But we still should treat our neighbor like he's our next of kin!

Merry Christmas!

The Sonnier's wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas, full of His Blessings for the upcoming year!  Wise men sought Him out many years ago.  Wise men still seek Him today!!

Image Credit

No Room In the Inn

So the other afternoon, I was walking out to do evening chores as the sun was going down.  The cows were gathered around the hay ring, chewing on hay to fill their bellies.  Soon, I'd bring them in the barn, give them all some dairy ration mixed with alfalfa and beet pulp.  That always makes them happy.  Even though it was a little cool, the lights in the window of the barn were casting a warm glow that got me thinking.

We're in the season in which we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  As I look at the barn, I think of the following verse from the Gospel of Luke:

Luke 2:7 (KJV)  And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

Joseph, by order of Caesar Augustus, was being called back to his hometown to register for a census.  But wait a minute.  Mary was pregnant.  Very pregnant.  I'm sure that it was really difficult to travel in such state.  To make matters worse, lots of people were traveling during census time and there was no vacancy in the inn.  They had to make do and sleep out in the stable.

Nativity scenes always look so rustic and nice.  Now, I'm not sure how the barn or cave that Jesus was born in actually looked, but I have a feeling that nativity scenes have an 'optimistic' slant.  I never see spider webs or rats or puddles of urine or piles of poop in nativity scenes, but I know full well that stables where animals are kept contain such things.  It isn't pretty.  It doesn't smell good.  It is loud with animal noises, full of insects and crowded with cows, goats, chickens and sheep.  It is not nice to talk about.

To be sure, it isn't a place fit for a King.  But He humbled Himself, and came to earth as a suffering servant.  He would grow up and eventually die a cruel death to break the curse of sin and death.

As we remember the birth of our Lord, I am reminded of His humility, His compassion, and His love for mankind.  He came to bring Peace on Earth and Good will to Mankind.

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  Philippians 2:5-8

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift of Jesus Christ who brings salvation to those who believe! 

How Technology Can Help You Get Up Off The Couch!

There's a lotta laziness going on around here!  Rosie kerplunked herself down in the pasture after she spent the better part of the morning eating hay.

The rest of the girls, although they look a bit more lively and energetic, are struggling with gravity.  The struggle is real.  They just don't have a lot of "get up and go."  Ever feel like that?

Here's another angle showing the herd of couch potatoes lounging in the pasture.  You can see the trail of what looks to be four-wheeler ATV tracks running alongside the fence.  Except they aren't ATV tracks.  It is a trail made by Tricia and me while we're walking side by side.  Lemme tell you a little bit about it.

Although we're very active in the garden and with the livestock, we don't have a real strict exercise regimen.  At 51 metabolism changes and you find yourself not exactly the spring chicken you used to be.  Time for drastic action.  I'm not a technology guy.  I asked my son, Russ, the other day if he knew if there was an App that would track your steps.  "Of course," he said.  It is free and he showed me how to put it on my phone.  It is called Runkeeper:

Okay, this thing is cool.  I've posted a screen print of our walk from yesterday.  It locates you on GPS and graphs your steps, shows total miles walked, how long it took you, what your pace is, and how many calories you burned.  It retains all the information each day and sends you emails telling you if you set any records and/or announces cumulative totals.  

We've gotten in a good habit of walking each day.  When I go back to work, unfortunately, I won't have time to do this anymore - except maybe on the weekends and when the days get longer.  Tricia keeps a very fast pace.  I have a hard time keeping up with her sometimes.

Runkeeper challenges you with emails and texts and encourages you to get up off the couch and get moving.  I kind of like this thing.  The cows, well... they aren't quite so energetic.  They need the Runkeeper app.

HAPPY TRAILS TO YOU!

Fall Foliage

The high temperature here today (December 19th) was 77 degrees Fahrenheit.  It was quite warm.  Hard to imagine we had snow and ice not long ago.  Tricia and I sat on the front porch in rocking chairs and had afternoon coffee.  Quite relaxing.  I'm going to miss this life of leisure once I go back to work! 

As we were watching birds flying from tree to tree, we noticed leaves falling from the trees.  The pecan trees only have a few leaves left, but many of the water oak leaves have yet to fall.  The live oaks, being evergreen, replace all their leaves in the early spring.  They'll hold their green leaves all winter long.  One thing about fall in Louisiana, is that if you want to see beautiful colors of fall foliage, you'd better schedule a trip somewhere.  The changing colors just aren't that striking.  Of course the cypress trees turn a reddish-rust color, and you certainly can't forget the lowly "Chicken Tree" or Chinese Tallow Tree.  Those leaves get real pretty.  Other than that, I'm drawing a blank...

