When One Tree Comes Down...

Plant another in the Ground!  Yesterday we talked about taking down a dead tree in the side pasture. It is time to plant a tree or two to take its place.  The one that died was a water oak tree that has about a 70 year lifespan.  I like planting either fruit trees or live oaks, the former gives you food to eat and the latter provides longevity and plenty of shade.

It just so happens that I have a nice looking live oak tree that I planted from an acorn that has some special meaning to me.  I discussed that tree as well as others in THIS PREVIOUS POST.  This one has sentimental value to me and I call it our "Laura Lee" tree, after our oldest daughter and to me, represents victory and survival.  It was a beautiful Saturday and was a little cool, so we started a nice fire roaring with the remnants of the tree we had taken down. While the coals of the dead tree burn down, we'll put another tree to take its place in the ground.

Burn, baby, burn

The live oak tree we'll put in the ground is one I planted from an acorn seven (?) years ago, maybe.  I keep putting it in larger and larger pots as it grows and it has been in the flower bed in the back yard. Large tap roots grew out of the bottom of the pot and Russ and I had to dig them out and cut a few in order to free it from the ground.  I loaded the tree, some potting soil, some chicken litter and a shovel into the garden wagon and took it into the pasture.

Everything we need in the wagon

We picked out a spot to plant this live oak about 15 feet south of where the other tree had grown. Since it is by the garden, it will give nice shade from the morning sun, still leaving enough sunshine for the garden from about 11 am until it sets in the western sky.  We did some quick ciphering and calculated that by the time this tree grows to completely shade out the garden, we'll be about 125 years old and by then, we probably won't have the energy to garden at that age.  Maybe we'll downsize the garden at that age and just grow a small patio garden.  (Ha ha!)

We cut the plastic pot away from the "Laura Lee" live oak tree and then cut off a fork in the tree so it would grow straight and not have a weak spot.

We dug a nice hole a little bit deeper and wider than the circumference of the root ball.

One other sentimental thing about this tree is that it contains some Spanish moss that I borrowed off of a live oak on the LSU campus.  A couple of years ago, I draped it around the tree, but over the course of time, wind and rain blew it away.  I was pleased to see that at least a little bit of the Spanish moss attached itself to the little trunk of the tree and is flourishing.  Pretty cool, I think.

Spanish Moss in a live oak tree

Benjamin and Tricia pose by the newly planted live oak tree.  We'll keep it watered and take good care of it.

In addition to digging the hole for the tree, I'm diggin' Tricia's cowboy hat.

One other thing we had to do is position cattle panels around it to separate it from hungry goats and cows that would aim to eat every single green leaf off of the fledgling live oak.

As the dead, cut up oak tree sits in the foreground with its life over, a new beginning takes place as a live oak is ready to fill the void.

I think that I shall never see,

A poem as lovely as a tree...  -Joyce Kilmer

Rock A Bye, Baby

Rock-a-bye baby, in the treetop

When the wind blows, the cradle will rock

When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall

And down will come baby, cradle and all

Remember that crazy song?  Why would you rock your baby up in a treetop?  That is reckless endangerment, child abuse, and infanticide.  Furthermore, why would you sing this to your baby in a soothing voice when you are singing about a baby likely plummeting to the earth where the baby would either receive a fatal would or serious injuries?  What does it mean?  I haven't a clue.

Anyway, we had some boughs breaking this past week, but fortunately there were no infants up in our trees.  One of the trees that succumbed to the red oak borer beetle was leaning over the garden and was threatening to fall on our fall vegetables. You can see the precarious lean.

Leaning over the Garden

We awoke to find that a number of branches from high up in the tree had fallen into the garden.  It messed up a few sugar snap peas and kale, but really, I can't complain.  It could have been a lot worse.

Is this why they call November, Fall?

I picked up the broken limbs and tossed them over the fence.  They will serve as fuel for our next bonfire.  Fortunately, most of the falling branches missed the veggies as they fell between rows.

The trellis for the sugar snap peas kind of broke the fall and deflected the force of gravity.

Our neighbor happened to be outside when all the limbs fell.  He heard the ruckus and came to check on us to make sure no one was injured.  A little while later he came back over with a long rope, a chainsaw and his four-wheeler.  I leaned a tall ladder against the dead tree (not smart, I know) and climbed up as high as I dared and secured a rope around the highest point I could reach.

Climbing Jacob's Ladder...

To the other end, we attached the rope to his four wheeler and pulled the rope taut. Our goal was to pull the tree to make it fall not where it wanted to (the garden) but where we wanted it to (the barnyard).

