new pretty biddies

So, I managed to wear my husband down enough that he let me acquire another couple hens. Therefore, we now have four hens and our rooster, Pepper. We got them from a neat fella in Austin who used to work in the film industry and hopes to eventually open an organic hatchery in LaGrange. They are still subject to occasional rabid pecking from Penelope and Guinevere, and I am having a hard time convincing them to roost in the coop and not in the live oak . . . but all is generally well. I have named the White Leghorn "Pearl," and Miss A is calling the Barred Rock "Teaser" (don't ask me why).

Here is Pearl behind the Agarita.


And the lovely "Teaser," under the bare branches of the lantana.

messy expression

Who doesn't love fingerpaints?

a way to structure our days . . .

The skies have been glorious lately. They are such a significant part of our lives here--watching the clouds, the stars, shying away from the sun. I have not lived anywhere else where the sky so fully dominates the landscape.

Love this quote from this fabulous blog:

“Be sure your children each day have:

• something or someone to love
• something to do
• something to think about”

Karen Andreola

happy valentine's day!

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Here's a shot of my little Degas dancer in her Valentine's duds. Lots of love to you all.

i was right!

Finally got a big, bellowing rain. Not enough to totally fill the pond, but it's on the way!

dry pond, cloudy sky, pray for rain

I feel like the rains are coming. Maybe that's just wishful thinking. Or maybe it's because I just planted the last three trees in our little orchard and can't bear the thought of them not getting to taste real rain, just hose-water. The land is so thirsty.

Up top you can see the fence gates that I painted blue and hung broken glass from, because it catches the light. Behind you can glimpse the cedar fenceposts that we got on Craigslist, hair still on, for 2 bucks each. Just a little more work and we will have an enclosed sanctuary for our trees.

another reason to love austin

new bed

Finally decided to tackle a lonely stretch of west-facing fenceline. I built limestone raised beds with rocks from our property and backfilled with Garden-Ville Rose Soil. Then I planted these:
1 Vitex Agnus-Castus (chaste tree)
2 Nerium (oleander--yes, I know it is poisonous, my children have already been lectured)
2 leucophyllum frutescens (texas sage--not really a sage, though)
2 sophora secundiflora (texas mountain laurel)
3 dianthus (pinks)
3 santolina
2 setcreasea purpurea (purple heart)
1 bignonia (trumpet vine)

After planting I mulched with two inches of Ladybug Turkey Compost and then another 3 inches of Texas Native Hardwood mulch. Let's hope those lovelies get settled before the blast-furnace starts stoking!



And enjoy this link to a little winter gardening advice from Central TX Gardener:

wednesday's shots from the homestead: ice

A little ice storm blew through last night, and left a glistening sheen over everything. The sun is out and now all the baby icicles are dripping. That mockingbird perched on the chair has been haunting the prickly pear and moved over there when I appeared with my camera. He has decided that this is his spot. And the paperwhites are just beginning to bloom, stinky fragrance and all (actually, I kinda like it).

Rain!

Above are my sweetpea seedlings tasting the rain, and below is my new "Champagne Bubbles" poppy doing the same.

Just a little, but more than we've had in months. A steady drizzle all day. Hopefully enough to push some of those wildflowers along, and to wash away the mineral deposits from that hard water I've been irrigating with.

Spent the morning at an impromptu rainday playdate and will spend precious naptime surfing here.

i am so on board with this!

We are busy installing our orchard (four pears, two persimmons, two pomegranates dug in and mulched--and two jujubes and one olive on the way!!!), now the Pres (bless him!) should do the same! Check out the campaign here.


The Garden of Eatin': A Short History of America's Garden from roger doiron on Vimeo.

what a blessed day

photo borrowed from BBC UK, Obama taking oath of office

"Pineapple" Pear, planted by us all.

Gorgeous day. Watched the inauguration with friends and babies and planted trees. I hope they will grow and prosper along with our beautiful nation.

And here is a copy of the gorgeous inaugural poem, by Elizabeth Alexander.

Praise song for the day.

Each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each others' eyes or not, about to speak or speaking. All about us is noise. All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues. Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.

