The Old Fruit Bowl

Oftentimes, Tricia watches the Chip and Joanna Gaines "Fixer Upper" show where the couple work together to renovate an older home into something that is more modern and decorated nicely.  They talk to the buyers and find out what they like and will often incorporate something old and meaningful into the home.  Do you have things like that in your home that you've reclaimed?

I like things like that.  For instance, in the house I grew up in, my mom and dad incorporated old bricks from some landmarks from their childhood into the fireplace.  Things like that have a nostalgia factor.  It creates a great conversation piece and helps personalize your home and bring back memories.  It doesn't have to be part of the construction.  It can be a piece of furniture or a decoration or an old keepsake.

This evening I was looking at something in our home that brings back memories.  It's an old fruit bowl.  Not that it necessarily only contained fruit.  This bowl was my grandmother's.  We called her Bumby.  This bowl was in her kitchen on a countertop right next to an old International Deep Freeze.

Bumby normally had a few bananas in this bowl that were on the brown side.  Shortly before they turned completely brown, she transformed them into banana bread or banana pudding.  Let's see, what else was in this bowl?  Well, if I close my eyes and try to remember, there was also a pack of Juicy Fruit Gum in the bowl, a Baby Ruth Candy bar, a Snicker bar, various nuts, Bumby's car keys, the day's mail, the bulletin from Sunday Church Service, some butterscotch candies and a cinnamon disk candy or two.

Bumby passed away years ago, but seeing her old fruit bowl on the island in our kitchen reminds me of her and brings back good memories of spending time with her. 

Oh, What A Web We Weave

Do you remember the book, Charlotte's Web, written by E.B. White?  It was a children's story about a pig named Wilbur who was the runt of the litter.  Because Wilbur was such a runt, the farmer was going to kill him.  The farmer's daughter, Fern, however, talked her dad into saving the pig.  Fern cared for Wilbur, fed him with a bottle, put him in a baby stroller, and became very attached to Wilbur.

Soon Wilbur became too large to keep.  Mr. Zuckerman, a farmer nearby, purchased Wilbur.  Wilbur arrived at his new home and had no friends at first.  Then someone spoke to him.  It was Charlotte, a big grey spider.  Wilbur and Charlotte become close friends and all is going well until it is discovered that Wilbur will be killed and will turn into Christmas Dinner. 

Charlotte?

Charlotte hatches a plan to save Wilbur's life by writing notes in her web above Wilbur that say, "Some Pig!" and things like that.  People in the town flock to the farm to read the messages and the pig about whom they're written.  Wilbur's life is saved!

What a story!  I left off the sad part and the end.  You'll have to go read it again for yourself.  As I walked out to the barn this weekend, right above the barn gate a banana spider had spun a web.  She had caught breakfast and was wrapping it all up.

Her web looked out over a mud hole that Rosie, our Jersey cow, likes to lay in each day in order to cool herself.  Each day we have to give Rosie a bath before milking her.  We don't have pigs on our farm, but each and every day, we call Rosie a pig.  The spider above our barn gate hadn't written "Some Pig!" in her web, but her web gave her a panoramic view of Rosie in her mud hole, and I'm sure that she (like us) certainly thought it.  Hopefully the weather will cool off soon so our 'pig' will stop laying in the mud all day.

Piddler On the Roof

On the eastern side of our barn, there is a walkway right past a gate that runs between our barn and the goat barn.  It is a low area, to be sure, but what exacerbates the problem is that when cows walk through a narrow, low spot, it becomes a boggy mess.  It became so muddy that the cows (and their humans) hate walking through here.  This swampy mudhole has claimed our rubber boots on more than one occasion, causing us to step out of our boots and insert a socked foot into the mud.  Not good.  Something must be done.  We moved in fill dirt, but water stayed and the clay became sticky and even more muddy.  If you notice on the right side below, 4x4's have been cemented in the ground.

The south side of the barn looked exactly like that muddy mess before we put wings on both sides of the barn and brought in some fill dirt.  Now the animals lounge high and dry in relaxed comfort in the shade.  We were hoping to establish those same amenities on the east side.

Time to get busy.  I get off of work between 4:30 and 5 and have roughly an hour commute home (give or take).  That leaves a skinny minute or two before the sun goes down, so my wife and I screwed the header into the barn, put the 2x4's across the 4x4 frame and screwed the rafter supports into the header.  It was not an ideal place to work with all the mud.

Then we cut notches into the rafters and began screwing them down.  This canopy is approximately 16 feet long by 8 feet wide.

Then 1x4's were screwed across the top on the rafters.  These will serve as supports for the corrugated tin roof.

Finally, this afternoon I climbed up on top of the new roof support structure and installed the tin roof and screwed everything down tight.  I am not a skilled carpenter, so I was a little concerned that it wouldn't hold me up - but it did!