The anchor point

Benjamin revved the engine of the four-wheeler, keeping the rope tight while our neighbor cut a big notch in the side that we wanted it to fall.

We had a nice big notch cut in the tree, begging it to fall in this direction.  Would we be successful? Or would our fall tomatoes be chopped and diced by a falling tree instead of in our kitchen?  Stay tuned, we'll show you further down below.

Then my neighbor began cutting through the tree on the back side, motioning to Benjamin to pull and pull harder.  The wheels began to spin.  I jumped on the back to give the four wheeler some weight. Not good.  The four wheeler didn't have the weight or the power to pull the tree.  Oh no!  We went and put the cows and goats in the corral.

A lightbulb flickered in my head and I raced off to get a "come-along" (cable puller) and a chain.  We anchored the cable around a large oak tree, tied the chain to the end of the rope and attached the come-along and began using the lever to pull the tree over.  Slowly the tree began to stand erect and then began to lean in the direction we wanted it to.

Then with a crack, the tree fell right where we wanted it to.  It bounced right after we said, "TIMBER!" It missed hitting us, the hay ring, the animals, and the trunk almost fell on one of our burning piles.

The tree top fell squarely on another burning pile.  Bulls-eye!

Right in the burn pile.

So we cut up the tree for firewood.  Benjamin and I had fun throwing big fat white worms that burrowed in the fallen tree to the chickens and watched them gobble them up.  We threw what remained of the branches on the burning pile.  Then we breathed a sigh of relief that no more branches would fall into the garden and also relieved that we removed the temptation for those that might want to rock their babies in dangerous treetops.

The Only Thing Going to Waste is the "Gobble"

On the evening of Turkey Day, we were stuffed with leftovers and a little tired after cooking, cleaning and the letdown after all the excitement of the big day with family.  Time to find an easy chair and relax, right?  Not exactly.  First there is a bit more work to do.  After lunch and during clean-up, we carve all the remaining meat of the two birds - one a baked turkey and the other a fried one.

The meat goes into the fridge for leftovers and the bones, skin, cartilage, onions, carrots, and bits of small meat goes into a big stock pot and water is poured to cover the contents.  A cover is put on the pot and it is boiled all afternoon long.  In the late evening, we turned off the stove and let it sit.  In the morning, the contents of the pot was still warm.

Remnants of the Gobbler

The contents of the pot was poured through a sieve to strain out the non-liquids. The photo above shows those "non-liquids."  The dogs really appreciated eating on this for about three days.  As for the liquid, well, that is some good turkey stock.

Straining through a sieve

The turkey stock was nice and rich and we wanted to be able to use it for being the base for soups this winter or gravies, or, if you really want to make your rice more flavorful, cook it in turkey stock instead of water.  Wow! Does that ever make a big difference.

There are many things you can do with turkey stock

We put the pot of turkey stock in the fridge and cool it down fully for about half a day.

Turkey stock

Once it has cooled, the turkey stock will settle out with the fat rising to the top.  The bottom congeals like turkey flavored jell-o.  We skim the fat off the top and that goes into the pile of bones and skin for the dogs.  They really enjoy that.  The remaining turkey stock goes into quart jars and is frozen in the deep freeze for use later.  Not much gets wasted on the turkeys.  Obviously, we do this with every chicken we eat as well.  Turkey stock is a flavorful, healthy item that we enjoy long after the rest of the Thanksgiving turkey is gone.

Giving Thanks - 2016

Thanksgiving.  My favorite holiday.  It seems that the weather is simply perfect. The fragrant aroma of delicious food wafts through the kitchen and even outdoors. And last but not least is family.  It was nice to have Laura Lee in from Baton Rouge, where she teaches school.  And Russ, our senior horticulture major from LSU came in.  It was nice to have the whole family under one roof.  I heard some noises coming from Benjamin's room and they were all in his bed, laughing and enjoying being together.
 

Being together.  That is a recurring theme.  In addition to our five family members, my Mom and Dad, my great aunt, my sister, her husband and her six boys, and my brother and his wife and their chocolate lab, Scout, were in attendance.  As far as the other animals, namely our milk cows, goats, and chickens, they weren't invited. They did require some attention, though.  They don't celebrate Thanksgiving and still require to be milked and fed prior to us enjoying the food and festivities of the day.

Tricia cooked quite a meal and my Mom, sister, and sister-in-law brought all sorts of delicious food. We held hands in a big circle and thanked the Good Lord for all the many blessings in our lives and went around the circle telling things we were each thankful for.  Then we ate and visited and ate some more.  Then we played some games that we enjoyed immensely.  First was a game for the kids - a game to see who was the fastest, so we timed them with smart phones.  It works like this. Each participant has a bowl with 10 M&Ms in it and an empty cut set beside it. They are given a drinking straw that's been cut in half and the object of the game is to suck the M&M up out of the bowl with the drinking straw and transfer it to the cup.  You aren't allowed to use your hands other than the one holding the straw. Everyone, I suppose, is a winner, though, as you are allowed to eat your M&Ms.