A farmer considers the changing sky; A teacher says, "Take out your pencils. Begin."

We encounter each other in words, words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed; words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark the will of someone and then others who said, "I need to see what's on the other side; I know there's something better down the road."

We need to find a place where we are safe; We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain, that many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day. Praise song for every hand-lettered sign; The figuring it out at kitchen tables.

Some live by "Love thy neighbor as thy self."

Others by first do no harm, or take no more than you need.

What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance.

In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.

On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp -- praise song for walking forward in that light.

Elizabeth Alexander

fruit tree frenzy

If anyone else is hankering to plant some fruit trees for their children to munch on in the coming years, after some searching I found THIS great list of adapted cultivars for the Greater Austin / Central TX area. Another really useful link on growing edibles in TX can be found here. And I happen to know that The Natural Gardener will get their persimmons in Monday morning . . . Go go go!

To add to the list, I have heard that good persimmons for our area are:
Fuyu, Hachiya, Saijo, and Chocolate
and good Pomegranates are:
Cloud, Parfianka (sold as Garnet Sash), Granada, Sirenevyi, and Ambrosia




Above is a shot of my Moonglow pear, planted a couple months ago, and some swelling buds on my Arapaho blackberry! OOOH.

a love affair

New Rochelle, NY circa 2000. Our house.

I fell most deeply in love with plants the first full year I spent in the Northeast, living in a little duplex just up the street from the YMCA, where I taught swimming and dance, in New Rochelle, NY. We had the tiniest little stone front porch with iron trellises, a row of boxwood hedges, and a little patch of dirt, fronted by a small stretch of white post and rail fencing. Our landlord's son, Russell, and his family lived next door. Russell had been in the nursery business and the backyard garden that I got to look out on from our kitchen window was nothing short of spectacular. The hollyhocks were seven feet tall and the birds all visited the birdbath under his enormous tulip tree. Behind the garden he had trellised apples along the fenceline. Tall, gorgeous phlox grew in abundance. Being able to look out on that garden, without having to care for it, was an enormous treat.

And quickly my little front patch grew by means of containers and baskets and climbers. I loved that tiny garden as much as any I have ever had. It was completely disorderly, haphazard, the result of a series of obsessions, unsupervised visits to the nursery, and nights spent reading gardening catalogs. After my front yard garden began to explode, Russell studiously placed out on his front porch three heliotrope, three red begonias, and mandevilla growing up the posts. It was gorgeous. I think he was quietly trying to teach me something. I still haven't learned.

I guess the truth is that I am not a gardener really, or a landscaper, but just a person who loves plants. I like to watch how they grow and change. I love to crush the leaves to see how they smell and sprinkle the seeds out into my palm to see what they look like. That's what gets me excited. The details and peculiarities of the living.

My littlest and I were heavily bundled and walking around the Home Depot this morning, in search of persimmons. Texans think we are crazy. But this is a great time to plant dormant fruit trees here. The best time! It brought me back to freezing days in the Northeast, when I was particularly in love with african voilets and scented geraniums. I would haunt the local nurseries on Rte 1 in search of varieties I did not yet have sitting on my windowsills. There is something about walking into a warm greenhouse on a freezing day that is just wonderful. Below I'll post a shot of some of Grandma G's african violets, geraniums, impatiens, christmas cactus, and begonias, which bloom like damsels in her south facing window, even on the coldest of days. What winter pleasures do you enjoy?

save the croc hunter's land!

My kids recently discovered the late Steve Irwin via a library DVD entitled Croc Files. They are both in love. Me too, really. I miss the guy. What energy, enthusiasm, and love for his calling in life! I wish I had such clarity about what I wanted my days here on earth to accomplish. Anyway, there is a 135,000 hectare wildlife preserve in Queensland, Australia that was set aside in his name for perpetuity. It is entitled the "Steve Irwin Wildlife Preserve," and some folks want to strip mine it! You can sign a petition to stop them HERE.

How many beautiful places in our world have been mangled in the name of progress? I'm sure this is one of those "mineral rights" issues, which all home-owners can be subject to if they are not careful. Do you own the mineral rights to your land?? Probably not. Look into it.