We do have some Japanese Maple trees planted in our landscaping and although my photos don't do it justice, the green leaves turn a beautiful red color around this time each year.  Check it out:

The red leaves contrasted against the bright green leaves of the citrus trees in the background make a nice showing, in my opinion.  If you look closely in the photo above, you can even see satsumas on the tree on the left behind the Japanese maple.

We have six of these trees in all.  Here's a smaller one by the front door with bright red leaves.

Our seasons don't last for long, though.  As soon as the leaves change color, they drop to the ground very quickly.  The red leaves that adorned the trees soon lay on the ground and fade away.

Some of the leaves also fall and get lodged in the bright green juniper leaves that grow at the base of the Japanese maples.

As it turns out, I guess we don't have to venture off the front porch to view fall foliage.

Another Delivery of Hay

The hard freeze last put an end to any remnants of green grass left in the pasture.  What's left is brown.  There are a few small patches of clover, but the chickens, goats and cows clip it down just as fast as it grows.  From now until Spring, the animals will depend upon food that we give them in the form of hen scratch and laying pellets for the chickens and dairy ration for the cows in milk.  Everyone else will make it on hay.

We keep a round bale in the pasture always so they can eat it as they are hungry.  In late December, we'll start supplementing their feed with square bales of choice bermuda hay, but we really ration that to get us through the winter.  Sometimes, they'll spend all day around the round hay bale eating and eating.  Right now it takes them about 6 days to devour a round bale.  I have to keep my eyes on them and our hay inventory so I never run out.  The person that I purchase hay from works offshore and is gone for 14 days at a time.  I always call him when I have 3 bales left to deliver some as soon as he comes back to the beach.

He has a trailer that can hold 8 large round bales and he'll bring them to the house and unload the trailer with his tractor with hayforks.  He stacks them on our property boundary line and I promptly cover the hay with a big tarp (actually a billboard).  That keeps the hay from getting rained on.  I do have to weigh the tarp down with cinder blocks and blocks of wood to keep the wind from blowing it off during rain storms.  Another bad thing about rainstorms is that if the ground is wet, fire ants will build their nests in the hay, and when you try to roll the bale out in the pasture, they will bite you.  Not fun!

There is a chain around the exterior gate that I open to roll the bales in the pasture.  The cows can hear that chain tinkling when I open the gate.  They equate that sound with FOOD!  They can be far out in the pasture, but when they hear that noise, they all come running.  And those darned goats!  What is it about hay bales that make them want to get on top of the bales?  I guess I can't complain.  I remember as a kid out at the farm, I liked to climb on top of the bales and jump from bale to bale.  The neighbor kids come and do the same on our bales here at the house.  King of the Mountain!

I wish we didn't have to rely on just hay, but the hay gets them through our winters just fine.  We've tried year after year to grow rye grass on our property to help feed them some grass during the winter, but we've never had any luck.  I am planning on putting down 3 tons of lime on the pasture in a couple of weeks and maybe that will be the trick that unlocks nutrients so that we can grow rye grass next year.  For now, though, hay is the main entree until the spring time grasses begin popping up.

Making Cream of Spinach Soup

I have a row of fresh spinach growing in the garden.  It is beautiful and so far, with a cool snap, the bug pressure has been minimal.  Cool temps and a drizzle gave us a hankering to make a soup - Fresh Cream of Spinach soup, to be specific.  We used a recipe from a cook book we have by Jude Theriot called La Cuisine Cajun.  Let's take a walk out to the garden...

The recipe calls for a pound of fresh spinach.  I'm hoping I can snip off enough spinach leaves to make a pound, but I won't know unless I weigh them, right?  I'll bring the kitchen scale out to the garden.  I carefully snipped the biggest spinach leaves off, being careful not to damage the plant as the spinach will re-grow leaves and continue producing for us through the winter.  There we go - I harvested a pound of spinach:

Even though a rain had washed them, I brought them inside and filled the sink with water and let them soak in the sink.  For some reason, spinach has a propensity to hold little dirt particles.  I don't like eating grit, so I want to be sure I cleaned them up good.  I soaked and drained and then repeated, pulling out little pieces of grass.  Finally the job was done.

Here are the other ingredients:
3 cups chicken stock (we had just made fresh chicken stock from some chicken backbones and necks)
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup of chopped onion
1 1/2 tbsp minced celery
2 tbsp of AP flour
3 large egg yolks, slightly beaten (the hens made this contribution to our soup)
3/4 cup of heavy cream (the cows got to make a contribution, too!)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Tabasco sauce
1/4 tsp of freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp white pepper

In a black skillet we melted butter and sauteed the onion and celery.  After five minutes, we added the flour and cooked for 2 more minutes.