Graham & Hayes competing

At the end of the game our two semi-finalists - the two that had the best times, competed against each other to see who the champion M&M sucker was.  The time of the two fastest was only separated by 1/10th of a second.  In the championship round, Hayes obliterated his competition and won handily.

Conner & Russ

Then we played a game for both adults and kids, not to say that the adults couldn't have played the previous game.  We each got a toothpick and separated into two teams.  We lined up and the first person in each line was given a Lifesaver. Without using hands and with the toothpick in your mouth, you had to pass the lifesaver from person to person.  The first team to pass it all the way down the line wins!

Conner to Russ

Depending upon the height of the players, one person has to bend down and reposition in order to pass the lifesaver from person to person.

Russ to Laura Lee

There's lots of excitement as the lifesaver is passed from one person to another.  It is definitely a game in which your personal space is invaded.  Especially after a big Thanksgiving meal, it might be a good idea for everyone to gargle with Scope or at least eat a lifesaver before playing!

Benjamin to Brooks (Bita)

There were no eyes poked out in the game, which was good.  Here dad passes the lifesaver to Mom. Mom would "run the anchor leg," passing the lifesaver to Julee Rae.

Dad to Mom

A friend of Benjamin's dropped by after the meal and games and became the Designated Photographer.  His role was to take the family photo in the backyard. We were able to assemble the entire tribe for the picture.  Even Scout, the chocolate lab took part in the photo shoot.

The whole Family

God has been so good to us.  Our lives are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, and we all have our fair share of struggles, trials, and discouragements, but we are thankful for the LORD, who will not abandon us and a family that won't either!

I'm Planting a New Crop in the Garden

Late last week a friend drove over to the house and said, "I've got something for you."  That kind of made me excited, so I followed him as he walked around the back of his truck and reached in the bed. He pulled out five stalks of what he called Louisiana Purple Sugar Cane and told me that it was an old variety that was once planted all over South Louisiana before the new varieties were developed.

He told me that the reason he was giving it to me was partially selfish.  He wanted to have me grow some as "insurance" in the event that he lost his to a freeze or to crop failure.  In that case, he could come get a few stalks of mine and keep the crop growing.

Louisiana Purple Sugar Cane

Here is a closer look at how the purple sugar cane got it's name:

Since I have never planted cane, he gave me a quick tutorial on how to do it.  He said that I needed to cut them about two feet long so they would be straight and fit in the furrow.

I quickly pulled up a couple rows and placed the cut cane across the wide rows to ensure that the cane would fit if I planted them in double furrows atop the rows.

Then I planted the cane.  Apparently the sugar cane will begin sprouting new shoots from each of the joints. I'll need to keep it watered to ensure sprouting takes place. The more water you give it, the more juice you'll get from the cane.

So what's the end game here?  What am I looking to do?  Well, two things.  First, I remember when I was a boy, my grandfather showed up one day with a stalk of sugarcane.  He pulled out his pocketknife and began slicing off the outer portion of the cane and then gave me a piece of the "skinned" sugar cane.  "Chew it," he said. It was sweet and good to chew on.

Secondly, I want to make some syrup.  We love Steen's Cane syrup poured onto our biscuits, pancakes and waffles, and we want to try to make our own.  I was able to find a youtube video by a guy called David the Good, and he demonstrated how to make pure cane syrup without having a sugarcane press.  I want to try my hand at that!!  I will keep you posted on how this little experiment works out.  Maybe at some point you can come over and enjoy some homemade biscuits and syrup with us.

Is God Dead?

This post has nothing to do with farming.  Or does it?  It indeed mentions a harvest, but we'll get to that in a minute.  On Sunday November 20th we journeyed to nearby Lafayette, Louisiana on our annual trip bringing the Youth Group from our church to YEC.  YEC stands for Youth Evangelism Celebration and is a yearly conference held in the Cajun Dome.  Each year our youth group and the youth group from the Elton church attends.

The Cajun dome is packed with thousands and thousands of youth from around our state who gather to listen to some good preaching, great worship music and fellowship.  We were blessed to have The Garden Baptist Church open their doors to us and allow us to sleep on the floor of their church to save on our lodging expenses! Things got kicked off Sunday night with an evangelistic message by Mr. Ed Newton, the keynote speaker from San Antonio, Texas.  His clear presentation of the Gospel drew many young people to make commitments to Christ and serving Him fully.  We drove back to the church to sleep and upon waking up the next morning, we made our way back to the Cajun Dome for a full day on Monday.

