Category: Ranch

How Does My Garden Grow?
Family Farm · gardening · Ranch

How Does My Garden Grow?

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It has been a very busy past few days. We had some bad weather threats on Wednesday, and ended up with several people sheltering with us in our basement during two separate tornado warnings that were issued. Thankfully, all turned out well here.

My husband went on his days off Thursday thru Sunday. Thursday, our two youngest grandsons had their school field day activities and we went to watch those. Friday, we went to the ranch to plant my vegetable garden. I plant my garden in the same spot my grandparents grew theirs. My cousin, Dee, tills it up for me with his tractor. Since I can’t be there to water every day, we set up a drip irrigation system with a solar powered timer on the water storage tank attached to the windmill. This was the windmill and storage system my grandad built for the water supply to their home and also the garden when he and my grandma bought the property in 1939 or 1940. The storage tank is made from an old railroad tank.

We got it all set up and while Efren was working on reinforcing the fence, I planted just shy of 4 rows of sweet corn, approximately 30 feet long. I planted one row of stringless green beans, and in two weeks will plant another beside it. He dug holes, and I planted 6 tomato plants, and 4 jalapeño plants. I planted a row of okra, and some acorn squash and sugar cube cantaloupe seeds. I have some cilantro seed to plant, but I decided to wait just a little longer to plant those, as it always seems to be ready for harvest before I have tomatoes and jalapeños.

The drip irrigation system looked to be working well before we left to head home. I plan to get back over to check on it sometime this week. It was just a beautiful day to be working outside. With recent rains, everything is greening up so nicely.

In this photo, I’m standing where I plan to have a small barndo built so we can go and stay for overnight visits, extended weekends, etc.

The wild plum bushes are bearing fruit.

By the time we were finishing up, thunderstorms were beginning to build.

We were exhausted, but it was that good kind of tired. What a great day.

Saturday morning, we had a funeral to attend, and Saturday evening we went to a graduation party. Yesterday, we took care of the yard work here at the house. Today, it’s back to quilt work, house work and the other normal routines. Have a wonderful week, y’all!

Family Farm · quilting · Ranch

A Little Quilting, A Little Calf

Wild Rose Quilter2 Comments

First, thank you to my readers that recommended the Bloc Loc rulers. It was the nudge I needed to finally orders some. They are fantastic! I finished trimming my 64 half square triangles and it’s so much better with them. What a nifty notion!

The big news of today is that my cow Cookie calved early this morning! I was sipping my cup of coffee when my cousin texted me with pictures, saying he would guess the calf was about an hour old. Cookie runs with his herd, over my small acreage, my bother’s small acreage, and my cousin’s much larger ranch. His ranch connects to my grandparents’ farm and ranch land, of which we all three own portions. It’s her first calf, so he’s been keeping a close watch on her. She did great and we loaded up and made the 1.75 hour drive to see in person. The calf is a little heifer which means I will keep her instead of raising her for beef. The goal is for us to have enough to feed my family. My cousin has been so gracious to do this with and for me. I’m so grateful for him! Cookie did great and is being a good mama right off the bat. She is a good cow! Here she is with her new baby, Sugar. 😍

We put some cake out for her so she was having a snack while baby was nursing.
fabric · Family Farm · quilting · Quilts in the Wild · Ranch

Finished Strip Mirage Quilt

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I went to the ranch to check on Cookie, my very pregnant cow, due any time to have her first calf. She was happily grazing with the rest of the herd, which belongs to my cousin. While there, I got some pics of this finished Strip Mirage quilt I made for my great-nephew. The pattern is free from Sew Yeah Quilting. You can find a video tutorial on YouTube, along with a link to the printable pattern. It’s a fast, fun jelly roll pattern. I chose to buy some coordinating Bella solid fabric and add some size by adding borders. The jelly roll is Stomp Stomp Roar from Stacy Iest Hsu for Moda.

family · Family Farm · grief · Hackberry Spring Ranch · quilting · Ranch · trees

It Was a Good Day

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I was so tired when we got home from the ranch last night, but it was the good kind of tired. My husband, brother and I made the 2.5 hour trip to the monument company to pick up the marker for my parents’ gravesite, then the one hour drive from there to the ranch to place it. My cousin Dee came over from his home and we all had a nice visit and talked about some other ideas to spruce it up a bit. This is where Mom wanted to be buried. Many times over the years, she would say to us “cremate me and stick me under the hackberry tree”. I’m so glad we were able to fulfill those wishes. I think she would have been happy as can be with just the large rock from the ranch marking the site, but I really wanted a proper marker.

It was a cloudy, overcast day with a bit of moisture coming down at times, and the colors were really beautiful there yesterday. The last bits of winter color with spring beginning to burst through. The bluestem in the pasture was really catching my eye.

As were the dried up remains of last year’s thistles.

These trees that have been there since long before I was born beginning to leaf out again, and the winter rye grass greening up the place all around them.

I’ll leave off here for now, but will be back with more from yesterday’s little excursion. There will also be another “quilts in the wild” post, as I took another along for the ride to work on the binding while we traveled. Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous Friday!

Sunday Scenery, Part 2
Family Farm · favorite things · nature · photos · Ranch · wild rose quilter

Sunday Scenery, Part 2

Wild Rose QuilterLeave a comment

It was a busy day taking care of grandsons. I feel so blessed to have been able to take my retirement at my earliest eligibility from my job in criminal justice, and be able to be so involved in their lives while they are still so young. I never got to be a stay at home mom with my son when he was growing up.  Being able to step away from outside employment has also finally given me the freedom to pursue my career as a longarm quilter, a job I love and am passionate about it. Finally. I also do all the administrative duties for my husband’s and my small oilfield service company, so I’m retired, but not retired, if that makes sense. Anyway, I mostly popped in here tonight to finish posting pictures from my hike at the family farm yesterday. I’m certainly not a real photographer. I’m fully aware of that, but I enjoy looking for things that catch my eye and taking pictures anyway. Maybe someday I’ll be able to take a class and learn how to take better photos. For now, I’ll just keep having fun with it. I do have a fairly nice digital camera, but these were all taken with my iPhone.

The moss is turning a bright, pretty green.


Even the fallen trees have a beauty of their own.


So peaceful.

 

Sunday Scenery, Part 1
Family Farm · favorite things · Ranch

Sunday Scenery, Part 1

Wild Rose QuilterLeave a comment

Today, I thought I’d share some pictures I took while my mister and I were doing a little hiking on some family farm & ranch land I share with my brother and my cousin Dee. It belonged to our grandparents on Mom’s side. Someday soon I’ll try to write a longer post about it, but for tonight it’s a quick post with some of my favorite shots from our day. We went to move some game cameras and change batteries in them, but I can never resist exploring when I’m there. ❤️

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That sky, though.

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Deer scrape on this little scraggly cedar.

4266A6CF-6761-4C43-BE91-D89FDAED5E99 This tree hanging on to the inside edge of a pretty deep ravine by its roots.

 

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View from above.

A98821D1-4425-4F7E-BDC9-E73FA525A1D4 There wasn’t enough time today to follow this little trail down into the ravine, but I’m looking forward to the first opportunity to follow it down.

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I have more to share, but it’s getting late and I’m tired. If you enjoyed these, be checking back for part 2. I’ll try to get the rest posted soon! Thanks for stopping by!