At the same time this was going on, on a separate burner, we put the spinach in a pot and covered with water.  We brought the water to a boil.  Once boiling, we reduced heat to low and simmered for 15 minutes.  Then we added the chicken stock and simmered for 5 minutes.  Once 5 minutes passed, we removed from heat and allowed to cool.

We added the light roux (onions, celery and AP flour/butter) to the soup base and stirred it in.

We then used an immersion blender to blend all well at high speed.  This chops everything up real fine and you can start to see the soup come together.

We then put the soup back on the burner and bring to a boil.  It will thicken.  We beat the egg yolks and heavy cream together, adding some of the hot soup to the egg/cream mixture.  Reduce the soup to low and add the egg/cream mixture.

Add the salt, Tabasco sauce, black pepper and white pepper and stir all together.  Then get a bowl and get ready to eat!

Delicious!!  The neat thing about this soup is that you can substitute other vegetables to make the kind of soup you want.  For example: asparagus, carrots, squash, zucchini, broccoli...  This soup will serve us well over the winter.  It will warm you up, for sure!

Foraged for Mushrooms Down By the Bayou Last Week

A friend of mine dropped by the house the other day and asked me what I was doing for the next hour.  I didn't have anything going on at the time, so I told him I was free.  He asked me to go foraging in the woods to try to find some Lion's Mane Mushrooms.  My friend is a member of a mushroom club where he goes out with mycologists on mushroom walks and they identify the different mushrooms that grow in our area.  At his last meeting, they found several lion's mane mushrooms.  They are good for eating as well as medicinal purposes.    We always pick oyster mushrooms and chanterelles, but I've never seen a lion's mane mushroom, so I decided to join him.  Here's what a lion's mane mushroom looks like:

Image Credit

My friend owns some property (about 11 acres) that butts up against Bayou Nezpique.  We've gone out there and found bags of chanterelles, but it is not time for chanterelles right now.  We drove out on a perfect afternoon.  The skies were blue.  The air crisp and clear.  We walked down to the water's edge, being careful not to trip on cypress knees that reached up from the ground.  Palmettos grew in clumps in the shade of the tupelos.  We heard whistling and saw a blur of movement as a bunch of wood ducks got up from the murky waters and flew through the trees at blinding speed.

We started walking upland, searching the forest floor and every dead tree we came across.  We saw plenty of deer tracks and areas where wild hogs had worked up the dirt looking for roots or acorns.  We saw so many things in the woods, but we didn't see any edible mushrooms.  I take that back, we did see a cluster of honey mushrooms, but they were past their prime and didn't look fresh anymore.

Disappointed, we walked back to the truck with empty paper bags.  We were hoping to fill them, but it appeared we were going home empty handed.  As we drove down the gravel road, there was an old willow stump on the side of the road and something white caught my eye.  My buddy stopped the truck and got out with his pocketknife and cut a nice stash of oyster mushrooms off the stump.

So we didn't go home empty-handed after all!  Once you find an area with mushrooms, it is a good idea to check it from time to time, especially a few days after a rain, as there will be more mushrooms to pick.  We refrigerated the oysters and the next morning, Tricia pulled them out of the paper bag and cleaned them up as they'll sometimes have dirt, little bugs and leaves or twigs on them.

Tricia cut up the oyster mushrooms and sauteed them in a cast iron skillet in butter with some peppers, onions, and garlic.

Once they were cooked, she cracked some fresh eggs that Benjamin had collected the night before.

Country eggs with sauteed fresh foraged wild mushrooms!

Now that's a breakfast of champions!  Maybe next time we'll find the lion's mane.

Adding Organic Matter to the Garden Soil

I'm always looking for good stuff to feed my garden soil.  A good friend of ours knows how much we like to incorporate organic matter into our garden.  She had raked up 22 big contractor bags of leaves from her yard and wanted to know if I wanted them.  Of course we want them!  We made 2 trips to her house to load up the bags of leaves.  It would be a tragedy to send those to the landfill!  I lined them up against the garden fence and got to work.

Incorporating leaves, compost, and organic matter is so healthy for your soil.  My garden slopes south and really gets muddy the further south you go.  You can kind of tell in the photo below.  I began digging holes in the walkway between the rows to accept the leaves.

I dug the hole about a foot deep and deposited the dirt on the backside.  Deep-digging the soil keeps the ground loose and helps the roots of the plants to mine down deep to access nutrition and water.

Once the hole was perfectly dug, I poured in some of the leaves.  Then I stomp on the leaves in the hole to compact them.  I pour more leaves in and stomp it down again.  Finally I pour more leaves and stomp until the crunched up leaves are even with the top of the hole.  Then I get my shovel and pull all the dirt back over the leaves. 