Our group is such a good group.  We laughed and cut up and enjoyed each other's company.  We sang to the top of our lungs.  We were inspired and touched by messages of hope, encouragement, and love.  The conference was a mountaintop experience, for sure.  Here is our group of smiling faces:

Did I mention music?  There was great Christian worship music and light show and glow-in-the-dark necklaces were handed out to all in attendance.  But don't be mistaken into thinking this was merely entertainment.

The theme of the conference was "Stories" and we were taught that we all have a story to tell about Jesus and how He's changed our lives.  The speaker gave his testimony and gave several excellent messages from the book of Acts, Genesis, and Romans.  He showed the group of thousands how to share our faith and gave us the opportunity of practicing obedience to the Great Commission.  We were given Bibles called "The Invitation" in which the "Romans Road" to salvation was bolded and were taught how to share our faith with a lost and hurting world.

Speaking of invitations, after each message, everyone was given an opportunity to come forward and speak to counselors for guidance and prayer.  Many people responded.

At the closing of the conference, the Christian Group, "The Newsboys" put on a concert.  You might know some of their music, "God's Not Dead," (they were also in the movie by the same name), "I Believe, " and "Jesus Freak."  At a youth pastor's banquet, I had an opportunity to meet them and take a picture with them.  I'm the dude in the middle.

The concert was high-energy and loud and fun and loud.  Did I mention it was loud?  The music had a powerful message.  Then the conference ended.  We prayed that we would retain some of the fire that we had experienced and that we'd be able to make a difference in the world around us.  If you are ever cynical or pessimistic about the state of young people today, you need to come hang around my group sometime.  They'll change your way of thinking!

As we made our way back to Jennings at around midnight, I was tired, but at the same time uplifted by what I had seen and heard.

So back to the harvest - how can a Christian Youth conference have anything to do with a harvest? Well...

Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. John 4:35

Was there a harvest at YEC 2016?  You better believe it!  As evidence, I snapped the photo below as we were leaving that showed a tally of decisions for Christ made at YEC.  This folks, is the best "scoreboard" I've seen!  This is what it is all about: Young people embarking upon a life of faith and service to our King!

Which brings me to my question:  Is God Dead?  Absolutely NOT!

I'll answer that question by using the lyrics to one of the Newsboys' songs:

God's Not Dead, 

He's surely Alive, 

He's livin' on the Inside,

Roarin' like a lion!

Gotta Love Those Butter Beans

When Russ was a newborn, he had some very serious, life-threatening injuries that required a long hospital stay after being life-flighted to New Orleans Children's Hospital.  Thank the Good Lord that he is fine now.  Russ was one day old when he was life-flighted and a nurse on the transport team nicknamed him "Butterbean." I've never had a nickname, but I always thought the nickname, "Butterbean," for Russ was a good one.

Guess what? I like butter beans, too!  I have an entire row of them growing in the garden.  They grew like crazy all throughout the spring and summer.  They are loaded up with nice pods and on Saturday, I figured it was a good day to get a bowl and pick a 'mess' of them.

Trellised butterbeans

If you take a peak beneath all the foliage, you can see numerous pods hanging from the vines.  To determine the ones that are ready to pick, I just run my fingers over the pod, looking for the bulge telling you that the pods are full of mature butter beans.

Ready to pick

After a few minutes, I picked a nice bowl of them.  Picking the pods off of the vines is a satisfying thing.  You can't really call it work.

But the thing that is more satisfying than picking them is shelling them.  In order to shell them, it is important to find yourself a comfortable spot to sit.  The first choice would be to sit down in a rocking chair on the front porch.  I opted for the second best choice as it was nearer - a swing under a shady live oak tree.  Of course you can shell them anywhere.

A nice spot to shell butter beans

The pods are large.  The beans within are huge, fat and bulging.

I planted several different varieties.  Here is a cool-looking speckled pink and maroon one.  If I remember correctly, this is the Dixie Speckled Butterpea.

They are big beans, easily wider than my ring finger.

Here's a nice contrast between the two varieties I was picking.

The beans are large, so it didn't take many beans to start filling up the bowl.  Those are some nice looking beans, right there.

But here is the nicest shot - the real money shot.  As pretty as they are in the bowl, they are even prettier when they are cooked up and plated on top of rice with some cut up sausage, garnished with some fresh green onions with a side of sauteed bok choy and some homemade cornbread.

Wow!  That's a good southern meal.  Gotta love those butter beans!