We'll add some additional dirt and perhaps some wood chips to the walkway beneath the new roofed in barn addition.  Pretty soon this walkway will be nice and dry.  Oreo the goat is already checking things out, giving us her seal of approval.  Mission accomplished.

The Dangers of Roadside Attractions

When driving on road trips, we would often stop and read historical markers.  We would go see Rock City or Ruby Falls.  Or we would stop to see the world's largest egg or the world's largest chair.  We'd pull off the road led by a sign that said, "See Baby Rattlers" thinking we were going to see some baby rattlesnakes, but it was only a box with baby rattles in it.

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In the town we live in, you can pull off I-10 and hold baby gators.  Real baby gators!  If you stayed on I-10 west toward Baton Rouge, in 77 miles you'd be in Grosse Tete, LA where there is another wild animal roadside attraction.  At the Tiger Truck Stop in Grosse Tete, you used to be able to pull off and see a real tiger.  Sadly, Tony the Tiger died.

But have no fear.  The Tiger Truck Stop purchased a camel and placed him in Tony the Tiger's former enclosure.  Meet Caspar.  He looks like a jovial fellow.

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Caspar probably needs some counseling after an event that happened last week that I read about in This Link in the Baton Rouge Advocate

GROSSE TETE — A Florida woman freed herself from a camel by biting its testicles at the Tiger Truck Stop in Grosse Tete last week after she crawled into the animal's pen to retrieve her dog and the camel sat on her, authorities said.

What!

The woman's husband had been throwing treats to their dog under Caspar the camel's fence Wednesday evening before the dog went inside, the Iberville Parish Sheriff's Office said Sunday.

After the dog began interacting with the camel, the couple crawled in to get it, officials said. While inside, the camel sat on the woman and she bit the animal, a male dromedary, to get it off of her.

"She said, ‘I bit his balls to get him off of me, I bit his testicles to get him off of me,'” Iberville Parish Deputy Louis Hamilton Jr. said.

Oh my!

Turns out the couple had been provoking the camel prior to the nutty occurrence.  They were cited for leash law violation and criminal trespassing.  They probably should have just stopped at Stuckey's.

Catching Rainwater for the Cows

I read in some states it is illegal to capture rainwater.  I searched the Internet and found the following:

Louisiana does not prohibit rainwater harvesting but there are city wide statues against water cisterns, dating back to hundred years ago when yellow fever was around. 

So it appears we're all good.  While we have a 150 gallon water trough for the cows and goats that is connected to our rural water system and stays full with a float valve, we wanted to catch some rain water, too.  Maybe we're crazy (that is certainly plausible), but it seems like the cows enjoy drinking rainwater more than water treated with chlorine.  Although I did read somewhere that after a short time exposed to sunlight and open air, the chlorine dissipates quickly.

We had two extra water troughs that have slight leaks in them, even after repeated patching.  I had one of them in the garden catching rainwater to water the garden with, but with all the rain we've had for the past two years, I really haven't had to water the garden.  I put one of the troughs on the north side of the barn where it catches the rainwater runoff.

And I put the other on the south side of the barn in a similar spot under the roof overhang.  After a good rain, we can catch over 100 gallons.  I was thinking about installing a cheap PVC gutter system, but it would fill the troughs in no time at all.  Bottom line, it's not worth the money and this works out fine as it is.

It is a little hard to see, but in the photo above, you can see Rosie stopping to drink fresh water after evening feedings.  They like the convenience.  We like the fact that we're able to catch some rain and use it versus having it flow off the property.  Our monthly water bill averages about $34.  Water is inexpensive and this is not really going to save us much money, but we still feel like it is a good thing to do.

Sometimes It's A Good Thing to Loaf Around

We have a half gallon mason jar we keep in the fridge with some sour dough starter in it.  At first glance, it looks like something that was on a back shelf that got forgotten about.

At second glance it even looks worse.  If you unscrew the top, there is a crusty formation on the rim and sides of the jar.  If you peer down into the jar, the concoction is bubbling.  If you put your nose next to the top of the jar, it smells...  GREAT!  The sour dough starter has a sour, but slightly sweet smell.

When I walked in from work, Tricia had just pulled a loaf of sourdough bread out of the proofer.  The bread had risen.  I reached out to touch it, but that wasn't a good idea.  You don't want it to fall.  We placed it in the oven and I went outside to pick purple hull peas, black-eyed peas, and okra.  My task was to be back inside in about twenty minutes to pull the hot loaf of sour dough bread out of the oven.

I walked back in to a wonderful aroma of fresh baked bread wafting through the kitchen.  I pulled the golden brown perfect loaf of bread out of the oven and admired it for a second.

Can we make it a little more perfect?  Yes.  Yes, we can.  We'll slather some butter over the top of the warm loaf of bread and allow it to melt into the top of the bread.

I'll stop the world and melt with you.  You've seen the difference and it's getting better all the time.

Some people don't like the heel of the bread.  I do.  It's my favorite part.  I like to cut a slice while it is still hot and put some more butter on it. 

Taking a bite out of crime

This is as good as it gets.  Who says it's a bad thing to loaf around?

Okra Coming In Big Time

At this time of year the heat and stink bugs create conditions that are not conducive to gardening.  Most plants, like people, are tired out and exhausted with the heat.  Except for a few things.  Okra flourishes in the heat of summer.  Okra grows tall with healthy green leaves.  It almost creates its own little ecosystem providing shade and a respite from the scorching sun beneath its green leaves.

I employ the "chop and drop" mulching technique with the large leaves on the bottom.  This creates mulch beneath the plants and, most of all, provides an easier way of finding ripe okra pods to pick.  With too many leaves, sometimes it is hard to see the pods to harvest until they have grown so large that they are tough, woody, and inedible.

Okra grows fast!  It doesn't take very long between the beautiful bloom of the okra plant,

Until ripened pods are ready to pick.  Some people pick every other day, but we find that it is better to pick every single day.  If the okra flower above reminds you of a hibiscus bloom, it is because they are in the same family.

This year I planted black-eyed peas beside the okra plants.  Some of them vined, attaching themselves to the okra plants, weaving all the way to the top of the okra.  This trellising on the okra plants makes the ripe black-eyed peas easy to pick - no bending over.  They are right at eye level!

Right now the okra is 10 feet tall and still growing!  It dwarfs anything around it.

Each day we pick a fine "mess" of okra.  Tricia prepares it numerous ways.  We really like them cut up and "oven-fried," but simply 'cooking them down' in a cast iron skillet is a mighty fine way to eat them.  We'll pickle some and cut and freeze some for 'gumbo season.'

I plant three different varieties, and I've picked an example of each below:

Above on the left is the favorite, tried and true producer - the Clemson Spineless.  In the middle is a colorful okra variety - Burgundy Okra.  On the far right is a short, stubby variety with many ridges - Beck's Big Okra.  Other than enjoying eating okra, another benefit is it is incredibly easy to save okra seeds to use for next year's planting.  Simply allow the okra to mature on the stalk.  When dry and brown (but before the pods shatter open, pick and open the pods, saving the multitude of seeds within. 

Astro's Final Stop

When Jersey cows calve, you ALWAYS want them to give you heifers.  Heifers will, a couple years later once bred, give you more calves and fresh milk. Heifers also bring more money once you sell them.  Many people want nurse cows for calves on their farm.  Others want to buy them to show them as dairy cows in livestock shows.  Many want a family cow that will become a part of the family.

Jersey bulls are not in demand.  Jersey bulls kill more farmers than any other breed, which is odd because Jersey cows are so docile.  Jersey bulls are good for pretty much one thing - meat.  Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you want to look at it, we've had six bulls in a row!  Astro is our Jersey bull that we've had for a couple years.  He was named Astro because he was born on the night that the Houston Astros won Game 6 of the World Series.

It was time for Astro to go to the slaughterhouse.  We made an appointment this past Saturday.  I wish I had a way to weigh him.  I'm not very good at guessing weights, but I'll guess he weighs somewhere between 600 and 650 pounds.

Astro has been grass fed in our pasture in the "bull pen."  The quality of the grass will be dropping soon as the grass goes to seed.  We wanted to get him off while he is still in great condition.

We coaxed him into the cattle trailer with a bucket of sweet feed.  He jumped right in and it went easier than expected.

Now, I know what you may be thinking - How can you eat a pet?  Well, once Jersey bulls are born on our farm, from day 1 we know that they are not pets - they are food.  While it isn't easy to bring them to slaughter, we give them a good life, treat them with dignity, and take care of them.  It still isn't an easy thing to do, but let's be real.  It is foolish to raise him, sell him to someone else to butcher and then go buy meat at the store.  That makes no sense at all.  He's grass-fed.  No hormones.  No antibiotics.  No medicated feed.  All natural.

Once loaded up, we made a twenty minute drive to Morse, Louisiana.  Back in the old days, many communities had their own slaughterhouses.  They are few and far between now.  Elliott's Slaughterhouse is out in the middle of the country, surrounded by rice fields and crawfish ponds.

Elliott's does a really good job.  We've used them time and again.

We backed the trailer next to the gate.  The trailer is in bad need of a paint job.  It was my grandfather's trailer and is a 1978 model.  While it may not be aesthetically pleasing, it's still going strong.  I will try to prime and paint it once the weather gets more pleasant.

We got Astro unloaded and said goodbye.

Elliott's was jam packed with people on this Saturday morning.

It is a very small place and we actually had to wait until some customers left before we could fit inside.

We were the only ones dropping off a live animal.  Most customers inside were buying fresh cut steaks, ground meat in bulk, pork chops, smoked sausage, etc.  Meat doesn't get much fresher than this. 

We were given a cut sheet and began explaining what cuts we wanted.  We want half ground meat and the other half cut into steaks, roasts, brisket, ribs, tenderloin.

We'll get an assortment of T-bone, ribeyes, round and seven steaks.  We also want all of the 'debris,' except for kidney.  I don't do kidney.  We want the bones and the fat.  That's one thing you never think of, but when you bring an animal in for slaughter, you can get everything except the "moo."  They will dry age the meat for two weeks and then will package it all up and call us and we'll go pick it up.  Lots of fresh meat for the freezer...  And we have two more bulls growing in the pasture for next year's supply of meat.

We Know A Guy

We have a friend that is a bee keeper.  Lots of times we trade him fresh milk for honey.  He is a very interesting guy and we always enjoy visiting with him and his wife.  The other day Tricia got a call from the friend.  He said he had "a bag" for us.  Interesting!  We checked the refrigerator to see the contents.  Fresh Picked Chanterelles!

A couple of edible mushrooms that grow in our area are oyster mushrooms and chanterelles.  The main way that we identify chanterelle mushrooms is to look at the gills.  Chanterelles have false gills that run down underneath the cap and down the stem a little ways.  Other mushrooms have true gills.  True gills can be removed.  On chanterelles, the false gills can't be removed without damaging the mushroom.  Chanterelles are also flute-shaped, mostly.

They are a yellowish-orange color, so they really stand out growing in the green grass.  They grow from summer into fall.  After a rain, they really come out.  A neat thing is, once you find where they grow, it becomes your "honey hole."  You can go back again and again and harvest mushrooms.

But the REALLY neat thing is eating them!  We like to simply saute them with some butter in a cast iron skillet.  I tried to get a good photo a a pot full of sauteed chanterelles, but we ate almost all of them immediately!

The bottom of the pot

While mowing the other day, I discovered a new spot in the yard where they are growing.  It's good to have a friend that blesses you with mushrooms.  It's also good to find a good spot in the yard to pick your own.

Rolling On The River

On Saturday morning, we assembled at Houssiere Park in Jennings on the banks of Bayou Nezpique for our Second (Not so Annual) Boat trip down Bayou Nezpique into the Mermentau River and on into Lake Arthur.  I'll share the sights and adventure in photos and narration below.

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Tricia's brother, Orlando, and his son, Vincent, came in from Spring, Texas with their boat for the trip.  My Mom and Dad brought their boat.  Russ, Laura, and Benjamin joined Tricia and me, too.  We put the boats in the water and then drove the trucks and boat trailers to the boat ramp at the end point of the trip in Lake Arthur.

And we're off!  At about 11:15 am we struck out for a "three hour tour."  This time we had two boats!

Tricia had commemorative t-shirts made up for the event!

It was a beautiful day, but it was HOT!  The water level was down about four feet from previous highs that we gauged from the water line on trees lining the bayou.  The water depth in the center of the bayou ranged from 34 feet to 43 feet.

We mostly took it slow, but sometimes it would get so hot that we had to speed it up to get the wind moving.

Beautiful cypress trees with cypress knees lined the bayou.  We kept a watchful eye in the tupelo gums as wasp nests as big as your head hung from the limbs!

Egrets sat in the shade and picked fish out of the shallows to snack on.  Turtles sunbathed on logs and fish jumped out of the water.

Shade!  That seemed like a good idea.  We pulled up to someone's dock and enjoyed the nice shade.

They had a nice arched bridge.  What a picturesque spot!

Bayou Nezpique flows into the Mermentau River.  Here we are going under the Mermentau River Bridge in Mermentau, Louisiana.

There is a ship building operation on the southern side of the bridge.

We jumped in a swam for a bit - with an open eye for alligators.  We saw small ones on this trip - no "tree shakers."

Although it is not really visible due to thick tree cover, we saw the Le Petit Castle in Mermentau.  You can see a photo of it and learn about it's interesting history BY CLICKING HERE.

Soon we were approaching the Lake Arthur Bridge.

And into the Lake!

And our destination was in sight!  The Regatta Restaurant on the shores of Lake Arthur.  The restaurant has a dock and is accessible by boat.  It took us about four hours to make the trip.

We got a table and enjoyed a meal of crawfish cornbread, shrimp and oyster po-boys and good fellowship.

It was time to go and we slowly made our way back to the boats.

As the sun shined over the lake, we looked for the cut to lead us back to the boat ramp.

A big blue heron guided us in.

As we passed by, he bade us farewell and spread his wings and flew off.

We'll bid you farewell, too.  Until next time!