Then I move further down, digging another hole and repeating the process.  When I'm finished, the dirt between the rows that was formerly a sunk in walkway or furrow, is now level with the rows.  It will sink down a little as rain water packs down the dirt that covers the leaves and the leaves start to decompose.  Adding leaves to the garden raises the ground level so that the southern part of the garden is not as muddy all the time.  The organic matter will rot in the ground and I've found that it attracts tons of earthworms.  It also makes the soil easier to work.  Finally, the organic matter in the soil holds moisture in those hot dry months of summer.  So thankful to our friend by letting us recycle her leaves!

More Blessed To Give Than Recieve

In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” Acts 20:35

Last Sunday afternoon our church went on our Annual Christmas Caroling Hayride.  We always go to the VA home in town, as well as both of the nursing homes and usually a few shut ins.  The weather was nicer than it usually is and everyone couldn't fit in the trailer for the hayride.  Some followed us from place to place in cars.  Our cows were happy to loan us some of their square bales for the hayride, but made it clear that they wanted them back when the hayride was over.

We have Christmas Carol binders with all the words to the songs we'll be singing, and we pass them out to all the participants.  We normally stroll the halls, stopping at the resident's rooms and singing to them.  When we find a group of residents sitting in a common area, we'll sing a little longer.  It is so heart-warming to see the smiles on their faces.  Some have requests for us to sing and some sing along with us and follow us down the hall.  We have monthly services at the VA home and one of the nursing homes, so it was good to get to see those that regularly attend the services during the caroling event.

After we had caroled for two hours and our voices were about to go out, we rode back to the church where we had a fellowship time with hot chocolate and finger food.  We enjoyed each others' company and played a fun game that got everyone involved.

Singing hymns and Christmas carols brings back precious memories for the residents (and us too!) and is a joyful time for all.  Our annual caroling event aims to simply do something kind for the people at the homes we visited, but we got more of a blessing from it than they did.  Just seeing their smiles and having them sincerely thank us, shake our hands, and hug us, made our day and underscored Jesus' teaching that it is indeed more blessed to give than receive.

A Winter Wonderland - South Louisiana Edition

It was 5 AM and still dark outside when the phone rang loudly on the bedside table.  It was Benjamin's school calling to let parents know that "school has been canceled for Friday due to winter weather creating dangerous driving conditions." 

Translation: "It is snowing outside today in South Louisiana.  It never snows here, so all the children need to go outside and play in the snow!"  That's exactly what we did.  I looked outside the french doors in the back and the snow was coming down.

Luna was standing 'hunch-backed' by her hay bale wondering what all this white stuff was.

Big Boy, our Great Pyrenees came running to the back patio to greet us and it is a good thing because he was quite camouflaged in the snow.  We didn't want to lose him!

The navel orange tree had snow-coated leaves.  Everyone always says that if you leave the oranges on the tree until after the first frost it makes them sweeter.  I don't know if that is true or not, but if so, these will be some sweet oranges.

As I was walking in the winter wonderland, everything was so bright and cheery.  Kids were out of school and the neighbor kids were over and all excited.  Things in the garden, however, were not so cheerful.  The snow and freezing conditions signal an end to the merliton squash and tahitian melon squash.

My fall tomato crop with fruits ripening and blooms on the plants are toast!  We had harvested four beautiful tomatoes and I was racing the weather to get more ripened before the freeze, but I lost the race.  Oh well...

They were so healthy and free of bugs.  I'll pull them all up now.  Tomato plants do not like a White Christmas.

In northern climes, farmers and ranchers use heaters to keep their water troughs from freezing.  We don't have those down here, although I'll certainly break the ice so that the cows, goats, and chickens can drink some ice water.

The sun started to come out, shining through the frozen plants.  In no time all this would be de-frosted, but it would be too late to save anything.  That is the risk you take when you push the planting dates, and I can blame no one but myself.

We won't waste the tomatoes, though, even if they are green.  We wash them, freeze them, and then we'll add them to soups and stews for extra flavor, nutrition, and heartiness.

We put them on a tray in the freezer and once frozen solid, we pour them into ziploc bags for storing until we cook them.

This merliton squash is ripe and ready to eat, so the freeze didn't ruin it.  We'll be eating it soon.

Same thing with the tahitian melon squash.  I can't wait to try this.  A friend gave me the seeds.  Supposedly, these are supposed to be sweeter than butternut squash.

Although the freeze killed all the fall crops susceptible to frost, the winter garden still thrives: spinach, carrots, chard, beets, kale, mustard, sugar snap peas, radishes, turnips, lettuce, bok choy, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage.